Movie on Monday
The first installment of the New York movies will be online by next Monday morning; it should paint a pretty good picture of what this past month has been like. Let's just say that Rupert G from the Hello Deli has a special cameo. Stay tuned...
Wednesday, March 30 at 6:39 PM
Chilean Sea Bass With a Dust of Lime
Katie and I saw Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda yesterday, which opened in limited New York release this weekend. It was extremely entertaining with an all-star cast and two simultaneous storylines, but Will Ferrell steals the show. Highly recommended...when it comes to your theaters in a week!
Monday, March 21 at 6:24 AM
No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Apologies for the lack of updates recently; I'm taking lots of photos and movies for the monthly movie update so that should make up for it. Pentagram, New York and the subway rats continue to be freakin' awesome.
Friday, March 18 at 6:04 AM
Morning Doughnuts From a Street Vendor
The first week at Pentagram has been great. The building used to be a bank, so I work with the other interns and freelancers in a basement with a huge open vault. The interactive team is especially awesome, and I'm just starting to get involved in the various projects they've been working on. One enormous perk is that a chef comes in on Tuesday through Thursday and prepares lunch for the staff. And my good friend Katie from PC is moving up this weekend and starting an internship here on Monday. I've taken a few photos and movies here and there; hopefully I'll try to do three installments of movie updates at the end of each month (March/April/May). Back to work...
Friday, March 11 at 7:45 AM
These Vagabond Shoes Are Longing To Stray
I'm moving to New York this weekend. This week I received a three-month internship offer from Pentagram, one of the most amazing design firms in the world. Work starts 10AM Monday morning.
Last Monday was my birthday, and after an action-packed weekend visit from Andrew (aka playing Resident Evil 4 and Star Fox Assault for like 72 hours straight) and dinner with some close friends, I was just starting to get back into the swing of school work. But I got a call from Hank, my former Design History and current Annual Reports instructor (and the president of Portfolio Center to boot). There was an opening in Pentagram's Interactive Team, and I had been recommended as a possible candidate for the position. Hank put me in touch with Jiae Kim, one of the designers on the team, and we had a great informal conversation. Thank goodness for okaysamurai.com to help show my interests and document the latest school projects. When we ended the call, I immediately got started tweaking my resume and threw the old portfolio site with the chair and wine bottles back up online, with thoughts continually flooding my imagination with excitement and disbelief. The formal offer came the next day.
There were plenty of concerns when I calmed down, you bet. Starting work on Monday? With two weeks to go in the quarter, what would happen with school? What about the commitment with my current internship at Iconologic? Could I afford New York? Where would I live? I'm still answering some of these questions (please let me know if you have any friends with bedroom vacancies, couches, floors or kitchen cabinets), but through the guidance and counsel from family and friends, I knew there was no way I could pass this up. If you've been reading this site for a while, you might remember that I even mentioned Pentagram when I first visited Portfolio Center.
Glance at the design credits of Jon Stewart's America: The Book. Or the recent re-branding of the New York Jets. The Citibank logo (which Paula Scher sketched out on a napkin in five minutes). Godiva chocolate packaging. The level of talent of the rockstars who work here is massive, fresh, and inspiring. I think I'll feel smarter by just breathing the same air as these people. More specific to my situation, the Interactive Team is doing some remarkably innovative work. Websites, sure; but also information systems, museum installations, interactive multimedia projects and who knows what else. I'm working under Lisa Strausfeld, who is already inspiring me after reading through her bio. I just can't believe this is really happening. I don't think it's going to sink in until I walk through those doors on Fifth Avenue Monday morning.
I definitely plan to document my time in New York heavily, writing updates here often, taking movies and photos, and experiencing as much as I can just to soak it all in. Hank gave me a map and a to-do list of like a million things, and he keeps adding people I need to see and places I have to go (and of course the Toys-R-Us in Times Square will be my first stop). It's all so new and overwhelming right now.
I am blessed and humbled that the things I love to do are perceived as talents. Thanks to my friends and family for their continued support. And man if this isn't an advertisement for Portfolio Center I don't know what is. This is what education should be. The daily struggles feel natural, dare I say welcome (I do dare, in fact, and I'll even double dare and take the physical challenge). The environment, instructors and students have truly challenged me to become a valuable designer just as much as a valuable individual, and have given me opportunities that are simply unheard of. I have never been happier.
I can't wait to see what happens next.
Thursday, March 3 at 7:54 PM
Check Back on Friday...
...because something really exciting just happened. More details Friday morning.
Wednesday, March 2 at 3:49 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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