2009 - The Year in Review

If your anything like me your a fan of lists and end of the year/top 10 lists in particular.

My love of end of the year lists started a couple years back when a few of my favorite designers over at Invisible Creature (formerly of Asterik Studio) would post their favorite albums of the year, every year.

My categorization curiosity has continued to evolve due largely to the fact that one of my co-workers, Scott Shipley, assigns nearly every album movie or show he consumes to a seemingly endless running list in his head comprised of top of the year and top of the decade categories. He claims to be comprising a Top 500 Albums of the decade list but we have yet to see anything come to fruition but I can assure that Outkast and Nas will make the cut.

This year is the first time that I have actually created a list of my own and it was every bit as fun as I thought it would be. I probably could have spent more time contemplating my entries but I tried to go with my first reactions for sincerity's sake. The entries are in no particular order so there is really no number 1 album or movie just a top however many.

I hope this will inspire others to create their own top whatever lists so I can read thru them and see what kind of stuff my friends and acquaintances are into. Happy listing.

Top 10 Albums
Thrice - Beggars
Blakroc - Blakroc
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
The Decemberists - Hazards of Love
The XX - The XX
He Is Legend - It Hates You
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus
Brand New - Daisy
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
The Dead Weather - Horehound

Top 10 Songs
Thrice - Beggars
Thrice - Helter Skelter cover
Brand New - Bought a Bride
Conor Oberst and the MVB - I Got the Reason #2
Monsters of Folk - Whole Lotta Losin'
Every Time I Die - The Sweet Life
He Is Legend - Mean Shadows
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home
The Dead Weather - 60 Feet Tall
Blakroc - Ain't Nothing Like You

Top 5 Films (Haven't seen enough to constitute a top 10 list)
Zombieland
District 9
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
UP!
Inglorious Bastards

Top 5 Shows (There are only so many you can keep up with)
Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Fringe
30 Rock
The Office
Lost


Top 10 Websites to Frequent
Kitsune Noir
A Time to Get
FFFFOUND
For Print Only
Huffington Post
Digg
Design Sponge
The Art of Manliness
Pitchfork
Thrice

Top 10 Highlights
Getting hired on at Fender Guitars and having rad co-workers
Buying a home in Coronado Historical District
Starting FightforFeuille.com and helping a friend
Finding out that I will have a niece in 2010
My wife graduating from the Aveda Institute
Phoenix Design Week and all that came with it
My good friend graduating with his BFA (Good work Beardagon)
Being asked to contribute to a design book (coming in 2010)
Having two good friends move into my guest house
Being a part of the Praxis Creative Team and making some great friends in the process

Tomorrow

Is my last day as an employee of GoDaddy.com and it comes with a bitter sweet flavor. I couldn't have been happier with my first post graduation job and could have seen myself there for a few more years. I made some great friends and learned a lot from the very talented people I was lucky enough to work along side.

As sad as I am to leave I am also very excited to begin my new position at Fender Musical Instruments Incorporated as a graphic designer. I'm still trying to figure out how I beat hundreds of other applicants and landed what I myself and I'm sure several other design nerds would consider a dream job. I guess my fascination with and previous work involving music and musical instruments played to my favor in this scenario. I guess it's like a guy named N. Dynamite once said "follow your hear, thats what I do". I debated showing up on my first day wearing a Gibson Guitars shirt but maybe I should give everyone a chance to get and know my sarcastic personality before I start in with all that

It has Arrived!

After a long wait and much anticipation I finally got my bike. The bike I recieved as a trade with an awesome guy named Garrett who wanted some work done for his website azfixed.com.

I went in to the deal thinking I was just gonna be getting an average run of the mill bike that would be functional but not necessarily something to be particularly proud of. However I was pleasantly surprised by not only how cool Garrett was but also how set he was on getting me exactly what I wanted. He scored an 08 limited edition Specialized Langster frame and fork numbered 005 from the factory. From there Garrett let me pick and choose what ever parts I wished to add to the bike and even gave it a custom paint job of my choosing while adding his own flavor into it as well.

The finished product is as you can see, a thing of great beauty. The bike came out better than I could have imagined and I'm thrilled with the way it rides and looks. Heres to my new favorite toy and photo subject!

Back at the freelance

Health Synergy, originally uploaded by jOn aShcRofT???.

A recent logo project I've been working on for an accupunture office. I gave them three concepts and this is the curve ball piece i threw in. I doubt it will be chosen over the other two seeing as they were more in line with what they were after, but it's my personal favorite.

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine, originally uploaded by jOn aShcRofT???.

I had been following rumors of a new EOS boasting a 15 megapixel image sensor to be released sometime at the end of summer and chomped at the bit over the mere thought of it. It was originally speculated that this mystery camera would be the EOS 5D MkII and boast a full frame sensor but sadly that is not the case. The EOS 50D does have several other amazing features and on the bright side can be had for about half of what a 5D can. Now I just need a few extra grand and I will have one!

To the limit

Maybe its that I've been watching the Olympics lately, maybe its that I've been inspired by Dusty, maybe it's that I'm tired of being Lethargic or maybe it's just my love of training montages like those I watched in Jean Claude Van Damm movies as a kid and the wonderful gem featured below. All i know is that of late, I have the desire to train for something. What that is, I don't know and it doesn't really matter. I just want to push my self physically and I think it will help if I have a goal in mind while doing so.

First Day!

My first day of work is tomorrow. Its only orientation but I'm still gonna be totally lame and lay out my clothes like you use to do for your first day of school. Come on you know you did it too!

Fixie frenzy

My YANAGISAWA, originally uploaded by nb log.

I can't exactly explain why but every once in awhile I find something that I want to be a part of so bad that it hurts and that I feel I should have been doing for years. This happened to me recently when I read an article in the PHX New Times about the increasing popularity of fixed gear bikes and the culture surrounding them. The article was centered around "alley cat" races held in the city that involve scrambling across intersections to grab your bike, darting through traffic and finding the best possible route through the city to multiple checkpoints. How awesome does that sound? I've also always been drawn to the simplicity and beauty of road bikes, particularly early and vintage models that don't have all the bells and whistles of newfangled modern technology. I've been a fixie fan for sometime I guess, I just didn't know it.