The Used - Lies for the Liars: Yes, we all die eventually you don't need to shove it down our throats

This is my first time listening to a full length album by The Used, so I didn't have too much of an opinion going into this thing. And to be frank, it's better to have a clear mind about these things because bias doesn't help a bit. It did relatively well for itself on the Billboard 200 when it came out in 2007, one of the top ten.

The songs focus on the fun ideas of death, time, relationships (surprisingly enough, the positive and negative aspects) and the overall disgusting aspects of human nature. Basic angst material, nothing short of expected. The lyrics themselves aren't anything too complicated, simplistic enough so angst ridden teens won't need to think too hard about what they are listening too. Since the person who wrote these songs is a high school drop out, this does not surprise me.

I think that is enough on ripping on these guys, let me tell you what I did like. Although angst, this isn't our Green Day-grade mass produced bullshit that we seem to find on the radio nowadays between the Lady Gaga songs and today's sorry excuses for Alternative Rock (I'm talking about you Nickelback). I expected some very angry music, 12 tracks of bitter hatred and rants of futility and yes, The Used did deliver but they also offered some rather nice ballads as well, like "Smother Me". Soft and slow music about love in an album I was thinking would be all brambles and thorns? What sorcery is this!?

And then we have some tracks like "Paralyzed" and "With Me Tonight" that had a HORN SECTION. Trumpets! I was ecstatic when I discovered they had thrown that in there, along with the strings in songs like "Bird and the Worm". We have music that is slow, jumpy and of course straight rock and that diversity in sound was not something I was counting on but definitely appreciated.

The album has some good songs around the beginning and the middle, but it tends to lose my interest towards the end. I had to listen to it a couple times to begin to appreciate it. If I was going to give it some sort of rating, it would something along the lines of a 3.5 out 5. Personally, ratings have a nasty way of turning people off to music (which is the opposite of what I want to do most of the time) so despite Mr. 3.5, do give the album a go before making your final judgment.

Pirate Jet and Dynames Model Complete

The third addition to the Plastic Beach series has been completed with "Pirate Jet - Taps Running." Traced out a F-86 Sabre in Illustrator, went to town with some dripping brushes in Photoshop and gave it a color job that would make the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine jealous. Funny thing I should mention Scooby Doo, because the song "Pirate Jet" reminds me terribly of that show with it's eerie and cheery melody that makes for a good last track for the album.

The melting effect is there to illustrate two things in particular, the fact that the plane is plastic and that plastic can be a sort of creative force. The lyrics of the album Plastic Beach (see the posts of March 2010) concerns consumerism and ecology-related themes, how we pollute and how we aimlessly follow and what have you. After all that bitterness, the last track comes with this happy tune, saying that there is some optimism to be found within all this if you consider the other side of this perspective. Plastic can be used for creative means and expression as well as destruction of ecology, after all, plastic is made from materials found on this planet so perhaps it isn't as fake as we all think.

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but since I didn't have a camera to use it was placed on hold for some time. I finished Dynames last month, a couple of nights after I posted it's unfinished state here. It has been an enjoyable model to build as well as have completed on my desk. The design they used for this model is amazing, a lot more points of circulation that I was expecting for those dynamic poses. And best of all, painting it wasn't as much of a hell hole as it had been with other models I've done in the past. A good model all and all, although it could probably stand a few more touch ups on the smaller sections.

Pictures of Dynames taken by Teague Lyons of Zuul Arcade

Let's talk about Icons

I remember learning about icons a while back in freshman year, when the graphic design classes were tutorials and exercises into learning CS3 Illustrator and InDesign. There was this one assignment we did back then, involving the creation of a set of icons. I was fond of pixel bases art, and ended up making these 8-bit like designs.

Not the most fascinating things I ever made and they received a good amount of criticism. And yes, they are heavily based off of Mega Man Weapon sprites. I gave myself too many restrictions and ended up making this assignments more horrible than it had to be, which then turned off my interest in the little buggers. However, I recently found a page filled with Icons while looking for a specific photoshop tutorial and I have to say, I'm willing to give icons another go.


A name that comes to mind is Ryan McGuiness, an artist I discovered some time ago before I began to formally attend college and one of the inspirations that lead me to choose design as a major. Colorful icons and images that he would use a smaller details in a larger piece. In other words, a bunch of tiny icons and all the meanings they have forming an even larger icon as little ornaments.

It also reminds me of some of the pins from the video game "The World Ends With You." (also known in Japan as "It's a Wonderful Life", the name changed for obvious reasons) Each of the pins are used as means to preform certain attacks to the game while also a part of the trend setting feature used in the game. I won't go into the game's mechanics or anything, I would warn you if this was going to be a game review. I can tell you however from experience that it is one of the better Japanese RPGs out there. Anyway, the pins themselves share that same kind of colorful poppy-ness that I find so appealing in icons. Simple images, both abstract and figurative from sunshine rainbows to down to concrete grunge. The variety is VERY amusing.

So what do I have to say about icons personally? I find them very compelling. Portraying an idea without using more than a couple lines or shapes isn't something anyone can do and I think the process is a tad bit underrated. That being said, I think I could incorporate icons in my work more than I already do.

For good examples of Icons click here

For some more The World Ends With You pins click here