U2

Word has it that the new CD is U2's best material for many many years--on the strength of the latest single I'd have to agree.

GarageBand Jam Packs

Oh no! Here we go again! Last time Apple released a Jam Pack I had trouble staying away from GarageBand for a couple of months. Jam Pack 2: 'Remix Tools' and Jam Pack 3: 'Rhythm Section' sound amazing, you can check out some samples at the Apple site. Remix Tools seems to be particularly suitable for my next project--as the Apple store puts it "GarageBand Jam Pack 2: Remix Tools is an expansion pack of additional content for iLife ‘04. It extends the number of sounds available for creating music, providing even more creative options. Jam Pack 2: Remix Tools appeals to electronic dance music enthusiasts across a number of genres including Hip-Hop, R&B, Techno, Trance, and other Electronica styles. The instrument/loop emphasis is on new electronic drums & percussion optimized for different genres as well as new synths. Jam Pack 2: Remix Tools includes popular classic drum machine sounds licensed from Roland."--Perfect!

Also of note is Logic Express 7. Apple seem at have a really sneaky upgrade policy at the moment, sneaky but cool. First you get addicted to GarageBand, then you need more so you purchase a Jam Pack or two, then you fancy some multichannel recording or to be able to print performances using standard music notation so you get Logic Express 7 and then there's Logic Pro 7 :)

Stopped in my tracks!

www.misprintedtype.com
Wow, how refreshingly different is the design at www.misprintedtype.com?!!! Its great to see such an organic looking website. Check out their portfolio--its really quite awesome. Nice free Photoshop brushes too.
Paul has just informed me that they're Brazilian--cool!

When Artists (get) Attack(ed)!

This article on Box Office Mojo is quite though provoking.
Click Here
George wants to complete his story, he wants the 6 films to look, sound and feel as if they belong to each other, if this means changing the old trilogy slightly then so be it. Only George knows the full story. I think it's only fair to wait until all 6 films can be viewed back to back and in context before making judgement. Just for the record, I DID hear Greedo shoot first back in 1978! ;)

'Lighting' never strikes twice. Revisited.

Your average (some would certainly say above average) restaurant transformed by lighting into something much more than it deserves to be--the shapes, the colour, the textures, even the crack in the glass are all part of the overall effect.

Starbucks

Two cool Starbucks united at last.

Hello, Mmmmm5!

The new BMW M5, oh yes ;)

"I will win the crowd, I will give them something they have never seen before."

VR got off to a false start back in the mid 80's, for a while it really did look as if we would all be working in some kind of cyberspace by now. Then the slow death of the reality kicked in, the VR headsets were cumbersome, caused headaches and were very expensive, the graphics technology needed to produce an environment that even only slightly resembled the real world was years away.

Fast forward 20 years . . .
How are we doing for graphic power? Pretty amazing really, 100's of millions of polygons a second, mip-mapping, multiple light sourcing, hi-res textures--all these things just didn't exist 20 years back (except in Tron ;). What about the headset problem? I don't really know where things stand with headsets at the moment, but do we really require a headset? How about a 3D LCD display one that doesn't require goggles or glasses or any kind, how about this . . .

Okay so its not proper Virtual Reality, but its a good start. Surely its time to make that jump to hyperspace, to go for a 3D operating system. Who better to make this jump then Apple?
Apple has a rock solid, powerful OS, a 4th generation OS with a proper vector based and hardware enhanced GUI. The advantages of a full 3D operating system my not be obvious, but some applications for a fully 3D (goggleless) display system are.

