Beautifully Grounded

This has got to be one of the most unique, interesting, beautiful and confusing films ever made, and it’s only 7 minutes long.

“One astronaut’s journey through space and life ends on a hostile exosolar planet. Grounded is a metaphorical account of the experience, inviting unique interpretation and reflection by the viewer. Themes of aging, inheritance, paternal approval, cyclic trajectories, and behaviors passed on through generations are explored against an ethereal backdrop.

Conceived and created by Kevin Margo, VFX industry veteran and CG supervisor at acclaimed blur studio, in collaboration with Barrett Meeker, this short film represents an investigation into the live action medium as a more intimate and efficient vehicle for realizing visions and ideas of a personal nature…an expression with greater immediacy, purity, and volume typically absent in an all CG approach.”

(click here to see ‘Grounded’ in its entirety and get more info)

(thanks to Kevin Margo and Barrett Meeker for the film!)

Beautifully Grounded

My Morning Jacket Rocks Boise

Last Sunday night, I was able to witness one of the greatest live shows I can recall seeing when My Morning Jacket hit the stage at the Knitting Factory in downtown Boise. After the dust had settled following their almost 2-and-a-half hour set, we had witnessed a superb blend of psychedelic rock, ripping guitar solos, tender ballads and everything in between, for a complete mind-melt of a show. Playing tracks from their newest album 'Circuital', their best (in my opinion) album 'Z' and some oldies but goodies from back in the day, MMJ brought the house down song after song and didn't relent for one moment throughout the performance. Even the slower songs seemed to have a majestic quality to them, building and building with layers of guitar and keys, until the crowd was so entranced that we were all bouncing and moving in one fluid motion to the rhythm.

Jim James is one of the best frontmen in music today, and he did not disappoint on Sunday evening. Donning a giant purple cape as the band took the stage, James had the crowd in the palm of his hand for the whole show, jumping onto the drum riser several times throughout the night, wildly flailing around the stage during his solos, and orchestrating the massive wall of sound that penetrated each member of the crowd to their core.

Below is a snippet of the final song of the set, 'Gideon', before they came back out for a jammed-out 2 song encore of crowd favorites 'Phone Went West' and 'One Big Holiday'. This is a small section of music and lights that will give a glimpse into the feel and tone the band displayed for the entire evening, and made us all hope their next stop back in Boise is not too far down the road. Enjoy.

(click here for complete setlist)

Microsoft, This Logo Could've Been Yours

After last month’s new “rebranding” effort by Microsoft, one designer apparently didn’t feel the look was up to par, and decided to do something about it. The look is so much sleeker, the new font looks more professional and the overall feel of Microsoft as a brand jumps up a few points with Andrew Kim’s updated design concept.

I’m sure that Microsoft is very comfortable with keeping their look the same, which may be part of the problem for the company. Innovation and driving your company forward is what gets people initially to your brand, and it’s a big part of what keeps them coming back for more. Let’s take a look at the evolution of the Microsoft logo over the years:






While the new logo is certainly an improvement over the original logo from 1975, it just doesn’t say anything about the company’s willingness or desire to move FORWARD. If Microsoft wants to really try to give Apple more and more competition over the coming years, this design concept (or anything else that was somewhat original) would have been a great way to start out.

Now, take a look at Andrew Kim‘s entire concept for rebranding Microsoft, and be the judge yourself.



As Alex Williams of TechCrunch says, “Windows is over. It’s outdated. It represents the past. Windows Phone and Surface are hindered by the Windows brand.” Alas, we’ll just have to see how their “new” logo works out…

(Thanks to Minimally Minimal for showcasing Kim’s design concept!)



Microsoft, This Logo Could've Been Yours