He Knew All The Words

My company recently launched a new website for photographer Nancy Ellison, designed and edited by yours truly. It’s an HTML5 site (none of the animations are Flash) — so it works on iPads as well as desktop computers. And if you turn the iPad vertical you get an app-like full-screen slideshow of all the images that you simply swipe through. It’s pretty cool.

I don’t blog about my day-job often, but today we finally updated the portfolio on our website. When I take a look at the body of our recent work all together I have to say I’m pretty proud of what we’ve been up to lately. If you’re curious check out the portfolio here. In the meantime, here are a few highlights:

New design for the information-rich website of Galerie St. Etienne, a prominent 57th Street gallery. My contribution to the project was a completely re-thought editorial structure for the site:

Catalog for MoMA’s fascinating survey of drawing through the 20th century. The cover has an unexpected rhythm, and I wish this picture showed the spine — which just has a simple line right down the middle:

Catalog for The Morgan Library & Museum on the art collection of Kasper — the fashion designer and bon vivant (and personal friend of mine). Michelle made two different jackets to show off the dual nature of the collection — drawing and photography:

Catalog for L&M Arts’ show comparing the work of Calder and Tanguy. Mark’s typography and use of color in this book is about the best our studio has ever produced:

Don’t you love it when your friends better themselves? Laura went to summer school and learned how to build websites. She’s officially launched her own portfolio site, which is — needless to say — perfection. You’ll be amazed by the amount of wonderful work she’s done over the years. Go check it out!

In addition to helping noted artist Mark Fox get his shiny new site up and running, there are a whole slew of other sites that have been intriguing me lately. Part bookmark for myself, part desire to share with you dear readers, here’s a simple list of where I’ve been and where you’re going…

First a few new additions to the links at the right which I haven’t ever made mention of:
– Information is Beautiful is site that compiles infographics from all over the place. And yes, it actually is beautiful.
– Similar information, of a more personal nature, can be graphed by anyone at the very cool site called Daytum. I’ve set up my page to graph four important measures of my life: days lived in New York v. days lived in Ohio; transportation method of my commute; cocktails imbibed; and what percentage of my Facebook status updates are my own v. those I steal from others. It’s interesting to learn that Manhattans do indeed make up 75% of my cocktail intake (expect this to shift toward martinis and negronis as the weather warms up). The graphs are also providing me with some goal-oriented feedback. I’ve always been longing for the day when my New York residency eclipses my Ohio residency (I think New York will take the 50% mark on December 8, 2015). And on the commuting front, I’d like to get the subway slice of the pie down to below the 50% mark, with biking and walking combining to take the lead. We’ll see over time.
– Check out my new friend Kenji’s movie reviews on his blog, My Life, at 24 Frames Per Second. He’s a terrific writer and a nice guy. We met through Twitter and have gone to a few movies together, with more planned.
– If you like smart pictures, good light, and a healthy natural curiosity, you’ll want to see my friend Scott’s pictures, over at, yes, Scott Likes Pictures. (He’s not in Spain and it’s not in Spanish, despite the .es URL!). I especially love his “from below” pix and the “words on photos” series, but the whole thing is worth a look.

Elsewhere on the web:
– More photography: 500 Photographers sound like a nice project. It’s just getting rolling and will be interesting to follow over the course of 100 weeks.
– I Wrote This For You uses photography, but it’s really a poetry site. It’s mysterious and strange, a bit dark and oddly warm. Go back to the beginning and go entry-to-entry. You’ll get sucked in and spend hours reading the cryptic, emotional messages.
– Speaking of poetry, have I sent you here before?
– Why marriage equality needs to be the law of the land.
– For a good time, spend a few hours lost in a wondrous architecture archive.
– I love New York, and and I love the way Paul Sahner loves New York.
– The Catherine of Cleves exhibition at the Morgan is outstanding.
– You all have heard about ChatRoulette by now, right? (Just in case: It’s a randomized video chat website, hooking you up via your webcam to all kinds of weirdos all over the world). Here’s a wonderful video of a talented dude singing about and to those he chats with.
– Finally, have you seen the two videos for Ok Go’s “This Two Shall Pass”? First came the live version:

Then came the Rube Goldberg version:

I’ve spent a bit more time recently working on Mark Fox‘s new website than I have writing posts for this one. Sorry about that, but it needed to get done. Mark’s got a few new things going on that you all should know about.

First of all, the new Mark Fox Studio site is a simple and straightforward portfolio, but it allows him to have a bit more of an expansive web presence than just being one in the stable of his gallery, Larissa Goldston Gallery. Lots of nice pictures to look at, so please do.

