Music

On the Web

• Dear Lulu: A downloadable book of print samples you can use to test the capabilities of print-on-demand services. Such a great idea.

In the Stereo

• Faraquet: Anthology 1997–98
• Don Caballero: Punkgasm

On the Silver Screen

• Man on Wire

In Print

• The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nunzio DeFillippis, and Kevin Cornell
• How Life Imitates Chess by… See more →

Sometimes, you just can’t fight the urge to have your hair shaved into lightning bolts, hop a plane to San Francisco, and stand glaring in chaps on a stage in front of 1,500 drunken lunatics. I did this at the behest of my alter-ego Windhammer and the 2008 Cuervo Black US Air Guitar National Finals last Friday while the rest of the world had decidedly less fun watching the Olympic opening ceremonies.

The competitors may… See more →

On the Web

• Beard Revue: Rob Weychert: My beard has been rated 9.5/10.

In the Stereo

• DAT Politics: Are Oui Phony??
• Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation
• Mission of Burma: OnOffOn
• Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
• The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
• Mercyful Fate: Melissa / The Beginning
• ZZ Top: Tres Hombres

On the Silver Screen

• The Dark Knight
• Derek
• Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson… See more →

On the Web

• Camp Naked Terror 7: Photos from this year’s Summer Camp Slasher Birthday Bash.
• Touring to Alaska on Vegetable Oil!: My friend Matt and his tour mate Kyle demonstrate how they the prep the environmentally-friendly fuel that’s taking them across North America.

In the Stereo

• Bad Brains: Rock for Light
• Mose Giganticus: Commander!
• Dr. Dre: The Chronic
• Danzig: Danzig II: Lucifuge
• South: South
• Mission of Burma: Vs.
• Kanye West: The College Dropout
• The… See more →

Emperor X was so good tonight. Pretty much everyone I can think of would have enjoyed this show.

I like adjectives that are both crystal clear and totally vague. For example, you may be coming off a “good” weekend just like I am, but it’s entirely possible that the “good” elements of our respective weekends were completely different. Perhaps you were served an amazing slice of peach cobbler, or your blind date turned out to be George Clooney, or you finally disposed of some incriminating evidence that’s been haunting you for years. But… See more →

In the Stereo

• Nine Inch Nails: The Slip

On the Silver Screen

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Iron Man

See the full gallery (27 items) →

The ease with which “Pacific Northwest” is abbreviated to PACNOWE made us feel unwelcome before we even got here, but we were able to resist obeying that imperative long enough to have a very fun day in Seattle.

Most of the day was spent at the Experience Music Project, a museum housed in the first Frank Gehry building I’ve gotten to see in person. The building’s effect was much what I imagined it would be:… See more →

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In AC/DC’s 1976 classic “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” the late Bon Scott gleefully lists a handful of his favorite methods for ridding his clients of their enemies, including concrete shoes, cyanide, and TNT. He makes no mention of the Grand Canyon, probably because its Arizona location is geographically inconvenient for an Australian like him. But boy was he missing an opportunity.

Most people who visit the Grand Canyon are stricken by its arresting natural… See more →

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I seem to be hitting my stride; the four hours in the car today were nothing. The fact that the drive was equally as scenic as yesterday’s but more populated and less lengthy helped quite a bit. However, had I known what Albuquerque had in store for me, the trip probably would have seemed much longer.

I knew next to nothing about Albuquerque before today, and I now know slightly less than nothing. The little… See more →

On the Web

• We Bleed Design: The style is a bit trendy for my taste, but the site employs some very novel and intriguing transitions using a clever combination of JavaScript, CSS, and transparent PNGs.

In the Stereo

• Pharaoh: Be Gone
• Rupa & The April Fishes: Extraordinary Rendition

On the Silver Screen

• The Last House in the Woods
• Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story
• Fata Morgana
• Black House
• Blast of Silence
• Deadline U.S.A.
• Passion and… See more →

Wondering what motivates people to spend money to talk over a band.

Apparently I’m a sucker for a cute girl with an accordion.

