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The Ship and The Sea Artwork

Part 1


The Ship and The Sea Artwork

My friends, The Autumn Film recently released their latest full-length album, The Ship and The Sea. I had the honor of putting together all of visual packaging (and web presence) for the new album.

This image is part of the packaging, but you’re only seeing half of it. I’ll post the other half at a later date.

The band is streaming the entire album from theshipandthesea.com this week, so be sure to check it out.

ps – in full disclosure, not only are these guys a client, but I make a teensy-weensy amount of money on each album purchased through their websites since they use Backstage for their online store. More importantly: the band makes a lot more money if you buy directly from them rather than through iTunes or Amazon etc.

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Last Minutes with ODEN


Beautiful, but very sad peek into a documentary on someone’s dog.

(via Matt Gist)

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The State of The Internet

by JESS3


As always, I’m a sucker for good info-graphics and good motion-graphics. Put the two together and you’ve really got me.

You have to watch this a couple times to really internalize some of the numbers. In particular, Facebook’s overall dominance is simply staggering.

(via @micah)

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Yeah, I’m posting this one for me.

(via @skaw)

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

Bryan Dyson, Very Short But Amazing Speech by Coca Cola CEO Bryan Dyson

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(+ why Facebook, Google, & Apple will own your wallet by 2015)

This might be a bit of a ramble-rant, but there are many moments of brilliance in here. At the same time, I think a lot of this stuff is simply common sense. The whole, venture-funded-we’re-not-really-sure-how-we-make-money-and-sure-as-hell-hope-Google-buys-us-model never made sense to me.

Bonus:Newsflash folks: The Internet does NOT want to be FREEIt wants to GET PAID on Fucking Friday, just like everybody else on the damn planet.”

(via Spencer Fry)

Surprise, surprise… most people don’t like to pay you squat unless they have no other choice. And aside from the user’s disinclination to pull out their wallet, there’s also the problem of wallet friction itself—payment conversion is shitty for many reasons other than just price. Mainly it’s because we can’t remember our password. I’ll repeat that about a million times in this post so you don’t forget.

WE. CAN’T. REMEMBER. PASSWORDS.

Dave McClure, Subscriptions are the New BLACK.

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More often than not, I think the search for “authenticity” is nothing more than a name for our search for a specific culture or way of life that we might enjoy. We label it authentic because it validates our desire to live a certain way. And, in our heads, it continues to be an authentic way of life even as we compromise our own beliefs and declarations of what is authentic as our preferences and state in life changes.

Everyone defines authenticity differently. And everyone’s definition changes over time.

The stream of hipsters (which, per the SoHo model, gradually turns to young professionals, then the occasional lawyer, then hedge-funders) “pioneering” new neighborhood with a more classic, chain-store-less urban feel harms the areas both by dramatically driving-up the cost of living and generating a new and oppressive ideal of taste.

… the hunt for authenticity is inevitably followed up with lobbies for new zoning laws, and Starbucks, condos, IKEAs, and strangely hip sushi bars begin to pop up awkwardly alongside the newly formed monuments of counter-culture.

Unknown, The Ultimate Hipster Irony

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Haiti Earthquake Aftermath Montage

by Khalid Mohtaseb


Chilling and haunting, yet still beautiful. Shot with a 5d Mark II. Read more on Khalid’s Vimeo page.

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In it’s entirety, this is the best article I’ve seen about Buzz, Google’s mistake related to it, and what’s worrisome as they attempt more stunts like this.

For a public that doesn’t even know what a web browser is, what Gmail lacked was not a bolted-on Buzz that further complicates what’s already a poorly designed email reader. What’s needed is not a knee-jerk reaction to Facebook and Twitter that would make Microsoft proud, but a fundamental rethinking of the presentation of Google’s sole cash cow: search. In 2010, the design quality of its search results is a disgrace for a company as ambitious as Google.

Kontra, Buzz launch wasn’t flawed, Google’s intentions are

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Ships on the Ocean Floor

a preview from The Autumn Film


I’ve had the pleasure of listening to The Autumn Film’s new album, “The Ship and The Sea”, for the last month or so as they’ve been finishing up final mixing and getting it in to mastering. They’re friends of mine, so this will probably sound biased, but I’m truly enjoying this album and excited to see other people hear it for the first time.

This song previewed in this video, Ships on the Ocean Floor is one of my favorites. You can also hear the first two songs off the album in their entirety over on The Sixty One.

I’m currently hard at work finishing up the artwork for the album packaging, which I’ll of course post here once it’s ready.

If you like what you hear, pre-order the album and help spread the word: theshipandthesea.com. The album is out on March 5th.

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Go Do

from “Go” by Jónsi


This is the first official music video for Jónsi’s new album. Just like Boy Lilikoi, the track he was giving away for a while, Go Do is simply gorgeous and fun. In a very non-EMI-like move, you can download the full video from the Vimeo page.

The album is out on April 6th.

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My dad is currently in Africa (Kenya, specifically) working with small business leaders. You can follow along on his blog, but I got this little snippet from an email he sent our family.

