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These Emojis Have Truly Surprising Cultural Origins

August 3, 2015 by Dan Redding 3 Comments

viking praise emoji

Emojis seem to epitomize modern digital communication – but some of these symbols have cultural meanings that go back decades or even centuries. These eight emojis have cultural and historical meanings that will truly surprise you.

drooling face emojiCrying Face Emoji

Common usage: This emoji is used to convey feelings of sorrow or rejection. But that water droplet is not a tear; it is actually spit.

Real meaning and origin: In Japan, this emoji is used as an invitation to play ‘seeko han,’ a popular spitting game. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Writing, Graphic Design, Pop Culture, Satire, The Internet

A Tribute to Tracy Morgan

May 1, 2015 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Thankfully, Tracy Morgan is healing from his 2014 accident. Once he is done healing, he said, “I’ll get back to making you laugh. I promise you.”

Tracy Morgan has made me laugh very hard. The time he made me laugh the hardest was when we watched a movie together in Times Square. I’ve been living in New York City for 17 years now and I’d say it is one of my all-time favorite New York experiences.

My girlfriend and I had just sat down in the 42nd Street Regal to see Sam Raimi’s over-the-top horror/comedy masterpiece Drag Me to Hell. We were chatting in the half-full theater when a couple walked into our row. The man spilled popcorn on me as he clumsily climbed past. “My bad!” he exclaimed. The voice sounded familiar. “I’m spillin’ popcorn up in here! I’m outta control – somebody ’bout to get pregnant up in here!” It was Tracy Morgan, and he entered the theater using his own catchphrase.

Tracy sat down next to us and was talking loudly to his female companion. He apologized to me again about the popcorn, and we made a couple wisecracks about the movie trailers. I knew that he had just filmed the Kevin Smith flop Cop Out, and I asked him how it went. He made a few affable comments about the shoot, which I think was in Canada. Tracy was loud and boisterous, and generally acting like we were all in his living room. A few people in the audience turned around, squealed and waved. His presence was large and he was totally unabashed about it.

Drag Me to Hell was the perfect movie to watch with Tracy. It’s outrageous and hilarious – but also a loud romp that is only enhanced by some uproarious commentary. Tracy made a lot of brief wisecracks and interjections to the characters onscreen, but there was one moment in particular that I’ll never forget. Apparently, Tracy heard a fart in the audience after a particularly scary moment in the film. “Yo, he farted!” Tracy exclaimed. “Somebody got so scared, they farted!” Tracy was dying with laughter. Waves of laughter went through the audience, too.

Get better, Tracy. New York loves you.

 

Filed Under: Pop Culture

This Dramatic Shift Will Change the Web Forever

December 2, 2014 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Game developer Sergey Orlovskiy testing the Oculus Rift headset. Photo by Sergey Galyonkin

Game developer Sergey Orlovskiy testing the Oculus Rift headset. Photo by Sergey Galyonkin

Back in the nineties, the World Wide Web was a glorified bulletin board made of HTML. The online environment consisted mostly of static text and images. Then, in the early aughts, the so-called Web 2.0 era came along and the online experience became dynamic and interactive. According to Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle (who coined the term), “Web 2.0 is all about harnessing collective intelligence.” Examples of collective intelligence on the Web include Wikipedia (knowledge database written collaboratively by unpaid volunteers), Twitter (megaphone for revolutions and complaints), and, of course, Facebook (interactive repository of baby and pet photos). The 2.0 version of the Web is a stream of our collective unconscious where any troll, Dick, or Harry can contribute to conversation topics that are trending across the globe. So when will the Web shift to a new ‘3.0’ paradigm, and what might that look like?

Our collective online experience will change in response to a radical transformation in the vessels we use to navigate it. In other words, the next revolution in the online experience will stem from a shift in dominant computing platforms. During Facebook’s quarterly earnings statement in October, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Every 10-15 years a new major computing platform arrives, and we think virtual and augmented reality are important parts of this upcoming next platform.” Zuckerberg was referring to his Oculus virtual reality technology.

