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"no exit" by Sky Pape

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prior listings

steeple remove 10/31/02
Description: mp3 and streamed new tracks from a French band based in Rouen
Comments: Remember when cassette audio tapes first came out? Okay, so many of you probably weren't around when they first came out, but I was. Boy, was that cool! You could make yourself collections of your favorite songs (off vinyl, baby) – the new ability to copy music was the greatest thing since peanut butter. I ended up buying a lot of albums back then. The music biz catered to my desire to consume music – in my home, in my car, in my Walkman, at my friend's house – I loved the music biz and it loved me... So, what happened? As we watch the music biz slowly destroy itself because it simply doesn't have a clue about how the web has changed everything, we're now criminals because we like to consume music. I'm not talking about piracy and bootlegging here. Those are real problems, I'll admit, but I'll bet the pirates represent a only a miniscule part of all music consumers. The industry's insistence on treating all consumers like they are criminals will be its demise.
"Does this have something to do with today's pick, Joe, 'cause I've about had it with your rant? So?"
Today's pick is the site of a French band that falls under the genre of "avant-garde electronic and psychedelic pop music." Though I'm sure you could probably hunt down the albums they've recorded, the site doesn't try to sell you the music – it gives you the music! Downloadable mp3s plus some streaming content are there to explore and enjoy. The music is unique, not your typical fare, and the design of the Flash version is excellent. They're sharing music, pure and simple. I think this independent club band understands that if people like their music and are allowed to consume it their way, the money part will probably follow. Yo, music biz – that was a clue...
50 cups of coffee 10/30/02
Description: brewed by alice for your drinking pleasure
Comments: "One day while I was eating tomato basil soup, I noticed that roughly 67.324% of logos today include some form of a swoosh. Ever since then, I've become irritated by the sight of any swoosh-containing logo." So, Alice decided to collect as many swoosh logos as she could but the response was more than she ever imagined and she eventually had to stop accepting submissions. I guess those swooshy things really did irritate her.

Fortunately, she has things like an awesome (Chack!) keychain and movies and restaurants ("Why eat at home when you can eat out for ten times the cost?") to keep her amused.

The "about me" page has actually become more of an "about them" page. "I don't really like to talk about myself" says Alice, but hit the strange brew and you'll learn more about her ("When swatting at an errant fly with your hand, there is nothing quite so heart-stopping as actually swatting the fly with your hand. Eeeeeek.").

Today's pick is great personal site with personality and I'd tell you more, but I gotta go make more coffee – cya...
XLC40 dot ¦ com 10/29/02
Description: Issue01: darkeXploration. a collection of photos executed in ruins of old Polish sand mine (Flash)
Comments: In 1865, when "a fine-grained sand" was discovered on Long Island, a "massive sand-minding operation began." Workers were recruited from Poland and Italy to help supply the "Cow Bay Sand" that paving contracts specified. "Some workers were buried in sand avalanches. There was widespread protesting of what was called 'the rape of Long Island,' but the mining continued into the mid-1900s." (source) I thought that little bit of historical perspective might shed some light on the nature of sand mining. Light? More like dark – I picture dark surroundings that are dangerous and imagine how the workers may have suffered from inhaling that dusty air for years – not such a pretty picture. The first issue of today's pick is "darkeXploration" and it looks at the ruins of an old sand mine in the southern part of Poland. The eerie soundscape and 16 dark photos make me think that what I imagined was probably true... [moluv]
coverstylez 10/28/02
Description: design cover archive plus news and links
Comments: Jan suggests IE5+ to view the site, probably because it uses stylized scrollbars, but I checked it out in NS6 and everything looks and works just fine. I wonder why applying styles to scrollbars didn't make it to CSS standards (though I could probably guess) – I should check into that. Though the emphasis is on "design covers" submitted by visitors, today's pick also fits what I think of as an alternative portal. The "cover archive" contains quite a collection of 350x130 visuals, divided into "submitted covers", "oldschoolstuff", and "black&white stuff." I'm guessing that Jan created the old school and black & white covers. Submitted covers link to designers' homepages, some of which I'll be exploring soon. In addition, there's a growing commented links directory with screenshots. The screens aren't just reduced versions of what the site looks like, but rather, they're selected parts of a page or graphic that capture the flavor well. The news looks like it's updated frequently, and users can also comment on the site. Nice visual content, plenty of good links, and I site design I really like – it's a pretty new site and it's got stylez... [robocore.]
