Busy, Busy...

I've been rather busy as of late... hopefully, I will have some interesting things (aka 'secret projects') to share with you all soon. ;D

Image: a busy bumblebee inside of a rose... from one of the rose bushes in front of my home.

Happy Birthday Mr. Peters!

Happy 55th Birthday Rob! Wishing you all the best, on this day and the rest! May all your birthday wishes come true! Peace, love, and happiness always... cheers!

Image: ASCII portrait of Rob prepared as part of my e-card birthday greetings.

And (Ampersand)...

Ampersand... an experiment in ceramics - a collaborative, typographic, art piece made by the talented hands of ceramist Evelin Richter (What? Clay Art and Curios) and Circle colleague, Robert L. Peters.

From Wikipedia:
An ampersand (&), also commonly called an 'and sign', is a logogram representing the conjunction "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and". Read more on Wikipedia...


Close-up detail...

Sweet. 'nuf said. Thanks to Rob and Ev! ;)

Cheers!

The Year is 2009...

Wow. It feels somewhat odd to say that... the year is 2009. For me personally, 2008 was a blur of a year. My apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks... I took some time off from blogging over the holiday season, but hope to be back to a more regular posting schedule soon. Look for some interesting things to come... ;)

Until then, a belated Happy New Year!, wishes for peace and prosperity to all in 2009! Cheers!

Recommended Viewing | The Grid System...

I highly recommend you check out The Grid System, the ultimate online resource for grid systems. Excerpt from the website:

Made popular by the International Typographic Style movement and pioneered by legends like Josef Müller-Brockmann and Wim Crouwel, the grid is the foundation of any solid design. The Grid System is an ever-growing resource where graphic designers can learn about grid systems, the golden ratio and baseline grids. Created by Antonio Carusone, graphic designer and author of the design and typography blog AisleOne.

Some very cool and highly informative stuff (IMO) on this website... check it out for yourself at http://www.thegridsystem.org/ - cheers!

GDC Manitoba - The Art of the Storyboard...

Last week Tuesday (November 25), Doug Coates (MGDC) and James Gillespie presented, The Art of the Storyboard as part of GDC Manitoba's Lunch Talk series. Doug and James discussed the processes involved with storyboarding, showing examples of storyboards they've done, as well as the end result.


James touched briefly on how evolutions in digital technology are changing the process... it seems there are lots of exciting things on the horizon.


If you'd like to learn more about the art of the storyboard, Doug and James recommend you check out the book, Storyboard Design Course by Giuseppe Cristiano. Thanks again to Doug and James for their highly informative presentation - cheers!

Pictures from Doug and James' The Art of the Storyboard lunch talk can be found on my Flickr, as well as on the GDC Manitoba Flickr Group Pool, here - enjoy!

Recommended Viewing | LIFE Photo Archive hosted by Google...

An awesome link to share today... excerpt from the website: search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive , stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

To awesome for words to describe. You have to check it out for yourself! Goto http://images.google.com/hosted/life - enjoy!

Thanks to Dean McNeil, MGDC for posting the link to the GDC Listserve - cheers!

Cursive...

This past weekend I was in Brandon, Manitoba (with my brother) to attend the Battle in Brandon, a kickboxing/muay thai event (held at the Wheat City Golf Course/Curling Rink) where Guardian Dojo members, Sean Devlin and Rox Lui competed. Anyhow, while having dinner with my brother, we couldn't help but notice the diversity of the handwriting on the wall (signatures on charity donation cards)... it was interesting to see the variety, which brings us to the topic of today's post. When was the last time that you wrote/used cursive handwriting?

Now, I handwrite on a daily basis but, it's definitely not in the traditional cursive style (as seen in the above image)... I don't even recall the last time I wrote in true cursive. I wonder how many people today, can write the cursive alphabet without reference (do they even teach this in school anymore?). We tried while waiting for our dinner and both of us failed miserably... sad.

Give it a whirl! Don't look at the image above! See how well you recall your cursive - cheers!

Image via Wikipedia

Questionable(?) Quotes from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics...

LOL... I just had to share these nine quips/quotes/comments made by NBC sports commentators/athletes during the Beijing Summer Olympics that they'd love to be able to take back:

1. Weightlifting commentator: 'This is Gregorieva from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.'
2. Dressage commentator: 'This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.'
3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: 'I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.'
4. Boxing Analyst: 'Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.'
5. Softball announcer: 'If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.'
6. Basketball analyst: 'He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.'
7. At the rowing medal ceremony: 'Ah, isn't that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.'
8. Soccer commentator: 'Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field.'
9. Tennis commentator: 'One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them... Oh my God, what have I just said?'

