Friday, July 31, 2009

the Beer Summit



President Obama hosted the "Beer Summit" yesterday. President Obama shared one of the oldest known beverages with Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. I made this quick illustration to symbolize people from different backgrounds coming together for something as common and universal as beer.

Beer has been around for thousands and thousands of years, as far as history has been recorded. It's an ancient beverage that has brought together kings, Gods and common men from all over the globe. Perhaps things would be better if all common misunderstandings and bias opinions were discussed over a beer at a neutral watering hole, instead of yelled from a podium swaying others to look past our similarities to only notice our differences.

I don't know where I fall on the Gates/Crowley incident, and maybe they where both at fault. What I do know is that I love the idea of Obama bringing them together to discuss it over a beer. I wish that other people with much stronger differences could be brought together to discuss their problems with each other over this ancient beverage.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Ratehounder


This is a logo that I created for a website that compares interest rates to give you the best rates in the area. I'm currently working on it's branding and changing it's site completely.

The client wanted the feel of a lot of popular logos being used right now on the web, so I worked off the idea of percentage rates while trying to keep the style he was looking for.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Man on Wire



Man on Wire is a movie about Philippe Petit, a name that is quite ironic because Petit is quite larger than life. His descriptions and movements really carries this film along and pulls you into his story.

Philippe Petit was a young man who became a very talented tightrope walker. When he heard about the plans for the twin towers in New York, he knew that it was his life's mission to conquer those towers. With the his showiness and charisma he convinces friends to help him in his, and now their, journey.

The film is crafted like an old bank heist movie. Luckily his crew filmed much of the planning those decades ago so there is lots of film for them to work with. We find ourselves sucked into the events leaving us balancing on the edge of our seats. I found myself more worried about our hero Philippe walking on a string in this movie than I have about a giant space rock destroying life on earth or the sun becoming extinguished in other movies.

All of this leads up to something so magical and beautiful as man walking on the clouds and standing on the shoulders of the gods. Doing so with style and a smirk.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A tall glass of...



Milk is a movie about a man named Harvey Milk who became the first openly gay man to be elected to political office. Sean Penn a great performance in that he makes us forget that he is Sean Penn and we feel as if we are watching Harvey Milk acting out his own life.

Harvey Milk was a man who saw things as they could be. He ran for office in an area that had a quickly growing gay population and he used his office to change the nation, a nation questioning it's own stance on homosexuality.

The thing that saddened me most about Harvey Milk, his story and this movie is that we have certain expectations of our real life heroes. I found myself at the end of this movie almost hoping for his assassination, because I understood that for his story to really change this nation he had to become a martyr. That didn't stop me from feeling deep sadness when I saw what I expected in his assassination.

This country is a better place for Harvey Milk having lived and decided that he could and would change things.