ion » Collections

Take Note.

Todd — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:24:21 +0000

My latest obsession is my Moleskine notebook. Though I’ve kept a journal for work, it’s been so long since I used a sketchbook that I look forward to filling it.

The favorite of artists and thinkers for over a century, the legendary book was produced by a family-owned French press until 1986. Revived by a Milanese publisher in 1997, the nameless book was branded as “Moleskine” after the name given to them in the fictional work of Bruce Chatwin.

Insert Assortment.

Todd — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:45:10 +0000

Found this collection of cassette inserts on Flckr.

Search Life.

Todd — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:04:31 +0000

LIFE and Google have made ninety-seven percent of the Life Magazine’s photo collection, which stretches from 1860 to today, available online.

Hero H.S.

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:22:08 +0000

A lot of families moved to the Bronx just to get their sons into DeWitt Clinton High, an all-boys school, with tough entrance requirements. It was the most competitive school in the city, and it turned out a staggering number of successful intellectuals and artists….. Bronx Kids came of age with armor on their feelings and razors in their brains. They rode the trains south to Manhattan hot with expectations. When the comic book burst suddenly upon New York, they were ready to make it their own. - Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones.

I went to DeWitt Clinton and as with any proud alumnus, when the opportunity arises to brag about your school, you do. Notably, this year’s top grossing box office hits, Dark Knight and Iron Man were based on characters created by DeWitt Clinton alumni, Robert Kahn (Bob Kane) and Stanley Lieber (Stan Lee).

Like most of the guys I know who work in creative industries, comics have had a major influence on me. It’s where we learned of story arcs, analogy, symbolism, science fiction, mythology and words such as equinox, endeavor, invulnerable and intangible. Developing characters names, origins and costumes was for many creatives their first foray into the process of research, writing, drawing and design.

Check out some of the comics I collected in high school as well as these two issues of an annual comic created by my peers at Clinton.

Readymade.

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:00:50 +0000

As a collector of ephemera, one finds beauty in the everyday.

Analogged.

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:00:42 +0000

While we wait to see if Muxtape will ever reboot, I’d like share a few other cassette tape-related sites with you.

With their collection of audio tape cassettes, Tapedeck.org will take you back to the time when deciding on which blank tape to use was the first step in creating your mixtape. My favorite was the TDK SA-X 90.

To create your own version of the classic cassette tape cover use Says-it.com’s cassette tape generator.

If you want an Old School feel with 64 megs check out SuckUK’s cassette package USB Stick.

To convert your old mixtapes as well as all those Ready for the World, Rippingtons and Take 6 cassettes you’ve holding on to for all these years, Ion Audio (nice name) offers a series of products to help convert your analog collections to digital. With their Tape 2 PC deck you can import from cassette to mp3s and with their LP to CDR turntable you can burn direct to CD from vinyl.

The Message.

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:07:42 +0000

In the early days of Hip Hop, the flyer was the way to get the word out about the next jam. The most memorable were designed by Phase 2 and Buddy Esquire. These flyers incorporated Art Deco inspired ornamentation, cut out photos and transfer lettering.

I recently found four I’d saved from back in the day. If you want to check out more, the guys at Toledo Hip Hip have over one hundred.