Where Cedar Nouns & Adverbs Walk

Nothing Happening Here

2012-02-02T21:35:00.005Z

This is a very quick little experiment I did today that is a very first step in me trying to visualize and understand the scale of nothingness that is present on the internet. It is a wall of videos which I found on youtube, all of which had under 500 views and don't really serve any purpose. They're videos of things like flowers blowing in the wind, a train passing in the snow, a family having dinner, a kid playing baseball lots of tiny little moments that would go unnoticed on the hubub of the internet. I wanted to see what would happen if all of these moments happened at once and it's kind of overwhelming. They kind of become something. I'm still not really 100% sure what I'm trying to say with it, or how i really want people to interact with it. But yeah as a starting point it's kind of exciting.

Click here to view. (it will probably take quite a while to load up all the videos, so maybe leave it a couple of minutes)

Some Apps

2012-01-20T21:55:00.001Z

With dissertation out of the way I can finally update this bloody blog and I've been wanting to do a quick post about some lovely iPad apps I've come across over the past month of having an iPad. I knew going into owning an iPad that the main thing I would be using it was mainly for reading and it is amazing how many publications and reading platforms get it so wrong. So yeah here's a few of the apps I've found myself really enjoying and using a lot.

Readmill is essentially just another ebook reader, like apple's iBooks and amazons kindle app except it's kind of completely different. It works in the same way last.fm does in that it tracks your reading time and where you are in the book and creates a profile for you with all this data. Being a sucker for data I love that, but the thing that really won me over is the ability to highlight sections of the book and share them on your Readmill account. Now I know no one is going to give a shit about what sections of Slaughterhouse 5 I really loved, but as a tool to help me remember great quotes and such, it's proved really useful. It also helps that the app is beautiful with a gorgeous UI which unlike most of the ebook readers out there doesn't make a tacky looking fake bookshelf for you with fake books on. Instead it scraps that for a really minimal Saul Bass-esque approach with some beautiful typography.

Letter to Jane is in my mind the perfect example of how a publication can work so elegantly on an iPad. Each issue is it's own self contained app with it's own editorial style and issue three, titled Moral Tates pictured above is just perfect. It works so seamlessly and looks absolutely beautiful.

The McSweeney's app was always one of my favourite apps back in the day when I still had an iPhone and on the iPad it's even better. Having Internet Tendency in my hands again to access at any time is something I definitely missed and the Small Chair subscription is really enhanced with the bigger screen, with each separately designed little supplement really popping.

Within the McSweeney's app was one of the things I was most excited about on first getting my hands on an iPad. Chris Ware's first ever exclusively digital comic, Touch Sensitive. It's a very short piece that I'm still not 100% sure about, yes the story is beautiful and affecting as expected and it looks absolutely stunning. but the way it works just doesn't seem to match up with the page, It's been simplified to much and there's no opportunity to get lost, which is one of the things I love most about Ware's work.

Well enough nerding out. I seem to still be in "I must analyze everything and write a shit load" mode from doing dissertation.

Done at last!

2012-01-17T00:56:00.002Z

This picture in no way conveys the joy I am feeling right now having just this second finished binding my dissertation. Time to collapse now.

Writing

2012-01-07T14:08:00.001Z

I feel like Joe Matt in this drawing right now, as I'm spending all of my time writing my dissertation. Will update the blog with some new stuff next week.

Thrift Sale Poster

2011-11-29T13:11:00.001Z

We're having a thrift sale at uni next week to raise some money for our degree show and I made this quick little poster to put up around and promote it. The main display face is Homestead a really lovely free font by Luke Lisi.

Ghostwood Press at Handmade & Bound

2011-11-27T15:01:00.001Z

This time last week Kathryn & I where sitting behind our stall at Handmade and Bound representing our creation Ghostwood Press for the first time. It was a fun day and we got loads of good feedback from people and made a little bit of money which was lovely. I really need to get round to photographing all the books so I can update the Ghostwood blog/website and when I do I'll post them here. So yeah, that's about it don't really have much to say, been too busy with dissertation writing, Might do a post about that soon, FUN!

Come On!

2011-11-15T00:07:00.001Z

I know I shouldn't admit how much I love this video, let alone post it on my blog, but what the heck! I quite like Will Young OK, there I said it...

Four Panel Comics

2011-11-13T23:06:00.001Z

I've been trying to get back into drawing comics for a while and after reading some really great 4 panel manga in a book I bought at Comiket this weekend I decided to dig out my 4 panel muji notebook and draw some. Hopefully this will become a regular feature and maybe even turn into a full blown book for Ghostwood Press.

Writing my dissertation

2011-11-03T13:25:00.001Z

This post isn't actually about writing my dissertation I just really wanted to post these pictures of young Chris Ware and Charles Shultz I found while doing some research earlier.

I've got a music blog.

2011-11-03T12:18:00.001Z

I'm going to be posting a song a day on it from now on. Check it out!

Ghostwood Press Website

2011-10-23T22:05:00.002+01:00

Spent the weekend developing a website for the collective Kathryn & I founded and it's coming along pretty good. The idea is for the site to be kind of like the table we would set up at a fair with all our books strewn around and movable. Have hit a bit of a brick wall with some coding but hopefully it should be up and running within the next couple of weeks.

