The ZehnKatzen Times A blog by a Portland graphic deisgner about finding interesting and fun things in design and life and looking for his big payday Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 3820

Articles from The ZehnKatzen Times

[or_photos] A Gorgeous Ruin 2008-01-28 11:50:00 1292. At the bitter end of South Water Street, (yes, Silverton again) there is this gorgeous tumbledown building, just reclining on the side of the road, taking its leisure. Just to the left, out of shot, is the city limits. This is the last bit of Silverton before you leave town and get back out into the country, on your way to the Falls. The door on the end seems to suggest that it was some commercial building. Would it only that I could remember what it was ... but remember, this was the side of Silverton I never hung around in (funny, considering I was born and did half my growing up here). Behind it is the steep hillside on the other side of Silver Creek, which directly behind it. I wish I could just remember ... It is a fabulous ruin. Very beautiful in its way. The Wife™ was behind the lens for these. Credit where due. Tags: Silverton Oregon, South Water Street, ruins, tumbledown ...

[or_photos] Silverton - Street Signs and Back Streets 2008-01-27 22:34:00 1291. More Silvertonage. Some time ago I uploaded Silverton photeaux with the aim of showing off the street blades in My Little Town™. I realized that I never quite got to that. Herewith ... I give you here your typical pair of Silvertonian street blades. Silverton, as many towns do, name streets after the families of the settlers who originally populated the town. Barger and Cowing are two such family names. As seems appropriate for a town of Silverton's size, the street blades are uncomplicated. They show a designers' sense of hierarchy; the specific (street name) stands out, the generic (street type) is diminished. Information processing is limited to what the driver quickly needs to digest. Also notably is the mixed-case, which, when the sign went up, some time in the 1970's, was something of an innovation. There is now a school of thought that holds that the brain processes not only the shapes of the glyphs but the overall shape of the word – which, if correct, suggest tha ...

[modern_liff] Decidedly Not A Wonderful Thing 2008-01-27 11:13:00 1290. Via the inimitable BoingBoing: The Canadian National Post looks on with mild horror as American linguists report on the growing trend in the American south to use "Canadian" as a masking euphemism for black people, so that white racists can say socially inappropriate things without tipping listeners off about the cancer in their souls. (Click through here for the article) If this be true, this be appalling. Though I must point out our so-inclined fellow Dumb*ss-Americans are not only offending our neighboring country and trashing our fellow man they're also guaranteeing that a cancer on our national culture endure. That's three effects for the price of one smug slur. Must be that dogged American productitvity I hear so much about. In other news, an American won the Democratic party primary in South Carolina last night. Impose your own truth on that one, good peoples. Tags: racism, hate, Fellow Americans Working Far Too Hard On Overtime Embarrassing The Rest Of U ...

[art] The Year of Stan, 25 2008-01-26 10:41:00 366 Days of Creativity - Day 25 Originally uploaded by dinglemunch 1289. Strange ... the forecast actucally called for raining cats and dogs, not this.And we now know what VMRS students do on thier day off. ...

[art] The Year of Stan, 24 2008-01-26 10:38:00 366 Days of Creativity - Day 24 Originally uploaded by dinglemunch 1288. For those hard-to-reach places... Just put the molars out on the brush. There, you've saved a step ...(Critiquity: I admire the work on hand-creating and shading the letterforms. That's pretty cool. The joke works on sort of the "crack you over the head" way. The rendering of the teeth is pretty good, which means I get that "uh-oh" feeling I get whenever I see teeth out.) ...

[pdx] It's Hard Out Here For A Former Fur Store Owner 2008-01-25 22:08:00 1287. News Item: Gregg Schumacher ordered to pay $43,000 of legal fees for filing a frivolous lawsuit against PETA over thier protests of his store (via the Merc) This, of course, gives us a chance to do what we usually do in such situations, namely, steal a photo from the Merc's Blogtown and LOLize it. Whenever I think I've got it tough, I think of ol' Greg Schumacher. Now that's some vicississitudes of fortune there, boy. Tags: pdx, pdx_business, Gregg Schumacher, PETA ...

