Blog of a Blog Addict

Reasons why I love NYC

2011-05-16T14:32:00.000-04:00

preface: Because of the temperate weather, us and all of our neighbors have been leaving our windows open all day and night. also, one of our kitchen windows looks directly into our right-side neighbor's kitchen window

Sitting in the kitchen with Kristel, having a midnight snack.

Sound of someone next door sneezing repeatedly floats through our open window. After a few sneezes, out of habit I shout, "Bless you!"

*long pause*

"Thank you!" comes the response from next door

hahaha. small reasons why I love this city

Under Construction!!

2011-04-28T22:45:00.000-04:00

I have decided to revert back to my old Blogger days. Tumblr seemed too pretentious with everyone trying to out-blog everyone else and seeing who can repost the fastest. I prefer being able to write long posts and this set-up seems more natural. Regardless, I haven't had time to spruce it up yet so this blog is under serious construction.

new blog site

2010-06-06T20:04:00.000-04:00

I've officially moved my blog over to tumblr.

Check it out here

http://stampeek.tumblr.com/

New blog in my endless blog list

2010-05-14T20:21:00.000-04:00

My good friend Kelsey from my study abroad program in Florence has just started in the Peace Corps. She just arrived in Bulgaria and recently sent out a link to her blog so she can keep people posted on her time there. Since I am constantly looking for new blogs to follow, this is a wonderful addition.

Civil War Pictures

2010-05-14T20:14:00.000-04:00

Someone sent me this site of actual pictures taken from the civil war. Pretty incredible. Makes me want to use them in a project. Check it out here

Sketches for fragrance bottle

2010-05-14T20:07:00.000-04:00

I'm coming up on the final stages of sketches for my fragrance bottle. Here's the basic idea of what I want it to look like. One image has tentative color, parts may be gold while the sphere on top I want to be dark green colored glass. We're contacting vendors this week as well as crafting 3d versions of our bottles with clay

first attempt with sculpey

The Feltron Report

2010-05-14T19:59:00.000-04:00

In my Message and Content class we are creating a map of some type of information. This can be personal or not, but it has to be a visual representation of data. Our instructor showed us this site and I couldn't resist sharing.

Basically, this guy named Nicholas Felton collects information about his daily life and experiences and creates one giant annual report at the conclusion of each year to map the resulting data. He has his friends and acquaintances fill out questionnaires after each form of contact with him. The concept seems somewhat strange but the ending result is a beautiful collection of maps and information graphics that he calls the Feltron Report

here is his explaination for his 2009 report:
Each day in 2009, I asked every person with whom I had a meaningful encounter to submit a record of this meeting through an online survey. These reports form the heart of the 2009 Annual Report. From parents to old friends, to people I met for the first time, to my dentist… any time I felt that someone had discerned enough of my personality and activities, they were given a card with a URL and unique number to record their experience.

I kept track only of who I gave survey invitations to, the number of the card and where it was given. The surveys answers were submitted via text forms, allowing the respondee to write whatever they desired, and leaving the task of making comparisons between the data up to me. I have used only this information to create the report, however accurate it may be. I have strived to sort and collate the data in a clinical and repeatable manner that could be reproduced by someone looking for the same stories I have selected.

The data set itself was messy and overwhelming, and filled with enough information for several more reports. There are inherent shortcomings (like the unrepresentative amount of water recorded), and endearing strong suits (like the exploration of mood). I used several tools to make this task a more manageable, including Processing, which allowed me to map and explore alternate layouts much more quickly than previously, and Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

Annual Reports

2010-05-14T19:50:00.000-04:00

In my annual reports class, we were each given 3 companies to choose from and from that we have to design the company's entire annual report for the year. This includes the 'story/concept' in the front of the book as well as the financials at the end. We have to come up with a concept that would convince investors/shareholders to want to continue to invest in the company. For my 3 choices I was given a restaurant company, a water energy company, and a firearms company. Needless to say, I chose the firearms company. It is also not lost on me that I am from Texas and therefore choosing a firearms company for my annual report is somewhat of a stereotype. Oh well, I am excited.

The company is called Sturm, Ruger and Co. and they sell Ruger firearms. The company has been successful since its start back in 1949 in Connecticut. Luckily it isn't too hard to convince investors since the company has seen only growth and progress during recent years. I have been doing a lot of research on guns and the firearms industry in general and it seems to be thriving across the board.

At first I was a little lost on where to go with the concept but I think I have it almost nailed down. For the class we are each paired up with a photographer from school and they are helping us shoot all the imagery for the reports. It will be really amazing at the end to have a complete report with all new design and photography. Anyways, we went up to the firearms store on peachtree on monday afternoon to talk to the employees to hopefully get some leads on a concept. I really wanted to talk to people who actually own Ruger guns and they sell that brand at the store. Anyways, long story short, the son of the owner of the store was there and he turned out to be an incredible help. He got out his phone and started giving us the names of long-time customers that he thought would talk to us.

Basically I want to talk to people about their experience shooting guns and the reasons they own guns as well as interesting stories and encounters they have had. I also want to shoot portraits of each of the people to include in the report. The end result will be a series of short slice-of-life stories that will give an up close look at the real gun owners of today. And best of all, these people are not the run-of-the-mill gun owner types that you'd expect. We got the names of people all across the board that you would never expect to have guns stowed in their homes. One such person happens to be Miss Georgia Teen and her mom who both own Ruger guns. They have agreed to talk to us in their home on Monday afternoon.

Anyways, I will keep posting about the progress of this project but as of now everything seems to be falling into place. I have several meetings set up for this week and I am continuing to line more up for the future. Also, a group of students from school have been going to a skeet shooting range here in Atlanta and I might tag along with them this week to hopefully take pictures and meet some more people. Now all that's left is collecting these stories and tying them all together to create one cohesive report. It will be a challenge but I can't wait! stay tuned

The Southern Invasion of NYC

2010-05-14T19:27:00.000-04:00

Found this article while researching for my annual report. I don't think I mentioned, but the company I am designing my annual report for is Sturm, Ruger and Co. which is a producer and seller of firearms. Hence, why I was reading Garden and Gun magazine online. Thought this article was interesting. Would love to move to NYC when I am finished at PC!

BY JESSICA MISCHNER | APRIL/MAY 10 | CITY PORTRAIT

The Southern Invasion of NYC

Southern culture is hot in the Big Apple. Here's how and where to find it

Famous Southern story: In the spring of 1963, a young Mississippian named Willie Morris hops a Greyhound bus bound for New York City. In short order, he goes on to become the youngest editor in chief ever to preside over Harper’s magazine, a star of Manhattan’s literary scene, and close personal friends with the likes of William Styron and Frank Sinatra. But for all his success, and much as he loves New York, Morris never feels comfortable in the place he refers to as the “Big Cave.” He longs for his hometown of Yazoo City and the “lush hills” of his boyhood. Describing this internal struggle in his best-selling 1967 memoir, North Toward Home, he says, “The massive office buildings where people worked, the jostling for position in the elevators…, the windows opening out onto other office buildings equally massive and impersonal—all this was part of a way of living unknown to me, uprooted from the earth and its sources.”

Poor Willie. If only he’d moved to New York City a few decades later, he would have felt much more at home.

Our Kind of Town
Southerners have been moving to Manhattan—and then pining for their childhood towns—for as long as they’ve had the means to travel north. James Buchanan Duke expanded his tobacco business from North Carolina to Manhattan in 1884 and became the toast of the town. More recently, Newsweek editor in chief and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham (Tennessee), fashion pioneer Geoffrey Beene (Louisiana), and interior designer Charlotte Moss (Virginia) have all made their names—and their homes—in New York City. The list of successes is long, and it inspires even more of us. My own journey to the Big Apple involved a fourteen-hour road trip from my hometown, Camden, South Carolina, to a tiny first-floor apartment in SoHo. My dad drove me up, unpacked my meager belongings, took me to dinner, and left—all in the same day. He figured I’d be starved for Southern culture, but in no time I’d made a network of friends from across the SEC and found a few great soul food restaurants.

In the last few years, the influx of Southerners has reached a tipping point, and what was once a fringe migration has blossomed into a full-fledged cultural movement. “In the same way that there are more Jews in New York than any other place except Israel, there are now more Southerners in New York than anywhere except the South,” jokes restaurateur (and St. Louis native) Danny Meyer, whose pioneering ventures—Gramercy Tavern, Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, Union Square Café—made farm-fresh ingredients cool again. “You can feel the influence of that across every category of life.”

read the rest here

Live Music

2010-05-14T18:11:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks I have been to an abundance of live shows. This is somewhat rare since up until this point during the time I have been in Atlanta I think I have only been to one show, which was Coldplay last summer. It's not that I don't want to go to concerts it just never seems to fit in my schedule or work out.

Anyways, in the past month I have seen Yeasayer at the Masquerade, Owl City at the Tabernacle, Phoenix at the Tabernacle, Ben Harper at Verizon up in Alpharetta, Eli Young Band at a corny country bar called Cowboys in Kennesaw and Zac Brown Band back up in Alpharetta.

Yeasayer at Masquerade

Phoenix Show at the Tabernacle

Owl City at the Tabernacle

Guster (who started for Ben Harper)

Eli Young Band

Me, Emily and Kevin with the Eli Young Band

I'd have to say my favorite show was Phoenix. We bought our tickets way back in January so there was a lot of anticipation and expectations surrounding the show. The Tabernacle is an incredible venue and any show would be fun there. No assigned seats and a small venue makes for an amazing experience. It's an old church that was converted into a concert space. Phoenix puts on a pretty fantastic show; I saw them in October at ACL in front of thousands of people and seeing them closer up was pretty awesome. There have also been rumors that they could be back for ACL 2010, so I might possibly be able to see them a 3rd time. Fingers crossed! The lineup comes out on Tuesday!

I have to mention that Eli Young Band was pretty fun as well. I went with two of my friends who also went to University of Texas and the show was held at this super cheesy country western bar called Cowboys. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect: big wooden dance floor, smoky air, a big disco ball, hilarious people watching. Anyways, Eli Young Band is pretty huge back in Texas but they aren't as well known here in Georgia. Luckily that meant that the show was for a relatively small audience and we got to watch almost immediately in front of the stage. There was 1 row of people between us and the band. They put on a great performance and afterwards we went and talked to the band, comparing Texas stories and such. haha since they are from Texas as well. They were super nice and even agreed to take a few pictures with us. Needless to say, Emily and I were pretty star-struck, even if unnecessarily. haha

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2010-05-14T17:40:00.002-04:00

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Vacation plans

2010-05-14T17:34:00.000-04:00

Every summer since I was a baby, my parents and I have gone to the Alabama/Florida coast for a week for vacation. More specifically we have gone to the Gulf Shores/Fort Morgan area which is in Alabama right near the Alabama/Florida border. We used to stay in different condos but as I've gotten older we've started renting houses and bringing our dog Ollie with us.

However, this summer may entail a slight change in plans. Since I have 2 weeks break in the summer my parents planned our week vacation to be the first week of my break which is mid June. But, unfortunately, the horrible oil spill near Louisiana has created an obstacle in our beach plans. Our week at the beach is set for about a month away and status in the gulf is still so vague and unknown. Because Fort Morgan is in a pretty bad location in regards to the spill, my mom has decided to move our destination 200 miles further east from Ft. Morgan.

Soooo, this year we are going to a different place than the place we have been going for about the last 20 summers of my life! Should be an interesting change. I'm completely heartsick over all of the potential damage and ramifications that could be caused by this spill. That area of the country has always been so important to me since i've been going there for so long. I'm crossing my fingers that some kind of solution is discovered soon. I don't want to see all of those gorgeous beaches ruined.

