Childhood mashup

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Originally uploaded by "Big Daddy" Nelson

This is probably my favorite thing I’ve seen this week. GI Joe. Lego. It appears all of my childhood passions (Robotix notwithstanding) are all in one place.

You Asked For It counter

You Asked For It launched this weekend. I was pretty pumped with the counter, which features a man-on-the-street element that Will and DJ shot. I liked it because (1) it looked and was styled really cool and primarily because (2) it really set the tension and tone of the day from the get-go. I’m always interested in doing something different with our pieces, not just doing the same thing for consistency’s sake.

You Asked For It Counter (segment) from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Captain America in Iron Man

Iron Man’s buddy

Originally uploaded by avclub

It’s been a while and I just forgot to share this. Click on the photo to view it on Flickr as it has notes and is easier to see.

I snapped this during the movie a month or two ago just because I wanted a cool image for my iPhone wallpaper. What I didn’t realize was that (1) there is a Captain America reference in the Iron Man movie and (2) I happened to photograph it. Look on the left side, about halfway down and you’ll see the Captain America shield. What a random happenstance me taking a photo at that exact second.

Oh happy day.

You Asked For It Open (REMIX)

The You Asked For it Open is a fun one, and is the result of a collaboration with Ben Coleman (production designer), Joshua Blankenship (creative director), Justin Beam (our beloved intern), and myself.

This one has a sister version Ben initially built. It was well constructed, but its tone was much more chill. It did serve as a base for this version… which I’m officially dubbing the REMIX.

I’d wanted to co-blog this with Ben but alas he’s in Panama City this week suffering for Jesus with our student ministry. So I’ll just let him fill it out in the comments.

You Asked For It open (REMIX) from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Technical notes: Shot with Panasonic HVX200 and Red Rock lens adapter. Color treatment by Magic Bullet Looks plugin. Editing in After Effects (no joke!) with additional texturing. The punchy zooms are a result of (1) shooting in HD but playing back SD, and the Ease and Wizz scripts for more interesting keyframing.

the new NewSpring.cc

Looks like Shua is hard at work in the background of the NewSpring.cc site trying to get it up and running smoothing. It will be wonderful, it will be a work in progress, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it roll out.

As he finishes up his code chiseling, I thought it’d be fun to look at a brief history of NewSpring (or New Spring Community Church) previous sites. I grabbed these screen shots, some only partially intact, from Archive.org’s the Way Back Machine. Want some fun, put in “Apple.com”.

It does give you a brief visual of where we’ve come. I’m about 90% sure my facts are correct on this walk down technology memory lane, but if you were involved with any of these site, please help me fact-check and correct anything I missed. Joshua will have the most accurate picture.

Version 1.0. This was designed by my lovely wife, Meg, in Macromedia Fireworks, circa 2000. It’s when we registered newspring.cc, and also when we used a 400 MHz Compaq, and connected via dial-up.

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I also has an animated GIF splash page up there, too. I think I may have fumbled my way through that. Is it possible that this blinking image was NewSpring’s first animation?

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The second site was built primarily by volunteers and featured a cool sidebar that we were able to change with… gasp… a content management system. It was not unlike a precursor to an RSS newsfeed. The site also included an open discussion forum.

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This next iteration was constructed by Joshua. I think I may have assisted as well as a volunteer or so. Honestly, I can’t really remember. But here it is. It featured a rotating series graphic (our first capital campaign is featured here).

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Version… what are we up to… 4.0 was designed by Joshua on his own and featured an orange RSS icon, prominent series artwork, a three column layout. And a swoopy-graphic header.

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Version 5.0 was laid out by Chris Dunagin with some contract assistance. It had a Flash opening page (pictured, missing graphics). I wasn’t able to get a deeper screen shot.

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Version 6.0 is NewSpring’s current iteration. I believe Lloyd Gibson was involved with this, but I may need him to comment in to give more details. It is the first NewSpring.cc site to utilize a video player showing previous messages.

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And finally here’s the splash you’ll see if you visit NewSpring.cc in the current present. Is that redundant? I don’t know what it holds in store, but it should be fun, amazing, and ever-growing. And it doesn’t appear to follow the previous six version in being all blue

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It’s happening. Yes, today

It’s happening. Yes, today

Originally uploaded by avclub

iPhone apps, Day 01

Well, my battery’s full consumed because my iPhone’s been burning it all day long. I loaded up a few new apps and have settled in on a few gems.

