The Blog of Jeremy Scott, who is crazy about a lot of things.
The New York Times, one of America’s most reputable newspapers, is a decent source of accurate news but also moderately biased newspaper when it comes to politics. I took this screen shot of a funny error, a likely Freudian slip, on a NYT online article just before the Republican convention. Check out the first sentence of the second paragraph.
Accessed on Aug 31, 2008 on NYT.com
PS: Sorry I posted this 10 days after I found it.
I like these guys, they have a great folky-alt-rock sound with a compelling message. I also like this video… it is wonderful example of design, typography, and breaking-of-the-mold. Check it out if you have a sec.
After my first class today (Finance 302) I needed to leave campus to run errands. As you know from reading my blog, that means at least a 3 mile trip to my car. I hopped on my bike, biked half the way, flagged the bus that I usually beat for the other half (it was hot, give me a break), and finally arrived at my car. I hopped in, turned the key, and no go.
Last night on my way home, I passed a woman on the road whose tire had blown out. I stopped, because I am a boy scout. She had someone on their way to help her, but I stayed with her until her help came. No woman should be stranded alone on the side of the road at 11 PM. I would have changed the tire for her but she insisted that I not. Help arrived, and I departed after her grateful thanks.
Almost 12 hours later, I was stranded in a parking lot with jumper cables hanging out my engine compartment wildly waving to passing vehicles. Apparently my battery was dead. After 20 minutes, no boy scouts or good samaritans had stopped for me, so I called roadside assistance. My insurance company is now $60 poorer, and I am sunburned and out of an hour of my life.
Sometimes I wish there were more boy scouts around.
McCain oh-eight, er 1908 (via Busted Tees)
Welcome back to T-Shirt Tuesday, now one month old.
The Threadless $12 sale continues this week and got even better, with select styles further marked down to $9. While the selection of $9 shirts pales to the everything else selection at $12 each, there are still a few gems in the $9 sale (especially if you’re a girl or a size small guy) worth looking at. Threadless released, like it does every week, a couple of new shirts and a couple reprints yesterday which are all only $12, including this one I am sure to pick up eventually (like, wow, UV color changing inks? Crazy!). I also discovered some great typography tees at Ugmonk… including a must-have called lowercase.
Finnish National Railway by Ambiguous
This week’s feature shirt explores another design trend in tee shirts, typography. Typography is basically the study of and practice of design with typography, known in layman’s terms as the font face. Great typography makes or breaks a design, case in point (Barack Obama’s bold yet comfortable feeling website design to John McCain’s rather bland and sterile website design). Regardless of who I prefer, the design and use of creative typography on Obama’s website is superior to McCain’s. T-shirts also benefit from good type. A beautiful design can suffer if the text used sucks. On the other hand, some shirts can be simply words in different colors and fonts and be an awesome design. This weeks featured shirt, which I call “Finnish National Railroad” is such an example.
Finnish National Railway closeup
This shirt was designed and wholesaled by Ambiguous Clothing, a skate and snowboard type company. Ambiguous does not deal directly, but can be found in most “west coast style” stores. These guys make some awesome typographic tees, including this one from their Summer 08 line and of course this week’s featured shirt. What is cool about typographic design is that shirts like “Finnish” have simple artwork compared to something like “Refraction” but they still look great. All it took was some layered fonts, a few lines, and a few colors, and the result was a stunning design that works well and looks great. I picked up this shirt two weeks ago at Pacific Sun Company (or PacSun) on half off sale for $15. I had been eyeing it for weeks waiting for a sale. I got the last in my size. If you have one of those stores around you, check it out and see if you can pick up this gem for as good or better a price than I.
Until next T-Shirt Tuesday, I offer this advice: you may be a great friend who’d do anything for those you care about, but they can get their own t-shirts.
A new classic, from CNN via the AP:
Sean “Diddy” Combs complained about the “… too high” price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his “Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters” in a YouTube video posted Wednesday.
[...]
“I’m actually flying commercial,” Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. “That’s how high gas prices are.” [...]
Haha! I’d like to show him a thing or two about sacrafices because one can’t afford fuel! How about riding a bus for an hour a day to school because it costs almost $6 a day to go to class. Get real dumbass.
