Caution Zombies Ahead - UPDATED

I wanted to post some of these earlier, but I couldn't due to technical difficulties. Expect to see more of these on line in the next few months, as several sites have posted how to hack into these boxes and change the display message. Too funny.

UPDATE - It was only a matter of time. Here is an article about this growing "phenomenon". Hilarious if you ask me!

Pranks with electronic road signs stir worry

Latest breach came during morning rush hour near Collinsville, Illinois

The Associated Press

updated 4:46 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 4, 2009

COLLINSVILLE, Illinois - Pranksters in at least three states are messing with electronic road signs meant to warn motorists of possible traffic problems by putting drivers on notice about Nazi zombies and raptors. And highway safety officials aren't amused.

The latest breach came Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."

A day earlier in Indiana's Hamilton County, the electronic message on a board in Carmel's construction zone warned drivers of "RAPTORS AHEAD — CAUTION."

And signs in Austin, Texas, recently flashed: "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!" and "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN."

Officials in Illinois are concerned the rewritten signs distract motorists from heeding legitimate hazards down the road. The hacked sign on Tuesday originally warned drivers of crews replacing guardrails.

"We understood it was a hoax, but at the same time those boards are there for a reason," said Joe Gasaway, an Illinois Department of Transportation supervisory field engineer. "We don't want (drivers) being distracted by a funny sign."

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Authorities haven't figured out how pranksters access the signs. Gasaway believes the Illinois sign was changed remotely, and Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley suspected the hackers there cut a padlock to get into the signs' computers.

Some Web sites, such as Jalopnik.com, have published tutorials titled "How to Hack an Electronic Road Sign" as a way to alert security holes to traffic-safety officials. Jalopnik urges its readership of 2.6 million a month not to put its lesson to practice.

"Hacking generally is about showing where there are holes in security systems, and I think this is a great example of that," the site's editor-in-chief, Ray Wert, told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday. "I'm sure there are all sorts of ways to use that information in a way that's inappropriate, but we're trying to make clear this is an issue that needs to be confronted by traffic safety and transportation officials."

Wert said he had no immediate plans to take down Jalopnik's how-to guide.

In Illinois, tampering with an official traffic control device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $250 fine — half what a culprit might have to pay in Texas if caught. If convicted in Indiana, a culprit faces up to a year in jail and $5,000 in fines.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29017293/?GT1=43001

Music Video of the Week: Portishead

This week's Music Video of the Week is Only You by Portishead. Portishead are a real rarity these days - a totally original band, seemingly sprung from nowhere. It's rare that you cannot hear the influences of a band, but this is one group that seems free of association.

This is a great video, and was shot underwater, giving it the odd slow motion effect. Amazing.

Hey, Great Signage!

I Love Movie Titles

I love movie titles. Here's a couple great ones.

More Welles Genius

I've always been a huge fan of Orson Welles. I mean come on, Citizen Kane? It isn't my favorite film of all time (that would be The Godfather, Pt. II), but I can fully understand when people select it as the greatest film ever made. It so far ahead of it's time it's silly - they didn't even begin to catch up to what he was doing until the 1970's, and it was made in 1941!

Basically everything I have seen him direct is stunning. I watched his spectacular opus Lady From Shanghai and Touch Of Evil on the big screen in my Classics of Film Noir class at Central Michigan University (which was a great class by the way, where we also watched the great Double Indemnity with Fred McMurray). I was also fortunate enough to have screened The Magnificent Ambersons on the big screen as well at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in my History of the Hollywood Film Score course. At various points I've caught Macbeth and Journey Into Fear also.

So it was a real treat to see the restored version of his 1962 adaptation of (the aforementioned) Franz Kafka's The Trial. The film features (the very, very underrated and unfairly typecast) Anthony Perkins as Josef K. A man caught in a nightmare as he is convicted of a crime he does not understand. Welles himself stars as the advocate to Josef K. It's a brilliant film from start to finish, one long high contrast, three point perspective visual extravaganza. The film is extremely Kubrick-esque, full of mid-level shots and long hallways of repeated lines. Man, it is a treat for the eyes for any movie buff. Superb.

