Our Living Room

I saw a post on Apartment Therapy where someone was asking what they thought about the color kelly green. We absolutely love it and painted an accent wall in our living room that color. Check out the photos at my flickr.

Happy Easter

Easter came really really early this year. I found an artist who made a portrait of Jesus out of Peeps to mark the occasion. It took 494 Peeps to make it happen but I think it looks pretty sweet. No pun intended. It took Janet, the artist, 3 years to collect enough Peeps to bring her idea to life. For more on it check her site out here.

Ace Hotel | Portland, Oregon

My wife and I have a new obsession. It is with Portland, Oregon. We have been suffering from nesting syndrome lately and buying a house in Santa Monica is a hard reality to grasp on to. The houses in our current renting neighborhood start at about a million easy. We were watching a show on HGTV called House Hunters and they just happened to have a Portland week. After falling in love with it on tv we did a crapload of research and discovered that it is voted the city most like Austin, Texas (which is our other favorite city in the US). We’re roughly planning a trip there asap to do some recon work and to check out areas like Lake Oswego and the Pearl District. I am thinking we’ll stay at the swank Ace Hotel because it has custom rooms and great prices. It reminds me of the Hotel San Jose on Congress in Austin. I’ll keep you posted with our new obsession and how our plans on moving there progress. Currently we have a 3 year plan to move there in 2010/2011 or so. I just hope the houses stay at the prices they are now. It seems like a steal.

Matt Morgan | Demo Team “Growl”

In more music video news my good friend Matt just informed me about the music video he directed for Demo Team entitled “Growl.” Matt is a young prodigy who was working as a graphic designer while barely out of high school.  The song is a really melancholic and beautiful folk song and the video fits it perfectly. It is filled with earthy textures and a very minimal palette that looks like how the song feels. I personally love both the song and the video and can’t wait to hear more from Demo Team.

Gnarls Barkley Run

Max recently informed me he contributed to the new Gnarls Barkley video “Run” which unfortunately failed the Harding Test for the epileptic seizure inducing graphics towards the middle of the video. The video was directed by Happy and also included an intro graphics treatment done by Radical Friends who I had never heard of until now. I am a huge fan of Gnarls Barkley so it is a treat to see a friend get to jam on something like this. Max also makes a cameo in the new Apple iPod touch commercial too which I thought was hilarious. I also will be making a cameo in an upcoming commercial so I will let you guys know more about that later. Kudos once again Max, ‘08 is looking to be a prosperous year for a lot of my friends.

Electronic Poet

I just stumbled upon a few dope little labels that have some really nice and simple clothes. Electronic Poet is one of those. I found their line pretty limited but the selection is right up my minimalist alley. I love the quilted and crosshatched pieces. They remind me of Artysm, a label I blogged on last year. I also dig a couple of the t-shirt designs. They are bold, colorful, retro, and eye-catchingly graphic. Go check their stuff out and see if you can track down where to actually buy it. I am still looking for that.

Pantone Eyewear

Famous color swatch company Pantone has decided to market eyeglasses to us designer geeks. What better way to show the world how truly dorky you are than to rock some Pantone DS 36-1 swatch aviators. They come in a few different styles with interchangeable colored arms. Head over the spanking new site to see what’s in store.

Home Studio Revamp

I have been sort of planning (obsessing, to a point that Ash is getting annoyed) out a revamp on my home studio. As of now it feels incomplete. It’s hard for me to get going sometimes because I don’t feel comfortable or inspired. As it is now it feels like the start of a perfect thing. As for the walls, I have one accent wall painted orange (my favorite color) where I have a huge piece of art I bought from my friend Matt Morgan hanging. I also have my Rome snowboard that I designed hanging on a small wall by the closet door. I have a crappy dry erase calendar to the right of my window where I track my freelance work. Other than that the walls are naked. The walls are about half way there. I want to add a uten.silo in white on the wall behind my computer. I found a pretty decent framed first edition reprint of my favorite book of all time The Catcher in the Rye to replace the crap dry erase board. And to balance the black & white art hanging on the opposite wall I want a Massimo Vignelli Stendig calendar. I want to replace the cheap Target desk with the Travola Desk from dwr in white with frosted glass. I want either a Panton chair in white or a Nelson Swag Chair in white. I have always dug the IKEA PS Cabinet in white to place my printer/scanner on and to store supplies inside. I could also score a Specktone iPod player to put on top of the cabinet. I want to get rid of the old futon that’s looking beat and put a Nelson-Style Bench in all black under Matt’s art. I could stack some of my book collection on it. And for the desk top, I found a cool orange lamp at CB2. Finally, I am in desperate need of a new computer. My old faithful G5 is starting to chug, so first on my list is a new Mac Pro. Once I tidy up the office in it’s current position I will take some photos to document the transformation process. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or deals they find feel free to share.

