tankt

That’s how I feel about tankt right now.
Too many other more enticing ideas on my mind:

· I wanna see who. (Not really sure how.)

· Building and simultaneously demolishing grids.

· User vs. Designer vs. Developer. And the astonishing difference in my expectations depending on my current position.

· Apathy, decency, and subtlety. Fuck ‘em.

· The future. It’s about time.

· Too many tees. (They’re a walking banner ad.)

· You say you want a revolution. Get up. Stand up. Save your own damn self. Take the time to think.

· Is it feathers on a bird or lotsa different chickens?

· Machines for living.

· Embrace the glitch.

· Fragments. Bridges. Limited editions. 10” wax presses. Social mixes. Unconventional remixes. Oh, and a Truitt / Brown collaboration known as TruBro. Is that offensive?

· Outside.in in Brooklyn. Warp Records in London. Family in Ohio. Three in San Francisco.

And,

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.

- Steve Jobs

What was once and always ‘all in my head’ is now ready to see the light of day. Like branches on a tree, some will thrive, while others whither and die. It matters not which is which, merely that they exist.

The rich tapestry of life seems especially so these days. After several years of deep and difficult introspection, I feel whole again, and stronger than ever. I am loved and loving more than I ever thought possible. I (really, we) feed and sustain me.

I am grateful for my lot in life, truly blessed, and finally prepared to share it with the world, not for gain or glory, but for the chance to make new connections, gain new experiences, and maybe just get a little closer to a deeper understanding of the world.

As always, more soon.

Great music. Incredible color and composition. Anamorphic wide-angle lenses over lush landscapes. A meandering plot predicated on a succession of seemingly random vignettes, all loosely tied together at the end. Oh, and Futura everywhere.

It looks to be another epic, and classic, Wes Anderson film. I can’t wait for the September 29.

I have much to do, though perhaps it’s better said there’s much I would rather do, but I have been absolutely consumed with bloxorz. Honestly, I knew I was screwed from the moment I read Jason’s short “Oh, so you like the addictive games, eh?” intro. Even though I saw the link over lunch, I somehow waited until tonight to play — how’s that for willpower, not normally my strongest suit! I am already up to level 17 too, and chances are I will be up most of tonight trying to finish all 33. I truly should have waited for the weekend…

On a related note, I have always wanted to link to another fiendishly clever blend of art and technology at albinoblacksheep: the end of the world.

It seems somewhat unfair to find joy in such silly diversions, with all the chaos and upheaval in the world. In many ways this is by design, we are constantly lulled to sleep by idle pursuits like seven straight hours of Monday Night Football (both of my teams won too) and 14 hours of college football on Saturday (poor Michigan and Notre Dame, it breaks my Buckeye heart to see them suffer). That’s all well and good, but the simple fact of the matter is that life as we know it is fundamentally changing, and not necessarily for the better…

I wholeheartedly believe that art and technology, when focused and directed and sustained, can truly change the way we relate to the world around us. If nothing else, I hope I can at least awaken our collective inner rebel, the voice that doesn’t blindly accept the world as is. We are much more powerful than we realize, but only if we awake from our collective slumber (or stupor), embrace our long-dormant imagination, and exercise our sense of humor and good will.

I believe it can be done. And I think I have a pretty good idea of how to do it too. Now if only I can stop playing bloxorz long enough to get it started…

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

On the growing masses of Apple iPhone fanatics, most of whom are ardent advocates eager to share its many virtues with you, and the lessons those of us in the music industry must apply to our business and bands, Bob Lefsetz saidbest:

So you’ve got to create something great. And it doesn’t have to sound like anything else, it’s just got to fire on all cylinders within its chosen genre. Hell, if Apple were a major label it wouldn’t have put out the iPhone because there was nothing else like it in the marketplace, there’d be no demand for it. But a great band creates its own demand. And, it takes a while for it to catch on.

We’ve been focusing on instant. Ever since we learned video can blow acts up.

But those acts crashed back to Earth just about as fast. Turns out if you want something to last, it’s got to grow slowly. You need early adopters, who believe and spread the word. You’ve got to let your act percolate in the marketplace. True riches come down the line. And they last, because you’ve got a legion of believers.

I live this every day, on both sides, with an iPhone and a small but promising music label. Believe me, the iPhone is a lot easier to share…

Earlier this summer, my good friend Stewart Brown created five exquisite organic electronic tracks for a project called Sky Observer’s Guide, and I put together the FORKLIFT ENTERTAINMENT website to present it to the world. Right now we’re seeing a handful of hits each day, with plenty of positive reaction, but very little growth momentum. At first I was disappointed, but over the past few weeks I realized that everything is proceeding as I expected, albeit much more slowly than originally planned.

We rightly recognized that putting a price tag on these songs is a barrier to entry, and so we designed the site to make the music immediately accessible. We simply want everyone to hear these songs, and if they like it they can share it with their friends. That’s why each and every song can be streamed in its entirety for FREE, downloaded for FREE, and purchased on the cheap (I know Bob will say lower the price!).

There is no field of dreams to speak of, and certainly no instant payoff, and that is why we have completely taken the money out of the experience. I do believe we will attract interest, given enough time we will develop fans with strong and lasting passions, and then and only then we will be able to reap the rewards, whatever they may be.

All of this is a round-about way of saying, “I hear you, Bob.” And I would love to hear what all of you think of the music, the strategy, the implementation, or anything else that strikes you as interesting or odd. I’m all ears.

Some design wisdom from Milton Glaser:

Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’. I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do - it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last.

A week or two later I read a joke that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said ‘This is a meat market - we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher now irritated says ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘OK. Got any cabbage?’

Lifted in its entirety from Monoscope, just as it was originally copied from davidthedesigner. I just had to pass it along, and didn’t want to lose anything in the process.