So I'm sitting in the school library... with internet. This Sprint thing works quite well, except upload speeds are extremely (very very very) slow. But still, it works. 
Need to save this link - 960.gs/. Looks like a useful tool, I'll have to try it out.
So school starts tomorrow. I have physics, AP English, AP calculus, and some world history class.
The sheer number of amazing songs featured in Hardcore Underground Vol.2 is staggering. My previous favorite, Masif Hardcore 2008, does not even come close. Speaking of good things, my mouse, a Logitech MX Revolution, still impresses me each time I use it. The free-spinning scrollwheel, the dual purpose thumbwheel, and the forward, back, and search button have all become a vital part of my computer activities. Every button has been utilized countless times, saving a huge amount of time. </product praise>
Just found BuzzFeed, and it looks like a useful application. Its layout reminds me of Filer, an application I made just about a year ago – grabup.com/upload....
Very nice site and array of work at arias.ca. The method of navigating is a little gimmicky though. Still, yellow is a nice color. That site uses yellow. That site is nice.
This website's method of displaying information really impressed me – erwinbauer.com/. Interesting concept.
I always forget about the Australian Hardcore Show Tuesday nights. Time to set up iCal to send me an email remainder.
Proxima Nova is what I want to buy. Thin and Thin Italic........
Why are fonts so expensive? $30 per weight, and one font may have 7 weights! There should be student pricing or something. Twice now I've resorted to buying the semi-light weight (which ever that is for that typeface–thin, light, book, etc.) and using Illustrator's stroke feature. The amount of money a designer makes far outweighs the cost of the font, which justifies the $30/weight cost. But for people like me who won't be making any money using the fonts (or not much at least), some other alternative cost should be available. Student font pricing, anyone?
White, Silver, Gold, Black, Purple is a winning combo. White base, Silver background, Gold highlights, Black dividers, and Purple accents all work to create a well balanced design. I can only imagine how much better it would look in print rather than screen with real gold foil, or at least some metallic shine.
StudioPD, now in white!
Short custom phrase, oh I'm kidding btw so don't think I'm serious hehe just kidding this really isn't a joke not you are gullible
Time for more links. madebysofa.com/. I'm pretty sure that's a new design. flickr.com/photos.... And here's an amazing cake: farm3.static.flic....
I wonder if Facebook can read this. I just added an RSS feed that aggregates these mini-posts. Update: Yep, it looks like Facebook can.
Although not personal, an occurrence that happens often regarding unequal racial treatment is the common, “It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?” Had racism toward African-Americans not taken place in the extreme level it did, this phrase would not be used. Although it’s use is sometimes justified, many times it is incorrect and annoying.
Writing allows us to illustrate events, thoughts, and ideas. Each piece of writing has its own style, its own effect, even if its subject has been written about numerous times before. Writing allows us to introduce new angles of a situation. Each angle brings something new to the table; past events, misunderstandings, and personal anecdotes all influence one’s writing.
So why write? To put it simply, we write to be heard, to inform, to convince. We write to call attention to something. And once an audience is listening, we can show our discovery, our perspective, that would have otherwise been ignored.
Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” illustrates just that. Woolf puts emphasis on using “the moth” rather than “a moth.” One normally would not take notice of an insignificant moth, let alone one that will soon be lifeless. Woolf, instead, decided to construct an essay, giving the moth importance and meaning. Rather than pass the moth over without consideration, Woolf says there is something special about it. She convinces us of this through her representation, evaluation, and speculation of the moth, pulling readers into the once seemingly meaningless event.
O’Brien’s The Things They Carried informs us of the truths of war. War is usually depicted as fast paced shooting, explosions, and booming sounds. O’Brien’s novel shows another side of war. Only one instance of “fast paced shooting, explosions, and booming sounds” exists throughout the work, and even then is distant from actual war; the silence is too much for the soldiers to handle, eventually leading to a full-blown assault on nothing. “Mellow, man. We got ourselves a nice mellow war today,” says Ted Lavender of Alpha Company.
Writing can be difficult; convincing readers or correcting a common misconception can be a grueling task. Yet, despite the expected obstacle, we feel compelled to amend the false understanding existing in others.
Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” aims to educate readers of the “real” Africa. By focusing on Ibo culture and customs, Achebe shows African practices are sophisticated and thoughtful, unlike those of the “primitive tribes” believed by many to fill Africa. Dialog used throughout the text presents characters who are learned and insightful. As the book progresses, readers gain respect for the Ibo village and it’s customs.
Matt Power, Joanna Pearlstein, and Spencer Reiss in Wired’s June 2008 issue write, “Screw organic. Go Nuclear. Live urban. Crank the A/C,” in large, bold, florescent orange letters. Sometimes such a prominent approach is necessary to garner the attention of a potential audience. This does, however, guarantee readers. In their article, they intend to tell the truths of global warming, describing why many common beliefs are outrightly wrong.
All four pieces reveal a common reason to write – to share what their authors know, and what they know is special, out of the ordinary. Woolf draws readers into the death of a normally insignificant moth. O’Brien shares how war is not guns, killings, and violence – it’s beauty, romance, and adventure. Achebe enlightens those ignorant of African methods and practices. Wired tells us to rethink what combating global warming means. Each of these works tell us to come back to something and view it in a different way. That’s what writing is – waving your arms, calling back readers, showing them what you think, and how your idea, your view, is better.
In Kennedy’s first paragraph, the purpose for his speech, as well as his presidency, is given. “… symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning – signifying renewal, as well as change.” The use of “end” and “beginning” represents the “renewal” and “change” he will bring to America. He marks a turning point for America by contrasting what once was to what will be.
"To be honest, I don’t really like the capital R in Helvetica. That wavy little foot seems too jaunty, too incongruously immoderate next to its supremely efficient and utilitarian siblings." (room34.com/archiv...). Ha, finally someone else that doesn't like Helvetica's R. We do differ in that I like Arial's R. Yes, Arial.
Illustrator's stroke feature for text is amazing. It's like having free bold, medium, semi-light, and everything in between from one typeface (assuming it's ultra light).
Opinions are expressed easily. Being heard by others is not much harder. Common methods of expressing opinions include television shows and weblogs. Television shows are the most effective ways to express opinions. Millions of people have televisions with cable, providing views for many situations. Weblogs, on the other hand, are the most efficient. Free services, such as Blogger and Wordpress, allow individuals to express their views toward topics on the Internet with the ability to spread it worldwide. While not all opinions are agreeable to many viewers or readers, the opinions still remain worthwhile to take notice. Those aware of these opinions posses the ability to choose a side. In turn, those listeners may go on to express their views on those same topics. The expression of such opinions fosters democratic values; democracies are based on the beliefs of its people.
More links – why not? jansochor.com/. faustltd.com/. uniqueinvites.com.... hi-res.net/.
REMINDER – Buy Hardcore Nation - Next Generation when it comes out.
To convince his wife, John Downe uses several techniques to illustrate the greatness of America over that of England. Imagery, overstatement, and contrast are used in his favor.
To list the desired goods easily available “at any time” is Downe’s first strategy to persuade his wife. “[P]udding, pyes, and fruit of all kind that was in season, and preserves, pickles, vegetables, meat, and everything that a person could wish,” works to appeal to his wife’s yearning for not only a life without poverty, but a life in luxury.
Downe goes on to contrast customs from America with ones from England. He uses large amounts – “32 gallons,” “100 lbs.” – and pairs them with what seems to be miniscule amounts of currency, which in England would have been much greater. To emphasize the luxury America provides, Downe mentions how people can choose not to eat “bullocks’ and sheep and labs’ heads,” something their life in poverty probably did not allow. In listing more desirables, sentences are started with, “And I can…,” and, “And as for…,” suggesting the anxiousness and amazement with which Downe sees America.
