25 Great Tikis!

I love Polynesian pop, flickr is a great resource to find great pictures of tiki and Maoi statuary, mugs and all things idolatrous. You’ll find both the sacred and the profane, and being an equal opportunity idolator I love it all. Here is a curated list of 25 great Polynesian pop idols.

If you’ve gotten this far in the post I thought I’d give you a final bonus, a final tiki image, this one is my own, sadly. One of my tiki’s fell from my desk. The twilight of the idols!

The Alii Lounge

I while back I started another blog. The Alii Lounge. It’s a tumblr blog about all things Polynesian Pop, Ultra-lounge, mid-century modern and tiki.  Alii is the Hawaiian for royalty, and if you visit my site you’ll be treated like a king or queen for I only share only the finest Tiki links.

Visit The Alii Lounge

Digital Ephemera for Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Another Wednes­day has rolled around, so here’s my weekly col­lec­tion of inter­est­ing dig­i­tal ephemera I’ve found pok­ing around the vast Inter­net waste­land. Think of me as your guide through the eclec­tic dig­i­tal desert…

Today’s Menu

• Art & Design
• Motion Graphics & Video
• Marketing
• Social Media
• Something Cool
• Something Strange
• Something Terrible
• Three Sites Worth Checking Out

Art & Design

Heather M. David’s Flickr Photostream.

If you are interested in mid-century modern design, Polynesian Pop or Googie. Do your self a favor and check out Heather M. David‘s flickr photostream. You will be treated to a cornucopia of mid-century ephemera including match book covers, gift wrap designs, signs and much more. It is really a treasure.

Nancy Duarte Interview

Check out this great interview with Presentation Designer extraordinaire, Nancy Duarte. She has a lot of great insights about communication, design and the presentation of information. I first learned about Ms. Duarte from reading the classic book Presentation Zen and blog by Garr Renyolds. If you haven’t listened to Duarte’s TED talk or read Garr’s book, you simply must, right now, I’m serious! My favorite line from the interview:

Most designers aren’t strong communicators. The investment in communications would help the entire design community. Many time the shy designers have the strongest concepts but don’t have the skills to explain their thought process.” – Nancy Duarte.

The perfect word when you don’t know what else to say!
Best.Graffiti. Ever. via Juxtapoz Magazine

Motion Graphics & Video

Retro School Videos
This is a really great site, it collects various mid-century educational films for your viewing pleasure. As they promote themselves on their website, “A free and fun way to support your classroom or homeschool curriculum using time-proven Educational Films, Newsreels, TV Shows,  PSAs, and Movies from the past.”

The only bummer about the site is it doesn’t allow you to embed the videos from their site. But since the films are in the public domain, it is easy to track them down on YouTube or Archive.org. Like I did for the following hilarious film, Law and Social Controls: Morals, Laws and Conformity in Parenting Theory Video (1949)

Bob
This is a great animation, very funny and clever. Make sure you watch the credits!

BOB from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing for the Digital Age: I Want To Draw A Cat For You
I read this great article on about the site “I Want to Draw a Cat for You” and  am amazed. Basically, for $9 Chicago-based comedian Steve Gadlin will draw a stick figure cat for you. Seriously, that’s it. Surprisingly it’s been fairly successful, recently Gadlin partnered with Groupon and sold 1,000 drawings in a single day.

The markeing video is clever for sure but, more importantly there is an interesting lesson to be learned in this case study. This example shows that non-traditional marketing channels can be used to launch a successful project, even if it is of dubious artistic merit. If you have a powerful and clever video or website that people will share with their social media networks and you can combine it with the rising power of coupon sites like Groupon then you have a great low-cost strategy for success.

via freelanceswitch.com

Social Media

Virtual Vandalism!

A new app that allows you to take a picture of a building, virtually vandalize it then share it! Pretty clever and property owners everywhere thank you!