The line about them smiling, that’s what got me.

…I thought I had seen indescribable poverty before today, then we visited a different school in an even worse area that had a classroom in one room and 150 chickens in the room right beside it—just amazing. 500 kids all smiling and having a great time—36 of them orphans, most of them with parents unable to pay anything to send them. They are getting their only good meal at the school…

Chuck Blakeman, Smiling

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Poison & Wine

by The Civil Wars


Props to Joshua Blankenship for posting and thus reminding me of this amazing video. I don’t know when I first saw it, but I remember thinking it was one of the most captivating and haunting music videos I’d seen in a while. Unlike a lot of videos it enhanced the story of the song, Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars

The short film was produced & directed by Becky Fluke.

Joy Williams, one half of The Civil Wars duo (and I name I keep hearing more and more about) says this about the song:

“Poison & Wine is a musical snapshot about the dichotomy of love—that while it can be the thing that destroys you, it can also be the very same thing that beckons and builds you. JP [John Paul White] and I are both married have been for several years now – and we got to talking one day about what a tug and pull our individual relationships can be. The longer you know someone—and the longer you allow someone to know you—the more the light and shadows inside each person become more vivid. This song was our attempt at being as brutally honest about the dangerous and beautiful process of knowing and being known.

(emphasis mine)

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Interesting. If this little spat picks up some steam (i.e. more public exposure) it could get fun.

Above, Mr. Zucker says the original decision was made by Hulu’s management. That is correct, but as Jason Kilar (Hulu’s CEO) wrote in his post, the request came from NBC. “Our content providers requested that we turn off access to our content via the Boxee product, and we are respecting their wishes.”

Avner Ronen, Boxee responds to NBC’s Jeff Zucker

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I might be over-posting on these iPad-related quotes, but I kinda think this stuff will be of growing importance. If you’re “in the industry” and still “underwhelmed” by the iPad’s release, give this one a read.

As an industry, we need to understand that not wanting root access doesn’t make you stupid. It simply means you do not want root access. Failing to comprehend this is not only a failure of empathy, but a failure of service.

Mike Monteiro, The Failure of Empathy

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HTML5 Video Player

by SublimeVideo


This is a fantastic implementation showing just how things might work with HTML5 handling video in the near future instead of Flash. It also works on the iPhone too (of course).

NOTE: If you’re using the latest Webkit nightly build, alt-click the “expand” icon and it will go full-screen.

I can’t wait for Firefox to catch up a bit and between the modern 3 (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), it’ll make sense to start implementing entire sites this way.

(via Daring Fireball)

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All 3 of the articles linked in this quote are worth reading, in addition to the article the quote itself is taken from.

I’m not sure it’s all as cut and dry as these folks are making it sound, but I think this whole “personal computing” thing will definitely look different in a few years.

But tomorrow’s computing systems, heralded by the iPhone, are not for DIYers. You don’t add Default Folder or FontExplorer X Pro to your iPhone, you don’t choose your iPhone’s browser, and you don’t install plug-ins in your iPhone’s browser. This lack of extensibility may not please the Slashdot crowd but it’s the future of computing and browsing. The bulk of humanity doesn’t want a computing experience it can tinker with it wants a computing experience that works.

Jeffrey Zeldman, Flash, iPad, Standards

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Took the words right out of my mouth (and made them more articulate). Don’t let talking points fool you. Very little is being done to help small business, specifically, and a lot of things (even aspects of the current healthcare reform proposals) will make it harder for small businesses to hire.

Like the administration before it, the current administration seems to have no concept of what it takes to start, run and grow a small business. None.

Here is a hint. If you want to see more jobs created by Small Businesses and entrepreneurs REDUCE the amount of paperwork required. Dramatically simplify the tax code. In other words, if you REDUCE THE OVERHEAD of small business, you effectively create capital for them through reduced costs. Not only do you improve their financial position, but you reduce that great big time suck known as dealing with your accountants and lawyers. The more time wasted with “professional services”, the less time spent doing your job. This seems to be a concept lost on government.

Mark Cuban, The Simplicity Test: A Simple Policy Guide for Job Growth

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2010 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar


Gorgeous.

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As a geek we like features and power. Do not underestimate the general public’s disdain for all of our beloved “pointless preferences”.

And then I realize: you can’t resize it.

And a bright light did shine upon my liberated face and a voice did whisper a thunder: You’re free. Free of pointless preferences and finger-baiting adjustments.

Neven Mrgan, Free

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I was thinking about writing an iPad post today (I do really need to write more), but this post by Jeff Croft summed up my thoughts exactly. If you’re a computing geek, you’re a bit underwhelmed, but this thing is a game changer. My mom could use it today. I bet I’ll want one in one or two revisions and OS updates.

ps – the “holy shit” of the day? The Apple A4. Wow.

This is the new PC. Sure, there are some things missing, and it’s not as capable as your HP netbook, but it really doesn’t matter: it does everything you need it to do, and it’s sexy as hell. Don’t pretend you didn’t ever buy a Britney record for exactly those reasons.

Jeff Croft, iPad thoughts

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