photo: crackled baby

photo: he never called

tunes: mkf

i have my reservations about posting my songs. but why not? i realize it might be a little weird to listen to my songs like i would any other band i fancied – almost as if i were being conceited. it used to be an issue when i wasn't used to hearing my voice, but i'd listen to it objectively, try to improve the sound, and i eventually got comfortable with it. i actually quite like it now.

about song writing, i really like to keep it simple. it's super hard to write lyrics for me when i'm not inspired by anything. i had a dry spell for about 1.5 years, which is a really long time. also, they tend to coincide with some frustration with my love life, hahah – so they're all pretty much true stories! the words start out sad, or just the theme in general, but the melody is characteristically happy and "cute." i find that the two emotions merge successfully together in my songs and i like to think that that is what makes it so catchy to people. for instruments, i like to use whatever is around me.. nothing too fancy, and that also adds a humble, d.i.y. feel. i've slapped my belly on one of the recordings as percussion. thankfully, 10 years of piano has helped me a lot in song making. oh! and music tech 1! hahah

someone was really excited about my songs and asked me about my process, as if he could learn something from me.. and i really don't have a real process like i do for designing something. honestly, it starts off with something that comes from above and from within, as horribly cheesy as it sounds. but i think that's what makes it art.

again, my intention was not to toot my own horn, if it actually came across as that. feel free to let me know! haha. i just thought i'd emphasize that one last time.

listen
http://www.myspace.com/mkf

blog amendments

the first week of this blog is over, and we've come to realize a few things about our little schedule that makes it somewhat difficult to post. so, we've made a couple of changes to the sched. check it out:

sunday sketches (formerly storyboard sunday)
post anything drawn, traditional or digital
monday motion
tuesday tunes (formerly toupee tuesday)
share what you're listening to currently or post about some rad cover art or show poster you found.
wednesday website
thursday thoughts (formerly thumbnail thursday)
rant about art/design/animation -- what you love, what you hate.
friday fotos
saturday smart


we'll see how it turns out this week!
thanks for reading :D it's a learning experience for everyone hooray

Wall-E

OK, honestly. You didn't think I'd let another Motion/Movie/Mograph Monday slip by without posting about Wall-E, did you?

Fear not, I won't give away the story, but since I will be talking about the end credits, so I'm bound to piss someone off with spoilers. SO STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE SPOILED.

The ending credits of the movie show humans rebuilding their civilization after realizing they've been lazy, fat, and out of touch with life for 700 years. What I found most entertaining about these end credits was how Pixar chose to present this epilogue. It showed the re-evolution of mankind through the evolution of art: cave drawings, hieroglyphics, Greco-Roman art, Impressionist paintings, finally culminating in glorious 8-bit pixel art (thus laying the foundations for 3D art). Too bad I don't have a YouTube link to post. If you really are reading this, you've either already seen it (so I don't need to repost the ending), or ignored my spoiler warning altogether (in which case you should be watching the movie anyway!).

I also came across this article about the movie in general, and thought it was a really well-written analysis.

"Wall-E" contends that real life is hard, real life is struggle, and that we live most meaningfully not by avoiding pain and struggle, but by engaging it creatively, and sharing that struggle in community.

Also in hindsight, I'm kinda upset now that I didn't pick up any Wall-E promo postcards from last year's Comic Con.

Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips & Tricks from Japan

i picked this up at the paper source yesterday. the cover pretty much says it all. there are some really interesting solutions in here that are inventive and innovative, i.e., picking up broken glass with a piece of bread and wearing wet socks to lower a fever – that's them being smart. not only does it give you the answers but it also gives brief explanations as to why their way works – that's you getting smarter! oh boy, i love learning!

because i am a design nerd (in this sense, print design), i just need to say that the layout is a bit obnoxious – the print is all red and everything is relatively the same weight. it's just annoying to read for a long time. what about that sick green as an accent throughout? huh?? okee. off soap box.

BecauseWeCan: Three Rings Design office project

I'm insanely jealous of the people that work at Three Rings Design, a video game company located in San Francisco. Of course, if you work in an office with that architecture, you deserve to be envied. Who wouldn't want to have a giant tentacle squid couch sitting in the middle of their game room?

BecauseWeCan (Oakland, CA) is an architectural studio that designs office furniture and work environments. Unlike other firms, they actually build the stuff they create (rather than hiring contractors to build for them), hence lowering costs, but providing the highest quality design and materials for their clients. Plus, they come up with creative, affordable solutions to what would otherwise be an expensive problem (see lighting).


What they've done for Three Rings is pure genius and beauty. They've converted an entirely blank, boring, square office space into something teeming with life and three-dimensionality (hell, let's thrown in an extra five-dimensions because it's that freakin' awesome). The office has a style and personality all its own, and it's quite obvious that it was a mutual labor of love from both the clients and the contractors.

Links to photos of their work in progress:
Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 // Finished Product // Flickr

Creative Design/Hacking + Cost-Effectiveness + Eco-friendly = SMART.

Also, that squirrelly Tree Stump coffee table is too cute for words.

our first photo friday

@ japonaise bakery in brookline

flickr mosaic fun tool makes thumbnail thursdays super easy!

forehead and aboriginal art

website: erwin bauer

Erwin Bauer KEG - Designbüro für Konzept & Gestaltung
http://www.erwinbauer.com/

super cool click and drag interface. it can be a pain not to be able to use your mouse wheel but i think you quickly get over that. i love how they bring the element of print into the layout and i think it's very smart of them, animation-wise, to give reference points when moving to another part of the site. quickly, the viewer gets a sense of how this website works and how to navigate through it. can anyone shed some light on how they made this? it's not flash, is it?

this austrian studio has really awesome work! make sure to take a look at their environmental and exhibit stuff and their original typefaces. really gorgeous design solutions, here -- i'm kinda drooly. actually, take a really good look at everything, haha.

edit: i was just thinking that wednesday is probably a really good day for me since i don't really look at websites. so this is forcing me to see what's out there. i feel better about this blog already, haha.

(l)mao

he feels more confident about his appearance now.

Nagi Noda's Hair Hats

Hair Hats @ Uchu-Country.com (Flash required)



(Edit: OK, so originally this post was supposed to be about toupees and hair hats, but after doing a little internet research, it has turned into a Nagi Noda tribute links post.)

Nagi Noda is a designer/auteur with a creative flair of all things "WTF?!?". She makes things that probably belong in some upscale Giant Robot store. Or on display in a museum. Of Jurassic design.

Related Links:
Biography [Partizan.com]
Big Eyeballs
Hanpanda.com
Mariko Takahashi's Fitness Video For Being Appraised as an Ex-Fat Girl

type in motion: square

edits still need to be made. comment for any concerns or suggestions, please! (unless it's about the crappy compression -- can't help that.)

turn on, yes?