Joanna

2011-10-23T21:50:00.002+01:00

last week we were set a research project by the amazing Julia, to create a publication based around a typeface. The group I was in got the typeface Joanna and created her life story. At first glance it looks like a reasonably straight and boring story of an average person, but on further inspection we hid her inner life with in the pages using french folds. It was a really fun project to do and I'm going to miss Joanna.

American Football

2011-10-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

I've been getting big into American Football as of late and while browsing the internet the other day I came across some amazing collectors forums dedicated to old football cards and memorabilia that just have some spectacular graphics. Here's some of my favourites, I posted a load more over on my tumblr.

Thank You Steve

2011-10-06T12:36:00.000+01:00

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

-Steve Jobs

Leucocyte Chrome Extension

2011-10-04T23:56:00.001+01:00

This is another idea that came out of the 'White Out' brief. It all stemmed from an amazing video of White blood cells fighting off an infection I stumbled upon and obviously connected the two and decided to try and use the metaphor in some way. So I came up with the idea for a Chrome Extension that would work as a white blood cell for your internet browsing, if there are certain subjects you hate seeing on the internet, things like x-factor etc. then the extension would get rid of them and replace them with things you like, comics, sexy ladies etc.

The name Leucocyte is the scientific word for a white blood cell.

I have no idea if this is something I could actually do, but well I decided to mock up a website and icon for my presentation and now I really hope I can figure out a way to make it work because I've kind of fallen in love with the idea. If anyone reading this has any experience coding Chrome Extensions could pop me and email and tell me whether this is actually possible I'd greatly appreciate it.

White Out

2011-10-01T15:01:00.002+01:00

Have been working on a brief to visually explore the term 'White Out' and this is one of my experiments using old videos of my girlfriends and trying to capture those moment of white noise and static where all is lost.

Some boring typography

2011-09-26T16:21:00.003+01:00

Got the first brief of third year this morning and it was to answer some questions typographically, so here are my answers, set in quite pretty but boring typography.

Faces of Fear

2011-09-22T23:02:00.000+01:00

I've recently been reading an amazing horror manga called 'The Drifting Classroom' by Kazuo Umezu and there are s many of these really terrifying close ups of horrified faces that are just so striking. Here's a couple from the first few chapters.

Jimmy Corrigan Toy

2011-09-17T19:43:00.000+01:00

Also while I was at Nobrow the shop manager came back from visiting the guys at Press Pop in japan with a box of their toys and I just couldn't resist snapping up the boxed version of Jimmy Corrigan it's a beautiful edition to my Chris Ware collection.

Ben Newman's MASKS at Nobrow

2011-09-17T18:12:00.003+01:00

I've been interning at Nobrow for the last couple of weeks and had the pleasure of helping Ben Newman set up his MASKS exhibition which open on Thursday. I'm no good at reviewing shows and such so all I'll say is that everyone should endeavor to head down to Great Eastern Street and see it! It's on till the 11th November so you've got no excuses. Also make sure to admire the beautifully cut out window display, I'm still suffering hand cramps from cutting all those masks out...

(Photos by Yu Fujiwara)

Ghostwood Press

2011-09-10T22:42:00.003+01:00

What used to be This Bombardment society, the collective me and my girlfriend started is now Ghostwood Press and with a new name comes a new website. This is just a temporary blog for it, there will be a full website coming soon.

I was once a power ranger

2011-09-04T22:18:00.002+01:00

The best picture of me, EVER!

New Project: A Collection of hand drawn frapes.

2011-09-04T21:32:00.001+01:00

It feels like forever since I posted anything on here or did any work for that matter. As I spent todays coming up with ideas for new books and trying to get the whole 'Bombardment' thing me and Kathryn started last year back on track I thought I'd post a sneak peak of a book i'm working on at the moment.

Superman Card Game

2011-07-20T00:21:00.000+01:00

I'm not a massive superman fan, but I found this old superman card game from 1978 in a charity shop and just loved the artwork so had to buy them. Seriously who is Melba?

Sexy Music

2011-06-24T22:37:00.000+01:00

I don't really post much music on here but occasionally I like to do a post of whatever music I happen to be listening to at the time, and I think it's one of those occasions now. So sit down and have a listen to some sexy music.

Shellac - End of Radio

This is one of the best opening tracks to an album I've heard in ages, been really getting into Shellac recently, they kind of remind me of all the things I loved about Tool when I was 14 but more complex and mature.

Ben Benjamin - Squirmy Sign Language
Am a massive fan of pretty much anything released by Ghostly International and have really been loving For Long Drives and Temporary Diversions their collection of Ben Benjamin tracks. I couldn't really find any of the tracks on youtube so have posted his song from Ghostly Swim here instead.

Arctic Monkeys - She's Thunderstorms
I haven't ever really cared about Arctic Monkeys. That was until I saw the film Submarine and really enjoyed Alex Turners soundtrack for it so I thought I'd give their new album a go, it's not half bad. A lot of it is still half boring but there are a couple of songs like this, the opening single that I actually really like.

Jordaan Mason and the Horse Museum - Racehorse: Get Married!

It's not often I hear a folk singer who can muster as much passion and intensity as Jeff Mangum but Jordaan Mason is definitely a man up to the challenge.

And to finnish it off one of my favourite music videos for on of my favourite songs.