signal to noise pt. II

"The Bathing Ape Has No Clothes (and other notes on the distinction between style and design)" Adam Greenfield takes an in depth look at contemporary design - or the lack there of....

While exploring the world of design, Greenfield begins by tearing into the self-proclaimed designers of the online world. He goes on to relate the creator of BAPE, Nigo, to a stylist rather than a designer. His argument is that modern design - or what most people consider to be mod-des is a half-assed method which leaves out the most important aspect - functionality.

According to the laws that Greenfield lives by, a design must suit the needs of humanity, and be a perfect blend of function and form. His old-school approach separates artists from designers - not definitively, that is to say it's not that an artist cannot cross the line and put out a legit design, or that a beautiful design is anything less than art, BUT self-expression is not enough when it comes to putting together something for the masses. It becomes somewhat of a science to fulfill all needs and still make it look good.

Generally speaking, this article was well written. In fact it was the best article I've come across on A List Apart thus far. Greenfield's combination of wit and articulate style made the piece enjoyable AND informative, two lines that -unfortunately - do not intersect very often, or for very long. His ability to combine humour with educated deconstruction and criticism using a very static form of discourse was commendable. Bravo.

To be honest, I was surprised when I saw his photo at the base of the article. I had envisioned a young urban gangsta type. Okay, maybe not that last part, but lets just say I was definitely more than a little thrown off when I saw his face. Just goes to show that you can never judge a dude by his mug, and that insight can come from a hobo on a bus. That was kind of obscure, but we all get the message - kid is dope, despite his appearance. Maybe I've just never been a fan of the bald head with beard vibe - its too Mandel-esque (puke! ohhhh gross!).

go with the flow and figure it out

FRESH! is a collection of images taken at Fortino's grocery market. The harsh florescent lighting made for an interesting group of shots. I focused on fruit not only for it's deliciousness, but because the vibrant colours made for a visual orgasm. After about 10 minutes, the store manager informed me that I had to stop taking photographs because of "legal issues." He then proceeded to watch from a distance making sure that I cooperated - the bastard.

Oh well, the shots I managed to get were pretty sweet, next time I'll shoot faster, and AT A BETTER STORE.

signal to noise

"I’m not even sure why they’d bother to call themselves designers, except that it has a vaguely contemporary sexiness to it, whereas stylist sounds like someone named Marcel you might find working at a hair salon."

photog common

the photos:
inspired by vietnamese cuisine and a little bit of love;
nat and i went downtown for the afternoon, we both brought our cameras - these are my shots...









the common show was actually amazing. the first show in a while that i'm actually glad to have been to. q-tip was a little on the let down, but common picked it up and rocked the mic well. somewhere between him throwing down his own rendition of 'new york state of mind' and rehashing some of the greatest lines as a tribute to hip-hop, i realized how fucking strong a performer this cat really is. his frees were on point, his melodies were fresh, his live mixes were off the fucking hook, and what bad can i really say about the show? the beer cost too much, BUT THATS ABOUT IT. sound was dope, and the deejays didn't leave a jaw left undropped. GOLD.

"hip-hop is the people, the people need to get better"

support the movement,
support culture

latenightlights

these shots were taken in an attempt to capture the cityscape view from my apartment. fueled by alcohol, the results are interesting to say the least. the concept builds on my earlier 'painting with light' theme.

someone I knew was stabbed to death.
A year ago he kicked it in my basement,
now he's kicking it in limbo.
life is short and life is fucked up.

saw it all, not the blade.
a violent end, a thousand new
but so it goes
we're all living with ghosts...

Why did I get a plug for a Brazilian internet service provider posted on my blog?

Because Google is a whore.

the biggest problem is that i can't remember my url

Daoism versus webdesign...

I feel that the web is an unnatural manifestation of human existence imposed upon nature. Where as Taoism was written to be a natural philosophy, Allsopp appropriates it as another unnecessary method of comparing mac's to PCs.

He loosely allots passages of Tao's writing to aspects of his own profession....which just goes to show how transparently subjective all media can be. I agree to an extent with some of his suggestions, but even then he is asking us to reach....

