12.25.2008
12.10.2008
Working Girl
1. Read...thus far I've finished The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The End of Reason, several classic short stories, and now I'm starting on The Shack. I'm going to be super-literate by the end of this thing.
2. Blog browse...especially my faves in the column to the right. Check them out while you're on the clock, too!
3. Crochet...a cute scarf pattern, only to realize that I have no idea what those annoying short-hand symbols mean, and then I give up.
4. Listen to Online SIRIUS radio...especially the classic vinyl, the all Led Zep channel, and the Underground Garage. Good times.
5. Sit. And sit some more. I do believe my booty is spreading out, flatter and wider, because of all the sitting. Since I avoid the vending machines like the plague (ugh, and that vending machine coffee tastes like the plague), I'm hopefully not getting bigger. These sitting jobs are brutal.
6. Oh yeah, take a few calls here and there. Get my teacher/phone voice on and do my little pitch. Did I tell you about our holiday specials?
11.13.2008
Daily Prophet, eat your heart out.
No longer are moving images only the domain of tv screens and bewitched newspapers for witches and wizards.
Esquire is the first magazine to use E Ink on their cover. Sadly, they took this rather impressive bit of technology and turned it into a cheap flashing neon sign. What's that, Mr. Esquire, about the web being a "cacophony of noise"? Although I cringe to think of an entire newsstand looking like downtown Tokyo, you've got to admit there are some pretty incredible possibilities with this stuff. Maybe one day even us muggles will have moving photos in our newspapers...
More thoughts on my new blog interest, Design Assembly.
11.04.2008
Happy Election Day!
Oh, wait...they didn't win? What?! Next year, guys...but you get an S for spirit! (more patriotic pics here)
No matter if your red, blue, or purple, I hope you had a great day, full of free coffee and ice cream (thanks to S-bucks and Ben & Jerry's). I know I did!
11.01.2008
Arrr...Treasury!
It's pretty interesting to see the responses this pic has gotten, everything from laughter at its startling silliness to pity for the incarcerated bunnies. It is somewhat sad, I suppose, but I can't help but smile at those big ol' furry noses.
10.30.2008
83 Applications Later...
So what is this job, you say? Well, it's at a call center called Stream. Yeah, I know, talking on the phone is somewhere around the equivalent of an un-anesthetized visit to the orthodontist for me (probably if you're reading this, I owe you a call), but I must endure until something more suitable heads my way. And the environment is super chill, there's an X-Box in the lounge, and a bunch of computer nerds with awesome lateral lisps (think nerdy Neil from Family Guy)...well, I can wish.
So, I'll keep plugging away until Oblation Papers & Press asks me to head up their letterpress shop...yep, still wishing...
10.26.2008
Two new blogs.
1. Lab Partners : Absolutely stunning vintage inspired letterpress and gocco prints. I am in love with this stuff. This duo has the 40's/50's aesthetic down pat. Check out their flickr stream for even more eye candy.
2. Laissezfaire : An all things design blog, in the vein of Design*Sponge. Can one see too much good design? Well...um, no, I don't think so. I mean check out this architecture! Even Howard Roark could stand behind that.
10.21.2008
Washington.
10.19.2008
Thought for the day.
**Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
10.14.2008
Phenomenal-illustrator-that-throws-me-back-to-my-childhood of the week
In the style of Ezra Jack Keats, Eric Carle, and Richard Scarry, he revives that fantastic 70's/80's aesthetic. A-mazing.
10.13.2008
An Unfortunate Encounter with Pop Music.
And I left with one question: WHY??!!
Let me give you the overview:
Lyrics: Damn, girl, you lookin' hot. Damn, boy, I'm lookin' hot.
Beat: Same canned hip-hop beat we've known since the early 90's, looped bass line, annoyingly repetitive sample from old song or movie.
Message: Male = woman user. Female = meat.
Musicality: I don't know words with more than 3 syllables.
Seriously. Depressing. Tell me how this falls under the same artistic category as Bach, Beethoven, Glass, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Sigur Ros...it's blasphemy, I tell you! I know I'm a music snob, but, honestly, this is the popular music of our generation? It's like I'm inside an Ayn Rand novel...
10.10.2008
Time for the E.A. Meetings...
Oh, and about my discount...did I mention that I got about $300 worth of stuff today for $90 when they gave employees a %70 percent off sale items sale? Jealous?
.
10.03.2008
Betsy on Etsy.
My name: Plan B.