On the Web

• Binary Marble Adding Machine: An amazingly simple wooden machine that performs calculations using marbles. Don’t miss the video demo!
• Muxtape: Remarkably simple site that lets you make a mixtape online. Check out mine.
• Penguin Classics Tumblr Theme: Beautifully rendered by Max Wheeler.

On the Web

• Hitchcock Classics: Vanity Fair puts contemporary stars in classic frames.
• Say What You Will (Requiem for a TV News Career): Chez Pazienza recounts the story of being dooced by CNN, and lacerates the television news industry in the process.
• Are Oscars Worth All This Fuss?: Interesting thoughts on what the Academy Awards were, are, and ought to be.
• RIP: Owning Music (1880–2008): Well-reasoned observations on the evolution of music distribution.

In the… See more →

On the Web

• Opening the Windows Vista Box: Because it seriously can’t be done without a fucking tutorial.
• Brown Tape Art: Mark Khaisman creates some stunning images with translucent brown packing tape backlit on plexiglass.
• Bobby Fischer, Chess Master, Dies at 64: He may have been an asshole, but man could he play.
• Lasagna Cat: A wonderfully bizarre collection of videos putting Jim Davis in his place.
• The Amen Break: The history of the world’s… See more →

I was recently involved in a music exchange with a handful of friends, in which we each put together a compilation of songs, and everyone involved got a copy of all of the compilations. Aside from giving me a good excuse to put together a fun mix, it allowed me the ever-cherished opportunity to do some unsolicited philosophizing, and I thought both were worth sharing with a larger audience.

Here’s an excerpt of an e-mail… See more →

On the Web

• The Moby Equation: A clever formula used to determine a recording artist’s sellout level.
• Untraceable: The funniest film trailer I’ve seen in awhile. Looks like The Net meets Fear Dot Com. Enticing, no?

In the Stereo

• Salter Cane: Salter Cane
• Van Halen: Fair Warning

On the Silver Screen

• Juno

On the Web

• Fray Returns: The beloved site filled with true stories is reborn as a printed quarterly volume!
• Design Doing: A nice roundup and response to recent conversations regarding the relevance of web design within the greater spectrum of design.
• Charts and Graphs of Rap Song Lyrics: The title says it all. Fall-down funny stuff.
• Curriculum Vitae: The long-awaited followup to The Story of Eh, this fantastic new book of comics from Kevin Cornell… See more →

On the Web

• Behind the Scenes of Layer Tennis: Chris Glass details his side of the Layer Tennis match he played with Naz Hamid.
• The Pothole: My first guest contribution to The Superest!
• The Superest: A wonderful new site from Kevin Cornell and Matt Sutter, determined to determine who is the superest of them all.
• Radio Orphan Annie’s Secret Decoder Badges: A brief history of the decoder pins used by Radio Orphan Annie’s Secret Society… See more →

Stupid shrieking girls have no place at any show that would entice me to buy a ticket. DMB ain’t on the bill tonight, ladies. Please go home.

Don't ask me why, but the Art Brut vocalist reminds me of a cross between @lloydi and @adactio. Guitarists: Gareth Keenan and Bob Dylan.

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn is like an unlikely, overjoyed hybrid of @joshualane and my friend Ashley. Best fucking show I've seen all year

On the Web

• Cassette MP3 Player: If I ever get around to installing Windows, I will so own one of these.
• My Team Vs. Your Team: Sutter Vs. Cornell Vs. Cornell in an epic, illustrated battle of superhero one-upmanship. See another match here.
• Photoshop Layer Tennis: The triumphant return of my favorite Friday afternoon design nerd diversion!
• Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8: An Onion article that is not so farfetched.
• A Brief Message: A new site dedicated… See more →

On the Web

• Siggi Eggertsson: Eye-popping geometric impressionism.
• Isaac Tobin: An outstanding graphic design portfolio. I’m particularly fond of his book covers.
• I Love Typography: A new blog whose title says it all.
• Everyone’s a Design Critic: Stan and I are cooking up a presentation for next year’s SXSW, and we’d love to have your vote.
• Turkey: Kevin Cornell’s submission for a comics contest in Philadelphia’s City Paper. I am of the strong opinion that you… See more →

