DUSTY BLOG

LOGO PROGRESSION

2011-05-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

here's a logo i've been working on for a local business here in portland. this shows a progression of a concept to a refined finished product.

ACADEMIA

2011-03-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

the other night, for no apparent reason, i decided to convert my thesis to an online form. take a look at:

http://organiclounge.wordpress.com

there you will find far more information than you probably care to read but there are some pretty good illustrations to accompany the readings. that is all.

EGGS SPEARMINT

2010-12-27T14:41:00.001-08:00

on june 29th we (jackson barlow, josh mccafferty and myself) hit record while dabbling in musical experimentry. here's what it sounded like to be there:

http://soundcloud.com/dwickham/collab-w-j-mccafferty-june-29-2010

CRASH

2010-12-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

first things first... my knee hurts and kir's neck hurts. i think both may be related to our motorcycle crash yesterday. but, can i really call it a crash? i guess it was more of a wreck. but wrecks usually mean that there is substantial destruction and there was only very minor destruction. anyway, enough with semantics. the bike went to its side while we were moving. whats' the word for that?

i still don't fully know what happened, but the back tire slid out around a turn and before i knew it i was in a panic, pulling my leg from under the hot engine and seeing if kir was alright. after assessing damage, we were both a little shaken but completely fine. i lifted the bike from the ground to stop the gas from spilling out of the carburetors. kir handed me the broken off mirror and i stuffed it in my pocket. i started it up, which it did easily, and then turned it around to face the proper direction for traffic. we got back on and drove the few miles home.

luckily, it was a cold day which meant that we were both bundled well. neither one of us received any scrapes or tears to our clothing save for a small scuff on my ankle. the damage to the bike was minimal. i'll need a new mirror and a new exhaust on the right side. i'll have to bend the brake pedal lever back to its proper position. it got mashed up into the engine.

as far as i can tell, the factors that led up to this incident must have been one, some, or all of the following.

the cold weather. though no ice was observed, i'd guess the temperature was high 30s or low-to-mid 40s
a rear tire that in hindsight should be replaced
the fact that i had just inflated the rear tire with very cold compressed air which theoretically may have overcooled the rubber causing it to be harder and less "grippy"
a wet spot that kir thinks we may have hit, although i don't remember seeing said wet spot
possible gravel that tends to accumulate in turns especially during winter

the bottom line is that it really scared me because kir was with me and i'd hate myself if i caused any serious harm to her. i also have no real idea what i could have done differently to avoid the situation. i will probably end up buying much higher grade tires for the bike in hopes that a similar incident never plays out again.

i'm thankful for the fact that it could have been far, far worse. we both got away with just some soreness and thank goodness we were both wearing helmets (which we always do) and that surrounding traffic didn't come into play. it was scary but honestly i've been banged up far worse from bicycle wrecks.

i'm going to take this as a cue to do some work on the bike this winter and get back on it in the spring with a new respect and increased sense of caution.

ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS

2010-08-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

MOCK UP....

2010-08-05T21:18:00.001-07:00

i decided it'd be a good idea to have something tangible to really see the form of the five degree lounge so i built this little mock up out of card stock. it's always a good idea to build a simple model and it wasn't difficult in this case at all. this is at 1/12th scale.

5 DEGREE LOUNGE

2010-08-04T22:22:00.001-07:00

i've really been wanting a nice lounge chair lately. the ideal would be just to go out and fliff 3k on the eames lounge chair but since i just found out i'm in the red that probably isn't really a viable option. so, i decided to start designing a cheap alternative. i plan on building a prototype using the cheapest 1" x 6" lumber i can get at home depot. i'm betting i can rough the whole thing out for under 30.00.

i spent a few hours today sketching ideas, and then into CAD. a few more refinements made it complete enough to throw into 3DS MAX for modelling of the geometry. once i cut a five degree jig, i should be able to cut all of the pieces using just a table saw (which luckily i have access to). for now i'll call this the 5 degree lounge. i plan to add some arm rests as well but wanted to make sure the ergonomics are correct before i get too involved in the details. i can't wait to sit in it! i'll let you all know when i'm ready to start taking orders. :)

FROM THIS....TO THIS!

2010-08-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

i needed to help kir out with some graphics for a big event she has coming up. the idea is to have some postcards that can be folded into A-cards to put next to her amazing desserts! she gave me a photo of her logo that she had a local artist paint and i tweaked it and sent it off to the printer! even better it's multi use if she cuts them down the middle she has labels for her boxed goodies and business cards with her info.

the photo she gave me:

the post card design:

FLYER I MADE - REMINISCENT OF OLD SHOWBILLS

2010-07-27T13:02:00.001-07:00

2010-07-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

PHOTOSHOP GEEKERY... AGAIN!

2010-06-22T15:31:00.001-07:00

RECENT PHOTOSHOP TINKERINGS

2010-05-26T18:34:00.001-07:00

MJ

2010-05-14T14:57:00.001-07:00

i don't know who made this but it's rad!

WEIRD BUT FUNNY

2010-04-11T23:34:00.001-07:00

FRESH STARTS FOR STALE PEOPLE

2010-03-26T13:28:00.001-07:00

the month of february found me traipsing across our land in hot pursuit of two things: 1) the america that i've heard so much about, and 2) a feature length narrative film. i documented this process day-by-day and you can see it by clicking on "america?". while you're feeling adventurous, you should also check out Newhard Entertainment for more info on this and other projects we've been working on including Bummer Summer and the upcoming The International Sign for Choking.

the film is aptly titled "FRESH STARTS FOR STALE PEOPLE" and i have no idea (nor do i make any promises) of whether or not it will be worth watching.

either way, here are a few teasers that cohorts, rob malone and zach weintraub cut together:

ART?

2010-01-27T18:49:00.001-08:00

for a while now i've been wanting to start drawing/producing artwork. i've been busy and usually have a million excuses of why i can't get to it. however, last night i quit making excuses and put pen to paper. here's what came out. i can't expect to produce amazing pieces if i never practice but i think this is a decent starting off point. please let me know if you like it.

LET IT BE KNOWN - PART 2

2009-12-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

let it be known that my comment was the one that super-charged miss a-rodriguez to update her blog. this makes me feel good. no, this makes me feel great! G - R - E - A - T - ! i feel like i can do anything. i feel like i should be in the obama administration and i'd have no problem passing socialized health care!

FINDING JOY IN THE LITTLE THINGS

2009-12-09T02:17:00.000-08:00

a funny thing happened to me tonight. i've had the flu for a few days and i'll admit i've been taking medication that makes me a little slower than normal. i decided to go take a hot shower before bed because that usually makes me feel a bit better. i got in, showered, got out, etc. i toweled off and dried my ears with a q-tip. all of this stuff is pretty a standard part of my post-shower routine.

i put my sweatpants, briefs, and t-shirt back on and started walking to my bedroom upstairs. suddenly, i stopped and remembered i had a load of wash that needed to be changed to the dryer. i did that and then i got a glass of water at the kitchen sink and headed back to my room upstairs. it wasn't until i was about halfway up the stairs that it occurred to me that something felt different. it felt like i had something in the left pocket of my sweatpants. i reached down to satisfy my curiosity and realized that i didn't have pockets in these sweatpants! i thought it was strange. then i felt a sense of freedom. serious freedom!

i realized that when i put my briefs and sweatpants back on, i got lazy and, like i had done when i removed them, i went for the the ol' two-fer. the bottom line is that i had somehow managed to get both legs down not only the elastic waist-band of my briefs, but also down one of the leg holes!

needless to say, i felt somewhat foolish.