...too funny IMO! I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I did. Thanks for sharing Rob - cheers!

Street Art or Graffiti?

I'll admit it... I'm a fan of graffiti (the image above was found on Adelaide in Winnipeg). That being said, I do feel a need to clarify the types of graffiti I'm a fan of. I can completely understand how building owners/property managers just loath the idea of graffiti in general and I tend to agree with them - to an extent. Winnipeg has a big problem with the non-sensible, graffiti 'tag' artists who aggressively scrawl their typically un-creative and rather bland 'tags' all over, in what appears to be an attempt to see who can 'tag' the most(?). Just taking a drive around the city or a walk around downtown and you'll see examples of these 'garbage tags' abound.


Graffiti has a very long history which goes back to ancient times, there have been examples from Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire (I'm sure that some artists would argue that cave painting could also be considered graffiti). Like the above image (found in the alley behind the office) states, 'graffiti can make your community beautiful.' I'd like to think that many people would agree with this statement (I'm also quite positive that there would be just as many that wouldn't agree ;P). There's a bit of a back story to this poster (FYI, it's not there any longer)... some of my closer friends and associates should know all about it. ;)


Check out some of the 'Reverse Graffiti' artists out there via the Environmental Graffiti blog... such as the Skulls in Sao Paolo by Alexandre Orion.


You can watch a video of him in action embedded above, or on YouTube, here.


Oh, and let's not forget about BANKSY... who's prolific stencil work, humour and political satire (who some would argue) has single-handedly, changed the world's view on the subject of street art/graffiti and garnered him thousands of fans (I'm one of them), copycats and millions of dollars. If you enjoy street art/graffiti, be sure to check out the Wooster Collective online. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the subject... feel free to comment - cheers!

The K.I.S.S. Principle...

The embedded video above, Underground Street Fight Showoff via Today's Big Thing is a perfect illustration of why the K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple, stupid) really applies when it comes to an actual combat scenario... the caption from the website read as follows:

Capoeira is a flashy style of fighting based largely on break dancing. Unfortunately for this guy, there's more to winning a fight than what we've been taught by Michael Jackson music videos and West Side Story. Next time he'll focus less on dancing and more on punching.

... as a Kyokushin Karate-ka, I couldn't agree more. ;) Leave the flashy stuff for TV, movies and video games... you don't actually think that Street Fighter moves would work in a real fight do you? At least, I sure hope not... that is unless you can actually unleash a 'real' Hadoken. ;P - enjoy!

UPDATE: My brother tells me that this actually is a clip from a movie called 'Never Back Down'... I'll admit, I had my suspicions... ;P

Thursday Thoughts...

My colleagues and I, at Circle all enjoy a good quote, I came across a pair of interesting thoughts/quotes in a circa 1980 design textbook (pre-digital design age)... I'd say that these quotes are still valid (if not even more valid) today, as they were decades ago... wouldn't you agree?


Of course, these two generic sayings could also be applicable to any other facet of your daily life... think about it.

COOL! Handwritten Typographers...

I came across this post via Computer Arts Daily (a UK blog), an excerpt from the posting:

Cameron Adams found himself wondering what typographers' handwriting looked like. Then, instead of promptly forgetting about it, he asked a number of leading typographers, including Erik Spiekermann and Marian Bantjes, to send him a scan of their handwriting. And they did, with fascinating results. I wish we'd thought of this.

I couldn't agree more... wish I had thought of this... ;) Very cool stuff indeed! Check it out via http://www.themaninblue.com/

Image: Marian Bantjes, taken from the original blog post...

COOL! www.SamWReimer.com Goes Live!

A while back, I posted about a recent poetry book project that we completed at Circle. Sam W. Reimer's Gray Matter Graffitti is a collection of some ~200 poems, penned over the course of four decades... (visit Robert L. Peter's news+ to learn more).

Anyhow, the website www.samwreimer.com (designed by Circle to promote the bard and book) has now gone live! Check it out at http://www.samwreimer.com/ - once there you'll be able to read a few sample poems from the book as well as read up on the latest news/happenings... enjoy!

FYI, the site is best viewed using Firefox. Cheers!

Super Fast and Easy Facial Retouching via PSDTUTS...

