Nothing is original.

spacecollective.org

Go to this website and discover something amazing. (Thanks Rob!)

How easily unearthed what our maladies hide.

Last night was a harsh reality check. I'm so overwhelmed with confusion my head hurts. Things have never been this complicated. Ever. This feeling is new to me, and it hurts. Who knows if I'll ever figure this/you/us out. I guess you've got the right idea about things though. Me, not so much.

"you could never go where I couldn't follow"

Here's what I've been filling my ears with lately:

The Velvet Teen - Elysium

Efterklang - Parades

Armor for Sleep - What to Do When You Are Dead

The Killers - Sam's Town

Sounds Like Violence - With Blood On My Hands

Mid-December Recap

Thursday, December 11th marked our last show in New York City, or at least at any sort of 21+ bar that doesn't give a shit about shows or musicians. I hate to sound cynical but we've played far too many shows in the city (more so Manhattan) where there is no respect for the musicians, no planning that has gone into the show, and not enough room for one band's equipment, let alone five. Why do these tiny hole in the wall bars book a five band show with a stage about the size as two queen size beds and barely any room for equipment. Don't get me wrong, a show is a show, and if we're able to play for even one person who's never heard us before, then thats awesome, but it's gotten to the point that playing in Manhattan yields more negatives than positives for us, not to mention the gas and toll money put into the trip. Blah. Sorry to rant. I love New York City, just not when I'm in the van. 

Friday, December 12th couldn't have been more of a polar opposite. Opening up for Thursday was unreal to say the least. To be asked to open up for one of my / our favorite, most influential bands was literally a dream come true. There was magic in the air and I think everyone could feel it. It was easily our biggest show yet a everything went off with out a hitch. Greg and I stayed up till 3 in the morning two nights prior fixing up the lights, samples went off without a hitch, and no one fucked up. We're so used to stuff going wrong, so when things actually go right for once, not to mention at a huge show like this, it just feels plain good. Life has been so chaotic the past few months but it's nights like these where for a brief moment in time, everything seems to fit into place. (All thanks to Rob Dobi)

Saturday, December 13th we played at this small vegan library / cafe / kitchen thing in Willimantic, CT called Wrench In The Works. Very different vibe than the night before but it was a blast. There was a vegan potluck when we got there and lots of nice locals. We were a bit loud I think due to the room being so small but it made for an awesome light show. 

I'm finishing up my last week of the semester and things are going... okay? Busy as all hell, sleeping only a couple hours a night, but also being super productive, so thats cool. 

Foreword is out now on Amazon, albeit much sooner than we expected. It is nice to have it out there finally, especially since our live show consists mostly of songs off Foreword. I apologize to everyone who pre-ordered it and is still waiting. As soon as we get them (which should be in the next two or three weeks) we will be shipping them out ASAP with plenty of goodies as well. 

One of the great things about being an adult is making adult decisions, like skipping class to do weekend tours. It's been a while since we've had a good trek on the open road and damn it felt good. Especially this one.

12.6.08

Foreword is off to the presses and sleeves are being screen printed as I write this. Next comes shipping. Oh, what a fun day that will be. 

Greg built version 1.0 of our new lighting system. I call it 1.0 because we will inevitably be building them over again, but its a start. They're essentially two 16"x44"x16" rectangular cubes made of plywood on three sides, and a layer of plexiglass on the front. Each has two lights inside and are hooked up to a laptop and programmed entirely by midi. It's pretty dope. No more foot switches for us :)

Two more weeks of school and lots of projects to wrap up. So much to do, so little time. I'll find a way to get things done, I always do somehow. 

More posters!

Here are the latest posters I did for two shows off an upcoming tour we're doing with Pompeii. I think I'd be lying if I said these weren't my favorite posters yet. Mmmm, textures.

56 Leonard Street

This is easily one of my most anticipated new buildings in New York. This video is amazing too.

56 Leonard Street from david basulto on Vimeo.

why, how, and what

Today I've been working on an illustration which reminded me of this video that I saw a few months ago. Lots of clean motion graphics and insightful / funny narration. Worth checking out.

clemenskogler.net/grandcontent

Digg Dialog: Al Gore

Digg's Kevin Rose sits down with Al Gore and asks him the top questions voted on by Digg users.

