Oh, crit

I'm working on the story for a major motion picture release. Really, it's gonna be HUGE.

Well, it'll be at least two minutes, anyway.

I wanted to take a shot at the whole zombie thing (hope that's not cramping anyone else's style), so I've penned a zombie love story. I hope to illustrate the characters and backgrounds myself, which might turn out to be a giant mistake. (Deep breath!)

Anyway, before I delve too deep into the iMovie assignment, can someone suggest some best practices. Does iMovie only support jpegs? If so, what's the best way to convert an Illustrator document? For this post, I simply opened the image in PhotoShop, then re-saved it.

Most importantly, what do you think of my Zombie?

I'd also like feedback on the story, so I'm gonna paste that below. (It's a lot, I know. I'm being very needy right now, but you've got the power to sign off the internet, don't you?) The story will most likely be different tomorrow, sine I'm gonna work on it some tonight, but I'd still appreciate some input. (FYI, I included comments to myself in parentheses.) Feel free to say mean things. This is, after all, only a draft.

Zombies: A Love Story
by Mark Gross

Zack didn't just play football for the local high school. He was the captain of the team. He wasn't just popular, either. He was terribly popular. That is, until Zack had an accident.

At the funeral, Zack's girlfriend didn't look less beautiful for all the sad, wet drops that streamed from her eyes, but it pained the entire town to see Diane cry. Even though the townspeople mourned the loss of their star quarterback, they knew Diane grieved the most. Until that block of frozen toilet water fell from a passing 757, everyone believed the high school sweethearts would be together forever.

The next couple of days were tough for Diane. The townspeople comforted her the best they could, but it provided little relief. She skipped school and cheerleading practice, and spent her time crying alone in her bedroom.

Zack was sad, too. He missed Diane. Zack also missed the town and the people that lived there. No light shined in Zack's satin-lined casket, which left him feeling bored. He wondered what everyone else was doing. Also, he wondered why it was so dark all the time. Eventually, Zack started to dig.

Darkness covered the cemetery ground like a thin layer of icing so it created little resistance when Zack finally busted through fresh topsoil. He stared down at the hole from which he had just crawled, and then up toward the headstone with his name on it. Zack left the cemetery, and then turned up Main Street.

(( Church first? ))

Though he hurried to reach Diane, Zack's right foot dragged as he walked, which slowed him considerably. His pace lessened even more as he approached the soda shop. Inside, Earl, the team's 250-pound center, drank a strawberry milkshake and blushed each time the cheerleaders sitting near him giggled.

It had been several days since Zack last spoke, which made it difficult for him to say his friend's name. "Eaaarl," he called over and over again, although something about it didn't sound right.

Earl looked from his shake to the glass door where a somewhat green and slightly decomposed starting quarterback pounded muddy hands against the glass door, moaning over and over again, "Braaaains. Braaaains."

Earl spilled his milkshake, the cheerleaders screamed and the elderly soda shop owner just about had a heart attack. All of them ran to the back of the shop and sat shaking in the dark late into the night. They wouldn't leave before the whole town had heard the terrible news.
Zack, discouraged his friend did not want to say hello to him, turned, and once again dragged his foot up Main Street, calling Diane's name along the way. Step, drag, "Braaaains." Step, drag, "Braaaains."

(( Flower shop? ))

At the corner, Zack turned down Elm Street. At the end of the street stood a tall, yellow house, and inside Diane had just cried herself to sleep.

When he got to Diane's yard, Zack noticed a familiar blue light emanating from the first floor. About this time, Diane's father typically drank cocoa while watching sitcoms. Zack threw back his head, opened wide and called to Diane, "Braaaains. Braaaaaaaaaaains!" Certainly, she would be delighted to see him.

When Diane finally peeked over the ledge of her window, she looked to down to where Zack stood. "Zack," she cried. "Oh my God, Zack!" She quickly disappeared from Zack's view. Clearly, she was inviting him in.

Diane's father heard Zack moan, too, and came out into the yard to discover the disturbance. Confused, he moved toward Zack to unmask this prankster. Zack, always polite when speaking with Diane's father, said hello and even asked him how his cocoa tasted this evening. "Brains. Braa-ains." Diane's father looked puzzled. That is, he looked puzzled until Zack ate his face off.

Inside the house, Zack approached the stairs, then slowly dragged his right foot to the second floor. He walked down the hall, and stopped at the door with the pink sign on it that read "Daddy's Girl."

Zack heard Diane sobbing wildly behind the locked door. He wanted terribly to console her, and so he cried out to her as he pounded the door. "Braaaaaaaaains."

When the door finally fell from its hinges, Zack saw Diane sliding over the windowsill. He got to the window in time to grab her hand as she tried to lower herself slowly to the ground far below.

"Zack. Zack, no," she screamed.

Zack told her he loved her, though he feared he still was not articulating his thoughts as well as he'd like. No matter, he thought, he'll just try again. "Braaaains."

Diane screamed.

"Brains," he said.

"Aaaaaaaah," she cried.

"Braaaaaaaaaaains!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Zack looked at his sweetheart. As she dangled from his grip, sobbing, he looked to the ground far below her. He told her one last time he loved her, and dropped her.

Diane's funeral was a sad one. The townspeople thought it strange at first, that there was no body. They realized, however, that Diane had joined Zack, and the two of them could be together again. Forever.