I've been holding onto this tutorial for some time now... partially in fear of a massive onslaught of family requests for photo/portrait retouching. But, I did think that it was worth sharing... learn more about Super Fast and Easy Facial Retouching and more via PSDTUTS here.

Thanks to Raelene Hanna for sending me the link - cheers!

Recommended Viewing | Joshua Heineman's Cursive Buildings Website

You really have to go and check out Joshua Heineman's Cursive Buildings website... more specifically it's his Reaching for the Out of Reach project that has caught my attention. Joshua's description on his website: I’m breathing new life into the past using old digitized photographs from the New York public library. I’ve spent hours rekindling these moments. And they will not be the last. P.S. I’m so so deep on these funny little things… it’s like the past has rediscovered a dimension!

Sadly the image above doesn't represent his work accurately (I'm not sure why animated .gifs don't work when I upload them), so go and check out the image above (as well as more examples) on his website at http://lala.cursivebuildings.com/tagged/reaching - enjoy!

Thanks for sending me the link Paul - Cheers!

Recommended Viewing | Zeitgeist - The Movie

I highly recommend you watch this if you haven't already yet... never heard of it, you say? Well, go check it out anyways... learn more at http://zeitgeistmovie.com/ - enjoy!

Thanks to Rob for sharing this.

Recommended Viewing | Bryan Scott's Winnipeg: Love/Hate Blog...

It's been a while since I last blogged about Bryan Scott's Winnipeg: Love/Hate blog... anyhow, I was cruising through the other day and I must say, Bryan has been busy busy!

Go check out some of his amazing pictures of Winnipeg on his blog at http://winnipeglovehate.blogspot.com/ - enjoy!

You can see more of Bryan's amazing photos on his Flickr account here (it's a must see for any fan of HDR images). Keep up the amazing work Bryan - cheers!

Recommended | HOT OFF THE PRESS! Sam W. Reimer's – Gray Matter Graffitti...

Poetry fans take note... Sam W. Reimer's, Gray Matter Graffitti has finally come off the press! After an approximate two year gestation period, and a number of 'hiccups' in the production, I can't even begin to describe how exciting it is to see this labour of love come to light! It was a pleasure (and struggle at times) to work on this book. The book designed by Circle, is a compilation of poems written by Sam W. Reimer, and edited by Robert L. Peters. Here's an excerpt about the book's author by the editor from the back cover:

Draft-dodger, Jesus-freak, “conditional pacifist,” prolific writer, devoted father, “tactical anarchist & strategic monarchist,” unwavering romantic, bohemian bard, “ecstatic depressive,” gregarious hermit… this rollicking collection of some 200 original works draws from thousands of poems penned over the course of four decades—inspired ruminations by Sam W. Reimer, an (hitherto) unsung gem of a poet.

This book (IMO) should belong on any poetry fan's bookshelf... a truly diverse, treasure trove of prose, sure to delight! I'm not sure how you can obtain a copy of the book at this point in time, but I'll keep you all posted! FYI, the book ISBN 978-1-55383-196-9

Recommended | GOOD - The China Issue...

I recently posted a comment on Michael Surtees' blog, DesignNotes in response to his A Black and White Issue? post (which in turn was a response to another blog post). In Michael's post he brings up some interesting points of discussion in regard to this summer's Beijing Olympics, here's an excerpt:

...if you plan to watch a moment of the Olympics, purchase anything from a corporate sponsor of the games or even follow who wins and looses are you implicitly supporting what a number of protesters are trying to bring to the attention of the world? If you are protesting the Olympics in Beijing yet choose to do any of the following that I mention above is it somewhat hypocritical to criticize others? Is it possible to have it both ways or is everyone responsible to some degree?

Being born a Canadian of Chinese descent I have to admit that I am somewhat, 'on-the-fence' with the over-politicization of the games through the western media. Yes, there are many issues facing China as a rapidly growing, industrial nation... but, what country can claim to be free of problems? That being said, the latest issue of GOOD Magazine: The China Issue has some great features on China, I'd recommend everyone to read them, you're bound to come across something you didn't know about the 'Asian-Superpower' (I've blogged about GOOD Magazine before, here).

The Olympics should remain non-political, concentrate on 'fair' competition and respect for the athletes. In my opinion, the Olympics could represent the ideal world model, where one person from a different culture/religion/etc. can stand beside one another with respect, admiration and/or resolve their differences through non-lethal, competitive sport. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... I invite you all to comment (I'd be interested to hear what others have to say). Cheers!