ARMS AT AKIMBO - FINAL RECORDINGS

2009-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

At long last I have finally mixed 5 of the songs from an old band I was in called Arms at Akimbo. I posted a few songs a while ago but these are remixed and mastered with samples added. I guess you could say these are the most formal of recordings that we ever produced.
Here are links to where you can download the MP3s if you should be so inclined:

01 Open
02 Bahia de
03 JT
04 Andromeda is a Spiral Galaxy
05 Rising Sun

Also... I took the liberty of uploading them into an online playlist. If you have internet access you (or anyone) can listen to the entire "album" streaming in a browser window at the following link:

Arms at Akimbo - playlist.com

I hope you enjoy. I'd love to hear people's comments. It was a fun band to be a part of.

FOR FANS OF MUSIC IN WES ANDERSON FILMS

2009-11-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

here's a playlist i made that's composed of songs from wes anderson films. these include bottle rocket, rushmore, the royal tenenbaums, a life aquatic and darjeeling limited. it's on playlist.com so you can listen to it anywhere you can access the internet. just click on this link and leave the window open while you do your other computing.

http://www.playlist.com/playlist/14784982539

MY YEAR IN PETROL

2009-08-13T23:22:00.001-07:00

i think it's fair to say that in the past year we've seen more fluctuation in gas prices than ever before. but i think it's interesting that while we all seem to grumble about how much it costs, few of us really know what percentage of our income we spend on gasoline.

its for this reason that i decided to keep track of my gas usage. as many of you may know, i keep my receipts after filling up at the pump. the united states government has a website for people like me. it's called www.fueleconomy.gov. it lets me put in the details from my gas receipts and graphs my gas mileage. i decided to take these numbers a bit further so i pulled out the calculator and crunched some numbers. here's what i found:

1998 subaru legacy outback
2.5 litre engine
gas tank capacity: ~15 gallons
average miles per gallon: 22.23

average miles driven per year for the life of the car: 13,506
miles driven in the past year: 9,533

number of fill-ups in past year: 41
average cost per fill-up: $27.93
average miles driven per day: 26.1
average gasoline cost per mile: $0.12
average cost for gas per day: $3.12

most expensive fill-up: $53.04
best mpg per tank: 30.1
worst mpg per tank: 13.1
highest price i paid for gasoline: $4.20/gal
lowest price i paid for gasoline: $1.36/gal

total spent for gas in the past year: $1144.94

i don't know about anybody else, but i'm pretty blown away by that number. especially so because i didn't use my car to get to work. i can't imagine how much people that commute an hour each way must spend over the course of a year (or even scarier... a lifetime). it must be ridiculous. it brings up a good point as well. those people might be able to afford it, but is it fair that they're using up more than their fair share of the worlds non-renewable resources? maybe i'm outta line but it seems that there should be some type of compensation for those who choose to conserve.

so, what can i do to conserve more next next year? i'll start by trying to work near my home (or live near my work). i will be happy if i can find a job that lets me commute using public transit or bicycle. in addition, i'll try to ride my motorcycle or bike when i can to avoid driving my car.

the bottom line for me is that knowing how much i spend should help me better budget my gas usage in the future. I also want to point out that it wasn't difficult at all to track. i just print a receipt every time i fill up (best if you fill up all the way) and write down my odometer reading on each one. i stash the receipts in my console and every few months i log onto the site and enter in the info. i hope i can inspire others to give it a try.

SEEKING EMPLOYMENT

2009-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

i will be finishing up my work on this independent film in a few weeks and that means i'll be in the market to begin working. therefore, i've updated my resume and online portfolio. please take a look and pass it along to anybody you know who might have connections in the following fields:

interior design
graphic design
web design
product design
higher education (specifically interior or graphic design related)

i'm looking for local work in Portland, OR as well as any work i could do remotely. my credentials and contact info can be found at: dwickham.com

thanks a bunch for any help any of you can offer.

THE HAPPS

2009-07-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

i'm not going to apologize for being really shitty at updating this blog. i'm just not. so get over it.

i am in a garage in olympia, washington. it's furnished with a futon, a dvd player, a tv and prototype of an experimental electrolysis engine that runs on water. i am watching the extras on the life aquatic dvd.

i'm in olympia, washinton because it's relatively close to portland, oregon (my new home). i'm here on the type of business i won't get paid for. i made this business connection on the world wide web (namely facebook; have you heard of it?)

i'm here helping a few ambitious guys from NYU film school to make their micro-budget (i'd guess less than ten grand) feature length movie. i'm in charge of sound, and today i established myself as bestboy in spite of the fact that i don't yet know what the bestboy responsibilities are on a film set. i'd never met any of the other crew members when i got here but they are turning out to be great guys. for the next month i'm sleeping on an air matress and sharing a room with nandan (pronounced nun-dun) rao. He's the director of photography for the film and he's got one of the coolest cars i've ever seen. it's a 1972 Cooper Mini that he imported from new zealand when he has 16 years old. it's about half the size of the new BMW minis and it's even still got the steering wheel on the right side of the cabin (technical note: despite the right hand drive, the transmission is traditional american configuration with first gear at the upper left position.) i've been tagging along with him to his always informal meetings with director zack weintraub. tonight was a day off from shooting but instead involved a trek to locate and procure a canoe for shooting tomorrow's summertime rope swing scene on the deschutes river with the two 15 year old lead actors who are playing 17 year olds in the production. if this film sounds at all interesting please visit http://lotlmovie.com for details and extremely up-to-date coverage of the project.

to say the least, olympia has held nothing but good experiences for me (although a few long hours) and i've already met a lot of people. all of these people seem to be interesting in their own ways and i'm glad to have met each and every one of them.

dateline: prior to july 7, 2009

the beginning of the month of june saw me returning from a great week-long trip to lake powell with my family. my oldest sister, holly, helped me pack up my stuff and clean my apartment. we set out with two cars and a u-haul trailer en-route to portland from logan on the first day of june. just two hours outside of cache valley, my subaru broke down on the side of the highway. it ended up spending the night there in southern idaho while holly and i continued our drive to boise. with much appreciated rescue from my dad, grandpa, and grandma the old subaru rolled into the capital city of the gem state the next day and was quickly checked in for diagnosis at a boise mechanic shop. diagnosis failing fuel pump (which i like to think of as the heart of the car since it delivers the vital fluid to the engine). my graduate school entrance exam taught me that fuel pump is to engine as heart is to muscle tissue.

3 nights in boise while waiting for repair. 600 dollar repair bill. the highway out of boise long and littered with anticlimactic excitement. a new life. a test of character. potential. potential for neither success nor failure but likely something in-between.

after extremely slow email, phone and in-person negotiations it was decided i would not be immediately gainfully employed through my first attempt. this led to long days of handyman tasks, resume advances, sleeping in 'til noon or more, a new love for domesticated canines, and increased discovery channel viewership.

the last month has been a bit of a blur. the next month will likely result in a similar blur with an underlying theme of film-making with would be strangers in olympia, washington. we're slated to wrap on august 8th and from there i foresee that unknown potential i mentioned earlier. income will be paramount on my to-do list followed closely by shelter i can call my own which may be followed by musical endeavors in pdx.

as you trudge though this post you may be asking yourself, "what's the bottom line here?" where is all of this going? i'll oblige to answer such an inquiry with the following:

bottom line: i dearly miss the friends and family i left behind in utah (or the ones in finland). i want them to know i'm doing well. i hope that those friends and family are doing better than i and i hope against hope that i will see them all again. the thought of only seeing them for a temporay visit is quite literally (at very least it would seem) heart breaking.