Anyways, instead of Fort Morgan we are now going to St. Joe Beach, Florida. It is a couple hours further drive for my parents coming from Texas, but the house we got is directly on the water and looks gorgeous:

First week of my break I'll be flying down to meet my parents in Pensacola and then driving the rest of the way to the house with them. I'll be there the entire week and then back to Atlanta for a few days.

July 1 I will be heading to NYC! A friend of mine from back when I worked at Camp Olympia, Emily, is going with me to NYC to visit one of our other camp friends who is living and going to grad school in the city. We are spending 4 nights with her including July 4th so I am pretty excited. I haven't been to NYC since I was in college and back then when I went it was super cold so I can't wait to be there during the summer season.

Blogging slacker

2010-05-14T16:39:00.000-04:00

Gosh, I just looked at this and realized I haven't made a post since January. Which is pretty horrible since I've had a lot going on and wish I had been keeping track of everything I'm working on. The last post was written at the beginning of my 5th quarter and I am now just over halfway through my 6th.

Last quarter was a pretty crazy ride. Design History continued to wreck my brain throughout the entire 11 weeks until the day of my critique. Designing that chair was pretty consuming, considering i rewrote my concept about a million times. I designed 3 wine bottles that ended up being made in NYC and sent to me before my critique. My book projects for design history and type 4 ended up turning out just how i liked them. And I almost went crazy building a teeny tiny model of my retail space for retail branding. Once I get some of my work shot I'll be sure to post pictures on here.

found this image on someone's Tumblr. Seems to be a pretty accurate assessment on Texan's views of the rest of the country.

I've been contemplating moving my blog over to Tumblr. Seems like a pretty smooth and easy interface and I could make posts easily from my iPhone. A lot of people I know have been making the leap so we'll see if I can figure out how to transfer all of my old posts.

anyways, this quarter I am in 5 classes. Message and Content, Event Branding, Bookmaking, Annual Reports and Fragrance Branding.

In Message and Content we are creating a guerilla marketing campaign, a map or infographic about something in our lives and a triptic poster series based on something from an issue of Good magazine. This is the 4th class I have taken with the instructor of this class so I am pretty used to her teaching style. Right now I am just trying to figure out and nail down my concepts and executions. For my mapping project I am considering doing a map of all of my jewelry so we'll see how that pans out.

Event Branding is a class taught by one of the designers from AIGA. He usually teaches environmental design but he is taking a quarter off to do the branding for Design Week which will be in October. All of the design discipline associations in Atlanta are coming together to create a week of design-centered activities for members of the different associations so they can get to know each other and hopefully collaborate in the future. Our class is doing all the branding for the event: logos, colors, website, templates etc etc

Bookmaking is basically just a workshop but we spend wednesday afternoons learning different bookmaking techniques. Although tedious crafting skills are always quite frustrating to me (i.e. ENFP personality type haha) I actually really enjoy it. So far we've made 3 different types and we're starting on a third. only bummer is that someone at school threw away pieces we'd made for our books and left underneath bricks downstairs.

Annual Reports is another class I am taking with Hank who taught Design History. We're designing an entire annual report for a company we were assigned. I'm pretty excited about this project and probably will dedicate an entire post to the project soon

Fragrance Branding! In fragrance branding we are creating our own unique fragrance brand and scent and designing everything for it: Bottle, packaging, ads, logo etc etc. This class is on Friday mornings and considering the subject matter is an all girls class. It's a lot of fun to design something 3-dimensional and to see all of the creative concepts everyone has come up with. hopefully all of us will have our actual bottles produced by the end of the quarter

anyways, that's it for classes. We're in the swing of things and everything is starting to come together so should be a successful quarter. can't believe I'm getting so close to the end!

Welcome to 5th Quarter

2010-01-21T19:24:00.000-05:00

So I've been slacking pretty bad on updating the blog. Most of my previous posts have been videos i have found that I quickly post. Over my break, I tried to give myself a pretty sufficient break from computers, so I didn't make any posts. However, now that I am currently in the throws of the 3rd week of my 5th quarter, I don't see many frequent posts in the future. But, I am really excited about my new classes, even though I probably won't see the inkling of a social life or the light of day in the coming weeks.

Most of my classes this quarter require a lot of personal stories and input in order to create the concepts for our projects. For example, in my Type 4 class, we are creating a book that weaves 3 pieces of text along with images to create a narrative on an assigned sense. The majority of the text comes from the book A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. My assigned sense is sight. Anyways, one of the 3 texts included in our book has to be personally written by us and composed of thoughts we have made about our sense in a 'sense' journal that we are keeping this quarter.

Another class I am taking this quarter is the infamous 'Chair Class' of Portfolio Center, taught by none other than the president of the school, Hank Richardson. The class is about design history but our biggest deliverable of the quarter will be a chair that we design and actually have produced. The concept of the chair must be based on an assigned design style era as well as a personal story of our own. I feel like I can't do a description of this class justice so I am going to include an article written on the class:

It's 5:30 a.m. and already the big table downstairs at PC is littered with wadded up napkins, Styrofoam coffee cups, and Krispy Kreme donut crumbs. Oh, and stacks and stacks of books—everything from modernism to McLuhan. Sitting around--and on--the table, eight or nine students with wicked cases of bed head discuss the periods that shaped the shifting currents and concepts of our modern world--weighty subject matter that sometimes even leads to a debate in these wee hours (Okay, it might actually lead to a full-blown argument; they're still a little cranky).

This is Hank Richardson's History of Design, a rite of passage at Portfolio Center, a trial by fire concocted by a man who believes sleep is for babies, the infirm, and old folks. These classes often last until well after noon. Sometimes they're held on Sundays. Such conditions—even these minor upsets to the students' sense of order--make for conflict, and Hank knows that conflict gives birth to creativity. He aims to put these guys and gals off balance, test their sense of reality, and, at the end of the day, change their reality altogether.

This is how he primes them to use the lessons design history provides. Hank likes to quote the late designer Dan Friedman, "It is important to find comfort in the past only so long as it might expand insight into the future," a viewpoint that jibes with Hank's own conviction that neophyte designers should explore the relationship of design history and design criticism primarily as a catalyst for new ideas.

Students learn that each overlapping period, or 'graphic style', is in essence a narrative, a story of history, representing a specific characteristic of attitudes and taste. These periods exemplify a 'philosophy of lives' occurring during a time of a disorderly, often tumultuous twentieth century. Portfolio Center students come to understand that the modern student's reinterpretation must reaffirm the truth that design is culture.

The deliverable products in this class are beside the point, though exquisite chairs are most often the end result. Because Hank knows that a true work of art comes from the exploration of—again—conflict, he urges students to discover that conflict within their own personal, powerful stories, which means that the work is distinctive, driven by their unique experiences, and expressed in each one's particular voice.

A former student of Portfolio Center, Dave Werner, has a video about his chair on his website. First of all, his web site is incredible and everyone should check it out here

Here is his video about his chair:

examples of former chairs:

Wolff Olins

2010-01-21T18:26:00.004-05:00

Today, a former PC student and current employee of Wolff Olins, Todd Simmons, spoke at school during our weekly seminar. The branding firm, based in NYC, London and Dubai has a pretty impressive list of clients. The work shown today was really incredible and it was interesting to hear about the firm's personal strategies and approaches to branding and design. Some of their clients include :

(RED)

Adidas

Mercedes

Starbucks

Sunglass Hut

Target

Unicef

Wa Mu

Sony Ericsson

and tons more

check out their site here

(from their website:)

Wolff Olins is a brand business. From London, New York and Dubai, we work strategically with ambitious organizations around the world. We help them not to predict the future, but to invent it. Not to make small improvements, but fundamental change. We help them to focus, to grow, to perform better, and to connect with customers.

To take three examples, we helped GE become customer-centric. We helped Tate to change the way people see art. And we helped Tata to become a world brand.

We’re 140 people, ambitious for clients, and optimistic for the world.

It wasnt long before Todd broached the topic of the 2012 London Olympic Games logo, which has received a plethora of media coverage, mostly from people who strongly dislike the logo. The logo was created by the London office of Wolf Olins, and some of the feedback from the public is quite hilarious. Todd showed one video of Jon Stewart's reaction on The Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

London Logo

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Pretty entertaining. I've been looking up other blogs/articles written on the logo and its an interesting read to say the least. Todd explained that they wanted a logo that didn't specifically speak to the city of London, but their strategy apparently backfired. On the bright-side, even though the publicity was negative, it was publicity nonetheless.

This just breaks my heart

2010-01-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

Another Post Secret Video

2009-12-13T11:10:00.002-05:00

Texas is in the National Championship game!

2009-12-08T13:12:00.001-05:00

History is on the Horns' side

Comment Email Print Share

By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com
Archive

No. 1 Alabama is coming off a 19-point defeat of unbeaten, formerly top-ranked Florida. The Crimson Tide swept the six computer ratings that participate in the BCS. They received 54 of 59 first-place votes from the coaches' poll used by the BCS, and 58 of 60 first-place votes in the Associated Press poll.

History of Texas vs. Alabama

Texas and Alabama will meet for the ninth time in the BCS National Championship Game. Since their first meeting in 1902, the Longhorns lead the series 7-0-1.

Year	Result	Bowl/Reg. season
1902	Texas 10, Alabama 0	Reg. season
1915	Texas 20, Alabama 0	Reg. season
1922	Texas 19, Alabama 10	Reg. season
1947	No. 5 UT 27, No. 6 Bama 7	Sugar Bowl
1960	UT 3, No. 9 Bama 3	Bluebonnet Bowl
1964	No. 5 UT 21, No. 1 Bama 17	Orange Bowl
1972	No. 7 UT 17, No. 4 Bama 13	Cotton Bowl
1981	No. 6 UT 14, No. 3 Bama 12	Cotton Bowl

No. 2 Texas needed a clock mulligan to beat Nebraska in the Game That Offense Forgot. When Hunter Lawrence's 46-yard field goal slipped inside the left upright, Orangebloods across America let out their breath in unison: One Sigh Fits All.

All of which means the Longhorns have the Crimson Tide right where they want them.

This will be the fifth time in 50 seasons that Alabama and Texas have played in a bowl game. In the previous four, the Longhorns came in as the lower-ranked team. Texas earned three victories and a tie. In fact, since the teams first met in 1902 -- around the time that Alabama became associated with crimson and one year before a sportswriter referred to Texas as the Longhorns -- Alabama is 0-7-1 against Texas.

The unveiling of the BCS pairings promises a revival of that 2004 comedy smash, "Three's A Crowd." Cincinnati is playing the role that Auburn made so memorable -- the cuckolded suitor. The Bearcats, No. 4 TCU and No. 6 Boise State may snipe about the injustice of being left out of the BCS Championship Game. And they have a case.

The problem is not new. The BCS Championship Game has only two sidelines. And the teams that will fill them bring not only well-coached talent but history and tradition. Texas will try to win its fifth national championship since the wire-service polls began in 1936. If the Longhorns win, they will still be one title shy of the Crimson Tide.

The coaches are equals. Mack Brown has won at least 10 games for nine consecutive seasons. After Texas slumped its way through the 1990s, Brown came in and restored the Longhorns to greatness. The burnishing has worked both ways. When Brown arrived from North Carolina, he came as a coach who could win but not win it all. No one says that any longer.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Harry CabluckWill Muschamp won a BCS title at LSU serving as Nick Saban's defensive coordinator. He'll try to do it again, this time with Mack Brown and Texas.

Nick Saban looks to become the first coach in the modern era to win national championships at two different schools. After Alabama slumped its way through this decade, Saban arrived and over the last two seasons has restored the Crimson Tide to greatness. After going 6-6 in the 2007 regular season, Saban's first year, Alabama has gone 25-2.