Something Cool

Behind the Scenes: The Life and Death of Stars with Sean Austin and Sandeep Parikh.
Pretty funny video from the Spitzer Science Telescope.

Something Strange

Turkey Chases News Producer.
I am sure this has to have been featured on some “fail” type of site at one point or another.

Something Terrible

Splash Mountain Rap
In the late 80′s and early 90′s Rap Music hit the mainstream, so naturally marketers tried to capture the latest youth craze to promote their products to the youth of America. Just as naturally their ham-fisted approach created something very, very bad. So in that vein, I present to you, the Splash Mountain Rap.

Three Sites Worth Checking Out

• Lynda.com The best internet based video training site for learning graphic design software.
• bufferapp.com A handy site that let’s you set up a schedule for sending out tweets.
• shorpy.com Cool historical photo archive (though the actual images originally came from the US National Archives)

Iced Moais!

Just a quick post today in honor of the last gasp of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

I was fixing a glass of ice water today and I was preparing it using my favorite ice cubes, or rather ice Moai’s. Moai’s, you know, the colossal and mysterious statues that adorn the far away island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). By using these cool (ha!) trays I can create diminutive iced idols any time I need a cool refreshing idolatrous drink. When I pulled the iced idols of the deep freeze I knew I had to share their crystalline beauty. So, I set up the Moais on my deck creating my own personal, if temporary, abu (altar or platform) and took a few pictures to share with my tiki loving friends.

As I watched them melt, it seemed an appropriate send off to summer. Because, I know that having an iced drink will soon be a thing of the past, as the leaves turn golden and October rolls around. However, for my lucky friends in the southern hemisphere, it’s time to dust off your favorite ice trays and get ready!

Digital Ephemera

Another Wednesday has rolled around, so here’s my weekly collection of interesting digital ephemera I’ve found poking around the vast Internet wasteland. Think of me as your guide beyond the digital desert…

Art, Design and Retro Items of Note

New Shag Tiki Print
This new print from the great Josh Agle or  Shag, mythologizes the great long lost Polynesian Pop Palace, the Kahiki Supper Club.

Useful Illustrator Typography Tips from Smashing Magazine
File under: good to know. | Link

30+ Informative Typography Related Blogs
A nice round up of some good blogs that are just your type. HA! | Link

World’s fair of the 1930’s
A nice look back at some of the World’s Fairs in the 1930′s. Includes some of the lesser known fairs. | Link

Movie Posters Animated into Neon Signs By Mr. Whaite
Now these are just cool! | Link

Great Design Freebie
An Elegant Login Form for Photoshop | Link

Star Wars Retold in Pictograms
The Force is strong with these minimalist masterpieces from someone who goes by the handle kisia. | Link

Film, Video and Motion Graphics

Star Wars Begins by Jamie Benning
Continuing with the Star Wars theme, Filmmaker Jamie Benning has created an amazing unofficial commentary video with footage and  interviews about the Star Wars films. Too bad the commentaries on the official discs weren’t one parsec as good as these. For the true Star Wars fan! | Link

Manhattan 4.33pm from Lizzie Oxby on Vimeo.

NY Pinball
A cool short film using New York City as a back drop for a huge pinball game. Now that’s a great use of after effects! | Link

Finally, Something So Bad, It’s Good!

Mr T’s Be Somebody’s Be Somebody or Be Somebody’s Fool
A classic self 80′s kids self help video from none other than the incomparable Mr. T.  Link Please note that some of rap lyrics in the video are credited to the Rhyme Syndicate Boss, Ice-T. Also in an iconic twist you’ll get to see The New Edition with Bobby Brown sing about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. A must see for any pop-culturalist!

Josh Angle, the Hula Hula and the Disney Cruise Line

This Friday I sang Karoke at the greatly decorated, yet poorly executed tiki bar (way to much of a meat market for my tastes, the tiki vibe is totally lost in the testosterone) the Hula Hula in Seattle. I saw an amazing SHAG drawing on the wall and it made me want to find more SHAG interviews on YouTube. This is a good one I found about the prints he did for the new Disney Cruise Line. Enjoy!

