Miscellania!

So today's a big day for having things to post about. It's also Christmas. So double nice!

First up are some web sites I've created!

Click images to enter respective sites)

This semester I've been trying to utilize the double-bladed opportunities of the Internet and make some interactive, web-based art. Here are my first two attempts.

These sites are hosted by the domain of FolkRoutes, a newly erected anarchist distribution syndicate. They just launched their website, so they're kind of getting their stuff together. But give them a look. They aim to do some really cool things down the road that I hope to be a part of. (Maybe you can be too?)

More stuff is happening. I've got to talk about Spikedriver, another collective that I'm working a lot with. They're going to be touring with Wood Spider this January. Dammit, I have to talk about that too...

I built a sweet fort today.

----------------

A Rockin' Wood Spider Christmas
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?2ybxp51krntyms9

There's still some holiday left so before it ends, be sure to listen to this ridiculous jingle that Mike Ditrio and I recorded. It made for a wonderful gift to his mother.

Festive collapse.

Not really into the idea of posing for a cliché family Christmas card, I decided to illustrate one instead. Here's the front of the card that is filling in for a standard tacky CostCo template.
Adapted from a drawing some may remember from last year.

Here's hopin' everyone enjoys their holiday. I'm not really too into the religious or material aspects of December, but I am all about the togetherness and egg nog. So please do your best to indulge in both of those.

(Oh, and I'm done with my fall semester and I've got a bunch of stuff to show for it. So expect me to put some things up.)

--------------




Squirrel Nut Zippers - Christmas Caravan

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?klicdd65bawpzn7

Tags: Swing, Jazz, Christmas

Yes, yes. I can understand that the sound of Christmas music can be blazingly grating to some people's ears, but what if it's swing as all hell? Huh? What about that?
Hey, I'm just trying to make your holiday a little bit sassier, is all.

Oh, Proboscideans!

A promotional brochure I made in Adobe Illustrator. It chronicles the African elephant's bizarre history through six stages of its ancestry. From left to right:

African elephant (Loxodonta africana)
Songhua River Mammoth (Mammathus sungari)
Gomphotherium (Gomphotherium angustidens)
Platybelodon (Platybelodon danovi)
Deinotherium (Deinotherium giganteum)
Moeritherium (Moeritherium lyonsi)

Okay, so Moeritherium isn't a true elephant ancestor. I know but y'all can just shove it. The little thing is just too adorable.

Way way more to come!

---------------------




Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Broadcasting From Home

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?7588wme1t83oezx
Tags: jazz, acoustic, chamber music

Been all about this this week. My favorite element about the Penguin Cafe Orchestra is their song titles. It really provides a nice context to every song and influences you to interpret them a certain way. "In the Back of a Taxi" first comes to mind.

Beans taste fine.

"To his horror, when Dendall woke up, he was in pieces."

Here's a hasty scan of the first page I illustrated for Dendall's Story, a children's story by Amelia Horner about a boy whose body parts abandon him because he doesn't eat properly. So Dendall (just a head) goes on a journey to learn about the wonders of eating well.
I have a lot more pages to finish and I need to edit all of them, but yeah, here's another thing I'm working on. Fun!

I'm waist deep in final projects right now, so I don't really have much time for anything. But after the next week or so, I should have all sorts of neat things to show. Hang tight!

--------------------

Shel Silverstein - Inside Folk Songs

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?c12bpc18sdsvbs0
Tags: folk, blues, poetry

Welcome to the soundtrack of my last month. This album is required for every young, embittered New Yorker that likes to think they don't blend into the crowd of ironic mustaches and plaid on the L train.

(Not to alienate everyone else, though! Uncle Shelby makes sounds everyone can enjoy!)