daniel modell

Last post on this blog!

2009-03-09T00:15:00.000-04:00

I've switched over to a hosted version of Wordpress.

For all future blog updates, please visit:

http://www.danielmodell.com/blog/

The original Twitter, circa 1935

2009-02-15T01:15:00.009-05:00

This is one of those inventions that was just way ahead of its time.

From the blog Modern Mechanix:

Robot Messenger Displays Person-to-Person Notes In Public
TO AID persons who wish to make or cancel appointments or inform friends of their whereabouts, a robot message carrier has been introduced in London, England.

Known as the “notificator,” the new machine is installed in streets, stores, railroad stations or other public places where individuals may leave messages for friends.

The user walks up on a small platform in front of the machine, writes a brief message on a continuous strip of paper and drops a coin in the slot. The inscription moves up behind a glass panel where it remains in public view for at least two hours so that the person for whom it is intended may have sufficient time to observe the note at the appointed place. The machine is similar in appearance to a candy-vending device.

Thanks to my buddy Dens for the awesome link.

I live this

2009-02-14T05:31:00.003-05:00

As a kid, I was a huge Lego addict. I invented whole planets, societies, space colonies. I never used the kits. There were always those people who could make a life size representation of the statue of liberty or a Corvette Shelby, and I was in awe of their ability.

But just as the painstaking accuracy of these giant creations were impressive, so is this minimalist set created by Christoph Neimann.

And he doesn't even live in New York City.

I LEGO N.Y.

Bush brackets administration by screwing working people

2008-12-01T01:12:00.003-05:00

Remember way back in early 2001? You know, before our country was attacked by cavemen and we were thrown into a perpetual war from which we may never emerge?

Well, George W. Bush had just taken office, and was hard at work during his first 100 days destroying any pieces of Clinton's legacy he could get his hands on.

One of the ones that stuck out for me was the OSHA workplace ergonomics rules. You know, the ones that would have cut down on repetitive stress injuries which would have improved productivity and reduced medical costs? Well, it was deemed "too expensive" for businesses and simply thrown out, baby, bathwater and all.

Now, in his final days as The Decider, Bush is making sure to cement his legacy as the most evil president in American history by enacting new rules to deny everyone possible badly-needed protection from the health effects of toxic substances, some of which are known causes of cancer (or worse) such as: asbestos, benzene, cotton dust, formaldehyde, lead, silica, beryllium, diacetylvinyl chloride and blood-borne pathogens, including the virus that causes AIDS.

No crony left behind.

2001:
Bush signs repeal of ergonomic rules into law

WASHINGTON — President Bush signed into law Tuesday a repeal of Clinton administration regulations that set new workplace ergonomic rules to combat repetitive stress injuries.

2008:
Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Rule Obama Opposes

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.

I'm willing to take that risk

2008-11-04T07:57:00.003-05:00

On election day, I compiled a list of some of the most common reasons I've been emailed by people in the past few weeks as to why I shouldn't vote for Barack Obama. I could sit here and refute the charges line by line, but I'd rather not dignify some of them with a response. So I've come up with a answer that I will apply to all of them.

Barack Obama doesn't have any international experience.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama doesn't understand economics.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama favors the Geneva Convention for suspected terrorists.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama has a name that sounds like Osama bin Laden.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama has a relationship with Acorn, a group accused of encouraging "voter fraud."
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama has gotten a free pass by the "liberal" media.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama has the middle name Hussein, so he must be allied with terrorists.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is a "pro-abortion" extremist.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is a cult of personality.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is a target for assassination.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is against a border fence with Mexico.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is against all offshore drilling.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is an intellectual elitist who doesn't understand "middle America."
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is more popular in Europe than he is in the United States.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is the most liberal senator in congress.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is weak on support for Israel.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama is willing to meet with foreign dictators without preconditions.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama lacks the experience to be president.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama looks down on people who "cling to guns and religion."
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama served on a community board with William Ayers.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama supports "socialized" medicine.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama supports gay marriage and adoption.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama wants to "spread the wealth around."
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama wants to downsize the military.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama wants to end the Iraq war and admit "defeat."
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama wants to take guns away from Americans.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama will increase the Federal deficit.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama will spend taxpayer money on social programs.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama's former pastor is an anti-American racist.
I'm willing to take that risk.

Barack Obama's wife is unpatriotic.
I'm willing to take that risk.

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons not listed here to not vote for Barack Obama, but if choosing change is risky, keeping the status quo would be a disaster.

