Luca Ionescu started up Like Minded LMS™ A creative studio with clients such as: Nike, Stussy, Zoo York, MTV, Jim Beam, Vh1, ES, ETNIES, Tiger Beer, Absolut Vodka, Reebok and Coca-Cola. Creative Director Luca Ionescu’s is renowned for his logo and typography work which has been documented in the Los Logos since 2003 under his former studio Keep Left and Luca Ionescu Design. Like Minded is also founder and publisher of Refill Magazine www.refillmag.com and the curator of Refill Seven www.refillseven.com An exhibition featuring lasered skate art.
Check out loads more work from Luca HERE & HERE
45RPM has published a bunch of photos he took of his trip to New York online and it makes for a very good Flash-based read.
[VIA]
I randomly found out that an old school friend, Polly Morgan has been creating taxidermy art of a very high level since 2005.
“Morgan, 30, is a member of the Guild of Taxidermists, and although she has been working as an artist for only five years, the unnerving tableaux she creates using animals and birds that have met accidental or unpreventable death, make disquieting observations about beauty and mortality, and have attracted plenty of attention.”
“In 2005 the artist Banksy spotted her first four pieces (belljar installations for a friend’s bar opening in Bethnal Green: ‘A lovebird looking in a mirror, a squirrel holding a belljar with a little fly perched inside on top of a sugar cube; a magpie with a jewel in its beak; and a couple of chicks standing on a miniature coffin’) and offered her a pitch at his temporary gallery, Santa’s Ghetto.”
“Since then she has been picked up by the Gagosian director Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, and her work now sells for £8,000-30,000. Kate Moss and Sharleen Spiteri own her creations, as do serious collectors such as David Roberts and Anita Zabludowicz.” – Text [VIA]
Tristan Schoonraad has just revealed his latest creation, a Star-Wars inspired run of sculptures, limited to just ten pieces. We are huge fans of his work and asked him to join our last group exhibition in Tokyo in November of last year.
You can read an amazing interview with him on the UKAdapta Website
Forget looking at the world through rose tinted glasses – try these on for size. Video eyewear manufacturer Vuzix has unveiled its Wrap 920AR glasses prototype that features cameras mounted to the lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery.
Check out the video.
There is a ton of information out there for aspiring musicians to help them break into the business. However, getting your foot at the door in the music industry is just one of the steps to becoming a successful mainstream musician. Once you are in, you will need to know the secrets of maintaining your success. No one wants to be a one hit wonder or to fizzle out just as soon as your star begins to shine. Here are nine secrets that all mainstream musicians understand and use to their benefit.
01. Growing Non-Stop
Many musicians just want to follow the beat of their own creative paths. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but the best way to grow and expand your knowledge and talent is to continually be learning new things. The more skills you possess, the more you understand about music and the more diverse your own music will become. There are many different aspects of music including singing, instruments, production, and performance. A musical jack of all trades has more options available than someone who only knows how to do one aspect of music really well.
02. Being Versatile
“Every chance to perform can benefit you financially, and also hone your performance skills.”1 Don’t stick to the same venues or routines; look for new opportunities to get your music out there. Collaborate with someone who does a completely different type of music, or try out a different type of venue that you have considered before, try out some street performing or play at local festivals or events. Just because they have told you that you have made it, does not mean you should give up on marketing or being heard as often as possible.
03. Being Proactive
“People who sit on their hands, waiting to get noticed, seldom do.” 2 Maybe you got a lot of publicity or a shiny new contract, but this does not mean you should sit back and wait for what happens next. Get your music out there as often and as creatively as you can.
04. Learning about the Business
“If you understand where the money comes from in the music business it will be much harder for people to take advantage of you…and they will try.”3 This is a rookie mistake that too many new artists make. It is so hard, and sometimes takes so long, to finally get in the same club as the big boys, that occasionally we get too excited. When this happens, important items can be overlooked. It can be easy to let someone you think means well handle all the work. However, if you do not understand what is going on around you, you may well find yourself getting left behind.
05. Connecting & Networking
“Major Record labels are successful with setting up promotion & marketing campaigns that turn average artists into superstars because they’re very good at getting people engaged and connected with the artists on a personal level and musical level.”4 The real marketing in today’s internet age is social media. The more you make yourself accessible by using websites like Twitter and Facebook, or playing local show, or making local appearances, forming street teams or maintaining a welcoming website – the more fans will find you.
