Oh l'Amour!

I love animation… and I especially love the student work done at French powerhouse art school, Gobelins (the irony that a visual communications school has, perhaps, the ugliest site I've seen in some time is not lost on me). Check out this recent masterpiece… Oktapodi.

UPDATE: Here's a little "making of" video!

Obama, Obama, Obama… That's all McCain Ever Talks about!

The Boston Globe recently indexed the official blogs for the presidential campaigns of both McCain and Obama. From the index, they created a word cloud for each. And wouldn't you know it… everyone's talking about just one man.

Hat tip: Marbury.

Portrait of the Artist as a Pseudonym

I've posted online under the "Silus Grok" pseudonym for years and years — and will likely continue to do so indefinitely. But a couple months ago, I started to think about getting a "self portrait" done, in order to flesh-out (so to speak) my online brand. And that's when I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a talented illustrator by the name of Jesse Ewing.

He and I have had fun over the last month going back and forth as the project progressed (see how it all came together in a Flickr set I've created for the portrait). And the final was just what I had hoped for!

And for the record: No. It doesn't look like the flesh-and-blood me — what use would a pseudonym be if I slapped it on a picture of me? Besides, I've always loved playing dress-up… and this is almost as fun.

Zappos Is a Service Company…

… that happens to sell shoes. It says so — right there on their home page. But you'd think it was just hype until you read an amazing customer story like this.

Utah Valley State University?

So it's official: the Salt Lake Trib reports that UVSC's leadership is aiming for post-graduate degrees and the title of "university" — which will be a great boon to everyone in Utah Valley. There are plenty of reasons to cheer the decision, of course, but the issue that captures my imagination ( which is hardly surprising, considering the work I'm in ), is this: what will they call the new institution?

And my first reaction? ... Please — for the sake of all that's good in this world — don't call it "Utah Valley State University". Think of the children!

You see, names are powerful tools that organizations can leverage to broadcast their vision of who they are and where they're going... they inform the organizational discourse and encourage people to live up to the expectations set by the name. Moreover, names of large organizations reflect directly on the communities they serve.

So let me just say this: naming the school "Utah Valley" anything will do three things:

First, as a derivitive of its current name, any such moniker will only perpetuate the misconception that UVSC is a glorified second chance for high school drop-outs and people who didn't get into BYU. And that's not what UVSC is — at least, that's not what it is any more.

Second, place-named universities have a certain parochial or backwater air ( think "South Central Louisiana State University" of Adam Sandler's "The Water Boy" fame ). They smack of a last-ditch effort by exhausted and uninspired regents too busy or lazy to come up with a proper name.

Third, in a state dominated by the University of Utah and Utah State, Utah Valley State would just get lost in the confusion. I've lived in Utah for 13 years, and I still hesitate — albeit for only a split second — whenever someone says they go to Utah State... now, is that the one in Salt Lake or the one up in Logan?

UVSC deserves a name befitting the school that it's become: a school for young people with big plans and bright futures.

So what would I call it?

Well, on a short list of names that honor UVSC's history and locale — without being too literal or myopic — would be "Sorensen State", after the man who led the school over the course of five decades. Surnames, as any branding professional can tell you — and as you probably sense inately — have a certain gravity. And "Sorensen" is a strong name with both literal ties to the school's history, and to people of import in the community.

It's just a thought... but it's my personal nomination for a school that is so desperately deserving of its own second chance.

Who's Your Daddy?

So I drove past the Delta Center a week back, and noticed that the Delta Airlines sign was in bad shape — faded and banged-up. And I thought that it was time they replaced it... who would have thought the demons in charge of irony would hear my little prayer?

Seems like Larry H. Miller has left Delta in her nightgown, and has gone and jumped into bed with the hottest thing in town: nuclear waste. Yup... the Delta Center is now, officially, EnergySolutions Arena. Don't recognize the name? Well, they're the fine folks we used to call Envirocare ( and a few other things, that I won't print in my blog ).

The irony of a company like that sponsoring a sporting center isn't wasted, of course, on the good folks over at the Salt Lake Tribune. They're asking folks to give the Big Gray Box a nickname... so slink on over to the poll, and make your voice heard! What shall it be?

Glow in the Dark Park
The Tox Box
Nuclear Winner Stadium
Nukeback Mountain
Meltdown Manor
The Fallout Shelter
Plutonium Palace
Radium Stadium
The Glow Dome

I voted for the Tox Box... but the Glow Dome is a close second.