Edit: The embedded video I put up wasn't working right, so here's the link:

http://digg.com/dialogg/Al_Gore_1

Yup!

A blue voter in a red state explains his position to Evangelical friends and family.

http://www.designartculture.com/2008/11/05/voting-blue-in-a-red-state-a-note-on-the-election-for-my-evangelical-friends-and-family/

no matter how hard it gets, i'm in this for life

"so come on, child, you’ve slept enough / and i know you’re tired but i’m waking you up / there is much to be done, and we’re right on the cusp / of this shit getting real, i’m mean really, really fucked / every sheep for the shearing waiting around non-plussed / trading branding irons for brand-name cuts / we were born in labor, baptized in dust / given life anew as a living trust / with every hair numbered and cross-referenced / for each soul they claim to save, they have added interest / with a price on your head, what you think matters not / every credit card statement, every lie you’ve bought / rates our exchanged faith for the next fiat / on the blotter paper, the blood don’t clot / it just bleeds you dry and then leaves you to rot / in a dead end job till at last you drop / into this old noose, with the rope drawn taut / left with your hands bound so they’ll never be caught / you may sabotage our education / to a calculated chaos born of confusion / a controlled market through the inflation / truly euthanasia to waste on the young / but, we’ve caught you now, and we’re cutting your funds / we outnumber you over a million to one / it’s a sharp weapon, but the point’s left blunt / there’s no skill to the game, no challenge to the hunt / with each target deaf, blind, and reticent / got your ducks in line for the same false front / cos when free will costs even ten percent / false tongues speak lies over catholic hunts / from the cathepsin to the cathexis / i’ll bear the stigmatic focus of the anti-catechist / with each catalytic pill slowly slitting my wrists / so when i raise my hand, see my bloody fist / may have killed brain cells, but i’ve kept my wits / and i'd rather go sooner to have known and said this / i’ve peaked at the end, where the answer sits / all the rest is just problems and more questions / hear the classes getting loud and the teacher getting pissed / in the end this pattern goes 666 / soon my name’s showing up on every government list / free speech shouldn’t cost, let alone be a risk / so when i die young, it’ll prove me right / cos it won’t be pills, swear it won’t be the knife / no matter how hard it gets, i’m in this for life / and i’m never giving up till we make things right / god gave me this voice, so i can’t stay quiet / they can’t kill this love, i’ll come back to fight / to return each star and remove each stripe / from each prism cell, we’ll refract the light / to reveal each move, catch the thieves in the night / make them share what’s left and return our rights / though it may still shine from a hormone diet / this knowledgeable fruit’s grown overripe / and robbed his breath, birth absorbed he / when the planets line up, every eye shall see / that this invite-only disparity party / has brought enough despair to the already broken-hearted / in the wake of greed, in the name of flow-charting / leaving broken-homes where once were gardens / see it’s our pale horse that we’re riding in on / bringing pestilence as a plague of love / with hell at our heels and heaven catching on / it’s the hanged man, it’s the crux fiction / it’s the pentagram, it’s the pentagon / it’s david’s star, it’s the pyramid song / what was once upright / now is upside down / and isaiah, it’s a revelation / 2368, 2701 / means a way out / and if i can, you know i’m bringing everyone"

- judah nagler

latest poster design

recap

3 hours of sleep. 7 am awakening. hour drive to pomona. video shoot with ben morsberger. super 8 film. in the woods. lots of dirt. lots of leaves. beautiful weather. models? the ring. lots of wonderful people. 110% fall. pizza. salad. amazing homemade chocolate chip cookies. talk of bears. photos. lying in leaves. climbing on trees. driving. conversation. connection? delusion. exhaustion. delusion. exhaustion.

"life's an accident others slow down / and vainly strain their necks to see / while i push my pedal to the ground / and fly past them all in ecstasy"

It's Thursday already and this week I've taken a nap at least once every day so far. For me, sleeping during the day usually results in the strangest dreams. Today for instance I dreamt that two people were talking beside me where I was sleeping. I actually woke up and turned over, only to realize that no one was there. I then had a lucid dream, but only for a very short amount of time. It felt like maybe 15 or 20 seconds. I also dreamt of trying to take tortellini out of a bowl but there was a drain at the bottom, like a sink, which made it impossible to get anything out. As I'd try and scoop them out, they'd get sucked down the drain. That was just today.

