Caught my eye
From FailBlog
One of the coolest…
NPR is filled with perks, right? One of those is the Tiny Desk concerts held on the 5th floor next to Bob Boilen’s desk. They come over the loudspeaker sometimes just five minutes before one of these concerts starts and there is a mad rush (well…. a determined walk) to the skinny end of the building.
One of the people I was able to see this summer was K’Naan, who I had previously never heard of. He’s alright. Not a musical genius, but he’s definitely someone to watch:
Hello Old Friend
Hello again, Internet and Webby people. I’ve been away from the 1s and 0s for awhile now… I spent this past weekend graduating from American University. Well, “fake” graduating. I’m almost done with my Master’s, but I have two classes to take over the summer. American, wanting to save some money and time, no doubt, does not want to have a graduation ceremony in August. As such, I graduated two days ago.
Kinda.
I’m working at J-Lab for the rest of May, and as of June 1 I will be an intern at NPR for the ombudsman. Should be sweet.
My first summer class started last night: Producing Video for the Web. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect class, seriously. I will be learning how to come up with budgets and plans to produce Web videos, but not about how to shoot, which I’d like to think I already know how to do. At least a little.
My younger cousin Ashlee is still in town, and tonight I will be dragging her along to the lowercase, an event sponsored by Capitol Letters. See you (again) soon, Big Bear Cafe.
Clickity Clickity
Here are some more links for your viewing pleasure.
Also, I’m trying to come up with a video idea for The Bucket List: our final issue of the American Observer. I wanted to do something with Metro, but it looks like that’s a no-go. I can’t decide what to do now. Oh wait! I may just have a new idea. It has to do with a little photo I took for our first Observer assignment last semester, when Mark brought in the photo of the door. (That’s really a reminder note for me, not for you.)
1. Oh my god. It even has a watermark. Haha. I love that line. Great business cards here.
2. 50 great examples of infographics. I want to make pretties, too!!
3. We Love Typography. And so can you!
4. Along those same lines, 50 original works featuring the loveliest of lovely, Helvetica.
5. Is This Your Luggage? Kind of crazy… this guy buys lost luggage at auctions and then goes through the contents and puts it all online so people can try to find their lost bags. Voyeuristic? You betcha.
6. Manuel and I watched this video in rapt attention last week. A little robot tries to cross the park. It will give you warm fuzzies.
7. Men are stupid, women are crazy. “I’m pursuing security in search of solace, and hitting the bars at night to grab some solace in hopes of feeling secure.” I know, just read it.
8. Egotistical deer think they are always making your day. Sadly, so true.
9. Photobomb makes me giggle. I’m trying to dig up one that happened with Amy and I.. hmms.
10. I asked Coworker Craig for his contribution this week. He told me about his friend that’s in a poker tournament. Good for him. Lame contribution, Craid.
Small World
A couple of weeks ago I posted a link to Scanwiches, where someone was scanning in photos of sandwiches. I thought it was awesome and moved on.
Turns out it’s a friend of mine from high school, Jon Chonko, who was doing those scans. Go figure.
Glad to see Chonko is still as creative and quirky as he was when we all walked the halls of Wimberley High School.
Oh yes. They did.
Remember I told you Coworker Craig was obsessed with the Rock-afire Explosion? He found this one today:
File This Under ‘Distracting’
Thank you, Lindy West of The Stranger, for writing this. It made me smile, especially that person who wrote about people who watch Two and a Half Men in the comments section. Sadly, the person I date loves that show. Sigh.
The Different Kinds of People That There Are. Read this.
People Who Complain About the Printed Seattle P-I Going Under Even Though They Never, Ever Used to Read the Seattle P-I
You know what? That’s called “heart in the right place.” Don’t even sweat it.
and
Wizards
Assholes with beards who do magic. In modern times, wizards look just like normal people, because they’ve learned to wear tracksuits and tuxedos over their robes. This means that wizards could be anywhere. Can you trust the people you work with not to be wizards?
Russians
Citizens of Russia. The sworn enemies of wizards.
Russian Wizards
Don’t be ridiculous.
Clickity Clickity #2
Okay, so it’s been a busy week. I haven’t had much time to blog because of various interviews for internships. A few of you already know who I have decided to go with, but I’m waiting until Monday to make the announcement to the world.
While you ponder my next endeavor, enjoy some links:
1. Arial is everywhere! Created in 1982, this font can be found in many different logos and signs around the globe.
2. Sphere Logos, and why you shouldn’t use them. Personally, I see nothing wrong with a good sphere, but that’s because I’ve been inspired by…
3. Pinback buttons lately. A friend of mine writes for USA Today’s On Politics blog, and they use a pinback button design in their logo. They’re kind of fun, huh?
4. Python Tutorials. We learned a little bit of this programming language in Computer Assisted Reporting this past week. I’m kind of intrigued. I want to learn more, so I tracked down this site with a bunch of tutorials. It has a unicorn on it. No, seriously. Go look.
5. How to Start (or start-over) Your Personal Brand. I’ve been thinking lots about business stuff lately, probably because Richie is starting his own company. I’ll have to show y’all the logos I’m doing for him soon. Anyway, personal branding is good, especially in a time where you need to stand out from the pack. (Also, cute logo, Skelliewag… Sketch Rockwell font with a white stroke? Nice.)
6. Landmark Moments in Citizen Journalism. I found this on 10000words. I love that blog. You should love it, too.
7. TED Talk: Can Design Save Newspapers? Good one. Also short. But give the power to the designers? I think there are more things to consider, but it’s a good table topic.
8. Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Sweet.
9. You’ve Got Voice Mail, but Do You Care? I never check my voicemail any more. It’s such a nuisance. The only people who leave messages for me anymore are family members and Amy. The former because they don’t know better and the latter because she likes to sing me songs.
10. Coworker Craig has been really into this all week. I know more about the Rock-afire Explosion than I ever thought possible:
It Should be Said…
That last week’s issue of the Observer was one of the best so far. All of the articles were interesting, the podcast went off without a hitch, and we even had time to do a “behind the scenes” video. I’m very impressed.
Of course, I should also mention that I committed an amateur’s mistake when putting together my breakfast taco video. I needed music for the background, so I went and found a song by Los Lobos and put it in there. I credited the artist, but when I went back and read the terms of use, it explicitly said DO NOT USE THIS MUSIC EVERRRRR THAT WOULD BE STEALING!!
Which, honestly, was kind of annoying, because if you find an mp3 easily available for download, and you credit the artist and don’t try to pass it off as your own work, shouldn’t that be okay? I’m obviously a big fan of creative commons licensing, and for a simple reason: It makes sense. I have yet to go back and plug in new music, but I obviously had to take down the video until I get a chance to do that.
Copyright law is, as we know, super complicated, and it is the only reason I would want to go to law school: To study and eventually fight for or against it. But that’s a subject for another day.
I’d be interested to hear what my fellow Observers think about Creative Commons, though.
Food for thought, watch Larry Lessig’s talk from TED.
Cross-posted to AmericanObserved and Blog10.