It's been said the greater the risk, the greater the reward. So I'm willing to take that risk.

Undecided is un-American

2008-11-02T21:58:00.004-05:00

Just imagine what it would be like if we ever had 100% voter turnout in the United States. Can you picture it?

Now get out and vote!

This design idea didn't come to me in time to make a t-shirt before the election, but I think it's still worth posting here.

My undecided friend

2008-10-23T23:24:00.012-04:00

I'm somewhat surprised at how anyone can still be undecided at this point, after nearly two years of campaigning and just under two weeks to go to the election.

But tonight, a very good friend sent the following email. I felt I had to do my best to articulate my views, which I realized I had not done recently. It turned out to be a very helpful exercise. So to my friend Ron, thank you for this opportunity.

Hello Everyone,

I'm writing to a select group of people whose opinions I respect to ask for just that: your opinions. As some of you already know I haven't made up my mind yet about who I'm going to vote for. The closer we get to election day, the less sure I am. While I think Obama's going to win anyway, I still believe my vote counts and I'd like to hear any thoughts you may have about why I should vote one way or another.

Here's where I'm coming from: I'm registered as a Democrat but I've voted on both sides of the aisle over the years. I'm going with the premise that both Obama and McCain would make good presidents. I just want you to convince me which one would be better.

If you're going to try to convince me that McCain is more of Bush, don't bother.

If you're going to tell me that Obama is a Muslim associated with the Weathermen and Rev. Wright etc. also don't bother.

I'm not interested in hearing why either candidate is BAD, I want to hear why one would be BETTER. So please go with my premise when you answer this e-mail.

Thanks,

Ron

So, I wrote the following message off the top of my head:

Hi Ron,

I am voting for Barack Obama because he believes that Americans are smart enough not to be persuaded by fear, greed and xenophobia, and because he represents a wider swath of the nation with a philosophy that includes people rather than excludes them.

He supports peaceful dialogue as opposed to dangerous warmongering, doesn't believe that drilling is our only answer to the energy crisis and doesn't support the trickle down theory of economics. He believes in stem cell research, evolution and women's rights including reproductive rights. He's a Christian without being a fundamentalist and he picked a vice presidential candidate who actually knows what a vice president does. And if that's not enough he also supports Israel and not because of a belief that Jesus will one day appear in Jerusalem to usher in the Rapture.

I am voting for Barack Obama beacuse I want my child to grow up in a world where his country is respected again. A world where we don't torture people, invade countries that didn't attack us, where great, inexpensive health insurance is a right and where my vote is fairly counted no matter what my skin color or economic level is.

I'm voting for Obama because he really appears to bring out the best America has to offer, and I am inspired by what I have witnessed in so many people this year.

Daniel

I hope this helps you make your decision. But don't just take it from me. I have some friends at the New York Times and the Washington Post who also agree.

Blast from the past

2008-09-30T20:46:00.006-04:00

In honor of Google's tenth birthday, they brought back the search engine as it was in 2001. Naturally, I Googled myself to see what would come up. And to my surprise, I found the intro graphic that I made for the first professional web site I designed in my career back in 1995.

Back then, big intro graphics were all the rage, and this one clocked in at a whopping 56kb. At the time, I knew next to nothing about file size optimization, and being on a university T1, I didn't really give much thought to the roughly 10 seconds it would take download the page over a 56kbps connection. But hey, at least I thought enough to offer them a low-bandwidth option!

Here's the accompanying text from the page:

Remember the rotating S? That was the handywork of two designers/techs from SU. They were Daniel Modell and Jing Jia. These two were the creators of the original Sybercuse, what we like to call Version One! The Project Manager assigned to the task of overseeing this huge undertaking was chief engineer Conrad Trautmann. With a couple of Macs and a high speed connection the making of Sybercuse was under way. When the time came for the unveiling of the site.. Joel thought what better place than the New York State Fair?

I'm pretty interested/freaked out to see what else I might find.

Dead, again

2008-09-21T01:00:00.002-04:00

Dead, again, originally uploaded by dM.nyc™.

This is the second time in about a year my camera has had a "fatal" error. I paid over $200 last time I had to send it in. Not so sure I want to do that again.

Despite the fact that film costs an exponentially higher amount than digital, and that you can't see what you've taken until after you develop the roll, there's something to be said for the fact that between my wife and I, we have a pair of cameras between 20 and 35 years old that still function as well as ever.

Will there ever be a digital camera that can outlast a mechanical one? I doubt it, but two disasters in 13 months? That's just bullshit.

Vaya con Diós, Burritoville

2008-09-20T20:59:00.004-04:00

Well, it wasn't a surprise but it was still a shock. It had only been a few weeks since our last trip to Burritoville on 23rd St, and tonight we tried to visit the 72nd St location but the gates were down.

A helpful passerby noted that we should try the Chipotle a block away.

Great, but you can't get a vegetarian chili burrito, a spinach and mushroom quesadilla or Bob Marley's Last Burrito there. Not to mention the "TLT Wrap", a salad burrito consisting of pico de gallo, a spicy secret sauce and tofu bacon, which hadn't been on the menu for years but could still be ordered with a wink at any of the remaining locations.

It's a very sad day. Burritoville was not without its quirks (locations without bathrooms, basement doors that open right below the line where you order food, etc.) but it was a lovable, reliable place to grab a moderately healthy bite on a budget.

The New York Times confirmed my suspicions, that the local chain had been on its last legs for some time and couldn't handle the steady decline in business since the arrival of Chipotle.

I guess people just like to have a personal relationship with the creator of their burrito. But sometimes, you just want food that isn't quite so corporate. And it's getting more difficult every day. Even in New York City.

Now leaving Burritoville. Population zero.

Thwart Design Launches Tools for Dying

2008-09-16T15:02:00.001-04:00

Thwart Design Launches Tools for Dying, originally uploaded by La Mariposa.

I saw this today on one of my friends' Flickr photostreams. Very clever.

Frank Schaeffer: Sarah Palin: America's Lipstick Fascist

2008-09-06T02:28:00.001-04:00

Schaeffer makes the case that Palin may well be Mussolini in a skirt...

read more | digg story

A genius decision

2008-08-29T19:28:00.001-04:00

John McCain's choice for Vice President. Kind of leaves you speechless, doesn't it?

Come back to earth.

2008-08-28T19:32:00.004-04:00

A site I'm launching this week:

Earthyware.com

Handmade from South American river clay, Earthyware dates back to the age of the Incas. It's unglazed, lead free, heats evenly and a great multi-tasker–going from stovetop to oven to table with style. It cleans easily and can be used for years and years to come. Best of all, it’s free of teflon, making it a safe, eco-friendly solution.

Everybody's working for the weekend

2008-08-19T14:20:00.002-04:00

That is, unless every day is a weekend. That's the basic premise of the book I've been reading this week:

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

So far, so good. The techniques described within, such as limiting checking email to twice a day, and eventually to less than once per day make a lot of sense. We're all distracted by so many things on a daily basis, that unplugging from the self-imposed interruption machine is the best way to increase productivity. I predicted this trend years ago. When everyone was rushing to get online, I said to people, "Watch. In a few years, people will be paying good money to learn how to get OFF the internet."

And it has come to pass. I'm enjoying this book a lot, and I hope to have lots more time to write about how it's working for me.

A trend I hope sticks around

2008-06-09T23:16:00.005-04:00

I'm not a member of the punditocracy, and you won't find too much political content on this blog, but after a few days of paying close attention to the Gallup poll (yes, I know it's just an opinion poll, but where else am I going to look for this kind of gratification?), it appears that America may finally be coming to its senses. Can this be? On the heels of Hillary Clinton's withdrawal from the campaign (finally...) Barack Obama is now leading John McCain by a figure of 48% to 42%.

If we "Defeatocrats" can pull our act together, we'll finally win back the country and maybe, just maybe, in 16 years we'll begin to undo some of the damage of the previous 8.

Great escape

2008-06-09T22:22:00.007-04:00

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow Mac enthusiast, blogger and Chuck Palahniuk fan, Mike Phillips. Ordinarily, this would not be something to blog home about, but he also happens to be the star of a recent episode of the This American Life series on Showtime. (If you haven't seen the show, you are missing out on one of the truly great experiences that television has to offer - it's definitely not the radio program on screen.)

After discovering his blog through the show's web site, I found his IM address and chatted him up for about half an hour at around 1:00 am.

He's the real deal, and a genuinely amazing story. I hope to keep in touch.

There's an absolutely stunning photo on his blog in the style of Annie Liebovitz. I won't say any more, but check it out for yourself.

Got 30 minutes to spare? If you don't have Showtime, the episode is available on Joost.