But the bigger news is that Mark’s art is featured on the cover of the forthcoming new album by The National. If you don’t know the National yet, I have a feeling you will soon. They’re a terrific, moody, melodic, intense band. The new album, High Violet, is their fifth, and if the first single (Bloodbuzz Ohio, which also features Mark’s artwork) is any indication, it’s going to be really great.

So the National album comes out May 12 — the same week that Mark’s new solo show opens at Larissa Goldston. Hopefully, the combination of the band’s talent and Mark’s talent will create something special for both of them. In the meantime, go take a look at Mark’s site and let me know what you think.

The arguments and strategies concerning health care reform are moving quick. Every few hours there are new articles, and lots of interesting stuff is out there. Here’s some of what’s caught my eye today:

1. The progressive netroots have been trying for a good while to get progressive House members to pledge to vote against any reform legislation that does not include the public option. It seems to be the only way we’re gonna get the White House’s attention. Jane Hamsher of the blog FireDogLake has been one of the leaders of this progressive push. She has a somewhat positive update on Huffington Post today.

2. Howard Dean was on Joe Scarborough’s show this morning. He’s trying to tell us about a grand scheme to pass the bill in the Senate without the public option and then reconcile it with the House bill that will have the public option. If that happens, the reconciled bill cannot be filibustered and can therefore pass with 51 votes instead of 60. I love Dean, but I have no confidence that this plan is actually afoot. What may be happening, of course, is that Dean is trying to get people to believe in this process and force Congress’s hand. It does work hand-in-hand with Jane Hamsher’s approach above (see #1). So perhaps the good Doctor is doing his own subtle connecting-of-the-dots.

3. Say what you want about Nancy Pelosi and House Dems — and believe me, I’ve got some sharp-tongued words for her on plenty of issues — but so far the House is toeing the line on the Public Option. Today we have Pelosi offering a statement regurgitating some of Obama’s own language and standing strong. I wish she would go one step farther and say the House will not approve of a reform bill without the public option, but perhaps that should wait for the reconciliation endgame. Sounds like Dean, Pelosi, and Hamsher have all been talking to each other, no?

4. Finally, the blog Docudharma has a great post reminding what’s really at stake with the public option. If we allow a reform bill to go through with mandates (a requirement that individuals have insurance) but without a public option, then it’s basically forcing 47 million people into becoming paying customers of the already corrupt insurance system. All to the insurers’ profit.

5. How awesome is it that my dad is forwarding me link to videos on blogs like Crooks & Liars? Too awesome. He and I agree that the media is a BIG part of the problem right now. Take a look as Bill Moyers discusses this issue with Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Drew Altman. Calm, cool, and thought-provoking.

6. Money talks. This is all you have to know:

7. I don’t know if you saw the asinine op-ed by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in the Wall Street, but it was a stupid piece of shit (with an epigram of no one less than Margaret Thatcher!). His anti-union positions have bugged me for years, but this just made me commit to abandoning his stores for good. The best take-down of it is this terrific analysis by Ezra Klein in the Washington Post. He compares our food program (welfare & food stamps) to our proposed health care reform — and suggests Mackey stop being such an elitist. Smart.

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been updating the links in my blogroll to include some new blogs and sites that I like to check in with regularly. All the links in the “Others” department to the right are worth checking out every now and then, but these are the three that I’d love you to see right away…

Do go take a look at Jessica Fenlon’s new video on the homepage of her site drawclose. She’s doing something she calls “datamoshing,” which is taking the messiness of data compressions — known as data artifacts (or artefacts), you know, those weird effects you see in digital video that’s been compressed wrongly — and creating something new from them. Of course, Fenlon’s just doing what she always does: taking the ugliness of the world, filtering it through her unique vision, and feeding it back to us as something beautiful.

A new find for me is And I’m Not Lying, the blog of storyteller Jeff Simmermon. No only is he a very smart and funny observer of life and New York City (and life in New York City) but he’s also been telling his story of fighting testicular cancer, which he does with grace, humor, and touching insight. Go back a few pages into his archive and read forward. It’s very worth the time.

Indexed is the brainchild of Jessica Hagy. She takes the whole world and sorts it out for us in very witty, mathematical charts and diagrams. It’s like math nerd heaven, but you don’t actually have to be a math nerd to enjoy it. Go there every weekday morning for a laugh or an “ah-ha” moment.

My Ohio peeps might get a kick out of this….

