City of Blinding Lights.

Bourbon Street
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

A view of Bourbon Street, 3 weeks ago, Friday, August 12th, 2005.

Movie Maturity?

It's funny how your tastes change as you get older, more mature. Tap water become Perrier, while others switch from regular coke to Diet. Back seat to front seat; front row to back row in a theater; Dr. Seuss to Socrates. For me one of the most obvious changes has been in my taste in film. It's gone from scenery to story. As much as I love visual effects, production design, and gross out gags, I find myself questioning their validity. How does it help the story? What is the story? I bring this up because of 3 films I saw over the past week for the very first time.

"The Incredibles", from Pixar Animation, had a wildly imaginative story, very clever, and answered all my questions leaving me wanting more. "The Terminal" on the other hand did not. Mind you, I'm not one to ever question Steven Spielberg, until now. (and I haven't seen War of the Worlds) There were too many stories being told in the film, and I only really cared about one: Would Viktor Navorsky get out of the airport and into the U.S.?" I didn't care about the love story, I cared about his friends a little, and I really didn't care why he was visiting. Anyway, it was a beautifully shot movie, but there were too many things going on that didn't matter. Lastly, "The Brothers Grimm" from visionary Terry Gilliam. Bad first half, great second half, tons of great scenery but not enough story. I had too many questions here that made it hard to enjoy until the action really started halfway through....but then I just wanted to see action as the story got lost. 11 years ago, I would have never questioned that sort of thing. 11 years ago I also closed my eyes when John Travolta stabbed Uma Thurman in "Pulp Fiction."

The Swamp Man

The Swamp Man
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

Last weekend in New Orleans turned out to be a blast! The W Hotel was modernly beautiful. Bourbon street was packed, the architecture was detailed, and the swamps were, well, swamps. The coolest swamps I never thought I would ever enjoy. Hungry alligators, huge spiders, and Devil's Horse Grasshoppers. Great tour Captain Derrick! Everyone should do this next time there in New Orleans.

The Big Easy.

In a couple hours I'll be on my to New Orleans to visit some friends and celebrate the end of bachelorhood for one of my high school/college buddies. Should be a blast as it always is when we get together. I haven't seen most of them in a year now since we've moved to Georgia. Got a couple errands to run today before driving to Birmingham for my Southwest flight. Hopefully I can do some research on the airline while I'm in the air for my branding class. Pretty much have my logo nailed down to a couple of choices. I'll try and post them next week for any feedback.

Right now I'm waiting to meet with a prof for my 'official' logos class and for the third time in 5 weeks, he's running 40 minutes behind schedule. Not good on a time tight day like this one. See you in a few days.

Let's Talk about Minimalism.

Minimalism is a rediscovery of the value of empty space. A radical elimination of everything that does not coincide with a program; extreme simplicity. And if I didn't have an emotional attachment to most of my stuff, I would be a complete minimalist. Ask me what kind of shirt I tend to buy, and I'll say a 'solid color.' Favorite kind of architecture? Simple, linear forms. One thing I do most at our apartment? Throw stuff away. Even in design, my heart yearns for simplicity and cleanliness. So how do I get rid of items that I haven't even looked at in a year? How do I toss those posters I haven't put on the wall since college?

Next month Lyndsey and I just might be moving into a new place, a bigger place, with room for me to work and not spill out all over the apartment. Our goal is to really cleanse ourselves of meaningless items. It'll help in our move, and make us feel better about our new place. Why trash up a perfectly clean abode with useless materials. I've already consolidated my CD's and DVD's into Case Logic books, ridding myself of plastic cases and 'most' liner notes. Hopefully Lyndsey and I can work something out with the rest of our junk (treasure?).

The Cost Factor.

Prototype Infill Housing Project
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

Being a full-time design student, part-time Borders lackey, and excited married man doesn't bode well on the pocketbook. Am I the only person who feels like the rest of the world has no concept of money and prices? Why should we have to PAY for good design when it should be inherent in our everday lives? Just for tonight, let's talk about housing; apartments, townhomes, condominiums, lofts, single-family homes, et. al. I'm a renter. A design enthusiast, with a little architectural training, and dreams of a unique, functional, living space for me and my family. I also subscribe to DWELL magazine, a fantastic publication made for someone like me, but with money.