I'm just getting started, so there's only a couple things on now, but more is to come soon. You can keep track by this handy-dandy Etsy widget to the right here. And, dear friends, now would be an opportune time to buy so that you can be my guinea pigs, before the real people start buying (hehe...just kidding. You're real!). If you see anything on my website you especially think should be posted, please, do tell.
Oh, slight warning: when you venture onto the Etsy site, better alot a significant slot of time, cause there's some amazing stuff on there (my own included, of course!).
End of self-promotion.
9.29.2008
9.19.2008
Ron Paul = Substance
Ron Paul seems to be the only candidate to bypass all the sycophantic fluff and just tell it like it is.
How do we get this guy on the ballet???
9.18.2008
Why *everyone* should read The Fountainhead.
From Peter Keating, of all people, comes the crux of Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead. What if we disregarded what others thought of us, stopped wearing the clothes that make others turn, buying the toys that make others envy, pursuing the profession we thought others would approve of? What if our actions were determined solely by our own convictions and deepest desires? Maybe the "virtue of selfishness" would make the world a better place, because behind every job done, every thing created, every action made would be the greatest passion and the most ardent aspiration for the best in ourselves.
9.14.2008
9.11.2008
Happy.
9.03.2008
Ah, those summer days...
9.02.2008
which one?
8.28.2008
On Design
As we progressed into the twenty-first century, Americans were regularly exposed to 1,500-3,000 advertising messages daily from online, print, outdoor, and broadcast media. From 1999 to 2003, we created and stored more information than all the information produced since the beginning of mankind.
It goes on to say how the cram of information and super-fast lifestyle is taking a toll on our bodies: stress and stress related problems, ADD, sleeping disorders...
To survive this fast, constant, and sometimes debilitating information stream, we automatically edit out 85 percent of the information that comes our way. The information that penetrates these filters and is retained tends to be information that is symbolic, relevant to our lives, and meaningful intellectually and emotionally.
Welcome to the world of design. Among the slew of media, images, messages...how do you create something meaningful?
8.24.2008
A few things about Portland so far...
- I love rain! But...when walking to a job interview, glancing at your reflection, and seeing the frizziest hair ever, one starts to wonder if it might be time for an umbrella. I know, not a true Portlander, you say. But a hood flattens it, and rain frizzes it. Maybe a really cute polka dot one? Or one with owls?
- Why the smoking? Portland, with your vegan restaurants, your ubiquitous bikers, your parks and trails and ski slopes...didn't anyone tell you that smoking kills? And seeps into the lungs of everyone near/in the room below/with the windows open in the apartment next to you? And don't act like throwing a cigarette on the ground isn't littering. 'Cause it is. So get with the times, Portland. You're almost perfect, why not go for the gold?
- I went to a piano concert yesterday, a duet on one piano. I get there, and they introduce two elderly ladies--complete with white, tightly permed hair and floral sweaters--as the pianists. Great, I think, and wait for some cheese-o medley or something. I nearly jumped when they started banging out this atonal piece, complete with rubber bars used mid-song to play half the keys on the piano all at once. Clearly, these were not your typical old ladies. Turns out the piece was written by some 23 year old kid, and these ladies were playing the premiere. (Hmmm...such opportunities for young composers...) Then they played some Schubert and more goods. All for free! Yep, music to my ears.
8.17.2008
Po-ort-lan-duh.
Hauling everything up in a trailer covered with a flimsy tarp that looked like a hula skirt by the end of the trip, Mom, Dad and I drove up on Friday. Almost nine hours after leaving 112 degree Redding, we started unpacking in 106 degree Portland (how could you DO this to me!). We got everything settled and the place looks really cute, thanks in large part to cool wood floor and Ikea. So, I've got an apartment. "Job?" you say? Ha! I laugh in the face of jobs! Until tomorrow when I beat the pavement to find one. May the employment gods shine down upon me.
8.15.2008
Strobist Jet-Pack?
Check out Jesse's stellar strobist how-to video. Informational, as well as entertaining...and I got to ride a really sweet bike for it. Starring super-friends Kallie and Josh, and, of course, Jesse himself, and shot by muscley-armed-camera-girl Lyn.
7.26.2008
Redwood forest how I love thee!
So, all you who've never been out here...GET MOVING!
See all the fun camping pics by Jesse and his unpaid intern--here.
7.24.2008
Make way for Momma.
7.16.2008
Time for Some Campaignin'
Dot Matrix meets Radiohead
Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.
What happens when you use ancient printers, scanners and such to remix Radiohead? Well...this.
Be patient, the actual tune starts about a minute in, after the TV fuzz prelude.
