So, um, seriously?
A whole banana rests astride a handicap ramp in the parking lot outside of the Unit office. Unfortunate misplacement or sick sense of humor? You decide.
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Outside The Office
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Beautiful Ad from Skoda
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010I’m really diggin’ this ad spot for Czech auto maker Skoda. Yes, the concept is interesting and all, but I just really like the soundtrack. I could listen to it 20 times a day. And yes, it really is a musician (Petr Spatina) playing on actual glasses.
via Presurfer
Nice Interruption
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Like most folks, I really dislike ad splash pages that interrupt my trip to a website’s main page. This one, however, made me smile. Transis is an app for which Unit’s own R.A. Ray designed the interface (and did a darn good job). It’s kinda fun to see it being advertised with a big ol’ splash page (abbreviated in dimension here for space considerations).
More details on this project are coming soon. Way to go, R.A.!
Quotes
Friday, January 29th, 2010100 quotes every geek should know. Here’s my favorite:
“Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
- Harry Lime, The Third Man
Invention and art come from crisis. Superior invention and art come from crisis only.
Thanks to Coudal for pointing me to the quotes piece.
SnowCraft Fun!
Friday, December 4th, 2009
The Invisible Artist
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Liu Bolin is protesting the government shutdown of his art studio by painting himself invisible into the landscape.
His art is wonderful on many levels, but the metaphor for his protest is clear. Art and design students can learn much from how his deliberate blurring of the lines between figure and ground produces interest and novelty. Liu’s work succeeds on many levels, but most notably in the way that it evokes at the same time delight and sympathy; something very difficult to achieve.
TSTC Web Curriculum Committee
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Last Friday I traveled to Waco, TX to the campus of the Texas State Technical College for the annual meeting of the Web Design & Development Advisory Committee. This was the second time in 3 years that I’ve been able to attend and it was great to see everyone again and to make some new friends.
My gift from the TSTC Web Club: a t-shirt from their recent campus fundraiser
Nerf-gun game, Humans vs. Zombies. Thanks guys!
TSTC is taking quite a conscientious approach to their curriculum and working to ensure the best, most relevant instruction for their students by engaging professionals from around the state. In fact they’re reaching out beyond the borders of the state of Texas, as for instance Chris Mills joined us via Skype from Manchester in the UK. By learning what professionals and agency owners are doing today, preparing to do tomorrow, and what we’re looking for when we hire, TSTC can more appropriately shape what they’re teaching. It’s a good plan.
I like the fact that our advisory committee does more than just offer gentle suggestions or general guidance; we’re helping to make the real decisions. Our recommendations are immediately translated into specific agendas and specific curriculum offerings, are voted on, and then incorporated into the schedule that will be submitted to the state board. Our responsibilities are tangible, which prevents the typical malady of committees: ineffectuality.
So, thanks to Bob Simonette and the faculty and students in the TSTC web department. It’s encouraging to see what you’re doing with higher education. I dig what you’re doing and I look forward to working with you in the coming months. Now …if we can only do something about your website…
A Visit From Matt
Monday, October 12th, 2009Last Wednesday the Texas Unit office had the pleasure of a visit from Matt Weinberg of Vector Media Group. Jetting his way toward a vacation, he stopped off for the day to hang with us and we took full advantage of the occasion to goof off for the whole day. We’ve been working with Matt for a couple years, but we’d never met each other in-person. It was about time
Above: Nathan, R.A., Matt, Andy
Food and games featured prominently in the day’s activities. After some interesting and serious design profession discussion and a lunch of juicy burgers from Kelly’s, we opened up a can-o-whupass teaching Matt how to play Unitball. Our crew swept all 3 games (with Nathan winning 1 and me winning 2). We just figure that Yankee web developer people (he’s from NY, you know) must do a lot more work and a lot less serious playing around than us Texas folk.
After what must have been a humiliating experience for Matt at Unitball, we moved the party to the coffee shop for a couple games of Icehouse. Yes, it was a total nerdfest, with R.A. and especially Nathan dominating the play and shutting out the rest of us. Back at the office we did do a bit of work, as Matt’s crew and ours are involved in a client project together. But that interruption to fun was over quickly and there was just time enough to introduce Matt to some fine beer at BJ’s and then real TexMex at Chuy’s before dropping him off at his hotel.
It was a pleasure to visit with a formidable professional like Matt, share some ideas, learn some things, and goof off a bit too. Big thanks to Matt for taking the time to drop by and hang with us. We can’t wait ‘till next time.