things that make me laugh part viii

my first failblog posting.

parking meter win.

moar funny pictures

website is up!

it still needs a lot of work, but you can see the first iteration for archetype design at http://atypedesign.com

i still have to get some good content up there and make some adjustments to color etc. but let me know what you think.

all hallow's eve

here is my halloween menu, as some of you may have seen from my twitter post. the zombie theme never fails. it's hard to capture in the digital version, but the document was folded in half, with the white block being a cutout. so the first page says "all hallow's eve," opening to the course list and the zombie picture. the back page lists thank yous.

hi res

hi res

i'm really pleased with the way these turned out. i'm grateful to be able to do work for entre and hope to continue producing menus in the future.

the more perceptive of you will note that i've finally settled on a name for my freelance work: archetype design (in reference to my namesake's contribution to psychology). what do you think?

fall is here

before the leaves completely fall to the ground, my wife and i took the dog to the park to try and capture some of the color. unfortunately, we didn't have the good camera with us (don't ask), so these were all taken with the phone camera. not bad, if i do say so myself.

anyway, it was good walk. i hope there are still a few leaves to see this weekend. we've had heavy rain all week, so there's a chance we lost a lot of leaves. megan's been hoping to get some more pictures of the ginkgoes.

i love fall, but it is always bittersweet. i am excited by the color of the leaves and the coolness in the air. but i know it will be over soon. the prettier that the leaves get, the closer they are to falling--bringing bare trees, and a cold, long winter.

halloween brainstorming

ok, so here are a couple of side projects i did while working on my menu ideas. one is my own strange, satirical view of things that scare me. it's a bit over the top...but what's not terrifying about a giant tv in a church?

hi-res

the other is an idea i had for the menu, but didn't think the zombies would work as well as some of my other ideas. it's a total rip off from the new dawn of the dead. but the image works so well, i couldn't resist.

hi-res

design work

at this point, this blog is beginning to feel anemic. i'm finally starting to debate whether to even bother with it anymore. but in the meantime, i'll post some work i've been doing for a friend's restaurant. i tried to simulate the paper we printed on. so it looks a little different than the original design, but at least you get an idea against a color background.

9.12.09

the venue was rustic italian, served in a cellar (circa early 19th century).

hi-res

10.3.09

this menu was asian-inspired (literally, by the entire continent!). we found this really cool salmon colored paper, with a nice wood texture. it looked really cool when the lines of the "grain" showed through the printer toner. unfortunately, some had trouble reading it. what looks interesting isn't always practical.

hi-res

i'm currently racking my brain for the nucleus of horror for their halloween menu. i've got a few ideas thrown together, but i'd love to hear any of your suggestions. it's a competition between myself and a printing company who actually knows what they're doing, so i don't have much hope. regardless, i'm pretty excited to compete.

"we have met the enemy..."

go see district 9. i know, it's the big sensation. the movie makers spent next to nothing, campaigned obliquely and it shredded the box office opening weekend. the plot is not complex. aliens landed on earth and for some reason can't leave. they've been quarantined in a place called 'district 9.' in johannesburg of all places--not very subtle. but don't write it off yet. i loved this movie. the premise is pure science fiction genius. aliens have come to earth in a disc-shaped spaceship, but rather than being bent on human destruction, they are refugees.

the nerd in me became excited as soon as i saw the preview. is that a giant alien spaceship? is it hovering over johannesburg? are those humans clad in white supposed to be bad or good? is this filmed like a documentary? so many of the right questions.

from the perspective of the science fiction nerd that i am, the movie did not disappoint. the aliens and their technology (read: cool weapons) was creatively imagined. the actor portraying the main character does an excellent job. i instantly empathized with him as a very real but flawed character. he's no hero. he seems somewhat pathetic and then only interested in saving himself. one of my favorite things about this movie is that it does a wonderful job of letting all its character play to their self-interests in really authentic ways.

there are several antagonists, but all fall under the umbrella of mnu, a giant defense company, not unlike blackwater (now xe servcies). this adds another layer to an already rich story. one that increasingly reflects our own, boring, non-sci-fi lives.

i think the most difficult part of the film is the audience's ability to identify with aliens that resemble large bugs (their referred to as "prawns" in the movie). the filmmakers fight to make the audience empathize with the aliens by giving them eyes similar to our own. the dialogue style between the two species is also authentic. the humans and aliens can understand each other vaguely, but each speaks in their own language and they often misinterpret one another. again, though the subject is pretty fantastic, the way the characters operate is very believable.

throughout the film, the parallels to our own society are purposefully explicit. it is this lack of subtlety that i think makes many true science fiction movies great. this movie does an excellent job of trying to let its characters and situations play themselves out in the world they inhabit. at the same time, this is sci-fi and it's supposed to be absurd. we're talking about an alien spaceship floating over johannesburg for 25 years. things should get a little crazy. naturally, there are a lot of ridiculous explosions--buildings explode, aliens explodes, people explode, pigs explode. it is over the top. does this make the movie contradictory? yes, but as any good sci-fi film would be.

like i said earlier, it's pretty explicit from the outset that we're getting into some heavy stuff when the human-alien relationships reflect apartheid-era south africa. the documentary-style filmaking helps parallel the fantastic events of the film to our own society. the sight of burning and armored cars rumbling through the hulks of destroyed cars are too familiar to make this escapist.

