Daily Pattern: Happy Working Song

I made this while talking about all kind of topics–leaning towards making stuff and patterns–with Lindsay over livestream. It was a lot of fun and I'd like to do it again, if only to have a great conversation.



If you're interested in listening/watching, here it is. I will warn you that it's a long and rambly thing.

thevintagepostbox on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Daily Pattern - Bird Perch

I only got to meet Dean for a short amount of time during my visit, but I'm so sad to hear of his passing. He was a very lovely bird that filled the office with silly chirps, and singing. He will be missed, and this pattern is in honor of the late, and great Dean.



Here's the pattern again in full-repeat

Daily Pattern - Groupies

Groupies are things/people that I rarely think about.. But when I do think about them, I think of KISS.

Fight For Your Right - Revisted

Who doesn't love the Beastie Boys? I would say that everyone probably loves them, at least a little.

Well, it's good that we're all on the same page because the Beastie Boys have a new album called Hot Sauce Committee Part Two coming out next month and to celebrate/promote that fact, they're working on a thirty minute short film that will come out around the same time as the album.



Oddly enough, the Beastie Boys will be played by two sets of actors; the young Beastie Boys played be Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen and Danny Mcbride. And there's the old Beastie Boys played by Jack Black, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. And as you can see from the trailer, there's a million other awesome people involved as well.

Just thought you should know...

Aesthetic Apparatus

Aesthetic Apparatus has always been an inspiration to me. Formed 12 years ago in Madison, Wisconsin (where I grew up), they started a kick-but studio and moved to Minneapolis around the same time I came for school. I was very into printmaking, and their constant stream of screenprints for rock shows blew me away. It seems like they've always made a point of making cool things for cool people.

Recently they hit the 500 Poster milestone and put together this little montage to celebrate.



Congratulations!

Art of the Title

I love title sequences in movies. It's like a chance to put a self-contained little statement at the beginning of your movie and a lot of films make great use of that opportunity.

Ian Albinson, Founder and editor-in-chief of Art of the Title, put together this amazing collection of title sequences through the years, aptly called The Art of the Title Sequence.



Ahhh, the memories and good times come flooding back. Also, this video gets a big thumbs-up for using music by one of my favorite musicians, RJD2.

Kim Holm

I remember when deer imagery was really cool. Then, a while later, it was kinda played out. Whether it's in or not, this music video, created by Kim Holm for Matta, rocks my face.

Inspired By Iceland

Another post about Iceland? Yes. Deal with it. It's a magical place.

After our 8 day trip around Iceland last year, it's rare that a day goes by without thinking about how awesome it was.

Seeing this official video promoting Iceland, created for Inspired By Iceland, just makes me want to go back even more. Just remember to get a big 4x4 to cross those rivers!



Aw yeah! See you there, sucka!

The Backwater Gospel

It's Sunday. Time for The Blackwater Gospel!

This stunningly cool animation was a final project from The Animation Workshop. Amazingly talented! Makes me want to weep!



Waaaah!

Mollinex + Kinect

Just last night we almost bought a Kinect, the new motion sensor peripheral for Xbox 360. We had it in our hands; Lindsay was chomping at the bit to play some Dance Central.

But (being the nerd I am) I've followed all the hands-on impressions and coverage since it was launched and I don't think we have the proper space or lighting to make it work right. Although I wish I did.

As cool as Dance Central is, what hackers and modders have been doing with the hardware even cooler.

For instance, Mollinex created this video for their song,Catalina using the data pulled from Kinect's 3-D depth-sensing camera.



I might try to round up a lot of cool kinect hacks for a future post. There's a lot of cool stuff happening around that tech.

Röyksopp - Album art + Fantastic Music

So, somehow I stumbled upon Röyksopp - a Norwegian Electronic Group - one night while I was listening to LastFM. I immediately fell in love with their upbeat, intricate music and have had their new album 'Junior' on repeat since then.

They've been active and making great music since 1998 (what took me so long???).
I love the album art. I love the music. I love the lyrics. Everything about it is just what I need right now. When I've got my headphones on and trying to get some serious work done, it's energizing, silly, and they switch it up constantly. There are some songs that are strange and ethereal, others are meditative, others are perfect for my mid-day dance parties.

Since my two year old European Electronic Music kick started, I feel like it's harder to find sweet music that doesn't sound like it came straight out of the house package on Garageband.


Amazing Royksopp video featuring awesome type and even better space invaders

I love their poppy electronic awesomeness - plus, it seems like they've had non-stop great albums with more than their share of memorable, dancey songs.



The Girl and the Robot - Best song ever

This is my favorite song of the moment. Can't stop dancing.