Burningsteel.com 10/27/02
Description: graffiti - trains - news
Comments: Now, listen up kiddies! The next time you see a train just sitting there with nobody around and you've got that spray paint in your hands, I want you to fight the urge. Though defacing the train with your "art" may provide a bit of a temporary high, do you really want to risk getting busted? And, what about the cost of cleaning it up? I'm sure you don't wanna pay it, so fight the urge. On the other hand, now that trains all over the world have been "tagged" and we know it really is a form of art that's part of the cultural scene, blah blah blah, don't you wanna see some pics? In fact, don't you wanna know where there's some "legal walls" where you can do your thing without the downside? I thought so. Today's pick, centered in the Netherlands but quite global as well, shares the news, the pics, and the "hall of fumes." Don't tell anybody, but I really like those painted trains...
octaplex 10/24/02
Description: personal photography/graphics portfolio (Flash)
Comments: There's actually two versions of the site, both accessible from the splash page – the old "Red Edition 2000-2002" and the new "V8." The tagline for the old version ("hard style") seems quite appropriate to me – crisp lines and superb graphics (love the thumbnails) plus one of my favorite color schemes. The content, just like the striking site design, is A1 – outstanding photographs plus digital art in the form of wallpapers. The new version, launched in the middle of September, is an attempt to simplify – it's still a work in progress but there's many new pictures, with 5 of the 9 sections having been completed. "I tried to keep it as simple as possible to build a better view for my pictures." The design of V8 is markedly different than the old version, but just as good. This time, it's minimal with a nicely done Flash interface – no need to scroll – clean, crisp, and simple. Spend some time there and enjoy both versions – it's definitely worth it...
fivedays 10/23/02
Description: An experimental online diary, interactive narrative. Or whatever you make of it. (Flash/Broadband)
Comments: "Hard work means hard parties" and when 20 students from TTVO in Tampere, Finland took a 5 day journey to Karlskrona and back, they decided to document it in the form of an experimental diary. Today's pick, presented via Flash ("it's broadband baby") takes you through each of the 5 days and they warn that you'll have to "explore, search & find" your way through the site. I'm not giving any clues either, but I'll let you know that there's info on each of the students and the daily entries are interesting combinations of words, images and sound – it's really a fun site and the students built it. "This is not just another traditional website. This is something else. After all, this all took five days of our time." And I, for one, appreciate it... [linkdup unfiltered]
Callistonian.NET 10/21/02
Description: elegant personal domain full of splendid things
Comments: There's a bit of a mystery to Marykate's most recent post in her journal. It seems "three is back" but she says you'll have to ask if you want the URL or if you're not sure who/what "three" is. 6 people have already commented that they know what it is and would like the URL. I'm glad three's back (I guess) but I don't have a clue who/what it is. Another entry in the journal gives a "sneak preview" of an "art/charm" project – Marykate's "thoughts in pictures." It's a cool graphic with the words "never give up without a fight/a great dream awaits you..." In her webdesign section, there's a similar message – "the dream must absolutely come true." There's a lot of enjoyable, creative content in Marykate's personal space, which she describes as "a beautifully elegant personal domain." You'll have to use your [back] button in spots, but there's plenty to explore. "Charm" is actually the art gallery. There's also a photography section, Photoshop brushes for download, and a section called "17 wings" with tutorials/resources and a web directory. Green is her favorite color and she has about a dozen different nicknames. Marykate strikes me as an interesting personality and the overall site design rocks (If small fonts are a problem for you, I'd suggest using NS or Mozilla, so you can adjust font sizes). Here's the astounding part (to me, anyway) – Marykate is a 17-year-old high school student...
spyse.net 10/20/02
Description: somewhere for me to put my pictures
Comments: "When Naz gets really blah..she changes her website." Towards the end of August, Naz had submitted a photo for the Visitors' Gallery and after visiting her site, I immediately added it to the listings in the portal cool zone. It was a well-designed personal site with good creative content and though I chose not to review the site as a daily pick back then, listing it as a featured cool site seemed appropriate. Well – Naz submitted another image for the gallery this morning and when I visited her site again, it had obviously been redesigned. As it turns out, Naz completed the new design just a fews ago and I really like it. There's a limit of 2 images allowed per person in the gallery and I'm really thankful that Naz submitted a second one, prompting me to visit her site again and discover the new look and feel.
