Carbon Based

Daily Bread

A showcase of things we've done, things we like and other random rantings...

30.5.09

Quote of the Day: Post Rock



Tortoise performing in their home turf, Chicago.


"It is the use of 'rock instrumentation' for non-rock purposes. Practitioners of the genre’s style typically produce instrumental music."

or, essentially, 'Post-rock music is rock instrumentation used for non-rock instrumental music.'

- from here.
posted by carlito sway at 17:16 0 comments


25.5.09

Portable Network Graphics vs Transparency Gradients



With new beginnings come, new challenges arise. Although mine were relatively minimal, ive been wondering;

a) how / when to use PNG formatted images
b) how to implement transparency and gradated transparencies

and then i found an opportunity today at work.

Wilst working on an entirely different project, i discovered that this wonderful little illustration was actually quite grotesque and needed at least a little purple and a little green to add that little je'ne sais pas. A bit of stroking, miter editing, a few tutorials later, a call to Mother for technical support (as in, my mother), two screen calibrations, a workspace settings update and VOILA! Complex transparencies (both 100% and gradated) + vector art = happy times!

Praying Zombie Hands of Heaven!

(im pretty much thinking the image was based on / inspired by (subconsciously, of course) Ray Frendens exquisite touch (and monster-ific color combo's), the "Hulk" NewEra colorway (not to be confused with the joker colorway, which uses a lighter "less-angry" green), matt (baddesigners) lfgss / lcef first birthday burning finger image, the santa cruz burning hand and squidfires zombie t.)



ray frendens monstervision



new era hulks out



bibby gets result (again)


a classic


a new classic
posted by carlito sway at 18:46 0 comments


24.5.09

Today(')s Toast: Shuttle & Suns Moving Co.



One of todays headlines speaks of space shuttle Atlantis (STS-whatever) returning from the last scheduled hubble-maintenance flight, which should keep Hubble aloft for another 5 years, they recon. At nasa's images of the day website, there are a number really sweet photos covering both this most recent stellar trip, as well as highlights spanning the agencies career. i grabbed this one and pshopped it up to desktop size because its just to damn awesome, its great in its minimality and its really humbling.

The image in question was (somehow) taken of the shuttle passing across our sun, which must have been digitally enhancified or something. Very reminiscent of Sunshine, and other sci-fi movies depicting near-sun encounters.

Please enjoy!
posted by carlito sway at 11:46 0 comments


11.5.09

Today(')s Toast



See Mr Happy Traveler here? Know why he's happy? Because he just got one of the totally new and totally kewl "Passport Cards" that are really kewl because they fit in your wallet.

Seriously. That's the only upside.

So why does the government want you, us to have this? Hmm? Well, apparently, its got a cute little vicinity read Radio Frequency Identification chip built in (RFID) that totally allows you to enter from like 3 places in the world - as in, unless you are only coming in from mexico, canada or bermuda, you ALSO need a regular passport. See, im in the process of renewing my passport, and im learning all this. Basically, the government wants you to vokuntarilly put one of their RFID chips in your wallet, for little to no gain on your part;

"To facilitate the frequent travel of U.S. citizens living in border communities and to meet DHS's operational needs at land borders, the passport card contains a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. This chip points to a stored record in secure government databases. There is no personal information written to the RFID chip itself."

but it goes on...

"With RFID technology, Customs and Border Protection inspectors will be able to access photographs and other biographical information stored in secure government databases before the traveler reaches the inspection station.

check it out here.
posted by carlito sway at 13:20 0 comments


1.5.09

Today(')s Toast: Jason Bourne with Sideburns



well, seems wolverine is a flop. and i still want need to see it.

"Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch and Will.i.am show up and do what they can, but prove hopelessly unable to compensate for the absence of, say, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin or Ian McKellen. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” will most likely manage to cash in on the popularity of the earlier episodes, but it is the latest evidence that the superhero movie is suffering from serious imaginative fatigue."

- nytimes review here.

--

Blast from the Past: Bow Wow Wow



the original* coverers of the "were not a teen angst film unless we use it" song, 'i want candy', bow wow wow was - no joke here - a boy/girl band created by malcolm & vivienne to sell their 'new romantic' clothing line. not surprisingly, they sound strikingly similar to x-ray spex, which is apparently the only band to ever garner a compliment from the negativity prone (albeit now butter-advert staring) johnny rotten - better known as the front man to the late 70's Sex Pistols - who, coincidentally enough, was also a product of mclaren and his business acumen. maybe its because they were both fronted by black women (the, uh, first two mentioned bands, not the sex pistols - mr.rotten is decidedly white. painfully white). or it could be the period. (both bands being within years of each other. and both london based too. and mclaren / westwood incited. and teenage. and full of angst.) (allegedly, the rumor went something like "your not that sucky" or something - even at his nicest, mr.rotten still could manage to be nasty.)

originally a 1965 hit by three whiteguys with strange drums, 'i want candy' was actually a throw back to times of yesteryear when a days high point could be simply - but effectively - achieved by repeating the line "i want candy" in a repetitive, "im not moving until i win" sort of way, when you and your mom are in the check out line and people are starting to look and there really is no other way out for her but to fold. or it could be a reference to those heavily laden with drug addiction. or it could be their favorite prostitute, who happened to be on her day off that one time. i actually have no idea.

with lines like "candy on the beach, theres nothing better / but I like candy when its wrapped in a sweater" and "my boyfriend's back he's gonna save my reputation / if i were you i'd take a permanent vacation" (from their other hit, "my boyfriends back"), these three wig-sporting, drum-wielding jews had a short career and went on to do very little else. (well, one of them actually did help get Blondie up and running, but thats about it.)

*note: technically, they were the second group to cover the song - the first being some guy from the UK or something, but he made like zero impact or something, so, in the land of opinion, does he really count?

--


In the Pantheon of Convenience





we all need one of these. they rock. and clip to things.

-via amazon.
posted by carlito sway at 08:54 0 comments