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prior listings

 

• madreal 2/27/01 
  Description: gallery of works of artist/illustrator Derrick Hodgson from Toronto (Flash)
  Comments: Today's pick was submitted by a friend of illustrator Derrick Hodgson, who says Derrick's a "wicked artist."  I think his art is unique — I sense a child-like style with an intelligent perspective to it.  The facial expressions on those cute, though not quite cartoon-like, line art characters is done with an obvious eye for emotion.  It works for me, anyway.  I think Derrick's a wicked artist, too.  He's using a Flash interface and though I'm not crazy about having to wait for each section of his work to preload, I will say that once it is loaded, the presentation is nice.  My own preference for presentation of visuals like this would be Flash-free, but then again, that's just my perception of usability (and what do I know, anyway?).  Some well-known and overpaid "experts" out there may tell you that they know what makes a site "usable" and you shouldn't put all your faith in them, either.  This is all subjective, silly...
   
• tomatocow 2/25/01 
  Description: "the only creative outlet I have now is this site" (Flash)
  Comments: Koichi makes a point that I can really relate to, which sure didn't hurt his chances in this admittedly highly subjective thing I call the daily pick.  I'll take the chance of assuming that many of you will also relate to it in at least some small way.  It's funny how how a job can call for proven creativity (and even use the word "creative" in the job title) and then give you no opportunities to use that vibrant creativity that got you hired — it's funny what you find on the other side of the line.  The need for an outlet for all that pent-up creative energy can be the perfect motivation for real art on this side of the line.  Koichi takes some interesting pictures and though he lives and works in Tokyo, the cover photo and several in the collection tell me that he's been to Chicago (which is where you would find me).  Nice job on the "tour" through the photos and those desktops for download are tasty, too.  I like the navigation and the way the Flash is optimized for fast loading.
  
  
  
  So, I'm wondering — does just taking the photos themselves satisfy the need for an outlet, or do you think the instant publishing power of the medium is really what fulfills the artist's need for release?  Feel free to respond
   
• Youth One 2/23/01 
  Description: An online community and magazine for Edmonton youth.
  Comments: "We are here because Edmonton needs a place where our youth can meet and greet, argue and listen, support and find support - without being restricted by social barriers. Here's where you can speak out, reach out, veg out."  The mission is clear enough and this "local youth community" is the first of it's kind in Canada.  The "syndicate" is a team of four twenty-somethings with an "unmatched sense of humour" who run the site, and though the chat and forum sections seem to fit the defined mission just right, this is really an online magazine with a variety of interesting and relevant content for its target audience.  The goal appears to be getting the audience to contribute creative content worth sharing with their peers — in fact, that's the main way that people can "get involved."  Of course, they're also interested in "partnerships" which would involve content sharing or sponsorship and it does seem that a site of this type would need a fair amount of such support to survive — it looks like they have that support, and as a result, the presentation is nicely non-commercial and free of banner ads and the like.  So, what we have here is a well-designed online community that is really an extension of the local offline community and it's all done well — a definite benefit to the youth and the community it lives in and absolutely wonderful use of the web...
   
• Limp Bizkit 2/18/01 
  Description: The handwriting, the artwork, the drawings, and the photos all come from the members of Limp Bizkit and their fans... Enjoy!
  Comments: So, I'm thinking, after allowing myself to sleep considerably past my usual 5am awakening, that I really don't feel like working this morning.  Okay, so being on a roll of over 730 days straight of having a new daily pick for you every day, I guess I've gotta make the donuts.  I don't intend to break that streak for a long time, so if I don't feel like working, then I'll call it playing and get a site up here for you to enjoy, anyway.  Bottom line is that, sometimes, it's a lot of work sifting through site after site trying to find a great one in terms of those silly criteria — instead of doing that today, after having gone through all those in the queue, I decided to simply pick a group whose music I like and go see if their website is any good.  So I did and it was — here's what I found.  The band members are actually writing the stuff and doing the art, and though they have the typical "store" link, I was able to overlook it because of all the other cool content I found there.  Oh, yeah — writing the reviews is a lot of work, too, so this one just ended...
   
• DMFriend 2/14/01 
  Description: david michael friend: illustrator, animator, puppeteer
  Comments: Right off the bat, I gotta tell you that I can't take credit for picking this one.  You can thank the one and only Kitty for today's pick — she's the evil brainchild behind three of my own previous daily picks — FullMoon Graphics, 24-7cool.com, and KittyKitty.  Trust me when I tell you that these three sites represent a small portion of the great work she does on the web (and even a smaller portion of the domain names she owns (Þ).  She's pure web spirit and I really appreciate her sharing this great pick with all of us.  Kitty's pretty busy doing her own webthing, so I will take credit for reviewing this puppy (nice play on words, dontcha think, evil?), though I hardly know where to begin.
  
