Brian Eno on music and art

May 19th, 2009

In Brian Eno’s monthly column for Prospect Magazine, the veteran musician and producer notes that the evolution of the music industry is upon us. In addition to noting that more bands seem to be playing more concerts, also a great development for their fans, Eno observes:

The duplicability of recordings has had another unexpected effect. The pressure is on to develop content that isn’t easily copyable—so now everything other than the recorded music is becoming the valuable part of what artists sell. Of course they’ll still want to sell their music, but now they’ll embed that relatively valueless product within a matrix of hard-to-copy (and therefore valuable) artwork. People who won’t pay £15 for a CD will pay £150 for the limited edition version with additional artwork, photos, booklet and DVDs. They often already own the music, downloaded—but now they want the art. They’re buying art, and they’re buying it in a new way. That suggests to me the possibility of a refreshingly democratic art market: a new way for visual artists, designers, animators and film-makers to make a living. So, as one business folds, several others open up.

To his point, many mainstream artists are embracing novel approaches to releasing new music…

J.J. Abrams on “mystery”

April 22nd, 2009

Mystery, obviously, is everywhere. Is there a God? Mystery. What about life after death? Mystery. Excuse me, what material is the ShamWow made of? Mystery. Stonehenge? Big Foot? Loch Ness? Mystery mystery mystery. McDonald’s Special Sauce? I don’t care how many bottles of Thousand Island Dressing you show me, it’s Special Sauce. Mystery.

And yet: For all that mystery, why does it feel like the world has been ripped open, all parts exposed? Why does so much seem absolutely and thoroughly demystified? These days we can leap, all of us, from a casual curiosity about anything to a sense of satisfying understanding. Instantly. Want to fold origami? There are more than 200,000 Google results on that subject available to you, now. Need to know the capital of Mauritania? A recipe for sticky buns? How to pick a bicycle lock? You could answer all these questions in less time than it will take you to finish reading this article

What I’m getting at is hardly news to anyone: We’re smack dab in the middle of the Age of Immediacy.

A great article on mystery by J.J. Abrams (as guest editor for Wired)

Full-size Ark in Hong Kong

April 19th, 2009

Totally and absolutely sweet article on an Ark built to Biblical specifications. I would love to go see it. And if you are wondering if it is still to small to hold the animals, consider this.

z.

Just be happy I killed it.

April 17th, 2009

Wandering around the web today and realized Sam Brown is in today’s Layer Tennis match. Here are a couple of my recent favorites.

Heh. Poor guy, just wanted a monster for a friend.

Perhaps this is what happened moments before the previous image.

Layer Tennis lost serve

April 15th, 2009

As many of you know, I played a Layer Tennis Qualifier Match the other day. I kind of figured I would get first serve so I started batting around ideas for a theme. Lately I have been thinking about how maybe the government needs a good shot of Design Mind (it is the killer app you know) to get a better solution to the recession. I mean if Jacek Utko can solve something as dead as the newspaper designers can certainly make a creativity-shaped hole in the financial problem.

Anyway, my original idea for Layer Tennis was to do something along those lines. Here is what I was going to serve with :

Yes, that is Jim Coudal. The first company that pops into my head when I think of creative problem solving is Coudal Partners (especially since they put on LT) and I thought I would give a shout out to their Leading Brain. Unfortunately, when I discussed this idea with my opponent, we decided to do more of a lighthearted Iowa vs New York theme. So, even though we had tons of fun I thought I would show you this original design.

Thanks Coudal Partners!  Even though you might not save the US fiscal problems, you have some amazing world-affecting ideas.

z.

Matt Harding dancing again…

April 14th, 2009

I have been making a new folder in my Bookmarks called “Travel / Adventure” and one of the first links to add to it had to be “Where the Hell is Matt?”. And, of course, in doing so I re-watched my favorite of his videos, Dancing 2. So, just for the fun of it, I though I would post the video here.

And just to clear things up, the hoax is a hoax. Fortunately for us, the robots were conjured up by a creative Matt Harding.

Graphic sweet spot - Sprint commercial

April 9th, 2009

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I was sitting in down for some good HGTV with my wife and we saw this commercial. I love it. The graphics are clean and informational and it keeps you interested throughout. The commercial reminds me of the narrated animations on Stranger than Fiction and HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Thumbs up to Sprint for a creative and original commercial.

Slow gas

April 7th, 2009

I was digging through my photo folders for Behold and came across a funny photo I took awhile back. I saw it when I stopped to grab a Dr. Pepper before visiting my parents. Yes, the sign above the pump actually said that.

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Des Moines capital trip

April 3rd, 2009

Over Tuesday and Wednesday of this week my wife and I accompanied a few of our residents to IDAction day in Des Moines. I had my camera (of course) and took a few pictures.

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Tim Hecker Live

April 2nd, 2009

A Tim Hecker live video that Joe found. Frickn’ sweet!!

I just bought his new album.

z.