A Teachable Moment >> JK Rowling’s Graduation Speech
J.K. Rowling’s address to the Harvard class of ’08, on the “fringe benefits of failure.”
This video is on the long side, but as is no surprise, it is very well-written and engaging, so if you have some time and want to feel inspired, refreshed, and entertained, give it a listen. It’s like the graduation speech you never had, and you also want her to become your adopted aunt.
I’d actually never really heard an interview or anything with her, I realized, so I was very interested to hear her speak, and the speech is personal and wonderful. After listening to this, I felt like a new grad all over again, inspired to head out into the world and make a difference.
July 22, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
A Teachable Moment
Labels:
a teachable moment, video, well said
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
A Teachable Moment
Labels:
a teachable moment, video, well said
Well Said >> “Creativity is just connecting things.”
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
—Steve Jobs
Le Mans Classic 2010
LOVE these photos by Laurent Nivalle of the Le Mans Classic 2010.
I like the black and whites and the colors equally, and they each take on certain aspects of the event. The black and whites are crisp and have an immediateness, engaging you with the high-speed action and precision of the event. The colors, meanwhile, have such wonderful romantic tones that make them cinematic and retro– perfect for capturing the elegance and nostalgia of the classic cars.
Click through for more…
Jay-Z’s "Hello Brooklyn"
Sometimes when I really like something straight away upon encountering it, all eloquence and diligently learned SAT vocab words suddenly seem far out of reach, and all I can think of are childish descriptors like “awesomeness.” I feel (hope) that if I thought about it longer, the analytical side of my brain would kick in and help me describe why I find something worthy of being called awesomeness, but for this Jay-Z video, I think awesomeness is just about right. So take my word for it and check out the awesomeness.
This video is not the official music video, but rather an independent “tribute” to Jay-Z, Brooklyn, and New York by Greg Solenstrom, which actually in a way makes it even cooler, knowing that this guy produced this video pretty much for fun (ok, and maybe self-promotion) without any direction from the Jay-Z team. Although I will say that before I knew it was independently done, and I thought it was Jay-Z’s idea, I was like, “Wow, Jay-Z is even cooler than I thought!” Alas.
Solenstrom uses the font Akzidenz Grotesk (the precursor to Helvetica), which, as the font on MTA subway map designed in the late 60′s (and still used today) by Massimo Vignelli, seems a perfect choice, along with tons of still images of Brooklyn treated with the Vanishing Point effect in Photoshop and After Effects to animate the video.
The above video is a non-traditional but fascinating “making of”– meaning it will not teach you how to create a video like this, but rather will boggle your mind and convince you that you could never learn how to do this. Still, despite the mind-boggling, it’s worth checking out for the appreciation of the video and this guy’s talent that it will give you. I really had no idea how much work it would take to create a video like this.
July 21, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Must See
Labels:
animation, listening to, typography, video
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Must See
Labels:
animation, listening to, typography, video
Let’s Bring Back: Styling of the Mad Men Era
In advance of Mad Men’s return on Sunday, Huffington Post writer Lesley Blume has an excellent column today on what she wishes would be brought back from the Mad Men Era, including: supper clubs with tiny lamps and animal print walls (agree! so chic! so glam!), coifs (such a better word than “up-dos”– I think I could get into something called a “coif”), hats for women, and hats for men.
Here, an excerpt from the article. I was just going to summarize and share a link to it, but it’s so well-written I just had to post part of it here.
“Time-wise, the Mad Men era is so close to our own, and yet so far away culturally. Elaborate social ritual is of paramount importance in the Mad Men realm; details are to be fussed over, not shunted aside in favor of soulless efficiency. The Mad Men world makes a fetish of ornamentation and deifies mysterious artifice; our culture, on the other hand, prizes an almost apathetic informality and rewards the tackiest forms of extroversion.
I once saw Mad Men brilliantly described as an exercise in “loathing nostalgia;” indeed, the epoch’s glamor co-mingles uneasily with many of its deplorable practices and attitudes. The sexism, the homophobia, the racism: those things can stay done and dusted.