After spending some time there, I decided to see if Naz was still online. She had sent her email at 7:05am and I thought there'd be a good chance of catching her to ask a few questions. She got back to me by 9:30am and we connected via instant messenger. I learned that she's in Australia and it was 11:30pm there. "Boy, am I lucky," I thought. I asked Naz why she likes photography, wondering a little about her motivation. "I see beautiful/funky/weird things in the world (well they may not be to you, but they are to me) that I think deserve to be photographed." To me, that's the coolest thing about photography – what may seem mundane and downright boring to one person can be exciting to another. What a photographer chooses to capture and the way they capture it are what I find so appealing about photography and Naz' answer was perfect. Her site is full of wonderful photos, both black & white and color, and the new design also includes a photolog, in addition to the galleries.
Naz is a 20-year-old college student majoring in Information Systems, who also works part-time. She launched the site in January and though she's been into photography for a few years, she recently got her first digital camera and that's when her site really got going – "...just couldn't find a darkroom around here..and was too stingy to get them developed...but it's all good now that I have my digital camera :]." I can relate and need to stop procrastinating the needed repair to my own digital camera (talk about stingy!)...
I found myself quite moved by one of the three "stories" that Naz tells – they're series of photos plus words and the one about trains grabbed me.
i wish you were on this train. and not that one.
i wish you were sitting here.
and not over there.
we're going the same way...
seeing the same things.
wondering the same places.
staring at the same wall..
thinking the same things.
so...
why don't we do it together
? .
Each line had its own photo and, like I said, it moved me. When I asked her about it, she told me "it's about someone who lives far away from me." "The story said that the two trains were going in the same direction... I didn't understand that... was he actually on that other train?", I asked. "Well.. we're both doing/going through the same things in our lives... no no, its not literal." I realized then that the trains were metaphors – boy, can I be dense sometimes! "That is perfect," I say. I simply took it all too literally and really did picture two people on trains in my mind as I read her words while enjoying the great train photos... perfect, indeed.
Thanks Naz!
MemeFeeder 10/18/02
Description: Collaborative online digital film project. Each scene in the film is produced by a different director. Scenes are spliced dynamically online to produce random or designed outcomes. (Quicktime)
Comments: "A contagious idea that replicates like a virus." An online experimental film project that's been online for only a few months, today's pick claims to be the "first online multi-directed film." In the short time since it launched, "over 100 people in 21 countries" have participated in the project. 18 directors have already submitted 1-minute scenes. I'd say that Pusher and MsC have definitely created a meme here. Check out the "storyboard" to see the defined concept for each of the 10 scenes that make up a finished film. There's been more than one version of some scenes submitted, but the first finished film is already on online, made up of the first submission of each scene. It's a big file and you'll have to be patient, even on a fast connection, but there's several better ways to view all of the content without the wait. You can go to the "scenes" section and view any of them – they load and stream very quickly. There's an even better (and far cooler) way to view all this great creative content. You can "MacroDirect" your own film by choosing which version of each scene is to be included and when you watch it, each scene loads separately, giving you the same advantage of not having to wait for the film to start streaming. Bravo! – not only to the "Code Monkey" but also for the unique concept and big list of talented participants...
Typographica 10/17/02
Description: A daily journal of typography featuring news, observations, and open commentary on fonts and typographic design.
