September 27, 2023

The Catch, The Spill, and The Camera

Patrick Witty’s newsletter digs into the stories behind photos. This issue reveals a very specific camera behind a famous catch in the 1954 World Series. / hat tip to Sean

patrickwitty.substack.com

Back and white photo of a baseball player making a catch over his shoulder

September 22, 2023

A few store fronts from NYC and what to get there

Chris Crowley from GrubStreet shares selections from the new photography book by James and Karla Murray and adds recommendations. (I love these photos) / via waxy

grubstreet.com

Court Pastry Shop store front in NYC

September 21, 2023

Rocumentaries

Curated links to the very best documentaries across a bunch of streaming services. (No idea why they call it Rockumentaries when all sorts are included) / via Rachel

rocumentaries.com

A grid of documentary selections

September 20, 2023

Poor Things Trailer

A film with quite the pedigree of writing, directing and actors. This looks delightfully dark and intriguing and fun. / via Yewknee

youtu.be

Still from black and white trailer with a woman feeding a pug / chicken combo animal

September 19, 2023

The trick to the super-crayon was to keep adding new favorites

“Combining favorites to make new life happinesses.” (It isn’t just about making crayons)

bobulate.com

Old crayons mixed in muffin tin

Turn old greeting cards into a book

Send in greeting cards and postcards folks have sent to you and get a book back. (There's an option to get all the originals back.) As a hoarder of such things, this intrigues me, and has a tiny vibe of Nick Bantock’s Griffin & Sabine.

cardsbyartkive.com

Handwritten postcard copied to a book

The scam era is upon us

Not the most exciting of topics, but it’s becoming very clear that scams are ramping up with AI tools. I was reading how a faked voice fooled a single person at Retool in a phishing attack. I'm telling friends and family to be extra alert. Seth has a great checklist to consider.

seths.blog

A man with glasses looks up and out of the frame

Beflo Standing Desk

I would consider trading in my desk for this beauty.

swiss-miss.com

Standing desk

Recchiuti visual identity

Dig everything about this chocolate identity by Manual, but it’s the ingredient photography that I dig a little extra. They play off the whole balance thing of the logo and wordmark so nicely. / via Brand New

manualcreative.com

Ingredients for chocolate that include vanilla, pear, coconut, ginger, lime and I think rosemary?

September 18, 2023

The internet used to be fun

Rachel collected of articles “that to some degree answer the question ‘Why have a personal website?’ with ‘Because it’s fun, and the internet used to be fun.’”

projects.kwon.nyc

The internet used to be fun

September 15, 2023

The Artists and Cartoonists Who Designed Pee-wee Herman’s World – Part One

This is only part one!? Subscribing to The Comics Journal to get alerted of future parts. A trove that already feels like it could fill a book. / via Yewknee

tcj.com

Sketches from Pee Wee's character design

September 14, 2023

Hasselblad Xpan II

Reading about Travis Estell’s experience with this film camera and seeing the results makes me appreciate panoramas all over again.

travisestell.com

Panoramic film photo of the California coast

Goodbye Summer

Matt Delatowski’s laid back, oceanside, golden hour to dusk short film for the change of the season. Dig the easy going vibe.

youtu.be

Coastal flowers with a title that reads GOODBYE SUMMER

September 13, 2023

You can only work for people that you like

Replace “can” with “should” and you have a piece of advice I would give. You can certainly work for people you do not like, but make sure the sacrifice is brief and very worth it. (Then find the good people for your next thing.)

airbagindustries.com

Airbag Industries blimp and logo

River, a visual connection engine

I don't really know what's happening here beyond surfing by like images, but I dig on several levels, the vibe, speed and sound effects. It'd be neat to surf through one's personal library of photos like this. / via Kottke

river.maxbittker.com

A grid of images

This Is Pop – A documentary about the band XTC

Loved XTC since Skylarking (and then went back in their catalog and loved that too). They never really toured so I’m curious to learn more about ’em with this doc. / via MetaFilter

youtube.com

Screenshot of the band XTC performing for a music video

Kylie Minogue’s impression of that AI voice

Short YouTube clip of Kylie doing a bit from Padam on a radio show as auto-generated text to speech. Whenever I think of AI voices, I pull up this video and laugh! Every. Single. Time.

youtu.be

Kylie Minogue on a radio show

Cy Biopharma identity and packaging

Swiss company producing psychedelics for chronic pain gets a brand that mixes “mystical with the scientific” by Play Studio. It’s nice to see the grids and use of a favorite typeface, Univers. / via BrandNew

play.studio

Gradients on boxes of drugs

September 8, 2023

Polaroid i2 Camera

Manual and automatic modes, a sharp lens (not glass, but sharp) and oodles of options that can all be managed in camera (like long and multiple exposures) without the need for an app. This YouTube review by In An Instant makes this latest rig look like a real winner.

