A small little mom and pop cable and internet provider named Comcast (perhaps you’ve heard of them?) made an announcement today that they’re rolling out a company-wide rebrand starting next week. Which would be great if they hadn’t chosen to trade their name and mark in for something even more uninspired and cliche than what they already have. Ladies and gentlemen, I give unto you, XFINITIY™. No, I’m not kidding. And yes, all caps are required when it’s spelled out.

I don’t need to launch into my typical lengthy diatribe about why I think this is a mistake, except to say that it is a futile exercise in swapping out one bland identity for another. To be fair, the mark itself isn’t all that terrible (albeit boring), but the name sticks out as a half-baked attempt at being awesome and dangerous and futuretastic all at once. It seems to be a classic case of “What will consumers think is really cool?”

Annoyingly, this will actually probably resonate with a good number of folks because it will undoubtedly fit right into their idea of what is “really cool.” This bothers me on a certain level, mainly because I like to think people generally know better than to buy into obvious pandering, but I am positive there will be people who are totally on board with this. Not that it matters, of course; in the end they’re still the same company, and my personal struggle with them as the purveyor of something I feel I deeply require but whom I don’t completely trust, will continue.

If you are feeling compelled to punish yourself and want to know more, feel free to mosey on over to the post on Comcast’s blog (linked below). I got about halfway through it before nausea set in and I had to stop reading.

Via [Gizmodo] and [The Official Comcast Blog]

While browsing Netflix’s website for something new and interesting to add to my queue, something caught my attention amongst the recommendations section, under ‘Goofy Foreign Comedies,’ no less. That something was the poster/cover art for the 1971 film ‘Trafic,’ which you see pictured above.

There is something seriously awesome about retro movie poster design, and this is a fantastic example. I love the color choice, the hand-illustration, and of course, the use of overpasses and highways for the lettering. It’s old school, but it’s done well and it’s got a brilliant aesthetic. I have no idea if the movie itself is any good but I am anxiously awaiting its arrival in the mail in the coming week.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why I even have a section that recommends Goofy Foreign Comedies on my Netflix, it’s because of a little gem titled ‘OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,’ a French parody of their equivalent of 007 flicks, set in (and shot as if it were) the 60’s. I strongly suggest you watch it, and seeing as it’s on Netflix Watch Instantly, you have little excuse not to if you’ve got an account.

In the Summer of 2008, a small independent game developer published a downloadable title for a little-known game console called the Xbox360. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

The game I am speaking of is, of course, Castle Crashers, and it took the Xbox gamers by storm during August ‘08 and to this day remains one of the most popular online multiplayer titles on the platform. It’s a total blast, it’s damn charming, and it was all I played for a good long while after it came out.

Shortly after the game’s release, The Behemoth announced that they would be manufacturing and selling figurines based on the games tiny but vicious protagonists, and I knew immediately I had to have one for my desk. My original plan last September was to order all four knights (red, green, blue, orange) and let them stand proudly together in ferocious little poses, as there was a significant discount for purchasing them together. Somehow I never got around to placing my order, and I forgot about the little guys for a while.

Two weeks ago (and a year later), I remembered about this silly idea of mine and cruised over to The Behemoth’s store to grab a couple of the little guys. The price had increased a tad since last Fall, and so I opted to start out with just one, and of course I had to go with my favorite, the Red Knight. I knew that when he arrived I would enjoy having him to proudly display next to my monitor, but what I didn’t know was that the packaging and labels on the box would be so neat. So, I did what any self respecting gamer nerd would do; I snapped photos of the unboxing. Huzzah!

This morning, Ashley and I went to Weiden+Kennedy’s Portland headquarters to see Tina Roth Eisenberg, curator of one of the design community’s foremost blogs, speak about herself, her web site, and her experiences as a Swiss born and educated designer making the move to New York City shortly after finishing school. Ten years ago she came to the U.S. for what was supposed to be a three month vacation, and ended up putting her roots down here after falling in love with the world she encountered on the other side of the Atlantic.

I assume that a good number of you know who she is already, but for those who don’t, I strongly suggest you spend some time on her site. Each day she shares fun, new and interesting tidbits that she comes across, be it a piece of design, a neat product, or just something generally whimsical. It was fairly interesting to hear her stories, and she is every bit as genuine and honest as she comes across being on her site, which made the talk a fairly refreshing experience for me. Perhaps it was even more so for the guy who sat next to me, as he seemed to be a bit star struck and stumbled awkwardly through both of the questions he asked Tina afterward.

I snapped a few shots with my trusty iPhone. They are not great, but nonetheless, they are here for you to look at.

Also, as a fun side note, she snapped this photo before the talk started and posted it to twitter. Ashley and I are in the lower left, right behind the little ‘fence’ made from cables. I tell you because I know you care.

The few of you out there who actually still look at my blog have likely noticed two recent trends. The first is that I don’t update as often as I used to. This is something I intend on changing in the very near future; I’ve been so swamped with an overabundance of work (not complaining!) that will to sit in front of a computer screen any longer than I have to is next to none lately. Once I get some of these big projects out of the way, I will make my triumphant return to regular updates.

The second trend is that I’ve taken to a submitting a lot of photos that use my iPhone’s camera rather than my DSLR. I’ve become fascinated with the idea of using that camera to capture some of life’s more interesting, ’spur of the’ moments as of late, and I think it’s produced some interesting results. However, as many of these photos are submitted directly to Twitter, they tend not to make it here to the blog. This post is intended to correct that, and so, here is a compilation of some of the more interesting shots I’ve snapped in the past month. Hopefully you enjoy them.