Penguin Cover Design Does It Again

OK, I love these in every conceivable way. They are beautiful, obscure, and feature excellent hand type. And you really can't go wrong with Kafka. Fin.

You Know Who Rules?

Yep, still Brando, that's who.

Camus and These Covers Are Awesome

When I was an angry young man studying literature at the University of Cambridge, I would walk the ancient streets late at night, with my discman (yep, I'm that old) turned up to 10, playing A Design For Life by the Manic Street Preachers over and over and over. There was a particular night there, and I don't know exactly why, but I lost something. I've never been able to really describe or understand it, but I lost some strange innocence about myself. I seemed to care less, or become just really weary. It was very bizarre feeling that I will never forget.

Anyway, this was my soundtrack at the time, and I kept read The Stranger by Albert Camus. I felt like him, the stranger, lost and anonymous in a world I didn't totally understand. I had read that book several years earlier, but it was then, in that place that I felt a greater understanding of it. I drifted up to Scotland on a train on my own, walked another city streets, silent and alone, taking it all in. These were very formative experiences for me

Anyway, these great book covers have been released for several Camus novels. They are kinetic and high contrast, which are a couple of aesthetic aspects I enjoy.

Cool Logo

I don't know what this group is, other than the logo is cool!

Carter-Jenkins is Great

Saw this great work over at Lost In E Minor. Really beautiful illustration work.

Underrated Band of the Week: The Afghan Whigs

The underrated band of the week is the magnificent, (drum roll please)....Afghan Whigs. This is a band that is also very close to my heart, and have been the soundtrack to my life at various times.

Led by the charismatic Greg Dulli (vocals, guitar) the band formed in Cinncinatti, Ohio in 1986 and floated around before calling it quits for good in 2001. The group split because the members were split around the country, not because of any major falling out. This gives me hope that they will get back together, especially following the release of Unbreakable, their greatest hits package which unveiled two incredible new tracks (I'm A Soldier and Magazine). Usually the added tracks on greatest hits packages are for fan's only, but these two are fantastic.

Anyway, they made several albums of their own particular brand of ragged beauty throughout the 1990's. In an era of grunge self-loathing sprung from Sonic Youth and punk, the Whigs were way out of step, evolved from Motown and originality. Much of this was due to the truly unique songwriting of Greg Dulli. No other songwriter has explored the dark side of male/femaile relationships like Dulli has - with a frankness not seen before that was different, not self loathing but honest. Dulli was never afraid to make himself look like the bad guy in these songs, and often there was an element of noir to the atmosphere and titles.

1992's Congregation set the table, full of intense, atmospheric songs with an air of mystery like Turn On The Water, I'm Her Slave, Kiss The Floor, and Tonight. Their most popular album followed in 1993 - Gentlemen. Gentlemen is not for the faint of heart - this is the proverbial "dark night of the soul" that Neil Young's Tonight's The Night and Ryan Adam's Love Is Hell previously explored, but the difference is that the protagonist of Gentlemen is not a victim, he is often the perpetrator. This is a very different viewpoint, and one that Dulli owns. Gentlemen is packed with classics - Gentlemen, Be Sweet, Debonair, When We Two Parted, I Keep Coming Back, and the epic What Jail Is Like.

But my favorite Afghan Whigs album is the bleak, film noir opus Black Love. Black Love was initially intended as a concept album, and the remnants of that concept are clearly evident on epic opener Crime Scene, Pt. 1.


From wikipedia:

Prior to this album's release, lead singer Greg Dulli seriously explored producing a movie in the film noir genre, but despite his optioning at least one book, in the end the movie was never made, and Dulli's ideas for a sound track led to the songs recorded on this album.

Black Love is also stocked with classics like My Enemy, Double Day, Step Into the Light, and Honky's Ladder, but Dulli saves the best for last. There are a pair of epics to close the record - Summer's Kiss and Faded (both songs clock in at over 7 minutes). Both songs are spawling without being boring, and reach ecstatic and moving emotional and transcendant musical peaks. Both are extremely powerful, heavy hitting songs. Summer's Kiss also features one of my favorite lines ever - "put on your old fur coat baby cuz it's 1973".

