Radiohead dallas review

<-- I will be posting pictures from the concert tonight but wanted to quickly share some of my thoughts and experiences from the show. -->

My first experience with the show started with all the traffic that my wife and I had to wait in before we could park the car. But the Sunday weather was perfect for a concert where the grass was our seat. While in the process of parking I let a burst of frustration spill over on my wife, almost ruining the good mood. But knowing when to apologize is something very valuable in a marriage.

From the car to the front gate a buzz was in the air, and not just from the music. People were still drinking out in the parking lot, scalpers were trying to sell expensive tickets, and what's that funny smell in the air? Our tickets were scanned and BAM we are in. Making our way to the lawn to pick out our position for the night was my first priority. I scurried hastily to mark my territory while I still could, but the lawn was already flooded with arms and legs and whatever else people decided to bring.

The opening band, The Liars, were nothing to speak of. Maybe their music is good, I've never had a listen, but my anticipation for Radiohead drowned them out. While waiting I went to get us food and drink and to get some pictures. The food was Papa Johns pizza, but it looked more like Pizza Hut, disgusting. Good thing I brought some kashi go-lean crunch bars to hold me over. Finally the opening act went off about 8:17 and the sky dipped further into darkness above us.

Between 8:30 and 9:00 I was on my feet waiting for the first sign of any real band members on stage. But you know it's a good sign when the lights go out, and just before 9 the crowd went crazy.

Here is the entire setlist via gorillavsbear.net (check out the photos) via ateaseweb.com

01. All I Need 02. There There 03. 15 Step 04. Bangers and Mash 05. Nude 06. Pyramid Song 07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 08. The National Anthem 09. Dollars and Cents 10. Faust Arp 11. Videotape 12. A Wolf At The Door 13. Optimistic 14. Reckoner 15. Everything In Its Right Place 16. Idioteque 17. Bodysnatchers

encore 1: 18. Fake Plastic Trees 19. Jigsaw Falling Into Place 20. House of Cards 21. Exit Music (For A Film) 22. The Bends

encore 2: 23. You and Whose Army? 24. Paranoid Android

Needless to say it was all too amazing. I only wish I could have been right up front. But it will always be etched in my memory as one of the greatest shows.

-kyle

Polaroids Helping People

I spent this morning with a good friend whose going through a hard time in his life right now. We didn't really have a plan but once he mentioned taking pictures I could only think one thing ... polaroid. It seems every chance I get now to go take pictures I bring along the polaroid. There's always that one image that looks better in the instant film than any other format. So I've already posted these images to my Flickr page but wanted to share some of my favorites here too. My friend was very pleased with how these turned out and brought a smile to his face as we watched the magic unfold during the developing process.  

No Time to Waste

After talking with a new friend yesterday I decided to create this piece as a memorial for all those times we've spent wasted ... watching and waiting for something to happen. That's sort of what this whole one-a-day project is about, or not about. It's a daily exercise to push myself creatively and see what comes out. Sometimes it comes from the imagination and sometimes it comes from life experiences. Whatever the source though I hope it can inspire someone else to do something creative each day.

-Kyle

one-a-day project #001

something to keep the creative space in my mind fresh. my goal is to create one new character a day and keep them posted here on my blog as well as on my Flickr page. So far I've created three in the past week. You can view them from my Flickr page. Thanks.  -kyle

Looking forward with hope and faith

So there I was, staring at this flashing folder telling me that my hard drive is dead and I've lost everything on it. And I had a choice to make... There are a lot of things to worry about in this life; our jobs, our health, our finances to name just a few. And last night I was tempted to add one more to that list. While browsing Safari my macbook froze up on me. This has happened before so I took a break and came back to it about 10 minutes later. When I saw the "Beach Ball of Death" still spinning and unable to force quit any application I was forced to hold the power button down. (I hate doing that) After a cold restart the grey screen sat idle for a few minutes then flashed a folder icon with a question mark in the middle of it. I had never seen this error before so I turned to my trusty workhorse, the Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver edition), and googled the error. Come to find out, after all three troubleshooting steps on apple's support page failed, that my hard drive was dead and I had just lost all my data. And the answer to your question is no I didn't have a backup.

There were no real emotions involved. God had given me a peace that it was okay and the choice to trust God was instinctive. I feel God is giving me a fresh start and doesn't want me to dwell on the past. He is calling me to look forward with hope and faith.

This actually goes far beyond the incident with my computer. That was just one parable God used to show me what He's really talking about. He was speaking to the deep parts of my heart that hours before were feeling sad about being away from Japan and missing the people and times I had there. I feel He's speaking about how temporal our lives are and while memories are important they are also fleeting and momentary. The important thing is that while we live here in a momentary lapse of time we have a God who is eternal and will always be with us, even when we suddenly crash like my hard drive did last night.

What is Graphic Design?

Veerle Pieters held a "What is Graphic Design?" competition on her blog earlier this month. Users where directed to this Flickr group to upload their submissions. The first piece I designed was the 9th submissions out of 654 total that got submitted and the second piece I designed actually caught the eye of Veerle as seen here on her blog.

So needless to say I am ecstatic to have one of my designs as a possible winner of the competition. Is that being too cocky? Oh well.

So congrats to all the other people who caught her eye as well and best of luck to everyone.

A time to be creative

Laying in bed this morning, half awake/half asleep, my mind was flooded with better, more creative, ways that I could be spending my time when I'm bored. Then I thought it would be a good idea to make a list and share them here with you. So here, in no particular order, are creative ways I (you) could spend my (your) time when I'm (you're) bored.

1. Make a collage out of found objects from walking my dog
2. make a map of my thoughts
3. watch 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' for the hundredth time
4. draw in a journal
5. take a walk
6. work through a photoshop tutorial
7. cook some food
8. find new illustrations online
9. flip through the pages of Hand Job: A Catalog of Type
10. visit ffffound.com
11. plan a new vacation
12. paint that empty canvas I stretched 4 months ago
13. relax

Okay so obviously I couldn't list every possible idea that came to mind this morning. For one I don't remember half of them, since I was half asleep, and also this could go on forever.

But maybe you could share some of your ideas. I would like to here what keeps your creative mind working.