I hate that the days are so short now, but the good thing about daylight saving time is that it makes it easier to make timelapse videos of the sunset from out the window of the office where I work. Here is what today’s evening clouds looked like:
I don’t know why YouTube messed up the first second or so of the clip, but you can at least get the idea. I am hoping to post some more of these in the next couple months.
I recently watched a documentary about a Chuck Palahniuk conference called Postcards from the Future. For those of you who may not recognize the name, Chuck Plahniuk is the author of the book Fight Club, which was turned into one of my favorite movies. Do yourself a favor and read some of his fiction.
Unless you are a huge Palahniuk fan, I don’t know if I would recommend you rush out and watch it, but there was one section of it that I thought was especially interesting. Chuck is talking about how useless protest is compared to the power of story telling. He talks about our current times and the opportunities that are available to storytellers.
Chuck explains how as consumers of culture we have a larger archive of knowledge than any generation in the history of the world. We have more free time than anyone in history ever has. We have access to cheap and powerful technology that makes it easy to create and deliver our stories. Perhaps most importantly we have a dissatisfaction with the garbage that has flooded pop culture. It is that dissatisfaction that will compel us to create something better.
This all adds up to a time when their is huge potential for story telling to change the world. I found it really inspiring and I hope you do too. Here is the video:
This week I have been sorting through all the timelapse movies I have made over the last 3 years. It’s a surprisingly big job and man, time flies! Most of them are just sunsets and clouds, but I have also made some driving movies and other random stuff. I will be uploading them all to YouTube hopefully this weekend. I probably won’t make a post for each video I am going to uplaod, so you might want to check my YouTube page if you like my work. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
Here are some clouds taken in our back yard:
Another sunset from our office in Loveland:
Geese on a frozen lake:
My commute to work:
Stars moving in the night sky:
Driving to Nebraska over Thanksgiving:
Growing up in the Midwest, Showbiz pizza was the best place in the world to go for a birthday party. Games, pizza, tokens, tickets, crappy prizes, and that creepy animal band that performed every half hour. Someone got hold of the robotic Muppets (the band’s name is The Rock-fire Explosion) and has been programming them to sing modern songs. They record the “performance” and post the video on YouTube. Here is one where they “cover” a song from one of my current favorite bands, MGMT. Enjoy!
Did you hear that Wal-Mart has a new logo? Here are the bullet points:
1. The name is no longer Wal-Mart. It is Walmart. At least they didn’t change it to Wally World, am I right?
2. Apparently the logo will be complimented by a burnt orange color. Nobody knows for sure how burnt orange is actually going to compliment light blue and yellow, but that’s beside the point.
3. The star separating “Wal” from “Mart” is gone and so is the blue and white. Patriotic colors are so yesterday.
4. No word on whether or not the yellow smiley face guy is gone for good or not. Cross your fingers.
5. To the right of the logo is a yellow starburst or sun or asterisk or something.
Here is a short video clip showing the logo from Fox News:
[Ok, I just can't let that last comment from the reporter pass. He says "How much does that job pay do you think? Coming up with a little sunshine?" Seriously? What an idiot! How much do you think that jerk makes to wear a suit all day and read other people's words? Moron. Moving on...]
My first reaction to the logo was, I have to admit, a little perverted. My problem is that ever since reading “Breakfast of Champions” by Kurt Vonnegut I have never looked at asterisks the same way. Google it if you don’t know what I am talking about.
I will leave it to the other blogs to dissect the logo more. Criticize the font. Question the color. Scream about the symbol. The usual. I guess my post is more about the positioning. Is this a step towards positioning the company as a more trendy or up-scale store? In other words a reaction to the success that Target is enjoying. Or is it an attempt at a facelift to appease the communities that object to the presence of the giant stores? That is too much weight to put on even a great logo, so they will have to have some incredibly amazing supporting design elements if they are going to pull that off.
If they can’t change their brand image with this new logo then what’s the point of a redesign? As bad as the old logo was (if you can call it a logo), at least it was honest. It was a generic warehouse sign. No frills. It made you think that the money they saved by not having a logo or nice signage was being passed right along to the customer. It may be design blasphemy, but I think there was some merit to that “lack of design” philosophy. It will be really interesting to see how the new identity works out for them.
Rian wanted to make a movie today so we hooked up the camera, got out his Star Wars guys, and started playing. He had the idea of using the printer as a spaceship and this is the movie we came up with. Enjoy…
You probably have seen the Nikon commercials where girls steal Ashton Kutcher’s camera and they take flirtatious pictures with it. Frankly, I find the commercials annoying, but does that mean it is a bad advertisement? Nikon needs to sell cameras and the money isn’t coming from geeks like me who take apart broken antique cameras in their spare time. The money comes with selling tons of cameras to the vast majority of people who aren’t particularly interested in photography as an art form. The truth is that cameras serve a different purpose in modern society than it does for people like me. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, it just isn’t me.
Today the camera is a status symbol. The camera is a fashion accessory. The camera is a social toy. To the average person it is just a way to document your life and have some fun. So perhaps the Nikon spots are brilliant. With a market flooded with affordable digital cameras what do you do to stand apart from the pack? More megapixels? New technology? People expect a camera to take good photos and have the latest features. To sell more product camera makers have to find another way to differentiate themselves.
Nikon’s answer is to sell a lifestyle. The Nikon commercial appeals to the average person not because it is pushing “speed and a Nikon lens,” but because it is selling a way of life. Girls like the idea of using a camera to flirt with that cute guy. Guys like the idea of taking advantage of clueless babes. And this all happens in the context of some kind of party that you wish you were invited to. Sex, status, and a party lifestlye. The formula works for beer and deoderant, why not cameras? I guess all that is left to do is smile and say cheese.
Just a quick post before the weekend is over. This one is probably only funny to fans of Kermit the Frog, Elliott Smith, and Royal Tenenbaums. To the other two people in the world that share those interests, here is a video for you:
By the way, Sad Kermit has his own MySpace page. Enjoy.
I finally got around to posting the other Star Wars stop motion movies that Rian and I made together. Enjoy.
I wanted to give some link love to my friend Suzanne Holzworth who is having an art show in Omaha on Saturday (April 5, 2008). Here is a little teaser video for her show:
For more samples of her work, check out worthitstudio.com. Don’t miss this intaglio, which I am lucky enough to own a print of. Great stuff, and good luck with the show, Suz!
