BARREL: Fish & Monkeys

This is the end of the line for the Fish & Monkeys blog. We have a brand new website, and unfortunately, this blog didn’t make the cut. From now on, we’ll be switching over to Posterous for our news, links, and other bits of content, and the latest entries will be displayed on our homepage (grab the RSS feed here).

Well, as a farewell, here are a few entries from May 2006 to October 2008 that we think are worth a revisit:

Postcard from Seoul, Korea

Bottled Gifts: What We Sent

Postcard from Northern California
Jumping the Gun on Thanksgiving

New Barrel Site: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger!
Wine Boxing

The Barrel Extreme Makeover (Part 1 of 3)
The Barrel Extreme Makeover (Part 2 of 3)
The Barrel Extreme Makeover (Part 3 of 3)

The Barrel Workspace (in Astoria, Queens)

We’re excited about our new t-shirts that’ll be available in a couple of weeks.

We’ve set up a Barrel store using Big Cartel (it’s so easy!)

The first t-shirt is an Awesome Creatures Underground shirt in the vein of our popular Awesome Opossum shirt. We’re not going to release the design of it yet, but you can pre-order today and save yourself five bucks (orig. $20) plus free shipping.

The second shirt is a versatile political shirt that celebrates this year’s Presidential Election with a clever design. We think people will have lots of fun with it, and this too, is available for pre-order for five bucks less (orig. $15) and free shipping.

And in case you’re buying for Autumn weather, check out our Barrel Athletics long sleeve, going for $17 a piece.

Please visit the Barrel store and check it out!

For the past month, we’ve been focusing on creating fresh, original content for The Gobbl Feed, our daily blog accompanying our restaurant blogging network site, Gobbl. If you haven’t checked it out, please do! Props to our interns Cindi and Pierce, who’ve really done a great job growing the blog.

We’re also pleased to announce the sixth issue of Brink Magazine. This month’s issue features some top-notch fiction, so if you’re in a short-story reading mood, please check it out!

We’re pumped for season 2, which starts July 27th. If you haven’t caught Mad Men on AMC yet, check out this entry by Michael Bierut on Design Observer which does a great job summing up the moments that really made the show exciting for us the first season.

A taste:

Yesterday, we received the first season DVD, which we ordered from Amazon. Smoking, which dominates the screen in many episodes, is reflected in the package design, shaped as a lighter and the CDs arranged to simulate the flame.

We have to admit – we sometimes find work more appealing on weekends. Whether it’s to take care of bills and other paperwork or to get a head start for the next week, we like rolling in after brunch and hanging around the office for a few hours. It’s a good feeling – no calls from clients, no urgent deadlines (in most cases), and we can play music without worrying about anyone else in the building (we’re usually the only ones here).

And of course, there’s the drinks-before-5PM-without-guilt factor. Today, I happened to walk by Grab, a specialty food store in Park Slope, and noticed their growlers – 64 fl oz. jugs – and their selection of three beers: Brooklyn Summer Ale, Hitachino Nest White Ale, and Sixpoint Bengali Tiger. The growlers went for $4.95 each (refundable if you bring them back) and to fill up, they cost $9.95, $22.95, and $12.95, respectively. I bought all three, Brooklyn Summer Ale for a party later today, the Hitachino Nest White Ale for home, and the Sixpoint for the office.

Grab did a great job in designing the growler – simple, 2-color type design with some clever wordplay.

The back of the jug, with the fun symbol art equation and the well-written fine text is a nice example of how good design can transform take-out beer into a memorable consumer experience.