(( Should it be Halloween? Should Zack commingle with trick-or-treaters? ))

Design fun

I saw this pretty funny design thread on Wired.

It reminds me of Photoshop threads like this one from Fark.com about a vampire slayer and iStock's steel cage matches.

Granted, these don't always provide stellar examples of design (although the images on iStock are way impressive!), they do reveal how much fun can be had with the Creative Suite.

If any of us had the time, it would be fun to create a W&I thread somewhere. Any suggestions for what our starting image be?

Is Billy Collins the best poet of our time?

Tony, a good friend of mine, believes Billy Collins is the best poet of our time. This was true even before Tony had the opportunity to drink a beer with the two-time poet laureate of the United States.

Surfing the Web to get a better feel for Collins' work, I discovered this: Action Poetry.

My first thought was, "Holy crap! This is practically our next assignment!"

My next thought was, "Holy crap! Tony might be right!"

"Hunger" intersperses typography with photography, while "The Dead" relies on illustration.

But if you only watch one bit of action poetry, watch "The Best Cigarette." It's hypnotizing.

More e.e.

I know. I already posted a bit about e.e. cummings. But having recently presented his poetry to the class (and cited him as a typographical influence), I thought I'd tell you why to read e.e. cummings.

Or at least let Billy Collins tell you why you should read him.

Because Dave didn't do it yet

If he did, I didn't see it on his blog.

Anyway, this is the Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation. It's much shorter than I anticipated, but I guess that's why Edward Tufte thinks Powerpoint is evil.

Words and images

I'm looking for a little guidance here. I'm wondering if anyone can turn me on to some graphic novels that take interesting approaches to graphic design. When I was younger, I was definitely into some comics, but that pursuit seems to have faded. (And, these days, calling a graphic novel a comic could prove dangerous.)

Anyway, I've been told that "The Watchmen" is pretty incredible, but my impression is that the writing is what is unique. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Regardless, I'd like to get over to Atomic Books soon, anyway, so if no one has any suggestions, I'll post some of my own in the future. At the very least, I know they stock lots of Taschen books, which will work wonders toward expanding my design library.

Words I like

This represents a free form assembly of some words that could be considered my favorites.

ampersand
archipelago
Hieronymus Bosch (triptych)
suplex, Subaru
moose (meese)
Pavlov
Checkov
ton
rotate
spoon
y'alternative
yodel
luminescent
apiary
arboretum
appaloosa
Ludwig
Lupe (Fiasco)
brown trout
trite

I don't know why it didn't make my list before class, but another favorite word--woot!

Annie Leibovitz

Her name came up recently in class, and now Annie Leibovitz is in town. At least, she was. The Corcoran Gallery hosts works by Ms. Leibovitz until January 13.

'r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r'

While racking my brain to compile a list of favorite words, I thought I might find inspiration in the works of my favorite poets. While that was somewhat helpful, it actually provided a much greater insight: My inspiration to pursue the Pub Design program originated in my esteem for those poets.

The first place I looked was e.e. cummings. First and foremost a writer, Cummings also sketched and painted a great deal. No surprise, then, that the visual representation of his poems is as important (and often more important) than the actual words.

The title of this post is actually the title of one of his poems; however, most folks just call the poem "Grasshopper." The letters move back and forth for several lines, finally working themselves into an organization readers can actually understand. The poem creates a powerful hopping connotation without ever using the word "hopping." Brilliant!

The image above is actually a different poem, but you can still see here that shape is very important to Cummings.

Anyway, there are other poets to discuss (like the one that inspired the name of this blog), but I'm sure their names will surface throughout the semester.

'Real Simple' is real popular

Lots of folks brought in "Real Simple" for this week's show and tell, myself included. Seems the mag is a go to when it comes to finding examples of classification.

Well, the same can be said of the publication's web site. For this chart, "Real Simple" reimagines the Periodic Table, but replaces all those boring old elements with wonderful tips about what to clean and how often. Oh, joy!

'Bacon tastes good. Pork chops taste good.'

Filthy or not, bacon is delicious.

That's why, for the classification project, I've elected to enumerate the many wonderful pork products that come from one pig.

There's sausage, and bacon, and pork tenderloin and spareribs, and pork belly and even scrapple. Delicious!

Is anyone else getting hungry?

Speaking of photojournalism

You may have noticed this photo around school:













It's a a photo by A. Aubrey Bodine called "Crabs and Natty Boh." Bodine was a photojournalist that worked for The Sun for 50 years, and the photo you've potentially seen is posted to promote an exhibit of Bodine's work at the Student Center Gallery. I suggest you have a look, even if it's just to see the bright space and the view from the gallery.

Bodine, often considered a definitive photojournalist of Baltimore life, captures uniquely Baltimore moments, creating a poignant history of our town.

Here's one of my favorites:

















"Wash Day" is a glimpse into a Sunday ritual, which, along with other activities from Bodine's works, has largely disappeared. Maybe it's mundane, but it's most definitely worth a look.

CMYK

"CMYK" is a magazine that features art from students and recent grads, which includes advertising, graphic design, photography and illustration. I've only seen this one issue, but there's some pretty amazing work in there.

At CMYK on the web, you can create a profile to share your work with the world. It'll be a while, I think, before my work is good enough for that.

Since the call to action I found was a tiny recreation of student work, I won't post it here. You can find the mock ad for the Illinois Department of Transportation in the pictured issue of CMYK. You can even borrow it from me, if you'd like.