ANA CHRISTINA RODRIGUEZ

2009-03-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

was her blog really removed or did she just get even more exclusive than she already was?

you make the call.

LANGUAGE

2009-03-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

as i pulled up to the McDonald's drive up window i extended my hand to receive the bag of goodness i'd just purchased. without hesitation, the worker uttered these wise words as if it had only taken her a split second to read my palm and contemplate my fortune.

"you are a strong zebra in the back."

i looked at her puzzled and thought to myself, "when did they start giving out free palm readings with every meal?" as i rolled up my window and pulled away i realized that what she probably meant to say was:

"your straw and receipt are in the bag"

maybe this is just a testament to how overworked i've been. but i figured i'd share this for all of the mormon abstractos and the jokers out there ready to live.

p.s. i realize this will only make sense for a select few.

INTERACTIVE

2009-02-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine, Jared Shores, has found himself in the leading role for a web series being produced by a BYU film class. It's called The Book of Je3miah and it is a constantly evolving series about a kid, Jeremiah Whitney (played by Jared), who attends BYU and is learning about strange developments from his past. It's kind of a conspiracy based plot where an evil organization is thopught to be after him. Every episode you learn more about who he is and who is chasing him.

What makes it truly interesting is that clues are given in each episode and viewers try to play a part in the story. As an example, clues show up in the episodes that have led BYU students to find stashed notes and files in various areas on campus and online. In this way, it makes it pretty fun to follow along.

While the subject matter is fairly "BYU bubble" or LDS oriented it has been fun to follow along and try to decipher clues, etc. You can think of it as a kind of Mormon Da Vinci Code.

Anyway, if this sounds at all interesting, check out the first episode at:

http://www.jer3miah.com

ANOTHER THOUGHT

2009-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

there will come a day when you have ceased, as have i, and none of these emotions, nor all combined, will amount to that which could will any scale to tip.

-DW 01/06/09

ARMS AT AKIMBO DEMOS - PART 2

2009-01-03T02:37:00.000-08:00

here's the second installment of the arms at akimbo demos. as noted in the last post these were recorded by putting one mic in the room at our last practice ever. enjoy and please leave comments letting me know what you liked or didn't like about the song. thanks!

note: this song evolves pretty slowly. it will probably really test the patience of some people.

title: jt
band: arms at akimbo
length: 6:46
format: 128kbs MP3

COMPOSITION 1

2009-01-03T02:00:00.000-08:00

title: erik dragging a knee
media: marker on white cardboard w/ corrugation exposed
dimensions: 18" x 8"

COMPOSITION 2

2009-01-03T01:58:00.001-08:00

title: walter charles wickham
media: printed ink on paper
dimensions: 10" x 8"

COMPOSITION 3

2009-01-03T01:51:00.001-08:00

title: neuschwanstein castle
media: printed ink mounted on foamcore
dimensions: 16" x 10"

COMPOSITION 4

2009-01-03T01:39:00.001-08:00

title: pink floyd
media: latex paint on carved polystyrene
dimensions: 68" x 42"

AMAZING INFOGRAPHIC

2008-12-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

so i found this through word of mouth. it's probably one of the coolest interactive graphs ever created and what makes it even cooler is that it represents data on movies! check it out. be sure to click on the different movies to see more detail.

ARMS AT AKIMBO DEMOS - PART 1

2008-12-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

i played in a band called arms at akimbo. we wrote some songs. we only officially recorded one of those songs but i still haven't gotten the finished recording from the people who we paid to record us. anyway, at our last official practice before disbanding we decided to hit record in our practice space. what follows is what we sounded like that day. these are one shot takes and could be likened to demos.

for the record this music will most likely appeal to those that enjoy post rock bands such as explosions in the sky, mogwai, godspeed you! black emperor, sigur ros, etc. i think this song especially has a built to spill-esque guitar jam to it.

more songs like this one to come later.

enjoy and please leave comments letting me know what you liked or didn't like about the song. thanks!

title: andromeda is a spiral galaxy
band: arms at akimbo
length: 4:59
format: 160kbs MP3

REALLY RANDOM

2008-11-25T16:49:00.001-08:00

so it seems to me that my mood usually correlates to how clean i keep my apartment. in fact i'd say that my tidiness can range pretty widely from "OCD freak" to "complete slob". I'm not sure if other people deal with this same phenomena. anyway, to commemorate this trait of mine i made a very short seemingly pointless video. check it out.

ACHICK INSANE

2008-10-30T01:37:00.001-07:00

i helped my friend emulate a classic album cover. the idea was that it had to be a portrait of her. i suggested we do david bowie's aladdin sane. this is what we came up with after i photoshopped the paint on her face, changed her hair color, adjusted levels, and cut out the background (i lost patience when it came to the hair).

COMPOSITION INSPIRED BY VIDEO

2008-10-29T15:51:00.001-07:00

i took a video of a freight train in southern idaho and really liked the color that was on it. so, through a long process of capturing stills of each and every train car i converted it to a striped background (if you look closely you'll see that each stripe in the background of the image corresponds directly to one of the 67 train cars in the video. they're also in order.)

BALLOONS

2008-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

STYLIZING PHOTOS

2008-10-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

i spent this past weekend in rexburg, idaho working on some rental properties that my parents own. it was good to do some physical labor and to see my parents and sister. i stopped along side the road on the drive back to logan and decided to take a few photos. i was inspired by the combination of colors i saw on the countryside.

i had this antique fan in the back of my car so i pulled it out and decided to take a self portrait with my digital camera. after a few attempts at setting the camera timer and then running into position i snapped this one which i liked the most.

i needed to crop it so i opened it up in photoshop. i was just playing around but one or two tweaks turned into many and i came up with a few different versions of the photo.

let me know which one you like best.

the effects on this one are subtle but i used gaussian blur to try to give the photo more of a in-focus/out-of-focus look. i am not sure but i think this might be called short depth of field. (maybe christy can comment on this). i also bumped up the saturation of the yellow weeds a little.

i tried to give this one a black and white film like quality. i used the same blur effects for depth of field but i also blew out the levels so that it would have high contrast. obviously i got rid of all the saturation as well. then i added noise to different areas of the photo to emulate film grain.

this last variation is kind of inspired by christy's photos taken with her holga camera. i subdued the saturation and added reds to the midtones to give it more summery/poloroid type of tones. then i created a few vertical blocks of varying saturation on top of that to give it that cool misaligned frame effect that you get with holgas.

