the mehallo blog. beta.

Video for Ian Axel’s This is the New Year. Directed by Leiv Parton.

Found via Ingrid Michaelson

Tags: cool finds, music by steve
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‘We will sell no wine before its time’

Legendary Orson Welles was the 1970s pitchman for Paul Masson. Outtakes above. Completed, salvaged commercial below  . . .

Tags: cool finds, culinary, design, design history by steve
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New Years Eve was always about André. Champagne and Cold Duck.

André is, of course, from the makers of Thunderbird  . . .

And Ripple  . . .

Tags: cool finds, culinary, design history, thoughts by steve
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New Years Eve Ball Drop, 1978-2008

Tags: cool finds by steve
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‘Beginning in 1956, Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians entertained the US on New Year’s Eve with a combination of music and the live ‘ball drop’ at Midnight. Guy continued this tradition until his death in 1976. His band still played on at CBS Television on New Years for an additional 2 years. (Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin Eve began in 1972 on ABC and still broadcasts annually.)

‘This broadcast began right after the 15-minute news and ran for an hour. Guy plays the music and newsman Robert Trout announces the beginning of the New Year  . . .  Harsh lighting, a cheap office clock and a World War II searchlight scans the crowd below.’

More Ball history here.

(Psst: Buy more Clairol)

Tags: cool finds by steve
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Found via Martin Klasch

Tags: cool finds, design history, fashion by steve
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Important message about creativity by the Portland office of Wieden + Kennedy. Made from more than 100,000 tumbtacks. Script lettering. And 351 hours.

More here at swissmiss (including a making of video).

Tags: cool finds, design, education, typography by steve
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Along with Cake Wrecks and People of Walmart – FAIL Blog has subversively become a guilty pleasure. Here’s a few more FAILS from 2009:

Tags: cool finds by steve
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‘For The New York Times Magazine’s annual ‘Year in Ideas’ issue  . . .  Paula Scher illustrated a chart of selected 2009 patents’

Chart compiled by Alexandra Horowitz and Ammon Shea. Click image for larger version/jump.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, illustration, thoughts by steve
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‘The choice of a ‘chamfered’ industrial style works well with the marquee-esque bulb lighting. It also has historical ties with large-scale lettering  . . .’

The 2010 numbers are ready to go in Times Square! Details in this typographic article by Nick Sherman.

Plus
Here’s some historical Times Square signage from the Artkraft Strauss Archive:

Tags: typography by steve
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Helvetica Bubblewrap Calendar

A roundup of ‘Calendars for a New Decade’ over at Flavorwire.

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, typography by steve
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3-color screen printed calendar by dirtybandits. Info and ordering details here.

Tags: art, cool finds, design, illustration by steve
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‘3000 photographs (-ish), 35 books, 2 months’

The Complex of All of These, written by Abigail Uhteg, was letterpress printed at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY.

Music by Ratatat.

Tags: cool finds, education, publication design, typography by steve
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I always forget to get a calendar. And it’s already the 30th.

Here’s one: The 2010 42-line Rare Book Calendar features images from Hogarth (1753), William Blake (1793), Charles Le Brun (1806), an 1805 edition of Shakespeare and more. Info and ordering details here.

Tags: art, cool finds, design history, illustration, publication design by steve
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‘Gradually, I realized that the books I had put off reading for so long all had covers that screamed: ‘Pulp me! Pulp me!”

Joe Queenan looks at Huckleberry Finn, Elijah Wood (pictured, with Courtney B. Vance), Gatsby, Doctor Faustus, Death of a Salesman – and how a BAD cover design can ruin a perfectly good book.

NYT essay here.

What to do about an ugly cover: 1. Brown bag it; 2. Reverse it; 3. Try spandex; 4. Use house paint; 5. Duct tape it; 6. Tear it off

Tags: design history, publication design, thoughts by steve
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Elijah Woods and Shirley Manson for Oliver Peoples Spring 2010 campaign. Photography by Autumn de Wilde. Article here.

Tags: cool finds, design, fashion, photography by steve
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