I migrated this website to a cloud hosted service this week, and have had some difficulty (of my own making) getting the tubes connected properly. Everything should be working fine now.
Blog Down…
May 21st, 2010A.R.T.I.S.T. speaks out against proposed arts ban in NYC parks
April 20th, 2010There will be an artists protest rally this coming Friday at 10 AM, at the Chelsea Recreation Center, 430 West 25th Street, in Manhattan. Following that will be a public hearing and then a decision by the Parks Commissioner on the proposed rules.
I created this image for use in protests (or you could just hang it on your wall, or keep it until 2012…). Available as an 8.5×11 PDF or 16X20“.
John Waters trivia
March 30th, 2010Ages ago, when I used to work at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco, we used to play this trailer before the main feature for our own amusement. According to a staff member, the John Waters No Smoking trailer was actually filmed at the Roxie years earlier.
The Roxie was one of the first theatres in the country to screen Waters’ first films (My faves are Desperate Living and Pink Flamingos) – and even after he became a nationally known director and notorious purveyor of smut, he never forgot the the tiny Roxie Cinema. Every year at Xmas I used to see a handwritten card from Waters himself hanging in the narrow staircase leading up to the projection booth. What a classy guy.
The last time I saw him was at the Warhol Museum. He had a show of his artwork there and a friend and I skipped our graduation ceremony so that we could go to the opening. I gave him one of Rev. Hugh Pokrit’s 3D prayer rugs from my MFA thesis show. I’d like to think that it’s now hanging in his house somewhere…hopefully surrounded by merkins and PLA memorabilia.
Best House Speech Ever!
February 24th, 2010FOX Defends the GOP
January 26th, 2010Two recent examples:
- Fox pundit Bill O’Reilly defends GOP candidate against charges of cannibalism, saying it’s an innovative free market approach to ending world hunger.
- Fox & Friends automatons defend GOP operative who attempts to bug the offices of a sitting US Senator, saying the story needs “a lot of context”.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m suffering from credibility fatigue when it comes to Rupert Murdoch’s news empire. It’s getting harder and harder to tell truth from fiction with Fox News’ knee-jerk defense of Republicans.
The idea that it’s OK if you’re a Republican (IOIYAR), which is apparently the Fox News mantra, has led conservative talking heads to repeatedly defend the indefensible. In some cases, it’s just more convenient to identify the offender as a Democrat in your “news” program.
The GOP has been playing fast and loose with more than just their principles, and I wonder if there is anything that a Republican could do that would earn them the lasting ire of the GOP’s propaganda arm, cannibalism included.
With this current case of a group of GOP operatives arrested for trying to wiretap Senator Mary Landrieu’s office (a federal offense), I’ll be waiting to see how Fox spins it.
New Publishing Paradigm?
January 26th, 2010I’m impatiently waiting to see what Apple is going to announce tomorrow. The rumor mill has been speculating for months (actually, years) about a tablet, and the anticipation is killing me. I posted a short video last month of what a digital version of a magazine might look like on said device, and I think it has the potential to really change publishing.
The NYT is starting up a digital reader division, and according to the LA Times, the grey lady has a team in Cupertino working on a large screen version of the paper. Several other publishing companies have also gotten a heads-up, and though they may have a head start over smaller companies, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Being small makes one nimble, and I’m guessing that the first issues of tablet-based digital media won’t hit the market for at least a few months. That should be plenty of time for indie concerns to get their digital on.
The tablet also presents an opportunity for many web-based outlets to transition to other forms of digital media. Talking Points Memo, which is already less of a blog and more of an electronic daily, is one concern that could benefit from this. TPM has the essential pieces in place – video, photos and text plus a strongly branded identity – all they would need to do is assemble it into a daily/weekly digital package.
Many other websites and blogs could start up a digi-zine without much of a hassle. Depending on how Apple plans on pricing tablet-based digital media, it could greatly improve the bottom line for many an independent publisher.
I’m guessing that the tablet OS will use SproutCore, which is an open source Java Script framework, in tandem with native HTML 5 video for digital files. Apple has already used SproutCore in their MobileMe web applications, and since Flash on a Mac has been so buggy and insecure, it makes sense that they would adopt another platform for their newest device. One that “just works”.
I’ve got a strong interest in journalism and publishing. Working on newspapers is what first got me interested in the design field. As a freelance designer, my strength has always been more in interface and user-experience design than coding. I’ve done some programming in Flash and Director, but unfortunately, I’m more of a right-brained person. That said, I really, really want to design digital media for the tablet.
Any publishers want to take me on?
Exit Through the Gift Shop
January 23rd, 2010A new documentary about street art, and peripherally about Banksy premieres at Sundance 2010. Here’s the trailer:
Silver & Gold card design
January 22nd, 2010Just uploaded new images to my freelance design gallery. I created this card for Nao Bustamante’s series of Silver & Gold filmformances at Sundance 2010. She’s blogging and twittering about her experiences mingling with the film industry glitteratti via her website.
Web re-launch for La Nao!
January 19th, 2010I’ve started off the year by re-designing artist/performer Nao Bustamante’s website and setting up various social media for her. Nao will be bringing her newest work, a “filmformance” entitled Silver & Gold, to Sundance later this month. Here’s the teaser:
Other Nao-related links:
Nao’s Fan Page on Facebook
YouTube video page
Nao on Twitter
The Case Against Frankenfood
June 2nd, 2010Really good documentary. Watch what you eat, people!
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