The defenses are equals, and not just statistically. Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp held that job under Saban at LSU when the Tigers won the 2003 BCS title. He and Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart worked together on the LSU staff the following year.

The Longhorns and the Crimson Tide rank 1-2 in rushing defense. Alabama is second and Texas third in total defense. Both defenses are ballhawks -- the Tide are plus-16 in turnovers, the Longhorns are plus-12.

Surely the rest of college football would like to see Texas win and deny the Southeastern Conference the bragging rights that would come with an unprecedented fourth consecutive national championship. That would also be five in seven years.

Alabama last played in a January game in the Rose Bowl 64 seasons ago. Before the Big Ten and Pacific-10 made the game their own, the Crimson Tide played in the Rose Bowl six times in 21 years. But the last team to win a national championship in the Arroyo Seco wore burnt orange four years ago.

Both Alabama and Texas, it appears, will be at home.

World School

2009-12-08T13:00:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me a new blog to read. As I've mentioned before, I love finding new blogs to follow, and travel blogs are by far my favorite. This blog is called World School and it is a personal travel log of a family of 5 (a single mom from Dallas and her 4 children, all under the age of 15) who are taking a year-long journey around the world. They left their home in July of this year, and they are visiting 34 countries on a trip that will take 365 days. Their goal is to see schools all over the globe and to learn about cultures other than their own. Check out their blog here

The family recently featured in the December issue of Conde Nast Traveler:

If It's Tuesday, This Must be Turkey

by Eimear Lynch | Published December 2009 | See more Condé Nast Traveler articles ›

The 2009 Dream List

What happens when one family gets inspired—really,really inspired—by our Dream List? The answer: a year like no other

Three Decembers ago, a Dallas mom of four named Sue Sandford opened up her Condé Nast Traveler and read an article by Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska that changed her—and her kids'—lives forever.

The piece detailed Glowczewska's once-in-a-lifetime, ten-minute, $4,250 venture into Egypt's Nefertari Tomb, normally closed to the public but opened to her and her family thanks to the contacts and pull of travel specialist Jim Berkeley of Destinations & Adventures International in Beverly Hills, California. Sandford found herself bewitched. One day, she vowed to her children, they'd visit Nefertari themselves.

But Glowczewska's trip got Sandford thinking about travel in general—its purpose, its possibilities, its potential to teach like no school ever could. "I wanted the kids to step through the looking glass to see history firsthand," Sandford says, "all while realizing how much is beyond our borders." And so, two years later—with dreams of Egypt still in her head—the single mom devised a yearlong journey that would introduce her clan [Josh, 10; Becca, 13; Emma, 8; Sue; and Mc-Kenna, 14] to arts and languages around the globe while affording them a perspective hard to find in a classroom. She dubbed her project World School, its motto "You can't have a narrow mind and a thick passport."

Read the rest of the article here

Video the family made before they left:

Post Secret Video

2009-12-06T12:57:00.004-05:00

This is great.

Post Secret is probably one of my all-time favorite blogs; has been ever since a friend told me about it about a year ago. If you haven't heard of it, it's a project started a few years ago where the creators asked people to write their secrets on the backs of postcards and send them in to be collected. Every Sunday the blog posts 20 new secrets that were submitted. Since the project began, Post Secret has also published several books of secrets. They just had a new book come out and posted this promotional video on their site.

Check out Post Secret here

What is graphic design?

2009-12-01T22:29:00.001-05:00

haha really weird and random video about graphic design

20/20 Graphic Design

2009-11-30T21:18:00.002-05:00

Advent Conspiracy Video

2009-11-30T18:55:00.001-05:00

Snapshots from the beach

2009-11-27T17:43:00.007-05:00

This year for Thanksgiving, my mom decided she needed another dose of the beach so my parents and I headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama. My mom is a teacher and when she found out that she got a week off from school, she booked the same house that we stayed in this summer for vacation. Lucky for me, all of my classes were cancelled, so I was able to meet them down in Alabama. I flew standby from Atlanta to Mobile on Saturday morning and they picked me up there.

This week has been full of long relaxing days that involve lounging on the beach, reading, and lots of eating. A little football thrown in there too. The weather has been beautiful. Mostly sunny and in the high 60s. I wish it were warmer, especially the last few days when the wind has picked up and created cooler weather on the gulf. I put on plenty of layers before heading out into the wind, and I sit bundled on the sand and watch as other families come running out in their swimsuits and actually go swimming! I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather, I admit.

I've been taking lots of pictures of the beach since it's pretty rare to see it so empty. The first time I went out there I couldn't figure out why it looked so weird; then I realized it was because there were not rows of chairs and tents set up on the sand.

The Dismemberment Plan show poster

2009-11-25T01:26:00.005-05:00

Tonight I've been working on some of my Entertainment Design stuff. Not surprising since it's my favorite class and I'd rather spend all my time working on it...haha. Anyways, I just threw a poster together and I think I really like the direction it's going. It needs to be arranged better and edited around maybe before I decide how I want it, but I thought I'd post my progress so far. The assignment is to create a show poster for our band and I am doing a poster for a tour my band went on with Death Cab for Cutie.

Tour with: The Dismemberment Plan+Death Cab for Cutie=The Death and Dismemberment Tour

Since the title of the tour is so graphic, I wanted really graphic images. Also, since it describes kind of a horrific mental image, I wanted to play off of it so I decided to use mannequins as my visuals. They look like human bodies and parts but aren't in actuality. Anyways, I did all the type by hand like the rest of my pieces. See what you think

I'm having way too much fun finding Twilight spoofs

2009-11-24T17:56:00.004-05:00

So with all of the Twilight madness going around, I thought I'd share some of the spoofs I've found or been shown recently. I read the first book and saw the first movie, and personally, I think they're vastly overrated and I didn't enjoy either of them. Granted, I may not be in the target audience bracket, so maybe I'm not supposed to like it. I thought it was very poorly written and the movies translate the stories even worse than they're written. I don't need to elaborate, I'll just leave it with I didn't enjoy the book or the movie so I don't understand what all the fuss is about.

However, I have seen some hilarious spoofs/parodies of the books/movies and I really enjoy them and thought I'd post a few here.

The first is an article from Entertainment Weekly that I found laugh-out-loud funny. You'll probably only understand it if you've read the first book, since it's written almost identical to the first few chapters, only sarcastic and cynical. haha

'Nightlight,' a 'Twilight' Parody:

Exclusive Excerpt | The 'Twilight' Saga | EW.com

(one of my favorite excerpts:)

'It was then that I saw him. He was sitting at a table all by himself, not even eating. He had an entire tray of baked potatoes in front of him and still he did not touch a single one. How could a human have his pick of baked potatoes and resist them all? Even odder, he hadn't noticed me, Belle Goose, future Academy Award winner.'

check out the full article here

The second is from a site called The Oatmeal, which uses comic style cartoons to illustrate their posts. They have an entire entry entitled, "How Twilight Works" explaining the series' phenomena. Check out the entry here

Lastly, is a video clip from Saturday Night Live when Taylor Swift hosted. She did a digital clip of a fictional movie called 'Firelight'. Check it out below:

I'll post more as I see them. Hope everyone is enjoying their weeks and is having fun preparing for Thanksgiving!

The Decade in 7 Minutes

2009-11-24T10:47:00.002-05:00

See more funny videos and Technology Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Typography mistakes

2009-11-20T18:39:00.002-05:00

someone from school shared this on facebook and i wanted to post it here. It's an article from the new york times about inaccurate or unpleasant typefaces used in different public places or in movies/tv shows. it's pretty entertaining to read about how designers notice type mistakes

From the New York Times

DESIGN

Mistakes in Typography Grate the Purists

My favorite quote from the whole article. Said by Michael Bierut of Pentagram:

One of his (least) favorite examples is the Cooper Black typeface on the Mass sign outside a beautifully restored 1885 Carpenter Gothic church near his weekend home in Cape May Point, New Jersey. “Cooper Black is a perfectly good font, but in my mind it is a fat, happy font associated with the logo for the ‘National Lampoon,’ the sleeve of the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ album and discount retailers up and down the U.S.,” Mr. Bierut explained. “I wouldn’t choose it as a font for St. Agnes Church even as a joke. Every time I go by, my vacation is, for a moment, ruined.”

read the whole article here

Music

2009-11-20T15:54:00.005-05:00

So i never claimed to have a good sense of music taste..I usually catch on to new bands after seeing them at Austin City Limits Festival or hearing about them from friends. Actually, I have been better lately about finding new stuff to listen to, but I always fall back into my nerdy old bands/singers that I've loved forever, and I confess I shamelessly love some good ole poppy acoustic guitar singing music. But, I just bought 3 new cds and have a serious love for all 3.

First of all, I saw The Avett Brothers at ACL this year, and although I had heard them before, after seeing them live I was smitten. I have been meaning to buy some of their cds or steal some of their music from friends, but I hadn't gotten around to it or felt like spending the money. Well I broke down and bought their newest album I and Love and You, and I confess, I am completely obsessed. I've had it blasting through my ipod all morning and it puts me in the best mood. It makes me want to drive through the countryside with my windows down blaring this in my car. Listen to the whole thing here

For my second cd choice, I bought Phoenix's newest cd Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Also a great album. I like Phoenix because most of their music is so bouncy and I can't resist dancing around to all of their songs. I also saw them at ACL and posted about liking them but just now getting around to buying their music. Check this album out, it's pretty incredible.

Lastly, I couldn't resist filling my craving for some good ole acoustic guitar crooning by none other than John Mayer. I have always had a huge love for John Mayer, but it has recently faded somewhat and I haven't listened to him much lately. However, I just couldn't resist buying his newest album, Battle Studios. Make fun of me all you wish, but I absolutely love this cd. I was reading bad reviews on it, but from the amount i've listened to it so far, I like it alot. It's definitely not as unique as his previous two cds, but the soft poppy love songs are right what i wanted and expected when buying this newest album. I guess i'll always have a soft spot for john mayer that started when I got his first cd at 15 years old. Check it out, I think it's pretty great. listen to it here

alright, well better go do something productive with my life. hope everyone is having an amazing day

blogger Image problem

2009-11-19T13:13:00.005-05:00

I can't figure out why blogger isn't allowing a viewer to click on an image and for it to appear larger in a new window. I think the problem is that once I place the images into a post, I later cut and paste them to where I want them to appear within the post. I think this is causing me to lose the link to the original image saved on my computer. It's driving my crazy because I'm not copying and pasting, but linking the image using the upload image tool. Anyways, i'm gonna repost all of my image uploads from my post about handwritten type and see if that will work any different. Let's see if this works!

Still so excited about this being made into a movie

2009-11-19T12:45:00.004-05:00

So i posted before about my favorite book series (that i originally read in middle school) being made into a movie. Anyways, I discovered another blog post about it and got really excited so I wanted to post it here.

The movie's imdb site

Originally from here

FILM NEWS: “Tomorrow: When the War Began”

September 17, 2009

Before boy wizards and sparkly vampires dominated the best-seller list, in Australia there was a little series about a group of teenagers waging a guerilla war from ‘Hell’ that captivated teens everywhere. Considering the unprecedented success of the film adaptations of the Potter series and the first Twlight film, it seems fair to wonder; will Tomorrow: When the War Began be Australia’s first book-to-screen-series success story?

If you were an Aussie teen growing up in the 90s, you had to have encountered John Marsden’s iconic Tomorrow: When the War Began series. An engrossing story that spanned seven main novels (and a sequel series some years later), theTomorrow books followed the exploits of a small group of rural-based teenagers, who attempt to fight back after an unspecified nation invades Australia.

These books were essential reading to teens everywhere, whether you waited until it finally became available at your school library, or hit up your nearest and dearest come birthday or Christmas time. And now, for better or worse – though, this cynic can’t help but feel it will be worse – the first Tomorrow book is set to become a feature picture. Beginning filming in late 2009, Ambience Entertainment and Screen Australia have pumped 20 million dollars into this ambitious venture, handing over both directional and screenwriting duties to Stuart Beattie.

The ‘creative mind’ (and I use that term exceedingly loosely) behind the cringe-inducing script for recent ham-fest G.I. Joe, it seems a shame that the screen adaptation of such a definitive novel is being left in the hands of Beattie. Also responsible for the ’story’ (again, IMDB’s words, not mine) behind Pirates of the Caribbean and the screenplay for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, it’s difficult to be optimistic about the creative vision that Beattie will bring to the film. Heading up a a cast that will most likely be populated by unknowns is former Neighbours star Caitlin Stasey (as heroine Ellie).

Whether Beattie’s Tomorrow is a horribly misguided mess of a book-to-screen adaptation or a surprising triumph, perhaps some of the real and unavoidable disappointment arises from the very notion of an adaptation.

While film is a wonderful medium, and easily my favorite means of creative production (stay with me on this one) there is something to be said about reading a text that is so fantastically vivid you’re able to paint your own imagery in your mind. When the words make you imagine something so engaging that it will always outshine whatever you’re physically shown on screen.

Perhaps then, the better the book, the harder it is for the filmmaker? This would certainly seem the case on some of the worse ‘re-imaginings’ of past novels, for example, Nick Earls excellent novel ‘48 Shades of Brown should have produced a film far better than the exceedingly shallow 48 Shades.

If this is indeed the case, come next year, it will be with fear and trepidation that I will edge into Beattie’s Tomorrow. And if it is as I expect (read: bad), I will perhaps have to make a note to only watch film adaptations of terrible books.

In Bb 2.0

2009-11-19T09:31:00.004-05:00

A friend posted this on facebook and I thought i'd share it here. This is a sound experiment project that combines 20 different video clips that can be played all together or in any order to create a harmonious song/melody. It's pretty incredible, check it out here

Michael Bierut's tips for lazy designers

2009-11-18T14:51:00.004-05:00

ORIGINALLY FROM AZURE MAGAZINE

FACETIOUSLY POSITIONING HIMSELF AS A "LAZY" DESIGNER, MICHAEL BIERUT, THE PROLIFIC FOUNDER OF DESIGN OBSERVER AND PARTNER AT PENTAGRAM’S NEW YORK OFFICE, SHARES HIS SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESS.

1. Keep it simple.
Avoid ideas that require the same level of craftsmanship as those of, say, Canadian graphic designer Marian Bantjes. “Her work is extraordinary,” says Bierut. “I never have ideas that call for that same amount of effort, though.” Referring to the simple illustrations he creates for The New York Times’ editorial pages, Bierut explains that if commissioned in the morning, a designer should have an executable idea by 5 p.m. the same day. Otherwise, turn down the job.

2. Don’t reinvent the wheel [Part 1].
Instead of starting a project with a clean slate, take the MacGyver approach. “I come on the scene and think, there’s got to be something around here I can use,” says Bierut. The logo for the New York restaurant The Oak Room has gone through a series of changes since its opening more than a century ago. After trolling through some of those logos, Bierut decided to restore the original logo.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel [Part 2]: Rotate the tires instead.
Keep what the client has, just tweak it. “I say, ‘What you have is great, it just needs some improvement’,” says Bierut. For the signage he created for Saks Fifth Avenue two years ago, Bierut kept Saks’s age-old cursive logo in the square, but created a program that sliced the square into 64 smaller squares. The smaller squares are randomly assembled on 90 pieces of packaging, including gift bags and gift certificates.

4. Do as you’re told.
Simply following the client's instructions will yield wonders. For Bierut – who likes limitations – creating the gargantuan sign for Renzo Piano’s New York Times building was fairly straightforward. The Times Square Alliance mandates that all buildings in the neighbourhood feature bright, large signage, to "keep Times Square looking like Times Square,” says Bierut. (He adds that, for Piano, hearing the words large-sign-stuck-on-your-building must have been, "like, the biggest 6-word, ‘F--- you, architect’.”) And so, the almost 6 meter-tall logo was chopped into 893 pieces and applied to Piano’s ceramic rod façade.

5. Steal.
If your idea isn’t working, says Bierut, steal one. The new brand identity he created for Activision’s Guitar Hero is a riff on the logo art for the rock band Chicago.

6. Once you come up with something, never let it go.
If the idea isn’t working, don’t come up with a new one. “Beat it to death.” Bierut cites the logo he created for New York’s Museum of Arts and Design, which is based on the physical footprint of the structure itself. The final approved identity, based on this concept, was Bierut’s third design.

7. Make other people do the work.
Even if the designers are dead or retired, pawning off the work will always yield great results. Take, for instance, the work Bierut did (or didn’t do) for the Robin Hood Foundation, an organization that helps rebuild school libraries in impoverished areas of New York. Bierut commissioned designers and artists (including illustrator Lynn Pauley, Stefan Sagmeister and even his own wife) to create the wall murals above the library shelves. (Read Azure's coverage on the initiative here.)

Excerpted from a lecture by Michael Bierut at Toronto's Designthinkers conference, delivered November 3.

New favorite technique

2009-11-18T09:59:00.010-05:00

So my new favorite thing to have in my projects this quarter is handwritten type. I have 2 books that show incredible examples of having hand-made items in your graphic design, so I've been trying to utilize it in a lot of things i'm working on.

Mostly i'm using it in my entertainment design class. We are designing 2 album covers, a show poster and 2 pieces of merchandise for an assigned band. I was given Dismemberment Plan which was a pretty successful indie rock band that formed in the 90s. They have a unique sound and really creative lyrics. I wanted to convey the fact that they were a self-promoted independent band and that they have very iconic song lyrics. I decided to use handwritten type to show that they kind of hand-created their image and include song lyrics and song titles to show their importance.

I love the effect of hand-done type but it takes forever! I always think that I am going to get so much done at once and then it takes me twice as long to accomplish things! I have to write it out in pencil, go over in it different markers, erase the pencil, scan it all in, change it to greyscale, adjust the contrast and levels in photoshop, move it to illustrator, live trace it and then adjust the settings so it looks write and THEN work on coloring it how I like. I've gotten used to the process but I am still surprised by the time consuming aspect of it.

I started with the logotype of the band. I scanned in the different parts I wanted in the look I wanted:

Then I got it vectorized how I liked it and this is the final result:

I did the same thing for the single cover that I am doing which will be 12X12 like a record cover. I wrote out most of the lyrics so that they will overlay a picture of Boston in the winter (the single is called the Ice of Boston). Here is the first scan:

Then I converted it to illustrator

Then I moved them to be layered over the picture. This is the direction I've been going, but probably not the final version yet:

I am also doing 4 cd covers that are going to go together in a box set. Basically so fans could buy all of their studio length albums together. I decided to create grids on the covers like the logotype and then every space would have an icon or the names of a song title. Here are some of the original scans:

And here are the near-final versions that include the front and back covers:

These will eventually be printed on a cardboard-like material. I am also using hand-done type on the show poster I'm doing. Which I think I am going to screen print so I'm really excited about that. I'll probably end up screen printing t-shirts as well. Anyways, more to come later!

Re:Minds, a blog started by PC students

2009-11-17T22:59:00.004-05:00

2 people from my school started this new blog and I wanted to share it.

re.Minds is an effort to offer people comfort in troubled times. Remember your friends, past and present, with fondness and humor and share those memories with the world. Hopefully others will be comforted and entertained and encouraged to join in and share their own memories. Find a picture and let us know who it reminds you of and why. Now go waste some time enjoying yourself in the memories we’ve recorded for you!

Check it out here

smashing guitar

2009-11-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

Eric Smashes Guitar from EWD Design Productions on Vimeo.

So in my Entertainment Design class this quarter, we are designing an album cover, a single-song album cover, a show poster and 2 pieces of merchendise for a band that we were assigned. I am doing The Dismemberment Plan (will post some of my stuff later). Anyways, a guy from my class is doing an album for Deftones but his concept put a spin on it so that they are releasing an acoustic album. In order to get the images he needs, he set up a photoshoot where he smashed a guitar. They also took video of the shoot so I thought i'd post it here. I thought it was a really cool idea so I thought i'd steal the video and post it myself. check it out!

Portfolio Center president Hank Richardson named Art Directors Club Grandmaster

2009-11-17T15:21:00.005-05:00

Hank, the president and design department head of my school was named a grandmaster by the art directors club in New York! They wrote about it on our school's website...and in the NYTimes! check it out:

originally from The New York Times:

People and Accounts of Note

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: October 26, 2009

Art Directors Club, New York, presented its A.D.C. Grandmasters Awards to four educators. They are: Deborah Morrison, Chambers distinguished professor of advertising at the University of OregonSchool of Journalism and Communications; Tom Ockerse, professor of graphic design, Rhode Island School of Design; Hank Richardson, design department head at the Portfolio Center; and Ron Seichrist, founder and president at the Miami Ad School.

Hank Richardson, The Portfolio Center
Hank Richardson has long been a leader of The Portfolio Center. During his tenure there, his students have garnered more than 5,000 local and national awards, and his graduates are employed in the most highly respected firms and agencies in the world, including And Partners, The Attic, Cartoon Network, CNN, DesGrippes Gobe, Goodby Silverstein, Hornell Anderson, Hallmark, Landor, Leo Burnett, Martha Stewart, MTV, Pentagram, The Richards Group, Sapient and VSA and others.

ADC GrandMasters are educators whose careers in creative education have impacted and mentored generations of student creatives and whose legacy is a far-reaching network of industry leaders and professionals in Advertising and Design.
The program salutes those who have dedicated over 10 years of their teaching careers to establishing and raising standards of excellence in visual communications with an award presentation and a 3-week exhibition representing the ADC GrandMasters’ work and that of a cross section of their protégés. Scholarships are endowed by alum in the name of the ADC Grandmaster for their alma mater.

That magic season between using the air conditioner and using the heater

2009-11-16T18:16:00.004-05:00

So i've discovered that in Atlanta there is this phenomena called Fall. In Texas, we don't really have Fall. Yes, we have small cool fronts that bring temporary relief from the heat and humidity, but we never have consistently cool weather during the fall months.

Although Atlanta weather isn't a gigantic leap from Texas weather, there is definitely enough difference that I notice. For at least a month, the weather here has been in the 50's-to-high 60s range, often getting down to the 30s at night. My roommate and I have had our apartment windows open constantly this whole time. If it gets warm we turn up the fans, if it gets cold we put more blankets on our beds. I absolutely love the fresh air in the apartment and we get the handy perk of lower utility bills. win/win situation!

Another wonderful aspect of fall is the changing leaves on the trees. In Texas, (at least in Houston and Austin where I've lived most recently) a few trees will change but the effect is not very drastic. The trees here in Atlanta are incredible! So much so that I have basically been obsessively taking pictures...some of which i will share right now

Hope everyone is having a great day! More blog posts to come!!

Time to book flights and hotels in Pasadena

2009-10-25T11:14:00.003-04:00

Longhorns gearing up for OSU showdown

October 25, 2009 2:06 AM

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin


	Jamie Squire/Getty Images
	Texas quarterback Colt Mccoy had a strong game Sunday and the Longhorns have their eyes on the Big 12 title.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –- Texas served notice to the rest of the Big 12 Saturday night.