Pictured above is half of a small 4-unit project in Dallas that excited me. A dream concept by an experienced architect who wanted to "bring the single-family home back to the urban infrastructure." He adds, "Homes that are still somewhat affordable." Hopes rose from the grave until he mentioned they were $275,000. Ok, so I guess that is somewhat affordable for a 2/2 townhome, with 1,700 sq. ft. in the city. BUT it's not affordable for me, and that's why I'm writing here tonight. Isn't there anyone out there willing to take a risk for the young couples tired of wasting their low-salary wages on pet deposits, shared water meters, and rent that shows no return?

I know this is just a soapbox rant, but I'm tired of overpriced housing. I'm tired of overpriced good design. Good design should be for everyone.

The Slide House

SlideHouseBrownsville
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

In my previous post about the Top 5 Observations of Brownsville, I mentioned this house. The first house I have ever seen in Brownsville, Texas with a built-in water slide (lower left). This is a huge house with tons of east facing windows along the back. I'm pretty sure it's designed by the owner of this new firm in town. There's a large billboard in the front yard advertising all the features they can provide which also happen to be in this house. Things like a workout room, two-way built-in fish tank, porch water fountain and pond, built-in safe, audio/video system with electric projection screen, 3-dimensional artwork in the children's bedrooms, oh, and the slide. Also note the cubic wonder under construction next door. That may be the first of its kind as well.

Deep Sea Fishing Fun.

BoatTrip
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

Did I mention that we went Deep Sea Fishing while on vacation over the 4th of July? It was a blast, except that 4 of the 7 of us got sick. I wasn't one of them. This photo is on the trip out to the deep. We were heading 20 miles out, went through some 8 ft swells, and got nailed with water blasts. It was awesome. From left you'l see Lyndsey, my brother Chris, and Danielle's half-brother, Andrew. He puked bigtime.

End of Week One.

School has started back up again this week, now in my 4th Quarter. Here's where things really take a turn for the serious. The lingering thought of graduation, creating my final portfolio, and the lackluster impact my work has had so far (according to me), it's time to delve a little deeper. I've only got 4 classes this time which means one thing: RESEARCH. Arguably the most important aspect to good design is knowing the who, what, where, when, why, and all that stems from research. So even though I have 400 logo sketches to bust out this week and I've only done 30, the important thing to remember is the research. I'm going to take a stab at rebranding Southwest Airlines, which will then include a new look on stationary, ticket sleeves, luggage tags, inflight meals, steward uniforms, and the plane itself. Also have a 4-project class that will include a Pop-Up book (completely by hand), and 7 new logos will be created for my Symbols, Logos and Metaphors class. So enough of this, time to get back to sketching.

Bridge Over Troubled Landings.

Just returned from my 4th of July break in Brownsville and South Padre Island (SPI), TX and heard an interesting story for the very first time. The Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway, a 2.5 mile bridge connecting Port Isabel with SPI, was originally designed to be a long, straight [read boring] structure. When the owner of the land where the bridge was to meet the island discovered this, he was furious. It was going to take up precious commercial space and devalue the property. Somehow he managed to convince the powers that be to move the point of contact further south, off his property, changing the path of the bridge. Now, the causeway is a more sensual, curvilinear road with varying views of the island, adding just the right amount of anticipation to the approach. One of the true design marvels in the Rio Grande Valley.

Top 5 New Brownsville Observations.

5. Houses, Houses, Houses. All the empty fields around town when I was younger are now being filled with residential developments; for better or worse.

4. Amigoland Mall, the older and less developed shopping center is now defunct. The University of Texas at Brownsville has purchased the building and has developed new labs, classrooms, and facilities for existing departments. The tire lube center on the campus is now the Mechanics department. This is also in addition to new buildings around the back of the existing college.

3. Hooter's has arrived and is now accepting applications. Oddly enough, it's located just down the street from Stiletto's, a gentlemen's club.

2. In a new neighborhood under construction, a monstrous custom home is being built on a resaca (oxbow lake). From the other street, looking into the backyard, you'll see the cities first built-in waterslide going from the second floor balcony into the pool, complete with steps back up. This house will probably be at least $350,000.