[EDIT: Found the Video]
In my past life I was a meteorologist. I almost chose that path in this life. After dedicating three or four years studying tropical cyclogenisis side-by-side my other primary education coursework, including spending two summers tracking storms on my 14″x22″ Atlantic Ocean map, I know a thing or two about the development of tropical weather. Gustav had the potential to be big, but three days ago the science was against it becoming the next Katrina… yet the media wanted it to be so much more.
“You need to be scared,” Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba’s western coast. “You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century.” Source.
The problem with Hurricane evacuations is that they take a lot of effort and have a huge economic impact. People don’t like doing them. Every two years or so people in some area will be urged to evacuate and then have the storm miss them by a bit or weaken before landfall. These people can’t survive the economic impact… the loss of work, the time away from home, the cost of hotels, food, and gas, so after six storms that miss them or weaken, they give up and decide to ride it out. Then, when fewer and fewer people leave… the big one hits. And you have a disaster like Katrina.
People need to be strongly encouraged to leave… every time. But Nagin’s ’storm of the century’ statement, only three years after the real ’storm of the century’ hit (I’d prefer, ’storm of the generation’) was just plain stupid. He succeeded in getting people out, props for that, but he made the likelihood of more staying behind next time far, far greater. His words will result in the people’s mistrust, and therefore, a less safe population next time, and the time after that.
This century’s most idiotic comment award goes to: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
The last few days through the end of next week are exciting moments for political junkies like me. This week’s Democratic National Convention has been loaded with plenty of classic lines and unforgettable moments already, with the culmination tonight as Obama accepted the nomination.
i. Mark Warner Keynote:
I believe that Obama, if elected, has huge potential to be an amazing President, but in 2006 I wasn’t yet on his bandwagon. In 2006 I was gunning for Mark Warner. As a casual observer of American politics, I have often noticed that legislators suck at running the country. Legislators make the laws and executives apply them. The reason we haven’t elected a senator or congressman in decades is for this very reason. I have faith in Obama’s executive potential because his community organizing required him to do lots with little resources, a challenge that builds character and leadership, two traits that are easily scalable. Also, his relatively short career in the senate was not long enough to corrupt him. Under most circumstances though, I’d prefer a former Governor to a Senator, and former Virginia Governor Warner was my man. Early in 2007 he formally let down the thousands who had joined the “Draft Mark Warner” groups, myself included, saying he and his family weren’t ready. With the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, however, he is now well on his way to getting there.
Former Virginina Governor Mark Warner
Mark Warner’s speech was the one I was most looking forward to, and before tonight’s festivities, the one I was most wowed by. His energy and idealism were nothing like Obama’s in 2004, but instead it was firm and decisive, strong and quote-un-quote Presidential. His message of the ‘race into the future’ was uplifting, essentially the content, and clear sequel, to Obama’s “Audacity of Hope” speech. His message contrasting Obama to McCain echoed one of the prevalent Democratic themes of the election, that McCain would be more of the same, but he offered details to back up the claim. His words were firm, detailed, and pointed, and though it may not have inspired people like Obama four years ago, it instead ignited people’s resolve to see the change we need actually occur.
The best part of his speech was his “greatest criticism of President Bush” which, according to Warner, was not about policy but inaction, when he failed to “tap into our greatest resource: the character and resolve of the American people”. Here is a quote, definitely the most thought-provoking moment of Convention.
“People always ask me, ‘What’s my biggest criticism of President Bush?’ I’m sure you all have your own. Here’s mine—it’s not just the policy differences, it’s the fact that this president never tapped into our greatest resource: the character and resolve of the American people. He never asked us to step up.
“Think about it: after September 11th, if there was a call from the president to get us off foreign oil to stop funding the very terrorists who had just attacked us, every American would have said, “how can I do my part?” This administration failed to believe in what we can achieve as a nation, when all of us work together.”
With a future as bright as Warner’s, I hope he ends up on the short-list for the next Democratic ticket next time go round.
ii. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer:
Throughout the convention the headlining speakers have done their job to deliver the message in the way we expected them to. I will save you all the trouble and not re-hash the analysis of most of these speakers. But in Brian Schweitzer we had a minor speaker inspire, entertain, and impress us in a way totally unexpected. CNN was decidedly ignoring the man’s speech, picking apart Warner’s recent speech to the utmost detail, until suddenly the crowd was overheard cheering like crazy. The anchors shut up and cut to Schweitzer. What a great cut it was.