Overall, the best thing about this article is the setup of his blog. If he added some red it would be very stijl. Regardless, aside from the 'riveting' comment he drops early on, the piece lacked the personality I not only enjoy, but have come to expect from blogs.

2.5/10

Riveting indeed.

food is where i draw the line

...or:

never let another man eat your food.


in order (top to bottom)
shot 1: I took this shot just after getting off the subway at St. Pats station. (on my way record digging- ended up with some fresh Gil Scott -got to love those flying dutch.) It pretty much looks like a transformer, really it was just a collapsed set of escalators. Nat got pissed, but I stayed till I captured what I first saw in them.

shot 2 A - C: Bedroom design was a collab between Nat and I. The red/white/black with simple exaggerated pieces. The very stijl room was lit up by the sun setting so I took out my camera and this is what it caught.
'A' is the untouched version,
'B' the black and white with slight channel adjustment, and..
'C' is the selective 'trip out shot'

shot 3: The subway was leaving, I was right there. BAM it just happened. The green lines actually happened too....in real life....they just shot out of the train.....it was like the matrix...

if my cream doesn't mix in my coffee, is that bad karma or just bad coffee?

poet and madman

This image is an album cover I'm working with. The photo was taken by Natalie Castellino.
I'll probably make it more square....

The rest are photos from a collection I was putting together. Each one represents its text. Figure it out.

I was inspired predominantly by Emily Haines' knives don't have your back, and a fleeting feeling or two. (chronic haze?)

i really like sugar crisp, even without milk.

a conversation, static.

declare independance. don't let them do that to you. says:
(blow) its ruining peoples lives
declare independance. don't let them do that to you. says:
whyd your ex gyal ruin yours?
matt. (the killah) says:
she just did, drove me to drugs
matt. (the killah) says:
as escapism
matt. (the killah) says:
i've found a postive light that supports me
matt. (the killah) says:
well
matt. (the killah) says:
again
matt. (the killah) says:
a subjective term
matt. (the killah) says:
i've found what..for right now, i am defining as love
matt. (the killah) says:
not having to change myself, being embraced fully, completely
matt. (the killah) says:
and growing
matt. (the killah) says:
intellectually, emotionally, spiritually
matt. (the killah) says:
the depth of this is far greater than any interaction i've ever been a part of
matt. (the killah) says:
so
matt. (the killah) says:
we're both new people
matt. (the killah) says:
the important thing is that we're happy
matt. (the killah) says:
more withourselves than anything else
matt. (the killah) says:
afterall, our world, our life....is what we create
matt. (the killah) says:
it all stems from our own ability to cope with ourselves
matt. (the killah) says:
everything else is a creation, a construct, a negotiation
matt. (the killah) says:
what can we negotiate if we don't have a basis?


***'drugs' is a subjective term. for the purpose of this conversation it related to any negative substance, situation, or otherwise which removes one from themselves and temporarily suspends relative conscious thought***

everything stems, so why not try to find the roots?


my take on 'supposed' over-analysis.

polarizing yourself in either direction is the only tragedy

I don't know about you, but I hate it when douche rags at bars don't buy me drinks for free.
Free drinks are the basis of a free democratic society

if you don't buy me drinks, your a fascist. That's right, I didn't want to go there...but I had to.
So if you like Mussolini, to the point of wanting to emulate his contemptible ways...don't buy me drinks.

If you do however support free will, goodtimes and freedom in general...you must buy them for me every time you pass my way
even if I haven't been drinking
and I try to turn it down
do it like a nike ad
and if I throw it in your face,
take it as a sign of grace

sleep versus science

I woke up from a dream about going to a hockey game which rapidly transcended to a break battle with three deejays. The hockey players had more moves than crazy legs. What does this mean?
I'm lost in the stadium of life, waiting for something I hate, trying to see it for something I love? Do I just need to go out dancing?

Actually, I don't really hate hockey, so much as I am indifferent to it. Maybe that is the message streaming from my subconscious mind. Stop wasting time on indifference!

It is such a nice day outside, and I am sitting here beside the window. I should be out shooting. Making things happen. Not learning about telescopes. I understand the cultural implications of scientific discoveries. Do I really care about Hubble's Linear Theory? No.

More than anything I just resent the time of this class. It's never a good day if I'm up before noon. Maybe I'd enjoy science in the evening?