With anxiousness and amazement comes overstatement. Immersed in a place where everything is disproportional to a previous homeland, one is easily mistaken to claim something is better than it actually is. “[T]here was more than 1000 emigrants came in the day after I landed, … But there is plenty of room yet, and will for a thousand years to come.” Today, just over 170 years after the letter’s writing, cities are overpopulated and underfunded, unlike the place Downe claims. Also overstated is, “[T]he man which is really your superior does not plume himself on being so.” If this were true, large-scale businesses would not exist. We are today, however, dependent on many of these large businesses. Fortunately for Downe, his wife, like himself, is probably overcome with awe and and accepts his claims as true.
Downe’s persuasive letter does a good job of creating an image of America that is highly sought after. He does not point out any shortcomings, except for the trip. The reader is so overwhelmed by the greatness of the new land, however, making that fact barely noticeable.
A new version of Neutyp.com is in the works. Kind of. For the last year or so. Or two. Almost. Here are some design inspirations for us: concentric-studio.... designingthenews..... aiga.org/. indielabs.com/. noise.attik.com/. hollygressley.com/. en-bloc.co.uk/. For patterns: theinspirationgal....
Looks like my 8800 GT will be here earlier than expected. It only took a day to get it to Hawaii, so it should be delivered on Monday. Can't wait to try it out.
Just saving some links: pokelondon.com/. citrusdesign.ro/. poccuo.com/. creativeandlive.com/. rikcatindustries..... And for Textpander: mirrors.ausmac.ne...
Yesterday, Apple released it's pre-2008 Mac Pro version of the nVidia 8800 GT graphics card. After my ATI x1900 XT died, I've been wondering if I should buy another terminal death induced x1900 XT, or stick with my nVidia 7300. Thankfully this came up, taking $290 from my account. Finally I'll be able to use both of my 30" displays once again.
I want to build a collection of books. So far I have three: The Layout Look Book, 1000 Type Treatments, and another book in the 1000 series that I can't remember. I think the next book I'll purchase is 37signal's Getting Real. Although it's available online for free, or $19 for a PDF, nothing quite captures the essence and quality of print, at least certainly not a screen.
Hardcore Adrenaline Vol.3 is quite good so far. I'm listening to the third CD right now. It's different from Bonkers in terms of "hardcore-ness" (these seem more like the Clubland Xtreme volumes, more "dance-y"). So far my favorite is Umbrella by Sound Selektaz. I'm hoping this doesn't turn bad like Hardcore Adrenaline 2... Update: Okay, it's starting to go downhill. Update: It's an unfortunate mix of some good, lots of bad...
I just bought a poster from Sam Mallet, "a graphic design student from The University of Wales" (helveticafilm.com). The poster was made using lead type, featuring Halbfett Haas Grotesk and Halbfett Helvetica, both in 72 pt. I decided on the red and black version of the poster. It's A3, so it's smaller than any other poster I have, but it's still beautiful. It turned out to be £23, roughly $47. Only 100 were printed (I'm guessing that's 100 total, not 100 per color scheme) so I'd say it's a collectors item.
The Russian government might ban Solzhenitsyn’s work to hide the actions they have taken on its own people. Although the Russian government sees their camps as reasonable and with purpose, those outside the country would most likely not. The image of Russia portrayed to other leaders, as well as the common person, is highly influenced by the actions Russia takes. By displaying acts of extreme discipline, Russia could greatly affect its foreign relations if a disagreement regarding the country's decisions ever occurred.
For my birthday (March 7th) I received a watch as one of my gifts. It's usually me asking other people what time it is, but now I can glance at my wrist. I wish I had gotten one sooner. It's definitely not an average watch. It's called Reveal Watch, which becomes easy to understand once you see what it looks like. All numbers are covered by a black ring except for a space the size of one number (with a gradient towards the edges so it appears as if the next and previous numbers were fading in and out). The same applies for the minutes, which has it's own ring displaying 0-60 in increments of 5. So just at a glance the two numbers I want, the hour and the minutes, are revealed easily with no interruption from the other 84% of the watch.
