This week, Apple introduced a tablet computer.

To understand the magnitude of this statement fully, you would have had to pay attention to rumor boards for the last decade. In summary: ever since Steve Jobs killed the Newton upon returning to Apple… there has been a persistent rumor of a tablet announcement. Not one solid rumor throughout the years, but a brand new rumor, every single time Apple hosted a product-launch keynote. It became a complete joke: “Oh boy, here’s the Apple tablet rumor again”. Now, having this much speculation can only mean one thing: overly hyped expectations. And if you are paying attention to the tech blogs this week, you are basically hearing the results of that expectations. (Just understand that.)

I have been skeptical that a tablet would even be released. Who needs one? What would it be used for? I couldn’t think of any good answers. Even as far as two-thrids of the way through the announcement of the actual iPad this week, I remained completely nonplussed. Then it hit me… this is not made for people like me. This is purpose built for our parents, our grandparents, or our kids. It is the computer for people who don’t need a computer.

Which leads me to the snapshot above. A funky angle taken looking over the railing in the Seattle Public Library. Rows and rows of books waiting to be held, browsed, and read. And while I am not stupid enough to predict that tablet computing will end the print industry; looking down at all these beautiful and dusty old books, I do know one thing… this will become a rare museum soon enough. And as technologically forward as I consider myself… that thought just makes me feel nostalgic and old.

A kind remembrance of stencil-lettering’s past, this week’s Graffiti Friday post takes a conservationist approach to the art.

The blood-red paint drips down over the text, almost as if to suggest what horrible fate will become you if you go against the cautionary instructions. That gruesome death and dismemberment comes to all those who defy the sign’s authority. And adding to the narative… that by not completely painting over the wall, they have in essence, created more visual wall-trash, littering our vision with noise. Ah, delicious bloody irony.

I never really understood signs like these in the first place. “No parking” signs I get. No littering signs? It’s not as if someone was about to drop trash and suddenly notices a sign and sees the light. “Oh no! I better find a garbage can…” Or worse yet, does this sign imply that only in areas that are marked “do not litter” can you in fact not litter, so it automatically renders everywhere there is not a sign as correct littering zones. Maximum public signage stupidity.

I would love the opportunity to design some signage. To work with an architecture firm building up an airport system, or possibly with civic planners to re-engineer how my cities street signs work. There is such a grand potential for designers to enhance our daily lives and I could only hope that I would get that chance.

Funny that the more invested I get in the design business, the more interested I get in organizational information systems. You know the type… forms, documents, signage… things which the better they are designed, the less you see them. Quite the opposite of a CD case or a poster—made to atttract your attention with a flash of color or a bold statement. “Look at ME!” …no, these pieces are subtle, refined, and total utilitarian awesomeness.

Think of a FedEx form. You just know how to fill it out. You aren’t thinking, oooh, I really like this color purple or the font on the address field. Nope. You just get it and fill it out. And that, my friends is great information design. Simple, pure. And that is indeed very difficult to execute on… or more accurately, sell to a client.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Happy Graffiti Friday everyone!

Yesterday marks my first missed post since the blog started in August. I started up the ol’ thinkin’ machine, dropped fingers-to-keys for some special clickety clack, and abruptly forgot to post. So instead of trying to sneak it in with no announcement, I figured I could use today to reflect on the positives instead.

It really means a lot to me to know that people are enjoying my little project! I started this site to once again have a personal space to share thoughts, feelings, and imagery (along with helping to improve my post-140 character writing)—and with a little over a month of publication, it has been seeing a consistent 25-50 unique daily visitors! That, combined with the regular comments I get, really warms my heart on such a cold, foggy, San Francisco morning. Thank you!

This snapshot is a wheat-paste poster from an alley close to Hayes Valley. It was taken shortly after President Obama took office, and really reflects the general attitude in and around ‘Frisco at that time. I do understand that this city is a bit of a political bubble, but the night of the election, you could walk up to anyone on the street and just cheer and they would smile and join in. All 6 Republicans were safely tucked away at home and the city was on fire with jubilation!

I post it today in memory of my missed post… and with the certain knowledge that anyone can make a mistake.

This sign sits outdoors in the middle of Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park, amidst massive public works of raw, rusty metal. These are gravity defying beasts of a massive scale, and it struck me as odd— especially given that the rain, sun, snow, and wind should seemingly have a much more profound impact on the art than a simple human could ever have.

Clearly, this sign couldn’t have been put there to discourage graffiti. And there is no way a screaming flock of children would take time out of their game of tag to reconsider the longer lasting effects of their sculpture garden hiding places. Nor would the elderly even fathom a jaunt up into the brush and shrubs to lean in for a scrub. Therefore, I had to assume this sign is aimed at me.

So then, despite the fact that I didn’t even have an urge to touch the public work… I sauntered over to the nearest indestructibly weather-worn object and neatly planted a high-five.

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In regards to this snapshot’s composition, what really makes the photo for me is twofold. First, that the sign is nowhere near the art, and instead serves more as an ironic statement about mankind’s relationship to nature. Second, that the trash in the background is doing far more damage to the beauty of the park than anything I could ever personally incur.

Enjoy (…and feel free to rub your grubby hands all over it).

Found this hilarious topographical map modification on a ferry up in Washington. I’m sure that everyone around thought I was a complete dope, but it didn’t matter. What my inner 10 year old wants, he gets. And I am still not sure if people were gawking because it was perverse or because here is a grown man taking a close-up of an ancient full relief map of the Puget Sound. But I could almost hear the words slip off their tongues… effing tourists.