Fast forward 3 years . . .
Apple release MacOS 10.6, 'Lion'. Its the worlds first 3D OS! To coincide with the launch they release a range of 3D displays based on Sharps 3D LCD technology. The Mac OS 10.6 Finder puts the 3D environment to great use--documents are displayed use a 3D depth cued grid system, with oldest (or less important) files at the back of the grid. The CubeFinder and be rotated, zoomed or expanded by a simply flick of the pressure sensitive trackball.
On the very same day Apple announce the QuickTake HD VR a High Definition video (and still) camera with a two lenses, two HD CCDs and 5.1 surround sound recording. The QuickTake HD VR records in 1080i HD resolution in MPEG4 AVC format onto a 20 or 40 GIG Hard Disc. The Stereoscopic MPEG4 file is then transfered to the Mac using Firewire 800. The two lenses are positioned at the very top of the cameras iPod like casing and can be rotated independently allowing the possibility of recording 2 mono video files, one pointing forward towards the scene and one pointing backward to catch the crowds reaction! The QuickTake HD VR also replaces the iSight as it can be mounted on top of any of the new 3D monitors and used not just for video conferencing but also as an 3D input device--hand motion is translated to actions within the 3D workspace.
Apple also release updates to iMovie, iPhoto Final Cut Pro and iChat AV, these updates included all manner or exciting innovations which capitalise on the QuickTake HD VRs ability to record in HiDef and 3D, one such innovation marvels the crowd . . . DepthCue. Just click (or point) on any part of video image and DepthCue reports back with an approximate distance from the lens to the subject! DepthColour. Adjust colours based on distance, mountain range a bit washed out? Adjust the levels and colour balance on object that are over 2 miles away, leaving the foreground untouched. DepthLayer. Composite from two different 3D video sources using depth, no more blue screen!!!

Rewind to present day. . .
So what's to stop all this from taking place? Nothing really, perhaps the cost of the displays would limit the uptake slightly, but then thats the advantage of Apple taking the lead--Mac users are used to paying for something different, something new and exciting, something that will allow them to experiment with a new art form.

More MacOS VR ideas to follow soon. Remember you heard it here first ;)

STAR WARS TRILOGY DVD

So far I've managed to watch Empire of Dreams, the other two main documentaries and A New Hope. The quality of A New Hope was extraordinary surpassing anything I had imagined--the colours, the clarity, the compression, perfect! Empire of Dreams is a lovingly crafted documentary about the making of the trilogy, drawing on all aspects of the creative process from the very first creative decision right through to the use and miss-use of licensing. Its chock full a great moments, I especially enjoyed memories of those attending the premier of Star Wars. Even a hard-hearted Star Wars fan will be moved by this thrilling account of one of cinemas defining moments.

All through the documentary is a sense of will and purpose, one mans imagination projected onto film and into the hearts of millions of people worldwide, only possible by George Lucas's faith in his original idea.

I will return to the Star Wars Trilogy again once I have had the chance to watch the other two movies..

My Music, June 2005. Moving Mars!

'Moving Mars Main Theme'. Just click on the 'download hi-bitrate' link to listen to my latest tune.
Inspired by the Greg Bear story of the same name, Moving Mars is another ambient tune from The James Reed Network. I truly enjoyed creating this song (all played by me apart from the beat which is a Jam Pack loop). The main melody just kind of appeared as I was messing around on Garageband late one evening. Going through my collection of Garageband material today I realised that I have so much unfinished work. I really must get around to finishing off more of these tunes--it's so nice just to finally get to the point where you can stick them on the iPod as 'completed' songs. I can't wait actually finished a Jam Pack 4 song . . . full orchestras!!!

The right tool for the right job

PowerMac G5

Mobile Phone Photography -- Part 1

If there's one area of technology that's really on the move right now its Mobile Phone Photography. I read recently that Qualcomm (great company) are to introduce a 6 megapixel chip-set next year, 6 MEGA PIXELS!!! http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C2854/That's just crazy, well not crazy, but almost completely unexpected on a mobile phone. Of course there is no way that a 6 megapixel phone camera is going to produce the same results as a 6 megapixel digital SLR, but still the results should easily surpass your average digital camera. Makes me wonder where is this all going to end. At what point will your average 'mobile phone Joe' decide that they're happy with the picture resolution. Here's my prediction for the next 2 years. Average mobile phone camera resolution will reach around the 4 megapixel mark at the very end of next year, then in 2006 we will see a real push for much better video (and sound) recording. It will be interesting to see what people decide to do with all these photos and videos.
Put them on their blogs I suspect! http://moblog.co.uk/
Picture taken with my lovely Nokia 3650. More soon . . .

Keeping an eye on New York

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/interactive.html
What an awesome Webcam!

Bingley

My favourite picture of my favourite cat.

