Random Thought No. 427225

Atelophobia. That was the word of the day in an office I visited today. It means a fear of imperfection. I can't really conceive of such a disorder. It seems ludicrous and imaginary but probably exists. Atelophobia must be one of the most crippling fears one could harbor.

I freely admit that I'm not perfect. I don't even strive for perfection. I try my best and accept the results as such. It's the only way I can figure to stay sane, really.

I truly don't understand how control freaks and perfectionists get anything done. It seems that such obsessive behavior would be, logically speaking, counter-productive to one's grasps at perfection (but Pet Sounds exists anyway). I suppose this sort of thing tend to be illogical (how about arithmophobia: fear of numbers?).

Random Likable Things #14829

I found this in the Boing Boing Bazaar. The user "raven" designed friendship necklace (and bracelet) sets as DNA and RNA. I must say I really dig this (although friendship necklace/bracelet isn't really my forte).

Below is an absolutely awesome video from blublu.org. It's an unscientific but wonderfully animated retelling of history from the big bang to present day. If you haven't seen this, it will be a wholly enjoyable ten minutes of your day.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM by BLU on Vimeo

Paint a Vulgar Picture

Here's a few designs I come up with over the past few months. As always, comments are welcomed!

This is a logo design for a friend's band (more information about Liquid Days can be found here). I'm pretty please with it. It's simple and eye-catching. It has a sorta Happy Days feeling.






This is another design put together kinda quickly for a friend. I've kinda fallen in love with portraiture in Illustrator (can ya tell?). I also think I'm channeling Soviet Era Polish propaganda art here.



The remaining pieces are all from my wedding earlier this year. My wonderfully understanding and supportive wife put me in charge of all the printed materials. I received a lot of positive feedback from the guests on these (ego-boost... Engage!). Below is the RSVP card included in the invitations.



This is the Save-the-Date cards that preceded the invitations. Again, I'm pretty pleased.



Below is the wedding invitation. Mrs. Meister and I are a pretty idiosyncratic couple and I wanted all the cards to reflect that. I just couldn't see us sending out invitations on ivory card stock with the script typeface and a lace ribbon. It just isn't very us.

Where Have All the Good Times Gone

Pete Quaife, the original bassist of the Kinks, passed away on June 23 at age 66. He was an integral part of the sound the Kinks founded in the early 60's. While the Kinks are a favorite of mine this isn't really about Pete Quaife or the Kinks, per se (more information on Pete Quaife can be found here). It's more about the loss of great artists.

Pete Quaife is the latest musician to die this year. Alex Clilton of the massively influential (and out-right brilliant) Big Star passed away on March 17 at age 59. Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse (another of my absolute favs) took his own life on March 6. Linkous was 47.

While one could compile a list like this during any given year, these deaths strike me as particularly sad. These three gentlemen found a modicum of fame and critical acclaim during their lives but nothing close to what I feel their work deserved. These artists leave me, for one, wanting more.

Quaife, Clilton, and Linkous contributed massively to popular culture and our culture's artistic progression. I know many artists continue to work to these ends and (perhaps) others will fill the void left by the aforementioned but that's a small consolation. I suppose the world will feel a little less interesting without them in it.