SHOP: NEW SHIRTS AND PRINTS ADDED

4 new women's shirts, 2 new mens, and a new art print just added to the shop!

TYPE THROWDOWN SEMIFINALS

I'm here to ask for your help yet again. One of my three letters that I designed for the International Type Throwdown is now in the Semifinals! There's an exhibit at the Ulrich Museum that has all of the brackets hung and allows for in-person voting as well. It would be awesome if you saw it in person but if not, please help me by voting online. You can vote as often as you want so bookmark the Sanskrit Type Throwdown page and vote away!

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

This is my Sanskrit letter:

If you DO decide to check it out in person, it's the letter I have circled in this pic.

The Ulrich commissioned me to do the event posters that have all the info and the sticker at the bottom which you get free when you vote at the museum!

•••••••••• VOTE NOW ••••••••••

KAVINSKY'S OUTRUN

My oldest friend Xander came over this past week to make a mix CD. Yes, people still do that. This tends to happen at random intervals with a decent amount of time in between so that we can find new musical goodies to share with each other. This time the album took a little more electro feel but with some random choice selections tossed in for variety. You also might notice that there are a few soundtrack snags in there. We both find a lot of decent stuff from soundtracks and movie trailers. Usually, movies have a nice assortment of bands to explore and sometimes some pretty obscure ditties. This was mainly an album for him so he chose the odd ones below like the Conan and Miami Vice tunes. The new ones that Xander brought to the table that I had never heard before are the ones in red.

1. I'll Be There For You - Mount Eden
2. Midnight City - M83
3. Sail - Awolnation
4. Crockett's Theme - Jan Hammer (Miami Vice TV Soundtrack)
5. Nightcall - Kavinsky (Drive Original Soundtrack)
6. Time to Pretend - MGMT
7. Stripped - Rammstein
8. Born To Be Wasted - 009 Sound System
9. Hands of time - Groove Armada
10. Anvil of Crom - Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack)
11. Never Wanted To Dance - Mindless Self Indulgence (Combichrist Electro Hurtz Remix)
12. More Human Than Human (Big Black Delta Remix) - White Zombie
13. Vice - The Crystal Method (London Soundtrack
14. Oblivion (feat. Susanne Sundfør) - M83 ( Oblivion Original Soundtrack)

The above CD is dope but it's only the preface to what this post is really about, song 5. I had completely forgotten about this track as I had originally heard during the credits in the killer movie Drive. After re-hearing this top-notch tune I decided to look up Kavinsky and check out his other works. He has but one studio album, OutRun and I have to say, I can't stop listening to it. I love every damn song on this album save for the remix at the end. It's like Daft Punk melded with a Ferrari and got infused with the collective power of every 80's movie that ever existed.

I especially like jamming to this while working out, driving and working on art. I seriously need a faster car to truly enjoy this CD. I mean the album is named after Sega's 1986 arcade game of the same name, which featured the Ferrari Testarossa for Pete's sake! See the concept behind OutRun follows Kavinsky's backstory of a young man who crashed his Testarossa in 1986 and reappeared in 2006 as a zombie. How bad ass is that?! Kavinsky said he had influences from 80's video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice and the films of Dario Argento. The intro and outro have semi-corny voice overlays that set the mood for the entire album but I think it's 80's kick-ass-cheese-tastic.

PLACES TO FIND ANTIQUE PRINTS AND ART

I read a very amusing post today about some prints that Steven Heller aquired in France. He found them at this little shack of a shop in Paris right next to the Seine river. This is the picture I got from his site.

How amazing is it that a little art shanty like this even exists! I wish things like that could be found around these parts here in ole ICT. This train of thought took me down another mental path. I thought it would be fun to sit down and create a little list that I and other designers, artists or enthusiasts might use to find such amazing art gems. Plus, I just love making lists.

PLACES TO FIND ANTIQUE PRINTS AND ART

1. Thrift Store
-I've found quite a few old prints and art at thrifts stores, not to mention sweet old man pants.

2. Antique Shop
-Nearly all of the antique shops that I've been too have had old imagery but they can sometimes be a little over priced.

3. Vintage Reseller
-Vintage resellers a good place to look but be preparred to spread that wallet wide open.

4. Art Gallery
-If they have any at all, art galleries are again super expensive.

5. Museum
-If museums have any, and most that I've been to only have reprints of famous stuff, want a pretty penny to hand over anything. One good thing about this venue is that you at least know what you're getting is authentic.

6. Flea Market
-Oh I love going to flea markets. It's like a seedy sideshow that you can buy strange and interesting treasures from. Knock-off name brand clothing, hordes of cassette tapes and typically plenty of dusty boxes of art.