Tourism is such a strange thing. In almost every city you go to , there is a tourist area. They always sell the same crap as every other tourist city and display the same over-simplified versions of whatever local monument you are visiting. Locals all complain about the area being too touristy… yet everyone becomes a tourist in a a new area and invariably ends up spooning cash to the industry.

But worse than supporting young enterprising painted-gold robot mimes is the “tourist face“. Taking it all in with almost no expression. Plain blankness. Like they tipped the scale on enthusiasm so far that it flipped around back to zero. (Quite similar to phone face, but slightly more exaggerated and apathetic.)

Maybe this is what the cartographer’s assistant was getting at… the bridge between your ass and your noggin that turns you into a emotionless zombie tourist, blindly searching for more historical landmark monument brains to consume. That seemingly never-ending slow march to inevitable undead citywide takeover. The collapse of humanity.

And maybe, just maybe, I was able to break the spell through photography.

Today marks the release of The Beatles’ complete remastered catalog—including mono versions of many of their previously stereo-only releases; and also the release of their much anticipated RockBand game. And while I understand the hoopla of getting pristine copies of audiophile-quality source material, I can’t see how this will really affect the majority of people out there who already own Beatles releases (aside from the video game fans of course). Whether or not the mono versions are the best thing since sliced bread, they can’t be better-enough to make me dump the $200 worth of Beatles CDs I already own, to go out and spend another $200 replacing them.

Am I just crazy?

Also, today marks the magic time of year when Apple drops new iPods. They always hold a press conference; blogs and press speculate laundry lists of rumors; and then they update the iPods. New cameras? Bigger hard-drives? Better screens? More features? Newer iTunes software? Yes, it’s inevitable people.

The big controversy this year is that Apple is holding a press conference on the same day as the Beatles catalog release (using a quote from a Rolling Stones song no less!?). But, given the history between the two companies, everyone is holding breath for the updated catalog finally onto iTunes—available in its audiophile-perfect form, then remastered into low-quality, digital-audio files to download.

Now, I am just as big of an Apple nerd as the rest of them, but come on. It’s driving me a bit batty to sift through all the uninformed predictions and guesses. Ah, the tribulation of a gadget-nerd, I suppose…

I thought this photo appropriate given the occasion. I snuck the shot in the main guitar exhibit at the Experience Music Project. Took me a few tried to get the composition just right, but I got it finally. No photos allowed? Pshaw.

Gretsch out!

As I write this note, the thermometers are screaming towards the top of the dial—in a city that functions primarily without air-conditioning—meaning most residents are quite miserable (and that our typically foggy, frigid beaches are packed with pasty white bodies).

Inevitably, whenever the heat rises to uncharacteristic triple digits, every newscaster and their brother start screaming global warming and how terrible it is that the heat is around. Twitter gets flooded with posts about how disgusting it is, and generally everyone is miserable.

Then it stops.

The temperature cools down, and life goes back to normal. That’s it…. the cycle is over… and life begins again.

Well, I have news for you ‘casters: This is not global warming.

“Global warming” just refers to the gradual overall increase in global temperatures that affect our world in entirety. It is not just a quick spike in heat over a few days. And—while I am no expert scientist—it is easy to see how global warming is just an untrue, simplistically fabricated concept anyhow.

Case in point. Whether we like it or not, our lives revolve around cycles. Winter to Spring, Summer to Fall… birth and death… happy and sad… kick and snare. It is all part of the little bubble we live in. To think that broader cycles don’t exist just because we can see them happen or comprehend how they work, is just hogwash.

We are on a cycle here people… the world is rolling to a slow boil out of an ice age from many millions of years ago. There is nothing you can do about it. Just accept it, and hurry back to your Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy fudge cone before it melts all over the carpet.

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Now don’t get it twisted here… I’m not trying to imply that conservation measures are a bad idea. Far from the truth. When it gets really hot and nasty in the Bay Area, we have “spare the air” days. Days where citizens are encouraged to use public transportation, ride bicycles, walk, or generally try to reduce their power consumption. Why? Reduction of air pollution through ground-level ozone (smog).

This is just common sense. The same reason you go change the oil in your car or weed your yard… we need to take care of our home planet. Like it or not, we all live on this large rock, so we have to do it as a team—not one of us, all of us. So buck up and go catch the bus, buddy. It’s time for you to do your part.

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Either way… this image is from an exhibition at California Academy of Sciences, discussing climate change and global warming. It’s a great exhibition from an equally great museum. You should check it out.

Today marks the completion of my 35th year on the planet. So it somehow seems fitting to start this new photography venture with a cool little cropping I took in Seattle last December. This is a wall of death monument, which is located beneath a bridge on the University of Washington campus. An odd place for a giant, public-works sculpture… but a cool find nonetheless.

And speaking of death, I have been thinking a lot about online ownership and social media lately. While I love sites like Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and Yelp; it is a little freaky to know that we are putting out so much of our own personal electronic soul into the cogs of machines not entirely understood. That coupled with the fear that any day, your once beloved site could disapear into the ether, taking with it all trace of the persona you have built—led me to the conclusion that there must be a better way.

So, when I found this amazing Autofocus Wordpress theme, I decided it was time to transfer my photographic explorations back home again. And thus, this new “project” fell into my lap.

My goal is to post one photo per day for the entire year (while including some insightful commentary along the way). Past attempts at constant posting have all ended in futility so I proceed with trepidation, but let’s just see how far we can go in the meantime, okay?

I welcome all of your thoughts, comments, and suggestions (positive or negative), and hope you enjoy viewing these simple snapshots as much as I do!