Twilight of the Idols

Design Something Every Day 30/365

Very sad news. The custodian at my work was dusting and “accidentally” knocked over on of my many Tikis. Traumatic to say the least. Hope he doesn’t plan any surfing any time soon or he’ll find out, just like Greg Brady (see Season 4 Episode 1), what happens when you mess with might Ku. Or watch below:

Digital Ephemera

A few interesting bits of digital ephemera I’ve found on the information super highway in the last week.

Mid-century Modern & Tiki

• Paul Malon’s Flickr Stream, an amazing collection of mid-century ephemera, you simply MUST check this flickr photostream if you have any interest in the 1950′s.
• Summer’s officially over, however this is good advice on Tiki Torch Safety.
• Great posters from the 1950′s. Good inspiration for designers or fans of the 1950′s from the great design inspiration site Daily Inspiration. Posters: Part 1 Posters: Part 2

Good Design resources, tips and tricks

• Lifting a logo from a PDF via David Airey‘s other great blog Logo Design Love.
• HTML 5: What Designers need to know
• An important read, Typography Field Guide. Also from logo making master David Airey.

Design contests

• Pantone and Behance have a competition finding the best use of color in a design project.
• 125 video shortlist announced today for YouTube Play

Infographics

• A cool poster: Grand Taxonomy of Rap Names

Freebies

• Some great retro-inspired labels from Designer Cathe Holden’s great blog Just Something I Made.
• Cool 70′s inspired vector graphic from Allonzo Inc.
• Just in time for Halloween, a great collection of blood splatter brushes for Photoshop

Illustration

• One of my favorite illustration blogs Urban Sketchers. Loads of inspirations and great sketches from artists around the world.
• Ireland based artist and designer Jennifer Farley’s illustrations are simply amazing. I can’t wait to read her (hopefully) forthcoming children’s  book. Some publisher needs to jump on her book.

If you have any cool design, art, tiki or mid-century links or thoughts let me know. Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Design Something Everyday: Day 5: Bali Hai

I’ve been working on stuff everyday, but I haven’t been posting daily, so I’ve got a bunch of stuff to put up.

The first of these is a digital doodle of a song from the wonderful 1949 Rogers and Hammerstein play South Pacific, Bali Hai. I was inspired by the production I saw last weekend at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre. Of course, I was familiar with the song and the play mostly through the 1958 film version, but seeing it live was a thrill. Bali Hai is a mythical and mystical island that represents an unattainable paradise. That image of a hazy double volcano island has formed a core of the Tiki and Polynesian Pop mythos.

The song is a classic in American Musical theater, and for me the best part is very influential in the world of Tiki and P0lynesian Pop Culture. Below you can see the wonderful scene and listen to the song Bali Hai from the 1958 film, do you hear it? It calls to you..

Tools: Adobe Illustrator

Links:

• Bali Hai: Mythical and mystical island, if you listen it will call to you…
• 5th Avenue Theatre
• Rogers & Hammerstein
• South Pacific (1958 film)
• Tales of the South Pacific, the 1946 Pulitzer Prize winning  book by James Michener, source for the film and musical productions.

Design Something Every Day: Day 4: Russell: Finder of Lost Idols

Day 4 brings me back to one of my favorite muses, Survivor of course. Here’s a little sort of vintage styled poster highlighting the arch villain from the TV franchise, Russell Hantz, better known to fans as Evil Russell. In the show he had a knack for finding idols, which would keep him from being kicked out of the game. That explains the tiki idol in the poster. Since he was considered evil, the stylized flames seem appropriate.

Evil Russell

Tools: Adobe Illustrator
Links: Russell Got Screwed, a site defending the honor of this often maligned cast away.