Colorado Art Wire

St Andrew @ Larimer Lounge 3/18/11

2011-03-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles based DJ and producer Andrew Swanson, who plays under the moniker "St Andrew" is one of the brightest young talents in the U.S. electronic music community. Supporting himself with a job at a record store for the past few months, Andrew has not been touring much under his personal title. He has been ghost writing for some of the biggest names in the game for a couple years now as well as building his own impressive collection of upbeat party clap, electro and dubstep. He has recently left his 'day job' because people were asking him for 'too many favors' and has coincendently started writing awesome music for newer and snazzier clients.

A promoter from SF brought him out for a show at Denver's Larimer Lounge under head liner Gladkill. Although the Larimer Lounge is a tiny spot, they certainly rig up alot of lights. St Andrew tore up one of the bar's finest fold outs for an hour.

Arapahoe Basin October 2010

2010-10-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Colorado Rockies were blessed with about 2 and a half feet of snow, early in the week before Halloween of 2010. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland Ski Areas opened up to the public with pretty stellar conditions. We went up to A-Basin today and enjoyed soft, packed powder snow and the mountain's new express quad!

Conditions did get a little more firm and slick later in the day as the snow surface was scraped and swiped by the throngs of shralpers that navigated the one open run. The terrain park so far consists of a short flat box and tall short down rail with landings that became quite ravaged by noon.

The lift line dies down considerably by 2:00 so if you are looking to ride, stick it out all day to get the most turns in; that is unless you go this weekend, which will obviously be spooky crowded all day.

LCD Soundsystem @ The Fillmore 10/20/10

2010-10-25T09:08:00.001-07:00

LCD Soundsystem came through Denver with the british act Hot Chip last Wednesday and performed at the largest sized, traditional music theatre in Denver, The Fillmore Auditorium. The show was listed to start at 8:00PM with doors opening at 7:00. A 8:15 arrival yielded the LARGEST line we have personally seen at a theatre ever. Five heads wide and going almost half way around a major city block, the line was evidence that showgoers were very excited to see opener Hot Chip, who, rarely perform in the United States. However, Hot Chip started promptly at 8:00PM and played their set while at least a thousand people missed it in line.

This disappointment for theatre goers left most puzzled as traditionally there is at least one local act warming up the crowd for the first hour or two of showtime. After Hot Chip there was 40 minutes of intermission while the stage was re-set. LCD Soundsystem then played a great set, which ended at about 11:15PM. Since the event we have seen on LCD's Twitter that this early start time for Hot Chip has been happening many places so if you have tickets for one of their duo shows, SHOW UP ON TIME!

RedLine Gallery Denver

2010-10-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

There is an especially shiny gem in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. It's called RedLine Gallery and it is one of the more impressive open art rooms in the city. The floorplan is spacious, with rolling monolith like exhibiting walls peppering the perimeter of the space.

As a registered Section 501(c) charity, RedLine is a community place with many of it's showing artists keeping studios in the gallery. Laura Merage, the founder is in the business of helping emerging & mid-career artists develop their portfolios and build their careers.

The gallery is at 2350 Arapahoe Street in the city of Denver and is open to the public 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday and 11 to 5 Saturday & Sunday. Swing on by!

Eyes On Jack Boyd Photography

2010-09-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

This week our good friend Jack Boyd graduated from the Art Institute of Denver. With a focus in action sports photography, Jack will be entering this coming work week as a full fledged adult, currently doing work with Spyder in Boulder, CO. He has received some extra hype on the blogosphere recently with recognition from the Denver Egotist who called him a "grad to grab." Check out his website for some beautiful Colorado imagery.

"Right Back Where We Started"

2010-09-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

This past season the Jiberish Clothing Company produced their first ever team movie featuring skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding. "Right Back Where We Started" The film runs 40 minutes and features an especially memorable 6 minute skateboarding section that is impressive for a company that had no athletes outside of snow sports just a year ago. It is a complimentary film that has been hosted on one of the most promising and popular creative commons viral video sites, Vimeo, for less than one month and has garnered 59,000 views. The movie is also slated to be released on the Level 1 Productions 2010 DVD of their movie 'Eye Trip'. Level 1 is arguably the best modern ski movie company around at this point, and has been a partner with Jiberish for years. The two brands collaborate on cut and sew clothing and athlete relationships.

4/20 Boulder, Colorado Panorama

2010-04-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

For another year, one of the most staggeringly massive unofficial events passed at 4:20PM on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. It was overcast almost all day, until about 3:30, when the clouds broke to lighten up the green and lush, spring, Rocky Mountains; proving once again, that the sun gods smile fondly upon marijuana.

The demonstration ended without serious incident, as police and smokers coexisted peacefully in the Norlin Quadrangle for about an hour. Following this session, there was the customary mass exodus from the commons areas to respective eating and drinking establishments.

I took my Mamiya C330 Medium Format and shot a triple paned panorama on Provia 100F Color Slide Film. Click here for FULL PANORAMA

>> Click HERE for Panorama <<

Mayor Hickenlooper Jiberish Visit Video

2010-02-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

Jiberish Clothing has spent months supporting local designer and construction man, Drew Witmer, while he renovated a dull, sand tone wine shop in the Lower Highlands Neighborhood of Denver into a vibrant and stylish garment showcase suite. Part of this was made possible by a creative loan from the Denver Office of Economic Development, which helped out Jiberish with lending during a time when traditional lending institutions were not doing so.

