It ties with "It's a Wonderful Life" on my list...

I never get tired of this Christmas movie. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer premiered on NBC December 6th, 1964 and became the longest running, highest rated television special in the history of claymation (and still going today).

Stairway to Heaven

Tim Sloan of Levitate Architects came up with this ingenious bookshelf stairwell for a rooftop Victorian apartment in London.

I love the word "y'all".

...especially when used nicely in typography and musical lyrics. From Neuarmy, done for Yes Yes Yall (YYY):

The origin of Darth Vader?

After seeing the prints of Two Women on the Shore at the National Gallery of Art, I have a theory that Lucas stole the idea of Darth Vader from Edvard Munch.

ELVIS IS HERE!

A good friend of mine pointed out the other day that the National Portrait Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Elvis Presley at 21: photographs by Alfred Wertheimer (through January 23, 2010).

How could I have not realized this sooner? ELVIS PRESLEY IN ALL HIS BEAUTIFUL GLORY OF YOUTH IS AT THE PORTRAIT GALLERY!!! Forgive me for my screaming text and abundance of exclamation points (it doesn't happen very often), but this is a fitting occasion.

35mm

Really neat video by Pascal Monaco, a German designer inspired by Pixar. I like all the sound effects and it has nice visual flow.

Can you spot all the films?

Making the speed limit FUN?

Volkswagen and DDB Stockholm held a "Fun Theory Contest" and named Kevin Richardson (San Francisco) the winner for his idea of the "Speed Camera Lottery". During the experiment, speeding decreased by 22%!

What's Harry Potter doing nowadays?

My sister saw this in the paper the other week.

Have fun at the opening of Harry Potter tonight!

Jeremy Paul Beasley

I saw these t-shirts and decided to check out the work of Jeremy Paul Beasley. He's pretty awesome. You can follow his blog here.

"Shopping Priest Confessions"

Earlier this summer, I picked up a book in Barnes & Noble called Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burt. It seemed simple and fun, but I was quickly intrigued after several pages by the story behind the work. Kate is a Portland-based designer who began a long project of drawing everyday items that she had purchased in order to tell a story about the life of a consumer. The drawings began on February 5, 2006 and ended three years later. It documents a time when she was struggling with debt during grad school as an art student. She would draw her credit card statements and any kind of purchase she made, and it kind of motivated her to get out of debt.

In Debbie Millman's recent interview (Design Matters), she asked "Do you have a particular time everyday when you do your drawing?"

"I usually do it either really really early in the morning or really really late at night I kind of encourage anyone to have a repeatable project because i love this way of working in that it's a great kickstarter for me to approach other projects that are maybe a bit more nebulous. Because, I mean, looking at a blank page of paper is pretty scary, but if you've got this repeatable project set out, you know what you're supposed to do. And i feel like, "Okay, I'm starting my daily drawing, I can do that." That's one thing that's off on my to-do list and now I can move onto something else that's not quite as cut and dry. But it's a nice gateway into my workday, i'm really thankful for that. That's another level of this project that has really helped me in making other work too."

Warhol + Coke = SUCCESS!

Warhol made 4 paintings of Coke bottles, one of which sold yesterday at Sotheby's for $35.4 million. Not too bad for a recession, eh? See more on the Bloomberg article.

"Warhol has been the driver of the postwar- and contemporary-art market since the decline,” said art adviser Mary Hoeveler before the sale.

I've watched this several times this evening...

and it holds my attention each time.

Cool kinetic type video by Mig Reyes and Matt Born. It's simple, but creative.

The Hush Sound — Lions Roar.

The Heroes of Folk

I like these letterpress cards by Scotty Reifsnyder:

Rosie the Riveter

Paul Bunyan & Babe, the Blue Ox

Johnny Appleseed

John Henry vs. the steam drill

Mighty Casey at the bat

Annie Oakley

House Industries

Melanie and I had the privilege of attending a presentation by House Industries' Rich Roat lastnight. Rich was very down to earth and the presentation was wonderful, overviewing the origin of House Industries when it was just Rich and Andy Cruz to their recent collaborations with the great typographers such as Ed Benguiat, Alexander Girard, and most recently, Charles and Ray Eames.

I've adored House's creations for awhile now. I love the reference to old but relevant design and type. I was further pleased to find that they are interested in preserving the history of it too. They research and visit these great typographers and interview them so they can preserve their great legacy and interesting stories about the industry, some stretching back 60-70 years.

I appreciate that they begin their projects by hand and will bypass computer methods simply because "it looks better":

Truthfully, it is craft that is at the heart of everything we do. When a situation calls for an elaborately detailed painting or a quickly executed brush and ink illustration, that’s what we do. Sure, we could run a photo through a few computer filters or scan and auto-trace some found lettering, but it seems to us more direct and efficient to create artwork by traditional means. (House Aesthetic)

These guys are amazing, and it was inspiring to hear about their work. We also got a free Eames catalog. It's hard to believe that something this great started 17 years ago with just 2 guys and 1 apartment.

Jules Verne book cover series

These Jules Verne series book covers by Jim Tierney are excellent! Most of the text is beautifully hand drawn, and he uses Memphis and Bodoni for the flaps. It started as a school project his Senior year at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He gives more about his process and even some preliminary sketches on Faceout Books.