06. Timing
Don’t give in to releasing a song before it’s ready. There is a huge rush to get the next single out there so it can become a Billboard hit as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, releasing a track prematurely may have exactly the opposite effect if the fans do not respond to it.
07. Quantity and Quality
It would be nice to say that it’s the quality of the music that matters. Sadly, there is a lot of quality music on the market that no one has ever heard. It can be difficult for fans to find your music in this huge selection of offerings. This is where quantity takes over. The more music you have available, the easier it will be to find you. And once they hear one song they like, they’ll begin to listen to the rest.
08. Being Professional
Just because you have ‘made it’ does not mean you get to be a cocky, arrogant pain in the rear. Treat the people who are working with you and for you with respect. Be on time. Be professional and polite. These people are around to help make you more successful.
09. Keeping the creativity in mind
It is so simple to get carried away with the perks of music success. The interviews, the red carpets, the screaming fans, and the best of everything. However, those who get lost in the outcomes of their success might not find their way back. Success is regenerated when an artist goes back to the drawing board and using all their mainstream musician secrets to make more successful music.
Source: En Derin
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FOOTNOTES:
1 – Ellis-Christensen, Tricia (Unknown). How Can I Make it in the Music Industry? wiseGeek.com. Accessed February 1, 2010. http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-make-it-in-the-music-industry.htm 2 – Ellis-Christensen, Tricia (Unknown). How Can I Make it in the Music Industry? wiseGeek.com. Accessed February 1, 2010. http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-make-it-in-the-music-industry.htm 3 – Goetz, Rick. (2009, September 1). How to make it in the music industry. Musician Coaching.com. Accessed February 1, 2010. http://musiciancoaching.com/music-business/how-to-make-it-in-the-music-industry/ 4 – Britt, Howard. (2010, February 1) How to Get Heard by Record Label A&Rs… and Get a Record Deal. Music Industry School. Accessed February 1, 2010. http://www.musicindustryschool.com/rlp/
Author: En Derin
[ By Steve in Abandoned Places, History & Factoids, Travel & Places. ]
Ghost ships are one of the most enduring legends of the sea, and tales of mysterious ships with missing crews have peppered the accounts of mariners both ancient and modern for hundreds of years. Some ghost ships exist in the realm of rumor, others are real but remain unexplained.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
(images via: Pentagram, Indraz and True/Slant)
English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge penned The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1798, where it anchors the dawning of the Romantic Era of literature. This epic poem centers on a wandering seaman, cursed by the Gods for shooting the albatross had guided his ship and crew out from the clutch of chill antarctic waters. It is from Coleridge’s magnum opus that the old maxim “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” originates.
(image via: Neosurrealismart)
After the Ancient Mariner is forced by his crew to wear the albatross he killed around his neck, his ship encounters a ghostly “skeleton ship” crewed by Death and Nightmare Life-in-Death. The two gamble with dice over the lives of the crew and captain; Death claims the crew while the Ancient Mariner is forced to wander the earth, telling his sorry tale to all he encounters. Kinda makes a three-hour cruise seem insignificant, hmm?
The Mary Celeste
(images via: Strangedaze666, Fantastic Fiction and HW.Keren)
One of the most famous actual ghost ships – “ghostly” at least – is the Mary Celeste. A 282-ton brigantine merchantman built in 1861, the Mary Celeste left New York City on November 5, 1872, on what would be her fateful final voyage. Exactly one month later, sailors on the Dei Gratia spied the Mary Celeste in the eastern Atlantic Ocean heading in the direction of the Strait of Gibraltar. Aside from several torn sails and a missing lifeboat, the ship was in relatively good condition… what it was without, was a captain and crew.
(image via: Cruel Kev)
To this day, the exact reason for the disappearance of the Mary Celeste’s compliment is unknown. Theories center on the cargo: 1,701 barrels of commercial alcohol of which 9 barrels were empty. Rumors that hot tea was found in the ship’s galley have been discounted though the Mary Celeste did have a full 6 months worth of food and water aboard when discovered.
Here’s a video showing a segment of a History Channel documentary on the Mary Celeste:
The Flying Dutchman
(images via: DeviantArt, Nourishing Obscurity and Raccun)
Though it sounds like a name a clipper ship might have, the Flying Dutchman is a colloquial contraction of a Dutch warship, or “man of war” in archaic terms. The story goes, a Dutch East India Company ship rounding the treacherous Cape of Good Hope encountered a severe sudden storm. Rather than head for safe harbor, the captain swore he would maintain his heading until Judgment Day, if necessary. The ship vanished into the storm, never to be seen again… or was it?