As a result Mayor JohN Hickenlooper made a stop by to cut the ribbon at the grand opening. I was told that news cameras and reporters would be present for this but when I showed up, I found otherwise. I ended up being the only person with a video camera there that day which was quite exciting. I took Hickenlooper aside for a few of my own questions, and finally got to put my University of Colorado Journalism degree into action.

2010!

2010-01-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

The first decade of the new millennium is in the bag. Drag yourself out of the post holiday season party slouch and start making it happen. May you excel at your passions and thrive with the company of friends and family.

ChwYrVtmns

2009-10-24T00:56:00.000-07:00

My good friend and colleague Matt Yerman has started dabbling in the DJ world like so many young computer savvy individuals who have embraced the exploding new technologies that empower them to wildly manipulate digital music. He has launched a music blog called ChwYrVtmns, a hilarious quip on the brain bending chemicals munched on by so many party goers striving to maximize their techno genre enjoyment. While him and his fellow CYV blog authors are profiling works of any and all artists in the electronic genres, Yerman is sure to start offering some fantastic, exclusive, original music on the blog. From a few teasers I have heard of his work, hot offerings are in the near future. He is also a stunning graphic designer, now operating under the trade name MadeService, meaning all posts are accompanied by graphically stimulating images.

MYFDB

2009-10-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles based My Fashion Database company has been quietly building an impressively massive, motion adorned and graphically razor sharp, online fashion directory. Following in the footsteps of an internet giant, IMDB.com, which pioneered the concept for the film industry, MYFDB sets itself apart with a honed and beautiful website that is going to put it's older, movie industry comparable to shame. It is also filling a vacant online networking site niche, and those are hard to find these days. The site is finally ready for full fledged traffic, and has been getting tons of media chatter at places like the Wall Street Journal.

I was commissioned to do a screen captured 'sizzle reel' of some of the features of the site. It finally is on the front page, and MYFDB is go for lift off.

Colorado Art Wire Logo

2009-10-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

We put together a little logo for the blahg. Some people love the Colorado flag, others hate it. We think it definitely needs an overhaul. It looks like something designed by a stoney Nederland Native in the 70s. Perhaps a statewide flag contest? Colorado is artsy enough, there could be some real treasures out there.

Jiberish 09/10 Lookbook

2009-10-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

Denver based Jiberish Clothing has posted a 22 page lookbook peek at their upcoming 09/10 Fall Line. The drop will be a large one, featuring over 50 items, from crewneck pull over hoodies to jeans and plaid button ups. There are a few samples floating about the Denver/Boulder area and from checking out the improvements in cut and sew design and production, huge strides have been made since last year. Big ups to the epic Denver dudes at Sans Clothing for continuing to empower a small emerging company like Jiberish to make these production advancements. The items should start showing up at retailers in early November. You can find the full collection for purchase online at ABSTRACTmall. first.

Work Timer by gersh.no

2009-10-16T01:51:00.000-07:00

If you find yourself struggling to monitor your internet dabbling in today's hyper saturated interactive webbing while needing to be on the computer all day, productively self motivated enough to actually work 8 hours, we feel your pain. Perhaps the free Work Timer app by gersh.no is worth a try for you. It takes some dilligence to actually start and stop it every time, but there is a great little editable spreadsheet attached below that can be tweaked for ball park dabbling reductions. Find it HERE on Version Tracker. Only by scrolling all the way down past legal mumbo jumbo could I see who was responsible for graciously distributing this Freeware trinket. It's Gerhard Sletten from Norway at http://gersh.no Thanks GERSH!

Wikipedia Presidential Debate Jokesters

2008-10-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

While casually enjoying the third presidential debate between Barrack Obama and John McCain in the company of my roomates, the term 'litmus test' came up at least 3 or 4 times. Enough times for me to realize, I really had no idea what that jargon means in political discussion. So where to but the first hit on google for concise and complete informational tidbits but, Wikipedia. But when I got there, the first sentence read a little different than it should have, and I took a screenshot.
Everyone be cruising the net on their laps during TV time these days, especially the web 2.0 practical jokesters. Well played guys, well played.

Adobe Type Contest Romania

2008-06-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

I came across this adobe typography contest entry on Behance. Spectacular. The humble broken passage from artist Stefan Lucut makes me even more pumped on it. "Adobe is one of my favorite typography project. I've made it for the Adobe contest / Romania where we need to redesign the "A" from the Adobe identity. Of course I didn't won but for me remains one of my favorite projects because of the hard work I put into this type.

*I was trying 6-7 months ago to convert it into a font, but is a pain in the ass. Sorry guys."

I haven't seen the winning type, but if I were judging this would be a winning contender without a doubt. Check the full series.

07/08 Reel

2008-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

Scope the hot video clips below.