For some reason, I really want to design a calendar. In Helvetica of course. And not the normal 7 days of the week calendar. I want something useless as an everyday calendar. I started on the design of one (which eventually became just something with the definition of calendar, and is now my Facebook picture), but I realized the days of the months only deviate from the median by 1 day. There are only 29, 30, and 31 days in all the months. So I can't make something with vertical lines dividing the page into the respective percentages of the year. They all ended up looking the same. Unless... I make multiple pages. Each months represents a color. Make a horizontal (or maybe vertical) bar with the colors in them, but the current month is the significantly longer (i.e. covering at least 90% of the bar). And then have the longer bar split up into the number of days in the month. And then I could even continue that into the smaller bars that are the other months. That way those would be squished together while the current month is clear and open. Good thing Photoshop is already open. I should really learn Illustrator though...
I think this looks pretty cool, doesn't it? Originally I was going to have it be a full checkerboard-type style, rather than not having all the corners meet, like it is now, but I think I like it more this way. Not to mention this way is a lot easier to code. A checkerboard would require either using tables, or clever use of background colors. But this works I think.
The animals of Manor Farm could have prevented Napoleon’s leadership. Rather than encourage Napoleon, the animals should have realized they were the one’s to decide whether Napoleon gained power or not. For example, Benjamin knows there is something wrong with the situation they are living through. He hints to the other animals that he knows what will happen since he is the oldest animal in Manor Farm. Despite his foreboding, Benjamin remains just like the other animals; he simply does as told, and stays quiet. Of all the animals in Manor Farm, Benjamin would be the very one to show the other animals the life they are living through is not how it should. He is well respected, and could influence many other animals to fight against Napoleon’s tyranny. Unfortunately, Benjamin does nothing, and everyone suffers except Napoleon and his ominous team.
Almost Naked is selling their "Limited Edition serie", as seen here: almostnaked.nl/. I'm not sure what number I want to get. 1957 would be a cool number; It's the year Helvetica was made. But really, it can be any number from 0 to 9999. Only ten numbers have been claimed, so there is still a huge range of numbers. I wish they didn't make the range from 0-9999 though. Way too big. 0-99 maybe. Makes it seem more exclusive. And it's not like 9999 are going to be sold. It is a great idea though. Surely many shirts will be sold, even if it's €25 + shipping. That's like $50.
Poolga: Once I charge my iPod Touch, time to change my wallpaper. And now just to save the URLs of the wallpapers I like: poolga.com/img/wp.... poolga.com/img/wp.... poolga.com/img/wp.... poolga.com/img/wp.... poolga.com/img/wp.... poolga.com/img/wp....
Searching "Helvetica poster" on Flickr brings up many cool results. For example: farm3.static.flic.... Beautiful. I don't know what it is about that poster, but it just screams cool to me. I wonder what inspired that design. Also, this poster by Build that I've seen before: farm1.static.flic.... I've been wanting to buy that poster for a while, but it doesn't seem to be for sale. I read somewhere buying that poster required contacting Michael Place directly, but I'd rather not go through all that trouble. It really is a cool idea, though. It's the timeline of, I suppose, time as we know it.
Playing with the layout here. I want it to look more like a magazine article, so all these huge spaces are problematic for me. But I can't just format it to not show them. I need to figure out the order. Does it go through the articles vertically, eventually going back to the top once it reaches a third through the articles? Or does it still go through the posts and present them horizontally like so, and through some magic (not sure how to do this) make it progress like so? Only problem with that is once it starts moving down further, reading the progressions is basically impossible unless you read the numbers. Not exactly easy to understand at first. Oh well, I'll play with it. Update: Changed it back, it just looked really bad...
My Time Capsule came on the 12th, but I had to wait until today to set it up as a result of lack of time. Setting it up was extremely easy. Unplug my existing Airport Extreme, plug in Time Capsule, open Airport Utility on my MacBook Pro, set up the network settings as I did with the Airport Extreme just a few months ago, and done! And getting to use the hard drive in the Time Capsule? Literally five clicks. Open System Preferences, click on Time Machine, click on Choose Backup Disk, select Time Capsule, and then Done. Everything else happens in the background. It's great. On a side-note, I've dressed up my MacBook Pro's desktop to be quite nice: studiopd.com/imag... (the link will be gone most-likely soon though)
I miss Tiger. Mac OS X Leopard is just so... ...it has too many design changes throughout the OS. The transparent menu bar looks hideous no matter what wallpaper I have (right now it's Hardwood.jpg). With Hardwood.jpg, the menu bar becomes this white, tan, yellowish blur, which has absolutely no color reference to any other window open (regarding to the actual window aspects like the title bar and buttons, not the content). Tiger, on the other hand, had a nice white menu bar with an extremely subtle gloss. The blue Apple and Spotlight at either end integrated easily with the whole system, as long as the default highlight color of blue was still chosen. What happened, Apple?
