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Stephen Hawking in Zero G
July 3rd, 2008
One of Stephen Hawkings dreams is to one day fly in the weightlessness of space (a dream that he and I share). He hasn’t made it to space yet, but this is pretty close. Here he is seen flying in a zero g airplane at a sharp descent allowing up to 25 seconds of apparent weightlessness. The apple is symbolic of Isaac Newton with whom Professor Hawking shares the same chair at Cambridge.
See the video at TED.com
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4th of July: big explosions
July 5th, 2008
The 4th was great. I’d like to thank my good friend Daniel Anderson for hosting one of the best 4th parties I’ve been to in a very long time. Why was it so great, you ask? Well, explosions of course!
Great day, great food, great friends, great fun. More photos on flickr .
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When We Reach the Stars
July 7th, 2008
Alright here it is: my first single! I’ve been messing around with Logic and a keyboard for the last few months and put together this song. It’s available for download in a zip complete with high-res album art. The song is posted below. I’d love to hear some feedback from everyone, because I would really like to improve my musical skills.
You need the Adobe Flash Player to hear this. -
The Myriad - With Arrows, With Poise
July 13th, 2008
My brother-in-law is the bass player for The Myriad . They’ve had some success recently, but I’ll leave that story for another day (or to their myspace). What I’d really like to talk about is the design for their new album art. It was illustrated / designed by artist Dave Gorum who has an excellent portfolio that I would highly recommend checking out. The image above is the final album art and the image below is an early draft. I really love the final product but I’m left wanting that beautiful rock texture from the earlier version. It brings to mind the underground dungeons filled with monsters from the Zelda franchise. The orbiting moons are a stroke of genius as they subtley suggest that this mythology is taking place on a very distant world.
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The Ghost and the Grace
July 14th, 2008
I’ve been doing web design for my friend Daniel Anderson for a while now. Daniel is half of the duo Idiot Pilot , and with his help I was lucky enough to be able to design their website. His newest project, The Ghost and the Grace , is quite a departure from Idiot Pilot, but nonetheless reflects Daniel’s intense knowledge of music.
I designed the site pictured above and the album art for his 4 upcoming EPs below. There’s a mash-up that Dan recently posted on his excellent blog at the very bottom.
You need the Adobe Flash Player to hear this.It Takes Time to Videotape (Daniel Anderson Mix)
Almost forgot. Dan and my friend David Drori and I also made a promotional video for The Ghost and the Grace. Here it is:
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Frank Lloyd Wright - On Architecture
July 15th, 2008
Yesterday I picked up this book at a used book store downtown. I’ve never read Wright before so when I saw this beautiful cover looking out at me I knew that I needed to. It’s a chronological selection of his writing broken up into several sections with regards to his changing environment, philosophy, and style. So far I’ve only read his earliest works from his early 20s to early 30s, around the turn of the century.
Nearly every paragraph is quotable. Wright’s pen spews forth insight even when the subject may not be exclusively architectural in nature. Take this for example:
“Useful Things. Avoid all things which have no real use or meaning, and make those which have especially significant, for there is no one part of your building that may not be made a thing of beauty in itself as related to the whole.”
and this:
“Decoration. Decoration can tell your friends lots of things that you do not know and would not like if you did. It is of no use to you unless you do understand and appreciate it. It would not be sufficient justification for you to have it just because it looks rich or because somebody else had it.”
-Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture and the Machine 1894
Incedently, my great great grandfather William Gates lived in Chicago and became good friends with Wright and even commissioned him to create original pottery for his Terra Cotta Company better known as TECO . I haven’t had a chance to visit Chicago yet, but my sister has recently relocated there so I am planning to go.
I hope this can be an ongoing theme of discussion here as I continue to learn about architecture and share my findings. Please feel free to send in related information.
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The Architecture of Happiness
July 17th, 2008
I was revisiting this excellent introduction to architecture today to compare it with F.L. Wright’s essays . One of my favorite things about architecture is how it marries mathematics and logic with art and humanity. But it wasn’t always this way. Botton writes:
“The principles of engineering may have brutally contradicted those of architecture, but a vocal minority of nineteenth-century architects nevertheless perceived that the engineers were capable of providing them with a critical key to their salvation — for what these men had, and they so sorely lacked, was certainty. The engineers had landed on an apparently impregnable method of evaluating the wisdom of a design: they felt confidently able to declare that a structure was correct and honest in so far as it performed its mechanical functions efficiently; and false and immoral in so far as it was burdened with non-supporting pillars, decorative statues, frescos or carvings.”
-Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
This idea of simplification by reducing beauty and utility into the same structures is fascinating to me. In my last post I quoted Wright speaking about “useful things” and I think this is what he was talking about.
I often times find myself considering the similarities between architecture and web design. Both mediums are interactive, permeable, and require the marriage of style and function. I wonder who I am, the architect or the engineer? The graphic artist or the developer? Great designers are both.
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Scrapbook #1
July 18th, 2008
I’m going to start posting some of my favorite designers and designs in a series called “Scrapbook”. This post we’ll be looking at the work of two of my friends from Spokane. Karli Fairbanks and Nick Tibbetts.
Karli Fairbanks
Karli and I met in the graphic design program at Spokane Falls CC. She has a really beautiful hand-crafted look to her work. I particularly like her hand lettered type. Always unique and appropriate for the design. Many more pieces on her website and flickr.
Nick Tibbetts
I met Nick through Karli and we instantly hit it off. He and I share a love for flat-colors whether it be for screen printing or poster art. This is one of my absolute favorite illustrations. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Nick’s myspace has more of his work. TeeVee is the former name of Nick’s band, now called Oil of Angels .
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Japan, I Love You
July 19th, 2008
Last night my friend Taylor had me listen to Yellow Magic Orchestra, a Japanese band from the late 70s, early 80s. I really can’t explain how excellent they are, except to say that they may be the Japanese DEVO (although, slightly subdued). Check this video:
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Rydeen
After exhausting all of their videos on youtube, I ran into this band. A more modern, pop version of YMO, Polysics. Self described as “technicolor pogo punk”. There are no words, just watch.
Polysics - I My Me Mine
Polysics - Black Out Fall Out
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A. G. Rizzoli
July 24th, 2008
My sister introduced me to this artist several years ago, and my recently acquired interest in architecture reminded me of his work. Achilles Rizzoli is an excellent example of what the human mind can accomplish when creativity and imagination are given ample time. Although the most of his body of work was drafted between 1935 and 1944, Rizzoli went undiscovered until 1990!
Achilles worked as an architect for a firm in San Francisco where he was a sufficient, but otherwise normal draftsman. However, his own architectural work was far more than just sufficient, it was magnificent. He would, during his free time, construct an elaborate fantasy world of exquisite buildings. Many being architectural caricatures of his friends and family.
Rizzoli would occasionally make the front room of his home into museum called the “Achilles Techtonic Exhibit”. Visitors that gave compliments or befriended Achilles would often return to find that they too had been depicted as a mansion or castle.
I particularly like the building at left. Notice the how symetrical it appears overall, but up close (click for a larger version) it isn’t at all. And, in addition to the building itself, all the intricate notes and excellent typography really pull it together.
I’ve ordered a collection of his work called “A. G. Rizzoli: Architect of Magnificent Visions” and should receive it soon. I’ll post some pictures when it gets here.
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David Drori’s “Sand”
July 26th, 2008
In the summer of 2006 my good friend David Drori set out to make a short film named “Sand”. I was lucky enough to be there to chronicle the experience and to help out with the production.
Sand is probably my favorite video project from our group of friends and probably the most commonly misinterpreted. From the youtube description: “A man initially rejects and eventually yields to his compulsive behavior.”
David was recently accepted into the film program at Syracuse University and will be leaving Bellingham and the apartment we share August 8th. I wish him the best of luck and can’t wait to see the accomplishments that he will surely make.
The terrific score for this film was composed by our friend Daniel Anderson .
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A. G. Rizzoli: Architect of Magnificent Visions
July 30th, 2008
I received my A.G. Rizzoli book in the mail today. It’s an excellent book. It includes a history of Rizzoli and many hard to find drawings. Highly recommended.
I posted about Rizzoli last week with more pictures of his work.
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Helvetica
July 30th, 2008
Helvetica is a documentary about, well, Helvetica. That font that is all around us, utterly ubiquitous, completely invisible to the unknowing eye. Is it the mind-numbing tool of Big Brother, or Modernism’s weapon against disorder?
Some people like it and some people hate it, but one thing’s clear: everyone has an opinion.
I personally love using the font as a base for logo design. The letter forms are so geometric and consistent. It reminds me of the creative trance I would get into as a child when I would sit for hours stacking legos together, taking the small pieces and making more and more complex designs. It’s a very comforting feeling.
The director of Helvetica , Gary Hustwit, has another documentary in the works called Objectified about industrial design. I’m excited.
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