POLITICS SCHMOLITICS

2008-09-27T16:04:00.001-07:00

i will be the first to admit that i don't know much about the current affairs of our nation because i rarely see the news. i don't read newspapers. i don't listen to radio (especially not talk radio). for some this would be an indication that i'm very misinformed (and maybe that's a factual assumption). the little trickle of news i know of either comes to me by way of word of mouth or by watching online streaming video. i can make the assumption that i am less affected by mass media than some and possibly most.

i watched most of the first presidential debate last night and here's what i deduced from it:

both candidates seemed to me to be better informed about issues than our current president. they were both able to refer to figures when analyzing questions and responses. they both seemed to be far more skilled in the "oratory arts" than our current president. at various times throughout the debate, both senators tried to exploit the negatives of their opposition. however, while i noticed that there were many times that sen. obama tried to clarify these points, there were few times that sen. mccain did the same. this led me to believe that the republicans either had less accurate stats on obama's plan or that they had skillfully twisted points of his plan in order to make them seem less appealing.

it seemed to be rare that mccain would try to defend or further explain the negatives of the republican plan presented by sen. obama.

i will admit that i am your average joe schmoe that knows less about politics and our country's current state of being than some (and possbly most) others, however, i am of the current stance that the democrats seem to be the better choice for presidential election.

i feel that this choice is the lesser of two evils. from the small amount of exposure i've had to nader's ideas, i think he maybe be a better suited commander-in-chief than either of the bi-partisan candidates. it is a shame that the system doesn't allow him (or anyone else who might possess good, or for that matter, bad ideas) a unbiased shot at leading our country.

my vote as an individual counts just as much as anyone else's. i will be at the polls on nov. 4th.

PHOTOS FROM ATP

2008-09-26T15:28:00.001-07:00

i recently bought a new point and shoot camera. i decided to try it out while we were at the festival. most of the shows were pretty sparse on lighting but i think i got a few good shots here and there. it was fun to play with the settings. i also took all of the band photos in the previous post as well. please do me a favor by commenting on your favorites.

(for the record. the only things i adjusted on these photos were cropping and some minor levels adjustments in photoshop.)

title: waves
i wound up the camera on it's carrying loop and then did a long exposure and let it spin. kinda cool flowing lines with some nice bright colors.

title: tokster
this shot kind of reminds me of rockets blasting off. i used a long exposure of the stage while i shook the camera and then set it down pointed at motoki who was watching the stage. he didn't know i was taking this so he sat still like a good little boy.

title: texture
this one was just a long exposure of the stage but i slid the camera across the railing in front of me. as it slid it vibrated ever so slightly which gave the light streaks a cool bumpiness.

title: glasgow mega snake
i was on the front row while i watched mogwai. i just snapped this one of the stage snake using a short depth of field. stuart of mogwai is out of focus in the background.

title: neons
just wiggled the camera while there were nifty colored lights on stage.

title: broseph jakov
this is the same idea as the one of motoki but i combined it with sliding the camera to get that cool texture to the light streaks. again, i was sneaky so jake didn't move while he was being exposed.

title: exit does exist
this was just a bored shot of the exit sign in the back of the arena/auditorium but i liked the way it was composed in the frame as well as how the light didn't burn in too hard.

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES

2008-09-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

this last weekend jake and i flew out to new york and met up with motoki to attend all tomorrow's parties. it was a weekend filled with lots of loud music. we attended about 15 full sets and about six other partial sets. it was really great to see all of the bands (lots of them aren't likely to tour through utah anytime soon) and even better to talk geek stuff with the boys.

i took photos, drank beer, ate way too many chicken tenders due to lack of available food variety, attended impromptu dance parties, and marveled at sweet vintage gear. it may sound like a perfect vacation but i was actually completely exhausted by the time i got back to logan at 3am on tuesday.

built to spill - playing "perfect from now on"
this was nothing short of amazing. i have been a little let down the past few times that i've seen them play but this was a real treat. they had john on cello with them and it really filled in their live sound to approximate the spacey/epic sounds of the album. they played the tracklist in order and then went directly into "going against your mind". then they did an encore of a few songs and finished with a knob twisting freak out at the end of "car". it was very good and i was glad not to be let down.

tortoise - playing "millions now living will never die"
all in all i think that this set got my personal stamp of most well composed and intricate music. they sounded great and it was great to finally see them live. they did a lot of switching instruments and whatnot.

meat puppets - playing "meat puppets II"
this was the first time i've seen them live. they played pretty well but i kept noticing the singer giving his brother on bass sneers for making mistakes. i hate when i see this happen in a live show and it kind of makes me assume that there are some serious egos on stage. either way, they rocked hard and the possibly inebriated bobble headed bass player was fun to watch for sure. near the end he threw his bass in the air and even though that trick may be regarded as a little cliche in some circles i still found it cool.

bardo pond - playing "lapsed"
i wasn't familiar with this band nor the album they were reproducing in a live setting but i found them to be rather entertaining. i didn't care much for the flute playing. however, the guitars had some serious tone. in fact one of the guitarist had a moogerfooger murf which influenced my decision to pay way too much for one when we returned to manhattan after the festival. give it up for analog geek gear and impulse buys!

silver mount zion
this was one of the main bands i came to see and they were nothing short of amazing. we camped out by the door and ended up getting to watch from the front row. i can't even believe the raw talent that they exhibit. haunting and droning with an abrasive message. very good performance. i was hating the fact that my bladder was about to explode halfway through their set.

low
low was amazing! i had never really fallen in love with the albums i've listened to of theirs but to see them live was so good! they are quiet, minimalist and stripped down which is really nice because i could listen to his guitar tone for days on end. it is amazing. they got my favorite band of the weekend vote. did i mention that they're midwest married mormons. in other words, they're not your typical rock stars.

harmonia
these were old dudes that were pioneers in electronic music decades ago. i watched from close to the stage at first but after hearing their ambient electro-synth harmonies i ended up going to the back of the room, laying down on the floor and letting them lull me into a dreamy state. good but not my favorite. it was nice to have that variety though.

growing
this is two dudes that make weird sounds. it's mostly archaic noise with little to no melodies to be found. a lot of people were raving about them. i liked watching them work their equipment but i couldn't help but think that what they were producing live was mostly happenstance of which they only had a vague amount of control over. it's funny that i probably under-appreciated this band while the music i make on my own is so very similar. does that make me a hypocrite? possibly.

fuck buttons
not dissimilar to growingw, this band is two dudes with a table and laptops and a few other things. i have said this before and i'll say it again. i can't get on-board for bands that i can't see producing the music. i need to be able to follow the process from eyes to ears in order to appreciate a live performance. i can't really do that with fuck buttons. it amounts for me to being slightly more entertaining than watching someone play solitaire on their computer. still fun...kinda.

mercury rev
their music had a big overly-produced sound which i actually really liked but the lead singer was so over dramatic that i give the entire set (which otherwise would have been quite impressive) a so-so at best feel. you'd think this guy was performing the most secret of cult-like rituals from the way he was waving his arms and prancing around the stage. it was obviously synthetic. he'd hold out his arms and a roadie would come from off stage to put his guitar on him. it was pretty lame. and that's coming from someone who really enjoys their albums.

yo la tengo
i saw them once before and ended up being only slightly impressed. they didn't seem stoked to be playing in utah and i sensed that. however, this time was like a re-awakening. they rocked so hard and were so good. their last song was a looping noise fest that turned into spazzed out guitar playing. if he didn't actually have a epileptic seizure on stage he sure faked it well. i was feeling it big time. this band knows how to work the feedback of their amplifiers. i can't appreciate that fact enough.

mogwai
another of the main bands i came to see. they took forever to set up. i was on the front row for this one. they came out and played 9 amazing songs (four from their new album to be released 2 days later). the songs were so very similar to the albums and so powerful. they joked a bit which was the only tip off to the fact that they are actually human. i was blown away by everything about their set. very very good.

