My Game Face

This is a cool slideshow of photos of kids playing video games. I found it on cmonster.

"Jurassic Park" Author Michael Crichton Dies of Cancer

"Prolific novelist and "ER" creator Michael Crichton has passed away. He was 66. Perhaps best known for being the author of Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, which were turned into a hugely successful movie franchise, his numerous books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide."This really sucks, he's one of my favourite sci fi writers. I was obsessed with Jurassic Park when I was younger and I remember the novel being one of the first "adult" novels I read. I don't agree with his ideas on global warming but he wrote some great entertaining sci fi/thriller type stuff with a mix or real science sprinkled in.If you haven't read any of his books I would consider checking them out.

read more | digg story

This is why I Hate Banksy

He is a pretentious boring officeworker rich boy who thinks he has some right make any kind of social comment, when his art is tired, uninspired and pretty much just a plea for attention and fame. Banksy is part of the system he is so arrogantly critiscising. If this dude was still on the street, and doing work that was more than a gimmick, maybe he'd have some credibility, but he's getting his work sold in auctions for millions, and getting paid to graffiti stuff now so, shut up sellout.

Bansky is not only a part of the "modern art" scene, he is also ruining the credibility of whats left of street art now, and the popularity of his work just propels us further down the spiral of "art for fame" where kids only make paste ups in the hope of doing a collab with nike someday.

Go die, banksy, or at least say something positive. Seriously the creative people of the world arent sitting around spouting wisdom about what's wrong with art or music or culture, there are out there doing shit, and they arent getting paid millions to do it.

We heart it / Visual bookmark for everyone

This is my weheartit page. We heart it is kinda like ffffound but you dont have to be invited. I want to find a way of automatically posting all my finds to this blog. Anyone know how to?

I love the Heist blog so much.

This shit makes me lol.

Heist is rad cause they have nice clothes (that I cant afford) and the dudes that run it just seem like they hang out all day being chilled out and selling clothes and just having a good time. First time I rocked up there my workmates and I got invited to some acclaim magazine launch thing, didnt end up going but it's pretty nice and down to earth when you go to a shop where the people are there to have a good time and really enjoy what they do and know what they're talking about (and arent eletist either)

Anyway, I dont know who writes the blog, but it has some real gold sometimes, though I don't know if it's quite as funny/succinct to people not in the fashion industry and people who don't live in Australia. But still, I love it. I always get happy when a new blog post is sitting there on my google reader cause it means shit talking or pics of new gear, either is good.

Oh yeah, mooks/stussy etc are all pretty terrible, it's like myer/glue version of "trendy street wear". Well stussy do some interesting tees, but I dont think they are the australian ones most of the time...

Yesssss

L.A. Gear is back. I never had them as a kid but I was so jealous of the kids who did. It was those or rebook pumps. I rmember the lights flashing under the tables in class in grade 4.

So awesome.

Hobbledehoy Record Co - Hey Mercedes 'Unorchestrated'

Tom at Hobbledehoy keeps bringing out rad vinyl that I have to buy. Hey Mercedes are awesome, and closer to my def. of "emo" (even though it's not really accurate either), not what passes for it now. Nothing like chillin' with some american football, promise ring, and jawbreaker vinyl on a lazy day, this will add to that, (namedropping my vinyl collection). But go buy it if you have any taste at all!

Someone buy me this keec bag

Bamakko — Keec Supple-Puppy hOP-scotch Large

They are awesome!

TV shows now on Australian iTunes.

So apparently we are finally getting tv shows out here, they are gonna be 3 bucks an episode. I can see this being useful if I get an ipod that plays video again but otherwise I'm going to set up one of those torrent apps that pull down new episodes of a show every time they come out. Much better selection.
Via TV Tonight

pinheads

This Dude makes art out of notice board pins.Someone should buy him some pixelblocks.

Hot Topic Story

"my best hot topic story evar:

post college, some friends and i want to some mall in southern california. might have been the same mall whose parking lot in which back to the future was filmed...

anyway, we go in hot topic, to see what the hell it's all about now, and not only did they carry cd's, they carried 7 inches. so, of course i dig through them, and they're all epifat bands, not a small number of major labelled bands, etc. anyway, i announce to my friends across the store that 'YOU GUYS! THEY HAVE BIG CDS!' and then i start raving about how 'these must hold more than 80 minutes of music, cos they're like 8 inches across!' the poor cashier girl came over and politely explained that 'they're not cd's. they're records.' 'you mean, they won't play in my cd player?' 'um...no. they're vinyl. you know, like, the 70's?' 'i don't understand.'

it was the hardest i've ever had to work to keep a straight face."