(image via: Neosurrealismart)
Many have claimed to see the Flying Dutchman, including the future King George V of England while aboard a Royal Navy ship off the coast of Australia in 1881. In describing the unexpected apparition, the young prince noted “A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the mast, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief.” Seeing the Flying Dutchman is not a good thing: according to sailor’s folklore, the appearance of the legendary clipper is an omen of impending doom.
The Carroll A. Deering
(images via: Bermuda-Triangle.org and Amazon UK)
Think mysterious ghost ships are exclusive to the 19th century? The Carol A. Deering begs to differ. On January 28, 1921, the Cape Lookout Lightship encountered the ship off the North Carolina coast. The large five-masted cargo schooner looked to be in rough shape and had lost both her anchors, according to one of the crewmembers who shouted this information to the lightship. Three days later, the Deering ran aground on Cape Hatteras’ Diamond Shoals with nary a soul aboard.
(image via: Tauy Creek)
Theories ranging from mutiny to piracy to the paranormal effects of the Bermuda Triangle have been put forth to explain the disappearance of the Carrol A. Deering’s captain and crew but almost 90 years later, the ship’s final days remain shrouded in mystery – as do the fate of the captain and crew, none of which were ever heard from again.
One-Eyed Willie’s Ship from The Goonies
(images via: TheFilms.org and Archshrk)
Ghost ships aren’t always mysterious or frightening – just ask The Goonies. One of the best-loved movies of the ’80s, The Goonies featured a group of kids who found an old treasure map and followed it into an amazing adventure full of crooks, treasure and pirates. Especially pirates such as One-Eyed Willie, who guarded his ship and his treasure long after he and his crew had walked the big plank in the sky.
(image via: IMDB)
The climactic scene in The Goonies involves the gang escaping from both the evil Fratellis and One-Eyed Willie’s subterranean, booby-trapped ship… which, thanks to the pirate captain’s ancient engineering, sails itself out into the ocean.
The Octavius
(images via: Gina’s Blogging and Neosurrealismart)
One of the oldest legendary ghost ships is the Octavius. The story goes, the Octavius was set to return to England with a cargo of trade goods from the Far East. The ship’s captain, motivated by greed, decided that the tried & true “round the Horn” route was far too long. His rudimentary maps revealed a more direct route – straight across the fabled Northwest Passage. The key word here is “fabled”.
(image via: TopTenz)
The Octavius wasn’t seen again until October 11th, 1775 when the Herald, and Atlantic whaling ship, came across the Octavius drifting off the coast of Greenland. Sailors from the Herald boarded the Octavius only to find the crew dead and the captain sitting at his desk… frozen solid. The captain was in the midst of writing an entry into the ship’s log dated 1762. Though the Octavius had accomplished the impossible by sailing the Northwest Passage, the captain’s desire for a speedy homecoming was, well, somewhat less successful.
The Baychimo
(images via: The Outlaws, EZine Articles and Mult-Kor)
The Baychimo may not be exactly ghostly but its staying power has been nothing short of supernatural. Built in Sweden in 1914 and boasting a steel hull, the Baychimo was perfectly suited for the iceberg studded arctic waters through which it plied its trade: re-supplying the Hudson Bay Company’s far-flung northern outposts. In 1931, however, the Baychimo’s luck ran out as the arctic icepack moved in, locking the hardy steamer in an icy grip. Fearing the ship would be crushed, the captain and crew abandoned her… but the Baychimo didn’t sink, it stayed afloat season in and season out – for decades.
(image via: Behance.net)
Sightings of the Baychimo were reported at various times and in various places over the years and the ship was even boarded several times in the 1930s. In March of 1962 it was seen drifting in open water along the Beaufort Sea coast and in 1969 it was spotted again, frozen in pack ice. No sightings have been reported since then, so perhaps the Baychimo has finally, as they say, given up the ghost.
Ghost Ship: The Movie
(images via: Esplatter and AllMoviePhoto)
Ghost Ship was a 2002 horror film starring Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies that doesn’t have much to recommend it besides its eerie premise and frightful opening scene (which will not be revealed here). The plot of Ghost Ship, in a nutshell, revolves around an Italian luxury ocean liner that mysteriously vanished in 1962 and, 40 years later, was rediscovered by a commercial salvage ship as it drifted aimlessly in the chilly Bering Sea.