No, that's not true, that's impossible!!!

Making one final appearance--one last horah, I give you . . . Anakin's eyebrows!

Hands up who remembers . . . Goo!

Few programs have ever been so much fun! I think 'gooing' is long overdue a resurgence ;)

Jurassic Seagull!

On Saturday I saw a seagull that was at least twice the size of any other seagull that I'd ever seen. The amazing thing was that this Jurassic monster was still only young, sporting the dark flecks that the young gulls do. To be honest I found it scary--I've never seen a bird like it! I tell a lie, I've seen a bird of pray that big--but never a seagull, must be the chips (fries) that the holiday makers keep feeding them with!

'Lighting' never strikes twice

Getting the right lighting. A couple of pictures that show how everyday objects can be transformed into something beautiful, and dare I say wonderful, just by an unusual light. Yours thoughts . . . ?

Don't ever mess with symmetry!

Much has been written on the subject of symmetry and I have no intention of repeating the thousands of pages that can be found using Google, but one thing I've learnt of late--never mess with symmetry, especially in connection with things where we expect to find mostly perfect symmetry (see above picture!) This includes symmetry in music and symmetry in its written form.

Armchair Indy

I was just talking to someone about their dad when an entirely new name came into my head. An 'Armchair Indy' is a middle-aged man who enjoys researching ancient artefacts, buildings, cultures and religions from the comfort of a nice friendly armchair. This form of exploration is made in three ways; books, The Discovery Channel and the Internet.

Train Blogging Via GPRS

Woah! My very first blog post from the train using my mobile via bluetooth. Much coolness ;)

SUPER BURNER!!!

The Raleigh Super Burner (1984 edition shown), one the the most beautiful objects to grace Littlemoor Road. At the age of 11 I fell helplessly in love with her golden frame! Okay so she was a little heavy and the gold wheel trim peeled off after only a week, but even so she looked splendid and was as tuff as a tank!

Quark or InDesign?

If you're thinking of the above question, you're not alone, many design studios are having to ponder the same question. As of this moment the momentum is clearly behind InDesign, I've heard nothing but good things from many Quark switchers. The latest version of InDesign (CS) is very mature, I use it for everything and hate having to go back to Pagemaker or Quark. Interestingly, I believe Adobe do a special version of InDesign for people coming from Pagemaker. InDesign is capable of far more than either Quark or Pagemaker--having some of the features that Photoshop has.
The other thing to factor is that Quark costs the best part of £1000 whilst InDesign is much cheaper. Another very important point, for now and for the future, is that InDesign makes faultless PDFs whereas Quark is poor is this area.

Ralph McQuarrie

33% George, 33% John Williams and 33% Ralph McQuarrie. In my mind this is how I divvy up the original trilogy. Though John Williams does get a fair amount of recognition for his part, Ralph McQuarrie on the other hand only ever seems to get a passing mention. A shame really--what would that original Star Wars universe have looked like without his awesome imagination? To answer my own question--it would look similar to the new trilogy, i.e. pretty average! With the exception of Darth Maul there are no character designs to equal the two above.

Another 'Poncho'

Talking of Ponchos, who remembers this particular brand of Poncho? (Eric Estrada as 'Poncho' in Chips).

Vader

The man will be back in black come May next year. Was there ever a more iconic character than Anakin Skywalker as The Dark Lord of The Sith. The scene above is just awesome. Vader, the huge central shaft, Lukes grimace, James Earl Jones' fantastic delivery of "with our combined strength we can put an end to this conflict". FANTASTIC!!!

Chocolate

Isn't it great when an unexpected song pops up in iTunes and really lifts your mood. It's chucking it down with rain here this morning, the general colour outside in grey, but I'm feeling much better now. Thank you Snow Patrol.

Once, Twice, Three Times a Poncho

To celebrate the arrival of the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD (20th September) many of the posts on this blog from now til then will be related to that 'galaxy far far away'.
Here we see Luke sporting his awesome Poncho. I dearly wanted one way back in 1978. It just seemed to me to be a really practical garment, so easy to put on, yet so very comfortable. Check out Lukes cool hairdo in this picture!

