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I Hope My Daughter Grows Up to Be Just Like Shakira – A Poem by Shahar Golan

Shahar Golan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:35:20 +0000

I hope my daughter
Grows up to be
Just like Shakira,
A strong confident woman
That must be caged
Before she can dance
Inside a glittery vagina.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Design for Obama: The TASCHEN Book – Follow-up #6

Shahar Golan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:37:02 +0000

Design for Obama book launch at TASCHEN New York:

On November 4th, the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama’s historic election, TASCHEN New York hosted Spike Lee, Aaron Perry-Zucker, and Steven Heller to celebrate the launch of their book DESIGN FOR OBAMA.
A crowd of over 250 fans showed up to meet the editors, including over 25 of the book’s contributors. Some contributors even flew in for the event from as far as Seattle, Toronto, and the Dominican Republic! Additionally, around 15 members of the press were in attendance, including representatives from Maxim, New York Daily News, Rachel Ray, Metropolitan Home, The Source, Trace, Allure, Fortune, Teen Vogue, InStyle, and Vanity Fair.
The TASCHEN New York team would like [to] thank Spike Lee, Aaron Perry-Zucker, and Steven Heller for taking the time to personally greet all their fans.

- - Quoted from TASCHEN.com

As a contributing artist to the book I wish I could have attended the book launch, but it was held in NYC and I was held in TLV. Fortunately filmmaker Spike Lee who co-edited the book was gracious enough to pose for a photo with my poster:

Credit: Kevin Furst Design – cc-by

Additional photos from the event are available on 40acres.com, TASCHEN.com and Flickr.com.

Design for Obama: The TASCHEN Book – Follow-up #5

Shahar Golan — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:44:32 +0000

On the one year anniversary of Barack Obama’s election, the TASCHEN Store New York invites you to the launch of Design For Obama. Editors Spike Lee, New York Times columnist Steven Heller, and founder of DesignforObama.org, Aaron Perry-Zucker will be on hand to sign or personalize your copy.

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
6-8 pm

TASCHEN New York
107 Green Street, New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212.226.2212

Channel 10 News Presents: Reheating Leftovers From Yesterday’s TV Dinner

Shahar Golan — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:25:34 +0000

Update: You can read this post in Hebrew here.

Two weeks ago Channel 10 News’ Miki Haimovich conducted an interview with Nobel laureate Ada Yonath. The following day, Channel 10’s morning show re-edited the interview to make it look as though the morning hosts Haim Etgar and Sivan Cohen are conducting the interview themselves. This was recently mentioned in Yediot Ahronot but I thought I would create a video to demonstrate this journalistic atrocity:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now people may ask “What’s the big deal? Instead of this person doing the interview, you get that person”. Well, I contend that this is a big deal since unlike other professions like advertising, sales or law where honesty is no longer expected – in journalism, credibility is currency. We don’t expect our newsmen to lie to us – not intentionally, not wittingly – and finding out otherwise is disheartening.

Design for Obama: The TASCHEN Book – Follow-up #4

Shahar Golan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:34:38 +0000

Steven Heller, co-chair of the School of Visual Arts’ MFA Designer as Author Program, writes the “Visuals” column for the New York Times Book Review, and is the author of 120 books on design, illustration, and satiric art – including TASCHEN’s Design For Obama which features my own original English-French-Hebrew design on page 95. The book will be available worldwide in two weeks, so in the meantime you can check out Heller’s discussion with the Philadelphia chapter of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) on the outpouring of posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Heller also compares today’s political graphics to the campaign posters of a previous generation, and the relationship between democracy and design.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I Want to Be Different, Just Like Everyone Else

Shahar Golan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:40:15 +0000

Last week Israel’s Channel 2 News had a segment about brides and grooms that want their wedding to be different. Apparently, after watching a couple of viral wedding videos they thought to themselves: “Yeah, how about we do something original for a change: Let’s do exactly what those other people did…”. Forget about holy matrimony, these people are here to entertain you on their quote-unquote “most important day” of their lives.

The segment is in Hebrew, but you don’t really need to understand the language in order to understand this copycat phenomenon should be studied by both psychologists and sociologists. You can skip over the first 55 seconds:

Click here to view the embedded video.

War, A Rock Opera – Now Available For Free Download

Shahar Golan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:04:14 +0000

After watching the brilliant Israeli rock opera ‘War’ on stage, and blogging about it, I have been corresponding by email with musician Kobi Vitman who created it based on his experiences in 2002 as a reserve infantry soldier during Operation Defensive Shield, and the PTSD that followed. A couple of months ago, when the original cast recording was issued, I tried to convey to Vitman my own experiences as a listener and a fan of the genre, emphasizing the difficulty in trying to track down these musical gems once the curtain closes on the original show. In accordance with my beliefs about file sharing, copyright laws and my own experiences searching for recordings of Israeli musicals, I tried to push for making the entire album available online.

Well, I am so very happy to announce that as of this week, the album is indeed available online and for free. You can still purchase the physical CD, booklet and all, for 40NIS, but if you just want the MP3 files, they are now legally available on WarRockOpera.com. You can still watch the show live in its acoustic version. Check the website for details.

Click here to view the embedded video.

