zune arts: intergalactic swap meet

The idea behind the story is, sharing with your friends enriches you both. "Hybrid vigor" was the phrase that kept running through our heads. Also, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Which, if you've ever listened to a bangin' setlist, you know is true.

Animation/Direction: againstallodds
Music: The Deadly Syndrome
Client: Zune Arts
Agency: 72andSunny
Art Director: Katie O'Shea
Writer: Louise Shieh

busted

I bit it last night on the way home from a bar, and then again this morning on the way to work. Nothing bad at all -- three scrapes that I can count, and a bruise or nine. But Louise tells me I say "OW" every time I move . Or emote -- smiling hurts, as one of the scrapes is on my chin. "Ha ha ha ha ha OW."

The best part: It's picture day at work.

midnight ridazz made it to the cover of the los angeles times 'the guide'

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-gd-cover6dec06,1,73871,full.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

In a freaky coincidence, the idea for the gang (I call it a gang; we're the friendliest, most-inclusive, least-threatening gang ever) started with two graphic designers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2004. I was living (and designing) in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, in 2004. If I hadn't been borrowing my sister's motorbike all the time, I might have been on a bike and seen them on the road. Life is strange.

Love,
Katie

also, and also-also:

I forgot to post this. New bike shop in Culver City.





Edwardian Script, bikey things, overuse of graphic hearts, and proximity to my home are all things I hold dear. So yay.

I don't ride a fixed gear, but I thought I'd check it out on behalf of some friends who are looking into it. The fixed people did not judge me for pulling up on a geared bike. Or maybe they did, and I just didn't pick up on it. What I'm saying is, they've got some decent starter stock, some tasty bikes, and they're nice. So yay, again.

portland south

In honor of the overcast skies, the relentless chill, and the constant drizzle, I'm going through today as if I still lived in Portland.

I'm wearing every piece of wool I own. The socks are high and striped. The sweatshirt is hooded ("Like your eyes!" says my dirty, ill-cut hair). I just came back from a coffee shop, where I had organic coffee and a tasty grilled sandwich served by scruffy, attractive people. And I'm on my way to a paper store, where I'm going to source cardstock for some arty-crafty thing I'm super excited about. It's been another car-free weekend, after a nearly car-free week. I'm thinking later on I'll hang out on a bridge and pass out beers to bikers.

Wait, that last one ... I don't think that really works here.

zune arts: laika

We took advantage of an historical event -- the 50th anniversary of Russia launching a dog into outer space -- and re-interpreted it. What would happen if Laika landed somewhere? What if it were a dog utopia? What would you do? Would you share your riches? Or enjoy your dog utopia ... alone?




Animation/Direction: Ro Rao
Music: The Aliens
Client: Zune Arts
Agency: 72andSunny
Art Director: Katie O'Shea
Writer: Charlie Stephenson


The accompanying banner campaign invited viewers to peer through a telescope to find and follow Laika. Once her planet was found, the viewer was invited to find out her full story at the Zune Arts website.

dr. james watson discovers DNA, drops ball

Watson, the guy on the left, was instrumental in the discovery of the double helix structure of molecular DNA. 45 years later (now), his speeches at prominent scientific forums are getting canceled.

Something to do with a little thing or two he said, namely that he thinks black people aren't as smart as white people, and that women should have the right to abort their babies if it could be proven they would be gay.

What a jerk.

Scientific progress is a treacherous path, people. Treacherous.

bitch

I don't know that I've ever been called a bitch before. I've been called plenty of other things, but not a bitch.

Or maybe it's just that I don't bike enough on Saturday nights. On the way back from some Los Feliz thing, I had a perfectly delightful ride. Really good, in fact, until about a mile from my house, at which point a Jeep driver was compelled to impart his opinion.

"Bitch!"

I was doing the bike driving thing (acting like a car in the absence of a bike lane), in the right lane. They were in the left lane. Then the light turned red. I passed them, they passed me. I gave them the "I'm looking at you because I want to not hit you, but I'm looking with cold, dead eyes." Then, this:

"GET ON THE SIDEWALK, HIPPIE."

Wow, wrong. I would have expected "hipster" before "hippie," but hipster's not right, either -- I do bathe. Most accurate would be "Nine-year-old boy!" because, well, I dress like a nine-year-old boy. Or "Fashion-Lazy!" I would have taken that. Or, like, "Rigorous with your Political Beliefs, in your Words and in your Actions!"

Oh shit, I am a hippie.

the trouble with insomnia

... is that you sit there, not-sleeping, doing quick math to determine how many hours of sleep you could have if you could JUST get to sleep JUST now. But the math itself keeps the mind humming, and so you don't sleep, and the fucking math goes on and on.

But at least "An Affair to Remember" is on. Deborah Kerr's dresses, and especially the colors of her dresses, are inspired and inspiring. Charles LeMaire. Good work.

chaly angel

Once, I lived in Cambodia. (Now, I don't.)