Here's some projects I've been juggling over the past couple weeks:

- Finishing up the layout for Foreword

- Designing a new door for WPSR (Purchase Student Radio)

- Redesigning Verizon's corporate identity (much needed)

- Typographic experiments book

- Type As Metaphor posters

- Airplane narrative series broadsides

- Posters!

Hopefully at somepoint this stuff will make it's way to the internet. 

Friday is our show with As Tall As Lions : )

Saturday we're shooting a video upstate with Ben Morrsberger for a new song called "Lights and Shapes".

Sunday I'm making sleeves for the first 50 Foreword pre-orders with the help of Dena, silkscreen extraordinaire.

Playlist:

Stereogum Presents RAC Vol. 1

Copeland - Your Are My Sunshine

Silversun Pickups - Carnavas

Modeselektor - Happy Birthday!

Currently reading:

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design - Michael Bierut

Modern Architecture - Kenneth Frampton

Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

This is too funny. One of my favorite Get a Mac ads yet. 

Mercury Retrograde

Fall is here again and everything is beautiful this time of year. The past few weeks have been amazing due to the people I've met and the progress that the band has made with the EP. I guess somethings actually do fall into place, others not so much. Thats okay though.

Here's some stuff I wanna show you.

Thrice live at Metro Theater 02.09.2008 - I haven't seen these guys in years, but based off recent live footage, they are one of the tightest live bands. Watch a song or two. You might feel something.

The Perry Bible Fellowship - Ubsurdist comics drawn by Nicholas Gurewitch. Interesting but very strange.

Recent Playlist: Hot Chip - Made In the Dark + The Warning / Burial - Untrue / Minus the Bear - Acoustics / Pinback - Autumn of Seraphs + Summer In Abaddon / Pompeii - Nothing Happens for a Reason / Thursday - Split w/ Envy

Up top are two posters I did for upcoming shows with As Tall As Lions and Thursday. I'm still in disbelief. 

Is Mercury retrograde really a bad thing?

Edit: When it comes to technology, yes, it is. My brand new phone went from having 2 bars of battery, to dying completely. Now my computer won't connect to the internet and the tech guys aren't sure why. Hmm.

Good Magazine

I just ordered my first subscription to Good Magazine. Being a student of design I naturally wanted something along the lines of either I.D. or Print but after doing some research into both magazines, I suddenly remembered Good Magazine. I first picked up an issue about a year ago on my way to the airport and read it front to back, something I've never done with any other magazine.

In their own words, it's essentially a magazine for people who give a damn. Covering everything from politics to environment to education to health to culture to art & design. It's really a well rounded, beautifully designed periodical with truly positive and informative content (a rare thing these days).

They offer a pay-what-you-want system for subscribing and 100% of your purchase goes to a non-profit organization of your choice (there are 12 to choose from). It's that good.

Check it out! www.good.is

Amazing Anagrams

Tauba Auerbach does amazing things with letters.

Introducing the Black Book

"Pentagram is pleased to announce the publication of the Black Book, a new 800-page overview of our recent work. The book is a compilation of over 400 projects from the last several years, arranged in alphabetical order, like a dictionary, and printed on Bible paper, like a Bible, complete with tabbed sections and ribbons for bookmarking. It covers pretty much everything we do, from architecture to graphics, buildings to websites, branding to signage, interiors, packaging, exhibitions, interfaces, furniture, products, brochures, magazines, and houses, all in simple picture-and-caption form."

Too bad it's not for sale.

I think I'm in love...

The Studiolise W08

"Materials have hidden messages. These create a powerful link to our emotional psyches and shape our connection to daily life.

Our light is a sturdy friend, unpretentious and always there for us. We have chosen honest materials that carry clear messages: iron for its feelings of stability, reliability, trust; wood with its warmth and life, and porcelain for its intimate glow, as well as its tactility.

Then we have put these three together for a certain oddness. This is because there is an innate awkwardness in the directional light that we wanted to amplify - rather as with people this is a sympathetic quality not a sin."

Ilse Crawford