dinosaur jr.
i'd heard a lot about this band but had only listened a few times to their albums. i'd guess they're a throwback to the pre or post grunge era. j mascis was old and kinda creepy looking. he showed off a lot of his amazing guitar work. i've never seen a bass player play so fast and strum so much like a guitar. they played well but it felt like between every song they'd lose focus and all have to play little boredom induced riffs. it was this fact that really kind of made me wonder how they had become legends when they're still like 4th graders with ADD. it seemed more like practice and less like a performance. good but not great.

my bloody valentine
this was the headlining act of the weekend. they were reuniting for this after about a decade and a half apart. known for being ridiculously loud live, they didn't disappoint in this aspect. defined as one of the seminal bands of the shoegaze genre, i was a bit disappointed that the cool synth sounds of their songs weren't produced live. they were playing along with a backing track of said sonic samplings. they had about 14 or 15 marshall half stacks on stage (and only 2 guitarists; do the math). kevin shields probably went through about 20 different guitars during the entire set (almost one for every song; no joking). they were mostly all fender jazzmasters or jaguars in a spackling of assorted colors. i got tired and left about halfway through the set to wander around. when i met back up with jake and motoki they said that it was without a doubt the loudest thing they had ever witnessed. there was one song where they stood like statues on stage for 17 minutes straight and let their guitars feedback. the idea seems kind of cool but i think i'd get the point after about 2 minutes and the remaining 15 would just be mundane fluff. they made sure that everyone had a chance to get free ear plugs before they played. i'm glad i got mine.

WHAT I PLAN TO READ

2008-09-03T00:14:00.001-07:00

i just returned from some friends' house where i had three short stories read aloud to me. the stories were all written by miranda july. i decided that i really enjoyed her writing after hearing the first short story. it was about a birthmark and the human interactions that such a thing carries with it. i didn't think i was familiar with her work until my friend told me that she wrote, directed, and acted in the indie film me and you and everyone we know. i think i will go buy one of her books tomorrow. i already find her creative mind to be nothing short of amazing.

i remember kind of liking her movie. it was interesting and very endearing while also being downright disturbing and off-putting at times. i feel it takes a lot to offend me but there were certain parts of this movie that made me uncomfortable. from the 20ish or so pages i've heard read aloud, i think i like her writing more.

HOUSE PARTY MUSIC

2008-08-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

ok, so i'm thinking i'm gonna start another band this school year that is just straight up crowd pleasing party music. all covers. but the thing is they have to be good covers, not novelty covers or covers of obscure songs that most people don't know. get it? so what i need is some serious comments from my peeps about what songs they'd love to hear at a house party. i think we're willing to do all genres (rock, dance, soul, 70s, 80s, rap, punk, etc.) but we just wanna make sure people have a good time. this idea is partly inspired by last year's clash cover band that rocked the house (well bar, well social club actually). it rocked so hard that the threat of getting bit by weird, drunk, fat, native americans was a serious concern.

just to give you guys some ideas of songs i've already got in mind:

blondie - dreaming
pixies - where is my mind or here comes your man
mc hammer - you can't touch this (possibly in the novelty category)
david bowie - moonage daydream or queen bitch
the doors - hello, i love you
joy division - love will tear us apart
joan jett and the blackhearts - i love rock and roll
marvin gaye - let's get it on
the cure - ???
pink floyd - money
radiohead - paranoid android
ramones - beat on the brat
rolling stones - paint it black
weezer - el scorcho
white stripes - the hardest button to button
the who - baba o'reilly (teenage wasteland)

the songs above are just what i come up with when i run through my ipod but i know there are a lot better dance tunes than this. what are the best dance songs you know of? i need the collective help!

LET IT BE KNOWN

2008-08-09T01:26:00.000-07:00

it has been a rough week

but i can get through it

CAFE RACER - UPDATE

2008-08-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

this post is for those who have been following the transformation of my motorcycle. last night i put on some new british style silencers (mufflers) on the bike. the stock muffler on the left side had developed a crack on the ride to jackson and eventually progressed until the whole megaphone broke into 2 pieces. i ordered the new ones from www.mikesxs.com for 65 dollars each and free shipping. they went on pretty easy. my good friend and motorcycle afficionado erik grim helped me. we cut the header pipes off of the old megaphones and then were able to clamp the new ones on without having to weld. the only thing that did require welding was the kickstand. erik fabbed up a new foot bar that cleared the new silencer. the end result is that my XS sounds big and mean now (even though it's only a 392 cc engine) and it looks good to boot. here are some pics. compare them to the photos in my other post.

THOUGHTS

2008-08-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

i keep a notebook where i write down little thoughts that pop into my head. sometimes they're funny. sometimes they're wise. sometimes the don't make any sense because they're scribbled while i'm half asleep.

here's an example:

LOGAN LAWNCHAIR CINEMA

2008-07-25T13:38:00.001-07:00

early this summer i had the idea that i should host a summer film series here in logan. since i had recently bought a projector i almost felt that it was my duty. the idea was that i'd call it the LAWNCHAIR CINEMA and show a different movie in the great outdoors every week. everybody could be invited and it'd be for the excuse of a social gathering more than anything else. well i let the idea sit for about half the summer but when some of my freelance work started to slow down i got on the ball.

i knew that i needed to come up with some sort of mobile solution for these movies since i wasn't sure where this event would take place each week. so i started sketching out plans for a screen that i could set up anywhere. in the end it ended up being a frame of PVC that could be broken down for easy transport (see time-lapse video below). i enlisted the sewing skills of jessica belcher to convert a queen size sheet for the screen part. i had been thinking maybe green canyon was the best place to do it so that we wouldn't be disturbing anybody and everyone knows where it is. but, since there aren't any power receptacles up there i ended up buying a heavy duty power inverter that i can run off my car battery. 150 feet of extension cords were needed to keep my running car out of earshot and to keep the exhaust from gassing the audience.

after these preparations everything seemed to be ready. so two wednesday's ago, i kicked it off with the cycling movie Breaking Away (1979). we had about 15 people show up and i think everybody enjoyed themselves. i was glad to have mister lance petersen there to help me set everything up.

this past wednesday we had our second showing. we played Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) and it went off pretty well. we had a few new faces and i felt the movie was pretty much unanimously acclaimed by those in attendance.

i think next wednesday night we'll be showing the bmx classic RAD (1986) but we'll be changing up the location to bryan bostrom's freshly grown grassy back yard. they're having a sushi party before and then we'll show the movie at dark preceded by an episode of Arrested Development.

it would be great to see anybody who can make it. all are welcome and it's free!