On the Web

• Back Porch Video: An impressively varied collection of both underground and mainstream music videos from a 1980s public access show hosted by Detroit teens.
• Paper Art Gadgets: Tiny, incredibly detailed replicas of consumer electronics (including packaging) made entirely of paper.
• Vintage Vanguard: Covers and liner notes scanned from hundreds of Blue Note records. Enviable, to say the least.
• Rob Weychert from Happy Cog Studios: Design Interviews puts me under the microscope.
• Living… See more →

On the Web

• My Favorite Font: Some writers of renown reveal the typefaces they use for composition. It pleased me to see that the abundance of Courier and Times owes as much to a reverence for the art of typesetting (“Although it’s a thrill to see my words printed in such elegant fonts, I’d never actually write in them.”) as it owes to the legacy of typewriters and word processors.
• Camp Naked Terror 6 Photos… See more →

On the Web

• Thomas Allen: This photographer’s Pulp Fiction series adds an ingenious third dimension to book cover illustrations.
• The Digit: Photos of an amputee with an inspiring sense of humor.
• Fear(s) of the Dark: This French animated anthology looks very promising.
• Band to Band: Trace the musical family tree of your favorite band.
• Spinal Tap to Reunite for Live Earth Concert: Behind the scenes with Nigel, David, and Derek.
• Moustache May: You owe it… See more →

On the Web

• “The Conqueror Worm” Letterpress Print: Coudal Partners’ Swap Meat is selling (or trading) a print Stan and I did late last year. If the walls of your study are looking a bit too cheery, here’s your chance to do something about it!
• R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut: You opened my eyes in ways no other writer could. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You will be missed.
• Why the Overwhelming Numbers of Design Flops?… See more →

On the Web

• Refill 7: Fucking sick laser-engraved skate decks.
• Happy Cog Philadelphia Is Hiring: We’re looking for a standards-savvy front-end web developer that is nothing short of amazing.
• Letterhead Fonts Embraces DRM: The suggested alternative to embedding fonts in PDFs? Convert to outlines. Welcome back to the 20th century! I’m all for protecting your products from theft, but this ain’t the way to do it.
• The Super Stunt: The full story behind the biggest… See more →

On the Web

• The Jerry Springer Episode Debacle: The Lost Film Fest’s Scott Beibin tells the full, outrageous story of faking his way onto the Springer show, complete with clips from the episode.
• swfIR: A new standards-friendly, whiz-bang image replacement technique that harnesses the power of Flash.
• Great (Chalk) Album Covers: Coudal Partners’ and 37 Signals’ bathroom chalkboard is put to very good use.
• Looking to Cash in on a Punk Rock Youth: Apparently there… See more →

One doesn’t often have the opportunity to work on a project that strengthens his skills in multiple disciplines and helps him reevaluate his connection to his heritage. I have been fortunate to have just such an opportunity, and after months of hard work, that project is now available for public consumption.

In late August of last year, a handful of Happy Cogs flew out to Dublin to meet with some of the cheerful folks who… See more →

On the Web

• Sanna Annukka: Very flat, very beautiful illustrations with a great sense of color and shape.
• Matt Hammill: Loose n’ dirty illustrations to make you smile. Don’t miss his awesome Psychedelish animation!
• Creating Inspired Design, Part 1: I Am the Walrus: Introduction to what promises to be a great series from Andy Clarke.
• The Design Disease: A handy guide to the inside of a designer’s head.
• Le Grande Content: Interesting ruminations on life… See more →

On the Web

• NRA’s Secret Graphic Novel Revealed!: Right-wing propaganda just got a serious face-lift.
• The Most Dangerous Roads in the World: Yowza! Just like the title says.

In the Stereo

• Crooked Fingers: Reservoir Songs
• Afghan Whigs: Going to Town
• The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America
• Deerhoof: +81
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The Symphonies
• Scott Walker: The Drift
• The Knife: Silent Shout
• The Simpsons: Songs in the Key of Springfield

On the Web

• A Rumsfeld Rememberance: Hilarious manipulation of Donald Rumsfeld press conference footage.
• Mr. City Men: Cute, mute CG characters seamlessly animated into handheld video footage. I defy anyone to watch Mr. Fortune without cracking a smile.
• FontBook: Now in its fourth edition, this massive tome compiles 32,000 type samples on 1,760 pages!

