obsessions & anything inbetween
What’s the thing with naked, nudity and designers?
The most exposed graphic designer ever lived, Sagmeister, seen here been ripped-off by the awesome ripper! (except for the pants, Alex)
But he’s not the only one; seen here is April Grieman in 1986.
I personally know a designer who used to do his designs naked. So what’s with designers going naked?
Used to have little of respect for Linkin Park. Compared to the sort of respect for guitar virtuoso’s like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai… In my old vocabulary, the guitar parts or sections played by guys like Brad Delson are simple, predictable and the easy-way-out to make a song. Blurred between the lines of performance and songwriting, I then judge every musician who play in modern bands creating modern music as boring or uninteresting. Further more, my music buddies are frequent listeners of stuff by Deep Purple, ELP, Jimi Hendrix and the leagues that stay in line with them, where technique matters.
Judging with what I knew as good music, I started to mix match what I identify as ‘good musicanship’ with songs I play in my band. I thought Nu-Metal needed more guitar solos and flashy parts. Bass parts needed to be slinky and groovy in rock. Guitar effects are secondary stuff.
I was recently introduced into the world of songwriting and composition when I joined my current band. I learned that proper structuring should take over the song and not performance in musicianship by broadening my concept of appreciation towards music. I learned the importance of consistency and tight rhythm in playing an instrument. Saw the importance of keeping things clear and the importance of silence and dynamics in music.
Now, still a fan of dynamic guitar solo’s, still enjoy the old farts as much as I do last time; but with a new found love for clearly build, tight and tasteful rhythm, covered with a catchy tune using memorable tone and consistency.
Last Tuesday, I spend about 8 hours in the studio trying to lay down my guitar parts for recording. Thought that if I learned how to appreciate music in a different matter, with the proper application, probably 2 hours will do the job.
Since K has this up.
I remember sitting about 30 rows away listening to these guys talk. Mark the dates, Save some cash and bring your books to be autographed (yeah right, you groupie!). November 13th-14th, somewhere around Kuala Lumpur.
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Edit*
Okay, for the benifit of Googlers who try really hard to find out whether are the listed heroes below coming down Malaysia or not, I have actually edited this post to help increase traffic a bit. It sounds really cheesy, but, oh well…, I hope somebody appreciates this:
“Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
“Neville Brody of Research Studios is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
“Vince Frost of Frost Design is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
“Wally Olins of Saffron Brand Consultants is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
“Simon Dixon & Aporva Baxi of DixonBaxi is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
“Paul Hughes of Lava is coming down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 13th-14th November 2008 for a graphic design conference.”
Also featuring some other cool designers such as William Harold Wong, Chris Lee & others!
Discovered P.R Brown of Bau-Da Design today reading the notorious Revolver magazine; by reading an article on Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist superstar album cover designs. Brown used to do jazz album covers before Mr. Manson hired him. And now, his list of clients include Disturbed, Billy Corgan, Godsmack, etc. I sense that he likes to portray a certain evil using disfigured human faces. Perhaps its sort of like a suggestion of brutality or the edgy violent and evil that could be found in some heavy metal music. See:
This is a clean one but check out Billy’s left hand.Looks like he burned himself or something?
But theres really nothing interesting to admire here but merely done for consumer satisfaction in my opinion. I find it not so ‘metal’ nowadays to put a really brutal evil face on an album cover with brutal bloody knife edge type for the album title. Or perhaps even hire Todd McFarlane for an album cover.
I wonder if Evil Ernie, the face for Iron Maiden for the past 20 years + will help a 15 year old mummy’s boy enjoy Iron Maiden’s music in the year 2020? Die-hards will disagree with me but who likes and cares about Iron Maiden when you can listen to Mariah Carey all day long.
I realized that its taking me really long to finish my Jan Tschichold book. Probably its just that greedy feeling trying so hard to memorize all the details in that book. Stuff like which year he started teaching at the academy, his typography manifesto, his association with Piet Zwart, bla bla bla.
So to gratify my loss, I started reading another book instead. It’s not that this book has a lesser weight in the reading or that I’m not being particularly absorbant in everything I read but well, I need to make full use of my time anyways.
Robert Brownjohn, Sex & Typography. Another hero, another cult designer, another individual I wish I could listen to in a conference or see some works exhibited somewhere.
On a lighter note, do you guys actually have a hard time finish reading a book? Any book really. I find it absolutely hard to do so. I usually finish reading a book in a few weeks. My girlfriend can do it in a few days.
I’m depressed because of this sometimes.