1965 followed in 1998. While being a very good album featuring a clutch of brilliant songs - Somethin' Hot, Crazy, The Slide Song, and the moving 66 - the overall tone is not as atmospheric as Black Love and not as fever pitch as Gentlemen. It seems a little distant in terms of songwriting. And this is how the great Whigs went out.

Dulli went on to form the incredible Twilight Singers, who have put together a ton of classic material in a short period of time, as well as working with Mark Lanegan in the Gutter Twins side project. It seems that anything Dulli touches turns to gold.

Do yourself a favor and check them out - they will always hold a place in my heart.

Good Logo Tutorial

Good logo design tutorial by Jacob Cass over at the brilliant vectortuts.com. Jacob is a good graphic designer and breaks down the process well. Check it out here.

Great Kinetic Typography

More great kinetic typography concerning one of my favorite scenes in movie history, from the (more than brilliant) There Will Be Blood. There is tons of this out there on YouTube, but this is one of the best. Oh, this is awesome.

Mac Turns 25

The Apple Macintosh home computer turns 25 today. This is what computers looked like when I was young. I remember playing Oregon Trail on floppy discs that were actually floppy. It took me years to come around, but now I am a convert to the Mac way. Cool run through here of the major updates through the years. Check it out. Happy B day Mac!

New Glasvegas Video Is Awesome

Wow. Wow. Wow.....Glasvegas great as usual! Fast becoming one of the best bands around....it's weird to see them so "smoothed out" for this video - they are pretty no frills normally. Either way, it's great stuff.

Double Lincoln

Two very funny pics of Abraham Lincoln. Emo Lincoln on the 5 dollar bill is hilarious, and so is BoomBox Lincoln. Gotta love photoshop!

Cool Caps

Cool vintage design on the bottlecaps. Awesome stuff.

Another Great Helvetica Poster

Another great poster promoting a showing of Helvetica. Again, it's on Tuesday the 27th at 11 and 2. Be there!

This Machine Kills Fascists

Just a little spotlight on good ole' Woody Guthrie today.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;

By the relief office, I'd seen my people.

As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,

Is this land made for you and me?

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,

And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing."

But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!

That side was made for you and me.

By the way, this is pretty much the coolest picture ever taken.

Helvetica Showing Tuesday

On Tuesday, Jan. 27th I will be showing the film Helvetica in my Typography classes. There will be showings at 11am and 2pm in RAC 151 (the small lecture theater). All students and faculty are welcome to attend.

Music Video of the Week: TV On The Radio

This is the video for Province by TV On The Radio. TVOTR just released the fantastic Dear Science towards the end of the year, but this is video is taken from their previous album, Return to Cookie Mountain. Anyway, great song, great band, great video - listen for the unmistakable voice of David Bowie.

BTW, this is not the complete video, but you can see it here.

Objectified - From the Makers of Helvetica

From the makers of the amazing documentary Helvetica comes Objectified. If this film is nearly as good as Helvetica, then it is a must see even for non design nerds. From their website:

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

Read director Gary Hustwit’s post about the film.

Objectified is currently in production and will have its world premiere in early 2009. Join our mailing list or subscribe to our RSS feed to stay informed of screening announcements.

Featuring
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Smart Design (New York)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
and more participants TBA

Sugarcube Press Is Sweet

Cool little demo of the letterpress at work at Sugarcube Press. Good stuff!

Now This Is Some Good Stuff

I became aware of Mikey Burton over at Wellington Payne's excellent Design+Life blog, which is superb. Anyway, there is some gorgeous work from Mikey Burton here. Check it out.

Who Rules?

Brando, that's who.

A Design Harvest

The guys over at Harvest Design have some great work that is well worth checking out. Give em a look.

I Want To Be A Fiend Club Member

This sweatshirt is awesome! I gotta have it, I just gotta have it! Available here.

Short Street Art Video Is Inspiring

I've always loved street art, and here is a great video about it. It hits a couple of the biggies, Banksy and the aforementioned Shepherd Fairey. Enjoy.