In the Stereo

• Philip Lynott: Solo in Soho
• Celtic Frost: Into the Pandemonium

On the Silver Screen

• The Hamiltons
• The Abandoned… See more →

On the Web

• Web Design Is 95% Typography: Hear, hear!
• When Animals Attack!: Just in time for Halloween, Posterwire unleashes a great collection of classic creature feature posters.
• Mark Gervais: Exemplary vector illustration with bold, rich colors, a polished line, and a keen design sense.
• The Origins of Letterforms: U&lc Magazine constructs hypotheses for the origins of the Roman alphabet“s letterforms, numerals, and punctuation.
• The David Zucker Albright Ad: An unused GOP propaganda video from… See more →

On the Web

• Cover Letters from Hell: Some amazing examples of how not to get a job.
• The White Stripes on “The Simpsons”: A really funny parody of Michel Gondry’s video for “The Hardest Button to Button.”
• George Washington: The true story of the first American hero.
• Peter Callesen: Extraordinary sculptures made with cut paper in two and three dimensions.
• Red, White, and Black: Roger Black’s fancy new web site.

In the Stereo

• TV on… See more →

On the Web

• Bill Watterson’s Rarest: Some rare gems from the career of the Calvin & Hobbes creator.
• My Hatch Show Print: Behind the scenes at the legendary Nashville letterpress shop.
• A Brief, Incomplete Story of Touch and Go Records at Twenty-Five Years Old: A short documentary on the admirable Touch and Go legacy.
• UCLA Extension: Master Graphic Designer Series: An impressive collection of very influential designers presents dozens of varied solutions to the same… See more →

On the Web

• The Fall Guy: An action shot of one of my several failed attempts to mount a tallbike. (Eventually, I succeeded.)
• FreeJack: All of the Flash source files from the current season of the animated Canadian series “Odd Job Jack” are being made available to the public. Wow!
• A Way to Set the Limit of Font Scaling in One Dimension: An excellent demonstration of why non-uniform type scaling is a bad idea.
• Transformers =… See more →

On the Web

• World’s Largest Photo: Created using a decomissioned air hangar as a camera obscura!
• Moleskine Solvent Transfers: A gorgeous sketchbook on Flickr.
• Meat Is Murder. Tasty, Tasty Murder: With the vegetarian and vegan cults claiming record numbers of victims, this shirt is more imporant now than ever.
• Hands On: Possibly my favorite Savage Chickens cartoon.
• Our Futurist Past: Marian Bantjes’s review of the V&A’s “Modernism: Designing a New World 1914–1939” exhibition.

In the… See more →

It was the beginning of a new millennium. School was in my past, a magazine production job in Manhattan was in my future, and limbo consisted of waiting tables in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It may as well have been Mars. I knew no one, and my ghetto neighborhood, animosity for hostile Jersey traffic, and underdeveloped sense of direction prevented me from venturing out much (to say nothing of the dearth of places worth visiting).… See more →

I was born on 3 June 1976. Today, I am thirty years old.

I share 1976 with some important stuff. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computer, which would inadvertently revolutionize creative technology and desktop computing. Seminal releases from the Ramones and the Damned—and a legendary television appearance by the Sex Pistols—brought punk rock’s disaffected bite into the public consciousness. We said goodbye to luminaries like Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, and Howard… See more →

On the Web

• 2006 Yale GDMFA Show: A Flicker photo set of a breathtaking exhibition.
• Aesthetic Apparatus Presentation: Video of a talk given by the renowned poster designers from last September, courtesy of the Alberta North chapter of the Graphic Designers of Canada.
• Wikipedia Design Overhaul 2006: I usually thumb my nose at the whole “let’s get free design work for our company by holding a contest!” thing, but a donation-based community site with actual… See more →

