Archive for the ‘culture’ Category

redirect:avclub

December 31st, 2009, posted in Christ, art, creativity, culture, me

In the new year I’m rethinking what to do with avclub. Don’t fret, I’ll keep it running. But over the past several years it’s evolved. Doesn’t every blog? Maybe that’s because blogs are personal and driven by the whims of their author. And authors change over time. Regardless, I’ve noticed over the past several months (or even the past full year) a lot of what the avclub has become is a regurgitation of information I find notable or inspirational. Some of that will continue. But I may begin to trade recycled content (and the frequency) for some more thought through ideas. This may mean I post less, but with more planning.

I’ve never been a big fan of blogs with lots and lots of words. Maybe it’s my short attention span, or the fact that I peruse around 150 sites a day (and in those volumes you have to become a scanner). Regardless, I’d like to tell more of a story; and utilize video, image, and hand-drawn scribble. Let me show you what’s inspiring me, or maybe (and more interestingly) show you the results of my inspiration. So let’s see where this goes.

C9s

December 2nd, 2009, posted in culture, me

My beautiful wife writes a great post today about our family’s switch from tiny white lights to beautiful, bold, dangerous C9s on the Christmas tree. Get the story here.

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Don’t Get Married Until…

November 2nd, 2009, posted in creativity, culture, design, entertainment, music, video

This weekend marked the beginning of a new series, Don’t Get Married Until… For the visual package and opener Perry’s sole request was that it should an element of hip-hop. Listening to the 90s station the other day I heard some Heavy D and I instantly knew it was the right choice. The goal in this piece is to set up the series with “if you’re ______, then you’re not ready to get married.” Here’s the resulting opener.

Tomorrow I’ll post of the preproduction details (and a special preliminary video), sketches, and talk a little about the process.

Dirt Conference

October 9th, 2009, posted in creativity, culture, video

In November Joshua and I will be trekking to Little Rock to be a part of Dirt Conference. It really dig the vibe of what they’re trying to do; empowering churches and artists to use the gifts they have and not complain about their limitations.

I’ll be a part of 4 labs covering team chemistry, motion graphics, how to communicate with your senior pastor (disclosure: I’m spoiled by my senior pastor, Perry. Evidence here), and team organization (count how many times I say “whiteboard” and “Evernote“).

Stuff White People Like #129

October 8th, 2009, posted in art, culture

One of my favorite satire blogs of the past two years is Stuff White People Like. It’s insightful, cleverly written, and downright fun; especially as evidenced in this recent post on why white people like Banksy. If you’re a design snob you’ll get it and appreciate it.

“…art does not work the same way as Indie Music when it comes to the need to like the obscure.”

Make the Most of Office Coffee

September 29th, 2009, posted in culture

Fortunately I work at the best place on earth and they invest in quality coffee for us caffeine addicts, but if you’re not so fortunate you can survive the office cup of coffee. This article has some great tips on how to brew decent coffee from the stock office setup.

I could have used this years ago when I was an engineering intern. I frequently referred to our office brew as “barbecue water,” as it’s color and strangely hickory undertone (could that be plastic residue) favored a watered down sauce.

Ron’s Evernote Tips

September 24th, 2009, posted in culture

Evernote users (and if you’re not, just search “evernote” at the avclub and let me convince you), let me direct you to Ron’s Evernote Tips, a veritable plethora of uses for Evernote you probably haven’t thought of yet… but Ron has.

Dirt Conference remix contest

September 15th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

The following is an official posting. The Dirt Conference is holding a video remix contest with some pretty sweet prizes. Read the official post here.

– OFFICIAL COPY BELOW –
Just to refresh your memory, the contest will be run as follows:

1. We will give away a pair of tickets to whoever makes the best dirt mashup video of their own.
2. They can download raw video footage of each person we interviewed.
3. That includes Dino Rizzo, Greg Surratt, John Seibling, Kellen Coldiron, Daniel Gonzales, Kristen Becnel, Randy Bezet, Joe Champion, Stovall Weems and a whole lot more.
4. Post their own video on vimeo and their blog…and also give us a link and we’ll judge all the videos and give away tickets the last week of September.
5. They can use whatever effects or music they want.

