Current Inspiration 10.20.11

These are just a handful of things that have been inspiring me in my work lately.

1. Moonshine. This is a short film (about a to-be-released book) on the artists at dreamworks studios and their personal artworks. It's beautiful and inspiring to see that even once they come home from a long day of artwork in the office, they relax with working on their personal pieces.

Moonshine : Artists after dark from alexis wanneroy on Vimeo.

2. All about the printing press. I love this guys dedication to his work. And it's true, after printing on almost toilet paper, there is something amazing about printmaking. It might be time to carve another print...

Trip Print Press & The Making Of FreshSox from Brought To You By ... on Vimeo.

3. On that note... here is some prints that I adore from one of my best friends favorite blogs, grain edit.

4. Kathleen Hanna is probably one of the sickest punk rock feminists out there. They've already raised what they needed in order to make this documentary, but check out the preview anyway. Seriously, any movie endorsed by joan jett has got to be awesome!

The Cloud Maker

[me. not the cloud maker]

A while ago, I ran across a post on swiss miss about a designer named Duncan Shotton who made this amazing way to keep track of your keys. I thought to myself... oh, clearly this is some famous dude who somehow has extra time and resources on his hands and thought he'd knock out a few thou of these and swiss miss probably picked it up by chance while reading his personal design blog, because this designer has time to write his own blog while running his comany too! AND I bet he never writes run-on sentences.

I was wrong. Again, while reading swiss miss I ran across another post regarding this same designer. This time it was a video of a talk he did explaining how he came about the idea of the cloud key holder and the steps he took to make advertise and sell his idea. 

What I find fascinating is how what we see perceives how we think about a certain designer. I love that he tells us how the night before he left to sell his work he had them all laying out on his bed and how he took a picture of them at 6am because he was up working on them all night. How he sent it to swiss miss because he wanted some publicity - yet he didn't just send an image he gifted her with the actual object. 

This is how you can tell the difference between true passion and the generic designer. It makes me question myself. Do I have what it takes? Do I want it enough? I think if you take the amount of want that I have and add in the drive to do what it takes... things are looking pretty good. I just hope I have the skill and mastery required to stay as motivated as he was.

You can watch the video here! 

Seriously, it's worth your time!

Occupy Boston

The 99%

I’m sure most of you have seen the news. Students, homeless, the unemployed and even workers are gathering in major cities to protest their dissatisfaction with the way our government is being run. 

Yet, while we are all seeing the events of these protests on the news (in my case, Occupy Boston’s rallies) many of us still fail to see the points they are trying to make, and what they are specifically asking for. 

Because I am one of the 99% and feel the looming anxiety over school debt that I need a better job to pay off - I did some research on what Occupy Boston is all about and will share the information I have found with you.

Please note that I am not listing my personal opinions, just the facts that I have found. 

Meaning behind the phrase 99%

It’s not difficult to figure out that those involved in the “99 Percent Movement” are trying to explain the gap between the 1% and the rest of the population. Suzy Khimm, writing for the The Washington Post on 10/6/2011 explains the numerical breakdown. 

“The average income of the top 1 percent of US households in 2011 is $1,530,773, while the average income of the bottom 20 percent is $9,187, and the median income is $65,357, according to Jim Nunns, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.... That means the wealthiest 1 percent held an average of 225 times the wealth of the average median household in 2009 — a ratio that was 125 in 1962.”

At it’s most basic level, occupy wall street, occupy boston and other cities protestors are gathering to spread awareness about these numbers and ask for change. 

Taken straight from the Occupy Boston website, they explain the above numbers as follows;

“Most people who support Occupy Boston call for reforming Wall Street and removing special interest from government, but there no one single issue or demand that summarizes our movement. People are dissatisfied with how our country is being run and want fundamental, lasting change of many kinds.”

So, what it all boils down to is the 99% want the 1% and government to know that they are not happy with the way things are being run, and ask that we start to change these issues. 

The Occupy Boston movement, other than the 100 arrests made last night, has been rather peaceful. With protestors cleaning up after themselves, and donating excess food and materials to homeless shelters. 

Thomas M. Menino today was quoted in the Boston Globe saying ““I agree with them on the issues. Foreclosure. Corporate greed. These are issues I’ve been working on my entire career.” And has been known to listen to their complaints. He also has said he has no intentions to force them to disband at present, but he will not tolerate them holding up the city.

For more detailed information, the following are links to the articles and sites I’ve read. 

Calendar of events for Occupy Boston

Boston Globe Articles

Photos of Protestors 

Occupy Boston Tumblr

Washington Post Articles

MSNBC Articles

Comment with your opinions! I’m curious to hear what you all think about this issue that effects the majority of the people that read this blog!

Weekend

I hope your weekend is proving to be more productive than ours.

Chilly Weathers & Sweaters

Okay, disregard the temperatures for tomorrow through wednesday. It's been chilly lately - and I'm not complaining!
Why am I not complaining? Because I get this little puppy wanting to snuggle with me no matter what I'm doing. Now, how can you hate the cold when this is the result?!

Weird Fact Wednesday

Don't get used to this, it's not turning into a weekly thing!

Never the less, I found this list at the bottom of groupon (why groupon had this list, I have still to determine) 

"As society becomes more thoughtful and responsible, tattoos have become more popular than ever. This is thanks to a growing segment of the population that can reason a lifetime commitment to a visual interpretation of a philosophy or concept emblazoned on the ultimate canvas - the one stretched across their skeleton. What were the most popular tattoos of last year?

1. Mothers maiden name

2. Wolf howling at a yin-and-yang symbol (seriously?)

3. Thorny rose vines weaving around neck to form jaunty bow tie

4. Access code to bathroom at temp job

5. Toaster with piece of toast popping out, the word freedom burnt across the face of the toast

6. Skeleton wearing a top hat

7. Marilyn Monroe's character from The Seven Year Itch and Audrey Hepburn's character from Breakfast at Tiffany's with their heads reversed

8. Excerpt from poem about motorcycles

9. An anchor, to symbolize one's dream of becoming a news anchor"

Now, while I'm disgusted by the majority of these tatts, I have found a selection on pinterest that I adore. Do I like any of them enough to get one? Who knows.

One-Of-Those-Days

I know you know what I'm talking about. Those days when no amount of funny commercials will cheer you up, and you don't know why your not happy in the first place. It's not sadness, it's just nothing. A complete lack of emotion and all you can do is go on with your day hoping something will come along that will cause you to have a reaction.

That was my yesterday... and day before.

(^also - excuse for no blog posts) 

And after watching a Louie Giglio sermon, listening to much weezer and forcing myself to design till my eyes and shoulders hurt from staring at the screen 5 inches in front of my face - I finally decided to give up and go to bed. 

Who knew sleep would be a cure! (I know you probably knew, whatever) Anyway I'm back and am full of blog posts. So watch out!