Water, water, everywhere

2008-05-29T07:12:00.010-04:00

From Laurie David at StopGlobalWarming.org:

With 2.5 MILLION(!!) plastic water bottles being thrown away every hour in the United States, StopGlobalWarming.org is proud to partner with SIGG to create a re-usable water bottle so we can all do our part and ditch the plastic!

The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-partisan effort to bring citizens together to declare that global warming is here now and that it is time to demand solutions. Global Warming is the most urgent issue of our time, and the necessary first step to combat this problem is to encourage all Americans to take action! This online grassroots movement is about change-as individuals, as a country and as a global community. With the support of leading scientists, political, corporate and religious leaders, Prominent Americans and concerned citizens, the Virtual March is a way to come together, make our voices heard and demand that our leaders address global warming now! Add your voice to over a million citizens already marching! Once a person joins the Virtual March, they receive regular updates from StopGlobalWarming.org which highlight the effects of global warming on the U.S. and solutions that are readily available to each and every one of us. By spreading the word, we are building a movement to stop global warming.

Get one here.

Keyboard shortcuts will save your life

2008-04-25T22:55:00.001-04:00

It's safe to say, I haven't really figured out the clothing business. Starting a t-shirt company is a recurring dream, but it takes a fat wad of cash to do it on any level where you can produce enough to make a profit, let alone a living.

But the thing is, the ideas don't stop coming. I've actually got quite a backlog. So, I've decided to try to design one per month, and offering them for sale on Cafepress. I will post them on my Flickr page, my blog and my web site.

If you like them, let me know. I'm really just doing this for fun, but it wouldn't hurt to sell a few anyway.

If I get enough orders and demand, I'll start using a screen printer.

Available at Cafepress.com

Wild postings

2008-04-24T23:54:00.003-04:00

Much has been said this week on blogs more frequented than mine about whether or not a certain creative pair from DDB were actually involved in the creative development, copywriting, design, hair trimming, back rubbing or lunch ordering process of the notorious multiple award-winning Philips Bodygroom viral web site which I had the good fortune to work on as an Art Director at Tribal DDB.

Armed with tasty morsels of misinformation and not concerned to the slightest degree with accuracy, a snarky blogger by the name of Super Spy launched into a libelous rant, clumsily accusing the copywriter/designer pair Scott Ginsberg and January Vernon of everything short of insider trading for the stated offense of receiving credit for work that "they didn't actually produce." This, in the author's bitter logic, was the sole merit for them receiving job offers at Droga5.

Well, did they?

Not that anyone asked me, or the Creative Director, or the receptionist, or the cleaning lady, but if any of the above individuals at Tribal DDB (or DDB, which is in the same building - duh) had been questioned, they most certainly would have confirmed that, yes, of course, they were part of the team.

They did far more than a mere "wild posting campaign". Though they were not involved at the project's inception (the first couple of creative rounds were rejected by the client anyway), both were involved in creative brainstorming, copywriting, design, the video shoot, lunches from Angelo's pizza and the regular daytime debauchery required to produce this interactive masterpiece.

I've already said this and more on mediabistro, so I'll just wrap up with this personal message to Super Spy. Someone ought to out you for your own wild postings. I never read your blog once before someone brought it to my attention because of an issue I actually knew something about, and you obviously didn't. Are you prepared to eat a little crow now that you have heard the real story?

Cell phone bills make me nauseous

2008-04-24T22:44:00.001-04:00

Cell phone bills make me nauseous, originally uploaded by dM.nyc™.

Is anyone else feeling a bit crushed by the weight of cell phone bills these days? I'm really not sure what I'm even paying for anymore. Am I really getting my $20 worth of internet access when it seems to take forever to retrieve email or access a web page? And I can't remember the last time I ever dipped into my AT&T rollover minutes. Nights and weekends? I just don't have that many interesting things to say to people on the phone. Or, maybe that's it exactly. Most people don't have anything interesting to say, so they just... talk.

I'm gonna get so fat

2007-07-16T18:38:00.001-04:00

I've been eating at Chipotle a lot. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there's one in the building where I work. And now there's one just up the street from my apartment, and practically ANYWHERE ELSE I find myself these days.

So I've often wondered what kind of nutrition and calories I'm absorbing from these deliciously overstuffed monster burritos. Well, my curiosity has been satisfied with chipotlefan.com.

Here's a breakdown of the average meal I order:

Chipotle Nutrition Facts

1138 calories? Wow. Someone alert George Lucas.

dM

The Joost is loose

2007-04-09T00:31:00.001-04:00

Of all the “Internet is TV” promises heard over the past few years, Joost is the closest I’ve seen so far to the real thing. After finally receiving my beta test invite (sorry, I don't have any invites left), I’ve had a weekend to try it for myself, and I’m pretty impressed with what I see.