the fundamental theme of the film is the "us versus them" mentality. without giving too much away, we watch the main character, who has been profiting off the status quo come to realize that he is a 'them' and not an 'us.' it's great stuff--engaging and fun to watch.

at the same time, this has me thinking alot about metaphors, particularly in science fiction. i worry that the very nature of the genre will mean that much of the weight of the story is lost on the audience. again, i love science fiction and i think that more often than not it reflects more about the society of the creator than the fantastic scenes it portrays. i fear though that in a film like this, the metaphor can become too theoretical. the film uniquely portrays a very old story: that we will always seek division over unity. that it will inevitably be easier to justify persecuting and demonizing the other side than to struggle to live together. but i guess it has me wondering that the power of that simple theme will be lost or overwhelmed by extravagant nature of the broader story. i know that it is part of the limitation of the genre. maybe that is what differentiates a simply interesting story with one that is ultimately true. the lessor story will be lost in the spectacle while the truest narrative will penetrate even the most fantastic situations. i prefer to think distrcit 9 is the latter.

things that make me laugh part vii

more to come soon. enjoy this for now.

see more Fail Blog

who owns who?

perhaps this is mostly me fumbling to make sense of the ins and outs of everyday, but my life seems to take on themes. right now, it feels like the theme that keeps coming up is digital hyperconnectivity and anxiety. ben got the ball rolling on his blog a few weeks ago. it's definitely worth following the conversation on his blog. my contribution was the thought that with technology, like all things, we must find a balance rather than clinging to simple extremes.

then, a week ago i listened to an excellent podcast on econtalk. econtalk is my weekly chance to listen to people who are smarter than me talk about things i don't understand. actually, whether you care about economics, markets, and human social behavior or not, it's a really interesting podcast. one of my favorite traits of the show's host, russ roberts, is that he has plenty of guest who hold opinions that differ from his own and engages them in honest, tame discussion.

my like for econtalk aside, i really enjoyed a recent podcast in which roberts interviewed author mark helprin. though they ostensibly were debating intellectual copyright, about halfway through the show, they begin to discuss humans and technology. helprin makes a good point that rather than technology making our lives easier, it often forces us to bend to it, making our lives more complicated for the sake of productivity. he notes after all that has changed about this world, humans still need food, friends/family, and rest. this thought is at once obvious and revolutionary. at this moment, if the general trend in our culture is moving towards anything, it is certainly not for doing less in the name of rest. it is to utilize the latest gadgets to do as much as possible. rather than allowing us more free time, most technology seems to give us more work and more stress. check the podcast out here, i think it's worth a listen.

recently, i've been thinking alot about the role of anxiety in my own life. my worry-free external persona is often an act, covering anxiety about some of the most mundane tasks. i wonder to what extent this anxiety is exacerbated by being connected to the internet all day long. i know the ability to learn next to nothing about almost any topic has destroyed my attention span. i also wonder the extent to which knowing about something i have to do the second the email arrives creates added stress.

i know that in many ways this topic is far from new. people much smarter than i have been saying "less is more" for years. it also seems like simplicity is definitely back in style, most likely as a result of our collectively hyperconnected lives. the super nerdy sci-fi part of my mind thinks that if the world was ever going to be taking over by machines, it wouldn't look anything like the movies. instead, we would simply continue down our current path, each generation altering their lifestyle more and more to accommodate the machines. i know this is ridiculous sounding, and i don't mean it in all seriousness, but i still think it's worth puzzling over. ok, maybe it's not worth puzzling over the robot takeover (and make no mistake, they will take over). but it is worth thinking about our own dependence on machines. don't worry, i'll continue to use my computer, i may even get a fancy phone one day. so i'm certainly not refuting my earlier point about technology, like most things, being both good and bad. but the more i think about it, the more difficult it seems to find the balance between owning the computer and the computer owning you.

my birthday party

about this time last week i was pretty frustrated with my wife. a few days earlier she'd told me we had to go to nashville for one final birthday present. i know, this makes me sound like an ass, which i am. but at least let me explain. first, we've been out of town a lot this summer. second, sonic youth was playing in st louis for free last weekend, i thought on saturday, leaving plenty of time for us to get back. last friday morning i checked the concert date and found it was set for friday evening. of course, i protested, "do we really have to go this weekend? why do we have to go to nashville to get this?" again, you can see what a jerk i am. my wife has a present for me in nashville, clearly she's put some thought and care into whatever it is, but i want my plan.

despite my efforts, we got on the road friday afternoon and drove to nashville, had dinner with my parents, and went to the barmes' house to hang out/receive my present. to some of you it might seem obvious what was coming next. the thought went through my mind several times during the 4.5 hour drive, "either she's gonna give me some lame antique that she bought in nashville, or all my friends will be there. she should know that all my friends would make me the most happy. just prepare for a random gift, jason. otherwise, you'll be disappointed." obviously, i'm egocentric and cared little for whatever my wife had actually invested in this present. it didn't help that i talked to several nashville friends along the way who told me they probably could not hang out friday night.

we arrived and anna and joe's house and said hello. franny urinated all over there brand new carpet so i took her out back. at this point, i had resigned to the belief that it was just the four of us hanging out. mildly dissappointed, but still happy to be among friends, i went out back and was surprised by everyone hiding under the porch.

you can check out the few picture we got of the party below. the last of us were up until 3, so i'd say most had a good time. in spite of my selfish whining, my wife planned a great birthday present.