I'M GOING TO JACKSON

2008-07-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago i went with erik and his brother and a few other friends on a weekend motorcycle ride to jackson. we actually ended up staying in a condo just outside of driggs, idaho near grand targhee resort. anyway, with the help of erik, i came up with a camera mount for my handlebars and i got some footage of the trip. it was a good time and i was proud that the xs400 made the trip with all of the newer, bigger faster bikes.

below are some of the highlights documenting our trip. please feel free to click on them for larger versions. you can even choose to watch the YouTube videos in higher quality once you click on them. cool huh! feel free to leave comments.

stopped at the overlook at Garden City

the ride over Teton Pass

looking at the Tetons from the Wyoming side

erik's brother scott going really fast

looking at the Tetons from the Idaho side

a few clips of my xs400

a little bit of comic relief

GEEKINESS

2008-07-17T15:19:00.001-07:00

i am a geek. i needed something for my music that can split the signal from my guitar and send it two different places. in addition i wanted to be able to turn on these seperated signals at will. there are guitar pedals for sale that serve just such a purpose but i decided to build my own.

i un-soldered some components from an old amp i have (some of you may remember said amp from last christmas' white elephant extravaganza). i then went to radio-shack and bought the needed components i didn't have. by the way, you are a geek when you know way more about this geek crap than the guys who actually work at radio-shack.

i came home and killed about 5 hours wiring, testing, and then re-wiring until i came up with this beauty. total cost was bout 17 bucks. i doubt anyone else will get much excitement from this post but i know no one will doubt that i got excited about this. i give you the dw-ABY:

A-PUNK

2008-07-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

i know this song is probably old news by now but i just saw the video and thought it was pretty cool. i like the idea that bands are making interesting videos and it's become acceptable to do it on a low budget. it's about the ideas more than the expensive equipment or the production quality.

anyway enjoy:

on a side note, vampire weekend's other video couldn't seem any more to me like a rip off of wes anderson. does anyone else agree with me?

QUINCY THE NEPHEW

2008-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

my sister and her family just moved to mississippi and had this kid a few months ago. his name is quincy and i can't help but wonder if that southern barbecue is the best thing to bring a kid up on. either way, i thought this was a pretty amazing photo of the kid.

CAFE RACER

2008-06-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

in may of 2007 i got a wild idea to buy a motorcycle. it's not an uncommon thing for a man in his young adulthood to do. i paid about 500.00 dollars for it and had no idea whether i'd really ride it much. it's a 1980 Yamaha XS400 Special and although it will never be a fast or expensive bike, i think i've done a few things to it that i feel have taken it from "goofy looking" status to "pretty cool" status. unfortunately i lost the photos i took right after i bought it but i have photoshopped a found photo to give you the main idea.

original config (goofy bars, pansy yellow paint job, etc.)

i painted the tank, side covers, and emblems using spray paint and clearcoat (not too shabby, huh?)

then i put on clubman handlebars to give it that dropped/tucked look

and recently i put on bar-end mirrors and a cafe style seat with custom recessed taillight. the seat lets me slide back and get a more tucked/aggressive riding stance.

in addition, i moved the front forks up higher in the clamps which brought the front end down a little and helped to level out the top line of the bike.

the XS has run pretty good ever since i bought it and all-in-all i have had a blast with this bike. it sure is nice to have a fill-up at the pump come in at around ten dollars too!

SUMMER FESTIVITIES

2008-06-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

i copped some of lance pance's photos today and got bored enough to photoshop a few. if some of my students handed in stuff like this i'd eff them (as in give them an F for their grade) but for some reason i'm choosing to share this crap with you all. enjoy.

WELL, IF YOU'RE CALLING ME OUT...

2008-05-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

okay, so I'm a big slacker when it comes to blogging and you all know it. big deal! but to appease the masses let me blog about my newest geek project.

my close friend and bandmate motoki-san has officially moved away which means that the band is currently defunct. i've decided recently that i'm gonna give music on my own a shot. as such, i've been scheming and have thusly settled on the following details for said endeavor.

this incarnation will include the following instruments all of which will be played and managed live by me:

electric guitar
electric bass
bass drum, snare drum, high hats, crash (all of which will be controlled by feet)
drum machine
microKORG synth
echoplex tape loop echo
microphone
loopers (the interesting/difficult part)
samples
e-bow
heavy delay

i am strongly opposed to the use of laptops in live music. to me it takes away the thrill of the moment because you have no idea what is pre-recorded and what is being produced on the spot. i will not be using a laptop and will do my best to produce everything live (with the exception of samples of course).

what will it sound like? i have no idea. why? because i'm still in the extremely geek phase of the project where i buy a ton of geek pedals and loopers and build what i'm currently calling "the contraption".

the contraption is a kick drum into which i've suspended a snare drum right behind the rear head (so i can use my feet to hit it with a kick pedal). but the best part of the contraption is that i'm building a rotary speaker inside the front of it.

for those who don't know what a rotary speaker is, it's a speaker that is mounted so that it spins while it's producing sound. one of the most common rotary speakers is called a leslie and it's usually used with a hammond b3 organ (the most famous of all rock/jazz organs). i'm convinced that it is the best sound in the world. because the speaker spins, it fluctuates the pitch due to the doppler effect.

anyway, back to the one i'm building. i've mounted two 8" speakers to a wooden disc that's about 20 inches in diameter. the disc sits right behind the front head of the kick drum (which i've cut 6 different holes into to allow the sound to escape from the drum). the disc is attached to an axle that has a flywheel which is belt driven by an electric motor. when the motor is turned on the disc starts to spin and whatever is playing through the speakers is in turn affected with wobbly/chorus type sound.

some classic songs that feature a rotary speaker:

procol harum - a whiter shade of pale**
pink floyd - echoes
jimi hendrix - little wing
spencer davis group - gimme some lovin'

** 1:16 = best moment in the history of audible sound, IMHO

there are tons of effect pedals that TRY to emulate this sound but i figured there's nothing like the real thing.

in addition to the instruments already mentioned i have an idea to make an instrument out of an old analog delay unit i have. i think it MIGHT sound kinda like the intro of "ten thousand lines" by electric president. by the way, holy hell, i've been into them lately. if you haven't heard them they're worth checking out. anyway, if said "instrument" is anything interesting, then i'll try to blog about it upon it's completion.

i think it's likely that the music i make will be more along the lines of post-rock or maybe even noise rock due to the fact that songs will start small and build as i continue to add new instruments to the mix using various loopers. these songs will likely have a "layering" style to them and not so much verse-chorus-verse structure.

the last bit of information i have pertains to what i call it. for some reason i can't quit kicking the word "DOLBY" around in my head for a couple of reasons:

it was the first symbol i ever recognized that had to do with music technology. i was probably about 5 and my dad was listening to a waylon jennings tape in the car. i noticed the symbol on the flap of the tape deck where the cassette goes in. i asked him what it was and he gave me an explanation. it now carries a very nostalgic feeling for me whenever i think of that moment.
the reference to the new technology mentioned to save "smell the glove" in spinal tap
because i'm considering making stereo-phonics a part of my live performance

For copyright and un-originality reasons i thought maybe i'd change the spelling to DULBY. i haven't settled on this name yet though. so if you've read this far then please leave a comment suggesting a band name for me. it could be something that plays off of DOLBY or something altogether different.

anyway, i know this blog has been so geek-boring for pretty much everybody but this is what you get when you ask for a blog update from me.

GOOD NEWS

2008-04-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

i checked the mail when i got home today and noticed an envelope from general electric. i opened it up and read the enclosed letter to find out that i won 1st place for my kitchen design. this contest was the only one i've done that wasn't required for one of my classes so it was pretty tough to make myself stay up 3 nights in a row to finish it. i guess the $5000* in prize money makes it all worth it though.

* with tax day tomorrow i can't help but wonder how deep uncle sam will dip into the winnings°°.

°° of which he rightfully deserves†††.