High Dynamic Range

2008-04-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

This amazingly unique and vibrant photography technique was unknown to me until I was turned onto it by a friend just a year ago. Basically, the process works by compiling anywhere between 2 and upwards of 15 tripod identical shots set at all different exposure levels ranging from very under exposed all the way up to highly washed out.
[An example of an exposure series for input into an HDR algorithm. Wikipedia/CC]

The pictures are compiled using programs like Adobe CS3 or Photomatix where a new image is created which highlights the correct exposure on a huge array of differently exposed areas. The brightest bluest sky exposure is apparent alongside the richest color textures of the darkest shadows of a tree. The result is breathtaking, almost taking on the appearance of an illustration or painting.
An HDR shot in Del Mar California by my BOY, Dillon Morris.]

Often times HDRs have very useful applications other than just making a picture look epic. Photographers use HDR to capture the inside of churches to show the detail of the very bright stain glass with the much darker inside architecture in one image. HDR images are also used to render ultra enriched 3D gaming environments found in many of todays first person shooter games.
[Church detail illuminated by HDR. Photo digitalcameratracker.com

The Changing Nature of Online Music

2008-04-18T12:48:00.003-07:00

The online music landscape is changing quickly and thoroughly. Music blogs are a great source for finding music from like minded individuals that meshes with your style. However, tracking down blogs is sometimes difficult as the best content can be unprofiled, tucked deep in the sprawling blogosphere. But sites like HypeMachine have offered a solution by coalescing syndicated embedded music on a series of blogs and putting it into an easily searchable interface. Most of sites like HypeMachine stick to one genre offering users a hub for delivering a style of music they can count on. HypeMachine in particular has a diverse series of electro and hiphop remixes that will get stuff popping. iTunes and Amazon integration helps the artists by encouraging the legal monetization of online music.

Pandora is another unique music interface that disc jockeys for online visitors based on a formula called the 'Music Genome Project'. Based on a number of criteria including melody, harmony, arrangement and lyrics, stations are created by typing in an artist after which the system shuffles through a series of songs from different artists most corresponding with the style and sound of your initial launching point. Paging through the songs too quickly will give you an error as Pandora has secured the rights for only a limited amount of listens designated per hour for each user. In the battle between the effort to use free file sharing and record companies selling music for outrageous prices, interesting compromises have come. Pandora is one of those innovative and groundbreaking compromises. People listen for free, and find music they like, which they then can purchase, with just a few clicks.

Dissapointment in the 4th Branch

2008-04-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

It seems that every presidential election that comes by I have a whole new perspective on life, our nation and the political process. Four years is just a number until there are recurring events to put that amount of time in perspective. I feel as if the way I view the world at this presidential election as opposed to the last is incomparable. A combination of journalism major with a poli sci minor has sharpened by awareness to a point where I view political coverage today with a hyper sensativity and suspicious awareness about what the media and candidates are telling me. With that ability I have felt that this latest contest for our next Chief Executive has been especially shallow. I often feel as if my heightened, alomst paranoid awareness as to the flaws of our news system and new dysfunctional trends in politics has stemmed primarily from my education. Even more so, that anyone exposed to the progressive teachings of a liberally acclimated institution like the University of Colorado will be doomed to these low persepctives of our political and news infrastructures for the rest of our lives. However, after watching this Wednesday's democratic debate I in fact know that there is grounded reality for the direction our media is headed in.

My roomate started up the debate on YouTube in our living room this morning and listening to it from the other room I was quickly keen to the words reverberating through the house. For the first 10 minutes I can remember listening, the moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson asked some of the most irrelevant questions I have ever heard spoken at a political debate function. From Hillary's exxagerated accounts of the dangers faced in her Bosnian visit, to questioning why Obama doesn't wear a flag on his suit, it seemed that an immense amount of time was spent on issues having nothing to do with presidential policies or pertinent political issues. Stephanopoulos later called these questions 'electibility questions' which he believed very important to the political process. In reality 'electibility questions' are incidental, minor issues that have little to do with the overarching leadership qualities of the candidates and our petty attempts to highlight controversy and boost voetship. The cutting edge blogging super center the The HuffingtonPost has a great collection of stories on the issue as well as immense comment feedback from everyday Americans. Politics sucks.

They Rule

2008-04-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

I was showedTheyRule.net a few years back by a friend and was reminded of it recently when asked about it by a friend in San Francisco. This sleek Flash interface allows users to see the trends in America's ruling class by identifying common CEOs, board members and government officials across the top 500 corporations in the United States. Data was compiled by the site creators from directors websites and SEC filings in early 2004. This is a static database and only represents the 2004 trends but is still a very interesting experiment in corporate management trends. Browsing can start from opening a director nebulas of a particular company or a specific director's company ties. There is also an institutional section to begin browsing college alumni trends. Preloaded maps that either individuals have created or They Rule designers built, are the most interesting and offer amazing insight into the exclusivity and commonality of the America ruling class club.

Breckenridge Spring 2008

2008-04-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

Last Friday and Saturday I filmed at Breckenridge with a few skilled skiers. Tom Wallisch, Adam Delorme, Mike Hornbeck and the latest Superunknown winner Jon Brogan. Although Friday was snowy Saturday and Sunday were epic. All of these kids will be skiing at a closed Keystone shoot with Level 1 this week. I shot with Kyle Decker from Level 1 and he will be doing the final edit, but below you can see a rough cut of my shots. Enjoi...