A few more links to add to yesterday’s entry:

For a good dose of some serious–and yet understandable–discussion of economics, you can do a lot worse than checking in daily with Nouriel Roubini. A serious mind, but not an “Important Person”–i.e. he’s the real deal but keeps his media appearances tight and to the point. But be warned: He is not predicting a quick turnaround. Unfortunately, he’s been right so far.

Do you know anyone who works in the investment industry? Do you know anyone who works in the restaurant industry? Well, if you’re concerned about your banker friends and their diminished status in today’s social economy, I wouldn’t worry about them too much. After all, their salaries likely increased by 97% from 1992 to 2007, while our poor friends–and by poor I mean poverty-level–who work in the restaurant industry saw their salaries increase by, um, 2%.

Finally, do you ever go to Flickr and just type some random word in the search file. It’s always totally bizarre. Try slap or wow or shhh and you can see lots of interesting pictures, like this (“slap”) or this (“wow”) or this (“shhh”).

• New Willie Nelson album–Willie and the Wheel–has ol’ Willie doing old-time Texas Swing with the band Asleep at the Wheel. It’s wonderful.

• If you want to see what a solid progressive solution to the economic crisis looks like, start here. James Galbraith is thinking big. Really big. Here’s one key quote that shows that this article is calling for deep, lasting change–not a restoration of the economy to its pre-crash staus: “No one should imagine that the swaggering, bank-driven world of high finance and credit bubbles should be made to reappear.” The plan put forward in this article will never happen, but it should.

• Some progress is being made at the World Trade Center. ‘Bout time.

• Fiona Carswell is fascinating. She is an artist/designer in San Francisco and New York. Check out her highly conceptual projects, like a bikini that shows its own malignant moles after it’s exposed to the sun. Hat tip to Apartment Therapy for pointing Carswell out to me.

• I’m looking for a mirror for above my mantle. My god they’re expensive. In my internet-based mirror hunting, I found this amazing vendor–The Mirror Lady–who has about 20 different mirrors I love. I’ve got my eye on this one, but the price is a bit much for me in my newfangled domestic mode. We’ll see….

• Adrienne turned me on to this food blog–Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude–which I think is terrific. Wry and funny and sweet.

Have you seen the new Beyoncé video for Diva? I gotta have some sunglasses like that!

• And finally, I am still extremely pleased that the adults are back in charge of the government:

Look, don’t be coming around here every day expecting brilliance. That only comes every once in a while. Meanwhile, look how much good stuff is all over the web:

Here’s the video for Morrissey’s new single, I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris. So am I, Morrissey, so am I. I’ll be writing about his new CD soon, but let me say here and now that I think he’s in great voice lately.

New Yorkers who need some stylin’ furniture–like, um, me–need to bookmark Sit and Read Furniture. I met one of the proprietors of this little vintage design piece outfit when I hired him to move some chairs for me. His man-with-a-van act is cute and all, but it’s the furniture dealing that turned out to be the real find. I’m holding out for a Danish modern chair for my living room–so if you see one on the site before I do, don’t even think about buying it.

And for everyone who’s interested in urban home decor, I’ve found Apartment Therapy extremely useful as I’ve tried to make my humble little apartment into a home. It’s based around NYC, LA, SF, and Chicago–but anyone looking for interesting dwelling ideas will find much to read and look at here.

Oh shit, only 86 days till The Five-Borough Bike Tour! I’m already registered for the 42-mile ride. Guess I better start losing some of this winter weight, huh?

I don’t have a TV. I don’t need one. You can’t imagine how much stuff is out there on the web–like whole seasons of South Park, lots of TV and movies at Joost and Hulu. For the intellectuals among us there are all the great lectures at TED, and then there’s user-generated content over at Current. And for all you indie music lovers–check out Take-Away Shows for intimate performances by some truly amazing musicians.

Finally, for those of you with iPhones or iPod touches, I’ve found The Manual for the United States of America to be the single-most useful and fascinating application I’ve yet installed. I’ve got the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Lists of Presidents, States, Supreme Court Justices and lots lots lots lots more in my pocket at all times. Let’s face it–we live in a scary world. If there’s a sudden knock on the door, having the Constitution in your pocket might be handy.

I, David Zaza, being of totally unsound mind, do hereby resolve to update this blog at least once every single day from today, Tuesday, January 27 through Monday, February 23, 2009. Four solid weeks of updates. Now, I make no promise as to the length or quality of these alleged posts, but given the sheer quantity involved I’d say that at least some of them are bound to hold your interest for at least the time it takes your mind to wander back to the news, your sex life, politics, sports, your friends’ new baby, President Obama, the damn TV, your upcoming vacation, or the new Cavafy poem in The New Yorker.

So there. 1 day down. 27 to go.