The Longhorns are pointing to their first Big 12 title since 2005. If they play like they did Saturday night, it will be the Big 12 championship game and beyond – like a trip to Pasadena for the BCS title game next Jan. 7.

A convincing 41-7 victory over Missouri Saturday night was the No. 3 Longhorns’ most complete performance of the season.

They took apart the two-time defending Big 12 North title game participant on their home field from the opening kickoff, blowing the game open by scoring on four of their first five possessions.

Texas limited Missouri to a season-low 173 yards of total offense. And the Longhorns' special teams punctuated a first-half scoring binge with a blocked punt for a touchdown that boosted them to a 35-7 halftime advantage.

“I thought tonight in the first half is the best we’ve played for sure,” Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said. “We looked complete and we look confident. We were feeling good and having fun.”

That portrayal particularly described the efforts of McCoy, who had floundered through his worst game of the season last week against Oklahoma. Some of his problems were explained by a lingering chest cold and a busted thumb he sustained after banging it against Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy's helmet.

Those struggles marked a growing national perception that McCoy no longer was a viable Heisman Trophy candidate. But he rebounded Saturday with his most efficient game of the season, completing his first 11 passes en route to a 269-yard, three-TD pass effort. McCoy finished the first half by hitting 18 of his first 21 passes with dropped passes accounting for two of the incompletions.

“Colt has had a tough year,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “He’s been hurt and sick. But we’ve got the Colt of old back now.”

McCoy's fast start mirrored that of his team. The Longhorns had recently struggled early offensively and defensively in recent games.

“Our offense and defense hadn’t really started well,” Brown said. “We thought it was key to come in with a swagger, excited about the game and ready to play.”

Texas' big effort impressed Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, whose team endured its worst home loss since the final game of the 2002 season.

“Obviously, Texas is a great football team,” Pinkel said. “There’s no question about that. They might be the best team in the country, time will tell that.”

And it will send them into the showdown against Oklahoma State in exactly the same place of the schedule as the Longhorns’ loss at Texas Tech appeared last season.

In 2008, the Longhorns produced an emotional victory over Oklahoma, followed by a beatdown victory over Missouri the following week.

The loss in the final seconds against Texas Tech was their only blemish, but was enough to keep them out of the Big 12 championship game and the national title game.

“Next week’s game against Oklahoma State is in exactly the same spot as the Texas Tech game was last year,” Brown said. “The kids understand what is at stake this year.”

The Longhorns have had a remarkable string of success against the Cowboys over the years, winning 11 straight games. Their confidence is buoyed by some huge comebacks against OSU over the years, including climbing out of a 21-0 hole in their most recent visit to Stillwater in 2007. And they will be facing an OSU team that will be stripped of two of its major weapons with the uncertain playing status of offensive standouts Dez Bryant andKendall Hunter.

Mike Gundy’s team has developed capable replacements for both key losses. Their recent surge has caught the Longhorns’ attention as they get ready for the South Division showdown.

“Tonight was a win, but Stillwater will be a whole different environment,” Texas defensive end Sergio Kindle said. “We’re going to have to wait and see how we play … We can’t take anything for granted when we go there.”

But not if the Texas team that played Saturday night shows up at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“Next week will be the toughest game of the year because it’s our next game,” McCoy said. “We’re kind of running the gauntlet. We know Oklahoma State will be a great team. But we’ll be ready.”

hilarious video

2009-10-21T12:05:00.004-04:00

a friend sent me this video on youtube and i could not stop laughing when watching it. check it out:

Fives

2009-10-20T15:19:00.017-04:00

So...it's been quite awhile since i've been posting on here. Just thought i'd catch up with what's going on in my life

5 Things since I've posted on the blog:

1.) I nearly chopped the end of my finger off and had to go to the ER on the same day as my critique:

2.) I relaxed on a beach for 3 days in Navarre Beach, Florida

3.) I went home to Texas and spent some quality time with my lab Ollie and my red kitty

4.) I went to Austin City Limits Festival for the 4th time. Friday was perfect weather, Saturday we got rained on for 10 hours and Sunday we waded through mud, but I got to hear some incredible music

5.) Went to Memphis for 5 days with people from school and volunteered at a national design conference put on by AIGA called Make/Think

http://designconference2009.aiga.org/

5 Things currently on my mind at the start of this new quarter (4th quarter...ahh!!)

1.) A book I just finished reading called A Cage of Stars. I bought it at the discount section at Borders (I can't resist the bargain section!) and it turned out to be really great. It's been awhile since I've found a book that I can't put down:

(from Amazon)A young Mormon girl finds herself torn between retribution and forgiveness in The Deep End of the Ocean author Mitchard's latest. Twelve-year-old Veronica "Ronnie" Swan witnesses the murder of her two sisters in her family's yard in tiny Cedar City, Utah. Murderer Scott Early is immediately apprehended, but is diagnosed with schizophrenia and ends up spending just three years in a state mental hospital. The rest of Ronnie's family turns to their faith to forgive Early, visiting him just before his release after a battery of drugs have restored him to normalcy. But Ronnie remains angry and haunted by her inability to save her sisters from him, and as she comes of age she tracks Early to San Diego, becomes an EMT, talks his wife into hiring her as a nanny for their infant daughter, and starts planning her vengeance. But as Early's life comes into focus, Ronnie's plan leads to an unexpected climax.

2.) Phoenix, Avett Brothers, and Dismemberment Plan. Seeing both Phoenix and Avett Brothers at ACL has spun me into a listening marathon. Both bands were so impressive that I can't stop listening to them and haven't gotten sick of it yet. I liked both before but they have become my recent music obsession. Unfortunately, I don't actually own their cds and don't want to spend a lot of money buying all of their albums just yet. I have been listening to The Dismemberment Plan because I am in a class this quarter called Entertainment Design. In the class we are 'assigned' a band and we have to do the design for an album, a single, a show poster and 2 pieces of merchandise. Our instructor wrote down a bunch of bands and put them in a pile that we drew from. I ended up choosing the Dismemberment Plan and I've been researching them and listening to their music pretty consistently to try to get a feel of what their 'brand' should be. Our instructor even sent out a bunch of their music that he owned so we could download it to iTunes for free. Also, I've been looking at a lot of show posters on gigposter.com which is a great site to check out

3.) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: (http://www.short-stories.co.uk/)

In my Type 3 class we are designing a 50-100 page book of short stories (or one short story) that portray a common theme that can still be relevant today. The layout/design/colors/theme of the book must represent the short story(ies) as a whole. When researching short stories a friend suggested The Yellow Wallpaper, and when I read it I remembered having read it before, either in high school or college. It's about a husband and wife who live in a huge estate home over the summer (during the turn of the century). The woman, the narrator of the story, is somewhat mentally ill but her husband tells her to rest rather than give her medication. The room where she is confined is covered in old yellow wallpaper and the story follows her thought process about the wallpaper and she slowly goes insane by the end of the story. It's really eery and provokes strong imagery so I thought it would be a good choice for a book. Only problem is that it isnt long enough to fill 50 pages so I have to think of other stories that would fit a theme. If you haven't read the story, you should check it out.

4. Beatriz Milhazes: A friend brought me a book of artist Beatriz Milhazes work that he got while he was in Brazil (Beatriz is a Brazillion artist). Anyways, I absolutely love her work. It's bright and colorful and I totally want to use her style to create a painting of my own.

see more of her work here

5.) Texas Football!!! :

Texas in prime position at No. 3 in BCS

enough for now...time to do homework

final logos

2009-09-14T15:40:00.002-04:00

September 11.....8 years later

2009-09-11T14:30:00.003-04:00

Every year when September 11 comes around, I never quite can wrap my head around the fact that it's been another year. I think I realize this fact more clearly on Sept. 11, maybe even more so than on birthdays or holidays. Last year on Sept. 11 I was actually in Atlanta visiting Portfolio Center and other schools trying to decide the next step in my life. It's funny to think that now here I sit, a student at Portfolio Center and already 3 quarters in.

This morning I remembered that I had an online blog/journal back on the week of Sept. 11, 2001, so I decided to go back and read what I wrote. It's interesting to think back to when I was a sophomore in high school and to realize how fast the last 8 years went by. Anyways, thought i'd post that old entry on here.

Remember, I was a little sophomore in high school, so it's quite funny to read how I wrote then. I think every year I remember the feeling of that day, and how even so far away in southeast Texas, how I somehow felt connected to the people affected by 9/11. I think it changed the whole outlook of every American. Anyways, I won't post where the blog is or the web address because all my other entries are pretty embarrassing. ha! anyways, here it is:

Friday, September 14th, 2001

ok, i haven't updated in here for awhile. I have been really really busy, and i was planning on not using this journal anymore, but so much stuff has happened that i just want to get it all out. as all of you know, this week has totally and completly sucked. its been one of the worsts weeks ever. Its just been one disaster after another, and i really am glad that its friday, but i don't think the end of the week will help most of the events that happened. The events on tuesday have really been bothering me and if i think about them too much, i scare myself. Theres just too much to think about. Something has really changed, and even though everything in our lives goes on as usual, i know that people are all thinking about the changes in the back of their minds. theres really no way around it. i read this story in language in which these men go back in time, and they change the slightest of the slightest detail in the past, and history was changed forever. thats how i feel about all this. it feels like we are somehow in another demension, and there is just something in the air that just isn't right. Its scary to think that about a week ago, none of us would be thinking about any of this. none of it would have even crossed our minds. When i think of war, i think of back when my parents were young, or before they were born, which is not realistic to me. this is so real and so close that it puts everything into reality. We will be telling our kids where we were, and when this happened. history books will write about this in bold writing. Everyone remembers where they were when they found out about princess diana dying, or about columbine highschool, or when the oklahoma bombing happened. all of us will remember this as one of those events. Its scary that we were living that day normally, and in some other country, someone was plotting against us. maybe planning for over a year. hating us so much that they would do something like this. I am not directly affected by these events except that i know things will never be the same again. I cannot imagine how the people who lost people in this disaster feel. they may never have complete answers as to why those people had to be the ones used for another country's pure hate for america. I can't comprehend how anyone in other countries could be celebrating all that we have lost this week. I have always felt safe in this country, and when i would think about being unsafe, i would refer to other countries located half a world away. but now, i don't know how safe i feel anymore. I wish we could go back and change what happened. it screwed up the whole atmosphere of the country. everyone is paranoid, and feeling unsafe. Evertone tries to move on and act normal, but its hard when the U.S. is invaded and attacked with our own planes, with our own people aboard being held captive. Every conversation ends up turning towards the subject. theres just too much to worry about now.

anyways, i have been stressing about volleyball and stuff, and then i think about how unimportant volleyball is compared to everything else going on in the world. Basically everything in this week has sucked.

anyways, hope everyone remembers to say a little prayer and gives thanks for their health and safety today, and for people still suffering from the events on that morning 8 years ago.

in other news, it's a mad rush until critique on tuesday night. Studio week is almost over! can't wait to be done with these classes!!

another logo in progress

2009-09-09T23:56:00.001-04:00

Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Colt McCoy as a hero to many

2009-09-09T22:24:00.005-04:00

Colt McCoy as a hero to many

Posted using ShareThis

This article appears in the August 24 issue of ESPN The Magazine as the cover story.

Colt, do not let us down. Seriously. because we are doing something we almost never do. We're abandoning snark and cynicism and writing an honest-to-goodness love letter. We always like a little dirt, a fault, a misstep. And we asked lots of folks who track almost every move you make to give it up. But no one had anything. If not for the burly shadow cast by that goody-two-shoes Tebow, everyone would already know this stuff about you, too. In fact, like Tebow, you've even got your own man-on-a-mission legend.

Let us tell the readers, since you'd never think to.