AppleTV

2008-04-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that the Internet has had a profound impact on many media industries. Newspapers are being ravaged by blogs and online news, the music industry has been transformed by MP3 players and file sharing websites and e-commerce solutions continue e to redefine how the world shops for goods. However, one media area that has not seen a substantial change with Internet technology is television and movies largely because systems and hardware that replace the living room viewing experience have not yet developed. That was until the last year and a half when some promising new services and technologies have surfaced that are poised to change who can give us video content and the way we watch it.

AppleTV is leading the way in developing a standardized Internet gateway for your living room. On demand technologies and Internet equipped television services have been around for over a decade. However, all of these systems coupled computer like functions with content from service providers who already dominated cable and satellite programming like DirecTV, Cox or Comcast in each area. The difference with AppleTV is that content is browsed, paid for and viewed in a completely unique interface running on the iTunes network. From my personal experimentation with my own AppleTV that I purchased in December, I think that the future of Internet TV systems will be defined by the ease of use of the hardware that links the content from the Internet to your living room and the content it offers.

Much of the current commentaries and research on what AppleTV will mean for television media was done before Apple’s latest firm wire update was released. The genius of AppleTV is that with a simple software update that can be initiated from your couch, Apple can upgrade all past AppleTVs with new media service programs. This latest update, has addressed AppleTV’s main, initial complaint, the inability for users to browse content directly on AppleTV. Previously all media had to be downloaded and managed from the computer base station, which was then automatically synced to the hard drive. Now, Apple has created a vivid browsing interface for movies, music, TV shows, Podcasts, Flickr albums and YouTube videos. The ‘My Movies’ option, for content that used to be managed on your computer, has been relegated to the last choice on the browsing lists as it is evident Apple wants you paying for and directly downloading all of your newest content. Movies can be rented for $3.99 where they sit on your hard drive for 30 days until you hit play, after which you have 24 hours to finish them. They are then deleted and returned to the iTunes store. TV Shows can be purchased for $1.99 an episode or by varying lump sums depending on season length. Music is the standard $.99 per song $9.99 per album and most pod casts are free.

With this newest update there is no doubt that Apple is now committed to expanding the potential of AppleTV to be an Internet media gateway for the masses. In comparison with Joost, a highly anticipated Internet television system which I was able to test yesterday, the programming on AppleTV is currently much deeper and its on my 32” high definition living room screen, while Joost is only on my computer. But the question is, will the average Joe, who will be buying most of his content from AppleTV, think that the advertising free, a la carte prices are fair and see it as an alternative to normal television; probably not for a while. AppleTVs movie rental and television shows can be compared to OnDemand, a system that people have been used to for quite some time now. What AppleTV must bolster is its free or very cheap programming that will supplement the premium pay per view options so users do not feel like they are constantly throwing two and three dollar bills down the drain. Apple has been able to do that to an extent with its Podcast selection and YouTube feature. All Podcasts are free and include everything from action sports video blogs to 30 minute Anderson Cooper reports to old re-runs of Comedy Central’s The Man Show.

This Podcast section is the most promising element of iTunes and AppleTV because anyone can make and upload a podcast. This is very exciting for the reinvigoration of the public sphere. Podcasts are a refreshing hope for young, independent and technically savvy journalists, writers and film makers looking distribute their works. While discussing his new book “The Assault on Reason” with Jon Stewart, Al Gore stated, “Internet is a beacon of hope for democracy due to low entry barriers and active contributive efforts.” The technologies that make it possible to share this new Internet media easily and efficiently in the company of family and friends in front of the big screen will be in demand in the future. It is evident that Jobs intends to use iTunes, iPod Video, iPhone and AppleTV to continue to redefine how we get our media. Jobs has began conversations with Jeff Zucker of NBC universal again after their content was pulled from iTunes last fall for fear that “Jobs would ruin the video business the same way he’d destroyed the music business.” Jobs commitment to resolve stalemates and secure premium content after the writer’s strike has ended is promising for iTunes and AppleTV’s future. I believe that the general discontent with mundane mainstream programming will convince users to experiment with internet gateways that offer a la carte and independent programming like AppleTV in the years to come.

Matt Yerman

2008-04-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

San Jose designer Matt Yerman is a young, dedicated artist who has been pushing himself and his work to new levels every month. With that has come a deep and prestigious client base along with editorial exposure and magazine collaborations.

We caught up with the 21 year old designer via email to ask him a few questions about life:

What's your name and where do you currently reside?

Matt Yerman / San Jose, CA

How many years have you been designing?

Personally, from following your work, I know you work with digital art tools like Photoshop and Illustrator alot. Lately, freehand sketch work has been finding its way into your finished products. What percentage of time would you say you spend freehand drawing vs.creating on the comp during your typical work sessions?

It all really depends on the project. I'd have to say that sketching is about 30% of my work. What really consumes time is the nitty-gritty vector work. Taking a sketch and turning it into a digital illustration can take up plenty of time.

You have gotten some great media coverage lately in magazines like Beautiful Decay and on a few blogs. What avenues do you believe has brought you to the attention of these editors? Has it been more from freelance client work or from personal pieces you have published on the internet?