The contest starts today and will end on October 1.

The files for the contest can be found here:

(Sample footage (4.7 MB))

Remix Kit (140.9 MB)

Bashnia Tatlina Tower Bawher

September 10th, 2009, posted in creativity, culture

I don’t know the history behind this piece, but I understand it to be Russian. I love the fact that it’s just… so… unique. It’s not 3D. There’s no techno music. It almost feels hand made. But somehow it has a frantic pace that conveys so much emotion. And a beautiful color palette that evokes nostalgia. This might be my favorite mograph piece of the week.

Street art with masking tape

August 27th, 2009, posted in creativity, culture

Now this looks like a good way to have some feels-kinda-dangerous-but-really-is-benign fun, making street art with masking tape.

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Könecke Advent Sausage

August 26th, 2009, posted in culture

This year for the holidays I want to take my family through this, the Könecke Advent Sausage.

Typography sequencing

August 23rd, 2009, posted in creativity, culture, design, music, tech

I see what they’re doing over at Meek.FM and I dig it.

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Portable NewSpring

August 19th, 2009, posted in Christ, culture

“But wait, I thought you were in a building, now?” That may be true for our Anderson campus, but we spent six years doing setup/teardown and we’re quite familiar with the portable church method. In fact, our Greenville and Florence campuses perform this setup nearly every week. Would you like a sneak peek into what it takes to make it happen? Kevin, our video producer over at the Greenville campus, shot this timelapse the other day. Praise God for this swarm of volunteers who make this happen.

Jeans survey results

August 19th, 2009, posted in culture

The other day on Twitter I asked the question “how many times do you wear a pair of jeans before you wash them?” The answers were varied so I’ll let the responses speak for themselves. Multipliers are included to denote multiple similar responses. Here are the results:

Definitive numbers
one time (citing OCD)
2-3 times x8
3-4 on average
5-7 times x3

Sensory gauge
“when they look, feel or smell dirty”

High variability
“between 1 and 25″

Pigpen-style, or just machine wash clueless
“r jeans washable?”
“you’re supposed to wash them?” x2
“I plead the fifth”
“when I lose count I wash, I can count pretty high”

Unleash 2010

August 11th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

Great job, Adam, on the Unleash 2010 promo. Others are coming, won’t you come?

How Different Groups Spend Their Day

August 10th, 2009, posted in culture

What great infographic in the NY Times on How Different Groups Spend Their Day. I especially love how you can click a filter in the upper right (men, women, age, race, etc.) and see the break down change. Then with a mouse-over you get a details reading on whatever point you’re zoning in on.

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Make A Radish Into A Mario Mushroom

August 3rd, 2009, posted in creativity, culture

Another thing to file under “do this if I find a lot of spare time,” Make A Radish Into A Mario Mushroom.

Echo conference

July 30th, 2009, posted in Christ, creativity, culture

I don’t have long, got to head back to the Echo Conference. But for those of you watching at home (or via the #echo09 twitter hash tag) it’s been very informative and inspiring. By far my favorite moment so far was the keynote of Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales and Jelly Telly. I took great notes; maybe I’ll condense them for you later.

I did want to include some personal visuals, stuff you won’t see on their site, that I’ve particularly enjoyed.

It all started with this gentle reminder of technologies’ past.
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I love the warmth of Watermark Church’s beautiful facility.
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… And the fact they gave me Starbucks. And let me take it inside the auditorium.
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Here’s a little pre-show electronic doodling going on before the first keynote.
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…And the suppertime BBQ frenzy. I’ll say this, those Echo folk sure know how to feed us well.
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I’ll leave you with this thought from John Dyer’s breakout on Using Technology without letting Technology use you: The use of technology will change you, or shape you. You get to decide if that shaping is for your betterment.

“Warning! Vehicle Transforms Into Robot” Stickers

July 29th, 2009, posted in culture, entertainment

We should stick these stickers just about everywhere.

Eclipse

July 21st, 2009, posted in culture

So apparently there is an eclipse happening tomorrow in China, Japan, and India. Want to be a part of the experience, here’s a site dedicated to the event.