Yet there are other things from that decade that are acutely missed, perhaps especially by style-minded people who didn’t get to experience them the first time around. For those of us who grew up in the subsequent era of Gap-sponsored khaki casualness and fast food, the Mad Men world represents a glamor lacking in our lives today.”
You can find the rest of the effects she wishes would be brought back here, including horn-rimmed glasses for men, foxy flight attendant uniforms, and three martini lunches. So worth checking out– the captions for the images are as articulate as the above excerpt and very entertaining.
Interiors >> Party Barn
Doesn’t this spot have an awesome casual summer vibe? I imagine that old fridge would be always stocked with cold beer and friends would just stop by for a drink and a round of ping pong. In fact, The Selby tells us this barn is just dedicated to parties, dining, and room for guests to sleep. Perfection.
The NY state home of photographer Dan Martensen and artist Shannon Click, from The Selby.
Listening To >> Serge Gainsbourg’s Aux Armes et Caetera
Perfect summer listening– the bizarre but wonderful Serge Gainsbourg album Aux Armes et Caetera, for which he let a group of Jamaican musicians (including Rita Marley) totally transform his tunes into quirky French-Reggae songs. Here, the song “Lola Rastaquouere.”
Download the whole album on iTunes and prepare for your summer to have not only a new soundtrack, but a new sultry, retro Rasta vibe as well. Bonus points if you get it on vinyl.
(By the way, I’m not sure what exactly this video is, but it’s def not an “official” music video.”)
July 20, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Listening To
Labels:
classics, listening to, summer
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Listening To
Labels:
classics, listening to, summer
Don Q Lady Data
How can guys look better at the office?
I couldn’t resist posting these survey results– I so agree with them! Valet partnered with Don Q Lady Data to ask women how they felt about men’s clothing.
Above, my #1 pet peeve when it comes to men’s clothing! Why oh why do so many men buy those boxy suits that are about three sizes too big and not tailored at all to fit them? Maybe they wish they were bigger and think the clothes will have the effect of making them look larger than they are? But actually, pro athletes are some of the worst offenders in this category, so I don’t know. But I’m relieved to know that other women have noticed this as well. So men, please, find a tailor or take a well-dressed woman with you to pick out your clothes.
The trend of going sockless … pro or con?
In general, do you think the average man dresses well?
This means if you thought that #1 above was talking about you and your too-large clothes, it probably was.
But lest you think this is a huge downer, I feel strongly that menswear in America is really having a moment (in fact, such a moment that I think menswear is more interesting than womenswear right now) and that this could all turn around. Also, this only means that the guys out there who do dress well have a serious leg up!
You can check out the results to the other 7 questions, including more insight into why 61% of women think the average man dresses poorly, here.
TypeSeat
This is just so satisfying to my designy nerd soul.
By Tim Fishlock.
PS – I once found a pair of the Z chair in lucite at a consignment shop for like $200 total, and I decided to think about it for a day, and I went back and they were gone, and I’ve honestly mourned the decision ever since. Bird in the hand, people, bird. in. the. hand. Let me have learned this lesson for you.
PPS – Kyle, I know what you’re going to say- we literally have no space or use for more chairs. I know. But I looove them. You got lucky on this one.
July 19, 2010
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Graphic Fix
Labels:
furniture, Graphic Design, typography
Curated by:
Eliza Coleman
Section:
Graphic Fix
Labels:
furniture, Graphic Design, typography
Edition One Hundred
Similar to 20 x 200 (which is awesome, by the way), the recently launched Edition One Hundred will be offering limited edition runs (100) of signed and numbered affordable ($100) photographic prints.
The inaugural exhibition is called I Love LA and is by Cat Jimenez. I dug this one–
It’s by an LA artist named Miles Regis– isn’t it like de Kooning’s “women” meets Basquiat meets de la Vega?? How could you possibly go wrong with such a mix of influences…
de Kooning
Basquiat
de la Vega