  
  
  One of the first things I noticed as I started checking out the "2D portfolio" was that there were Sesame Street® characters in some of the illustrations.  I'm thinking to myself that I've seen something like this before, but in that particular case, it was a unauthorized Muppets® site that simply ripped off all of the graphics and used them without permission.  There's too much of that going on and when I first saw those cute characters on the pages of today's pick I shifted into overgear to get to the bottom of it.  What a pleasant surprise!  Not only does David Michael Friend (the wonderful illustrator behind today's pick) have the right to display the images — he's the one who drew all of them for the Sesame Workshop.  You'll find these great illustrations in both the "computer" and "typography" sections of that portfolio — and there's all kinds of other great stuff in the other sections.  Then, there's the "3D portfolio" featuring David's sculptures and puppets and, yes, a "4D portfolio" as well (I leave it up to you to find what's there).  This site is rich in original content (much more than I've mentioned here) and the site really does look good.  There's a few flaws in targeting of links, but they're minor compared compared to the overall beauty of the site. 
  
  
  
  What touched me the most was something David wrote at the end of the "About the Artist" section — I hope he doesn't mind my quoting the whole paragraph here, because I think it really says something special about the man. "Right now, I'm working on a few simple goals. First, I'd like to be in the movies in one fashion or another. Second, I've drawn a plan on a napkin to mass produce blue moons and long to carry it out. Third, I want to slowly go insane and live a life in which I no longer know if I truely exist. And last, though the most ambitious of the four, I would one day like to die on a cool winter morning alone with a loved one, slowly being blanketed with a light, December flurry."  Thanks, David and thanks, Kitty...
   
• Jan Saudek 2/11/01 
  Description: gallery and stories of the Czech photographer (mature content)
  Comments: "I don't have the capacity to portray other people's lives.  I am portraying my own..."  That's the "motto" on the cover of today's pick, the well-designed site of Czech photographer Jan Saudek.  This is not just photography — this is fine art (in my humble, yet consistent opinion).  His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world since 1963 and as you enter the site, the "very first photograph" he took back in 1953 is shown — if I were Jan and my first photograph looked like that, I am sure I would have pursued photography in a big way... just like Jan did.  I'll stick my neck out here and say that Jan's a master in the true sense of the word.  Enjoy!
   
• Steve Double 2/7/01 
  Description: online photo gallery
  Comments: "The way that the translation of a living person into a two dimensional inanimate image changes our perception of them is endlessly fascinating to me."  Specializing in photographing celebrities (primarily musicians), Steve Double has been at it professionally for over 13 years.  Wired, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Vibe are just a few of the places where you might run into his work and he's also done a lot of record sleeves (which I think would include CD covers) and press photos for a number of labels in the UK and US.  His site is a collection of 99 of his best shots and I dig the way he uses a simple mouseover on each photo that tells a little the artist shown — some of his comments show that Steve has been around the scene for a long time — you get the feeling that he really appreciates getting to meet so many "fascinating and inspirational people."  He's had a little help in creating and producing this site — excellent use of DHTML — but it's the content that really drives it.  Steve's portrait style shows the interesting side of his subjects and I found it most enjoyable, considering that many of the featured personalities are, indeed, inspirations to me, and maybe even to you, too...
   
• Notes from the Road 2/6/01 
  Description: Travels in city and country.
  Comments: Inspiration isn't always about design.  It's not always the quality of the visuals or the precision of page layouts that count when we feel empty and need to be inspired.  Sometimes, it's a matter of substance and the imagery of far away places we've never seen that fill the void for us.  I've looked at this site at least six times in the past and passed on it.  Maybe I was looking at the quality of the photos instead of the images themselves — maybe I was in too much of a hurry to stop and read the detailed accounts of Erik's travels — maybe the page layouts just didn't impress me enough — maybe I just didn't need to be inspired at the time so the meaning and creative spirit behind the site simply escaped me.  For whatever reason, I looked, I passed, I looked again and passed again, and so it goes.  This time around, something clicked in.  Erik's been to all these places and the images are genuine.  I need to be inspired a little, so I take the time to read all of the cool stuff that comes to Erik's mind when he visits a place — his impressions about the people and the conditions that surround it.  It dawns on me that maybe sometimes I have to simply let go of that pursuit for excellence in design (whatever that really means) and stop looking with such a critical eye and take in the experience for what it's worth.  Try it sometime and thank guys like Erik for choosing to share his love for the road with ya...
   
• natzke.com 2/3/01 
  Description: because toys are fun (Flash 5)
  Comments: Erik Natzke is a designer in Milwaukee (see infourm - botc daily pick on 11/17/00) and I just discovered his personal design space.  This all Flash 5 site has one of the coolest navigators I've seen in a while and I'll stick my neck out and say that even Jacob would commend it for its usability — yeah, right!  I like the assortment of "study" pieces which I think would be the "toys" that Erik refers to.  This whole think about Flash studies is popping up all over the web, but in the tons of "labs" out there, you don't always find good stuff — today's pick is where you will find it.  There's some interesting photos, too and the "info" links are definitely worth checking out.  That's where you'll find the fact that Erik is also a contributing artist at Born Magazine (botc daily pick on 12/5/99).  I love the pixel fonts, too...