††† in other words, my kitchen design killed soldiers for Dick Cheney(among other things)

FIXED

2008-04-11T01:46:00.000-07:00

firstly, i want to dedicate this post to jessica. she is my nyc savior and best host ever. she pretty much treated me like a welcome house guest all summer long. i can't wait for anytime and the possibility of a goat cheese omelet next month.

with that said, here's a link to a game i made for a class. i hope it will gain a spot in the ranks with jesse's classic titled "heavy shred". brooklyn folk should note that the street names may seem familiar.

anyway, try it out and post high scores as comments. it may be a little slow depending on how fast your computer is. i plan to make a version 2.0 so i'd love to hear your comments about how to make it better.

LINK

a tip: don't run into stuff. it makes it way less fun (but if you do run into stuff, visit the bike shop).

OPEN

2008-03-29T00:46:00.000-07:00

for those that have the attention span for a 10 minute song, this is a recording that we recently decided to spend some time/cash on.

it's our only "real" recording. everything else we have is just hitting record on the ol' ipod. the mixing generally consists of picking a uncluttered patch of carpet somewhere in the middle of the room. what's that, more drums, no problem. kick it a foot closer to the kick drum. bingo. and so goes "recording". i know there are some that will insist that ocd dusty wouldn't possibly allow such haphazard documentation practices. such implications are warranted but i assure you i am not telling lies.

anyway i think this real recording sounds pretty good. the people who recorded us did a better job than we did of playing it. i will say it's kind of nice to have something vaguely official. i'd love comments/criticisms/kudos/etc.

arms at akimbo - open.mp3

for posterity:

motoki asaoka - bass guitar
jacob smith - guitar 1
dusty wickham - guitar 2
sean morris - drums

***sample cut from easy rider

ALTERCATION

2008-02-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

WHEN DID FIXED-GEARS BECOME THE NEW SKATEBOARDS?

firstly, let me just apologize to all for my poor showing in the Bloggerville World Cup 08'. to be honest i just haven't had much stuff happen that feels blogworthy. but today i finally had something that is without-a-doubt worthy of blogging about.

part 1...

i was riding to school across champ drive near the quad and the building in which i work. i wasn't going fast or anything, just riding along as they say. silver saab guy ends up not seeing me as i cross the street and thusly not yielding my right of way. it wasn't a big deal to me though. i made it across without much incident at all, it may have been a little closer than it should've been but was by no means a close call. as i'm riding away from the intersection i hear him lay on his horn. i flip him the bird intending to not ever think about any of it again. he ends up pulling along side of me, rolling down his window and yelling at me.

silver saab guy: "did you just flip me off!?"
ddw: "yeah, i did. i had the right of way and you didn't see me."
silver saab guy: "that doesn't mean you can ride into traffic without looking at 30 miles an hour!"
***i was probably honestly going about 10-12 miles an hour across a gigantic open field of grass clearly as visible (if not more so) than any of the people walking***
ddw: "i saw you. you didn't see me!"
silver saab guy: "well why are you trying to start something by flipping me off!?"
ddw: "i'm not starting anything. You honked at me! it's the same thing."
silver saab guy: "well if you want a fight, why don't you come over here and we'll settle it".
***silver saab guy is stopped in the road still sitting in his car. traffic is starting to back up behind him. by this point I've pulled up to the bike rack and started locking up my bike.***
ddw: "i don't need to fight you. you're the one who honked at me in the first place. are you stupid?"
***I continue locking up my bike. silver saab guy just sits in his car still looking at me.***
ddw: "dude, what's your problem? get over it! keep driving."
silver saab guy: "why don't you come over here and tell me that?"
***i look at the dude, awe-struck by his macho behavior. i search for words and due to lack of any rational behavior on this dude's part the following words come out:***
ddw: "you're a dipshit."
***I shake my head disapprovingly to be especially condescending. I've found that to work well in the past. just then I see a kid about 6-7 years old in the backseat lean forward and look out the window. he looks half scared to death and then I kind of regret saying the word "dipshit". even so, he's gonna learn at some point what his dad is. why not now? silver saab dude slowly rolls away saying something like:***
silver saab guy: "Oh, that's real mature using language like that. Real mature, buddy!"

At that moment I couldn't help but wonder what level of maturity it takes to stop in the middle of the road, hold up traffic, and try to pick a fight with someone 10 years younger and 100 pounds lighter than you. Not to mention he had his kid(s) in the back seat.

part 2...

so, i go into the office and about 20 minutes later i end up going to get lunch with my friend carol. i'd just finished telling her about the whole ordeal. as we're sitting there eating at the italian place i see the dude pull up and walk in the building across the street (behind caffe ibis). i couldn't believe the luck. anyway, we ate and left the restaurant.

i'd like to tell you all that i was able to exhibit enough personal restraint to the position such a situation would afford me.

i'd like to tell you i'm the better person.

i'd like to tell you that i just let the whole thing go.

i'd like to tell you to look closely at the camera-phone photo below...

SCHOOL BLOG

2007-12-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

so this has been a pretty killer semester and now that it's over i guess i should document some of it.

the first project i worked on was for an IDEC competition. it was a group project and the emphasis was to make a small housing unit that is extremely affordable. this is basically low-income housing but we also needed to incorporate the principals of sustainablity. the boards that we ended up creating were completely hand drawn. i spent hours writing out the text and another person in the group did the renderings. the corrugated part on the bottom is where we actually cut the top layer of the cardboard out so you see the inside of it. i think it turned out well and hopefully we get recognized when the time comes to be judged.

the next project i worked on was for another competition called Tasmeem Doha. a partner and i had the task of coming up with a design concept to better the world. it needed to have something to do with shelter. we decided to take the vague nature of the design breif and keep it really simple. basically we want to create a blueprint for a container that can be used for a whole bunch of other things. we called it xix and we submitted a video i made using 3DS max. hopefully you'll get a good idea of what we had in mind by watching it (please do because i probably spent like 50-70 hours on it). we also made a custom CD case with some images and a simple built-in scale model of our container that could be assembled when you open the booklet. p.s. the music on the video is arms at akimbo, the band that we had last year. (i think we're re-forming after the holiday too.)

the project that followed was one i did on my own. it was to design a piece of furniture that had multiple functions. it was to be presented to KARIM RASHID and so i designed it in a similar style to his work. we were required to build a model of our design and so i used a rapid proto-typing printer. it's a basically a 3D printer that makes objects out of a starch. it's pretty cool but expensive. my model cost me about 100 bucks and wouldn't you know it, i dropped it and broke it right before i handed it in. i ended up gluing what i could back together and it looks alright. below you'll see some photos of it. i'm aslo including a video file that played in the box that it sat on and showed the various functions.

after that it was another group project. we were given a project that a SLC firm is currently really working on. the objective was to design a space for SUNSET magazine which is opening an office in downtown SLC. each person on the team did different parts of the project. i'm just going to post some images of the layout which i did. i also built a model of the reception area but i haven't photographed it yet. note: the white squares had material samples attached after the boards were printed.

the last project that i've worked on wasn't technically for school. it was for a design contest i chose to enter. the object is to design a DREAM KITCHEN that uses GE MONOGRAM appliances. a friend of mine won last year and bought herself a harley davidson sportster with the $5000. i could really use $5000 too so i figured it was worth staying up 3 nights in a row. here are the images that i came up with and submitted:

GORGE

2007-12-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

DC BIKE POSSE

2007-11-28T21:18:00.001-08:00

this past week was spent by a select few in our nation's capital. that's right, washington dc. most of us arrived on thanksgiving day and were treated to one excellent meal courtesy of friends myke and dalel bybee. the days that followed would hold many exciting adventures and stories, my favorite of which being a tipsy bike ride home from the galaxy hut. i just want to extend a nice firm thank you to those that made this trip such an enjoyable experience. thank you.