Last spring, McCoy traveled to Iquitos, Peru, on a volunteer mission organized by a nondenominational Christian camp in Texas. The children he met over his 10-day stay had never heard of American football, much less the Texas Longhorns or their star QB. These were kids who slept on dirt floors in the Amazon jungle and considered running water a luxury. But when McCoy returned to Iquitos for a 10-day mission this past spring, the children and local translators knew the Longhorns had finished 12-1 and won the Fiesta Bowl. McCoy had left an impression; each week during the season, the translators pooled their money to rent a motorcycle so one of them could ride to a neighboring village with an Internet café and check game results.

Colt McCoy, standing at the beginning of what figures to be a magical ride for Texas football.
See what we mean, Colt? Now imagine what it's like for people who know you, who love the Horns the way they love their mama. You inspire them. In a way VY, the man you replaced, never did. And it's not that you read Scripture and recite the Lord's Prayer before running out of the tunnel. It's not even that you've beaten up on the Sooners. It's bigger than churchgoing and winning. It's positively heroic. But if we tried to explain it, we'd get so mushy they'd take away our press passes.

Instead, your biggest fans are ready to testify.

THE NEIGHBORS: KEN AND PATINA HERRINGTON, GRAHAM, TEXAS
GAME DAY RITUAL: Dressed in matching No. 12 jerseys, the Herringtons walk the neighborhood an hour before kickoff, mingling with other UT fans in a tradition they call the Victory Walk. Back at home, they play "Texas Fight," fill their frosty UT mugs with beer, pop popcorn and flick on the TV.

THEIR TESTIMONY: Around 9 p.m. on Memorial Day 2006, Colt and his father, Brad, were fishing behind their home in Graham -- where they'd moved after Colt graduated from high school -- when they heard screaming from across the lake.

Dad and son kicked off their shoes, removed their shirts and dived into Timber Ridge Lake for the 300-yard swim to the other side. When they arrived, out of breath, they found Patina screaming and her husband, Ken, lying on a dock, suffering one of 12 grand mal seizures he would have that night. Another neighbor had heard the screams and called 911. The ambulance was unable to navigate the steep 575-yard rocky path that led down to the lake. Colt charged up the hill, without his shoes and with a flashlight, to guide the EMTs down to Ken, a former NASA engineer who helped put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Once Ken was stabilized, Colt, Brad and several neighbors helped the EMTs carry Ken's stretcher up the path. It wasn't until Ken was in the medevac that Patina realized who had helped her husband.

"It was so dark," she says. "I heard someone say Colt, and thought, That was Colt McCoy?" Ken survived the ordeal, and once the couple were back at home, Patina, a Longhorns fan, e-mailed the local media to tell the story. She knew the McCoys never would. "I'd like to think everybody would do what he did," Patina says. "But let's face it, not everybody would." Now it isn't Christmas at the Herrington house until the lights on the UT Christmas tree are lit.

"Colt saved a life," Patina says. "What better describes a hero than that?"

THE SURVIVOR: SERGIO GONZALES, AUSTIN, TEXAS
GAME DAY RITUAL: Sergio wears a Colt jersey; Rupert the Bear wears a UT hat.

HIS TESTIMONY: On July 27, 2008, Veronica Orozco checked her 12-year-old son, Sergio, into the Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin for tests. The next day, the doctors diagnosed acute biphenotypic leukemia, a rare form of cancer that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. Sergio spent a month in the hospital and was in and out of Dell for the next four months. He missed most of seventh grade and had to quit football. "I played safety," Sergio says. "I'm really fast." During those months, he got his weekly football fix by watching his favorite team, the Longhorns, on TV.

Before the season began, a nurse told Sergio that the UT football team visited the hospital on Fridays before home games. He was psyched. Especially when he found out his favorite player, You Know Who, never missed a visit. But Sergio was discharged before getting a chance to meet his hero. He was crushed. What he didn't know was that the nurses made sure McCoy knew about him.

Two weeks later, Sergio was at a nearby clinic for tests. After making his rounds at the hospital, McCoy made the 10-minute walk to meet Sergio. "It meant so much," Orozco says.

For the rest of the season, McCoy checked on Sergio's status and stopped by his room if he had been admitted. On UT Fridays, Sergio always wore his hat and autographed Colt McCoy jersey and dressed his stuffed bear, Rupert, in a Longhorns hat. "Colt always remembers Rupert's name," Sergio says. According to the staff at Dell, McCoy remembers everyone's names, from children to nurses to front office folks. "He has an incredible gift," says Ashley Davis, special events coordinator at Dell.

At the end of November, Sergio traveled to San Antonio to undergo a bone marrow transplant, after which he spent six months in the hospital recovering from complications. During that time, the memory of McCoy's visits meant more than ever to Sergio and Veronica. "Colt treats me like I'm not sick," says Sergio, who is now cancer-free and plans to return to school part-time in the fall. "Colt told me to keep fighting, to never give up," he says.

"A lot of celebrities and professional athletes come through here," says Davis. "But no one reaches these kids like Colt. When he is visiting, you can feel his presence."

THE TEACHER: KAY WHITTON, JIM NED HIGH, TUSCOLA, TEXAS
GAME DAY RITUAL: Whitton dons her No. 12 jersey and sets the DVR to record. "That way, I don't miss a minute if someone calls or comes to the door," she says. "But everyone knows not to call me on game day."

HER TESTIMONY: Shortly after watching the 2008 Heisman ceremony at home in Tuscola, Whitton, McCoy's high school business teacher and his self-proclaimed No. 1 fan, got a phone call from a certain somebody who was visiting New York.

"Hey, Miss Whitton! It's Colt. I'm in the limo, and we're about to go under the Hudson River." Whitton was giddy. During the show, ESPN ran a segment on Tuscola, and McCoy was calling to thank his favorite teacher for helping with the logistics. "I can't tell you what a feeling that was, knowing he took time out of his crazy schedule to call," she says.

Whitton, like most of Tuscola's 714 residents, believed Colt was shafted out of a Heisman. But that hasn't stopped assistant football coach Vince Lavallee from talking about erecting a Colt McCoy statue in front of the school. Whitton has even bigger plans. "If -- when -- he wins this year, we are going to paint the town water tower to say, 'Tuscola: Home of Colt McCoy,' " she says. Bigger still, she's lobbying to permanently add an eighth letter to the town name. Welcome to Tuscolta.

THE TEAMMATE: JORDAN SHIPLEY, WR, TEXAS LONGHORNS
GAME DAY RITUAL : Catches (132), yards (1,706) and touchdowns (20).

HIS TESTIMONY: One day during Shipley's freshman year, coach Mack Brown asked him if he thought a prep QB from West Texas was good enough to play in Austin. "I'd known Colt since we were 8," Shipley says. "I knew he was gifted, but, really, I wanted a good friend on the team."

Three years later, the off-field friendship -- they're fishing buddies, do charity work together, play Tom Petty songs on harmonicas -- has helped them on the field, too. "We know each other's tendencies so well, and that goes a long way in football," Shipley says.

Take a play during the first quarter of last year's Oklahoma State game. It's first down from the OSU 14, and McCoy calls a run in the huddle. "At the line, he looked at the defense and audibled to a screen to the outside receiver," Shipley says. "But then he gave me a nod and changed the play again. It was spur of the moment, and he didn't say a word. But I knew exactly where he was going." McCoy took the snap, stepped up and threw a fade to Shipley. Fourteen yards. Touchdown.

"I don't know if anyone else in the country can do what he can," says Shipley, who, along with Brandon Collins, Malcolm Williams and James Kirkendoll, is part of one of the strongest receiving corps in college football.

"He's the best there is."

THE EDITOR: CHRIS BEREND, DEPUTY EDITOR, ESPN THE MAGAZINE
GAME DAY RITUAL: "Saturday is stressful," says Berend, whose wife leaves their Brooklyn pad to him, his four UT friends and the couple's poodle, Barkley, dressed in a Colt McCoy sweater.

HIS TESTIMONY: The Mag's college football brain trust thought this story was their idea. That's what Berend, 34, wanted them to think. Truth is, he began planning this three years ago, when the UT alum joined The Mag. He needed them to believe they were the ones who saw something in the kid under center at Texas. Them. Not the guy with the burnt-orange No. 12 rubber ducky on his desk.

He was patient, methodical. He proselytized at morning meetings and on e-mail chains, journalistic objectivity be damned. He erected a small shrine at his desk, subliminally planting images of Colt McCoy in the minds of the entire staff. He played inspirational highlight videos on his Mac and retold stories he'd read online about the guy he calls "America's only safe hero." It was all so transparent, so diabolically effective. You're reading this story, aren't you?

Last summer, Berend and The Mag were looking to pick the brains of some college players. Always obliging, Colt agreed to help. Little did he know, Berend's other motive was to get McCoy face time with one of our college football editors, just to seal the deal on this story. But then, in the presence of Colt, Berend clammed up. "I was speechless," he says. "I wanted to ask him what it feels like to run out of the tunnel, if he still talks to Vince Young, if he wanted to hang out with me. But I froze up. Not a word came out."

So, Chris, this is for a job well done: He gets nervous in the tunnel. Yes, he still talks to Vince. And, sure, you can hang anytime you're in town. Isn't it obvious? This man won't let you down.

ah the life of a portfolio center student....

2009-09-09T21:58:00.002-04:00

e-mail from my school to the students:

Just wanted to remind you we'll be hosting a dance group here this weekend. There will be lots of loud music and stomping around. Just wanted to warn those of you who want to work here. Here are the "stomping" hours:

friday 7-9

sat 11-5

sun 11-5

They will be using the entire seminar room.

Claire

hahahahaha, i found this mildly entertaining

logo in process

2009-09-09T14:39:00.001-04:00

Logo for Four Peaks Beer Brewery in Tempe, AZ

hahaha

2009-09-09T13:27:00.001-04:00

BYU's Clawson conflicted after hit on Bradford

September 8, 2009 11:05 AM

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

BYU senior linebacker Coleby Clawson said he has mixed feelings about his hit that knockedSam Bradford out of Saturday's game, causing a sprain of the Oklahoma quarterback's AC shoulder joint.

"It's kind of the nature of the beast, I guess, playing football," Clawson told the Salt Lake City Deseret News. "I really do feel bad because he's a great player and a good person, too. I feel bad he got hurt. I hope he can get back soon.

"As far as our game, I think it helped us win. I love rushing the quarterback. That's what I did as a defensive end when I played at Snow College. I'm always trying to get big hits, but I'm never trying to put guys out or hurt anybody."

Clawson is a former LDS missionary who's married and has a young daughter. He said that most Oklahoma fans were classy to his family as his wife watched the game in Arlington, Texas, wearing his jersey.

"OU's fans were really great. They treated my family and my wife good. They were some of the most classy fans I've ever met," Clawson said. "(Family members) were in the middle of all the BYU fans, so I think they felt safe. (OU fans) even came up and congratulated us."

But there has been a recent backlash. Some Oklahoma fans have expressed their displeasure to Clawson.

"I've had a few messages through Facebook and stuff on my e-mail," he said. "I think it was mostly sarcasm, but there was a few OU fans that told me where to go. Overall, everyone's been really classy about it."

Bradford told reporters that he expects to be back in Oklahoma's lineup in two to four weeks.

