March 31, 2010
Letterheady →
A Tumblr by the guy behind the also-great Letters of Note blog, devoted to great letterhead design. Instant follow.
(via Covenger & Kester)
December 30, 2009
Ancient Industries has been really nice blog (with a nice blog header) for a while now, and now it’s also a very nice shop. Really liking the design on this, and I’m generally not one for Flash.
December 16, 2009
(Re)Introducing TRMW Archives
I’ve been casually tweaking this project over the last few months, and at this point I’m thinking it’s finally ready to be unveiled. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you TRMW Archives. This little site compiles all of my pre-Tumblr bloggage, which was previously spread across a really older Blogger account at Metempsychosis (where this blog started in 2001), and a static HTML archive at Urban Honking (where it lived from 2005 to 2007). To honor the occasion, here are a few of my favorite posts from back in the day:
- This one about the lineage of the amazing pop-disco jam “Behind The Mask,” which was written by Ryuichi Sakamoto and made its way through Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, and beyond. By far the most popular thing I’ve ever done on the internet.
- A weirdly vivid dream about visiting Brian Eno’s house.
- Diagramming the musical sublime via Swell Maps’ “Full Moon in My Pocket” suite.
- Having my spirits lifted by random Woody Harrelson sighting whilst living in London.
- This one about feeling confused about people and high school.
- Two amazing Autechre songs (for the music more than the words)
- Being really, really excited about PDX Pop Now 2005.
- PDX CUTE NOW
- Another bucketfull of Portland pride. Seriously, Portland in 2004 was a great place to be in your early twenties.
- Related: A bunch of a old Portland show reviews, imported from the now-defunct Team Tinnitus group concert review blog.
- Year end lists from 2005 to 2007, proving that there really was a time when I was slightly more lucid than I am now.
It’s definitely been interesting looking back over this stuff as I’ve slowly imported and finessed it into the new site. [I could go into some seriously geeky detail on the importing part here, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, REGEXP FTW.] For better or worse, I used to write a lot more, and try a lot harder with the writing. Sometimes that meant I ended up sounding like someone trying way too hard to be an actual writer, bullshitting deep thoughts that I may or may not have actually thought through. But other times it resulted in real thinking, and some decent writing. I’m proud of it, really, and it feels good to have it all in one place where people can continue to stumble onto it, and maybe leave a comment or two. And if not, hey, I’ll still rule the “umbrella” keyword on Google Image Search.
December 10, 2009
Daily Drop Cap →
The Daily Drop Cap is an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.
November 15, 2009
New awesome blog alert: Feasting Never Stops. Like But Does It Float (which I love), only food-oriented. Found, coincidentally, via BDIF co-editor Atley G. Kasky.
May 13, 2009
Speaking of really good blog headers, did you know that… (a) the State Department has a blog (b) it looks all hip and has a Twitter feed in the sidebar (c) it’s called Dipnote, which is awesomely close to Dipset, which the State Department may or may not know is another name for the “Harlem-based hip hop group” The Diplomats (hey, that works on so many levels!!) (d) this blog has a really nice looking blog header? Yes, all of these things are true. What’s more, Hillary is setting up some kind of cyber-program in which “American students will partner with our embassies abroad to conduct digital diplomacy that reflects the realities of our networked world”? What does that even mean?! But hey, we’re living in the future! 2009!
April 17, 2009
Two Really Good Blog Headers
The blog header: it’s an important, and often completely overlooked art form. So many blogs just opt for boring old default Blogger template text headers — but some are doing it right! To me, taking the time to come up with some kind of design for your blog shows that you’re taking this thing seriously (OK, this guy excluded), putting the time in, putting some paint on the digital walls. A good header also communicates what that the blog’s goals and values are, and looks good while doing so. Here are two prime examples, which I’ll pretty much just let speak for themselves:
April 9, 2009
Covenger + Kester →
I think I just found my new favorite blog. Good stuff!
March 26, 2009
This is how the modern music industry works. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee for monetization. All you can do is become ‘followable’ and possibly ‘respected’/’critically acclaimed’, but that does not mean you have earned the right to ‘deserve to get paid for it.’
I have mixed feelings about this guy (he seems like a douche / he seems fairly bright) but this image and this paragraph are kinda on the money. It gets into some of the same ambiguity and unquantifiable-ness I was talking about regarding music videos, the “meme” economy being a big part of why people are still making them at this point. We’re all just trying to hold people’s attention really, and hoping everything will flow from there. Then again, that’s pretty much what marketing has always been, right?
December 12, 2008
Dial "M" for Musicology: Blog fail →
“But there’s an awful lot of stuff in my head that never gets written because whatever anyone says, blogging isn’t about keepin’ it real — it’s about the meticulous preparation and presentation of an artful rhetoric of keepin’ it real. At one point in Nashville I ran in Jim Hepokoski, who expressed surprise that I would confide so much about myself to a bunch of perfect strangers. I replied that I wasn’t confiding anything; whatever I write about myself is exactly what suits me for people to know about me. I don’t lie or mislead; nothing I say about myself is false. But whatever I disclose is selective and calculated. This isn’t the “real me” here, it’s a version of the real me packaged for blog consumption. Come to think of it, is there a real me anywhere? Probably not. We all do the same thing, making strategic self-disclosures to manage the perceptions that our friends, family, colleagues, and students have of us. As Rameau’s nephew pointed out, even the King poses for God and his mistress.”
November 25, 2008
Very cool-looking new blog with one of the most original formats I’ve seen in a while. Definitely worth checking out. And how great is the above image?
August 18, 2008
Hardformat - Reaching for the sublime in music design. →
Giant pictures of top notch record packaging = new favorite blog.
