I remember hearing The Roots latest single, “How I Got Over” on Stereogum during the summer. I liked it quite a bit but somehow it got lost in the wave of R&B inspired indie that has infected my iPod this year. Yesterday, A friend posted the video for the song on Facebook and it reminded me why I was so into it.
The Roots have already secured their place in music history, so you have to give them props for continually trying to push things forward. The themes of “How I Got Over” aren’t exactly new. The hook itself starts off as something we’ve heard before: “Out on the streets where I grew up, first thing they teach you is not to give a fuck.” The next two lines are completely unexpected though: “That type of thinking can get you nowhere. Someone has to care.” That’s the kind of message I like to take with me into the day. It’s simple and gets right to the point. Enjoy.
Readers of this blog know that aside from my love affair with Fleetwood Mac, I am a HUGE Jay-Z fan, and sometimes, with varying degrees of success, I try to find parallels between graphic design and Jay-Z. Lately, Sean Carter,who apparently is a Grizzly Bear fan, has been all over the blogs. His new album, Blueprint 3, though not officially slated for release until September 11th, was leaked earlier this week. Luckily, you don’t need torrents to hear it, because you can stream the entire thing here on MTV.com.
BUT, that’s not the story here. Hov recently teamed up with ad agency, Droga5, on a spot for Rhapsody. In it he recreates, in realtime, the cover art of all his albums. Not only is it an awesome concept, but it’s flawlessly executed. From the first shot of the Reasonable Doubt recreation, I was sold.
Creative Bits has a great interview with Rob Janoff, the designer of the Apple logo. In it he discusses how he designed the logo, and his reasoning behind the design. Interestingly, he says the only direction he got from Steve Jobs was “Don’t make it cute.”
I don’t know who this Sufjan guy is, but this artwork blows my mind. Forget that it’s nearly impossible to decipher anything in the typography. It’s got a picture of Brooklyn — That’s all you need to know.
Just kidding. Sufjan was in that broadway show, Chicago, right?
One day I’ll get to writing about graphic design again. In the meantime, enjoy all the other beautiful things this world has to offer.
Take the Vespa 400, for instance. A project I’m working on, which involves Vespas, led me to Smaller Is In!,a blog entry featuring a photo of this diminutive wonder. Needless to say, it was love at first site.
While I’m a more of a cyclist than a driver, growing up in Jersey gave me an appreciation for cars. Like practically all Jersey kids, I once owned a Honda Civic. Luckily, I wasn’t wealthy enough to trick it out. The only “modification” my car had was a broken speedometer whose needle would bounce erratically once the car went over 50 miles per hour. Also, I didn’t get my car until I left for college in NYC, so it ended up sitting around in the driveway until I sold it after my second year of college.
Nevertheless, I do someday hope to purchase a car. Perhaps when the rising sea levels finally flood my neighborhood, along with the rest of New York City, and I’m forced to find lodging in Detroit, Texas. Instead of purchasing myself a refurbished Mini Cooper, as I had originally planned, I’ll opt for something classier, that’ll get me instant street cred with the handful of microcar enthusiasts in the Greater-Detroit-Texas area. The ex-girlfriend who once threatened to break up with me if I ever purchased a Mini Cooper would be pleased to know that I have found an even kitschier, retro-styled car to adorn what would have been our hypothetical four walls and adobe slabs.
The Nissan Figaro is to the Mini Cooper what Sailor Moon is to Josie and The Pussy Cats.
If for some reason I can’t get my hands on a Fiat 400, I’d gladly settle for the Nissan Figaro. I encountered this vehicular equivalent of delicious lentil soup while hunting down photos of the Fiat 400. Sadly, the car wont be street legal in the US til the year 2016 when it gets classic car status. Till then, I’ll compulsively return to this Car Lust blog entry, when my knees hurt from riding around town on my relatively uncool commuter bike.
Walking through this show, I kept asking myself, ‘At what point in the process did this become art?’ I wondered what it might have been like to put it together. I thought back to the scene in Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know in which an artist is putting together an installation and the curator spots her coffee mug on the floor and asks ‘Isn’t this my coffee mug?’ The artist replies, ‘No, I made that.’
Black Acid Co-Op is on view til August 15th at Deitch, 18 Wooster Street, NY
My favorite of the bunch, b/c the tagline is pretty brilliant. Gold star for wit.
When I think of the design shops who inspire me most, there are five that come to mind instantly. Hort is definitely among the top three. Looking at their work is akin to rolling around in a pile of freshly laundered tube socks. Don’t worry about why this would be a good thing, just try it sometime and you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
Hort updated their site today with some new work for Nike. It seems they’ve got this whole Nike poster thing down. Although some of the taglines are a little forced (don’t know who is responsible for that), the executions are fantastic.
Posted by tishon 
Posted by tishon 
Posted by tishon 