An Open Letter to Lily Allen by Dan Bull

Shahar Golan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:16:33 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via TorrentFreak. Lyrics after the jump:

Dear Lily – by Dan Bull – Lyrics

Dear Lily Allen,

Remember when you pretended, Lily, that you were truly independent, Lily? Faking like you made it all alone but you were legally with Regal, part of Parlophone – oh yes. So when you lectured me, I thought I’d fileshare my thoughts on your mp3, Lily.

Now first I must sing your praises – I love your singing but I’ll just say this: I saw on your MySpace pages saying filesharing’s a new ice age, but the industry’s a recent innovation – music’s been alive, thriving since cavemen. Folk songs so long have had a place in communities that you should be amazed at it. Then one day came intellectual property, meaning if I think a thought, you can’t copy me. And if honesty’s the best policy, I’d say songs are better off without this monopoly. It’d blatantly be a major fail if they’d patented the major scale. And downloads don’t equate to sales, so taking them away won’t make me pay up – just procludes me from sending your tunes to my friends, so we all lose in the end. You lose potential fans and we lose respect for the fact that you’re desperate for cash. But what do you expect from the lass who’s collecting a fat bank cheque from the man, while her fans are collecting the glasses for minimum wage they’ll spend on her tracks?

Now please don’t be offended, Lily; I think your new CD’s splendid, Lily. Everybody’s at It and it’s Not Fair, I Could Say, The Fear was Him but He wasn’t There so let’s go Back to the Start, before 22 – all music’s in the public domain, so Fuck You.

It’s never the amateurs that’s reckon it’s damaging us, it’s the major labels saying it’s fatal; like when Napster had to pack up, wrecked by Metallica. The table’s turned now – the labels churn out a new Jezebelinternetelevangelist – and she’s fit – with a manuscript that was actually written by Mr. Michael Masnick. Can you get the irony? And by the by, Lily, I like this beat – I hope you don’t mind me thieving, ’cause even doing a cover song’s decried as stealing. But it’s alright, still, for you to plagiarise, and preach it – Don’t you believe it’s maybe time to rethink, Lily?

Put music back in the hands of the people; make the majors and amateurs equal. If anything labels strangle the freedom you claim they’re saving by banning this evil. That’s the actual reason, you see; and please don’t compare sharing to stealing – I’ve not took anything off you, I’m just spreading love for what you do. Downloaded your songs for free, then I bought my mom your CD. She likes it too, she keeps telling me, all because I pirated an mp3. Now I’ve got Matt Bellamy belling me, telling me I’m not a fan, I’m the enemy. That’s amusing, I’ve paid enough to see Muse in my time I could buy them a museum. Did you see them on that programme miming? Yeah, the pirates are killing live gigs. Maybe we should have a ban CDs appeal – then people would pay to see bands for real. Dear Lily, why are you being this silly?

Yours sincerely,
Dan Bull

P.S. – And I don’t mean any offence or anything, Lily. I just don’t think the issue’s as clear cut as you’re making out. And I know you’re going to carry on making music really. But when you’re between the devil and the deep blue sea, you need to stop worrying about pirates, and adjust your sails.

How To Feel At Home When You Have To Work on a Public Computer

Shahar Golan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:58:14 +0000

Whether you use one computer at work and another at home, or you share computers at the office, or whether sometimes you are just left stranded on a foreign computer away from civilization on some godforsaken floor in corporate land – then this post is for you. Following is my collection of portable apps and online services that will make you feel cozy on any PC.

Browser: Even for a couple of hours, browsing the net with Internet Explorer is unbearable and unsafe. Solution: Portable Google Chrome – preferably in incognito mode.
Passwords: Typing your password on a public computer might not be wise. Also, if you remember your passwords, chances are you use the same one for everything and haven’t changed it in years. Solution: RoboForm2Go memorizes your passwords and logs you in automatically.
Email, Instant Messaging, Social Networking: Why would anyone run separate programs simultaneously for each service: Outlook + Gmail Notifier + MSN Messenger + ICQ? Are you kidding me? Solution: Portable Digsby.
RSS Reader: Google Reader might be the easy choice, but those who cherish their privacy might go for a portable app that stores their RSS feeds locally. Solution: GreatNews.
Health: Especially when you are away from your native office space you should be mindful of Repetitive Strain Injury. Solution: Workrave Portable alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and do preventive exercises.
Focus: Away from your desk you might hesitate to shush people you just met so that you can get some work done. Solution: SimplyNoise.com produces white noise to neutralize office noises and block distractions.

Note: Some of these apps were mentioned in previous posts titled ‘Freewares I Swear By But You Have Never Heard Of’ (#1, #2), but I felt a post specifically aimed for the workplace was in order.

Design for Obama: The TASCHEN Book – Follow-up #3

Shahar Golan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:47:50 +0000

November is just around the corner and I am anxiously waiting to get my hands on Design for Obama, the book I participated in. Luckily, the publisher, Taschen, just made the entire book available online. You can leaf through all the pages, albeit the viewing quality is just enough to make you interested in buying the book.

Here are page 94-95 featuring my “Yes, Oui, Ken” original design:

And here it is as a thumbnail in the index on page 176:

You can still download the original graphics for free here.

Hat tip to @maristellag.

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