“The very mundanity of Kelly’s performance leads to my second, sadder conclusion about his presence at Pitchfork: That the formerly Chicago-now Brooklyn-based brains and businessmen behind the festival and the Webzine, … just don’t think that the music we embrace means anything at all in the real world. It’s just a cool, digitally stored backing track for your oh-so-hip and groovy lifestyle at home, and every bit the ideal tool in concert for marketing and money-making that we see at the festival’s larger corporate cousin, Lollapalooza.” Here’s Jim Derogatis’ insightful review of the Pitchfork fest in Chicago, and a critique of the mainstream music industry as well with the whole “irony thing” going on. Although irony can elicit personal and cultural emotions, it’s a double-edged sword. On some … Read More
“How Buildings Learn” A documentary on the evolution of buildings
Right–well, you may have noticed as of late I’ve been on an architecture kick for my consumable media consumption activities. I stumbled upon this 1997 BBC series that tracks how certain buildings adapt to future uses, and how others totally fail at future flexibility–most often the victims of egocentric architects and rigid expectations of future behavior of their users. Above is the first episode, “Flow” which gives an introduction to presenter Stewart Brand’s thesis, which is loosely that buildings need to learn and adapt. The rest in the series are embedded after the jump. Stewart Brand is quite the character, as it turns out. From his official biography, we see he’s been part of things like the Whole Earth Catalog (one of the first hippie lifestyle companies), which … Read More
History of industrial design lectures by Matthew Bird at RISD
Here are some selected Industrial Design lectures by Matthew Bird from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has a self-deprecating sense of humor, which you can really see in “Bauhaus to Broadway” (below). The first one, above, is “Josiah Wedgwood for Industrial Designers”: Josiah Wedgwood was a tireless innovator who introduced and employed many important components of what designers still do. Or SHOULD do. This is an overview of Josiah Wedgwood’s work, with a focus on how it shows evidence of early Industrial Design thinking and process. And the first Chia Pet!
“Building the Victorian City: Splendour and Squalour,” a lecture by Professor Simon Thurley [56:09]
I like architecture and urban planning, so you can see why I am intrigued by this lecture delivered from Gresham College (who has been all about talks open to the public since 1597 [!]) by Proffesor Thurley. This is totally one of those things you can put on and then walk away from, since there are only a few slides, and mostly a bunch of talking. It traces the history of worker housing in Victorian Britain that sprung from the industrial revolution, but you will notice there are quite a few U.S. parallels, especially their take on light wells in the slums–the deleterious absence of which (amongst a gigantic amount of other basic things) was so famously documented in New York City by Jacob Riis in How the … Read More
Benn Jordan creates an alternative score for "The Living Planet" in front of a live audience
Here’s an article I wrote for CDM about Benn Jordan who’s live-scoring said TV show at Sonotheque tomorrow (May 5). Commercial music producer Benn Jordan (recording as The Flashbulb) stumbled upon David Attenborough’s 1984 documentary series that was, in the creator’s words, “more in touch with nature than any other.” Along with the BBC he and his crew geared up for the endeavor–and they would risk their lives and careers to do so. The result, a TV series called “The Living Planet.”…Benn loved the concept and the film, but said, “the only thing I’m not in love with about this series is the music. A bit too minimal and synthy when perhaps a more cinematic approach is needed.” Taking it upon himself to re-invision the soundtrack, Benn–along with … Read More
NFG's PHP Arcade Font Tool
Write anything you want in a cool vintage arcade font, like Street Fighter II, Ninja Gaiden, and Afterburner with NFG’s Arcade Font Tool. You can even download the PHP script and run it in your own web app.
Weekends matter with the Twelve calendar
Here is a great calendar if you love striking graphic design and hate your 9 to 5. The Twelve calendar is available to download for free below and is designed to be printed at A1 size in black. The calendar takes on the simple form of black circles that represent every Saturday and Sunday of the entire year. The poster features the typeface Apex New available at www.vllg.com [DOWNLOAD]