Comments: When Joshua, the founder of today's pick, launched the site on May 1st, he and his family were busy moving. He said he was "going to [be] busy for awhile" and decided to "write about [his] furniture because [he had] no clue how huge this blog is going to get." By the 4th, he got into gear, and by the end of May, there were over 120 posts with the help of over 30 guest editors. The blog's definitely not about furniture, by the way – it's all about fonts and typographic design. There were several similar type sites (pun intended) that I reviewed in 2000 that are no longer online, so I'm glad to have found Joshua's site. Reload the main page a few times and you'll notice that the "nameplate" changes. Each "blogtopper" is a unique visual treat/type sample submitted by a user. In many cases, the nameplate was submitted by a font designer featuring one of his/her own creations. Very cool! Powered by the latest version of Movable Type, not to mention The Letter W (hehe), today's pick is clearly an excellent resource for anyone interested in typography...
pixel.nascimpact.com 10/15/02
Description: pixel art plus tutorials and downloadable goodies
Comments: I know. It's a strange affliction, this thing I have for pixels. It's getting out of hand this month but pixel art is downright cool and I've just got to do my thing. On October 1st, I told you about the "amazing realism" of the pixelized apartment at fuz.dk. My pick on October 4th had "pixel" in its name, though it was the photography that grabbed me. On October 11th, there were Nevr's cool pixelated models of houses to play with. Pixels, pixels, pixels! Today's pick seems to fit perfectly into my October obsession with all things pixel. The "Pixel Art" section has 10 different tasty pieces. The detail of the building and people in "Garden Party" is astounding and Nicolas a/k/a Nasc Impact also has an apartment artwork that rocks. There's an animated piece done at the "request of certain members of neokulture" that I liked, too, but I better warn you that it's on the graphic side – gee, those tiny pixelized pools of blood sure look real. The site's all in French but Google's language tools did a pretty good job translating, so I also explored Nasc's tutorials. There's also some wallpapers, brushes, and WinAmp skins for download, and a "Flash" section with several samples of games he's been working on. Excellent site design with pixels galore – definitely a cool site. I'll try to keep the rest of October pixel-free but I ain't makin' no promises...
junioronline 10/14/02
Description: actionscript resource
Comments: Today's pick is a nice little resource if you're looking for actionscript samples and code. Well, it's really not little, considering the fact that it's a pretty new site. Eric Jr. bought the domain name just a few months ago. It looks like the site probably existed before then, but I'm guessing not for very long. Yet, there's over 100 registered members and "already 32 experiments and counting." Each experiment is downloadable (.swf and .fla in one .zip file). There's also a "prototypes" section with 15 miscellaneous scripting examples. Whether you're looking to learn or to share some of your knowledge (or both), it looks like Eric Jr. has set up a nice platform for you. It's still a work in progress, but looks bound for good things – I'll be watching for the "tutorials" section... [nomaster < linkodromo]
walrus.nu 10/13/02
Description: Poetry soup. With croutons...
Comments: "This is where I cry havoc and unleash my words. I've been writing bits and pieces since school, but never bothered with an outlet until I started putting my stuff on the net, a number of years ago." Though Dan's current domain has been in existence for a little over 2 years, he's got 4 poems on the site written from 1991 to 1993. The next oldest poem is from early 1997, which I'll guess is the year that Dan actually started using the web as an outlet, though I'm not sure where the old site resided. "The style of writing to be found here is not a style I would employ at work, in a letter, or any other sane context: it's my creative side, pushing its way out through the cracks in my concrete soul. I break rules here and conventions." The site design is clean and simple with a choice of color schemes and I particularly enjoyed the "diary" and "snippets" sections. "Wordart" is interesting, too, and includes some others' images and words. Dan's personal creative space is unpretentious and engaging...
microgarbage 10/12/02
Description: gathers small interactions (Flash)
Comments: I'm glad there's two "slimes" to choose from because #2 is neat. It's a type of organism found only in new media environments. Okay, so maybe hyperactive little flash critters aren't your thing and you prefer something more useful. Maybe you'd like to translate something into morse code (yeah, right) – you can do that here, too. Today's pick is a large collection of Flash experiments and has a number of things I haven't seen elsewhere – things that collect data from the user and render it in interesting ways. "Relationships" is a good example – users submit various attributes about themselves and the piece displays a "society" of users based on submitted data. Another piece ("simple typo #2") displays characters typed by the user, each formed from certain squares in a 5x5 grid. It's actually a pretty good representation of how one builds pixel type. The anonymous person behind the amusements also shares some of his/her actionscript savvy in the "institute" by making code snippets available. You might also enjoy "linkage overwritable" in the "communication" section – links on the fly in a whole different light. Today's pick hardly lives up to its name (the "garbage" part, that is)...
blixt.uninhibited.net 10/11/02
Description: Nevr's personal webspace
Comments: Today's pick has got to be one of the cutest and most unique designs I've seen lately. It's the fun and colorful pixelated personal site of Ms. Nevr and, besides the narrow journal on the main page, there's several side projects that are simply great stuff. The "decom" series features Ms. Nevr's pixel art – she loves interior design and gives you an open-side model of her house and the chance to move furniture, fixtures, and various table pieces around as you like. 2 of the 3 "decom" pieces also include Ms. Nevr speaking about herself and the project – "decom" is, in a word, amazing. The guestbook has more pixel goodness – I love it. Another visual project ("galoria") gives you glimpses of Ms. Nevr. If I'm correct, she's a 19-year-old living in Finland. This cool personal webspace is bubbling over with personality and left me feeling quite inspired... [stereot < surfstation < x-machine]
seacreative 10/9/02 (#1)
Description: in the mad world of sea (Flash)
linkscape 10/9/02 (#2)
Description: architects and architecture sites and links to the best design and experimental sites of the net
Comments: Two picks for one with half the verbosity. Today's first pick is a showcase of extraordinary illustrations. Scans of colorful prints and drawings and a "street" section of "underground stickers" plus some tasty desktops make up the content. The second pick is where I found the first one. Saying "let's eat architecture" with a literally tasty graphic below the dropdown list navigator, it provides oodles of links to architecture and design sites. After checking out just three of the listed sites I wasn't familiar with (including today's first pick) and realizing how well the listings are filtered for quality, I just had to add today's second pick to the growing explore the web! list. Enjoy, explore and remember to have some fun today...
lookupthere 10/6/02
Description: a gallery of illustrations
Comments: Today's pick isn't about the design. The site navigates well and the design is clean, but Josh is an artist, not a web designer. The source says the pages were generated with one of those big, typical portal's "PageBuilder" application. It did the job. It's really about the art. Josh is a talented illustrator and the site is a few years old. The "old" version has two volumes of works and the "new" has one series of works so far. I bookmarked the site a long time ago because I liked what I saw. When I just recently revisited, the new section really grabbed me – mixed media, colored pencil, ink, and markers – I like his style...
pixeljuice 10/4/02
Description: exploring creativity (Flash)
Comments: Today's pick is a "project exploring creativity" from a guy who calls himself JeeJee. The content is primarily visual, presented via a clean, minimal Flash interface – I find the simplicity and quiet look and feel of the site quite appealing. Though there's few words on the site, the content speaks for itself. There's several photos I really liked – one of people sitting in what looks like a dimly-lit restaurant or tavern and another of people on a dark, narrow, building-surrounded street with the brightness of a daylight sun in the distance. I also liked the close-up shots of faces, focused on the subjects' eyes and some of the more abstract photos as well. JeeJee's only made one "movie" so far but promises more coming soon and he's also made a "pong" game that's fun to play. It's different from others in that you control your paddle with the cursor instead of the arrow keys. The "you Loser" message I got prompted me to try again (and again). I got better at the game after figuring out that simply clicking on the paddle will hold unto it – I was holding the button down before which was hindering my ability to move the mouse smoothly. Cool. This clean and simple personal space provides glimpses into one's creativity with a little fun on the side...
Photomatisme 10/2/02
Description: faces of anonymous websurfers
Comments: Does the Internet have a face? Sure, some sites include a mugshot of the person behind them, but all-in-all, it's easy for people to hide behind their sites and present just what they want to present publically – hardly like talking to someone face-to-face. Then, there's the site's visitors. Who are they? It's hard to know. So, the web may indeed have a face, but you seldom see it. Today's pick changes all that – it's been around a few years and I have to admit that coolstop is hardly the first to recognize it. The French tagline translates to English as "test of filing for a face of the Internet" and the content is hundreds of anonymously submitted photos of faces, each telling its own little story. There's some side attractions as well and if people pics interest you, you're in for some fun browsing...