From User veganboyjosh on punknews.org. Nothing to do with anything, but it made me laugh on a Friday.

Identity Feedback

Makes me thing differently about the hole in my backpack, worn from rubbing on my belt. I think a good pair of shoes it like this, too. They arent perefect until they are so worn they are almost falling off your foot.

Photos based on kids drawings

I like the things floating in mid air the best

Who Would Play Steve Jobs in the Apple Movie?

Go Vote On geeksugar. I didn't know Edward Norton was 48 before I resd this, either. Noah Wyle does a good job in pirates of silicone valley.

Wolf Tee

Someone Buy me this

Cross stitch graffiti

Cross Stitch Train Graffiti. The more feminine side of vandalism.

I want this in my bathroom.

These tile mosaics are awesome. This sort of thing could be interesting in public bathrooms as opposed to murals, too. Very permanent though. These are the work of Karl Grandin. I love the use of only reds and white. It's bold and almost pixelish.
Via the Kitchen Table.

Where's your tee/undies from?

A collection ofclothing Labels from around the world.

Long Time No See.

I've neglected gnetg over the last month nd a bit due to 2 things. One is my Geelong Music Blog, and the other is my new house. I am going to try to blog the tranformation of my house from how it is now, to whatever it becomes. Hopefully I will stick to this aim!

ThreeThousand is a blog now!

ThreeThousand is one of my favourite things ever. I've discovered so many cool little things in Melbourne thanks to them. I even won tickets to The King Of Kong once. Well, anyway, it's a blog now too. yay!

Sion I Am: Found Art

Sion I Am: Found Art

Some really old art by me, and my friend Allie.

mac softie

Cute! I should try to make one, but I probably won't.

I want this bed

This little bed bookcase cave is awesome. It would be cool as a chillout room with beanbags inside and records and books on the outside, too. The only bad thing would be if someone decided to come and push all the books in from the outside when you were asleep.

Soundwave Photos

A little late, but here are my phone pics from soundwave: blurry. Watch as we appear to become more drunk as the day goes on! Also Geoff Rickly doing cool stuff. I realised at this that I have seen both Thursday and Motion City Soundtrack every time they have been to Australia. Emo cred.

Protein [ DScratch ]

Protein [ DScratch ] is an awesome little homebrew program for the Nintendo DS. you can load samples in or record your own using the built in mic. It can also send midi over wi fi, which I'm yet to try out, hopefully it works with Garageband. There's a lot of potential with devices such as the DS and iphones to develop music making programs that can be a lot more "organic" thanks to the direct human interaction the touchscreen provides. It wouldnt surprise me if in future there are songs heavily made up of samples from programs like jam sessions and electroplankton, not to mention homebrew apps like this. Its a niche, but I think there's a way to go with what this sort of cheap and easily accessible technology can do.

TV CARNAGE

I finally got my first taste of TV Carnage this weekend, and it was interesting, hilarious, freaky and disgusting all at the same time. I had put it on expecting to only watch it for a few minutes, but ended up watching the whole thing. I dodnt know which one I watched, cause it was pirated (sorry). I think I might order a few dvds. Check it out if you like weird stuff and watching old school ads on youtube.

The City On Film 'In Formal Introduction' LP

Hobbledehoy Records are stocking a limited supply of black/white swirl copies of In Formal Introduction by The City on Film. So glad there are a few good places to get cheap vinyl in Australia. I'm lucky to not hit the $30 mark half the time. Blueline 7" is coming out soon, too. I <3 Hobbledehoy.
buy it

Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax Passes away.

Sad. D&D is awesome (even though I havent played it in AGES) And the guys who made it had to be pretty smart (and nerdy) dudes.D&D has had a big impact on the world, just think of how many people it has converted to witchcraft! No really, who wants to join me on a quest this weekend? I'll look for my dice tonight.

Punknews.org | Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax (1938-2008)

Again(st) Me!

Are these guys ever not touring australia?Against me! at the forum (I've never seen a show there, should be fun) May 3rd. tickets on sale March 7th from Ticketek.

Against Me! :: upcoming shows

What the hell?

Nearly $200 for a fairly mediocre pop punk cd? Do people have too much money?
FRENZAL RHOMB (2CD) MEET THE FAMILY Bonus LIVE CD Punk! - eBay, CDs, Music. (end time 03-Mar-08 21:00:46 AEDST)

The people who work at the geelong apple store are always rude to me.

