Yes folks, a contest. That means ANY of us can submit a redesign. ANYONE*!

Amazing! This might be the big break that me (and my sweet Microsoft Paint skillz) have been waiting for!

In all seriousness though. How lame is that? Portland is CHOCK FULL of design/interactive talent. As someone who works in this field (and no, I am not a “creative”, *gasp*), this seems a bit like a slap in the face.

I am sure  this contest was created with good intentions, but in doing so, the City of Portland has basically said that this type of work is worth nothing more than a link on their website. A LINK! Dude!!!

Plus, there are so many other issues that could come out of this decision! For example, imagine that they roll out their new brand and come to find out, it looks coincidentally like some image from the iStock vaults.

And lets not forget how this does NOTHING to stimulate the Oregon economy. Last I checked, the Oregon unemployment rate was still only second to Michigan with a whopping 12.2% of folks unemployed. C’mon Portland, couldn’t you throw your community a bone and put some *professionals* to work?

Whew! I’ll stop ranting now. For more info, check out Silicon Florist (and the letter from Lizzie, which is much more eloquent than this post!).

In the meantime, I think I am on to something! Don’t you?

*Anyone living in and/or working in Portland, OR. that is!

Want more JAYDIOHEAD? The Encore is here. I am not a huge Jay-Z fan, but lets be honest; a mashup with Radiohead can make just about anything sound good. And the download is free! Have a listen:

Thanks Slog!

via Laughing Squid

Admit it it. Sure, American Apparel makes great (albeit overpriced) comfy cottons, but seriously, what is more irritating to you?

The fact that they hire illegal immigrants to do the work (oh sure, you were planning to take that job and work in a hot dusty warehouse in the middle of the urban desert for minimum wage)?

Or are you (like me) more annoyed that they employ these folks to make things like this…

…and THEN have the kahonas to charge $42 for them.

*SIGH*

As if you needed another reason to get an iPhone, how can you resist a phone that has a $.99 app that tells you when it is safe to go number one during a movie. Hell yeah! I believe the iPhone is the key to utopia

via Mashable

Also be sure to check out this beautiful string remix of Pale Horses by Davide Rossi via SUNfiltered. The depth of sadness in this track is greatly enhanced by the string arrangement.

Dog interviews Little Idiot on bug planet from Moby on Vimeo.

A couple highlights:

“It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.”

“I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly…”

BUT if he thought a portable cassette tape player was clunky, remember portable CD players?!? Cripes, besides being anything but portable (especially if you are on foot), they were really touchy! Any sudden movement would make it skip!

Ahhhh…but thems were the days…

Capybaras are not giant hamsters but are the world’s largest rodents! Instead of creating fodder for your nightmares, take a little time now to learn about them and debate the ever important “Creepy or Cute?” question. Caplin Rous even has his own blog!