[design, news_design] Birth Pangs of a Color Publication 2008-01-25 11:57:00 1285. The new edition of the Sierra Club Columbia Group's quarterly, the Columbia Overlook, has hit the mailboxes and should be arriving in Club member's mailboxes any day now. I attended the mailing party at the Group's offices out at 30th and Stark last night, and it's an interesting place to be. Thanks to the tender mercies of graveyard-shift weekend work it's typically not in the cards to attend most Group activities. I believe in what the Sierra Club advocates for, however, and this volunteer activity allows me to give back in a way that really makes it real for me and (I like to think) provides a service that is very much needed. It's a win-win-win. All We Gotta Do is, Talk Talk The biggest challenge here was, just as in every distributed operation, is communication. Jeff, who's been involved with the club for a very long time (one other thing that always impresses me about Sierra Club members is the commitment they have to this group and its cause) and has agreed to becom ... Design

[liff] The Kind of Dreams We Have Hereabouts 2008-01-24 22:51:00 1284. I'm sitting in a space between two brick buildings in a place that looks vaguely like Old Town, I know it's Old Town, though absolutely none of the buildings are actually ones you'd find there in reality. I'm having an espresso. Suddenly, the brick wall on the north side of the courtyard soundlessly falls on everyone in the cafe's courtyard, draping itself over us as though it were a blankit. It smarts mightily, but nobody is so much as scratched. At that moment I realize that I'm the only one who can properly document the scene due to my writing and photographic talents. So I run like hell down SW Broadway (going quickly south of Burnside) to find a camera store so I can buy one. I'm broker than broke, but I figure I'll cross that bridge when I find it. All the camera stores sell jewelry and electronics. No cameras at all. Tags: liff, miscellany, surreal Powered by Qumana ...

[us_politik] All You Need To Know About The Best Democrat and Two Republicans 2008-01-24 11:10:00 1283. In this edition of telescreen theatre we'll call Vidiot Nails It. Tags: us_politik, telescreen, Mitt Romney, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani ...

[art] The Year of Stan, 22 2008-01-24 01:37:00 366 Days of Creativity - Day 22 Originally uploaded by dinglemunch 1283. I don't know which had me laughing harder here, the SG's warning or the picture of the lazy old dog smokin' away.This one is comic genius. No clever comment here. ...

[liff] Jerry O'Connell Is A Better Tom Cruise Than Tom Cruise 2008-01-24 01:17:00 1282. For one thing, he's funny with out being creeptastic: the parody video Tom Cruise WANTS you to see! on FunnyOrDie.com Yeah, for me, KFC is indeed what it's all about. It's just good chicken! HAHAHA, A HAHAHA! Tags: Jerry O'Connell, Tom Cruise, People Making Fun Of Celebrity Nutballs, Parody ...

[art] Hand Writing It In 2008-01-23 07:56:00 1281. Just as a reminder; art isn't always a clever picture. As someone who has done calligraphy and still handwrites a diary, I thought the above-linked was one of the coolest bits of bloggage I've ever seen. The stationery is cool. The blocky handwriting is cool. And handwriting a blog entry which is then posted as an image makes the whole thing wonderfully reflexive. Tags: pdx_bloggers, handwriting, blog art, pdx ...

[art] A Couple of Cartoony Dragons 2008-01-23 06:16:00 1280. You see, good peoples? I told you I was an artist! The Wife™ asked me to come up with something on short notice for her event, the Shire of Dragon's Mist's Arts Gathering (info here). A good time is to be had by all. Tags: art, dragons, SCA, Dragon's Mist, Arts Gathering Powered by Qumana ...

[liff] Blunt, Honest Words From Out of the Crallspace 2008-01-23 01:38:00 1279. This entry at the blog The Crallspace impressed me not so much because of what was said but because if everyone adopted any one of these behaviors, at least a little, we'd all be a lot better off for a bit longer. I'm part of a family that's always just scraped by, even now. So the stuff about each gen doing better than the last gen has always been something that is the stuff of concept. Still, the USA has always, at least in Oregon, been a better place to scrape by than most places are to wildly succeed in. But who says that things will always stay as "good" (and all the relativity that term encompasses) as they always have, or continue to "get better" (same proviso)? Who really says? Does anybody really know? Of course, I also appreciate the bluntness of Crallspace's language. Blunt in the way that makes you think in the good way (hint: you know that when you hear it. Not everyone who fancies themselves a straight-shooting thought-provoker really is. He ...

[art, x_pdx] The Year of Stan, 22 2008-01-22 23:52:00 366 Days of Creativity - Day 22 Originally uploaded by dinglemunch 1278. Maybe if he spoke Russian, he'd know ...A little critique talk here: there is some really strong artwork here by Stan, better even than his Joel & Steve work (what I've seen of it anyway). The man and the woman are very believable in a cartoon sense (the artwork on the chick rocks, seriously!), though one tiny nit to be picked here (well, so to speak) ... that fellah kinda looks like he's about to indulge in a little rhinotillexism here. But overall, very strong, with teh funnay joak well implemented. Better than me, most certainly. ...