i2-camera.polaroid.com

Polaroid i2 Camera with rainbow graphic emanating from lens

An interview with Tobias Rylander, designer behind The 1975’s house set

I was lucky to catch The 1975 “At Their Very Best” tour and the set was so refreshingly different and awesome. It really felt like a theatrical production or watching a sitcom being filmed live.

dezeen.com

1975 at their very best tour with a stage that looks like a house set

September 6, 2023

Keith Haring made art with an Amiga Computer

His work translated perfectly to the medium. IWatched the video on Christie’s site wanting to know more about the app he used or some tangible bit of yay, but boiled down to Web3 and NFTs nonsense. Still. Lovely work! (Oh, it was probably Quantel Paintbox!)

itsnicethat.com

Keith Haring Amiga artwork

September 1, 2023

Top word lookups on Merriam Webster

The list refreshes every 30 seconds. Could be a great tool to provoke random thought. / via Jasper

merriam-webster.com

Top lookups right now with a list of ten worlds that include, popper, lumber, hegemony, woke, flap, opinion, bizarre, synonym, irrelevant and innate

August 29, 2023

Adventures in Snail World

Sam Copeland and Aleia Murawski make these miniature sets. These particular ones are populated by snails and they put a big smile on my face. Oodles more shots on Aleia’s insta.

thisiscolossal.com

Snails on a miniature game show set

August 28, 2023

Workspaces

A collection of desk setups from all sorts of folks. Most are pristine (admission: I almost always tidy my workspace before taking a snapshot) — but there are a few lived in examples as well. A bonus of sites like this? All the new paths to wander and explore different personal corners of the internet!

workspaces.xyz

Workspace setup with desktop computer

Weeknight meals that come together in 40 minutes

Katy DeCorah shares family favorite quick meals with links to recipes. I _love_ lists like these.

katydecorah.com

9 recipes

August 26, 2023

Portfolio games

Ana Cuna’s website features an option to view illustration projects through a variety of games. Everything about this is delightful, including all the featured work.

anacuna.com

Portfolio of Ana Cuna on cards

August 23, 2023

Earthling, Golden Gate Park – Sept 17

An experimental music listening party in San Francisco. If I was closer I’d totally go to this (and not just because it’s free!). Been enjoying the introductions to the four bands that will be vibing. / via Tyler Mincey

earthling.fyi

A circle with type around the edge with band names. The center has the title "Earthling"

August 22, 2023

Mystique Astrology kit by Mattel

Far out 70's psychedelic cartoon vibes on this binder filled with astrological charts and wheels and man I dig it.

fontsinuse.com

Mystique Astrology Kit cover by Mattel with psychedelic pop illustrations of the zodiac wheel

August 21, 2023

Vampire Survivors

I’d seen this roguelike pop up on some lists but it wasn't until my friends Joe & Mike stopped by for game night with it loaded up on their Switch that I took interest. It is the most addictive game I’ve played in a while — like Dead Cells mixed with Gauntlet. There are no buttons, just directional pad controls. It is mad fun.

store.steampowered.com

Screen grab of pixelated vampire themed roguelike videogame

Chicken!

A dice game by Keymaster beautifully designed by Carpenter Collective. Just played this over the weekend and can attest, it is as fun as it is pretty. Super easy to learn and games are short.

keymastergames.com

Dice game with chickens and wolves

Panda Game Manufacturing

Production of board games, cards, custom dice, packaging, coins, game pieces and then some. (Filing away because making a game is on my life bucket list!)

pandagm.com

Tetris pieces made of shiny plastic

Chippy

Chrome extension to bring ChatGPT to a webpage by the minds at Fictive Kin / via Inspired By

chippyai.com

Anthropomorphized paper clip

Deck.gallery

Muharrem Şenyıl was searching for well-designed decks for inspiration and realized there was no dedicated place for them, so he made one.

deck.gallery

Thumbnails for pitch and brand guideline decks

August 17, 2023

A Riso-printing primer

Why yes, I have wanted to learn more about Riso printing. This link found along with more from Scott Bom’s Through Lines 169.

fontstand.com

Riso printing samples

BlockFace – A Stamp Kit to Explore Typography

Another fine Kickstarter project by Martin Schneider bringing Will Mower’s type to many. This set of geometric stamps can form all sorts of letters and whatnot.

kickstarter.com

Blockface geometric stamps that form letters of the alphabet

Pepper’s ghost quick demo

I have a sudden desire to pull all these bits together and play with a camera to capture this makeshift hologram like thing. A bit more about Pepper’s ghost on Wikipedia

youtube.com

Pepper's ghost of spinning orange on a tablet reflected in a glass thing

Type Revival for Film & TV

Leah Spencer with some wonderful behind the scenes from the art department for film & TV. A healthy bit of process and examples from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel whet the appetite for a smorgasbord of additional goodness on Alphabettes / via Robin Rendle

alphabettes.org

Leah Spencer type studies for Mrs. Maisel

August 14, 2023

Arosa, Switzerland + mountains + wind

Thanks to this post on Metafilter I’ve new things to put on the screen when I want to zone in or out. Study Sound Girl is based in Switzerland and makes oodles of these extra long soothing nature videos.