Upper Playground Pillows

There are many great items at the Upper Playground store. I particularly liked the pillows. They span a good range of styles from many different artists like Sam Flores, Herbert Baglione, and Morning Breath to name a few. They are all priced at $40 so that’s quite a steal for functional art. I am sure these won’t last too long so go cop one quick before Kanye hears about them and buys the entire stock.

NEUARMY

Ryan Katrina aka NEUARMY (an online buddy of mine) just updated his site with some really beautiful new work. Drop by and check it out. I particularly like the letterpress typography he’s been working with lately. Great work homie.

Leap Day

Hold on March cause we’re still reppin’ the Febs! Happy Leap Day everyone. Don’t get caught with your pants up.

Pottok Prints

Geoff McFetridge has just opened up his Pottok Prints shop. It’s located in Atwater Village in LA, that’s just outside of Silver Lake, and features some of his amazing wallpaper prints I blogged on previously. I am pretty stoked to go check it out. He’s debuting the new line of wallpapers at Walnut Wallpapers tonight as a matter of fact. If I can get off a little earlier tonight maybe Ash and I will go check it out. We have a couple walls in need of some love.

Hitchcock Classics

Alfred Hitchcock is by far the most influential directors of all time. To tribute him, Vanity Fair brought on some amazing actors to partake in beautiful recreations of some of the most iconic scenes from his films. It is a collection of 11 photos taken by a variety of leading commercial photographers. There is also a great making of video with behind the scenes action. Be sure to check them out, they are pretty amazing.

Bohemian Modern : Silver Lake Vol. 02

We recently took a drive to Silver Lake to hit up the thrift stores around there and downtown LA. I felt inspired to create another hand-picked mix that sort of encompasses that trip. This mix sums up the feeling of window shopping, digging through racks of hangers, gray skies, and deciding whether or not we really needed a white porcelain horse head. HERE YA GO!!!

(1) Money Mark - Tomorrow Will Be Like Today
(2) The Beastie Boys - Picture This
(3) Cibo Matto - Flowers
(4) Sean Lennon - Bathtub
(5) Bertrand Burgalat - Another World Gone By
(6) Simian - When I Go
(7) The Concretes - Grey Days
(8) Belle & Sebastian - Don’t Leave the Light on Baby
(9) Blur - Theme From Retro (John McEntire’s Mix Instrumental)
(10) Stereolab - Brakhage
(11) Joyzipper - Christine Bonilla
(12) Mogwai - Tracy ( Playing With the Young Team Mix)
(13) Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
(14) UNKLE - Chaos
(15) Caural - Untitled

Kid’s Choice Awards 2008

The promo we did at Roger for the Kid’s Choice Award show 2008 just aired and is up for everyone to view online on Roger’s site. I was lead designer working with Terry Lee and Jake Portman for the most part. We had a great cast of characters including my good buddies Ken Macy and David Lewandowski as well as Zach Nederlander and Jose Acosta on animation. It was a total blasty blast for sure. Be sure to check out the boards for it on my flickr when you get a chance to see how it looked before it was moving.

Two Lines Align

Last night me and Ash went to the ”Two Lines Align” show at the Redcat in downtown LA. It was a joint show of Geoff McFetridge and Ed Fella. The space wasn’t too large but there was a lot of work piled in there. Geoff’s reserved and iconic work surrounded you, transporting you to a graphic world of teeth and doodles and everything else in his hand-drawn world. Ed’s work was mostly his typographical explorations he has been doing for as long as I can remember but it was nice seeing it all together finally. I met and spoke with Geoff for a little which was nice. I have been a pretty big fan of his for quite some time. Ash embarrassed me a little because that’s what she does best. The event was curated by Michael Worthington who also compiled a nicely designed program that most everyone there bought and had signed (including me).

Unfinished & Unpublished Notebook

Looking for a new sketchbook? Look no further. Rare Device has released a limited run (500) of beautifully hand-bound book composed of mixed papers to sketch in. The cover is either illustrated with beautiful black and white high-school doodles or an abstract design courtesy of 2 commissioned artists who I have never heard of but would love to see more work from. It comes packaged in a wooden box with wrap around sticker and all for a great price of only $36. Only 7 are left currently so act fast. I have placed my order so there are actually only 6 left. Buy it here.

