oh seven top ten

every year everyone posts their top ten albums of the year. i have thought & thought and cannot come up with a favorite ten records. however, this year i started listening to a lot of instrumental music. so i will now proceed to list my favorite ten instrumental albums of this year, 2007. thank you.

honorable mention instrumental albums of 07:

stars of the lid - and their refinement of the decline
every gentle air - part 2
kavinsky - 1986
lcd soundsystem - 45:33 (well. mostly instrumental)
cinematic orchestra - ma fleur

& the top ten instrumental albums of 07:

10. the bad plus - prog
9. six parts seven - casually smashed into pieces
8. el ten eleven - every direction is north
7. caspian - the four trees
6. explosions in the sky - all of a sudden... / remix album
5. justice - cross
4. this will destroy you - s/t
3. hammock - raising your voice... (okay, technically a 2006 album, but i just have to include it)
2. mogwai - zidane ost
1. amiina - kurr

maybe eventually i will get around to linking them all...

merry christmas.

holidays

whoa. the semester is over and i am relieved. but christmas break will again not be much of a break. i have lots i would like to do before school starts up for the last time. wish me luck.

also. every year my school has a new year's party once the students return to school (10 days after 2008 begins) called the "rebash." anyways, here's the poster for this years festivities...

high five

here is my final project for 3D class. hopefully i can find time for some more of these guys...

hair!

this is my first attempt at modeling hair (11,000 strands worth). although it's not very convincing, i believed it to be quite humorous. so here you go.

foundry find

this weekend i found a copy of the 1934 american type foundry specimen book. it's in pretty good shape and there's some really great stuff in it. you can see some of my favorite highlights below:







i also found milton glaser's graphic design, trademarks and symbols of the world from 1965, and a very large fold out poster of old type specimens from the the new york public library. it was a successful weekend indeed.

ooh-woo-ooh

today i ordered volume 1 of talespin and ducktales on digital video disc. in my opinion, two of the best cartoon series ever made. sweet.

too soon

it is now 6 months until i graduate.
i'm slowly realizing how much i have/want to do before it gets here.

sheesh.

sit down

tonight i started modeling some furniture from the room & board catalog (which is totally awesome & i wish i could afford one piece of furniture from it). i'm just starting to learn how to model things, so it's taking a bit of time. here is progress shot #1:

ddd

i'm currently taking a 3d computer graphics course, which i thoroughly enjoy. here's the result of my very first venture in the three dimensional world.

eric

my roommate from the china trip, eric, has a portfolio up now, and it's radtastic. check it out.

typetime

Here's a little sample of a typeface I've been working on completing. Since this is my first typeface experiment, I thought I'd start with something haphazard in nature. I created this for a Kid's Weekend brochure last year, but now that I have FontLab Studio at my disposal, I think I'll finish the entire set.



I'm currently working on alternate characters & numerals. Maybe I'll post the font as a free download when I'm done.

looking for loose change

For my advanced graphics class, we had a two day turnaround to design a poster for the play The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. It was sort of a contest and the winning design was used for the real posters. This was my submission:



I didn't win...
It was fun though.

some newish things.

added just a few things to the portfolio site.

currently listening:
el ten eleven every direction is north (awesome!)
band of horses cease to begin (also awesome!)
iron & wine the shepherd's dog
foo fighters echoes silence patience & grace

party time!

a postmodernist multi-color experiment.

china show

I currently have a handful of my pictures in the China exhibition at my school. And much to my flattery & surprise, I sold the first photograph of my life this week! You can see it below:


This was taken outside the Forbidden City in Beijing.

checkmate

i wish i had this chess board. i don't really play chess. but this is just cool. i know you think so.

found this in christchurch, nz.

hong kong phooey

here's a shot of the clock tower near the harbor in hong kong. luckily, it stopped raining long enough for me to get this shot.


music recs:
justice "cross"
once "music from the motion picture"
a fine frenzy "one cell in the sea"
mindy smith "long island shores"

amazing

this is probably one of the coolest things i've ever seen.

some found me annoying...

ha, this is a great ad.

some work.

here's a few various type treatments i've been working on.
one is for a wind ensemble cd - the other for indiana wesleyan's homecoming.



who knows if they'll end up getting used. i know the middle one won't. and that's fine. it looks too much like a tattoo for a biker.

music recs:
blonde redhead "23"
moonbabies "moonbabies at the ballroom"

summer fun...

well. i've got my hand in several projects lately. many of them web related. which is sometimes very headache inducing considering i am relatively new to the realm of web design. i'm working on some things for the new marion community pool (the splashhouse) website, the rodeo rudy love website, the city of marion website, branding for a record label, & some tshirt designs. and interning at in house design during the day. all in all, it's alot of staring at a computer screen in a day. so if you'd like to join me for ice cream or something, let me know. i'd be glad to oblige (& take a break).

new music recs:
mogwai "zidane ost"
teitur "stay under the stars"
alela diane "the pirate's gospel"
paper route "paper route"

back to work.

farewell

goodbye america.

see you soon...

new site!

the new version of the portfolio site is live with some new (and not so new) work. check it out here. let me know of any suggestions/comments.

helvetica: the film: the screening

last night i went to the screening of the helvetica documentary at notre dame university's snite art museum. there was a good turnout and I think most everyone thoroughly enjoyed the film. it was very well done and far beyond my expectations. i'd say it would be entertaining for designers and non-designers alike, as the film focuses more on visual culture than nerdy type talk (although there is enough to satisfy type geeks). whether you love the typeface, or hate it, i would recommend it to anyone interested in visual communication and design. you can check out the rest of the screening dates here.

busy busy

hey.
this week has been crazy. between trying to finish up school, work, and living, i've been quite stressed, to say the least. & definitely haven't had time to finish up the new portfolio site.

i just finished up all the work for the spotted cow music festival (featuring edison glass, who is really good i may add.)

i've got some new screenprints and lithograph prints i'll probably post soon.

i'm also working on a webpage for rodeo ruby love.

i leave for china in 3 weeks...exciting.

listen to the new explosions in the sky.

that's all for now.

ffm

last weekend i got the chance to attend the festival of faith & music. with performances/lectures by anathallo, sufjan stevens, neko case, and folk legend emmylou harris, it was quite amazing, to say the least. it was refreshing. that's all.

i might add that the sufjan show was the best live show i've ever seen. really.

the new portfolio site will be launching next week. it will look somewhat like this redesigned blog page. so, i better get to work.

aesthetically pleasing

my aesthetic apparatus poster orders came in today. I ordered the overcast art print & got the yo la tengo print for free! what a deal. feast your eyes...

the apparatus boys are always worth a look.

reading material

i got "the elements of typographic style" in the mail last week. there's lots of good information in there. i would definitely recommend it (if you like nerdy, typography books).

i'm going to see the appleseed cast monday!

oh yeah, i also updated the look of this here blog. enjoy.

almost

the new website design is almost complete. hopefully it will be up within the month.

vacation begins friday...

whew, finished!

well, after along time of working & reworking, i finally finished up the new rodeo ruby love albums last night. i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. you can purchase them from crossroads of america now. the music is pretty great on these suckas.

happy new year

happy new year! another year down.

i got some new books.

• new masters of poster design - john foster
• look at this - adrian shaughnessy
• cartoon modern - amid amidi
• make it bigger - paula scher
• fingerprint - chen design associates

i hope i'll have time to read them all.

i start to learn to screenprint & use a letterpress next week!