Pandora (FREE)
(iPhone version) For those not familiar with Pandora, it’s a web-based radio service. You feed it a source song and it builds a custom “radio station” that streams music oddly similar to your original choice. That’s all well and good when you’re at your desktop. Now, this bad boy streams music over EDGE network. I can officially never listen to traditional radio again (with my car adapter).

Twitterific (ad supported verison – FREE, full version – $9.99)
Twitterific is a Mac twitter app that honesly, I started using but eventually ditched for the web versions. However, on the iPhone, this has to be one of the best designed new apps. If you Twitter, just use it. I really don’t need to go into detail but just suffice it to say it makes iPhone Twittering so much better. It also includes a minibrowser which is handy for loading up those Twitpics and other tiny urls.

Shazam (FREE)
Shazam is a music tagging app. Fire it up, point it at a source of music (radio, TV, etc.) and it records 12 seconds of audio. Shortly thereafter, it returns to you the title, artist, and other song info. (plus a handy “buy it in iTunes” link, nice of them). In actual use, I was able to ID 2 out of 5 songs I threw at it. In all fairness, it couldn’t identify an acoustic chamber music ensemble covering electronic classics and some very loud mid 80s Metallica. (it did get Taylor Swift and Third Day).

I have a few more I’ll share later on this weekend. Now go enjoy.

iPhone 2.0 upgrade… DONE

iPhone 2.0 update early, anyone?

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Boom Blox

So this is what’s holding the attention of my home group these days. If you’re on the Wii and haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

iPhone in the building

A few of my iPhone friends are jumping ship and for good reason. The simple fact is that for a phone, it should actually make calls inside our building. And at the NewSpring Anderson offices, that’s just not the case. Me? I’ve found the iPhone too incredibly useful away from my desk and have come to rely on its other features to the point where it would be extremely difficult to do without it. So I’m looking into options. The whole jailbreak / unlock / move to another network route is interesting, but a bit too subversive for my tastes (and reliability risks).

I’m seriously interested in the prospect of VOIP (Voice over IP… or Wifi / internet). We have Wifi at the office, so an app like this or this may just do the trick. Oh, and the added bonus is that VOIP doesn’t consume your cell phone minutes. Score! now only if I can get it to work…

Thoughts from a guy who runs ProPresenter…

This post is by a fella who runs ProPresenter (what we call “CG”) at Revolution Church. If you’re on NewSpring’s production team, I highly recommend reading this. I love his grasp of what’s really important and his attitude.

Rolando for iPhone

This is just the sort of thing I’ve been looking forward to on the iPhone. It’s called Rolando, and looks to be a lot of fun. I’m just crazy about those great physics / puzzle games.

Rolando for iPhone – Teaser trailer from handcircus on Vimeo.

Techno chicken

Oh, yes. This must become the new internet classic.

Fifty Designers’ Current Favourite Typefaces

Fifty Designers’ Current Favourite Typefaces book. Looks like something that should be on Shua’s desk.

Greenville campus teaser

Here’s a little teaser we put together to promote our NewSpring Greenville campus launch. Technical details: shot with Panasonic HVX200 by Ben, Justin, Will, and DJ. I took their footage and edited with some homemade glitchy effects and gratuitous twitch (how cliche, right?). However, when used sparingly it added what this piece needed to make it feel cohesive and add that feel that we’re receiving a broadcast from the new site.

Audio by Justice, “One Minute to Midnight”

NewSpring Greenville Campus teaser from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Concept Typography Artwork, Animal Kingdom

Nice set of typographic images of animals at artext.co.uk. Me, I like the giraffe the best.

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Words Are Pictures // Craig Ward

Now there’s some nice typography. Words Are Pictures // Craig Ward. Craig, if you’re listening, great work.

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avclub – Identi.ca

avclub – Identi.ca. Interested?

Photo Booth Fun

Photo 9.jpg

Originally uploaded by avclub

What do you do on July 4th? We play with Photo Booth on the Mac. View the whole set.

We’re Here to Help title sequence

I’m really digging this title sequence to We’re Here to Help. It’s very slick, clean, and has a great music choice. It’s short enough to remain effective and not get tired. Nicely done.

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