The channel guide is cleanly broken down by title as well as genre, and is of course searchable. The interface is completely transparent and disappears soon after a video starts. The star of the show is of course the full motion, full screen video, which looks pretty good on my MacBook, though it could be a bit annoying to watch on anything larger. It has a channel chat feature (which I could care less about, but some will find it cool), some widget thingies like an RSS news feed and a clock that you can pin to your screen to keep track of how much time you've been wasting spent.

I watched the first episode of Comedy Central’s Stella, some music videos, an indie flick, and last night caught a National Geographic nature show and an episode of Rocky & Bullwinkle with my kid. Something for everyone.

It’s still in beta so a lot of things need to be worked out. I experienced a lot of lagging, stuttering video and in some cases programs became unavailable halfway through watching them. I’d of course love to see more channels and more content (some UGC, perhaps?). I’m sure it’s going to become an advertiser’s dream once the community is built.

News at Seven

2007-01-03T00:36:00.003-05:00

If you like having RSS-enabled news and blog articles read to you (somewhat slowly) by a computer-generated news anchor, then News at Seven is for you.

It's the brainchild of Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory. The content is automatically generated and spoken through a series of characters from Half-Life 2 in settings that range from a virtual studio to man-on-the-virtual-street locations.

Is this the future of newscasting? Will news from war zones be conducted via armored camera-toting machines designed by iRobot and read by celebrity avatars in Second Life?

They report. You decide.

www.newsatseven.com

Flunking the human test

2006-12-27T15:59:00.002-05:00

A report card published recently in the Seattle Times states that out of 500 major American corporations, only 10% of them received an acceptable rating (grade C or above) in how well they dealt with customers over the phone. Only nine companies (that's the number 9, not 9%) received an A rating. The article goes on to state that entire industries (cable and satellite TV, insurance, software) are failing to meet minimum standards for telephone customer service.

The report card was compiled by Paul English, creator of the brilliant gethuman 500 database. It rates companies for such criteria as:

• Can you hit zero to speak to an operator?
• Does the system let you know how long you will have to remain on hold?
• Does the caller have to repeat information such as names and account numbers?
• How easy is it to understand the human customer representative who eventually answers?

Some companies have begun to respond to complaints about confusing menus, hard-to-find operators and other annoyances and started to make changes. For the rest of them, the volunteer-run web site at gethuman.com provides a constantly updated cheat sheet for how to avoid hold rage and actually speak to a human being. Whether or not you'll be able to understand them when they answer the phone is another issue.

Give me what I want

2006-12-20T23:05:00.002-05:00

In case you haven't seen it, Frontline (PBS) just re-aired its program The Persuaders on Tuesday evening. It takes an in-depth look at how brands are succeeding and failing at using emotional and psychological marketing methods to connect with consumers in a landscape that is becoming more complex and personalized by the minute.

It features some very thought-provoking segments with NYU communication professor Mark Crispin Miller, legendary market researcher Clotaire Rapaille, and Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts, author of the book Lovemarks, the Future Beyond Brands.

The entire program can be watched online at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/

2006-11-16T11:57:00.001-05:00

C-Wrappywriters Wanted

I was walking on 9th Avenue the other day when I came across a sign taped to the window of a sandwich shop that read:

"Give us a sentence for our ad, we will give you $1000.00 cash."

The web site address they gave out led me to hands down, beyond a shadow of a doubt the absolute worst web site I have seen in the 14 years I have been online.

Needless to say, I did submit a few sentences of my own. Perhaps after learning a little about their unique product, you'll be inspired to do the same. I mean, a thousand bucks is a thousand bucks.

www.chicagowrap.com

2006-10-31T11:57:00.000-05:00

Nissan Sentra: The official car of the homeless

My jaw nearly dropped to the sidewalk upon encountering this work of advertising genius on display at the corner of West 33rd St. and 9th Ave.

I have actually known people in my life who at one time or another have lived out of cars. I imagine it's not exactly a pleasant experience. I had to live in a car, a brand new subcompact import probably would not be my first choice.

And for non-homeless New Yorkers who can't afford to keep a car because of their ridiculously high rents, it's doubly insulting.

As it turns out, this is part of an online campaign called 7 Days in a Sentra where a lousy actor blogs about the joys of automotive living.