Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mix List-omania Project 4 Completion

Well, putting together a selection of songs is both the easiest thing to do AND the most difficult. A lot of factors must be taken into account: where will this list be played, what mood should be invoked, is every song as important as every other song, should a song I don't so much like be included because other folks enjoy it, should I include songs I just discovered without leaving them to settle in my subconscious first. The list of questions is endless.
Not to mention the overarching nature of the evening this was to be put together for--i.e., the Women of the World Poetry Slam qualifier. As such, I had a conversation or two with myself about whether the mix should include only songs by women. But, what would that even mean? Songs written and performed by women? Songs written or performed by women? Would it be ok to include songs about women but not written or performed by one?
Geez, I only have a week, I concluded. Just put a mix together and let the music be the music. So, to the music I went. As you will soon see, I chose and I chose and I chose and I chose. The one thing I didn't ever get to was order--which is a whole other project to be had--because I ran out of time. So, Friday night, arriving at the poetry reading a bit late (why does Friday evening traffic have to be so heinous), I put the music on. Bless the inventor of Shuffle. I believe it was a successful selection of music. What do you think?

In no particular order:
Baby I Owe You Something Good--Funkadelic
Let's Get It Started--The Black Eyed Peas
Gone Daddy Gone/I just Want to Make Love to You--Gnarls Barkley
Illumination--Gogol Bordello
Only Existing Footage--The Extra Lens
Henrietta--The Fratellis
Come Together--Michael Jackson
Doo Wop (That Thing)--Lauryn Hill
Money--will.i.am
Stronger--Kanye West
She Just Wants to Dance--Keb' Mo'
Fidelity--Reginal Spektor
Float On--Modest Mouse
Don't Stop--Fleetwood Mac
Catch My Disease--Ben Lee
Lean on Me--Bill Withers
I'm a Woman--Koko Taylor
Good Vibrations--The Beach Boys
Zak and Sara--Ben Folds
Under Pressure--David Bowie; Queen
Kodachrome/Maybellene--Simon & Garfunkel
The Muppet Show Theme--The Muppets
Poker Face (dance remix)--Lady Gaga
Three More Days--Ray LaMontagne
Home--Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Lovegame--Lady Gaga
Another Saturday Night--Sam Cooke
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours--Stevie Wonder
Adventures in Solitude--The New Pornographers
Willow--Joan Armatrading
Wanna Be Startin' Something--Michael Jackson
Sunshine (Woke Me Up This Morning)--Labelle
This Little Light of Mine--Mavis Staples
Peace in the Valley--A3, Errol Thompson
Relator--Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Ain't No Sunshine--Bill Withers
Ain't That Peculiar--Marvin Gaye
Fembot--Robyn
Baby I'm a Star--Prince & the Revolution
Everything Is Everything--Lauryn Hill
Killing Me Softly with his Song--The Fugees
How Many Mics--The Fugees
Get Back--The Beatles
Don't Feel Right--The Roots
Paul Valery--Blue Scholars
Hurt Feelings--Flight of the Conchords
To Love Somebody--Nina Simone
The Underdog--Spoon
Wake Up--Arcade Fire
Bowtie--OutKast
For Once in my Life--Stevie Wonder
God Only Knows--The Beach Boys
In the Sun--She & Him
In the Mississippi River--Mavis Staples
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)--The Four Tops
Lovely Day--Bill Withers
Bizarre Love Triangle--New Order
F**k You--Cee Lo Green
My Favorite Mutiny--The Coup
Crazy--Gnarls Barkley
Rise Up with Fists--Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
Single Ladies--Beyonce
Crash--The Primitives
This Year--The Mountain Goats
Hey Mama--The Black Eyed Peas
Champagne Supernova--Oasis
No Matter What--Badfinger
Touch the Sky--Kanye West
The Ghost Inside--Broken Bells
Bike--Pink Floyd
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing--Marvin Gaye
Pictures of Houses--Tilly and the Wall
With Arms Outstretched--Rilo Kiley
Happy Valentine's Day--OutKast
Bustin Out--Rick James
Boyz--M.I.A.
Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)--Monsters of Folk
Lisztomania--Phoenix
Crash Years--The New Pornographers
Empire State of Mind--Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
Sweet Thing--Van Morrison
Come Together--The Beatles
Mickey--Tony Basil
Where Is the Love?--Justin Timberlake & The Black Eyed Peas
The Way You Make Me Feel--Michael Jackson
Cold War (Wondamix)--Janelle Monae
A Girl Like You--Edwyn Collins
Wonderwall--Oasis
Paper Planes--M.I.A.
Zealots--The Fugees

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Project 4

Moving into new territory this week. The Project for Week 4 is to create a mix for this coming Friday's Women of the World Poetry Slam qualifier.

Looking for some energetic, inspiring, crowd-pleasing tunes put together seamlessly. Or, at the very least, a good selection of songs that will excite the crowd and the contestants.

Have some suggestions? I'll take them. Have some never-never-nevers? Let me know.

Project 3 Complete

Hey All,
Moved fast this week and completed Project 3 already. These cards came together fast, mostly because I already had the graphics from which to choose.

The Mic graphic was created by Rasheed Bellamy for The Fuze. I did the 3D graphic. Here are the two complete in all their small-sized fontness.



