This is why the writer should never leave the office. While Aaron is playing over in Seattle (actually, he’s interviewing clients for a video project) iNid had a birthday. She molted! Aaron will enjoy trying to find where I hid her old skin as soon as I figure out how to get it out of her cage. (It’s in the upper right of the image.)

posted by: Shirlee Roberts-Downey  |  category: staff  |  comments(1)

“I’m going to get my degree in graphic design and I won’t have to do math.” False. Welcome to 3D design!

I had a great week finishing my first small project, starting another, and helping out with drawing up the dimensions of a 3D project we are doing. I am basically a professional at converting measurements to 1:12 scale now thanks to Shirlee.

The downside to internships is that they end and I won’t be around once this project is done and fabricated. I guess I will have to stalk helveticka once I leave…

posted by: melanie hoff  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

If Bioshock Infinite is considered a “first-person shooter,” then this is surely a first-person sorter. (While this, from the same developer, simply defies classification.)

One mystery apparently solved; another tantalizingly close. And a third…well, let’s just say that the Minnesota Iceman cometh.

Eight UFO-shaped buildings! (Regular readers are already familiar with one of them.)

From the same database that brought us these cringe-inducing factoids comes this stunning conclusion: Using your cell phone while walking is likely to lead to injury. Read the whole article, if only for the “schadenfreudic gems.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

in·tern verb – to restrict to or confine within prescribed limits; imprison, detain, hold in custody

in·tern noun ­- a person who works as an apprentice or trainee in an occupation or profession to gain practical experience, apprentice, student, learner

I’m still deciding whether I’m an intern, or am interned.

All kidding aside, I’m extremely thankful for this opportunity. With all I have done to get this internship, I am definitely not regretting any step taken. I will be composing weekly updates here every Monday to share what I’ve been up to.

Last week I  met some pretty inspirational people: Three great guys from Mojo, a new full service cinema, still photography, and audio post production company; Craig Sweat from J. Craig Sweat Photography; and previous co-owner John Mraz. I started on a business card, tagged along for a client meeting, was spoiled with treats and interesting music choices (Shirlee), and experiencing what the design world is all about.

Next up: A dramatic yet tasteful black-and-white face shot to match the team here.

Until next week!

posted by: melanie hoff  |  category: the design life  |  comments(1)

Somewhere along Highway 261.

My son and I went on a pilgrimage to Walla Walla yesterday to pay our respects to Jim McGuinn at Hot Poop. Among other finds (Brian Eno’s latest and the new Steven Wilson remastering of King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues in Aspic), we came away with some live Jerry Garcia from 1990, Bob Weir’s Ace (1972), and—from Jim’s personal archives—a recording of the May 13, 1977 Dead concert at Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. All told, a day to be Grateful for.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

This coming Sunday would have been George Russell’s 90th birthday. Russell, who died in 2009, is rather breathlessly described at allboutjazz.com as “…a hugely influential, innovative figure in the evolution of modern jazz, the music’s only major theorist, one of its most profound composers, and a trail blazer whose ideas have transformed and inspired some of the greatest musicians of our time.”

To be sure, Russell’s 1953 book The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, by opening the door to modal jazz, is at least partially responsible for Kind of Blue—one of the greatest albums of all time in any genre. Yet his compositions are invariably linked with the third stream movement, a fusion of jazz and classical music that somehow managed to alienate purists on both sides.

For what it’s worth, though, I like Russell’s approach. As a composer, the guy never stopped “testing himself and the universe of sound,” according to critic Nat Hentoff. So if jazz needs a theorist, I’m glad it’s George Russell.

Anyway, here’s “Souls” from Russell’s 1971 album Trip to Prillarguri—essentially a groovier (and much shorter) take on his 1968 composition “Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

A friend sent me this video this morning, saying that it “banished all despair for the day.” Clearly, she’s the queen of understatement.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment