Recommended Viewing | Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion...

I'm sure that this video, posted to Vimeo by John Carrera, has made it's way around the 'blogosphere' already, but it's just too cool to not post about. Like the folks over at GOOD magazine, I could watch this video, over and over again, and still be left in awe. Enjoy!

COOL! Book Cover Archive...

A very cool and handy website to share, www.bookcoverarchive.com - is a website dedicated to the appreciation and categorization of excellence in book cover design (all covers are the copyright of their respective publishers).

Browse covers via designer, book title, genre, etc., - go and check it out for yourself at http://www.bookcoverarchive.com/ - enjoy!

Thanks to Ian MacCausland and Rob Peters for the link! Cheers!

Go James Go!

It's been rather hectic as of late, I've got tons of things that I could blog about, it's finding the time to do it that seems to be rather difficult... aside from work, Karate, GDC and social commitments, I've become addicted to Xbox/Xbox LIVE... ;P

Anyhow, I received a package from Amazon in the mail last week which, amongst other books, contained the Mail Me Art book shown above and below (sorry for the crappy pics).


You might recall (if you frequent KALAMAFRAZ), that my good friend, local designer, illustrator and Kyokushin Karate-ka, James Gillespie submitted http://kalamafraz.blogspot.com/2008/11/mail-me-art-going-postal.html a piece for the Mail Me Art project sometime ago... well, the book finally arrived in my mail box! Excerpt from the Mail Me Art website:

Mail Me Art is a British-based project, run by Darren Di Lieto, the founder and co-editor of the illustration news portal the Little Chimp Society. Over the course of a year, the Mail Me Art project brought together a vast collection of artistic work sent in the form of mail by both professional and amateur artists of all ages from across the world. A wide variety of media were used in an equally wide variety of styles and the work arrived on everything from postcards and envelopes to boxes and pieces of wood.

Contributions have included work by internationally-renowned illustrators such as Dan May, Michael Slack, Jon Burgerman, Kristian Olson, Catalina Estrada and Jeff Miracola and in total there have been in excess of 600 pieces of mail art submitted to the project.


Of course, I had to ask James to autograph his page in the book, he was also nice enough to honor my request for him to include a sketch (of a naked space monkey?). So you there you have it! Good stuff James! Keep it up bud!

For those of you who are interested in learning more about the Mail Me Art project, visit the Mail Me Art website at http://mailmeart.com/ - perhaps I'll submit something for Mail Me Art Two... I'll be sure to keep you posted. ;)

Cheers!

FYI...

Since MUHSASHUM was featured as a Blogger Blog of Note, I've experienced a huge spike in traffic, reader comments (which I have to moderate now... see below) and new followers, with that being said, I felt I needed to clarify a few things:

1) I don't post everyday, although I try my best... I do back-fill posts when I have time (this post would be an example), as some posts take longer to write than others.
2) I appreciate all the comments I get and try to answer any questions ASAP - I don't appreciate SPAMMERS... ;(
3) I enjoy porn as much as the next guy, but I really don't need or want any sexual/penile enhancement products nor links to 'something I might be interested in' - get a life! ARGH!
4) Thanks if you're one of the many people who send me cool things to look at, or blog about... I appreciate it.
5) If you haven't yet, please check out some of the recommended links, blogs/RSS feeds I've got in my sidebar navigation. If you enjoy my blog, then I'm sure that you'll find something amongst the links that you'll like.

Cheers!

Graymatter Graffitti – Reading and Signing at McNally Robinson, Grant Park

Yesterday evening saw the talented poet, Sam W. Reimer in-town to launch his book, Gray Matter Graffitti (designed by Circle), with a reading and signing at the Prairie Ink Restaurant in McNally Robinson – Grant Park (Winnipeg, MB).

Gray Matter Graffitti is a compilation of some 200 poems written by Sam W. Reimer, and edited by Robert L. Peters. I've blogged about it previously, here.


Sam read a number of poems from the various chapters within the book...


...which followed with a book signing.


In case you missed out, you can watch the embedded video of the poet reading 'The Relay' (from Backroads Magic) above, or on YouTube, here - enjoy!

FYI, Sam will be touring Manitoba for a short visit, with readings/signings in Morden and Steinbach to follow later this week. For more information visit www.samwreimer.com - cheers! Go Sam!

Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries reviewed by Maggie Macnab on DT&G...

The book, Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries authored by Robert L. Peters and designed at Circle has received another positive review, this time from Maggie Macnab on DT&G. Here's an excerpt from the review:

There is more to being a designer than using tools to re-form and regurgitate our thoughts. There is more to design than balancing concept with execution. Design is intent: the process of understanding relationships and making choices based on that knowledge.

We make our thoughts real when we put them into the world, and they give us back the world we live in. Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries is thoughtfully written and concisely edited by Robert L. Peters, beautifully designed by his team at Circle (Winnipeg, Canada), and published by Rockport in partnership with Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations).

Read the review in its entirety on DT&G, here - cheers! :D

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!

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 | WAG Exhibit - Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible…

If you're in Winnipeg this weekend (or in the next month or so) and are looking for something to do, I'd recommend that you consider visiting the Winnipeg Art Gallery's (WAG) newest exhibit (opening this weekend), an excerpt from the WAG website:

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is thrilled to be the only Canadian host for Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible, the first handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago. A richly ornamented masterwork, hand-illustrated with gold leaf on oversized vellum, the Bible is an unprecedented undertaking in contemporary book arts and a major cultural and interfaith endeavor. Measuring 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, it contains 1,100 pages bound in 7 volumes...

I'm planning to check it out at least once or twice... either way, it looks to be a very promising, enlightening experience... ;) Thanks to 'Segun Olude for the heads-up. Cheers!

Recommended | ABCs in 3D...

This post is for all you lovers of type, books/pop-up books, design/production and just cool things in general. I came across this a while back (can't exactly remember where) and neglected to post about it until now. Anyhow, it's a really cool book (which I've pre-ordered through Amazon already) which combines typography, design, pop-ups and more?? Check out the 'teaser' video on YouTube here - enjoy!

Recommended Viewing | Andrew Loomis' Anatomy Books...

I recently came across a gem of a find. Andrew Loomis (1892-1959) was a highly talented American illustrator. His series of influential, instructional books are out of print and yet still highly sought after and nearly impossible to find. Luckily there is the internet, with sites such as this where you can view scans of the books. I highly recommend you take a look at Mr. Loomis' work... he's likely influenced more of today's artists than you know. Enjoy!

Recommended | Candy Collective E-mag...

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody! In light of the fact that it's an Irish holiday I felt it was appropriate to draw your attention to Candy, the digital publication of the Candy Collective.

Candy is an independently produced digital magazine created to showcase the best in Irish and international culture, creativity and God knows what else (excerpt from Issue 1). I've been enjoying the publication for some time now and was quite excited to hear that they've just released the first two issues of the second volume. I highly recommend that you check it out, be warned, some of the issues are rather hefty downloads (40MB+) but well worth the wait.

Check it out at http://www.candycollective.com/issues.html - enjoy! Via Veer: The Skinny

Recommended Reading | LogoLounge.com's Logo Design Trends...

LogoLounge.com is an online (paid-subscription) resource of logos (over 60,000+). There have been a number of LogoLounge books published in the past few years by Rockport Publishers, I believe they're on number four now... anyhow, take a look at the logo design trend articles by Bill Gardner. To learn more, visit http://www.logolounge.com/ - Cheers!

Process Recess - James Jean Art & Commerce

I recently came across this website by James Jean, a wickedly talented artist based in LA. I'm sure that many of you will recognize his work from some place or another... he has a very impressive client list. Check out his latest work at http://www.processrecess.com (this piece has to be one of my favourites).

Curse of the Amazon.ca

Just a little rant... for those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I am a collector of sorts... I collect all types of things, ranging from found ephemera to toys, movies, books and more. Anyhow, I was going through my bookmarks and came across this neat experimental flash site called Amaztype. It's a neat little program that searches through a user specified Amazon locale, for images that match your search word (see image). I felt it was appropriate considering how much I love/hate Amazon. I'll admit, I use Amazon for most of my book purchases, majority of which have become online... this is where the curse comes in. I don't know about anyone else but, I've found the online shopping movement to be a curse altogether... its far too easy to make purchases online and forget about them... the fact that Amazon doesn't charge your credit card until they ship doesn't help the fact either...

Oh well, check out that experimental Flash site here: http://amaztype.tha.jp/ and BEWARE the Curse of the Amazon.ca