Also my throat still hurts, I hate summer colds.

old photos, new work: the 7:52 collection

I came across a folder of photography I had taken one night while walking to a friends house in Meadowvale. For those of you who aren't familiar with the area, it's pure suburban sprawl with a ghetto mentality. I was shooting in early fall, just as the leaves had started to golden. The streetlights combined with the wet streets and bright leaves gave me some interesting scenes to work with.

I shot about 30 frames on a walk that usually takes me half an hour. I didn't have much of a theme in mind, but thats the way I prefer to work. Freeform expression is my thing.

Almost 2 years later I've come back and worked with the images. I started off desaturating and blasting them out with the channel mixer, then I slowly brought back a touch of colour. The results were actually pretty sweet, so here's a few of my favourite ones.....










SIDEBAR: you'll notice I added music to this bad boy.
The track is called dopetastic, and it was produced using my bare hands.
I plan to release a mixtape with my beats and the vocals of my co-collaborator Nate, a.k.a. illnotes. It will probably drop sometime after I get back from Amsterdam.

gratuitous use of a subjective vernacular

***WARNING, CONTENT MAY OFFEND, BEST NOT TO BE READ BY THE OVERLY SENSITIVE OR THOSE WHO PRETEND CERTAIN PHRASES DON'T EXIST...WHEN THEY REALLY DO, HARDCORE EXIST....ALL THE TIME***

**ALSO THIS IS NOT WRITTEN TO ANYONE IN SPECIFIC...SO RESERVE YOUR OFFENDEDNESS...IF THAT IS IN FACT A WORD, WHICH IT IS NOT....TECHNICALLY...BUT I JUST USED IT, SO IT IS A WORD... KIND OF**

*POINTLESS THIRD WARNING*

As you may already know, blog-hosting giant Blogger.com just dropped its latest feature allowing internet users everywhere to creep like they've never crept before. Play Blogger allows users and the general public alike the chance to actually watch images being uploaded to the sites database in real-time. What does this mean you ask? Well since you're too incompetent to click the link I just provided, allow me to retort: it means you can sit there and watch a consistently updated slide show of images from bloggers across the globe.

So if like me you have your blog settings jacked on open, Jane Watson down in Memphis, TX can be setting your overexposed face as her background. AWESOME! Not only can people save the images you have up on your blog, (to doctor in amusing and incriminated ways) but they can also click your photo of you and your friend Carlos (who they will later claim is your migrant slave) and be taken directly to your blog.

The privacy perks that arise with this new tool are too numerous to mention. Actually they aren't really...here's a list of possibilities in case you were wondering:

1. Upside: People can sit and watch other peoples lives like some sort of television show that lacks any sort of continuity - instead of actually living out their own lives!
Downside: The people on television meet some sort of standard aesthetic requirements, the people on Blogger Play do not. Also some images are less interesting than the carpet in my apartment. Actually they just really fucking suck.
2. Upside: People can save your face and print it on t-shirts with amusing slogans like "I fought a bear and lost"
Downside: A lot of people are crazy
3. Upside: Even more randoms can find your blog
Downside: Some people you don't want finding your blog (i.e. Billy the-crazy-hobo-with-a-laptop....who may or may not exist....or your boss when you talk some smack after a terrible day of work...or your mom.... "well then why don't you just keep that stuff off your blog?" because I don't, smartass.)


What are people saying about this new cross cultural mosaic? I don't know, I haven't really read up, nor will I. However I feel that this wondertastic feature, though jammin at first, is really just another attempt to capture the fleeting attention of the online community in general. It is interesting to feel for a moment that you really are a part of something greater and that we are all connected....but then again, who cares?

Do I really give a fuck about what Larry the shoe salesman ate for breakfast this morning? No, I actually want to punch him in the face and my computer screen for displaying the image. Then again no one really has a gun to my head forcing me to creep, creep, creep.

The truth is, like so many previous online fads, this is bound to get old fast. Destined to be one of those crowning achievements that everyone will forget about by tomorrow, if they even know what it is today, Blogger Play will go down in history as yet another superfluous waste of life, just like myspace, and soon to be facebook.

Like television, the web was built to educate. Luckily, just like the cancerous box in every living room, it too has deteriorated to just another means to a lifetime of uselessness.

