Color Scheming: Laser Blue

Laser Blue. Almost as cool as Laser Cats.

From iPad, on iPad

So as you may or may not have read in my previous post, the exec team at StruckAxiom, in an effort to bring us up to speed with the latest in technology, gave everyone brand spanking new iPads. Yeah, it was pretty much crazy awesome. After spending a week with it, here are my first impressions.

This post is also prompted by the fact that I forgot my MacBook's power cord at work yesterday. Therefore, I'm composing this on the iPad, which is an interesting experience in and of itself. In fact, for some reason, I can only seem to write directly in the HTML editor, weird.

Anyways, I think I'm starting to get it, the iPad that is. Just the other night we were catching up on some shows via Hulu on our iMac. I was just doing some couch-browsing on the iPad, when it was time to start the next show. I quickly launched my Rowmote Pro app, which serves up an iPad specific interface, and fired up the next show from the same device I was just surfing on. Having an iPad is either going to be very awesome or it's going to induce all new levels of laziness.

Mrs. Kyality, who until now, hasn't had a wireless browsing device at home is way excited to get her Grey's on, without subjecting The Kyality Kids to unhealthy degrees of McDreamy exposure.

I had convinced myself that due to the fact that I rock both a MacBook and an iPhone that I couldn't really see an iPad fitting into my personal digital lifestyle. I still don't really see it fitting that well, it's definitely built for someone whose sole connectivity is a desktop. But so far, it's been a superb wireless device and an awesome entertainment system control panel.

UPDATE: I actually had to save this post and complete it on our desktop in Firefox. Apparently, the Blogger CMS hates Safari. There's prolly an app for that now that I think about it.

Color Scheming: British Racing Green

Git yur Brit on.

Toothless: Inspired Vehicle Design

So the execs at StruckAxiom surprised the crew Thursday with a couple of things. We all got to go see How To Train Your Dragon, since we worked on the killer Flame It site. BUT just before that, they literally busted out brand new iPads for the entire company—to keep. For reals.

So before I conduct an in-depth review of the iPad, I definitely wanna take a moment and touch on what was in my opinion a landmark film for DreamWorks. From my understanding, How To Train Your Dragon had a rocky start in the studio, until it was helmed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (of Lilo and Stitch fame).

HTTYD has an obvious based-on-a-book vibe, but other than some heavy references to some more backstory we weren't necessarily getting, it is about as tight as a family film can get. The characters are memorable and charming. The production design is fresh and intriguing. And the creature design is straight up inspiring. Especially the creature design of The Night Fury: Toothless.

Throughout the film, I couldn't help but feel like the creature design of Toothless was heavily based on principles of good vehicle design. With headlight-like eyes and a jet fighter-like stance—Toothless was all too familiar to me. During the film I even caught the designers' allusion of Hiccup's tail-flight-contraption-pedal to an Imperial Speeder Bike's throttle pedal. But it wasn't until my drive home from the theater that I realized that if a MINI had a personality—it'd be much like that of Toothless. I seriously wonder if any of the creature designers drive one. I found this excellent interview with Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, which includes this great description of Toothless:

"So [Toothless] has to do a great deal of acting and that’s one of the guiding principles behind his design, that he be frightening and a bit of a Stealth Fighter in their world, but also have the design elements that would make him friendly and cute and really adorable when it comes time to really get to know him."

Now read it again, and think of a MINI.
See? Crazy huh. Okay, fine. I'll admit it. MINI's aren't just cool, they're also cute.

Airstreamed

This is Leah Giberson's latest archival giclee print of a beautiful painting she completed in late 2009. The original was painted with acrylic on top of a cut up printed photograph and canvas mounted to a wooden panel. The original photograph by Terry Bone can be seen here.

Check out my posts on Leah's mid-century modest works here and one on a pretty amazing Airstream refresh here.

Color Scheming: Pepper White

Bland is the new black.

Cut To The Chase: Top 10 Favorite Car Chases

The car chase holds an almost sacred position in the realm of all things Kyality. I have a few criteria that qualify genuine car chases. First, they must involve more than one car—not a car and train (The French Connection) and not just motorcycles/a helicopter (The 2003 Italian Job). Second, the cars must be cool ones (duh). And finally the chase must be unique, with exceptional driving, awesome editing and stylized camera angles. These Top 10 fit that bill:

10. The Italian Job (1969)
Sure the actual chase in this flick isn't the most dramatic, but you cannot watch these Original Minis make their getaway and not smile.

9. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Not only do we have a MINI, we have a minivan as well. Fun to see one in action.

8. The Blues Brothers (1980)
This is the number one car chase cluster-cuss of all time.

7. Who Am I? (1998)
Trust me on this one. Jackie Chan-style acrobatics in a car. Does not disappoint.

6. Duel (1971)
Spielberg's first flick. This made-for-TV masterpiece is the definition of suspense on wheels.

5. Death Proof (2007)
Tarantino creates an homage to the car chase that will melt your face (or at least grind it off with tire tread).

4. The Hire (2001)
BMW's compilation of short car chase flicks gives us some of the best car chases ever recorded and put Clive Owen in the driver seat of the rest of his career.

3. The Bourne Identity (2002)
The best Mini car chase has got to be in my Top 3, right?

2. Ronin (1998)
This is the ultimate Euro car chase flick. Nothing else comes close, 'cept of course, The King of Cool.

1. Bullitt (1968)
The grand-pappy of all car chases. Steve McQueen's almost biblical automotive epic defines all that is the car chase. Check out The Selvedge Yard's full breakdown here.