successories.

sooo, i headed back to cube-land this past week, a little break from the PLC while this whole 'recession' thing takes over....and i was thinking of making an amusing 1st impression by ordering a few things for my desk area: I'm considering the above "Successory" about "synergy" - a favorite corporate speak word of mine. unfortunately, they don't have one that says "Impactful" or "Leverage" - two other good ones that are so often used and abused.... up next- those Newton silver click clack balls, and a Magic 8 ball. if anyone can find me the "hang in there" cat poster, posters of pets in clothing, or at least some type of remote controlled blimp, please give a shout.

in other news, i went out a bunch last week, post-realworld job, and it was great seeing old friends and design colleagues. i stopped by a book launch party for a new book called, "Do You Matter? How great design will make people love your company." by a former Apple ID Director, and with a guest lecture by Pentagram NYC's Michael Beirut. It was hosted at Autodesk's ridiculous new office right on the Embarcadero. They had a large projects gallery set up, showing all the products that have presumably used CAD- including a 12 foot T-Rex made out of Legos, fuseprojects's XO $100 laptop, and Pittsburgh's Hot Metal Bridge (see pict). Beirut's talk was based on typography, his specialty, and he showed a font example for every letter of the alphabet (samples included Ted by United, street signs in lower manhattan, and the refined Saks Fifth Avenue logo/bags). it was rather amusing- he's a great speaker, full of sarcasm and energy, and good new york stories.


oh, i also ended up, along with 60,000 others, at the Red Bull Soapbox Derby in Dolores Park this weekend. Hosted by ski personality Uncle E, some drag queens, and surly DJs, it was a fun afternoon in the sunshine. about 35 teams plowed down the 3 block course on Dolores, complete w/ an opening skit, costumes, music, and seriously good crashes. the best one was the Death Star, tho the TreeHuggers were also spectacular. Attached are some shots from the SFChron.

heard about Pittsburgh, PA?

ok, i'm back. i can't resist- too much good stuff happening out in San Francisco. this past weekend was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which is a well-done 3 day free festival of solid music in GGpark - emmylou, lucinda, etc. i went on Sunday to see Elvis Costello, Iron&Wine, and also caught Gogol Bordello. it was even sunny this year, and the setting was nice and chill (unlike the Outside Lands mess). anyways, some friends and i had a nice afternoon out and about, chatting over kettle corn and some Tecates.

last night, however, was off the chain! i went to see David Byrne and his 8 person band play some fabulous songs (from his times with producer Brian Eno) at the SF symphony hall. the acoustics there are 5-star, obviously, and the set included all sorts of good old and new stuff- of course they played great great stuff from the Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime, Take Me to the River, Life During Wartime, etc. The ending was the best part- the Extra Action Marching Band came out and rocked the party in sequins, tubas, pom poms, leather chaps, the works. very SF, and very fitting. the whole 2 hr event was a huge party for a group of way too many MFA grads ;) there were 3 dancers, 3 great backup vocalists, and 2 solid percussionists, everyone wore white, and there was lots of interpretive dancing and good old david byrne dancing. The Talking Heads met back at RISD, and they also had Tibor Kalman (one of my favorite designers, RIP) design some album covers like "Speaking in Tongues." David Byrne was also on the board of Exit Art, where i interned one summer in NYC, but i have never met him. he has put out a few books of his photography, has installations and shows in NYC, still works in a wide variety of art outlets- a true artistic genius. anyways, all in all it's been a solid return home, and tonight is the Matchstick production ski porn flick. should be a nice kick-off to the upcoming ski season....