Sigur Rós – Glosoli

I’m working late tonight, and rocking out to some more buried favorites in my iTunes. I wish to share with you once again. This time, the target is *Sigur Rós, the only thing I’ve ever really enjoyed coming out of Iceland. They’re a four piece, with much of the guitar played by violin bow. Everything they do is moody, drawn out, and entirely beautiful (and also entirely in a language I cannot understand).

Now the track is a bit long and I’m sure many of you will probably pass on listening to it, but as before, I’ll get you to the good stuff. At 4:34, that’s the big break. It doesn’t feel quite as good until unless you enjoy at least a minute of the slow part before it, but the payoff is worth it. It defines huge. I’d love to hear your thoughts (and an open musical mind).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you enjoyed this, you can watch the video from their page. There’s a nice little interview with the director explaining some of the processes used (35mm film, wouldn’t you know).

* it’s pronounced “si-ur rose” (the i is like the i in “hit”. “rose” is said very quickly)
** this is from the band’s page of pronunciation

Adobe CS3

I love Adobe. It’s good that I’m already married, or I may be out there looking for a date with Adobe. But I do have one annoyance with it’s newest, CS3.

Every time I launch Photoshop or Illustrator, the Adobe Updater looks for updates. THEN TELLS ME ABOUT IT. A little box pops up to alert me that there’s nothing for me.

Here’s the little bouncing icon:
[photopress:Picture_4.png,thumb,pp_image]

And here’s the resulting message:
[photopress:Picture_5_1.png,thumb,pp_image]

Thanks there, little guy. You tell me this EVERY TIME I LAUNCH YOUR BIG BROTHERS. AND YOU DEMAND I ANSWER YOU BEFORE GETTING TO WORK. Does anyone know how to deactivate this feature? I looked in the help menu, but to no avail.

don’t write boring / new face in blog world

These two items of business are not related in any way other than person (1) was in a discussion about post (2)

(1) Jake Beaty is blogging. Go read and have your mind blown by the profoundity of his wisdom.

(2) Here’s a nice article on 12 Ways to Turn a Boring Post into Pure Gold. Go be interesting.

Mike, Lemanski

I like the designs over at Mike, Lemanski, Design, and, Illustration. Flat, textured. Different than expected.

Illuminate promo

Next week begins a new series. Illuminate will be launching. Here are the two variations of the promo. The first, we’ll call it the director’s cut, didn’t make the screen. At the last minute, we switched it for version 2. Funny how one little audio clip at the end will set the final tone for a piece, huh? I do like version 1, but it does have an unsettling, foreboding feel. Version 2 is more appropriate for what’s to be communicated.

Illumination 01 promo (director’s cut, 2.1MB)
Illumination 02 promo (service cut, 2.1MB)

favorite camera phone pic

This is my favorite picture taken by my LG VX-8500 (ie, Chocolate). I continue to be fascinated at what’s possible with a small, inexpensive cell phone.

rainy weekend

It’s a rainy (or Rainey) weekend. Today, my little girl turns one. We no longer have an infant, but a toddler. Wow, two toddlers. And how quickly the time has flown. Yesterday, the festivities included party #1 (we work in arrays of parties, here in the Wilson family). And thankfully we had some time to get out and cut the grass, run some errands, etc.

Today, party #2, the one here at our house. And rain. It’s coming down to the degree that I’ll probably find myself cutting grass again early next week. Got up reasonably early for Jason and Dad to join me for coffee or tea (your choice). The Dad helped me haul off more garbage from the house than I care to admit. It piles up if you don’t take care of it.

I’ve already cleaned out the garage and it’s only 9:20am. I think I’ll take G out there to work on his boxing chops later today. Get that aggression out before the party, especially since it’s raining and he can’t run loose in the yard. On a happy note, I found my other golf disc while cleaning out. Meg’s shown some interest in playing. Joe took his bride and daughter the other day. This disc golf thing could really catch on.

Forgot to mention, I had the change to visit North Point in Atlanta on Thursday (hence the “Atlanta reference” in the Behance post). We were able to tour their control rooms and watch a technology proof-of-concept demo. Interesting stuff. Great people. I look forward to visiting on a Sunday during a live production. I’m sure there’s a lot we can learn.

OK, time to get back to cleaning the house… we have a party starting soon!

missing Behance

So, I left my beloved Behance notebook in a little restaurant in Atlanta yesterday. Today I will mourn the loss. Tomorrow, I’ll cut my losses and order a new one. At least I’ll be able to enjoy the beautiful box and packaging again like last time.

