Grafiks.Org

From the Hillmancurtis Artist Video Series:

Check out the rest of the video series on hillmancurtis.com or AIGA’s inspiration archives.

On February 6 the University of Maryland’s Art Gallery will be opening its latest exhibit, ‘Sweet: The Graphic Beauty of the Contemporary Rock Poster’. An excerpt about the exhibit:

“…features twenty-nine of the leading artists/groups of silk-screened contemporary rock posters, on view Wednesday, February 6 through Saturday, March 29, 2008. Artist Jesse LeDoux creates a site-specific installation in the back gallery that displays the versatility of the screen printing technique, and artist Tim Gough creates unique signage for the exhibition utilizing silk-screening and other media applied directly to the walls.”

More info can be found here on the gallery’s website. Should be a great show!

Below are some more desktop backgrounds. As always, feel free to download and use them. I created these particular backgrounds using some images I’ve taken in the past around the Pittsburgh, PA area (my hometown) such as bridges, random telephone wires, electrical boxes, etc.

Download: 1024×768 | 1600 x 1200	Download: 1024×768
Download: 1024×768	Download: 1024×768 | 1600×1200

Another small work in progress (currently very rough on the edges):

ChuckPotthast.com

My dad is a musician (folk, blues, rock, whatever) and in the next few months I will be looking for ways to promote music online through various avenues. I’ve already gone the Myspace route with other bands but am looking forward to seeing what else is out there. Last FM and CD Baby seem promising.

In the process of building the temporary site I discovered a cool favicon website where you can either create your own icon or download free icons that others have published under the CC (Creative Commons) license, like this nifty little guitar favicon, for example.

Oh and I almost forgot, Happy 2008 to all.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, the last two months have been very busy but in a good way. Looking back on the year I have also met a lot great people in the tech community here in DC, like the folks over at Nclud, Jared at SET Consulting, Justin Thorp, Nick ONeill, to name a few. Oh and thanks to the creator of DC Tech Events, who helped me to realize that rarely a week goes by without a technology event in the area.

On that note (and in relation to the title of the blog), tonight is The Technoliday Party that I will unfortunately be unable to attend. The event is also supporting the One Laptop Per Child cause, more info here: technoliday.eventbrite.com

Until next time, which is hopefully sooner than later!

Excerpt 1:

Excerpt 2:

I am working on developing a website and more artwork for a band that I used to be in. It’s still a work in progress, but coming along pretty well. I decided to develop the whole thing in WordPress, for now at least. Suggestions/improvements are more than welcome.

www.carouselrogues.com/blog

Screenshot:

Old Poster:

TED: Ideas worth spreading
“TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an invitation-only event where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration.”

Last week I was able to visit the Silicon Valley area for the first time. Although it was not the purpose of the trip, it was great to visit the “leading high-tech hub” in the US. I stayed with some friends in Mountain View who live a few blocks from Google (pictures may be posted soon). I learned that Google offered to give free WiFi to the whole town of Mountain View (more about that here and here). My friends who live there did not get it because it apparently runs fairly slowly and contains advertisements. What can you expect though, it is free after all.

While I was in CA I also got took a tour of Current TV where my friend Stephanie works. It’s definitely a cool place, as well as a cool network. It was started 2 years ago by Al Gore, and the concept behind it is to cut out the middle man and create media content for viewers, by viewers, giving regular citizens the opportunity to “create and influence what airs on TV”. They also just won an Emmy Award this year, not too shabby.

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