Both freelance and personal pieces are responsible for my coverage. I got my work into B/D through a designer friend I met on myspace. Myspace is a great social networking tool and it helped me meet and interact with designers before the creation of the Behance network.

You currently attend San Jose state, what are you studying there?

Graphic design! I haven't quite decided on a minor yet though. Maybe photography?

How have you viewed your collegiate art education so far? Has it changed how you feel about working for school vs working for a client vs working on your personal projects?

I started off college pretty bummed about all the prerequisite classes I had to take. But now that I am actually in design classes, its done nothing but help. I've learned how important conceptualism should be in your work. If your concept isn't strong, or doesn't make sense, then what you've put on the computer screen or t-shirt is visual masturbation. Have a message and relay that message strongly, so that everyone can understand.

I know from personal experience that grinding away at the computer on design work too frequently, burns me out. What influences, inspirations or motivational sources do you turn to when you feel this
way?

Sometimes I check out design and type blogs to see other design out there. But usually I just reach into the mini fridge and grab an energy drink. Its gotten to the point where I really don't have time to feel burnt out. Too much stuff to do all the time!

You got any shout outs?

To all the Jiberish homies! You guys are awesome and have taken my design to a whole new level. Also to my awesome designer girlfriend who gives me tasty input all the time. And I guess I'll through one out to the family. My parents fork out tons of groceries to keep me well fed while I'm away from the house. Gotta eat right!

Newsmap

2008-04-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

I scoped this graphically spectacular news trend map application from two rows behind a kid in my Political Science class Monday. This thing pops so hard that pulling it up on your screen should get the attention of wandering eyes dozens of yards away.

This map is an data visualization offering from the Japanese graphic design and information design firm Maramushi. This application is an effort to codify the content of the Google News aggregator into a visual interface. Content areas are color coded with varying color temperatures to measure currency of the headlines. An aggregator is a mechanism that harvests RSS feeds from, respected news agencies, independent blogs and podcasts.

The Google News aggergator represents the collection of of a huge array of respected syndicated news feeds and thus offers a good cross section of reporting trends across the Internet. Varying box sizes containing common headlines indicate how many articles related to or on the topic have streamed into Google New's Aggregator.

JO Super Sessions

2008-04-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

A progressive format skiing competition is currently underway in Are, Sweden that has been revolutionary in highlighting videographers and photographers abilities. Eight invited athletes chose their favorite photographer and filmer while two athletes two photographers and two filmers submitted creative entries to earn their ticket to Sweden.
[Simon Dumont on the Cheese Wedge jump. Photo: Felix Rioux]

Over ten days, the ten skiers have been and will continue to jump during the best light while their associated teams of photographers and videographers scramble the mountainside to secure media. Then, each photographer will present a slideshow, and each videographer presents a two to three minute edit that will be judged on creativity, cinemetography, storyline and skiing action. The winning team will take home $20,000.
[University of Colorado's very own, Mike Clarke throwing a Cork 9 in the Rhythm Section. Photo: Felix Rioux]

This contest format is being tried frequently as of late, recognizing the power of video and photography in capturing the world's most impressive athletic action, breathtaking scenery and general positive vibe that comes with a venue and competition like this. The best skiing probably won't determine the winner, neither the best photography or videography, but instead the team's ability to work together to create the most stimulating and visually captivating media. No judging on the skiing alone while on the mountain is conducted so the importance of videographers and photographers roles are reinforced immensely. The continued development of home editing stations, digital SLR photography and the internet has allowed the emmergence of these competitions to flourish.
[Crazy European hang-glide follow cams. Sammy Carlson crazy american ski jumping. Photo Felix Rioux]

This competition comes in a year when Jon has also conducted an amazingly successful experiment in online action sports media. He created a video blog that was updated at many important weeks of the season and bi-weekly after that. Thousands of viewers tuned in to every video to stay informed about what was going on in skiing. The value of a high quality, well maintained frequently updated blog was instantly recognized by Jon's sponsors as they realized their products and one of their star athletes was being exposed to viewers everyday. There is no doubt that in the future, that these video blogs, will be prevalent across many areas of action sports along with their potential for periodical news updates, online fictional drama and just about anything else a television station broadcasts. The effort to monetize these free blogs lies in banner advertising around the blogs as well as product placement within the videos. The role of product placement in video content will grow in this framework of free blogs.

Monetizing Online Magazines

2008-03-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

The explosion of creative communities in the past ten years with refined versions of Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash have proliferated across the internet. There has been a lot of solid creative works from artists young and old exploring the powers of art technology available in their home. Online magazines, especially those in the action sports industry and fashion sectors have exhibted impressive photography and design from hundreds of new artists per day. The collective man hours put into some of these projects is immense forcing many editors, graphic designers and writers tons of work at little pay.
[Skimboarder online Magazine. Dave Levin's stab at an online collection of photography, writing and design for one of the most obscure and insanely sick sports ever.]

