Sita Sings the Blues

I do a lot of searching.  On a day to day basis i troll the internet for inspiration and new ideas.  It’s rare that I find something as awe-inspiring and wonderful as what i found today.  Sita Sings the Blues is an animated retelling of the story of the Indian epic, The Ramayana. The story is woven together with scenes from a parallel contemporary story about a broken heart. All this and it’s a musical too…set to the musical numbers of 1920’s jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw.

I’ve always been a myth lover but this takes the cake.  It’s not only beautifully animated but the story is wonderful too.  The film can be seen streaming free at Reel 13 but you should also check out sitasingstheblues.com.  One of the more amazing aspects of this film is that it has been released as Creative Commons.  Nina the animator gives her work freely to the world to enjoy.  It’s a great concept and well worth a read.

The film is a little over an hour but completely worth it.  If you get a chance to watch it i’d love to know what you think.  Take some time today to watch this incredible film.  You won’t regret it.  Enjoy

If you got em… Use em

What I find so strange about the following is that the were made about 170 years ago.  These woodblock prints of Racoon Dogs (Tanuki) were produced by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the 1840’s.  It’s a long series that demonstrates all the neat things the Tanuki could do with their “voluntarily enlarged scrotums.”

retail signage and boating

weightlifting and carp clobbering

scaring the crap out of other people… and seine fishing

keeping out of the sun for fortune telling and more retail signage

making soup and something called a boy festival…

archery practice and turtle espionage

net fishing and moving

moving

fishing some more and keeping dry in a sudden storm

For my Kwi

Saw this and thought of Kwi.  I wonder if I’d seen this in the store if I’d buy it…and then if I’d bought it…could I eat it.  Just too weird.  Kinda cool packaging though.

Abortion and Wookies;Welcome to Portfolio Center studio week.

Before you read the rest of this post let me first give you a little introduction. Studio week is always a strange time at Portfolio Center. Tempers flair, people cry as the daunting day of their end-of-quarter critique grows ever closer. Life here is never what you would call normal…or lacking in interest and this week was no exception. Yesterday, when i woke up at 6, to start working, I noticed that my email inbox had 27 new hits.  Considering I always check it right before bed, which that night was around 12:30, I was impressed with the amount of new mail. Instead of going into more detail, I’ve decided to share a few of those emails with names removed to protect both the innocent and the not so innocent.  Many of the emails do contain some hard language so if you are squeamish to that, perhaps this isn’t the best blog post for you to read.  If you simply don’t have time to read it all you should at least check out the awesome song clip by Cassey Walters at the end. He’s amazing and the song is too.

—————-THE EMAIL——————-

Subject: Shocking info about Obama and his stand on
abortion

This video has set in stone my opinion of Obama.
I found it quite disturbing, but worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo

————–THE RESPONSE—————

My own stance on politics aside, how can you say “politics aside” when the
video and host website are all about politics and are biased against a
political candidate?

Too many politics behind it all to put them aside.

—

On a side note,

Ninjas are awesome.

This is fact.

http://www.realultimatepower.net/

—

Maybe you could send another link regarding this? I saw “FOX news” in
the first 30 seconds & had to turn it off…

Or maybe just send the link sans commentary.

Just a thought.

—

you need to make sure that my email address is not on the list the
next time you decide to be
informative about matters of this nature.

—

Looking into the creators of the site it turns outs they hate gays too. I ‘m  pretty sure they are a religious group out of NC. Here is more of their stuff if your into it.

http://www.illuminatipictures.com/illuminatitv/
http://www.wearethinking.com/main.swf
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/17/204538/024/27/517636
http://nohussein.org/
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=4900+Nc+HWY+55+STE+160-117+Durham+NC+27713&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

—

Another font request, sorry guys & gals

I need right wing ultra condensed

Its a very old typeface that my great, great, great, great
grandparents used when they used to say whatever that wanted without
the thought of repercussion

Thanks

—

Hi,

Interesting video, but completely one sided and inaccurate. I did a bit of
research and found that the group behind the video “illuminatitv,” is
actually a religious lobby group who gives money to McCain is attempting
make Obama look bad by using the sensational and sensitive issue of
abortion.

If you are interested in the truth about Obama’s relatively moderate
stance on abortion you can see it here.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm

I think as designers and citizens of the United States we need to go
beyond the sensational sources often found on youtube or Fox news and seek
non-editorialized sources of information.

Have a nice evening.

—

yikes . . .  I think most of us can spot a goose in the hen house . . . .

let’s share information that’s educational, not sensational.

and then maybe collect a list of under-used colloquialisms.