On the Web

• The Worst President in History?: Even with two and a half years still left in his presidency, many historians agree that George W. Bush is well on his way.
• Finland Squirms as Its Latest Export Steps Into Spotlight: A whole lot of fuss over a heavy metal band in monster makeup.
• Randy Glass: Portfolio site of the incredible Wall Street Journal portrait artist.
• Illuminated Books: A collection of illuminated and illustrated books… See more →

On the Web

• Deadguy138’s YouTube Channel: A growing collection of rare live video footage from some great underground bands: noise, punk, metal, jazz, and more.
• Lawsuit Over Brokeback Mountain Reveals Unease Over Pay for “Arthouse” Films: Are major film studios’ “independent” divisions lowballing creative talent and then cashing in on awards buzz? Yes.
• Time to Redesign: Someone has finally taken notice of how much I “suCkSS.”
• Best Fight Scene of All Time: A truly inspiring… See more →

On the Web

• Microsoft Designs the iPod Package: This amusing little video demonstrates perfectly why designers typically prefer Apple.
• Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey: An insider’s anthropological documentary examination of the much-maligned musical subculture.
• Dev2.0: Band-sanctioned, kid-friendly versions of Devo classics on Walt Disney Records. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
• Lotte Klaver: A beautiful watercolor sketch blog from Amsterdam.
• Netdisaster: Wreak harmless havoc on the web site of your choice. A neat idea,… See more →

On the Web

• My Week as a Waiter: A New York food critic tries out the other side of the table.
• “Walker: Texas Ranger” Clips on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”: Almost makes me wish I still watched TV.
• Kung Fu Fuck You: The martial art of flipping the bird.
• Burninating Three Candles: Happy Birthday, Trogdor!
• Speak Up: Recommended Reading: A large collection of quality books on graphic design.
• Buddy Rich, the Person: Expletive-rich (no… See more →

On the Web

• Titles Designed by Saul Bass: Complete list of the films Bass worked on, with lots of information and images.
• Lazy Sunday: SNL rap video extolling the decadent joys of cupcakes and Narnia.
• Art Chantry: Pearls Are a Nuisance: Video from this fall’s massive exhibition at the Philip Slein Gallery in St. Louis.
• Superdickery: Absurd and hilarious comic book covers of yesteryear.
• The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web: Robert Bringhurst’s indispensible… See more →

On the Web

• Talking with Jason Santa Maria: An Event Apart, #04: AIGA interrogates Stan.
• Find 74 Bands: And say goodbye to the rest of your day.
• Pixelworthy Is Looking for an Account Executive: Your chance to work with a great team in Philadelphia.
• AT&T Says Bye-Bye to Saul Bass: Another classic logo bites the dust. And how.
• Design Online: Every issue of Design Magazine, from 1965 through 1974, transcribed and scanned for your reading… See more →

On the Web

• Weychert Gone Wild: Sometimes, you just need to dance. Well, I do, anyway.
• Stan & Rob: Champions of Multimedia Design: Bandy provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of Stan and me.
• Occupied: A Jeffrey Stockbridge photo series documenting interiors of dilapidated Philadelphia residences. Some of these are right around the corner from me.
• Dawn of the Knitted Dead: George Romero’s classic characters rendered in yarn.
• Fire Destroys Wallace and Gromit Warehouse… See more →

On the Web

• Download My Store: Is e-commerce moving backwards?
• Shining: A trailer for The Shining, if it were a warm-hearted family comedy.
• Egg Song: A superbly animated Flash cartoon with a catchy little tune about eggs.
• MST3K Movie Poster Index: A collection of posters from every single movie featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”
• A Not-To-Do-List: A big ol’ list of things not to do.
• Pentagram: Hillman Curtis profiles one of the world’s most… See more →

A few weeks ago, Lego made their free Digital Designer software available to the public. It’s a kickass little 3D program that allows you to build virtual Lego models, share them online, and—this is the really cool part—order the physical Lego bricks that your creation would require to build in the real world. It’s a fantastic idea, but it got me thinking. With the tremendous success of the iTunes Music Store, whose wares are accessible… See more →