The attempt to monetize these creative ventures is often a challenge. With more websites and online publications selling advertising than ever, and sites where creative content is uploaded by users and distributed for free, leads to fewer advertising dollars available to these online magazines everday. Trying to maintain a digital magazine when, there is more and more demand for content because the internet has stretched talent across a huge spectrum, while there is a dispersion of advertising revnue and hence less money to find that content. Dave Levin, creator and editor of Skimboarder.com faces another problem, his sport is such a niche activity that he only gets 10,000 views per month. To help change the dynamics of his site Levin says, "I'm developing a community based website; testing out its functionality for skimboarder.com." This site could be compared to NewSchoolers.com a successful freestyle skiing community that has used usernames, forums, media uploading and editorial stories to create a teeming internet info village. With these types of sites, monetizing is more lucrative because users frequently return and you can track user logins and activity and then vend that activity to advertisers.
[HoneyEatYourSalad.org a completely free and advertising void design and photography mag.]

Other truly dedicated magazine teams on the Internet publish advertising free magazines that are a testament to the creative spirit. Most of these magazines are built with royalty free submissions from artists all over the world. Magazines like HoneyEatYourSalad.org epitomize how easy and simple the Internet has made publishing e-zines. The magazine flash engine is really cool.

[The work of Emilie Bjork from HEYS.org]

Net Nuetrality, Is It a Real Issue?

2008-03-14T03:23:00.000-07:00

Net Nuetrality is an issue that I have heard raised on 3 or 4 occasions since I remember becoming a computer user. It breaks down to simply, whether Internet Service Providers or, ISPs, can restrict the bandwith and loading speeds of certain websites in order to facilitate more "legitamate" internet ventures. If the illegal internet activity such as downloading peer to peer Mp3s or Torrent movie files is restricting the legal internet commerce of renting movies or shopping for books, then ISPs should be allowed to hamper the network resources in relation to these illicit activities.

[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's new energy efficient data centers]

This sounds like a sensible idea to some advocates, but there is a looming threat with any legislation that allows companies to control the availability of a supported website over my independent peer's. The idea of such a restricted network is a chilling thought for any internet user. The success of independent speech and start up company triumph is what has given me hope in this truly free medium since its development just 12 short years ago. I don't care whether activities are illegal or not, the status of the internet as completely unrestrained by the ISPs is crucial to the health of the public sphere, and any attempt to moderate that will be devastating. ISPs should merely provide me access, to the most amazingly diverse, massive and captivating information network our species has ever created.

[ISP Time Warner's HQ in New York City]

The Imaginary Foundation

2008-03-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

The Imaginary Foundation's roots are mysterious. Their About section is an obtuse discreption of their nature as a Swiss based think tank that bases their work on the Dadaist movement from the 1920s. A "small clandestine" team of designers and intellectuals are apparently headed by a wise and knowledgeable figure head simply called the "Director". I have read that this "Director" is the son of the creator of the Dadaist Movement. The Dadaist movement primarily involved visual arts, literature, theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti war politic through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Dada activities included public gatherings, demonstrations, and publication of art/literary journals. Passionate coverage of art, politics, and culture filled their publications. The movement influenced later styles, Avant-garde and Downtown music movements, and groups including Surrealism, Nouveau Réalisme, Pop Art and Fluxus.

The Imaginary Foundation conducts its business from San Francisco however, which leads me to believe their About section and manifesto may be simply a back story explaining the companies anonymity and visual ideologies, developed by a much less sensational group. This speculation is simply that, a unreferenced hypothesis to what I think the Imaginary Foundation might really be. Although they claim to maintain anonymity and concentrate on producing their visual messages, I feel that if the staff behind Imaginary Foundation was as elite and sophistcated as their description suggests, I would be able to find news and info beyond bloggers simply commenting on their shirts.

Regardless of Imaginary's staff or its roots, they certainly know how to develop phenomenally positive, inspiring and colorful fabric and art prints. Many of their pieces are parallel to the Dadaist ideals that they pledge commitment to, with both vibrant and distressed tributes to higher thought, art processes and creative realms. Much of their work also pulls from surreal and post modernist ideals.

Check out Imaginary Foundation on the web @ imaginaryfoundation.com

Wikipedia Chaperones

2008-03-07T00:01:00.003-08:00

From day one of college, I have heard extensive and continuos negativity and dismissal of Wikipedia as an information source. It has been tough to gauge to what extent teacher's and some opinionated friends, roommates and acquaintances discredit the website. It is not something to cite as an academic reference, THIS has been made clear. But with the frustration in finding general information with google searches in the past, Wikipedia is a breath of fresh air. It offers consistent, informative and concise write ups of any topic you can possibly think of. Articles are riddled with hyperlinks, offering an unrestrained network of information that can result in multi hour curiosity exploration sessions that expand both the creative and intellectual tendrils of your brain.

When I ask Wikipedia haters to explain why they are so disgruntled, they usually respond something like, "Any random sketch ball can go in there and add entries." My response to that usually is, "that sounds like unrestrained freedom of the public sphere to me." Exactly something that we need more of.

But in all reality I know that Wikipedia does not have true, unrestrained freedom of the public sphere, because if it did, Wikipedia would be unusable. It would be riddled with inaccuracies, cluttered with shameless advertising entries and ravaged by formatting incompetence and redundant inconsistencies that come from multiple authoring of single entries. Wikipedia is instead held in shape by a small oligarchy of top contributors that have created much of Wikipedia's entries and are responsible for making sure it stays clean and relevant. This is what gives Wikipedia its credibility, a vital ingredient in a successful information website in this day and age.

