Movies, Music...the 80's.

Let's just start off with...I LOVED THE 80's!
The movies, the music, and all the other good stuff that came along with it.

When I first started writing this post I wanted to confess the one song that I absolutely liked loved from the 80's that most of my friends probably hated and would be considered shameful. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with one 80's song! The only song I came up with that I absolutely loved that would shame me is Mark Morrison's, "Return of the Mack." Well that song was actually released in the 90's...1996 to be exact. So there goes my 80's hall of shame music confession idea.

Keeping in the spirit of the 80's, I began to think of 80's movies that I enjoyed that had either good songs, a good soundtrack, or is note worthy in the form of "I still groove to it." Well, this took way more time than I thought it would and it was pretty hard to do. Here's a stab at my attempt of a list. I narrowed the list down to 9 movies/songs (video links included) in no particular order - of course!

(Movie Covers Source: IMDb)

Flashdance (1983)

Irene Cara

"What A Feeling"

--

Purple Rain (1984)

Prince

"When Dove’s Cry"

--

The Karate Kid (1984)

Bananarama

"Cruel Summer"

--

Ghostbusters (1984)

Ray Parker, Jr.

"Ghostbusters"

--

Breakfast Club (1985)

Simple Minds

"Don't You (Forget About Me)"

--

Krush Groove (1985)

Krush Groove All Stars

"Krush Groovin"

--

Stand By Me (1986)

Ben E. King

"Stand By Me"

--

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes

"The Time of My LIfe"

--

Colors (1988)

Ice-T

"Colors"

++++++++
What are your favorites? What would you add to this list or remove?

Bequests.

E and Pop-Pop enjoying the day.

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings. 

 ~Hodding Carter, Jr.

----

Here's hoping you enjoyed the weekend and Father's Day (whether far, near, or in remembrance).

Weekend Do: Play, Learn, Live.

Play & Learn	The Star-Spangled Sailabration, June 13-19, is an international parade of more than 40 tall ships and naval vessels.  These ships sail into Baltimore for the national launch of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner. This event feature free tours of the ships, waterside festivities, an airshow featuring the Blue Angels, and the world-premiere of “Overture for 2012,” composed by Philip Glass.
Play	Maryland Live Casino located at Arundel Mills in Hanover, MD
	Madagascar 3 or Rock of Ages (all the cool kids are doing it)!
Learn	Designs To Save Newspapers?
	Why sleepy people love pizza? OR…Grill the best steak of your life!
	A Quotable Quote here
	8 Last minute Father’s Day gifts, find ideas here.
Live	Take your dog to work day? No, seriously. Check it out here.

***************
Image Sources: Star-Spangled Sailabration, Maryland Live Casino, TED, Apartment Therapy, the Kitchen, MovieFone, Inhabitat & Take Your Dog

11 IN 40

What exactly is 11 in 40?
Well, it's a branding timeline of the number of brands that I used in 40 minutes (this morning while getting ready for the day). It seems like I should have more than 11 brands in 40 minutes - but there was kid interference and questions about what I was doing! Check it out below.

I saw another version of this idea of a branding timeline on LOGODESIGNLOVE, "33 logos in 33 minutes."

How many brands do you use in the morning or throughout the day? Take a look around and let me know either by taking photos and posting them (somewhere) or listing your brands in my comment section.

Happy branding! Yes, that was corny but go with it...it's Thursday for goodness sake!

Type In Everyday.

©Keia Kenyetta. UB, Type I, Spring 2012

Let's face it – ‘Type’ is everywhere!
What the heck I am talking about?
Well if you have a small child you probably are aware of this as children see the most amazing things - my son is a classic example of this. I swear this boy can identify a letter form from almost any object that comes in his view. It’s actually pretty amazing or not…

Anyway, I was going through my school files and I came across an assignment that I was tasked with last semester in my typography class.  The class was tasked with finding type in the everyday. Still not clear on what I'm rambling out?

Well, for example, a macaroni noodle looks like the letter 'C'. A simple chair can look like a lower case letter ‘h’, and a curtain rod tie back hook might look like the letter ‘J’. If you look around you will see that everyday objects look like type. While these objects look like type they are definitely not type but with a little creativity they can serve as interesting design solutions.

The image pictured above is my idea of type in the everyday. It was created while spending time on the playground with my son. As he played, I walked around the playground and took pictures of the play equipment. The result – the letters h, o, p, e, which spell Hope!

Here's hoping that everyone has a fabulous weekend! Keep your eye out for type this weekend.
Do come back and let me know what you've discovered.

Judging A Book By It's Cover.

Truth be told, I hate reading. Okay so maybe I don't hate reading...it's more that I don't like to be forced to read. Nor, do I have time to read. I can hardly take five minutes to read the directions for a recipe in a cookbook. I'm not sure if this is just the lazy part of my personality or due the fact that I had to read so many literary journals, white papers, etc. in my previous life.

What I do enjoy is the imagery of a book cover, a magazine, or on a flyer/poster, etc. What I've come to realize most recently is that I am in love with the integration of text and imagery...especially on books and in magazines. I honestly believe the images and color choice of written material is what attracts me to reading material. Okay, and the first three pages of a book or article need to be enticing. With the invention of book readers - you know those things called Nooks, Kindles, and tablets (Ha!), I think it's become ever so important for those designing book covers and magazine cover spreads to be creative.

I saw these (below) in Barnes & Noble the other weekend. Well actually, these books spotted me - with all there glitzyness and lead positioning on the center end cap.

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics, designed by Jessica Hische

The imagery! The details! The designers choice of color and material...I couldn't help but stop and check them out. I picked up each book - flipped through it, felt its cover, smelled it (no, really I did). It's something about small little details that I enjoy. Something so simple and worldly given new life with fine detail.  The artist behind this awesomeness is Jessica Hische and she's an amazing illustrator, letterer, and designer.

Now, luckily I've read most of these classics because if I hadn't, I'd probably be judging these books by their cover...which one should never, never, ever do! 

++++++

Are you still reading books or have you moved over to the new world of technology? If you are an old school paperback/ hardback reader, what are you reading these days? What attracts you to a book besides hearsay?