50ft http://50ft.com Highlighting the likes (art, design, et cetera) of a few San Diegans. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:02:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 R.I.P. Saturn http://50ft.com/2009/10/01/rip-saturn/ http://50ft.com/2009/10/01/rip-saturn/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:02:12 +0000 jessemellon http://50ft.com/?p=2049 emblem_lrg

So Saturn’s going away.

Saturn was supposed to be the little GM division that could. Dreamed up in the early eighties and finally launched in 1990, the Saturn brand was GM’s answer to an ever-increasing threat of small, well-made Japan-o-mobiles. Naturally, GM fucked things up.

The company was touted as being “different” from the start, and that meant different things to different people. The company had its own cars and its own distribution system, outside of GM’s existing structure. I remember Saturn’s “no-haggle” policy from back in the day — apparently you wouldn’t be ambushed by hungry salesmen whilst trolling a Saturn lot.

Somewhere along the way, things got muddled. Their cars were fine, but they didn’t really stand above and beyond other GM cars. They began selling re-branded and slightly tweaked variations of other GM cars, put out their performance-oriented “Red Line” stuff for the boy racers and their earth-lovin’ “Green Line” stuff for the hippies.

red_green

Their slogan changed from “A Different Kind of Car Company” (the one I remember most, from the halcyon days) to “Like Always. Like Never Before” in the mid-oughts, to the recent, and super-desperate “We’re Still Here.”

Their logo hasn’t changed much, other than the 2.0 bling it received in the last few years.
emblem

It’s always been a pretty simple red and black affair. The letters are all futuristic (the “A” is missing its crossbars, like it’s out of “Total Recall” or something, and the “U” runs into the stem of the “R”).

The mark itself is simple and iconic, but it doesn’t bring to mind speed or sex appeal, two things I’d look for on the hoods of even the dowdiest cars. Maybe it’s the squareness. Red’s a solid color choice though.

saturn2

Anyway, another one bites the dust. R.I.P.

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/10/01/rip-saturn/feed/ Art & Copy http://50ft.com/2009/09/23/art-copy/ http://50ft.com/2009/09/23/art-copy/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:30:13 +0000 Nic http://50ft.com/?p=2046

Looks interesting…

artandcopyfilm.org
Screenings

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/09/23/art-copy/feed/ Light up the night http://50ft.com/2009/08/26/light-up-the-night/ http://50ft.com/2009/08/26/light-up-the-night/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:38:53 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=2042 pour

Cram an LED into a bottle pourer and what do you get? An inexpensive device that makes booze even more beautiful and which you’ll probably see in every bar on the planet in a year.

ElectraPour (via Geekologie)

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/08/26/light-up-the-night/feed/ Voltage http://50ft.com/2009/08/24/voltage/ http://50ft.com/2009/08/24/voltage/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:00:31 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=2039

Beautiful experimental animation short with fantastic sound design and drawrings.

Just like modular synthesizers, people connect with each other in order to achieve diverse objectives. In Voltage, robots, half-human and half-synthesizer, powered by a huge amount of energy, connect to each other in an electric and chaotic trance.

Via Changethethought

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/08/24/voltage/feed/ Philip Glass + Sesame Street = Beauty http://50ft.com/2009/08/18/philip-glass-sesame-street-beauty/ http://50ft.com/2009/08/18/philip-glass-sesame-street-beauty/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:43:46 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=2035 Around 1979 (when I was one orbit in), Philip Glass composed the music for a series of animated shorts devoted to the beauty of the circle. I sit in awe of these. Gorgeous.

Is stuff being produced for kids today that they will want to watch as adults 30 years later? (I honest don’t know… I hope so!)


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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/08/18/philip-glass-sesame-street-beauty/feed/ Muse: Uprising http://50ft.com/2009/08/10/muse-uprising/ http://50ft.com/2009/08/10/muse-uprising/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:49:20 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=2025 OMG I love Muse and
OMG I love their new album art and
OMG I almost totally love their new song!
Woot!

Other Posts

]]> http://50ft.com/2009/08/10/muse-uprising/feed/ Max awesome / wtf http://50ft.com/2009/07/27/max-awesome-wtf/ http://50ft.com/2009/07/27/max-awesome-wtf/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:00:19 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=2022

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/07/27/max-awesome-wtf/feed/ Surface: A film from underneath http://50ft.com/2009/07/07/surface-a-film-from-underneath/ http://50ft.com/2009/07/07/surface-a-film-from-underneath/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:23:02 +0000 Nic http://50ft.com/?p=2010 feature_surface

SURFACE is an experimental film, exploring the emotional journey from an underground urban perspective.

This ‘urban symphony’ transforms human actions and street objects into beats that harmoniously compose a grand audio and visual composition. The film emphasizes the ideas of ‘point of contact’, ‘human identity’ and notion of ‘live footprints’.

Video and more interesting pics after the jump!

Credit Varathit
And another cool surface flick

shooting_04-550x181

shooting_03-550x427

shooting_01-550x412

And some interesting workflow pics:

liveaction_workflow

post_workflow

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/07/07/surface-a-film-from-underneath/feed/ Gorgeous Micro 4/3 Olympus http://50ft.com/2009/06/23/gorgeous-micro-43-olympus/ http://50ft.com/2009/06/23/gorgeous-micro-43-olympus/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:14:25 +0000 jessemellon http://50ft.com/?p=2004 olympus

Yeah, yeah… all the photo-heads are gushing about it (including Lee). But it is beautiful. And compact. Time to trade in the clunky ol’ SLR.

E-P1

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]]> http://50ft.com/2009/06/23/gorgeous-micro-43-olympus/feed/ Working at a desk http://50ft.com/2009/06/11/working-at-a-desk/ http://50ft.com/2009/06/11/working-at-a-desk/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:30:38 +0000 leefur http://50ft.com/?p=1999 … in stop-motion format.


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