Photoshop Rap : This is how it's done.

Of course I remember the good-old days. . . back when I was oblivious to all of the Adobe programs, and back when my arms didn't hurt up to the shoulder from working on the computer all day.

Thanks, Francesca, for sending me a link to this.

CVA and MCAD started up two weeks ago and Francesca and I were planning our respective concept art and digital illustration classes. Of course, with any new class, there was a fair share of freaking-out-ing, and some late nights planning course materials.

Thanks to this wonderful tutorial video, our classes were saved, and we found all sorts of useful information for how to teach our digital classes! WOO WOO!

I thought this definitely deserved a good mention - (Chris, you LOVE layer masks!).

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire teamed up with Spike Jonze to create a powerful video for The Suburbs.

This video came out a month or two ago. It's a bit of a bummer so I didn't know if I wanted to post it or not. Lindsay hates things that are tense and uncomfortable, which it definitely is.

But I'm still thinking about it months after seeing it, which means it's probably worth sharing. I think I am finally understanding what it's about.

Maybe?

Better than Prince - a Flairs Music video

Anyone that is in our studio (or has visited) knows this about me :
I have had a weird electronic fetish for the past year or two and this one just popped up on my lastfm stream. Of course, since I spend most of my waking life listening to the same song on repeat until it wears out, I figured this one should be my new favorite.

I think this guy is awesome. Not sure if he's better than Prince... But I love the video and now I will annoy everyone and play this jam on repeat until someone sends me the next best thing.

Woo!

Rukes + Deadmau5

Deadmau5 came on today while I was working. I was immediately reminded of some amazing photos I saw a couple weeks/months ago, taken by Rukes, an event photographer who seems to do a whole lot of Deadmau5 photography.







It seems like he puts on a good show.

Pretty Hate Machine

Pretty Hate Machine, by Nine Inch Nails, was the first Compact Disc I ever bought. I was pretty darn young and it shaped what I listened to for a lot of my formative years. For better or worse.

When I saw there was a newly released 2010 Remastered Edition of Pretty Hate Machine, I knew I couldn't resist. If you're anything like me, listening to Head Like a Hole brings your childhood flooding back in a rush of nostalgia. And it's definitely worth a listen. Compared to the new version, the original sounds like a tinny AM radio.

Pretty Hate Machine is a product of it's time, for sure, and probably doesn't hold up as well as Nine Inch Nails' later works... but man, oh man, does it take me back.

Girl Talk

Yesterday, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) surprised-released his third album, All Day. Like his previous albums, it's available for free (or whatever you feel like paying) on Illegal Art.

Girl Talk's albums are created from a wealth of unauthorized samples. Although it might not make music publishers happy, the albums are always available for free and fall under fair use.

I was a huge fan of his previous album, Feed the Animals. Some people felt it was too schizophrenic, but the constantly shifting pace ensured some of the better juxtapositions left you wanting more, and anything that felt less inspired never lingered long enough to be offensive. It was a one-stop, frenetic party.

From what I've heard, All Day seems to be a worthy successor.

Piece of Me Piece of You

Boo! I did I scare you? It's Halloween so I thought I'd try to make you poop your pants in fear!

This video is a few years old by now, but it's so cool that I go back and watch it every few months and I think today it's extra relevant.

Three Legged Legs have an awesome name and make awesome videos, animations and everything else, basically.

This was an ad for Microsoft's Zune. It might not be immediately obvious if you don't know anything about Zune, but the concept is to highlight Zune's ability to 'squirt' music to a friend's Zune, thereby spreading word of good music like a zombie plague.

But it doesn't matter what it's for because it's an awesome combination of sweet puppets, creepy atmosphere and music by the always-amazing Chromeo. It's so awesome it makes me want to cry, dance and sing at the same time.



For an added (trick or) treat, check out the 'making of' on their site! Amazing!

Die Antwoord

You can finally buy $o$, the first full-length album from Die Antwoord. If you love bizarre, catchy, vaguely shocking (?) music and don't mind a heavy dose of absurdity they're definitely worth checking out.

Lindsay should really be writing this post, since she's been a little infatuated with them for about a year or so. If she had the chance, I think she would run off with the group's frontman, Ninja. And maybe I have a tiny crush on the group's (also tiny) female lead, Yo-Landi Vi$$er. Maybe.

I could post videos all day, but I think this one sums it up nicely:



Die Antwoord is a sexy and strangely lovable team.

Rain Dance

Paper Bicycle, as a studio, loves to get down. When we come to a party we come to dance, no questions asked.

But these guys are so awesome it kind of makes me want to never try to dance again. Because I will always think about this video and realize I could never be so dope.