Threadless

This is a great shirt. So underground. So, so underground.

RJD2 – Take it easy

RJD2′s new video online, “Take it easy.” Also, Spinner.com is offering two exclusive mp3s of his songs on this page if you’d like to give it a sample.

disc golf, guy’s night

Tonight was home group guy’s night out. We ventured up to Greenville for another round of disc golf, this time at *Gower Park. I never knew it was there. In fact, there are quite a few courses in South Carolina. We bought a few new discs at the Sports Authority across town, and headed over for nine holes (strange they aren’t called baskets).

Mind you, I always finish last, but I was only down by one this time. This is as close as I get to a sports passion; someone help me embrace it.

I’m now interested in proper technique, official rules, and even the explanation of why there are so many discs out there. I’m sure that knowledge comes with time.

*From Anderson, take I-85 North to exit 48B (Laurens Rd.). Just across from the Hooters, make a left (nearly opposite Haywood Rd.) onto Laurel Creek Ln. The park is on your left.

collective|four

Some really great storage / shelving ideas at collective|four. This would be awesome for my office, if only I had (1) time to build them and (2) skill.

superfluous cat pictures

This came from an email forward, and I found it incredibly funny in a oh-there’s-a-poor-wet-cat sort of way. Assorted pictures of cats being bathed. Some people should enjoy this on a different level than most.

Numbers six and eight particularly look like something that was actually pulled out of the drain. And does number seven appear like an old man?

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven.

Wool 2.0

If you like unique winter clothing, FLOCKS is the place to start. Wool clothing, all embodied with a marking that tells the responsible sheep’s serial number.

claude chabot’s Apnée

Claude Chabot’s Apnée is amazing and creative. A very fresh way to tell a story, with dramatic imagery, and a languid pace that’s refreshing it today’s motion graphic frenzy. I’m inspired. (alternate link here if you have trouble playing it back).

BD4D [HOME]

BD4D redesigns. This is one of the first design portals I found, back in the day. Memories.

Eat Slower

In my rekindled quest for health, I’m examining my eating habits. I tend to want to eat healthy, but something often derails my efforts. Mostly, I think it’s because I don’t think when I eat (ergo, I consume mindlessly). And I eat too fast. Enter 5 Powerful Reasons to Eat Slower, from zen habits. Good advice.

My new technique, throw food away before the plate is cleared.

run

I had a fantastic run today, especially once I woke up around mile 1. In all seriousness, I was full asleep… one of those “lead foot” jogs I have every so often. Two good things, however: *I picked a new route. Somehow, the new route was uphill the entire way (or so it seemed). I’m not sure the physics and laws of nature conform to that, but I’m pretty sure that was the case.

Second, my iPod picked a great playlist on its own (shuffle mode, I’m learning to embrace it)

lily – smashing pumpkins
circles – incubus
i will survive – cake
look back in – moby
300 mph torrential outpour blues – the white stripes
tonto – battles
feel no pain – sade
honey – moby
nausea – beck
quick trip ina fast machine – ray manzerek
Prayer – Distrubed
in between – linkin park
spitfire – prodigy

* “picked a new route” = didn’t get chased by previously mentioned dog

That. Just. Happened.

That. Just. Happened. Highlight from last night’s Blockbuster.

blockbuster / strong coffee / running dogs

It’s Summer Blockbuster week. What’s that, you ask? It’s NewSpring’s version of vacation Bible school. Each night, we have over 1000 kids (someone comment in with the correct totals if you have them) descending upon NewSpring. They have small group breakouts and activities, then they all pile into our auditorium for a 30 minute live drama that’s hysterical to say the least. Or team provides video and visual support. Ben Thomas is directing for the first major stint, all week, and his entire team is doing a tremendous job. Imagine, following one live speaker is tricky enough (or 7 band members who don’t move around a lot). But following a cast of 2-8 kid’s team members, jumping around and speaking at different time… another level of tricky altogether.

There was a fun blooper onstage last night that we’ll be putting online as video later today (if you were there, you know what I’m talking about). Watch for it.

It’s fun, but the days are long. It has me considering going back to coffee, if only for a few days. And When I DO go back to the bean, I like it strong.

On a sidenote, I’m running again. Late winter, I was on an aggressive exercise kick and dropped 15lb. It’s time to step it up again. I’ve plateaued for too long. My question, how do you deal with dogs when you run? There’s an evil mutt that’s come after me several times. I’m not afraid of dogs, unless they’re chasing me whist snarling. Freaks me out. Any suggestions?