Do I look too poor to buy their products or something? I dropped 3k on a macbook and applecare there last year and have bought a bunch of other stuff from there over the last 10-15 years as have my family. I went in to ask about airport cards for mirror door g4s and the dude looked at me like I was asking where the videro ipords were.

At least there were nice and let me and my friends edit videos on their floor stock when I was in year 12, but still, what gives? I'm like supreme mac nerd and they up their noses at me. bitches.

Vinyl Collective is Awesome

I've been buying stuff from vinyl collective and Suburban Home for a few years now, and the shipping has always been cheap and the stuff gets here pretty quick. Ordering stuff online from overseas is a bit hit and miss, I've had things turn up only when I finally forgot they existed. Not to mention if I don't want to pay as much again for shipping I usually pick the cheapest option I can. Which usually involves it being tied to drift wood and kicked in the general direction of Australia, to arrive sometime this decade, if I'm lucky.

I've been waiting on a massive order for ages (2 months, I'm impatient, ok?), and was begining to get worried that maybe it had been sent and lost, or that it wouldnt be shipped for awhile and would get mixed up in my current moving house/change of address complications. I sent Virgil, the dude who runs vc, sh and a bunch of other stuff an email, expecting a reply in a few days or so. That's usually all I can hope for with most places, who also usually treat me like a nuisance if I ask questions (ebay, anyone?). Within maybe 15 minutes, I had a reply in my inbox explaing what was up, the package was shipped last week, and judging by when I usually get stuff, will be here next week or the week after.

I know it's hard right now for people working in the music industry, especially those running small labels. It's nice in the first place to feel like I'm supporting people who have an interest in helping the scene, and musicians getting their music out. But the fact the service is so awesome makes me really not bother with most other places these days. I really think Virgil cares about the people he is selling to, and the product he is selling, which is rare. He runs and awesome blog, and hosts a great forum on all things vinyl, and from the looks of things, works REALLY hard. So well done VC, A++++ Service, would pre order 50 colourways again :)

Go buy some hipster cred here.

Macbook paper

This is just about the cutest thing ever. I might print one out at work tomorrow. There's also a cute spoof video of the macbook air ad below:

12 Old mac ads

YouTube - 12 Old mac ads

Looks like Apple's strategy of "talk about how much pcs suck" isn't exactly new. But the songs have gotten better, at least.

Why Graphic Design is the Worst Brand Ever

Fascinating article. I think while "desptop publishing" and its ilk have done a lot of good overall, the availability of a burnt copy of photoshop and some free brushes have a lot to answer for. It saddens me how much bad design I see on a day to day basis. Or maybe before I learnt the rules I just never saw the problem.

I blame computers for a lot. I am much more a graphic artist than a graphic designer, as I chose to become a designer cause I "liked drawing" and it was the closest career I could find to sitting around drawing all day when I was 14 and needed to pick my electives for the following year. I barely used computers for my highschool folio, and feel now like my folio suffered because of it. Which is sad. Even the institutions that are meant to be teaching proper design are more interested in flashy computer generated work than hand drawn type, and understanding of things like colour, balance and positive/negative spaces - which are all important parts of traditional art, but can be fluked or avoided altogether when using a computer. (That said, I did get interviews at all the universities I applied for, even without any prior knowledge of illustrator, so not all hope is lost).

So many students in my classes seemed to know all the right filters to use, the right styles to copy and the right magazines to read to make their work "cool". I always felt my work didnt match up cause I played by my own rules more and always took a creative stance over following trends. However, I saw that many designers used the wrong fonts, set up work terribly or had constant problems with the printers. I'm not trying to sound high and mighty, I was learning as much as anyone else, but there was a strong theme of trying to make stuff look cool rather than take them time to build a strong design from what was taught in class.

At the end of the day, its too easy for people to design work that is "good enough" which only actual designers will realise is not good at all. Are the public educated enough about design to know the difference between a company that spent thousands on an identity and the one who got their in-house junior to create a new logo on the cheap? Do people care? Can you make them care? Its still a shiny logo at the end of the day or a cool pic that stands out. Here and now, it doesnt make a difference. It's "easy" to make something "look good". How is a well done classic design really relevant today? Everything in our culture is disposable and cheap and nasty. Why wouldnt design follow that pattern?

Are we fighting a losing battle?