See you next time.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Project 3

Yes. If you have been following along, today is Wednesday and project postings are due on Tuesday.... So, I apologize for slipping a bit behind.

For Week 2's Project, I batted .500--yay on the Song of the Week and so-so on the Friday Love Poem graphic. I will futz with the favorite one and you might see it appear on Jane's posting this Friday. Stay tuned.

Project 3 is a catch-up project, combining creativity with a project I'm a bit behind on. So, this week I will finally be making up The Fuze Open Mic and Poetry Slam's business cards. There will be at least three slightly different sets of cards, perhaps with slightly different graphics. We've been needing some cards for our fearless leaders for awhile and finally this week that will happen.

See you in a couple of days with an update.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Monday Wrap Up--Project Finals

Hello this Monday evening,
I believe I have accomplished 1 of the 2 graphics I set out to make this week. Jane has approved this graphic
for Song o' the Week blog. She's retired for the evening though, so I can't get her to sign off on the other graphic. Below are a few of the possibilities. I'm not sure I have a favorite.
Any thoughts?

Deadline Day--Early Monday Update

Happy MLK, Jr. Day. Getting in a little work this morning before we head off to give some time to the Day of Service. Here are some preliminary graphics for the Song of the Week. Hopefully, I can get this all wrapped up by the end of the day. Still have the Love Poem one to tackle; though, I might have an idea.



Friday, January 14, 2011

Friday Update

Listening to some fantastic poetry from the traveling No More Ribcage. If they are in your area, you should definitely check them out. Check here for their schedule.

Spent way too much time working on work this week and not working on these graphics. Here are a few of the photos I'm drawing with and from. I think I have something... we'll see how it pans out.


The above are moving pics of our Christmas tree lights. I'm thinking about creating a musical animation of sorts for one of these pics.

The below pics are of one of Jane's paintings. Doesn't it have Love Poem written all over it?

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Project 2

Hello Hello and Hello,
Here it is Tuesday, which I have officially adopted as the beginning of the creative week (per project rules), and here it is my new project: Make the Serotonin Factory (see The Serotonin Factory) a couple of graphics for a couple of recurring weekly features: Song of the Week and Friday Love Poem.

No pressure, just represent music and love.

Come back and see what transpires...

(p.s. If there's sufficient snow tonight, I might just be able to stay home and dedicate a significant portion of the day to making some progress on these. Cross your fingers, please.)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Project 1 Complete

Week One's Project--check. Logo up and bannering this site. Quite excited that I set a project and a deadline and met the deadline without too much procrastination.

Next week will be a bit more of a time-squeeze, given that it's rush at our bookstore and I'll be pulling about a 75 hour work week (including commuting time). No excuses though. Creativity waits for no ridiculous job.

Cheers.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Project 1 Update

It is about 10:45 Saturday night and I might have a logo (see above). I'll have to sleep on it, but it seems promising right now. Below is a bit of the progression of the project, from photo through a few iterations of the final (?) piece.





Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Logo Nuggets

Driving home today from Dover (where I spend my nine to five), it occurred to me that perhaps the blog's logo/header should simply be a pen-full pen cup. Simple enough. So, here are a few of the photos I took as the first step in the process. If you have any favorites, please let me know.






Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Project 1

(Perhaps a little meta, perhaps only needing to get this whole carousel in motion.)

1. Set up the blog for the project. Thus, before you appears More Pens Please. (Point in fact, we do not need any more pens currently. But, I do so love a good pen.) The background is a 3-D rendering of a photo I took at our poetry venue. I was super excited to find an article that showed me how to accomplish that feat.

2. Design the icon, symbol or emblem, perhaps the avatar of this endeavor. Not sure yet what this thing might be, resemble or smell like. Quite uncertain about its super powers. Will it be a force for good or evil. Will it wear corrective shoes. Will it even have free will and, if so, what does that mean. So many up-in-the-airs at this particular moment.

3. Post the results. Could be a half-finished avatar, could be a half-eaten sandwich. Point is, I must put up what I have at the deadline, then move on with the story. I'm going to do 52, Fifty-Two, LII, Ciquenta y Dos of these projects. Getting stuck, therefore, will not be tolerated.

52 Projects in 52 Weeks

Hello Hello Hello,

Welcome to the new home of my latest and just-off-center idea to date: 52 Projects in 52 Weeks. A new creative project each week for all of 2011. It can take any form: designing a new logo, creating a collage, writing a poem, taking some photographs, designing a chapbook, or one of a million other possibilities. All I must do is at the beginning of each week, set out the goal/project of the week, then get to it. Along the way, I might comment about the project's progress or lack thereof, a sudden and drastic alteration, dilemmas and/or triumphs.

By the way, welcome to the Elevens. 

Now, some of you are saying, "One project a week, only one? Just one? Geez, I do at least 52 projects per week without even breaking a sweat or a swear." Point taken. But, if you haven't noticed, it is now Tuesday as I write this. We're well into the week, approaching the hump and soon to be dashing for the weekend. Thus, 52 Projects for my undisciplined self? About right, I say.

So, welcome to my little endeavor. Should any of you have suggestions, feel free to offer them. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your stay.

-amy