youtu.be

Mountains in Switzerland

August 11, 2023

Dusking

The simple act of watching twilight. That’s it. A communal end to the day. A tiny rite of passage in which work is released and rest begins. Lovely. / thanks again to Guy

bigthink.com

A window at dusk

screw :) project

Designer Yuma Kano with the help of Komuro Industry in Osaka made these screws with smiley faces (and accompanying screwdriver). It's now a participatory art project with a map of all the screws photographed around the world. I love this. / via Things to Click

screw-project.com

Screw with smiley face head

August 8, 2023

The morning of 8th August 1969

The Beatles’ road manager writes about a photoshoot on Abbey Road that day and includes a drawing of the moment.

diariesofnote.com

Drawing of the Beatles on Abbey Road

Matching Inner Radii with CSS

These calculations are handy outside of code! (Had to verify the plural of radius) / via Cameron Moll

codepen.io

Border radius of two shapes that are relational

August 7, 2023

The Magic of Mr Masking

Superdig this approach to type by Gerardo Picado

bl.ag

Masking tape lettering

August 2, 2023

The Live Music Archive

Open Culture sheds light on this trove of concert recordings on the Internet Archive. Yes, there are a lot of Grateful Dead shows, but there are gems. Spent my morning coffee with this quiet performance by Elliot Smith. There are tons of ways to browse. My only wish would be to sort by performance date.

openculture.com

Live Music Archive

2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

Admission: I had the live stream for this vehicle reveal on my calendar, excited by the rumors that Toyota was bringing this classic back to the US making it SMALLER and more agile. Definitely getting some Bronco competitive vibes from the boxy retro design. Plus also, hybrid.

caranddriver.com

2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

July 31, 2023

Kern Type

A letter spacing game that’s quite the challenge. Mark MacKay also has made a few more games that teach design concepts. / via Tom Scott

type.method.ac

Toronto letterspacing game

July 26, 2023

Some facts about flight

In a chill dimensional web experience / via an article about depth scrolling

atmos.leeroy.ca

Illustration of plane against dimensional clouds

Sorting Therapy

This app is indeed delightful and reinforces the idea that meditation can come in many forms.

swiss-miss.com

Sorting Therapy app presents bars of color that can be dragged in order of a gradient

July 25, 2023

Bloomscrolling

New slang to me and a hashtag that is welcome! / via Paul Bausch

typo.social

Yellow and red dahlia blooming

July 15, 2023

Tiny Awards

Andy Baio provides quick blurbs about all the entries in the running for this inaugural little thing to showcase small websites with big hearts.

waxy.org

tiny awards

July 14, 2023

Searching for a search engine

I first read about the search engine Kagi on Daring Fireball and started using it (and eventually subscribing) since. Garret Dimon offers a look at why it’s better.

garrettdimon.com

Kagi logo and dog mascot

Muffin Nation

I would very much like this UK chain to expand rapidly to Ohio. / via BrandNew

muffinnation.co.uk

Muffins, glorious muffins

Greta Gerwig on the classic film influences behind Barbie

The Barbie marketing machine is in overdrive, but this tidbit on Letterboxd is a trove for understanding the director’s aim. And also a great list of movies to check out and revisit.

letterboxd.com

An actor portraying Barbie looks through an oval frame that represents a mirror

How those LED wristbands work at concerts

The technology is decidedly a lot simpler than I imagined. After watching this I feel Korean markets have a better approach to make the devices something of a keepsake.

youtu.be

Wristbands light up filling a stadium at a Taylor Swift concert

How We Feel

An app to track emotions and discover patterns — with tools to articulate, understand and shift things.

howwefeel.org

Shapes and blobs anthropomorphized

July 13, 2023

Aptos, the new Microsoft default font

For 15 years it has been Calibri, a thoroughly uncomfortable san-serif. Aptos looks much nicer and is quite robust. / s’more insight on The Verge

medium.com

Aptos font graphic

July 12, 2023

What’s good: R.E.M. debuts on Letterman

Lately it’s been non-stop Taylor Swift and recipes, but sometimes the YouTube algorithm works.

youtube.com

Screencap of Michael Stipe performing on David Letterman show

July 7, 2023

Kona Village

Just swiping through Uncrate’s mini slideshow of this joint in Hawaii and adding it to the travel bucket list.

uncrate.com

Hawaiian resort overlooking the ocean

A Brief History of the Salon Wall

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art lends insight to the history plus also tips on hanging your own dense wall of art. Sidenote: when I’ve a huge space I shall enlist the help of FrameShop to frame and hang it all. They have such good instincts there.

medium.com

Example of salon-style art hanging, where all the pieces are densely packed together

July 6, 2023

RSS Feeds from Apple

Mostly music charts, but there‘s Apple News, dev info and movie trailers too. / via Luke Dorny

apple.com

laptop on gray gradient background