TypeNeu ffffound me. Or rather, a photo I took of my Helvetica poster bought from Blanka, designed by Build. It's quite cool to see a photo I took on another website without me being involved. TypeNeu is incredibly cool as well. Not only the design of the site, but also the content. Many of the items posted there inspire design, each in their own way. Anyway, my photo is at the very bottom left: img262.imageshack...
Here's the printer – h10010.www1.hp.co... I'm not sure how long those links last (hopefully it's not like the terrible WebObjects system Apple uses/made).
I haven't slept for 28 hours. All I can say is god thing spring break has initiated. My poster came out pretty good, I think. I would have wanted to print it in full A1 paper size, but then again I only started it the 4 PM before it was due. Buying my own A1 printer is about $1000 plus the cost of paper and inks (although I think the printer comes with inks). I've been thinking for a while if I should go ahead and buy my own large-format printer. Not only would it be much easier to print big things, but it would inspire me to create new posters (or in other words, waste ink). I'm not sure yet.
Finally done with the poster. It won't be printed though. img259.imageshack...
Posters are not fun to make in a single day. It's now 2:30 in the morning, and I'm not done... Getting closer, however. I don't even know if I can get this poster printed by tomorrow. I'd have to wait until 9 tomorrow morning to go to the printers, give them the file, and wait for who knows how long before they can hand me the printed poster. It's too bad I start school at 9:30 tomorrow. But I dunno, maybe it'll happen. If not, I guess I'll just have to turn in a CD. Kinda lame.
It seems like every comedy that comes out is "The #1 comedy". Same goes for radio stations. "Thanks for making us #1 in Hawaii." Really, with the exception of 107.9, they pretty much all say they're the best. And it sounds like they have proof to back it up: Hawaii's listeners have "voted" them #1. What gives? Mission Impossible: III is on now. Too bad I'm stuck in Keynote working on a presentation. About chemical reactions. Boring.
Basically, a normal gene is put into the genome to replace an abnormal gene. The genome is the complete set of information of an organism including DNA and RNA. To replace DNA in all cells in a body, something called a vector can be used. Vectors are transportation organelles in cells. At this time, scientists cannot completely control how vectors act. Vectors come from viruses. Since viruses are good at invading things like the genome, they are very effective ways of replacing genes. The vector invades the target cell and then unloads the DNA. Once the cell has been invaded by the vector and the cell has the normal genes, the next generations of the cell will have the new genes.
Everything has already been decided for the student, including when, where, and how to do each step. Researching is simply using others’ thinking, and the process of putting the project together has already been defined by the rubric. Groups for projects fill me with bile for they are completely pointless if everyone is to learn. Not everyone learns or works the same amount, but these teachers try to cajole us into thinking groups are beneficial and try to camouflage it as an act of benevolence. Clearly an example of others doing the thinking for us.
Looks like I'll be doing a lot of work tomorrow. I have to make a video presentation (in Keynote, so it may take a while) and a whole bunch of chemistry work from stupid worksheets. Good thing the work has been divided among two other people. Hehe...
Actually, yeah. going for it. Time to clear StudioPD! Update: Still haven't gotten to it...
I didn't know MySQL transfered the ID count in the SQL. I've been working on this on my computer locally and exported the database tables (sans rows) to import onto the server. Apparently it keeps the auto_increment count. I don't see the reason behind that, actually. If you're just going to copy the table structure, the ID count isn't necessary. If the rows were also exported, I could understand. Oh well. post count++
The new StudioPD for now. I still need to find a way to make this work without disabling dl.studiopd.com. Or maybe I should just whipe it and recreate the studiopd.com file structure. It is extremely messy...