7. Print Store
-I've found only one print store that has had anything that was actually the real article but I still look around anytime I find a new one.

8. Garage Sale
-It's obviously a crap shoot but garage sales are rad for finding all kinds of handy dandy hand-me-downs. Once in a while you'll hit a jack pot like when an old lady cleans out her attic.

9. Estate Sale
-As morbid as it is, when the old pass away they leave behind old art and I've found gobs at estate sales. I've found some amazing things this way. It's ok to suppress any guilty feelings for being such a vulture with the ideal that these are living on as tributes to fallen art supporters.

10. Online
-Duh.

Do you have any other places to look? Shoot me your thoughts! This is one that my wife found while in Virginia that adorns our entertainment room entrance. Yep, that's how we roll.

KEEP NET NEUTRALITY

We just lost Net Neutrality and that super-duper sucks. What is Net Neutrality you say? Watch this short and easy to understand video.... then I can do my little rant.

 

Now keep in mind, nothing will change for consumers this very second, but it will. This is only the beginning too. More regulations will follow now that this big one got through.

The Problems:

1. Everyone gets their Internet from an Internet Service Provider. With net neutrality gone, ISP's can discriminate, favoring their business partners while delaying or blocking websites they don't like. So if AT&T, Cox or some other ISP gets in a pissing match with let's say Facebook or Twitter, they can block it no questions asked.
2. ISP's can charge fat fees to websites that want quick content delivery. This means those long load times will go to poorer sites that can't pay up. No more free websites or indie sites which means even more hardships for small business.
3. An ISP could slow or block all peer-to-peer file sharing, or all online video streaming. So Netflix watchers and BitTorrent users might want to beware. No more cheap (let alone free) video and file streaming. If netflix has to pay more for big bandwidth, then so will you.
4. ISP's will be able to make even more money off their existing customer base. They won't need to improve service or bring broadband to rural areas because they'll be able to keep growing (financially, at least) by charging content providers more for faster delivery and charging customers more for faster access. In all likelihood, this ruling means the problems with America's slow internet will only get worse.

The Internet was designed as an open medium, not to be regulated so fat cat companies can hog bandwidth and charge us commoners an arm and a leg to not have archaic speeds. They have enough damn money. When the net is not free, we will lose the biggest tool to educate and to help keep freedom and truth alive.

Mad yet? I sure hope so damn it. There is still hope so use that motivation! The FCC could reinstate Net Neutrality right now. The Save The Internet site below has all of the info that you need to understand this debate and how to take action.

www.savetheinternet.com

WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES CHINA

Yep. All of China, put on your safety goggles.

This has been a public service announcement from my el-cheapo mini hammer.

X-MAS BREAK 2013

What did my lil fam do on this x-mas break? Here are the top three things that came to mind... or at least that were photographically documented.

1: Played lots of video games

2: Installed a new dishwasher from scratch

3: Shot our new bow and arrows and BB gun

KILLER CAT EYES

My cat has eyeballs that produce death beams.
That is all.

ICT WINTER BAZAAR

This weekend on Sunday the 8th is the ICT Winter Bazaar. It runs from 3-7 and it's held at Century II. Why am I promoting this event? Well because I'm going to be there peddling some of my prints and handmade wares! I'll be representing Tornado Alley Press, WSU's printmaking guild along with my fellow printers.

I've never been to this event so I have no idea what to expect. I've heard though that last year there were about 60 local vendors and this year there should be 75-100. They say it’s not going to feel at all like a convention hall but more like a party. There should be a cash bar, live music and local art. There also will be food trucks in Kennedy Plaza. Best of all, it's totally free!

So come on out, buy some dope Christmas presents and support all these fine local peeps.

INTERNATIONAL TYPE FIGHT

I've officially entered into an International Type Fight. Basically tons of other designers, art schools and people from all over the world are submitting their designs of a few letters into the arena to be voted on. Nothing is won other that the respect you get when you trounce your competition. I ended up making 3 out of the 4 we had to choose from since they were so much fun to play with. For reference, here are the original letters:

Since I don't know much, well... anything about these alphabets or the cultures behind their letters, I wanted to stay pretty true to the original letter form. I made the Hebrew letter feel like it could be on the side of a fighter jet, the Sanskrit letter I made more old world scroll-esque and the Arabic letter I went with a snake simply because that's what I saw first when I looked at it.

There might be others of mine chosen tomorrow for voting (I'll be sure to update and post about them if they are) but my Arabic snake has been chosen for the first round of votes. Vote as you please of course, but mine is the snake similar to the one above. I ended up changing the background at the last minute so what's on the type fight site is a little different than this one.

Mine for today is Arabic Round 1, Fight 4
Check it out and cast your votes!
http://typethrowdown.wordpress.com/arabic-round-1/