Some might consider this elite group of Wikipedia gurus an injustice to the Wikipedia public sphere appeal. However, these hundred or so individuals were not selected by a government agency or corporate exec board, they were simply granted this power for their frequent use and Wikipedia proficiency. In a media landscape dominated by corporate cop outs, infotainment brain drain and pandering to advertiser agendas, this uncommercial model for moderator delegation is monumental. Another valuable feature of Wikipedia is that if one of these top elites sees an entry that has problems, they will let the entry stand, and publish warnings with explanations at the top of the page. Often times this is either, lack of citation notices, "some experts say" generalizations, and bias warnings. The warnings encourage users to submit their corrections to the problems.

I can understand the position to leave Wikipedia out of scholarly bibliographies, but any other discontent is completely unjustified. For a democratic, user regulated information hub, that is free, easy, quick and advertiser free, Wikipedia is second to non. This masterpiece in the latest development of democratic internet communication power will be a corner stone for the future development of credible, reliable, legitimate information networks.

Many of the thoughts that I have just written, were stemmed from reading an article by Chris Wilson on these elite "chaperones" of the Web 2.0 world. Follow up by reading his indepth article.

Jiberish 08 Media K!t

2008-03-06T23:51:00.001-08:00

I just finished the Jiberish Media Kit that will be sent out to retail locations all across the globe accompanied by their 08/09 line sheet which is very sick as well. Matt Yerman, and Chris Fry of Denver's Design Syndicate the400 straight killed it on the line this year. I squeaked one in there super sketchy but it worked out in the end.

The Jiberish Staff has really been stepping things up with new over seas production connections, courting approval for a formidable business credit line and a continued "Anything Possible" excited attitude about growing their company in the fierce and challenging textile and garment industry.

Appolgizes to YourHub.com

2008-02-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

YourHub's system, although it initially wouldn't code links, has now nicely coded my two links in my post. I retract my initial rant about it posting sloppy html but stand by my complaints about finding my region and trying to post images. I'm still not going back...

Armory Location

2008-02-29T09:09:00.001-08:00

This is where I go to school. But stay away! Anyone who shows up to find me after seeing my location on a blog is a creeeeper.

Dissapointing Experience at YourHub.com

2008-02-29T08:50:00.000-08:00

My first experience with YourHub.com was very disappointing. I reformulated a post from this blog about the Obey Obama poster as it seemed the most newsworthy and probably the most interesting to the YourHub community. After beefing up the post in Microsoft Word to meet the 500 word requirement I ventured over to YourHub to register. The first problem came on the homepage when I was trying to get to the Boulder section of YourHub. I selected Colorado from the drop down and as soon I attempted to click away and go to the region selection drop down, I was greeted with a browser generated 'Syntax Error' message. This prohibited me from getting to the Boulder section of YourHub. Only after some tricky back door address shenanigans from our teacher, was the class able to get to the Boulder section. If I hadn't needed to make a post for class I would have left after this initial error and never come back.

Registering was pretty straight forward. Although discomforting for some, I think that the requirement to put in my entire address made sense as YourHub can be a site where controversial content must be traced and controlled. The next problem came when attempting to put image links into my news story. First, I simply copied the blogger image html and on preview noticed that it was not translating to an image. I went back and simplified using the standard 'img src' code. When this did not translate to an image in preview I became very frustrated. I used their recommended 'classic' image uploader that allowed me to write captions and give credit. This system worked alright but the inability to dictate where my images fall in relation to text seemed to be a huge restraint as I believe a key journalistic function of any website should be to carry readers on a textual and image based pathway of your choosing down the page.

The most disappointing problem with YourHub was its inability to translate basic 'a href' links. I wanted to point people to both the NY Times article and the Obey website but was instead greeted with HTML code translated visibly to my post. Whatever YourHub's reasoning is that they don't accommodate basic HTML links, it is unacceptable. The essence of the internet is the ability to link people away from your site to further info. Google sees links to and from sites as a pivotal criteria for a respectable website and hundreds of thousands of publishing systems including Blogger, Wikipedia and nearly all forums respect the ability to dictate linking. Even if YourHub doesn't want you directing people elsewhere they should at least have a system that sees alligator brackets and cancels them from the final posting. This was immensely frustrating, so frustrating that I left the link codes in my post and will never go back unless forced to.

Loveworn

2008-02-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

New York artist and designer Mario Hugo has one of the most impressive and inspiring portfolios in the business. He mixes impressive typography work with a myriad of geometrical, animal and natural forms to create intricate yet balanced schemes.

My favorite of Mario's applications are his distressed dark colors placed on water stain canvases. Much of his work on these backdrops are reminiscent of the works of influential surrealist artist Rene Magritte. They both are technicians of realistic representations of human forms often experimenting with hyperbolic exaggerations of one or two anatomical elements or playing with attaching unrelated objects that bring new life and character to the subjects.

Hugo's for hire freelance skills have been courted by some of the world's most prestigious companies. His clients include Dolce&Gabanna, MTV, Uniqlo and Gas as Interface.

Visit Mario Hugo's website to view more of his works.

