Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Issey Miyake Watch
I'm afraid of this watch because it may burn my wrist cuz itza so hawt. Damn you Issey... Your watch is off the Hizzey!
More info here... if you can read Japanese please translate for me! Cuz I want one.
More info here... if you can read Japanese please translate for me! Cuz I want one.
pretty pretty PC...
Wow... Finally a PC that rivals a Mac in terms of Design. Although at first glance it seems like a rip of the Macbook Pro, there are a few things going on here that surpasses the detailing of the Macs. Especially in the keyboard. I like how the keys on the outside have a visual surround so it looks as though they're bordered off.
more info @ businessweek.com
more info @ businessweek.com
Friday, May 25, 2007
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
So I find this to be an interesting study into the mind(s) of a creative individual/group.
This ad campaign was done for Doc Martens by the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. It features Kurt Cobain, Joey Romone, Sid Vicious, and Joe Strummer. All of course are dead... and apparently in heaven. So rock fans and christians will, I guess, unite to say this one is pretty tasteless. I can't really comment on taste since I believe that to be completely subjective. I can however relate with Saatchi & Saatchi and hypothesize based on first hand accounts on how something like this occurs.
The creative process, generally and abbreviatedly speaking, begins with an idea. That idea is brainstormed upon to come up with a bunch of ideas based off of that inital idea. From that point it is just widdled down and tweaked until it is exactly the way the "artist" wants it to be. The problem with this is that when working closely on anything, it's always tough to step back and see the work with "fresh" eyes. This is especially tough for creative people I think mainly because even when the project isn't working, the creative person will come up with a "creative" vision on how the work will be received. For instance, when the ad was conceived and executed to what is shown here, I bet there must have been a point where they questioned if the ad was in fact tasteless. They then saw that most people would look at it as a homage to rock idols as well as making a witty observation on the lasting quality of Doc Martens. Great concept for an art piece and maybe student work. However they forgot that people just see dead people being used to peddle shoes. How could they not see this? Because they were too close in on the project. They just saw a seemingly good idea and went with it.
I believe this is how all bad ideas become realized. We see this in Hollywood all the time.... for example, through the randomness of my HBO setup, we've come across The Son of the Mask playing every once in awhile. How the hell did this movie ever get made?! Someone obviously came up with the idea, wrote a script, convinced a lot of people, and made this piece of crap. I bet somewhere in the production of the movie, someone said or thought to themselves... what the hell are we doing? This is going to be worst movie ever made! This segment of my life is being spent on the creation of the audio/visual equivalent of feces! But then ultimately they were persuaded by either the need to make money or by convincing themselves that it may actually turn out to be good.
Anyway, I don't know where I was going with this other then, I've been there Saatchi... and um, Saatchi. It's not entirely your fault. Someone should've piped up when they recognized that the idea was a bad one. In the blindness of creating something, its up to you to recognize when you're getting advice from the one eyed man... or woman.
This ad campaign was done for Doc Martens by the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. It features Kurt Cobain, Joey Romone, Sid Vicious, and Joe Strummer. All of course are dead... and apparently in heaven. So rock fans and christians will, I guess, unite to say this one is pretty tasteless. I can't really comment on taste since I believe that to be completely subjective. I can however relate with Saatchi & Saatchi and hypothesize based on first hand accounts on how something like this occurs.
The creative process, generally and abbreviatedly speaking, begins with an idea. That idea is brainstormed upon to come up with a bunch of ideas based off of that inital idea. From that point it is just widdled down and tweaked until it is exactly the way the "artist" wants it to be. The problem with this is that when working closely on anything, it's always tough to step back and see the work with "fresh" eyes. This is especially tough for creative people I think mainly because even when the project isn't working, the creative person will come up with a "creative" vision on how the work will be received. For instance, when the ad was conceived and executed to what is shown here, I bet there must have been a point where they questioned if the ad was in fact tasteless. They then saw that most people would look at it as a homage to rock idols as well as making a witty observation on the lasting quality of Doc Martens. Great concept for an art piece and maybe student work. However they forgot that people just see dead people being used to peddle shoes. How could they not see this? Because they were too close in on the project. They just saw a seemingly good idea and went with it.