Though aesthetically speaking (not on behalf of the photos themselves but...) the setup is well done. It's sleek, streamlined and functional (though the point of which has already been dissolved). And while were on the actually upsides of the feature, Blogger Play is an interesting idea. To be fair to its designers, this technology was never sold as something life altering, but simply something that is "fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling."

HMMM, compelling? Perhaps that's a little too ambitious...unless they mean in the sense that it compels people to upload more crappy photos (some are interesting). To be honest, my time on Blogger Play made me doublethink about what photos I'll ever upload to this blog....temporarily....not that I really care (don't judge me cause I'm awesome). Also, I saw a total of about 20 photos (about 30 seconds) before I got bored and started writing this. Perhaps that says a lot because that is 30 seconds of my life that I'll never get back... kudos Blogger.com Staff, kudos. (Now get back to the drawing board for some other way to compete with real life!)

If I had to give some sort of arbitrary grade I'd give Blogger Play an E for effort, but a D for staying power. They've created a service that is so far from functional, yet is able to draw the attention of someone so utterly amazing as myself for the amount of time it would take me to steal a bowl from Tim Horton's (I'm not saying I necessarily stole a Tim Horton's bowl, I'm not necessarily saying I did not....possibly).

Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. But we can all agree that Eva Longoria looks better now than she did 15 years ago, and after all....isn't that what we're really thinking about?

Time it takes a blogger staff member to read this: 45564939494949493 minutes.
Time it takes a giant tool to calculate how long that is in rational terms: GO GET LAID

*IF YOU ARE OFFENDED, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE READ THIS FAR*

random!

bamboo smells terrible if you don't change the water.
people that don't store toilet paper in the bathroom are misguided.

no knock, they can knock your door down

I recently came across a speech by typing the words: "I wish I had..." into a Google search. One of the first results that appeared was not necessarily what I had intended to find, but I suppose the random nature of the search gave way to random results. The byline on the top of the page noted that this was a speech written for high school students and that it had never been delivered. The school he had been asked to speak at, upon reading over the copy, had decided that his speech wasn't quite what they were looking for. Needless to say, I was intrigued. What content could be so dangerous that a high school administrative staff would be forced to veto its delivery? I read on.... The first line that really got me was this:

"don't give up on your dreams... implies you're supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on. The computer world has a name for this: premature optimization"

Premature optimization, to try and make the most of something before you even realize what exactly it is. This was my greatest fear in high school: I didn't know what I wanted to be, where I wanted to go...half the time I didn't even realize where I was at. But still, there would be some head at the front of an nondescript classroom telling me to act on it. In fact if I take a step back now, to gauge where I'm at... I still don't know exactly what I want to be, or where exactly it is that I'm going and these heads still exist. I doubt I'm alone. I see it in the faces of the everyday. The drones working for 8.50 and hour, the old ladies on the bus sucking humbugs. Are they where they want to be? Are they going anywhere?

I do know this, what I want to be - more than any practitioner of a specific profession - is happy. Where I want to be - more than anywhere specific in the world...even a beach with a waterfall - is surrounded by people that share the same passion for life that I do.

Money is irrelevant in this argument, it's about what a person does with their own capital. The gap between the average human being and Niche far from marginal. Why is it that so few of us strive for greatness? That so many would rather settle for someone else's cookie cutter life? Instead of 'don't give up on your dreams' the phrase should go something like: 'let your dreams be your own.'
That was the problem with high school, or maybe it just went unmentioned. It was there for us to figure out for ourselves. Though it would have been nice to have someone let us know that it wasn't the rest of our lives at stake. High school, at least to me, was about the social atmosphere. It was about doing something you hate, you don't understand, or just plain don't care about just to complain to the next person about it all; To create some common ground.