NOTEWORTHY

2007-11-14T21:45:00.002-08:00

yesterday i had the privilege of getting to hang out with karim rashid. some of you might recognize him from the dirt devil kone commercial:

he was in utah to do a lecture that usu interior design hosted. my friend deann and i picked him up from his hotel in slc. it was a really cool experience for us both and we ended up talking to him about everything from design (of course) to happiness to wolf parade. he even mentioned that i should come intern for him at his office in chelsea this next summer. who knows if i actually will or not but i guess it's a possibility since he suggested it. it's at least something to think about.

STOP THE PRESSES....

2007-11-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

so as it would appear, there has been a miscalculation on the previous post. the actual number is really 112. i could blame the mis-information on "bad intelligence" or perhaps on "hanging chads" or maybe something even more ridiculous but, as true americans, I think we're all wise to that bullshit by now. When it really comes down to it, i was doing a socialogical experiment. i'm flattered that many of you worried for my health at such a shocking number of McVisits. thank you. i hope that i have not betrayed your trust too much.

some stats:

112 - Total McVisits
$474.12 - Total Dollars Spent*
$4.23 - Average Cost per McVisit
3.25 - Average Days between McVisits

This also means that the gift certificate goes to Andrew Cazier. Congratulations to him on a victorious guess. He edged out Jeremy Wilkins (who has recently made a habit of being a runner-up). Sorry Christy, you're win has been snatched out from under you just as mine was a few weeks ago. It hurts, doesn't it.

*most of these dollars went towards plain double-cheeseburgers (that's right, just meat and cheese on a bun) which is a steal at just .99 cents each. another favourite** of mine which was acquired within the last year is the ranch snack wrap with crispy chicken.

**british spelling of the word favorite. definition = same as a american english version.

McANSWER

2007-11-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

So, after some number crunching I have come to a total for McGUESSING GAME. Just to recap the guesses for number of visits in 1 year:

Christy Baugh: 365
Andrew Cazier: 179
Neil Miner: 1,000,000,000.5
Hallie Wilkins: 327
Jeremy Wilkins: 180
Amanda Nelson: 267
Michelle Anderson: 243
Cayle Christensen: 300

The total is (drumroll please): 575 visits

Which makes Christy Baugh the proud owner of a $5.00 gift certificate to McDonald's. Thanks to everybody who participated.

McGUESSING GAME

2007-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

so, just for kicks i've decided to host a little guessing game. you all need to guess how many times i used my debit card at mcdonald's in the last year. submit your guesses by commenting on this post. to help you out i would guess that i only pay with cash 5 percent of the time i visit the golden arches. make guesses for the period from november 1st 2006 to november 1st 2007. keep in mind that last year was not a leap year. also, for those who don't know me too well, think big and then double it. i eat there a lot. i imagine it will be somewhat embarrassing to tell you all the actual number but i'm pretty excited myself to see just how much of an addict i am. the winner gets a gift certificate to mcdonald's. i will be going over my atm statements for the last year to find the actual number. once everyone has had a chance to put in a guess then i'll reveal the extent of my addiction.

oh, and forget about all this closest without going over business, the closest to the actual number will win whether it's over or under the actual.

01110011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101110 01100101 01101001 01101100

2007-11-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110011 01110100 01110101 01101101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01101000 01100001 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 01100101 01100101 01101110 00101110 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100011 01110010 01100001 01100110 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101100 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01111001 01101100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100101 01110011 01110100 00100000 00101000 01100001 01101011 01100001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100101 01110011 01110100 01100010 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101000 01101001 01101101 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00101001 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 01100110 01110101 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110011 01101011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101100 01101111 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 00101110 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110000 01100001 01110010 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101100 01101011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101011 01101001 01110100 01100011 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01101100 01100001 01110101 01101110 01100100 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110010 01101111 01101111 01101101 00101110 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01100101 01101101 01100001 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110101 01110011 01100101 01101000 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01101100 01101001 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100101 01101001 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100101 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110101 01110000 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100010 01101100 01101111 01110111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101001 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101001 01110010 01100011 01110101 01101001 01110100 01110011 00101110 00100000 01110011 01101111 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110010 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01111001 00100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100111 01110101 01101100 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101 00101110
decode my blog at: http://nickciske.com/tools/binary.php

CORRESPONDENCE

2007-11-01T17:33:00.001-07:00

so, this probably doesn't require too much explanation if you look at the scans but i think this is kinda cool so i thought i'd post it for my friends to see.

to ian mackaye:

to dusty wickham:

A CROSSROADS...

2007-11-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

so there i was, riding home from school about 12 minutes ago and i go to lay some mean patch and blow out the rear tire on my bike (the same one andrew and jason so lovingly crafted for me). i realize that the short life of my tires is due to all the bad-ass skidding i've been doing around campus and this poses a bit of a crossroads for me. do i ride my bike more conservatively and actually use the hand brake andrew insisted i have or, do i continue to be a bad-ass at the expense of new tires every 3 weeks or so? this is a tough question but i think you all know the answer. once a bad-ass always a bad-ass.

i ordered 4 new tubes and 4 new tires from bike nashbar minutes after getting the flat. i even paid extra for 2-day priority shipping. i'm so cool.

HOW TO APPROACH THE BLOG

2007-10-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

so, im pretty sure my blog has gone unread so far. i'm kind of happy about that though because i am new to it and i know my posts suck balls. i just took a look at lupus ana's blog and i really think she's onto something with the whole "flow-of-conciousness" what the hell is she talking about type of narrative. in the future i plan to take a page out of her book on that one. i'm sure i won't be as good at it as she is, but i can try, can't i? until later...

DW

RIDING TRAINS

2007-10-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

riding trains in the big apple was kinda fun but sometimes people can be real jerks when they're in confined places for too long.

like this one time, this guy had a gigantic tv (probably about a 36") strapped on the top of one of those maria carts. well when i got on there weren't many people but as we headed downtown it got packed due to it being rush hour. so it's standing room only by the time we get to union square and then he decides that's where he wants to get off. the doors open and people start pouring out and when it gets to be my turn then he runs his cart into me and we don't fit through the doors. i look at him, step back and say "go ahead" and he looks at me and yells for all the people in the car to hear, "man, why does everybody gotta be fuckin' idiots". i walked out of the car and left him to fend with the other 100 people still trying to get past him. as we were walking away, i turned to my friend and said, "yeah, i'm the fucking idiot because i don't have a big ass tv on the subway during rush hour."

"A LITTLE TOO HOT"

2007-10-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

i was riding my bicycle to class the other day. it is a fixed gear so generally the only way to slow or stop is to lock up your legs and skid the back tire. it was early and my mind wasn't fully functional for the day yet. i went to skid around a tight corner but i came in "a little to hot". i ended up going directly into a big planter of 3 foot tall juniper bushes. lesson learned: i'm a bit of a jackass.

people saw me and laughed at me. I laughed as well but we were not laughing together. so it goes.