Hey, back for a second. We launched an in-house project last week, Whatevski Records, a digital-download-only record label and web-service. Check it out. Our first release is with NYC’s soul/reggae supergroup The Slackers. Word up.
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contortgroup consults companies that do business on the web (especially startups) on product design, enrollment practice, positioning strategy, & outsourcing remediation.
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contort.com
August 12th
Whatevski Records
January 26th
Hiatus
I am putting the blog on hiatus for a while.I’m knee deep in projects, and can’t offer the quality that I’m used to.BBL. December 12th
kuler.adobe.com/
I’m consulting on a build where the site is a child product from a larger enterprise. So, the brand had to be similar, but almost completely different and driven by the new purpose and utility.Dreaming up the color palette was reasonably tough.This tool has been blogged to death, and I never used it til now, but it was really indispensable. For all you non-designers out there, it’s still fun to play with.KULER December 4th
Free Plaxico Burress
Some truth in this. Still, guns + common sense are a winning combination. Free Plaxico Burress – WSJ.com Note: Sweatpants? Can’t buy classy like that for $35 million.Previously:Free James BrownFree Slick RickFree ODBAnd, most importantly, and seriously: How Helvetica Took Over the Subway
Good primer on all sorts of NYC Subway typography: How Helvetica Took Over the Subway Related, and obviously: November 21st
Subliminal Footie
Funny: A CHEEKY footie fan got one over his arch rivals by paving his team’s nickname outside their stadium.The Birmingham City supporter spelt “Blues” in dark-coloured bricks at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ ground.
via FARK
November 20th
Sunset Park Brooklyn Street Gangs 1970′s-1980′s
Well annotated Google Map showing names, dates active, and headquarters of a bunch of Brooklyn street gangs. Locations or Turfs Or Clubhouses From The Sunset Park, Brooklyn-NY Street Gangs During The Late 1960′s,1970′s, 1980′s.
Is turf like deer? Can I have many turfs?Either way, on with the show:Google Maps Record Shopping / Changed Times
Check out this archived Times article:The Pop Life, NY Times, August 29, 1996How many of these places are still open here in NYC? With the changes in the industry, and dated quotes like this, makes me wonder: People who live outside New York City can order records by letter or telephone from all of these shops except Adult Crash, which is working to remedy the situation.
By letter? This article pre-dates mainstream email use, and predates mainstream mp3 use.Cursory examination reveals that the following shops are still in business. This is true about most of the survivors (and probably the reason why). Their employees are usually familiar with all the merchandise and willing to play records, make recommendations and order music they don’t carry.
JammylandHard to get Reggae, Ska, and other Jamaican music. Great owners, great shop.KinokuniyaBuoyed by their book and other Japanese product business, I’m guessing. Also, it’s a bit out-of-sector vs. the others. Other MusicTheir brick-and-mortar operation has same idea as Jammyland – hard to get music in original formats – hi-quality authentic recordings that go above and beyond the mp3 trade. They ensured their future by making the hop to digital mp3 sales on their website. JS-909
This is a pretty cool thing. Yes, 808-style sequencers/machines are a dime a dozen. Probably like $.02 a dozen.But most are developed in Flash. Some use a bit of javascript, but mp3s or Flash for the sounds. Raw audio data. This one, all javascript, and to boot, doesn’t use libraries like Prototype, or jQuery.Nice job: JS-909 November 19th
Data Visualization
I’ve been hopping around researching data visualization methods, techniques, etc. and came across this great article:Cotton Picking Correlates to President Picking The more red a county is, the stronger the support for John McCain and similar for Barack Obama and blue. Below is cotton production in 1860. Each dot represent 2,000 bales. That’s some strong correlation.
Cotton Picking Correlates to President PickingUpdated: My pal Lionel showed me this. I guess it’s all beating a dead horse, the dead horse of the racist south, but why not visualize it: The Racist Vote |