But I digress, the most fascinating thing about this article is that I wrote something similar when I had graduated high school. An expository for those who cared to read it. I did not necessarily set out to inform, but inform is what I did. I did not necessarily intend to impact readers, or advocate the reevaluation of views...if it happened, so it goes. The interesting thing to consider goes beyond the content of either, but the censorship that attempted to offset and obstruct it. Selective education versus something more free. Why not allow the kids to hear what else is out there? Why not allow them to see that there is truth beyond those red brick walls. Are we so far removed from ideals such as democracy? Isn't the cornerstone of our society supposed to be choice? Are some ideas really that dangerous? Granted there is a certain structure to the system, one that requires a hierarchy of affluence and respect (fear) to keep the masses flowing through and fulfilling the duties that keep this society running. I feel that it's cultural suicide, but maybe that's just me.

Perhaps there was no formal governing body subjecting my work to censorship. Perhaps it was my lack of regard for the student masses out there that kept me from transforming my private discourse into something more public. Now, based on an arbitrary example I will assume that I too would have been blocked out like the sun had I tried. Self-defeating, or self-absorbed? Well I'm not a hero, let them discover it for themselves, or perhaps not at all. After all, the world does need garbage-men.

If I had to break down his entire speech and combine it with what I had intended to communicate it would be that high school exists to encourage the questioning of itself and other similar institutions. That the ones who get the most out of any institutionalized education are those that reject and find new methods of attaining truth, objective or otherwise. The byproduct of such are masses of robotic, barely self aware creatures ready to serve yet another hierarchy. It's like using bacon grease to cook your eggs. mmm... functional.

Now let me end with a quote,
I forget who originally said it, not that it really matters in this context,
for me the words came from an eclectic old carpenter:

"it's not the answers that are important, but the questions"


Anyone that doesn't understand that needs to keep flipping my burger.

note: yes, I used a semi-colon. Though many have joined the hate parade dedicated to their destruction, I am keeping them alive.




[to read the article/speech by Paul Graham click this]
[to read the article I wrote 2 years ago click this]
***WARNING MATURE CONTENT***

life, bar, example. this is freeform.

i had a really interesting conversation with a group of people i never met before tonight.
we spoke about culture, politics...to an extent...not the baseline jargon so many people get caught up with these days.....it was unexpected and real, two things that get all too often overlooked in this busy city life that we all strive to achieve.

jamaican jerseys, african dialect, polish surnames....it was an amalgamation of random points of interest.
there was no wrong
no right,
just conversation.
the most beautiful ends are achieved this way
with no prejudice
no preemptive shutdowns
no definitive bias
we were all open to new ideas

maybe the alcohol fueled this,
but i think a lot of it began before we even started drinking
the drinking was a byproduct of our conversation
if you really have to label it either way

some people are so scared of opening up
afraid to bare themselves to the world
and on what basis?
what the media has setup?
precognition is one thing
preperception is another
to try and justify your own ideals with constructed fact
or to create a view based on what you'd like to hear....
what benefit can really be revived
what gains can be made?
what about progress?
or is that not what we are really striving for?
is it all about sameness
about being docile robotic slaves?

fuck that
i'm moving to argentina.


also, on a sidebar...drunken people are idiots
you can gain a lot
(or a little..depending on how you gauge it)
just by being surrounded by lush motherfuckers.
(they're all perverted...not in the prudish sense...but the strict functional sense of the word.)

I realized golf and pretentiously rich go hand in hand.

go figure...

dopest recipe i've ever stolen from Natalie...

• 3 sweet potatoes (mashed)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• NOT A LOT OF salt

heat over stove. pour in a pan. pour a ton of brown sugar on top and broil till it caramelizes let it cool, hot sex on a platter.

I had a discussion today
it was an informal discourse
a private discussion of all the ignorant hypocrisies that exist these days
and I suppose they always have....
consumption, consumerism, the environment
maybe it's only a north american thing.
maybe the 'north american thing' is just to pretend to be passionate
to turn around without any real care
to be as trendy as possible with the issues that plague us

the problem isn't overproduction
or imperialist consumer-slavery
those who care don't do enough,
those who do enough have their own priorities.
fear or laziness,
which is more universal?
i believe in the teachings
i read the five per cent
a nation is alive,
eighty-five trapped.
the organized move,
philosophizing the difference.

comtemp-photog:
matthewhigginsonphotography 2006-2007
































































"If you saw that, you should check the philosophy...."

last night of summer.
a little bit of photog.



what does an escalator, a bed, two turntables and two women have in common?



















absoluetely nothing. except that i saw them all in one day.
goodtimes.