1. Muchas Taquerias. One new one in particular around town called
"Betty's Taqueria." The sign says their tacos are 'Betty, Betty, good.'
Welcome to Brownsville.

Kong Krazy.

I'm glad there's only about 5 months lefts until Peter Jackson's new movie, instead of almost a year for Ron Howard's "Da Vinci Code." This is about the standard, not-too-ridiculous amount of time to build a buzz about a bigtime, unbelievable, can't-wait-that-long kind of movie like "King Kong." And you can see the eagerly awaited first trailer for the film at www.volkswagen.com. I've never said this before, but I actually adjusted my evening schedule of packing, booted up my laptop, and stared straight at the television until the end of tonights Fear Factor, just to watch the debut trailer. And let me tell you, it was worth it. If Steven Spielberg is the master of the cinematic "push", Peter Jackson is the master of the "pull." When Naomi Watts screams, and we pull back from the cave as Kong screams...absolutely terrifying. Is it too early to promote Jack Black or Naomi Watts for an Oscar? (and she doesn't even 'speak' a word in this trailer) Perhaps. Am I crazy about this trailer? Yes. Kong looks phenomenal. This film will be huge. This film will be great. This film will blow your mind. I will probably try to see it more times in the theater than I did "Jurassic Park" in 1993....and that will not be good on the pocketbook. When you read tomorrow that over 50 million people logged on to watch the trailer again, I hope you think of me. God bless you, Peter Jackson.

Confirmation Affirmation.

I know we had something printed out. I remember seeing it. Lyndsey remembers seeing it. Sometime in mid-April we had made reservations through Travelocity.com for 2 roundtrip tickets from Atlanta to Brownsville, June 28th-July 4th. It wasn't until yesterday that we discovered we had, in our names, nothing of the sort. What we did have was a confirmed cancellation of an existing reservation due to credit card errors. At least this is what the people at Travelocity told us. Also, apparently we were to have received an automated email about such errors, which Lyndsey did not have, and she hasn't deleted a single one since 1998. Needless to say, Travelocity's attempts at retribution were short and hardly worth mentioning. This trip was to be our First Anniversary gift to each other, in celebration of using Travelocity a year ago to purchase our honeymoon. Now we're celebrating by paying 30% more for our trip 2 days away. I could have sworn we printed out a confirmation.

The Cruise Hasn't Sailed.

If I was a journalist on the 'Today' show interviewing Tom Cruise, my first question would have been a little different. "So, Tom, don't you have a little film coming out next week? And doesn't it involve one of the greatest masters of filmmaking and his greatest film subject? Tell me about it." And now that I'm thinking about it, my last question would have been a little different as well. "So, Tom, how's Katie doing? Did you think Christian Bale pulled off the character?" I think it's great that he's in love (again). I commend him for wanting to share it with his friends, even if those friends include Oprah's tv show, I don't care about his religious beliefs or what he says. I only care that he continues to make good movies with great people. I wish an interview, news segment, or magazine article would tell me about friggin' "War of the Worlds." I want to know. And you can add me to the statistic that will still see the film regardless of the mumbo jumbo. So, Tom, what do the aliens look like?

The Masthead

activityMasthead
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

Here's the masthead for the magazine I concepted in my Publication class as described in the previous post.

Magazine Prescription.

I nearly had a heart attack at Borders this past Sunday. But to tell you that story, I have to first tell you this one:

I took a Publication class this quarter. We had to concept a new magazine, design a masthead (logo), 3 covers, a 3-spread feature, table of contents, editors letter, and a few department spreads. I first created "homeREC", a DIY recreational mag. that mixed "ReadyMade" with "Sports Illustrated"; but, I was having too many issues with the content and everyone would always laugh and say "home wrecker". So I changed it, turned it into a recreational mag that simply promotes getting off the couch. I called it "activity". The departments were based on the senses, ACT, SEE, EAT, HEAR....these are things you do when you go out, when you do something. It was for singles and couples, 20-40, that would have talked about Disc Golf, sports on a date, beach fun, museums, concerts, even had an article on new Rollercoasters coming out this year. Anyway, the concept and the masthead succeeded in critique last Tuesday night, but my layouts were weak and conflicting.