But it wouldn't surprise me if Clawson's hit ends up being the biggest play in the Big 12 season.

ink in water

2009-08-28T19:07:00.006-04:00

For my publications class, one of our assignments is to design book covers for a trilogy series; either one from a list they gave us or one we picked ourselves. In college, I took a children's literature class and we read the first book in a trilogy by cornelia funke called inkworld. The books are pretty interesting for young adult books and I thought it'd be fun to attempt a book design for younger readers but that is also a fantasy series. One of my ideas was to have the images on the covers be ink/food coloring in water. I wanted to try to take the pictures myself to see what kinds of effects I could get. Here are some of my favorite:

Lightning Storm

2009-08-26T23:36:00.007-04:00

Our apartment has a balcony that faces south toward midtown Atlanta, so we have a pretty great view of the skyline. My roommate recently bought us a glider swing so we can go sit out there and enjoy the view. This evening, there was a huge storm south of us so we had a perfect place to watch the lightning show. I tried taking some pictures with my camera and some actually turned out pretty interesting. Here are a few that i liked:

really neat

2009-08-26T20:39:00.002-04:00

This is a video of the multitouch-barcelona. an interactive interface that reminds me of Minority Report. Check out the video, it's pretty amazing. To learn more about the Multitouch, go to their website

Can't wait for Texas football!

2009-08-23T11:50:00.004-04:00

NCAA Football Preview - Texas Longhorns

2008 SEASON IN REVIEW: It was another in what has become a long line of highly successful seasons for Texas in 2008, although the team fell just shy of its goal of winning the Big 12 and playing for the BCS National Championship. An 8-0 start which included four non-conference wins in which the team outscored the opposition 198-43, had the frenzied UT faithful believing early.

A 38-14 win over Colorado in the conference opener was a great way to start their run toward a possible conference crown, and a 45-35 triumph over eventual league champ Oklahoma had the 'Horns feeling even better about their chances. Unfortunately, the perfect season came to an end on a last-minute loss to Texas Tech and coach Mack Brown's club had to settle for a Fiesta Bowl bid versus Ohio State. That game ended in a 24-21 verdict in favor of the Longhorns, who despite a near flawless run realize they missed a golden opportunity to possibly secure their second national title of the decade.

2009 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: The Texas offense was among the best in the country last season, averaging 42.4 points and 475.8 total yards per game. Led by steady QB Colt McCoy, the 'Horns ranked seventh nationally in passing (308.3 ypg), and the runner-up to the 2008 Heisman is back for his senior season, hoping to lead UT to college football's promised land. Having completed better than 76 percent of his passes (NCAA record) and amassing more than 3,800 yards, 34 TDs against only eight INTs last year, McCoy is clearly one of the top signal-callers in the country but Brown knows he is not content to rest on his laurels.

"I do think Colt can improve, and just listening to him and watching him. He studied film so much to see every little glitch like he felt he had last year." Brown continued, "I think what he's doing is he's trying to look at things that he feels like he can improve, instead of saying I've got to do better than the best, he's going back and looking at little things."

McCoy should enjoy another stellar season as he will attempt to get the ball in hands of talented wideouts Jordan Shipley and Malcolm Williams, the former coming off a campaign in which he caught 89 balls for 1,060 yards and 11 TDs.

The UT running game accounted for 167.5 ypg in '08, but McCoy was the team's top rusher with 561 yards and 11 scores. Brown is hoping that any one of the half dozen backs on the roster will step up and grab the mantle. Guys to keep an eye on include Cody Johnson, Vondrell McGee and Fozzy Whitaker, with their physical condition being well monitored.

The offensive line boasts the return of four mammoth starters, the smallest being 6-4, 300-pound center Chris Hall.

DEFENSE: Although they gave up more passing yards (259.4 ypg) than they would have liked last season, the Longhorns were one of the more aggressive defensive units in the Big 12. You wouldn't know it by their mere six INTs, but the fact that opponents were able to move the ball through the air was more a product of their inability to do so on the ground (83.5 ppg) rather than any serious flaw in the UT aerial defense.

The loss of three starters along the defensive line, including standout Brian Orakpo, hurts but this is Texas and there is plenty of talent waiting in the wings. Senior Sergio Kindle (10 sacks in '08) is expected to continue his development as he uses a combination of exceptional speed and superior strength to get pressure on the quarterback and break up plays at the point of attack.

The linebacking corps boasts a pair of playmakers in seniors Roddrick Muckelroy and Jared Norton, the former serving as the team's top returning tackler (112). Questions surround the secondary as it is believed that three sophomores will earn the bulk of the playing time.

As mentioned, the 'Horns came up with only six INTs in '08 and while Brown knows that is an area in need of serious improvement, he is high on the unit's potential. "We are excited about the defensive backs. And not only because we think they're talented, but there's a lot of them. And the competition is really driving them. They've got to work really hard every day to play."

SPECIAL TEAMS: Both kickers return and that area of the UT arsenal should be fine. Expect Shipley to once again have a monster year returning both kick- offs and punts, something he did at a high level last season when he returned one of each for a TD.

OUTLOOK: McCoy and the Longhorns should have a relatively easy time of it to start the season, taking on UL-Monroe and Wyoming in the first two weeks. The Big 12 lidlifter against Texas Tech is next, but this is not the same Red Raider squad that knocked off Texas last year so expect Brown's troops to exact some revenge. The October 17th showdown with Oklahoma will likely be another one for the ages, and could decide the Big 12 South champ.

Brown owns a 115-26 record while at the helm in Austin, and there is no reason to think he won't add significantly to that impressive mark. Will Texas win the national title? We shall see. One thing is certain though...as long as McCoy is healthy and playing up to his potential, the 'Horns will be in the hunt.

Penny's quest for the hotdog

2009-08-11T00:47:00.003-04:00

So my roommate has a dog named Penny who becomes somewhat psychotic when it comes to certain toys.

Well she has had this plastic hotdog for quite some time now and she is constantly playing with it in an obsessive manner. My roommate and I get quite angry because she has taken to shoving the plastic hotdog under furniture and therefore cannot retrieve the toy unless my roommate and I crawl and reach under the furniture to get it for her. We have tried teaching her numerous times to stop performing this irritating habit but to no avail. She cries and whines whenever this particular toy is out of reach.

Well, the other day my roommate and I were fed up with this little game and decided enough was enough, and put the hotdog on top of the tv armoire. After several minutes of freakish whining, this is what we witnessed. Notice her sounds of distress as if this is the worst situation that has ever happened to her in her entire little dog life.

The Tomorrow Series Movie

2009-08-09T13:04:00.004-04:00

Yesterday while searching for information on the trilogy i chose for publications class (we are redesigning the book-covers of a trilogy for class, and we were given a huge list to choose from). I ended up choosing a trilogy by Ferrol Sams (Run with the Horsemen, Whisper of the River, When all the world was young) which is basically a coming of age story. I'll let you know how it is once i've read more.

Anyways, I was perusing Amazon and other book sites and came across information that is so exciting, if only in my mind. They are making my FAVORITE book series into a movie!! now, if you don't know, i am a giant book nerd and am usually reading at least 3 books at any given week in my life. I used to go to the library with my mom and check out 15-20 books at a time. Well, when I was in middle school or so on one of these library trips with my mom, I discovered this Australian book series by John Marsden called the Tomorrow Series.

There are 7 in all and they are about these high school kids in Australia that go camping for a week in the woods and when they return home their entire country has been taken over by another country and there is a war going on. Everyone has been taken hostage by the enemy army members except for them because they were in the woods and no one knew where they were. The books cover the entire length of the war, where the main characters try to rescue their families, bomb/destroy/interfere with the enemies etc etc. They are SOOO good, you should definitely check them out.

Anyways, the books instantly became some of my favorite and I've read the series numerous times since the first time when I was probably around 12 or so. I actually talked to a guy from Australia once who told me that they are one of the most popular series in Australia and even taught in schools, but I dont think i've ever found anyone in the U.S. who ever knows what I'm talking about. Because they were never even officially released and published in the U.S. I've never even been able to find and buy the series.

So, I came across several articles declaring that a director has just signed on to film the first book in the series to be released in 2010! And, because the movie will also be released in the US, there is talk of all the books being published by Scholastic in the states before the movie comes out. Here is one of the posts I found:

http://www.movieweb.com/news/NEysMADGEnDnCC

Australia co-writer Stuart Beattie will make his directorial debut with an adaptation of the young-adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began for an Australian shoot later this year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Beattie also wrote the screenplay.

Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first novel in a popular series of seven written by Australian John Marsden and published from 1994-99. The Tomorrow Series, as it is known, details the insurgency efforts of a band of Aussie teenagers fighting off an enemy invasion and occupation of their homeland.

"It's coming of age in a war zone," said Beattie, who said he has read and loved all the books.

The filmmakers plan to make a trilogy of features from the first three books and then, if they're successful, spin the next four off into a TV series. The production is taking advantage of Aussie government money through Screen Australia and Film Victoria as well as a 40% tax break for shooting locally, though Paramount Vantage will co-finance and handle worldwide distribution. Matt Brodlie is overseeing for Vantage.

Tomorrow, When the War Began youth-targeted themes and PG-13 sex and violence could appeal to the same audience. The main character is a teen named Ellie Linton, who struggles to become a fierce leader even while navigating relationships with the seven other teenagers in her group.

The Tomorrow Series is one of the most popular Australian series ever published; the books are taught in schools there. Most of them were not available stateside until recently, but the filmmakers hope to persuade Scholastic to reprint them in tandem with the movie's launch. Marsden also penned a follow-up trilogy called the Ellie Chronicles, which look at the war's aftermath.

The plan is for production to start September in Oz.

Anyways, I am beyond excited about this. I think I might be more excited than when I found out that the Harry Potter series was gonna be a movie. (nerd reference no. 2 of the post)

Cool packaging

2009-08-09T11:52:00.003-04:00

After starting this class on packaging I've become addicted to looking at cool packaging online. Especially on The Dieline and Lovely Package.

Recently they had a post about the packaging for the 826 National store/tutoring location in Valencia, CA. I had heard about the NYC location of the non-profit organization that aims to tutor kids ages 6-18, each location disguised as a fictional store of some sort with the tutoring center hidden in the back (woah, runon sentence). The NYC location is a Superhero supply store, and I never realized there are different locations around the country. You can see all the locations here

Anyways, all of the interior design, signage, appliances and product packaging were designed by Stefan Bucher and Sam Potts. The store in Valencia is disguised as a Pirate Supply store and images of the packaging were what I saw on the Dieline. Theyre pretty incredible. I think it'd be unbelievably fun to design packaging for fictional products. Here are some of the pictures:

In other news, we had our second challenge in packaging class due the other day. Our assignment was to redesign two packages for the Walmart brand Great Value. The key was to design the packaging so that the consumer immediately knows what the product is and to include a picture for customers who don't speak english. The biggest challenge was designing packaging that looks 'affordable' and not too expensive for the walmart shopper.

This challenge was hard for me because I tried really hard to make the packaging not look 'too nice' because I thought I'd get called out for it. So, essentially, I think I went a little too far with the ugliness, and my packaging is somewhat tacky. anyways, I did pancakes and maple syrup:

New found blog

2009-08-09T11:34:00.002-04:00

So in my publications class, we're always talking about what attracts us to certain magazines or page layouts (we're designing about 10 different spreads for a magazine we invented). Anyways, I found myself looking at Good magazine and we got to a discussion in class about the awesome infographics they always use.

Well, for my invented magazine ( it's called Post and it's about blogs and blogging, i know i know, nerdy, but who's surprised), I wanted to find some cool infographics to maybe mimic or use in my spread layouts. During this search I found a pretty cool blog that features cool infographics. The blog is actually called Cool Infographics. Check it out here Also, you can see some of the Good infographics here

My favorite might be the guy who attached a light to his Roomba vacuum and took an extended exposure picture to see the path it took in his living room

http://coolinfographics.blogspot.com/2009/07/roomba-path-long-exposure-photo.html

First ever packaging attempt

2009-07-23T00:05:00.004-04:00

For my packaging class, we are assigned week-long challenges where we are given the assignment and have to present a final product to our instructor and other 'judges' the following week. Our first challenge was to redesign a pet food package for either dog, cat or bird food. It is the first time I have ever tried to do packaging before and it was really an interesting experience, but definitely a lot of fun.