XBOX. A Design Disaster

Surely there was a better design for the XBOX, okay so they had to shoe-horn an entire PC into a box that would fit under the TV but still, look at it! Car radiator comes to mind. Fortunately the logo is a work of art, someone has actually given it some serious thought and the end result is very eye pleasing indeed, conveying a sense of mystery and power with a hint of otherworldliness.

The Importance of Appearance

For those who don't feel that good design makes much of a difference, consider exhibit 'A'.

Both are designed to do roughly the same thing, namely fly around and reproduce, but which one earns the greater respect and appreciation, which one is your eye naturally drawn towards?

The Death of Clipart!

It is with greatest pleasure that I can now announce the death of Clipart.
Clipart, the fastfood of the graphic design industry is at last on the decline. How people ever imagined that pasting some irrelevant, poorly drawn and hideously coloured piece of vector trash into their designs made it somehow more appealing is quite beyond me. Good-bye Clipart you will not be missed.

The Nokia 3650 Smartphone

Though I now use a lovely SE P900, I'm still really fond of the Nokia 3650. I used one for just over a year and apart from the pain of having to learn how to text on a round keypad I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Clearly its one of those industrial designs that you either love or hate. Its been referred to as 'the boat phone' which I think is quite an apt description for it really is very streamlined. The UI was fast and effective, the camera clear and colourful (for a VGA camera), the signal robust and the case most durable. Nokia at its best.

Galaxies and Coffee Cups

Today, whilst gazing into my fourth mug of coffee I was once again reminded of the astonishing similarity between the swirl of froth that forms on the surface of a vigourously stirred cup of Kenco and a Spiral Galaxy (the milky way for example). I feel quite confident that they must somehow be connected in some as yet unexplained way. Perhaps that's what the girl in the cafe had figured out at the beginning of 'The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy'. ;)

Pieces in a Modern Style

Music is often the inspiration behind so much of my best, and most enjoyable design work. The music that has helped me most over the last 4 years is William Orbit's 'Pieces in a Modern Style'. Rarely does this kind of musical project work, but in this case William Orbit has taken just the colour of the original classical piece and painted it in a totally fresh way onto his own unique canvas of sound. Be warned, you may have to listen to the CD 4 or 5 times before you 'get it'

Final Cut Express

I’ve started using Apple’s Final Cut Express in the last couple of weeks. What forced the move from iMovie 4 was my rather large Paris holiday video. It was coming in at over an hour, and to be quite honest iMovie was bending under the stress of all those transitions and audio tracks. The other reason for the jump was because of all the colour correction controls that FCE has (I have a Canon Camcorder you see, low light = yuk!). Anyway FCE is a very slick piece of software more than capable of handling my little Paris video. But will it handle the 12 hour epic that is . . . The Brazil Video!!!? Somente o tempo dirá?

Harmony

I find the subject of colour harmony is utterly intriguing—makes me wonder about other kinds of harmony. Musical harmony we are all aware of, but what of smell harmony or touch harmony? Hmmm . . . Fried potatoes and vinegar, lovely!

The Man and The Machine (Part 1)

Welcome to my new blogg—a celebration of the creative life. To kick things off, Jonathan Ive and his newest creative industrial design, the new (new) iMac G5.

To quote TIME magazine:
"Still, what you get for that money is quite possibly the coolest personal computer yet created. The cool is more than merely aesthetic. Unlike a lot of previous Mac machines, on which you could almost fry an egg, the iMac G5's beautiful white surface does not get noticeably hot. Nor, at a whisper-quiet 25 decibels, does it make enough noise for most people to hear, let alone those who have been blasting their eardrums with the iPod.
Designer Jonathan Ive, who shaped the original iMac and iPod, has gone as minimalist as possible with this machine. There is no separate computer tower or power supply; everything is contained in the display. CDs and DVDs slot in on the side of the screen. The power button is on the back. The speakers are hidden on the bottom, designed to bounce sound off your desk. Throw in the optional Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse, and the whole thing needs only one cable, the power cord. A minor gripe is that those don't come as standard; nor does Apple's wireless Internet card, the Airport. Who wouldn't want to do everything wirelessly with a computer like this?"