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

The Plastic Beach Series - Empire Ants and Future Additions

I recently finished the second addition the the Plastic Beach series with "Empire Ants - Marching On."  Please pardon the watermark.

A LOT of tracing done here. The giant ant that was used as a mask with the W11-2 sign characters used in repetition where all outlined and turned into vectors that I made much use of. I made different variations to the same image to be used in a repeating series.

The song itself comments on how society moves on with it's routines like ants marching on (hence the the secondary title). But I interpreted from the lyrics that the song is saying as individuals, we have the choice to free ourselves from routines society places on us. It all depends whether or not you have the courage to leave behind the security of a daily regimen and jump into whatever.

Speaking of marching on, this makes 2/15 pieces done for the series! Still a long way to go, but I think I can finish it. Although trying to make each piece not too similar is rather trying, in fact I might have already failed. Either way, I have high hopes for the remaining pieces. Currently drafting "Melancholy Hill" and "Rhinestone Eyes", but the ideas are very illustration heavy (not my strongest suit, I'm still quite amateur when it comes to drawing things on the realistic or biologically correct side). I'm also thinking of using photography for some of the other pictures, but I fear that might come off as a more minimalist approach.

Plastic Beach aside, the Speech series might be getting a new addition in the near future. Been working with people like Ghandi and Mother Teresa, but I think it's time to try someone outside the lines of advocate for peace.

GN-002 Gundam Dynames - Model

For the past couple of weeks I have been off and on building a Japanese robot model, fashioning it to become something much more interesting. And nerdy. But let's just skip over that part for now . . .

1/144 scale HG Gundam Dynames model I picked up at a comic store nearby, set me back close to $20. Still cheaper than the internet, so that's a small victory for me. The mecha is from one of the more recent series "00 Gundam." So you can imagine my purchase was inspired by fandom and the need to not only buy my own toys, but to build them as well.

Cutting the pieces with a small knife, I got several cuts. Painting sections with model paint that according to the label with give me cancer. Inhaling far too much Goo Gone and brush cleaner than I can even recall and it's only 45-55% complete. As crappy a picture as the one above is, I'm sure it's enough to grasp what I have done so far. I kinda like how it looks now, all exposed and incomplete almost as if it has been ravaged and horribly mangled. Nothing at all like how it would be completed:Shouldn't be too much longer till I finish Dynames up nice a pretty, progress will be posted.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach: It wasn't what I was expecting

Plastic Beach, the location on the globe where all the collective rubbish and trash has been collecting for hundreds of years. Formed by debris and scraps and held together by oil and muck. Sounds interesting, very much like the album it's named after.

It's been 5 years since Gorillaz released their album "Demon Days", which climbed up the charts with it's single "Feel Good Inc." You can imagine that when I heard that they were close to releasing a new album, I was very excited about it. I picked up the Experience Edition of Plastic Beach the day it came out at FYE, since they sell most of their CDs for $10 or less. I had read previously that there would be a lot of talent on this album, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, Snoop Dog, Mos Def, etc. It seemed to me that they were pulling all the stops to make this album as good as it could be. I'll admit that it made the album seem much more exciting to me. It was all very eclectic, but then again this album is named Plastic Beach.

However, this idea of bringing so much talent in also comes at a price. Nick Butler of sputnikmusic.com brought up a good point when he wrote that the album was a "identity crisis caught on tape."

"It all comes down to the massed rank of vocalists here, ultimately. There's no doubting that the most fun thing you can do with this album is put it on, having never heard it before and never looked at the tracklisting, and wait in amazement for the moment you say 'holy crap, is that Bobby Womack?', or 'wow, Kano!, or 'seriously, Snoop Dogg is on this?'. It's the defining feature of the album, but it's also the biggest failing, because it destroys this band's own personal identity." - Nick Butler, sputnikmusic.com

Although a very valid point is made here, it doesn't change the fact that this is still a Gorillaz album. I've listened to it several times and I am more than qualified at this point to tell you that it's got some good sounds. With every piece of criticism that comes with this album, there is at least one good review to match it. In fact, most of the reviews I have come across have given this album AT LEAST a 7 or higher.

Ratings aside, I found the album very enjoyable. It's got a very pop-like beat, but the lyrics are what really give it depth. Songs like "Rhinestone Eyes", "Stylo" and "Superfast Jellyfish" are good examples of this. Then we have tracks like "Broken" that I personally have not interest for, the beat is too slow and the singing really doesn't do much for me. I have to say that the instrumental work was nothing short of classy, making tracks like "Cloud of Unknowing" even more interesting to listen to.

It's not the same as Demon Days and depending on your point of view, this could be a good or a bad thing. The only thing I wish Plastic Beach took from Demon Days was how it used it's guest talent for more instrumental purposes rather than vocals, I'd rather enjoy listening to Damon Albarn's singing voice. Personally, I don't think it was worth the 5 year wait, but it has grown on me. This will definitely be a good summer album, with it's overall beach theme they are running with. If you are a Gorillaz fan, I would recommend this for your listening pleasure and if you haven't listened to them before, it might be best to start with Demon Days or even their self-titled album from 2001.




gorillaz.com
sputnikmusic.com review

Current Ideas and Project

Over the past couple of years, it seems that there have been several times when I tend to unknowingly create a series of images. It wasn't until recently that I felt that any of that work was worth showing off.

And Asterisk
My first attempt in abstract typographic work from last year. I used the characters "*" and "&" to create these images, which explains the title of this series. Using the Baskerville font gave these images a sort of elegant look with the serifs on the characters. These images came off to me as some sort of abstract baroque style, with their simplistic yet graceful appearance.And Asterisk - Emblem

Plastic Beach

With the recent release of the Gorillaz newest album "Plastic Beach" (which I will address later on in this blog), I've been completely caught up in some sort of (for lack of a better term) "Gorillaz fever." That being said, their music has begun to inspire me to do a series based off the songs on the album. The example shown here is for their single "Stylo". I'd prefer to make them so they didn't look too similar to each other, or seem like a direct translation from the song lyrics. These works will be seen in the near future in this blog.

Stylo - Yippee Ki Yay

Speech

Another recent series that I have been playing with. The idea I want to explain is that people live on in their words. The example I show from this series is one of Martin Luther King Dr. whose image is constructed from the words of his public speech "I Have a Dream" from 1963. The shaded letters on the color background form the image. This particular series has received a decent amount of praise, although getting the image and the speech featured to work together isn't always a walk in the park. I'm looking forward to continuing these series.
Dream

Please visit my DeviantArt page if you want to see better quality versions of these images and their respected series. And my apologies for any personal rage you might experience by dealing with DeviantArt.