Radiohead Rainydayz Remixes by Amplive

Amplive is an Oakland area dj who created a pretty solid mix of Radiohead tracks from In Rainbows. The tracks feature a few MCs from the area including Del the Funky Homosapien, Chali 2na, and Too $hort to name a few. Evidently Amplive released these tracks to the public without getting consent from Radiohead or their management but thanks to a ton of youtube support he has not only gotten in touch with Radiohead he has their full blessing to release the tracks to the public for free download. Go get your free music on and enjoy a new take on what is already a classic album.

Panton Chair on Modern Dose

I wanted to spread the word that Modern Dose is having a buy-one-get-one-free deal on Panton Chairs. The only catch is that they have to be the same color. Not a bad deal for $265 though if I may say. I would go for either green or white myself. I hope somebody takes advantage of this deal. Maybe I will.

Bohemian Modern : Sunset Boulevard Vol. 02

The weather has finally warmed up and is amazing outside. I just got back from running some errands and made a nice cool Hendrick’s Martini to mellow out the mid-day sun and threw on my second mix of Sunset Boulevard jams. These are breezy fresh bossa nova jingles that will glide through your drums. Listen in the afternoon or a little later as the sun goes down. And as always, have a cocktail handy because good music and drinks go together like gnutella and crepes. Download HERE!

(1) Astrud Gilberto - The Girl from Impanema
(2) Sean Lennon - Into the Sun
(3) Money Mark - Bossa Nova 10
(4) Ween - Joppa Road
(5) AIR - Casanova 70 (The Secret of Cool Mix)
(6) Ollano - Latitudes (AIR Remix)
(7) Kosma - Les Promesses d’une Chevelure
(8) Stereolab - Miss Modular
(9) Brazilian Girls - Long
(10) Nouvelle Vague - Ever Fallen In Love
(11) Francoise Hardy - Jeanne
(12) Tommy Guerrero - Four Track Samba
(13) The Sea & Cake - Try Nothing
(14) Bertrand Bergalat - Partir Revenir
(15) Fun Lovin’ Criminals - I’m Not in Love
(16) Nouvelle Vague - Blue Monday
(17) Blur - To the End
(18) Sergio Mendes with India.Arie - Timeless
(19) Zero 7 with Jose Gonzales - Today

Demeter Fragrances

My wife and I were shopping around Sunset in Silver Lake last weekend and stumbled upon a little fragrance shop that had a great selection of Demeter Frangrances for men and women. They somehow bottle the exact scent of many foods and nature. I was obsessed with Thunderstorm and bought it instantly. It reminded me of summer in Houston as a kid or after I cut the lawn at my grandpa’s house. I also liked Cucumber because it smelled like Hendrick’s Gin sort of. Speaking of gin, they have a Gin & Tonic scent too. Too bad they don’t have bacon and eggs because that is pretty much my favorite scent ever.

Engrave

There are a couple things I started to wish for when I found out about Engrave. First, I wish I knew my Incase iPhone cover would have chipped up the backside to death. The back of my iPhone looks like Edward James Almos now unfortunately. Second, I would have made some rad graphics to engrave on the back and find some other case to cary it around in. That’s what Engrave does too by the way. They let you send them your fancy shmancy graphics to them, along with your Apple Tech, to engrave it on the outside and make it all pretty like. So you choose, Edward James Almos or a custom job that you can design yourself.

Obama Art

So everyone has seen Sheppard Fairey’s Obama Posters but now it seems like everyone is doing them. I just found this link with a plethora of Obama inspired art. I think it’s great personally that so many people are getting involved with this election. My vote personally goes to Obama as well, although I am sure my endorsement isn’t quite as important as let’s say Oprah’s. I am really excited about the future of our government and hope that our country can dig itself out of the hole that Bush has put us in.

Max Erdenberger

My buddy Max just said his goodbyes at the BNS office tonight. He bids adieu to embark on a journey to...fatherhood (he and wife Megan are expecting in March), among other cool things I am sure. He’s now coasting on the waves of freedom. Be sure to visit Central Office, his online presence/studio. Also, be sure to visit the blog he and his friends run called Viewers Like You which is a blog of cool arty things you should know about. Keep an eye out later this year because Max is partaking in Psst! Pass it On 3 with myself and a whole slew of other talented peeps in the motion biz. Good luck buddy, may the force be with you.

Walnut Wallpapers | Geoff McFetridge

I just stumbled upon this rad wallpaper producer in LA that has a great series of wallpapers designed by some of my favorite artists/designers. Geoff McFetridge happens to be not only of my favorites, but one of those designers. They have 3 choices of designs from him, one of whales which I am sure my wife will love, and the other of his trademark yeti. I am on the phone as we speak getting prices. I have a few blank walls just begging to be covered so I am crossing my fingers that it’s not too pricey. Go look for yourself here.