Montana Governor Brian Schweizer
Immediately what we saw was a good ole western cowboy whose level-headed look at what America needs, his energetic approach to speaking, and his calculated comedy back wit and charm made for an unforgettable speech. His occasional “whoo-weee” and guttural phrases characterize him as a modern loud and proud American frontiersman (cowboy), masculine and not afraid to rise up and speak out. I hope this guy makes it to national politics, we need a guy like him.
There were many memorable moments in his speech, including a one-liner about McCain’s forgetfulness about the number of homes he owns—which was followed by a “whew-wee” as the crowd cheered, a moment where explained that the best barrel of oil is the one we don’t have to buy, and another when he told convention delegates to “get off [their] hind ends” and let the world know we were declaring our energy independence.
iii. Hillary Clinton:
Hillary had a job to do. She did it and more. Among the many excellent things she said, I was most happy with this quote, which summed up the reasons I get so frustrated with old Hillary supporters that “can’t bring themselves to vote for Obama”:
New York Senator Hillary Clinton
“I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?”
Her words were spot on, uplifting, and well organized. She made a case to her former supporters for Obama, and didn’t just say “I endorse him”, rather she told them why they must, for the sake of all they worked toward together, vote for him.
The next day when she interrupted the roll call of the states to motion to nominate Obama by acclimation, that was amazing. I am proud of that woman. I would have been proud to vote her. She was and is good for America, and I am glad she had a role in this historic election.
iv. Obama:
After being picked apart by everyone under the sun, if you want to see some more intelligent commentary on Obama’s speech, check out any other website. I just want to say this: it was great, at times it made me tear up, and it reminded me why he is my candidate. Good job Obama, and good luck over the next few months.
v. See More:
All the speeches are archived on the convention website. Especially check out Schweitzer’s speech if you have a moment. You need Microsoft Silverlight (the new flash competitor) installed (boo), but the videos are high quality and worth it.
Its Tuesday and time for the third installment of T-Shirt Tuesday. I have had a lot of fun so far with these, they open the door for some commentary on style in general as it relates to t-shirts, which is fun to write, if not to read.
"Splatter in D Minor" from Threadless
In t-shirt news this week come a store-wide sale from Threadless. At $12 a tee they are a lot cheaper than normal, but as Andy at HideYourArms points out, this is $2 more than their normal $10 sales that have occurred with regularity for the last few years. Oh well. $12 is still a cheap tee, especially for the quality of the tees and artwork provided. For the sale, they reprinted 15 designs, including my favorite Threadless shirt of all time (so far), “Splatter in D Minor” (pictured above). There is nothing else really cool to note, maybe more next week.
This weeks feature t-shirt comes from the ‘vintage/distressed t-shirt’ department: my Vintage LEGO logo tee.
Close Up of 'Vintage' LEGO Logo Tee
LEGO has had a hard time selling themselves beyond their toys. LEGO branded t-shirts, watches, pens, etc, all get made but often are clearanced out quickly and rarely last long. The LEGO pens line is best branded non-toy line they have, but I question how it makes money because I so often see them on clearance. Anyway, when I saw this shirt in the catalog a few years ago I knew I had to have it, but it was costly. Six months later on clearance for $9 and I was happy to pick one up.
Ego my LEGO
This shirt was designed by the Paul Frank company, but honestly, what is creative about it? For such a big-name designer, the shirt is only a distressed/vintaged logo graphic. Anybody with a computer and photoshop could do it. Despite my attempts to avoid mass-market brands when possible, I like the distressed/vintage look and if I relate to the brand, I’ll break the rules a bit.
Wearing the 'Vintage' LEGO logo tee
The distressed/vintage style has been around for a while. I first remembered seeing it at Hot Topic stores when I was in my mid and late teens. Apparently, shows like I Love the 80s and its spin-offs got gen x and gen y kids into memories mode and suddenly they wanted to relive their childhoods through shirts with vintage style images of logos, characters, and icons of yesteryear. Nintendo capitalized on this the most with their comprehensive and ever changing line of NES and SNES inspired shirts, and have recently expanded even into N64 inspired shirts… like that was so long ago. Now any brand that has existed for more than a few years are making vintage inspired shirt designs, and to my great pleasure, LEGO joined the game, albeit for a short while.
