InformationJunkyard

So, here begins my on-going list of what we will call “Charleston-isms” as this new home grows on me:

1. Cars: My god, I’ve never seen so many accidents in my life. It’s like people say hello by hitting each other with their cars, and they are friendly here.
2. Dogs: everyone has them, I’d like one too.
3. Rain: it happens. In fact, it’s a pretty much guaranteed that there will be a hair-raising thunderstorm roll through at some point in the afternoon.
4. Boats: also, everyone has at least one if not two in their front yard, I’d like one or two as well.
5. Surf: there is none, but what little they have is fun.
6. Water: It’s everywhere and it’s beautiful
7. Bridges: a result of #6, and also everywhere
8. Bugs: comes along with #6
9. Sunshine: wonderful when not #3
10. Humidity: combine #3, #6 and #9 and there you have it.
11. Small, Friendly City: It’s really cool how friendly people are here. I’ve been here only a month now, and I shit you not, you WILL bump into people you know. Pretty cool.

Charleston, living, randomness boats, dogs, rain, stupid lists, surf

Week three in Charleston? or is it week 4?

Got co-opted into my younger brothers kickball team - AWESOME! Nothing like drinking a few beers and pulling out a quad kicking a stupid red rubber ball! We found out last minute we made the “play-offs” (pretty sure everyone makes the playoffs) so team super-bad took the field for one more attempt at glory. good times.

Also had my first going out in the Chuck-Towne downtown; Not too shabby for a random Tuesday night. This could probably grow on me….

as a footnote, the new job is an ass-kicker, which is good! and I’m still talking to myself as according to wordpress the site has 0 traffic, which is actually more coforting than one would think….

Charleston, living, photos, randomness, travel Beer, kickball

Getting settled into that second week of living in Charleston; the odd ins and outs of the new commute; a new place to live; and a new work environment. The first week started with epic rain storms - nothing like arriving at day one of a new job in thunderstorms. Everything becomes quickly familiar by that second week… then something beautiful happens, and the sun catches the clouds just right as you drive home across the bridge back into downtown, and you notice that you’re beginning to fall in love with your new surroundings. Having gone from a 4 mile commute along the beach in California, to find these moments puts the smile back on my face.

Charleston, living, randomness Charleston, living

So as the date approaches for me to hit that airplane and leave California in the dust, all sorts of shit is coming to mind that I’m going to miss that I probably didn’t think too much about when I went gun-ho after a job in South Carolina. And on the eve of my last full weekend in the south-bay, so we start the sad list of things I’m going to miss:

1. Living on the beach in some sweet digs
2. Surfing every morning
3. Sunday Morning breakfasts w/ Heidi
4. Avoiding yoga
5. the 4 mile commute to work along the coast
6. the ability to bike to work (not that I do because I’m too lazy and would rather enjoy #2)
7. surfing on my lunch breaks
8. surfing after work
9. Saturday morning: shotgun a beer, surfing for 2 hours and on to OB’s for breakbast + bloody marys
10. Followed by the beach and pub crawling the south bay on bikes
11. the Poop Deck on a sunny Saturday afternoon
12. Sunday Fun-day
13. Grant’s boat on clear Sunday mornings
14. My Trader Joe’s home-made pizza
15. ‘course, good friends and a few beers on the weekend
16. sunsets down 42nd Street…

Charleston, big thoughts, living California, Charleston, shit I'll miss

With a little more than 3 weeks left in sunny California, I can’t help to start making mental lists of stupid shit I’m going to miss in the South. OK, my Mint.com account already reveals a very scary shopping trend; in the fact that 90% of my purchases are food or booze from Trader Joe’s. Maybe this needs to be part of a larger thought - “shit I’m gonna miss from SoCal” list….

If I thought I had an obsession, this guy actually made a video about it…. LOL, he’s so correct about hot soccer moms in yoga clothes: http://www.thesneeze.com/2009/the-tjs-song.php

Charleston, living Charleston, shit I'm gonna miss, Trader Joes

I don’t often think too highly of all the hoopla that goes into events, but it’s a bit different when you’re involved in the planning! I’d given my notice w/ my current job after 5 years, so I think I’ll just consider this one big ass party for Brad!

Months of work and planning, and we have Depeche Mode rocking “Personal Jesus” in front of the billboard I designed on the W Hollywood. Fucking outstanding.

Charleston, randomness

Spent a portion of my morning re-building Depeche Mode’s “logo” for an upcoming event my agency is producing for W Hollywood Residences. Quite crazy, but I never thought of rock music as needing branding or really what might go into a band’s logo. Perhaps this is common in the industry, but the logo and “brand” seems to shift for each album that’s produced. I guess there is a bit more at stake with a headline band than the garage-band w/ album art designed by someone’s brothers friend.

While I can’t say DM was ever a band I truly dug back in the day, the Violator album cover is burnt into memory. The juxtaposition of the title “Violator” next to the stark visual of the red rose creates incredible tension and was brilliant. More so, it speaks towards the music.

The new brand appears a mash of 80’s glory - large abstract bars of colors - with abstract images and colorful gradients that are the pop-art of ‘06. Much like the new music is almost more 80’s now than it was in the late 80’s. The logo cleverly uses these to “bars” to try and spell the “D” and “M” of the band name, but not quite legibly. One aspect I don’t know the answer to, is how much influence the actual band members have over establishing this look, or if it’s cooked up by their record label and stylists behind the scene.

In all respects, a coherent brand. And while I’m personally not in love w/ the aesthetic, it does do an excellent job of leveraging the old glory of a band who’s been out of the loop for a while aggressively trying to make their look contemporary.

Design, Visuals, big thoughts, living, randomness branding, logo, rock, w hollywood

Found this alarming over this morning’s cup-o-coffee and the accompanying design reads, Digital Web Magazine is no more. 

The landscape of web writing has changed. The value of well-edited and reviewed content is giving way to faster, less-refined posts on blogs, comments, and services like Twitter, and it is clear that many writers prefer to draw traffic to their own sites.

It’s a resource I’ve read and used many a time in my learning process, as well as keeping current with some of the bigger ideas that flow behind my profession. The founder statement that refined writing is being replaced the sporadic diarrhea of the mouth that blogs and twitter represent is a scary reality - especially as I sit here blogging about it. Also, it would appear that the increasingly selfish attitude as we all try to curate our “digital persona” are making it hard to get participation in new articles.

In my way, I’ve found myself using this blog increasingly as a vehicle for reflecting on the events that surround me; As a means to continue writing, even if the subject matter varies and is often fuzzy logic. A result of my sporadic writing attempts has been a greater respect for those sites and authors, like Digital Web, who pursue a refined goal with more structured writing.  Not sure how to conclude this thought, so I’ll just leave it hanging here with the hope of returning with some brighter conclusion.

Design, living, randomness blogs, coffee, reflection, twitter sucks