—

Info. like this is better suited for the xenophobic, racist, closet-case
Baptist nut jobs who have tried their damnedest to ruin this country and
send us back to 1950. You neo-con-artists trip me out; just because you
don’t like something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Until you’ve adopted
and/or helped place a few hundred unwanted babies then you should probably
shut the fuck up about things you have no idea about. Why don’t you try
for once to be optimistic and come to the table with ideas and solutions
instead of your very Nazi-like fear tactics and misinformation?

A woman’s body is 100% hers, end of story. If you don’t want an abortion
then DON’T FUCKING HAVE ONE.

And keep this ill-informed sensationalist bullshit out of my inbox please.
If you have facts with sources that have been triple-checked then I would
love to discuss all of our great nations many problems and successes as
I’m sure most students at the school would. But lay off the soundbyte,
propaganda horseshit. It’s unsettling, rude, and extremely un-American.

—

Hey Everyone,

Politics aside, how can anyone support someone who hates Wookies? This is
something we as Americans need to hear/see for ourselves!! Check it out…

—

i usually don’t get involved in the poli game, i’m very much down the
middle…i guess like the swiss? i like to draw pictures and strum my six
string and sing songs of peace, life, frustrations, certainly ninjas…and
yes, even love ballads about wookies…

(key of d…like all good love songs)

oh lookie
oh lookie
at length did cross
a wookie
a wookie

a smile so sweet
a coiffure complete
need i say more?
it took me
it took me

we laughed
we played
as if a parade
we danced to
Sookie Sookie

i knew it was real
our love had congealed
the day
it made me cookies

and then one day
it ran away
it left me
for its bookie

i cursed the air
but i not care
i did it
for the nookie

oh lookie
oh lookie
at length did cross
a wookie
a wookie

alright…i attached a pdf that simply informs. don’t poop politics on
me…ok?

—

Well, what a ride! This is the most entertaining PC inbox I’ve had since
that time there was a picture of Hank in a red beret. And seriously that
stuff isn’t funny, my uncle is a wookie. But on a serious note:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/supreme_court_rules_death_penalty

Caution: this is real.

—

hey. remember me? the swiss songwriter guy?
please “keep this ill-informed sensationalist bullshit out of my inbox” as
well please.
it’s hard swallowing one compare this to the atrocities of the nazi regime.

can’t we just keep this server to type requests?
respectfully,

—

i swear…this is the last you’ll hear from me. i just couldn’t resist
“laying down some tracks” over the
wookie love poem. enjoy the tune amidst the chaos that is PC.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “the wookie love ballad”

wouldn’t life be better if we all lived in photoshop?

Some great photos that really made me think…why didn’t I think of that.

made by Henry Hadlow and Ed Cornish.

Killer bugs

In researching for my next packaging assignment (a line of insect killers) I found this little Armenian roach killing commercial and thought I’d share. Enjoy.

Font Conference

Funny video …thats a little sad and a lot Microsoft. Very elaborate setup. Brought me a few grins and a giggle or two.

Feisty at Five am

Today…well actually in a few minutes I’ll be giving a presentation on form for the infamous “Hanks Class.”  It was suppose to happen a week ago at 6 am so i figured that when it got pushed back it would still be at 6 am. Not so…Instead the class and I had a really interesting bout of YouTubexploration. The lesson was about storytelling and the power and versatility a good story can have. We learned that a story is about an event that results in change. To really nail the point home we turned to the storytelling masters on Sesame Street. These three videos follow the same main character in the same story but applied in different ways that change meaning.

Also we looked at the fantastic storytelling that Craig Frasier uses in his series of short animations that you can check out here.

rough post…crazy times.

Is my work beautiful because I’m beautiful?

Just got back from one of the best seminars yet. The company Digital Kitchen sent some representatives out to the school to shows us a little about their process and what they do. Definatly one of the top ten places I’d like to work when this whole school thing is over. Great accounts. based in New York, LA, Chicago or Seatle. AMAZING WORK.  Heres a sampling.

Gorgeous Type, amazing music and a keenly moving visual language. and thats not all.

They do stuff that isn’t so dark too…I just couldn’t find it on youtube.

Getting to the point, however, the real reason I wrote this post today is this project Digital Kitchen did for Slash Magazine. Hilarious look into the world of the graphic designer and the delusions many of us suffer from. Very spot on and one of the reason I’ve fallen in love with this company.

RumblinPanda

Claire, the assistant to the president of Portfolio Center sent this to the student body. Typically, I’d refrain from posting chain letter stuff but this was just…too…cut

The earthquake was right in the area where giant pandas live.Most pandas are well protected in the Wolong giant panda breeding grounds, especially those babies, even if they were very frightened.

Right after the earthquake. They rushed out and some stayed together

If this were Oprah…this would be when everyone gets a BRAND NEW PANDA!!!