I redesigned Nutro Max Cat catfood.

Class trip to Madison

2009-07-22T23:33:00.007-04:00

For my most recent Illustration class, we went to Madison, GA to see the town and visit our instructor's home and studio. The town was absolutely beautiful and so was Lindy's (my instructor) home so I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took:

The view from Lindy's house of her front yard

the skeleton in Lindy's studio

standing around eating popsicles after critiquing our first assignments

her house is so amazing!

class critique

the front of Lindy's home

Where we all ate lunch in downtown Madison

for part of class, we had to go around the town and make stops for a semi-scavenger hunt. This is the town's cemetery

we also had to pick a front porch we liked and do a sketch of it. This is the house I chose

This is the guy who lives in the house I drew. I went to ask him permission to draw his home and wound up talking to him for 20 minutes

another beautiful Madison home

Diana drawing her chosen home!

Intro to Illustration

2009-07-22T23:24:00.002-04:00

For our first illustration class, our instructor Lindy had us create a group composition using several different materials, as well as each other. These pictures show the results that involved several class members becoming part of the art. haha This class should be interesting

My parents' new favorite pass-time

2009-07-22T23:15:00.003-04:00

Over the break my parents bought a brand new apple iMac computer for the office at home. Their new favorite thing has become chatting with me through video ichat. I've taken the liberty of taking some screen shots to document these hilarious interactions.

Notice how Ollie likes to sit in during ichat sessions. Hilarious

3rd Quarter begins

2009-07-22T22:59:00.004-04:00

Well, It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. One reason is because of this addition in my life:

I got an iphone over the break, and it allows me to check a lot of things online which somewhat keeps me from turning on my computer as often and updating on here

Mostly my lack of blogging is a direct result from my overwhelming schedule this quarter. I'm already completely exhausted and all of my time is dedicated to schoolwork in order to stay on top of things!

Luckily, all of my classes have really great instructors and cover topics I really love, so at least all of the work is enjoyable. Only thing is there are only so many hours in a day and I'm having trouble finding time to do anything else!

This quarter I am taking Intro to Illustration, Logos, Packaging and Publications. Each one is really challenging but I think I will learn a ton these 11 weeks. I am definitely earning the break this time. Second quarter was a breeze compared to this! I'm only halfway through week 3 and I'm already over my head with things to work on!

The rest of my break was pretty relaxing so it's nice to be doing things again. I already can't believe it's already 3rd quarter. It's an all out marathon until critique

My current life

2009-06-22T23:34:00.006-04:00

right where I belong..

the view from my beach chair

my current neighborhood

my precious beach-loving dog Ollie

In honor of Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:14:00.004-04:00

My Dad......

is the youngest of 3 boys in a family from San Antonio
is 6'5, the tallest in his family, and the reason why I am so tall
used to train the whales and dolphins at sea world when he was in college. He flew to california to pick up a new whale and spent the next 48 hours straight with it to get acclimated to its new home. he also used to stick his head in whales' mouths and has a scar on his forehead for the time a whale tooth cut him as he pulled his head back
made me play every sport i can think of as a kid, hoping I would somehow inherit his competitiveness; sadly, all i cared about after a game was where we were going to eat, and even playing volleyball throughout highschool I didn't get heated over a game
turned me into the greatest texas longhorn fan on earth. we tailgate before football games, hate all other teams, and jumped up and down like children in the middle of the night after the horns football team won the national championship. we bleed burnt orange to the core
loves buying me new shoes, things from best buy, and anything from the UT Co-op in Austin
used to play catch with me on the street in front of our house every evening after dinner when i was growing up
is the worst back-seat driver ever so i can't stand driving when he is in the car
does all the laundry in my family
could sit and watch golf all day
since i was an only child, used to play 'Pretty, Pretty, Princess' with me and would put on all of the jewelry pieces required, including the plastic clip on earrings
used to let me put clips and barrettes in his hair when i was little
taught to to swim, ride a bike, and drive. drove me to all my practices, attended all my games and tournaments, and has cheered me on my entire life

Happy Father's Day!!!

final photos

2009-06-14T14:53:00.008-04:00

the chosen 4 photos for my intro to photography deliverables

'worm's eye view'

Zebra Orange! (for 'shoot a fruit')

portrait

'goggles'

some more of my work

2009-06-14T14:42:00.004-04:00

Locks of Love Brochure pages for Indesign class

Jenny Holzer feature layout for Typography 2:

Pizza, Beer, and Design

2009-06-14T14:23:00.002-04:00

The only way to survive studio week

Screen on the Green

2009-06-14T11:30:00.004-04:00

On Thursday night I went with a few people to Screen on the Green in Centennial Olympic Park. Everyone stretches out on the grass and they show a movie on a giant inflatable screen in the middle of downtown Atlanta. We rode MARTA down there and it was alot of fun. This week they showed Field of Dreams. I think we might go next week too when they show Home Alone

the lovely MARTA station

Before the movie they were playing music and people were getting up and dancing. the little girl in front of us had the best dance moves

Personal Brands

2009-06-14T11:16:00.003-04:00

On thursday, in my cross cultural class, we had to present the personal brands we'd been working on for our final project. You could tell we all mildly slacked because we had so many other class deliverables to be working on, but it was still interesting to see the direction everyone took.

I named my brand Speek (because of my name) and said it is design that 'speaks' to a wide, youthful audience that wouldn't necessarily know much about design but that appreciates things that are new and different and new trends being set.

This is the logo i went with:

probably could have made a more interesting one, but I was pretty happy with the outcome for the time being. I went with a whole hippie/bohemian vibe and tried to exaggerate that aspect so it was pretty fun to present to the class. incense, oldies music, head scarves, rugs and bare feet on the floor, etc etc. all in all we the whole class probably could have done a better job on this project but it was still fun to think about none-the-less.

My friend Stewart sang a song he wrote as part of his presentation, and I love love love the words to it so I'm going to post them here, It's called Michigan Blue

These houses in rows

and it's all that we've chosen

to lay where we've fallen

the simple life

is a mannequin's strife,

it's just death that we're stalling

But for more,

there is no room for war,

but for now, i'm just asking how

With feathers furled

in the Michigan Blue

all I can think of is you

All of this pain

just from missing a train

do you think of us too?

But for more,

there is no room for war

But for now, I'm just asking how

hope he doesn't mind me stealing his song to post on my blog. i love how the words are woven together to paint a picture. I think my favorite books and song lyrics use the fewest words to create a one larger image. no unnecessary words but somehow the few chosen have such an impact. I am such a word addict...haha. word nerd

anyways, enough for now

Studio Week in Full Swing

2009-06-10T08:41:00.002-04:00

I have critique in 6 days.

Yesterday:

Coffee shop from 1-6pm

School from 8pm-2am

sleep by 2:30am

Back at school by 9am today

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

dreaming of travel

2009-06-09T19:44:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been feeling a little nostalgic for this:

and maybe a little of this:

and quite possibly some of this:

after watching an old slideshow i made for my friends before i left Florence:

and reading my new blog obsession:

http://oiasantorini.com/

a blog of a family that up and moved to Santorini and now lives in a cave house overlooking the water.

I've been thinking about how to make my dream of long-term traveling a reality. I've already decided i want to travel more of Europe for at least 6 months straight. And I definitely want to do it before I have too many ties and responsibilities and while I'm young enough to still stay in youth hostels. My new goal is to go around 2 yrs after I've started working. Think I could save enough money by then?

Tobias-Frere Jones Poster

2009-06-08T23:33:00.003-04:00

In my Type 2 class, one of our assignments was to create an event poster with the theme of a famous typographer. I was assigned Tobias Frere-Jones and decided to incorporate NYC in the poster since he gathers most of his ideas for typefaces from the city of New York. Here is one of my final drafts.

Locks Logo with color

2009-06-08T23:20:00.002-04:00

I think I like this one best

Tinker letterhead suite

2009-06-08T23:02:00.004-04:00

I've been working on the letterhead suite for my hardware store Tinker. Here is a draft I just completed. envelope, stationary, business card

Another poster version

2009-06-08T21:52:00.004-04:00

I've been making some more changes to my hardware poster. Here is the new draft:

Caroline's visit to Atlanta

2009-06-07T16:49:00.008-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Caroline came to Atlanta for a long weekend. I keep meaning to post some pictures but I just haven't gotten around to it. It was the first time for me to have a friend visit me here so it was nice to show someone around the city. I also hadn't done many of the tourist-y things yet so it was fun to get the chance. Unfortunately it rained most of the time except for friday so we had to spend a lot of time indoors.

She got in Thursday night but her flight was delayed and didn't land till nearly 3am. I took the trusty Garmin to navigate my way, but unfortunately had some trouble when it told me to take a different way than the signs on the interstate. I ended up following Garmin and not the signs and consequently got mildly lost right next to the airport. luckily i found my way back to more signs and picked her up.

Saturday we got up and had a late brunch at the original Flying Biscuit over near Little Five Points. It was pretty amazing. I had never eaten there before and ordered a meal that included eggs over medium, black beans, tomatilla sauce and sour cream. it was pretty incredible and caroline and i became pretty hooked.

After that, we wandered around the shops for awhile and then drove over to Little Five to walk around some. It's such a neat area and reminds me a lot of Austin and Berkely. A nice little funky area in the city. I wish our school was located over there.

We then drove around some and looked at all the beautiful houses. I can't get over how much I love the houses in Atlanta. They're so unique and southern, I would love to live in some of the areas around here.

Next, we headed to the aquarium. Since it was friday we figured it would be less crowded but it was pretty packed. The only lucky thing was that I got a student discount and only had to pay half of the original ticket price. Perks of staying in school! We slowly navigated our way around all the different sections and then couldn't resist going back to the enormous tank in one section where there is a floor to ceiling viewing area and a place to sit and watch all the fish. We stretched out on the seats and watched the fish for another half hour. haha, we were pretty entertained to say the least.

Next we headed back toward Buckhead and got ready for seminar at PC. I took Caroline with me to see the seminar at school which was pretty great cause i got to show her around and introduce her to some people. the seminar definitely wasn't my favorite of the quarter (it was Dragon Rouge) but it was still fun to let her experience some of what I do at PC. We went out to eat with a bunch of people from school and after that went to Sato and Matheus's and played some Apples to Apples.

Saturday we went to Flip for lunch, wandered around Castleberry Hill some and then headed to the Graphic Imperative exhibit at the MODA with people from school. We rode the MARTA downtown to avoid having to park which is always convenient. Afterward we went to another PC students apartment and hung out for awhile.

at flip:

on the marta:

Sunday we got up and went to church at 11am and then ate our second helping of Flying Saucer, this time at the location on Piedmont and with my roommate as well as Caroline's good family friend. We ended the weekend with the dinner trip to Varsity downtown and dropping Caroline off at the airport.

I hope that others can continue to visit while I'm here so I can show them around the wonderful city of Atlanta!

the Birth of Wrench-us?

2009-06-04T17:58:00.004-04:00

I've been working on a poster for my made-up hardware store called Tinker. We had to make up an event involving our company and make a poster for it. I came up with the idea of doing a lecture series called the Art of Hardware and the posters would be famous paintings with a key element replaced by a type of hardware. hammer, nail, wrench etc etc. Anyways, for this poster I did the Birth of Venus by Botticelli and replaced Venus with a wrench. this is what I have so far:

far