Deus Ex Machina Is Cool In Every Way

Deus Ex Machina is an awesome site - both in the design, as well as the product. I want one!

Shepherd Fairey - Sellout?

Is Shepherd Fairey a sellout? I know alot of my peers in the printmaking world think so. Well, this isn't going to win any of them back:

Via NY Times - The store (Saks Fifth Avenue) hired Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the stylized Hope poster of Barack Obama that became one of the most highly visible, though unofficial, images of the presidential campaign, to design its catalog covers and shopping bags. They bear a rather unsubtle allusion to advertisements made in the 1920s for state-run department stores in the Soviet Union.

I don't know if it is selling out, but there is no denying he is a great graphic designer.

OK, Glasvegas are MY BAND

There are two reasons for yet another post about Glasvegas:

1. I am finally going to see them in March in Atlanta. Really, I feel like a high school kid again I'm so excited. I cannot tell you the last time I was this excited to see a new band. My God, I am so excited. I've been looking into flights to Detroit for weeks trying to fly back there in April to see them, but flights have been so expensive that it seemed out of reach. And just like that, today, bang, there it is - more American tour dates. OK, wow, I've gushed enough about this.

2. If you haven't noticed by reading this blog yet, Glasvegas are MY BAND. You know what I'm talking about. Other people may like them, but they are MY BAND. I had their record before it came out in England, let alone in America. I've tracked down their singles on line and have all their B sides too. I have a couple bootleg live shows, and check everyday online to find the demos that I don't have yet. My youtube videos are about 1/5 Glasvegas videos. So yeah, they are my band. And I feel the need to say this because here they are in America: I'm reading their live show reviews from the L.A. press, the snarky NYC Village Voice review (oh no, their lighting rig was too bright, they are too sincere, blah blah blah), they have played Letterman and are about to play Ferguson on Thursday, etc. In other words I am in that odd middle ground of music fandom; I am heavily addicted to a band, I think they are the best new band in the world and are deserving of mass adulation and acceptance, yet I don't want anyone else to have them either. It's a strange place to be as a fan, but true music fans have all been there. And that's where I am.

Cool, Creepy

Israeli computer scientists recently created a computer program that changes photographs of people’s faces into more attractive images based on an algorithm that determines ideal distances between lips and chins, foreheads and eyes, and distances between eyes.

Check it out here.

Great Book Jackets

Wow, these jackets are great! Fwis is a full service design agency with extensive experience designing book covers and book interiors. Check them out here. (Click image for higher resolution image).

Ron Asheton, 1948-2009

It's a very, very sad day for rock & roll, as Ron Asheton, legendary guitarist of the Stooges was found dead in his Ann Arbor, MI home. Asheton was one of the greatest guitar players to ever walk the earth, and millions of musicians the world over owe him a huge debt of gratitude.

It is a disgusting shame that Asheton did not die a member a of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, an institution that honors "rockers" like Madonna but keep The Stooges, Sex Pistols, and Black Sabbath (just to name a few) on the sidelines.

The Stooges are in the Top Ten bands of all time, and the best band ever to come out of Michigan, inventing punk in their wake. I'll let Jack White say it, from the liner notes to the deluxe edition of the classic Funhouse:

"I remember screaming in my head, 'This is Detroit!' And that's what Fun House is to me, the very definition of Detroit rock & roll, and by proxy the definitive rock album of America. The record's passion, attitude, power, emotion and destruction are incalculable."

Rest in peace Ron Asheton, rest in peace...

UPDATE: I am very surprised/happy that the music press worldwide has responded appropriately to Asheton's untimely passing. NME has spent the last week and a half publishing tributes from the likes of Iggy Pop, Bobby Gillespie, and various Sex Pistols. This is not surprising, but what is surprising is that Rolling Stone has also chimed in.

The Dieline is Essential

The brilliant design and packaging site the dieline is phenomenal. Take a couple of hours and check it out. Here it is.

Muy Es Beautiful Typographica

There have been alot of posts recently concerning films, but that is only because it was the holidays and I was spending time watching them with family. But then...ooooooooh, more beautiful typography! Check it out here.

PS - sorry the image isn't the best - go to the link above for a better resolution pic.