saul bass on titles

everyone knows saul bass, the father of film title sequences, but have you seen his totally rad 'stache? heard his weird accent? here he is, talking about his creative and technical process in title design. if you watch all the examples, film titles have really come a long way.

danielson: a family movie (2006)

just in case you're wondering, i'm trying to watch a film a day while i'm unemployed. so today's movie was danielson: a family movie, featuring the christian indie family band the danielson famile led by daniel smith (aka brother danielson). he's known for his totally rad 9-fruit tree costume and nurse/doctor outfits. oh, and he puts out sufjan stevens' records on his record label, 'sounds familyre.'

it's a colorful documentary. it was really interesting to see peoples' reactions to their music and whether or not they minded that their music was about God. daniel smith is really neat character -- someone you wouldn't expect to be christian, but you know is totally christian. there was an emphasis on family and of course spiritual freedom. it explored the boundaries of the christian music scene -- how it's presented and perceived.

oh oh, it was very weird that there is footage of him and daniel johnston together, especially since yesterday was daniel johnston movie day. (side note: i am listening to him nonstop.)

if you don't know danielson, they're quite good, fun, and morally sound, haha. watch this. it's cute.

the devil and daniel johnston (2006)

just finished watching this, and i am so amazed by this guy's prolificness/osity (does that word exist?). daniel johnston is an underground music legend that has manic depression. the film tells the story of his life, his career, his illness, and his battles with the devil. i haven't actually listened to his music, but the way the people were talking about it, it's apparently amazing songwriting. i can tell right away though that it's the kind of truthful songwriting that anyone can identify with.. fears, loves, happiness, things like that. it's that uninhibited creativity that i really admire.

this film also inspires me to do a better job of documenting my life. writing things down, taking pictures, videos, etc. daniel johnston had tapes and tapes of him just talking and drawings and notebooks. those things are nice to have, and i think kind of prove that you exist. yah.. making things.

EDIT: ok, yip! jump music (the album he's holding in the picture) is pretty fricking awesome.

HOLY MOLY FRIGHTENING

scary simulation with bad default type.
the wailing in the song is totally appropriate, haha.

Google Chrome, the Comic

EDIT: So apparently there's a lot of controversy going around about Chrome's EULA. In it, there's a simple sentence that says:

“…By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services…”

In simple terms, it means that anything you post, publish, e-mail, blog, or create while using Chrome will automatically belong to Google. Scary, huh? So scary, in fact they banned us from using Chrome at work until a modified EULA is made (since we post a lot of stuff on our intranet website).

I guess this means that Google owns the rest of my post below (but not this edit, heh).

END EDIT.


Today Google is releasing their much awaited (although I hadn't heard about it until this weekend) open-source web browser called Chrome. In order to introduce it, they created a 38-page online comic book (drawn by Scott McCloud) explaining the back-end of how Chrome works, and why it's efficient and faster than most other web browsers. It's actually quite informative (if you read through the whole thing).

I thought the introduction of something technical via means of comics and illustrations was pretty neat in trying to explain concepts to the masses. Sure, they could've done screenshots and written globs and globs of boring documentation, but most people would just skim over it (like EULAs) and take for granted the fact that it's working. In the comic, Google employees (in all their monochrome 2D glory, somewhat reminiscent of Chris Ware's stuff) explain the problems of current web browsers and how they go about fixing those problems.

Comics and art aside, you should really try Chrome. It's quite fast and not much clutter. Also, the fact that they even have an "Incognito Mode" (a.k.a. "pornsurfing mode") shows that they are in touch with the needs of today's internet junkies.

AGGHH!!

WE WON AN AWARD!
(OMG YOU CAN SEE MY NAME)
http://www.segd.org/awards/2008/15_discover_world.html

happy september

i love dancing cats. totally dumb.
simple technique, simple aesthetic -- nice and clean and silly.

MEG - Precious @ Yahoo! Video

found on cuteoverload.com

reminded me of this video. it's something along the same lines, except more complicated and less cats:

fritz klaetke's 10 rules to live/design by

this was from when i was a silly sophomore, fritz klaetke, a boston-based graphic designer came to give the first lecture ever at our art + design department. all of it still rings true, but i couldn't really have known until years of school and work experience. so here they are:

FRITZ KLAETKE'S 10 RULES TO LIVE/DESIGN BY (03.16.05):

1. you can't turn it off; design even in your dreams

2. a good designer can create anything from a spoon to a car.

3. you need input to give output. be interested and invested in your projects. experience the world with a visual thirst. read books, magazines, visit galleries, etc.

4. remember the form/content equation: if form > content then audience is jipped; if form < content then no audience interest.

5. tell why you did what you did. don't just say you did it because you liked it.

6. God is in the details. the details hold the lifeforce.

7. know when to help someone whose car is stuck in the snow. demonstrate that you're doing what you can. (note: i'm still kinda unsure what this means. but what i get from it is that you can't always help your clients when they're stubborn or otherwise just plain difficult. know when to say no.)

8. good people, good project, good money; you need at least two out of the three.

9. deal with the decision maker. go straight to the authority to get answers.

10. you don't ask the doctor for three options. just offer the best solution to your client, otherwise they might pick the worst option. (note: i've actually seen that happen, haha)

11. trust your gut. make your own rules.