Obey Obama Poster

2008-02-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

Influential urban artist, Shepard Fairey, creator of Obey has created a political poster for Barack Obama. Shepard has always been one to take opinionated and public stands on many political issues through his heavily travelled website, public speaking arrangements and to the greatest extent, his artwork. He juxtaposes commentaries on modern social issues with a style that heavily resembles communist propaganda from the middle of last century. This poster though, has probably received as much, or more publicity and attention than any of his other social stances. The 360 posters sold out in less than hour and since, the Obey team and Shepard have had to take legal action for people attempting to resell his prints on EBAY, even after they read a disclaimer explicitly stating that personal profiteering off the poster is prohibited.

The New York Times has profiled the poster and no doubt continued to add significance to what Shepard's poster project means. Some believe that his poster will increase Barack's appeal to young people, the demographic most influenced by Shepard's work. One woman on the NY times comment board expressed her dislike for the poster because it was, "Too reminiscent of the old Communist posters." She continues, "All that’s missing is a hammer and sickle or “Workers of the World, Unite!”
Obama deserves something fresher than this."

It is the cultivated hate for communist ideas and Shepards's style parallel to communist propaganda that makes his work so powerful. His style is one of clean vector representations of social movements, poltiical figures and global commentaries. He is best known for his wheatpaste applications in public places technically considered vandalism but with Shepard's rise in prestige has now been identified as a respectable art form. Shepard will continue to pour his heart and soul into his work, stirring controversy over a myriad of modern issues that face our nation and our globe.

Jason Thielke

2008-02-14T16:17:00.001-08:00

Contemporary art guru and genuine front range bad ass, Jason Thielke, is one of the premiere up and coming modern artists. Like Shepard Fairy, Mark Paul Deren and Banksy, Thielke is on the war trail to produce personal work that stands the test of time and subjectivity to pull thousands upon thousands of dollars to hang on the walls of art enthusiasts.

Being able to make a living doing art is truly the essence of living the dream. Just about any developing artist would give the world to quit their day job and follow the passion of art, and many do. When that day job can be design and expression for the sake of design and expression, void of corporate input is even another level of freedom. As a graphic designer myself I can say that even if I am dressing up a garment, print advertisement or DVD cover for pay, I am proud to feel that everything but the benefactors logo or type is my creation. But Thielke has managed to take his skill to the next level and let his name and his creations stand for themselves.

Jason Thielke observes, documents, and designs urban landscapes and their inhabitants, providing commentary on modern life. Thielke has always been inspired by his surroundings, at times overwhelmed by them. Jason’s strong emotional connection to the built environment and its’ inevitable rise and fall provide the foundation for his growing body of work.

Thielke’s work is linear, layered, dynamic and multi-media in nature. It encompasses both contemporary and traditional techniques much like the architectural design of today. His process of drawing, composing, and eventually transferring images to wood is parallel to the planning, deconstruction and reconstruction phases of urban gentrification.

He works with gel transfers and much of his pieces begin in Illustrator and Photoshop. The gel transfer process is crude and finnicky that is mastered by hours of practice. The imperfections with the gel transfer process when it is applied on the large scale with the detailed intricacy of Thielke's work adds a unique grunge element to some of his final pieces.

More of Thielke's work can be found at his website and a limited series of garments can be found at ABSTRACTmall.com

Behance

2008-02-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

A new website called Behance.net is quickly establishing itself as a community for creative professionals. In the sprawling internet landscape social networking sites are everywhere. With MySpace being dragged down by smut cam profiles bombarding the healthy enjoyment of its online neighborhood and Facebook applications cluttering the functional simplicty of its common space sleek networking sites are a breath of fresh air whenever they pop up. Behance is precisely that. Its low impact interface and powerful formatting engine gives users the power to create beautiful and professional portfolios

Behance is currently on an invite only system for contributors which keeps the site free of mediocre content. Visitors are welcome to browse all areas of the site and use the trademark appreciation rating. The genius of Behance is that the invite only system coupled with the legitmacy of behance.com a showcase for activity on the behance.net network has created an exclusive community that the best designers and photographers want to be a part of.

Advertising projects, web page design and product development for the best companies and firms in the world grace Behance.

On The Verge Video Blog

2008-02-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

Chapman Film student Sassy Mohen, is taking on an ambitious new video series project based on aspiring females in the entertainment industry. The documentary series will be titled "On The Verge" and will be an experiment in internet video distribution. The "On The Verge" team has joined with aMCinema a subsidiary of Colorado based Art website ABSTRACTmall. ABSTRACTmall will use flash based video blogs to display the multi episode "On The Verge" series.

The series will be a new chapter in ABSTRACTmall's experimentation with internet technologies enhancing the shopping experience of the website as a whole. As a clothing distributor first, ABSTRACTmall is excited to pounce on any opportunity that broadens unique content available on their system. In the fall of 2007, ABSTRACTmall distributed a skiing project, theSPOTL!GHTproject for $.99 a download through their download gateway. "On The Verge" will be free for all visitors but, "this exciting new opportunity to experiment with a periodical video cast series leaves opportunities for us to monetize projects like this so better and better content can become available through this unique service" says Court Rye of ABSTRACTmall. Shooting begins at the end of February and the first episode should be available about a month after that.