(image via: Wallpapergate)
The Antonia Graza – the doomed liner in the film – nicely updates the traditional ghost ship mythos embodied by wood & canvas sailing ships like the Mary Celeste and the Octavius. If anything, the Graza’s rusted, cavernous bulk is more sinister than any creaking wood-hulled clipper could be.
Kaz II
(images via: Sail-World and Fourth Of ESO)
From ghost ships to the “ghost yacht” – the Kaz II, a 32-ft (9.8 m) catamaran, was discovered drifting 88 nautical miles (160 km) off the northeast coast of Australia on April 18th, 2007. No one was aboard and there were no indications of why the 3-man crew was missing, how they left, or where they might have gone. The mystery of the Kaz II has been compared to that of the Mary Celeste.
(images via: Magonia and Kaorulogia)
The story of the Kaz II doesn’t stop with the disappearance of the crew. When investigators boarded the yacht on April 20th they found the engines were running, a laptop computer was on and the crew’s midday meal had been laid out uneaten. The yacht carried its full complement of life jackets and a small emergency dingy was tied up near the stern. Commented Jon Hall of the Queensland Emergency Management office, “What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal; there was just no sign of the crew.”
The Black Pearl
(images via: CG-Society and Zorex)
Fans of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean film series are quite familiar with The Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow’s black-sailed pirate ship which was raised from the ocean depths by Davey Jones in return for Sparrow’s soul. For many, The Black Pearl is the archetypical ghost ship, usually seen shrouded in night mists and crewed by undead pirates cursed by their theft of gold coins from the Chest of Cortez.
(images via: Micechat, Martin Manley and DL4All)
The Black Pearl was said to be “The only ship as what can outrun the Flying Dutchman”, thus linking it to the long and storied history of the world’s most legendary ghost ships. The film series’ producers also called up other longstanding legends of the sea, such as the monstrous Kraken that swallows Jack Sparrow and sinks The Black Pearl at the climax of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
(image via: Taholtorf)
Will there be more ghost ships, either in fact or fiction? Undoubtedly – the nature of ocean travel hasn’t changed much though the ships have, and both writers and film-makers know the value of a good scary story… especially one anchored in reality.
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[ WebUrbanist - By Steve in Abandoned Places, History & Factoids, Travel & Places. ]
[ By Steph in Green Technologies, Technology & Futurism, Travel & Places, Urbanism. ]
(image via: Julie_Berlin)
There are certain things that most of us take for granted – like well-lit streets. But leaving street lights blazing at all hours of the night, even in towns that don’t see much foot traffic, doesn’t always make ecological and financial sense. A handful of German towns are trying a rather unconventional solution – a program called Dial4Light, which requires users to activate lights with their mobile phones.
The small town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz first decided to turn off the lights altogether as a cost cutting measure, but residents weren’t too happy about having no choice but to stumble down pitch black streets. Enter the wonders of modern technology. With the Dial4Light program, pedestrians can activate the streetlights with a simple phone call.
(image via: Dial4Light)
Streetlights in each participating town are grouped into zones, each of which have an assigned six-digit code. To turn on the lights in that zone for a short duration (usually 15 minutes), users simply dial the Dial4Light number and enter the code.
“The technology is unique, easy to use, and you do not really need to install new equipment,” creator Dieter Grote, an advertising exec, told the BBC.
“The principle is that you use street lighting the same way you use your lights at home. That you switch on the light in the hallway when you get home, and switch it off when you get to the living room.”
(image via: The Star)
In most of the towns where the program has been implemented, users will pay no more than the cost of the phone call to illuminate their route. However, some towns have begun to charge for the energy used by the lights. Users of the program must also either know the codes for each zone ahead of time, or find the numbers posted on each streetlight within a given zone – a task made difficult by the absence of light. And without a cell phone, pedestrians are left in the dark.
Though the program has its drawbacks, and wouldn’t be suited for urban areas with lots of foot traffic, it certainly saves both energy and money. The rural town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkran, population 900, reportedly saves about $5300 per year. The slightly larger community of Dörentrup expects to save $14,000 annually.
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[ WebUrbanist - By Steph in Green Technologies, Technology & Futurism, Travel & Places, Urbanism. ]