If companies like Facebook and Google are successful, the next dominant computing platform will [Read more…]

Filed Under: Pop Culture, The Internet, Web Design

New Digital Art Series: ‘Contact the Webmaster’

November 4, 2014 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Contact the Webmaster

I made a bunch of satirical art websites and named the series ‘Contact the Webmaster.’ You can view all of the sites at ContactTheWebmaster.com or here:

  • Falling Toasters
  • Haunted Toasters
  • Rate My Jesus
  • The Original Scented Website
  • Best Business Name Generator
  • FlavoredWebsite.com
  • The Internet’s Butt

The Internet is such a bizarre, surreal environment and it’s fun to use it as a playground. Two sources of inspiration while working on these sites were OfficialWebsiteOfAmerica.com and Cory Arcangel’s Super Mario Clouds installation at the 2002 Whitney Biennial.

Hopefully I’ll have more coming soon. Thank you!

Filed Under: Pop Culture, Web Design

Meet Sarah

August 29, 2011 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

I was amused by this dopey customer service interface that I encountered while setting up a customized PayPal account for a client. Sarah is more faux-bot than robot (she’s a mere jpeg slapped over a FAQ algorithm) but at least she has hopes and dreams. Nonetheless, she’s easily stumped. Just ask her “Why do doves cry?” and she will connect you with a bona fide human.

Filed Under: Pop Culture, Web Design

The Ones I Like to Wear When I Rock the Mic

July 23, 2011 by Dan Redding 1 Comment

During my art class yesterday, we listened to RUN DMC’s classic song ‘My Adidas’ and then discussed it. Last night, following the class, I literally dreamt about shopping for Adidas sneakers (the sneakers in my dream were elaborate, colorful Adidas sneaker-boots; I realize now that this was influenced by a scene about Lemmy‘s boots in the documentary I watched about him this week). This struck me as profoundly successful promotion, and got me wondering what kind of endorsement deal they signed. According to one source, “The hip-hop group’s song ‘My Adidas’ garnered a $1.5 million endorsement deal in 1986, and 19 years later, the partnership is still going strong.” Considering that this is the first time I can recall a promotional message leading directly to a dream about purchasing a product, I don’t think any sponsorship price tag could be high enough.

Filed Under: Pop Culture

The Tentacles of Advertising

July 20, 2011 by Dan Redding 1 Comment

That’s a first: today I rode a Swatch subway car. Of course the interior of a New York City MTA car is usually plastered with ads (this one was all Swatch – inside and out – an immersive brand experience), but this is the first time I’ve seen ads on the exterior of the car.

swatch subway ad

Over the weekend, I went to a baseball game at the Mets’ new stadium, Citi Field. Paula Scher’s Citibank logo (famously sketched on a napkin during a client meeting) is in gargantuan scale on the facade of the stadium. The tentacles of advertising have greatly extended their reach since the last time I was at a ballgame – it seems that even the sponsorships are sponsored these days. The stadium walls are a busy collage of ads – some of them animated digital billboards. The announcers on the Budweiser Jumbotron announced the winner of the PNC bank baseball quiz (an audience member held up her prize – a PNC bank travel mug – and forced a half-smile). On the stadium’s television screens, one logo swept over another – “This! Brought to you by that!” Now that all stadiums seem to have brand names instead of name names, we joked that the next logical step would be to rename the players themselves: Carlos Gatorade at first base, Ryan Delta Airlines at shortstop, and so on.

The subway ad seems like a no-brainer now that I think about it – ad execs must’ve been clamoring for a shot at that enormous, moving billboard for years. But who let them have it? The cash-strapped MTA? Being forced to endure ads taller than I am when the G train (finally) pulls up is invasive, abrasive, and obnoxious. I hope that the public does not become too complacent about the ever-expanding role of advertising in our lives. We have voices when it comes to this kind of thing, and social media has proven to be especially powerful in expressing our backlash against it.

Filed Under: Branding, Pop Culture

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Magnetic State is a design studio powered by Dan Redding. We create websites, brand identity, and print design. Wanna work together? Send Dan an email.

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