I believe this is how all bad ideas become realized. We see this in Hollywood all the time.... for example, through the randomness of my HBO setup, we've come across The Son of the Mask playing every once in awhile. How the hell did this movie ever get made?! Someone obviously came up with the idea, wrote a script, convinced a lot of people, and made this piece of crap. I bet somewhere in the production of the movie, someone said or thought to themselves... what the hell are we doing? This is going to be worst movie ever made! This segment of my life is being spent on the creation of the audio/visual equivalent of feces! But then ultimately they were persuaded by either the need to make money or by convincing themselves that it may actually turn out to be good.
Anyway, I don't know where I was going with this other then, I've been there Saatchi... and um, Saatchi. It's not entirely your fault. Someone should've piped up when they recognized that the idea was a bad one. In the blindness of creating something, its up to you to recognize when you're getting advice from the one eyed man... or woman.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Car Fire!!
There was a car on fire in front of my building!!! Check it out. Supposedly Conan O'Brian, Calvin Klein, and Cindy Crawford lives in the building that the car is parked in front of. To this day I have yet to see any of those three. I wonder if that was one of their cars... Something tells me no. They probably own gold rimmed diamond encrusted segways or something.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Vitamin Living
Here's some really cool stuff designed by Vitamin Living in the UK. I love their sense of aesthetic. Simple, clean, but still has a lot of character.
Tie Your Shoes!!!
Shoes! I'm not a sneakerhead but I can appreciate what it is that gets people into the whole scene. Anyway, here's a crazy tie...
It's kind of ugly if you ask me but impressive that someone thought of it. This and many other ties can be found here at Ian's Shoelace Site.
I'll probably have to fix myself up with a new tie. Probably go for the Over Under Lace.
It's kind of ugly if you ask me but impressive that someone thought of it. This and many other ties can be found here at Ian's Shoelace Site.
I'll probably have to fix myself up with a new tie. Probably go for the Over Under Lace.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Battlestar Galactica
I heard about how good the show was through various outlets but completely dismissed it as just a Sci-Fi show. Thoughts of Star Trek and Babylon 5 popped into my mind. Thin stories, cheesy dialogue, lazy special effects.. etc. One day whilst Lauren and I were bored, I checked out our tried and true entertainment website... www.tv-links.co.uk. I clicked on Battlestar Galactica absent mindedly assuming that I would shut it off after a few seconds and watch something else. We've stopped watching it on tv-link and started to netflix it and are currently on Season 2.5. It is hands down my favorite show on television right now.
I remember watching the old TV shows as a kid with my brother. We always had this love hate relationship with the show. Like every other boy growing up in the early eighties, Star Wars was the best thing in the world. So Battlestar Galactica in my mind was a reasonable substitute. Even as a kid though, I was able to see how camp it was. The updated release however has no camp and in fact exhibits more realistic human drama than even golden globe winning dramas like Grey's Anatomy (which I find to be the worst brain numbing candy cane soap opera on the tube right now) ever achieved. The special effects are completely on point and the story has incredible depth in terms of the attention to detail in the writing. There have been multiple times when I turned to Lauren and said I wished they'd do this or that... and the very next episode it would happen. Anyway, call me a dork but Battlestar Galactica is good television.
Shun Knives
I can't pretend to be someone that loves to cook. I like it enough to do it every so often. However for some reason I love kitchen knives. I like chopping things. I try to copy those iron chefs with their speedy chops but so far I chop like a retarded 5 year old with one eye and no thumbs. Anyway, we've been getting a lot of reps since the Orlando show approaching us with offers to represent Prepara. One of these reps happens to be the North American Rep for Shun Knives.
I love these knives. Before I knew anything about them, I loved the design of them. From the asymetric pakka wood handle to the interesting "layered" grain of the blade, everything works together and looks very honest. A lot of design in terms of kitchen stuff has resorted to making things look very flashy and modern while offering no added advantage to the industry (ahem... excluding our stuff of course). I like the "traditional" look of the Shuns.
Its very quiet and unassuming which I think speaks volumes in this over saturated and often times over designed industry. When things are quiet and unassuming, it's as though they're confident in its ability to perform well and do not need design bells and whistles to garner attention.