7.08.2008
7.04.2008
The view from here.
Fireworks have been canceled because of fire danger, so we're fleeing the smoke this weekend and taking haven in the redwood forest. Ah, what a haven! Much thanks to all the firemen who are working their tails off to put out the fires!
6.24.2008
Coolest. Website. Ever.
Marketing and branding gurus One Trick Pony created this website for TCM: 31 Days of the Oscars. It's a visual tv program guide, dividing the Oscar winning flicks by decade and day of airplay. The 31 Days have passed, but this dandy of a website lives on. It's even got a mini video jukebox that plays famous themes and clips from each movie. Oscar movie night anyone?
6.20.2008
It's a Lensbaby, baby!...too many babies...
I took it downtown to try it out in the quasi-blazing heat (just wait until August...ugh). Click on the Stardust Motel to check it out.
6.19.2008
Wedding Fun
6.17.2008
Don't get any ideas, Dad.
Also happens to be a great blog entry on a great blog...check out this guy's pics of his kids. Best family photo album ever?
6.08.2008
The Future Glenn Goulds
I have the coolest nephews EVER!!! Miles and Damion both played perfectly at their recital and looked so dapper in their new suits. I'm sooo proud of you both!
(For those of you who don't know, Glen Gould is the greatest pianist ever....or at least the greatest player of Bach. Check it out. He's the man.)5.27.2008
Kits of Convenience
5.10.2008
I think the inside of my mind is something like this...
Honestly, if you haven't seen this vid for Sigur Rós "Glósóli" you must watch it. Heck, even if you have seen it, watch it. Actually...go to YouTube and watch it full screen. Yeah.....Absolutely beautiful.
5.08.2008
Papyrus? Futura? Baskerville?
And speaking of great typography (which I'm obsessed with these days) check this site out.
4.24.2008
4.09.2008
Hanging at Starbucks
4.01.2008
Messing with the space-time continuum
3.31.2008
The Ubiquitous Self-Titled Website
By the way, I think the blog is back. I think I have stuff to write about again. We can hope.....
3.21.2008
Carnegie Hall, anyone?
Bach: Contrapunctus I-XI from “The Art of the Fugue”
Schoenberg: Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23
Beethoven: Sonata No. 31 in A flat Major, Opus 110
followed by encores of Elliott Carter's Caténaires and another selection from "The Art of the Fugue".
Carnegie Hall itself is vast and simple, not the ornate visual overload of some theaters. Beneath the tall dome sits the piano, alone in the spotlight. We had the nosebleed seats, that left me weak-kneed when looking straight over the edge. But I soon settled cozily into my 10 inches of leg room, reminding myself that I'm trying to improve my posture.
The Bach fugues started simply, with your basic fugue, then progressing with each piece building in complexity until you have a double, and then a triple fugue. It was 45 minutes of fugue heaven.
After the intermission, we moved into the 20th Century, with some of Schoenberg's first atonal pieces. Aside from the encore, this was definitely the highlight for me. I love the sound of atonal piano pieces, absolutely riveting.
Next was the Beethoven, which ended with the final movement going in and out of fugues, bringing us back full circle.
The absolute best, though, was the Carter encore. The audience was completely spellbound by this piece, which was written specifically for Aimard, and the second it was finished everyone was cheering wildly. Carter himself says this of the piece, "When Pierre – Laurent Aimard, who performs so eloquently, asked me to write a piece for him, I became obsessed with the idea of a fast one line piece with no chords. It became a continuous chain of notes using different spacings, accents, and colorings, to produce a wide variety of expression." As soon as this comes out on record, you can bet I'll be there to buy.
Afterwards, my brother, Andrew, his wife, Kristal, my dad, and I discussed the show over Chilean sea bass and braised chicken, and left the city contended and reminded that beauty can still surprise us in new music.
1.05.2008
What? I was gone?
1. Starbucks is the new mafia. We went from about 4 to 10 in a year...and there's more on the way.
2. Chipotle. Phenomenal.
3. GoCarts are hip? Other towns bring in art galleries, coffee shops, breweries, and funky little stores to revitalize their downtowns. We bring in go-carts. Wow.
4. Diversity. Ethnic diversity hits Redding? Impossible! I once thought, but it seems that in as little as a year, there's a noticeable change from the sea of white faces. Good for Redding.
5. New Library! Hooray! Our library has emerged from the 70's! Finally, I can start reading again.
6. Red Robin is super greasy. Actually, this is the same, I just notice it more. I gotta lay off those french fries.