This was a comic I drew while living over there. Click on it for clarity.

bill murray explains golf cart incident

Here.

While he's explaining things, maybe he can talk about his appearance at the Getty's "Icons" exhibit.


Here he is, reading the first script for "Groundhog Day."

i wish for financial solvency

I'm sure -- I'm SURE -- this was my worksheet for one of those quizzes where you enter your birth month followed by your favorite number followed by the names of the person to your right, the last person you called, the last person who texted you, your roommate's sibling ... the name of your honorary younger brother ... song stuck in your head right now ... um, song stuck in your head twenty years ago .... two songs with the same title .... and the thing you wish for but will never get. And then you add it all up and it tells you the age at which you're going to die.

Unfortunately, I didn't write down my answer. So I'm still in the dark on that. Any insights from MySpace quiz experts would be greatly appreciated.

first date at a greek restaurant, anyway

What? It was on.

laundry hampers, vacuum cleaner, bookshelves (2-3)

If I'm going to tack that last item on the end (before the closing time), then I might as well not write a list at all. But I did.



Apparently, the only other thing my heart desired was this shirt.


It's a pretty good shirt, though. I mean, just look at it.

tape measure, notebook, tights (black)

Reproduced here is a shopping list that I found in the back pocket of my jeans.

So telling. So, so telling.

i've lost more diodes that way

why i can't get up in the morning

DUN DUN.

the quality of an idea vs. the quantity of words needed to explain idea

Blah blah parabola, blah blah blah asymptote, y = o.

oh, go on

Chris says I'm kinda mean.
It's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.

nice, or smart?

Stay off the line.

it's important that you know

I am a pacifist. However, I will resort to violence if pushed beyond the limits of reason.

zune arts: mother like no other

Mom's Day is a tough one. You want to show your mom that you love her. But you don't want to come off cloying, or worse yet, insincere. And how do you give her a gift from the heart that shows you're not just giving it because you're supposed to? Get her something she'll really like. That's what our little beaver friend was thinking when he gathered all the sticks and flowers and leaves he could find into the most beautiful bouquet he could imagine. All for his wonderful mum.




She really, really liked it. A lot.

Animation/Direction: Yves Geleyn
Music: the bird and the bee
Client: Zune Arts
Agency: 72andSunny
Art Director: Katie O'Shea/Bryan Rowles
Writer: Katie O'Shea/Bryan Rowles

lemurs, dodgeball, and cheerleading

Lemurs are the smallest primates, or so I'm told on The Discovery Channel. I think I heard that right.

I know a fair amount about lemurs, owing to a grade school/high school classmate who used to paint them quite often. (Did you know that they are found almost exclusively on Madagascar? I did.) So I'm, like, reliving an element of my childhood by watching this show. (By the way, the grade school classmate is Andrew Denman, noted wildlife artist. Take a look.)

Which is weird, because earlier today I watched Dodgeball, which was directed by a kid in my sister's class in high school. Rawson Thurber. (There is much irony in him directing a movie about underdogs, by the way. Great irony, indeed.) It's old home week or something.

So there should be a third person from my childhood who has made a name for himself (or herself ... step up, ladies!), to complete what could be an Orinda Fame Trifecta. Perhaps we'll hear from Bernadette Protti or something.

nickelback = bad; nickelback + nickelback = kind of good

Check out this ball of horror.

Nickelback recorded almost exactly the same song twice and called it two songs. Overlay one song over the other, however, and wouldn't you know it but they make some pretty nice harmonies.

They should do this all the time.

goddamned car ads

You know those car ads where the camera is sitting on the dash or (more likely) it's mounted on the hood of the car? And the car's going very, very, very, very fast? And you can't really see the road ahead until you're already around that turn, over that hill, &c? And the road's wet.

Okay, so have you ever woken up from a deep slumber in a car to the realization that the driver has ALSO just awoken from a deep slumber? Such that the road has turned and the car has not? It kind of looks and feels like those ads.

STOP IT, AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY. JUST STOP IT. IT'S FREAKY.

Thanks.

Love,
Katie

memo slut

I pass this every day on my way to work.

MEMO SLUT. Seems an odd place to voice one's concerns about another's licentious use of the "Reply All" button, but then ... well, I see it every day. On my way to work. So maybe it's reaching its intended audience after all. I feel so ... cheap.

"By the way," you're thinking, "How'd you take that picture, you letterhead whore?" Carefully, that's how. Very carefully.

don't you hate it

When you go away from the room for a while, and you go write your first rent check, and you decide to make a card to hold your first rent check, and then you fuck up the lettering and you have to start again, and you decide to change the way the card's going to look and so you have all these extra letters and you're all proud because you managed to use the letters anyway, or some of them, and then you walk back into the room and realize the TV's been on this whole time (woopsie), and it's Italian Futurist porn.

I hate when that happens.