So...

At Borders, I was cleaning up the magazine rack and saw the July/August Premiere issue of "Weekend" magazine (weekend.net), 'the new magazine that makes the most of the time we call our own.' It talks about different things to do for a great weekend, home or away. It has an aesthetic style very similar to "Real Simple", feminine, for families, clean, and a good read. THEY STOLE MY IDEA! Or at least, the generalities of my idea. There was even a blurb about wooden rollercoasters around the country. How unbelievable is this? So I bought it, and I'll probably prescribe a year's worth of the mag to make me feel worse.

Beginnings and Endings.

Summer films are always filled with sequels, prequels, and somewhere-in-betweenquels. Luckily, I've been able to catch 2 of the big ones. "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" completes the new trilogy, confirming the creation of Darth Vader, and finishing the 6-film landmark saga. This film is emotionally heavy, action-packed, and filled with darkness; in turn, making it the best of the prequels. Everyone takes their acting up a level, except for Natalie Portman, and especially Ian McDiarmind as Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious. Everything comes full circle and blends into Episode IV without a hitch. The only question that remains is, in what order are we going to show our kids?

"Batman Begins" resurrects a dying comic book favorite from neon hell with a new star, new director, and everything in between. This film is absolutely brilliant. Roger Ebert was right on the money when he said, "This is the movie I did not realize I was waiting for." The history, the skills, the Wayne family, all the who-what-where-when-why are here without question as to the creation of Batman, and I believe it. Christopher Nolan and David Goyer convinced me. Christian Bale as the new masked avenger convinced me, and I've never been more excited about the character. This new Batman is emotionally heavy, action-packed, and filled with darkness; do we see any similarities? I'll probably write the same thing for Spielberg's "War of the Worlds."

New Look.

Well, it's the end of my 3rd quarter at Portfolio Center, and the beginning of something new. No, you have not accidentally typed in the wrong website, this is still the slow and sarcastic blog life of Jason Puckett, but a new Jason Puckett. One with a little more design knowledge under his belt. One with a better understanding of hierarchy. One who knows better than to use u.t's burnt orange as its primary background color, when I am indeed a graduate of Texas A&M's maroon and white. "But Jason, what's that orange rectangle in the upper left corner of the screen?" Well, I'm glad you asked. First off, it's part of the template, a template I think is phenomenal. Secondly, orange is blue's complimentary friend and therefore very pleasing to the eye, so I think I'll leave it right where it is.

This Week in 3 Weeks.

Couple of exciting things happening this week, one of which happened today. SEINFELD Season 4 is released on DVD today and Thursday marks the opening of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The mere mention on this website reflects the level of importance and anticipation I have for the subjects. Only to be followed with a quick sigh at the thought of not being able to partake in such greatness (or possible greatness for Sith) for a few more weeks. The clock ticks down on the spring quarter at school and my work load peaks as final projects filter from my sliced fingertips. What is a Seinfeld/Star Wars fan to do? Absolutely nothing, hoo-ah! Just have to be patientl. The Junior Mint, The Outing, The Implant, The Contest – all have to wait. Even Anakin has to wait a few more weeks before Darth Vader can rise. In fact, I invite all you out there to join in the waiting process. Let's do this together. Ah, who am I kidding.

Belated Birthday Greetings.

So I'm mentally in the dog house for not mentioning to everyone that my beautiful wife, Lyndsey, celebrated her 25th birthday last Thursday. I had planned to talk about it earlier, but didn't want to give the plans away in case she were to peruse this online periodical. It was a great evening. I surprised her with dinner at Benihana's, the fantastic Japanese hibachi grill, both our favorites . Our fellow Atlanta-Texans, Chris and Jana Duke joined us and I must say the Shrimps were top notch! I want a Benihana chef at home. Lyndsey opened only one gift Thursday morning after she woke up, a pair of pants that were too big and a blouse that was too small. Hey, it's my first birthday shopping trip as a husband, someday I'll get it right. The other presents she had already received within the prior three days. I couldn't help myself. Lyndsey, I love you, congratulations on another great year, this next one should be just as great. Although, we did get married during this past birth year...