Pocket Sized Guitar Hero Arcade Game

I never caught on to the guitar hero craze, (real guitars are way more fun, in my opinion), but this thing is really cute/cool. I wonder how long it will take for them to be added to the list of highschool contraband?
Via Chip Chick

Interview With Joshua Smith Hydro74

I'm a big fan of Hydro 74's work and found this interview quite interesting. I'd always wondered where he had gotten such impressive clients, and his explaination/reasoning makes a lot of sense. I find it hard as a designer to have concrete goals, I know where I want to be but I'm not sure how to get there (I'm really interested in design in the music scene - posters, cds tees and other promotional material, as I think there are more creative opportunities there rather than with some other types of design. Perhaps the best solution is to just be more proactive! What's also exciting for me, is that he is 10 years older than me, and the idea that most designers with the right attitude and enough talent can get quite far at a young age. Anyway, chekc the interview out here.

Replacements' Twin/Tone Catalog Reissued, Expanded

The Replacements are one of my favourite bands, and I think one of the post influential bands when it comes to the whole country/punk crossover genre. It weirds me out when someone doesn't know who they are though, they seem like a pretty accessible band; Hopefully the fact the catalogue is going to be re-released (starting with their twin/tone stuff) will mean more cool kids will realise that yeah, that against me song, Bastards of Young, is actually a cover.

From Pitchfork

Jason Das

I found Jason's work on the page a day site, thought it was awesome. I'm really digging his sketching style.
Check it out here.

Thing-a-day.com

I'm going to try to draw a pic every day and post it on Thing-a-day. I used to try to do a journal page every day awhile back, I eventually stopped though, and I need to try doing something creative again.

Nintendo Hero

Awarded for Bravery in the face of ducks in turtle shells.
Console Wars I

King of Kong Australian Release.

Last year I went through a stage of watching a while lot of documentaries, I downloaded The King Of Kong on a whim after reading the rating it had on rotten tomatoes. For a movie about old school game nerds, it's an amazing documentary that really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you feel real empathy for the people whose lives you are following.

Now it looks like it's finally gotten an Australian release date, looks like it's only showing at a few cinemas acroos Australia, so I'll have to head up to melbourne to see it, but it will be worth it to finally get to watch it on the big screen.

The King Of Kong, Australian site.

Vans Finger Fracture

So apparently Vans are making a game for the iphone to promote their shoes, this is awesome. Hopefully this is the start of a new direction for companies; using the iphone's technology for advertising and promotion. The game reminds me of a cross between playing with a tech deck, and the controls for Skate.

FromNOTCOT

Free Wallpaper - Burning Aces

I made this for a friend yesterday, but some other people liked it, so I thought I'd put it up for download. I might be making a widescreen version soon.

Photon Light Skateboards

This has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen in awhile. Glow in the dark skateboards would freak out and annoy people even more than regular skateboards, plus you can skate at night! I want one. Here's a vid of them In action.

Dreamteam Clothing

I always get excited when I see a streetwear brand that makes stuff for girls, too. Dreamteam Clothing are a new German brand, hopefully they get stocked out here, cause the stuff is nice, and the colourways are awesome(I have a thing for purple and blue right now).

Aeon Customs

These are really nice.

Supra Green Camo Skytop

If I had a million dollars I would buy every skytop colourway Supra released. They are such a awesome shoe. I still need to pick up a pair, but all the colours I've seen in melbourne have been kinda dull.This are sick though.
from highsnobiety

Chocolate Mac

Fred Lebain covers stuff in chocolate. And takes photos of it.

YouTube - Dwight from "The Office" attacked me!

Pete Wentz's Bape Hoodie up on Ebay.

So apparently Pete's ex found this old bape hoodie in her closet and she's selling it on ebay now. It's already over $200.

Someone buy me a yo-yo!

This stuff is really awesome. I remember when osx came out, we were using the computers at the apple store in Geelong to edit videos for a highschool competition, and there were these awesome osx badges, and I stole one. It was on my guitar strap for ages but it got lost eventually.

End of Support for Netscape web browsers

My first experiences of the internet were on a mac using Netscape in my early teenage years. I didn't change browsers until my parents bought a g4 and I started using safari, later moving to firefox which I have used the last 3 years or so. It's sad to see something that I first learned to use the internet on die out.

Link

Apple Sub Notebook Leaked Pic?

I found this on the Mac Rumours forums earlier today. Most people on there seem to think it's a 'shop, but it's still pretty exciting. I still wish apple would do a pda iphone style, though. I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

Last Night’s Garbage

Last Night’s Garbage is a photoblog about rubbish around New York City. Doesn't sound that exciting, but it is funny, informative and clever, and would be coffee book material ... if you want a book about garbage, that is.