Bottom line, we were able to get some great deals on these knives. I picked up two sets. Anyway, check out what Alton Brown has to say about it here.
I love these knives. Before I knew anything about them, I loved the design of them. From the asymetric pakka wood handle to the interesting "layered" grain of the blade, everything works together and looks very honest. A lot of design in terms of kitchen stuff has resorted to making things look very flashy and modern while offering no added advantage to the industry (ahem... excluding our stuff of course). I like the "traditional" look of the Shuns.
Its very quiet and unassuming which I think speaks volumes in this over saturated and often times over designed industry. When things are quiet and unassuming, it's as though they're confident in its ability to perform well and do not need design bells and whistles to garner attention.
Bottom line, we were able to get some great deals on these knives. I picked up two sets. Anyway, check out what Alton Brown has to say about it here.
Stand Umbrella
I hate products like this. I always get a hint of jealousy thinking "Why didn't I think of that?!" I think maybe at one point I did... I'll have to check my notes. Great solution though.
Available at 100per.com.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
David Blaine Street Magic: YouTube Edition!
What the F David Blaine... Stop putting stuff on my body!!!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
I want one!
Olive Park
Man... living in New York is expensive enough without throwing your money away renting a place. This place looks pretty nice. Only problem is that it's in Brooklyn.
28 Weeks Later
We went to go see 28 Weeks Later last night. Lauren said it was "just okay". I enjoyed it. 4 out of 5. I was completely engaged throughout the enitre movie and the pace of the movie I thought was excellent... and I'm not normally a fan of "zombie" movies... although I guess they weren't technically zombies.
The most entertaining part of the movie wasn't even the movie! We invited our friends Chris and Jui out to watch it with us which is always interesting. Chris is from Long Island and Jui's from New Jersey. I find them completely entertaining people mainly because they're so different from anyone else that I've ever known. Last night at the movie as soon as the previews started to roll, they (mainly Jui) started up a conversation in their "normal" talking voice. This continued throughout the first half of the movie until someone in front of them turned around and shushed them. After that they quieted down. What I love is that they have completely different rules of movie etiquette then anyone else. It's not that they know you're supposed to be quiet and talk dispite that, they're completely oblivious to that rule and therefore just roll on like they're in their living room. I like them because they're honest people... they do what they do without any motives. If they're rude, they don't mean to be... they just have something to say. At least they're not quiet because that's the way you're "supposed" to be. I admire that. But I think I'll just whisper anyway.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Prepara Orlando Show
So we've just launched Prepara. Check out the website at www.prepara.com. They're called chef's performance tools... but they're basically kitchen gadgets. I worked on the Herb Savor, and the Ice Cream Scoop and Well, and the pint sleeve.
We're currently exhibiting in Orlando... Check out the pics!!
The last pic is of the big guys... Starting from left... Dean, Ed, and Evan. They're basically the sales people at the show... as well as our bosses. They've also orchestrated the design direction of the brand. Out of all the trade shows, Orlando is the smallest. Dean has said yesterday that we are the toast of the show. But the show again is a small one... but this still is a good sign. Anyway, look for Prepara to hit the stores soon and hopefully for a while to come!
We're currently exhibiting in Orlando... Check out the pics!!
The last pic is of the big guys... Starting from left... Dean, Ed, and Evan. They're basically the sales people at the show... as well as our bosses. They've also orchestrated the design direction of the brand. Out of all the trade shows, Orlando is the smallest. Dean has said yesterday that we are the toast of the show. But the show again is a small one... but this still is a good sign. Anyway, look for Prepara to hit the stores soon and hopefully for a while to come!
Hello World!
Hi there! I've decided to create this blog just for myself (and maybe to some select friends). I'm just going to use it to post links to funny stuff, interesting design stuff I may find, thoughts, pics, etc... Basically a dump site for my interests. I have a xanga site but I find it kind of pretentious to put this kind of material on such a site where strangers casually pass by on. This way only people generally interested in the utterly useless things I have to say can visit here and get an update! Anyway, hopefully I'll keep it interesting... =)
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