What is nice about these shirts is that they allow you to connect with your inner geek while still feeling somewhat stylish. The distressed look goes great with denim and cargo pants, which make up most of my inventory of bottoms. Vintage shirts, but especially my LEGO shirt, can be great conversation starters, and while I can’t say that my LEGO shirt helps me pick up girls, it also probably doesn’t hurt. Part of the reason I love t-shirt collection so much is that I can wear my collection, and when I don shirts like this one, I am reminded why its fun.
Until next week, don’t go naked–find a good tee!
i. picking a seat:
I forgot how much I enjoy watching people pick their seats on the first day of class, and today, after a year off of school, I was given the opportunity to see it again. I arrived early, like I hopefully will every day now, because if I am late it will mean I missed my bus. Seated eleven minutes prior to the instructor’s and 67 of his 70 students’ arrival, I saw person after person file in through the door. Oddly enough, though there were two doors, everyone used only the east entrance… why and whether people will learn of the other door’s existence are questions that may be answered later. But it wan’t what door they came through that I was interested in, it was what they did after the door shut behind them.
Each one looked around before taking a place. During their visual survey of the room, they displayed their thoughts through their facial expressions. These expressions informed me of the motivation that led them to the seat where they eventually sat down, and also gave hints into what kind of student they would be. There are those who purposely picked the front seats, mostly because they’d rather have the back of their head stared at than look in the eye the students they just embarrassed with that excellent question and even better test grade. In the back and far left and right are the timid, whose effort so far has gotten them by but they prefer not to be called on or involved in discussion. Of course, there were those who sat near or next to friends and acquaintances from prior classes. Their search for safety in the unfamiliar could suggest either an excellent study team or an insecure student who will rely on the support of his or her fellow student. Either should yield a higher grade but not a curve-setting one, since their relationship should also act as a distraction. Finally there are those who purposely place themselves in the speaker’s cone, that place where the instructor will “look for friendly eyes” when speaking. These people are okay with the knowledge that the instructor will see them, and interact with them, that is what they want. It is these people you must be scared of, they set the curve.
As for me, I chose my seat in my favorite area, just off center in the second row, near the center of the cone. Fear me.
ii. smell of soap and perfumed poo:
Even a small school like Mesa Community College, which I attended for five semesters and two summer sessions, can feel like a labyrinth of buildings, passageways, and dead ends. On the day I graduated MCC I knew the location of only nine restrooms, the ninth having been discovered while dressed in graduation robes at the line up. I needed to pee before the three hour ceremony. Someone from the nearest building’s academic department was nearby and suggested the seemingly hidden bathroom in that building. Anyway, I was hoping things would be easier at ASU but no cigar, I am as lost as I was on day 1 at MCC, except this time lost in a bigger labyrinth with seemingly fewer restrooms.
After my 9AM class ended, my breakfast beverages declared freedom and my search for a restroom commenced. I walked three hallways on two floors in the BA building before I considered my attempt futile and walked across the grass to the MU. Inside the MU I was expecting a map, but the recent renovations required such resources to be temporarily taken down and obviously the work team was behind schedule. I asked some other students just to learn that many were new freshmen and others were looking for a restroom as well. Descending to the lower level and turning a corner put me in another hallway and with still no sign to guide my way. I passed a soda machine, the third I had encountered in my hunt so far; ironically they water you down more than they provide a place to release, but I guess it makes sense since bathrooms don’t earn marketing dollars from Pepsi Co. Beside the soda machine was another hallway, and a scented draft found my nose. As if produced by a potpourri of soap suds and perfumed poo, the musty unpleasant smell that only a public restroom could create gave me hope that an end to my quest was near. Down the hall, through two doors, and alas a urinal and a long “ahhhhh….”.
On the way out I popped $1.25 into the machine for a 20oz Mountain Dew. Highway robbery, they were $1 at MCC. Three hours later, I need to pee again. And the search begins anew.
iii. hot chicks looking unattractive.
When at MCC the Kirk Student Center, the community college’s sorry attempt at a MU equivilent, was my between classes hangout. It often frusturated me that every table was occupied by Magic: The Gathering card player dorks and all the comfortable chairs were occupied by people napping. No different in the ASU MU–except their are more soft chairs here. Seated next to me is a girl that if awake and sittup up would pass my hotness test but pretty fails it asleep. Seriously, why would anyone, especially a hot chick, think it is wise to fall asleep in a chair in the student lounge? There is nothing more unattractive than a hot chick asleep in chair with her mouth open and drool on her cheeck. Well, except for your grandma naked.