Design Crit

Task One: Part C

2006-06-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

www.design-emotion.com

Brands, products and emotions. June 1, 2006

Maybe it’s just me in my over enthusiasm but when I saw a website called Design and Emotion: All about the emotional side of products brand and design, I expected a little, well emotion in the design critiques. I had hoped that this blog would be all about living within the designed environment- the stormy relationships, the break-ups, jealousy, hate, passion, desire & need. What I found was a fairly slick and professionally presented site which I dared to hope was simply a cool skin of indifference that masked vibrant emotional turmoil. Maybe the design of the website was just playing hard to get and demanded that the reader become more acquainted with the intellectual content before making any judgements about its appearance. I chose an article which I thought had the most potential for dealing with these issues, Design, products and emotions. It doesn’t get much more straightforward than that and the author makes some good opening comments to suggest that some insightful observational judgements are pending;

brands make us experience products differently and that emotions that are experienced with brands and products are important indicators of future feelings or sentiments.

I was excitedly anticipating a juicy story in the works- can we make this relationship work? Is it doomed to fail? Have I found an mp3 player that can make me happier than you my tempestuous ipod? The writer begins with a good example of the coca cola Vs Pepsi challenge where our loyalties are tested. It seemed to me that in this challenge tests and divides our emotions between what feels good and what is familiar. By blindfolding the user and making us choose one over the other, the question is one of fidelity; will we remain faithful or will we cheat on the brand partner we grew up with? Unfortunately the example was just an opening comment, and instead the article launches into a history of branding. Ok, I can handle that- every relationship has a ‘history’.
My hopes are quickly dashed however and the romanticism is washed away by the glaring harsh fluorescent lights of analytical research and literary references. The article turns out to be a fairly researched look at the intertwining relationship of brand and the product on which the author makes some interesting observations, but without examples that could have really lifted the energy of the article. The tone throughout is thoughtful but non committal, shying away from the heat of emotion and personal expression. This is theory led criticism, analytical and academically informed which could, according to Attoe in Methods of Criticism and Response to Criticism, be describe as 'prescriptive criticism' that searches for a system or data led methodology of assessing the relationship between brand, products and consumer emotion.

The article concludes by acknowledging that the relationship between brands and products in respect to experienced emotions needs to be more thoroughly researched and studied before it can be fully realised. In this the author seems to be in the position of relying on the weight of academia before making any specific observations - an early stage of reflective judgement, according to King and Kitchener. But it is also obvious that the author does not intend this to be an 'interpretive' or highly personally based article. He uses a rhetorical questioning technique to suggest that this article is not so much a critical judgement of design but more of a comment on the importance of the issue and should be used as a starting point of discussion/research for the reader to investigate.

As a piece of criticism on brand and product, this is nice introduction to the issue, but doesn’t critically evaluate the issue itself. The author does not establish a position or method of criticism, but offers guidelines that are not followed through with any conviction.

wwww.underconsideration.com/speakup/

Postmodern Bible Stories, Book Review

Packaging is everything. And by packaging I don’t mean a jar with a label on it. But the way certain things are packaged for a smoother ride down people’s throats.

It is clear from the very beginning that the object of design scrutiny, in this case a book review of Postmodern Bible Stories will be dealt with a definite humour bordering on cynicism that belies a much stronger opinion and even distaste for this recent attempt at ‘packaging’ religion.

The beginning of the article is a lead up to Armin’s views, where he is 'amused' by the qualities of the book’s design and competent visual material. But the 'book design review' soon slides as the author launches his attack into the real issue at hand- marketing strategies. While Armin concedes that 'packaging' religion is nothing new but often a matter of necessity inherent in any attempt to 'spread the good word', there is perhaps too much of a personal opinion offered in this review to make it an even handed critical judgment as even the author acknowledges this with something of a disclaimer at the end I imagine I am somewhat removed from this target audience.

This is a happily shameless 'interpretive' piece of criticism (Attoe) that will reference items of pop culture, as justification of opinion;

The book is dubbed as “risk-taking”. I failed to see any risks taken. Mel Gibson that’s risk taking!

Thus it may not at first glance, seem to be a particularly useful contribution to design criticism, however it should also be noted that the language and style befits the auhtor's audience and nature of the website. Speak Up is a website that describes itself as being '(in)famous' for provoking discussion and debate and being daring enough to be forthright in their views. The audience of this site is presumably comprised largely of visual designers, and design appreciators. And thus because we are aware of the author’s position and the light heartedness of the article we can enjoy and join in on his critique of the book which becomes useful to design criticism as a means of opening up discussion and offering articulate and aggressive opinions. This sentiment for more design criticism is similarly addressed The Time for Being Against by Rick Poyner. Speak Up is assuming a kind of 'public intellectual' role as the kind of writer who chooses to occupy this cultural position, to think in public and address the broadest possible readership [1]. Thus though this is a design criticism website, this public domain/audience that does not necessarily comprise of academics that would inherently limit their ability to criticise [2], and which is 'not academic in tone', allows this author to critique as he feels. The importance of this in design criticism is addressed in Flying, Stealing: Design’s Improper Criticism by Steve Baker. While the article is not quite the 'fictional' type of criticism Baker suggests, it is certainly an unrestricted and sometime playful form of writing quite distinct from the more obviously practical or serious minded concerns of most design history and theory [3]

As a piece of reflective judgement, the review comes from a direct relationship to the product that asks for no academic/institutional backing. This alone might seem only an early stage of reflective judgement, but as a designed object that attempts to break into the 'coveted 18-34 demographic' of popular culture, the author thus uses examples from this field to give weight to his argument. In light of this, you could say the review is fairly reflective (mid to high stages) in the way that a. the author acknowledges that his position may not be the best one to critique the success in achieving what the book proposes but b. also believes that he has a credible enough say by being both familiar with the Bible, and as a member of this popular culture to which it is targeted. He also recognises that there is a history to 'religious packaging' and that what he knows and understands of it comes from a particular point of view.

Armin is also a designer and so his critique on the visual and design of the overall product is useful and admits that the design of the book is as unconventional as it claims to be compared to 'Bible illustration' standards. Lastly he also takes into account the aim of the publishers themselves

Postmodern Bible Stories’ is packaged with conviction from its publisher- and is done so in perfect harmony with the rest of their books and overall enterprise

Task One: Evaluative

2006-06-28T03:29:00.000-07:00

In a long room on the top floor of Pier2/3, 180,000 palm sized clay figurines stand in silent attention. Each one has been carefully positioned to the effect of having the viewer look out upon an enormous sea of gazes, calm in stillness yet also alive with a tension in its vastness, and though each figurine was specifically designed to have eyes but no mouth, the silence in itself is deafening.

This is Gormley’s latest instalment of his Field series, Asian Field 2003. Lining the gallery walls in an adjoining room are 300 black and white portrait photos of the volunteers who made the sculptures, all from the village of Xianxian Guangzhou, China. Accompanying each photos is another that displays one of their creations and we can see how each figurine is imprinted with the tenderness or strength, the fancifulness or seriousness with which the makers crafted their piece. Each one becomes so very unique, quaint and quirky and with all the markings of an individual’s own idiosyncrasies that are otherwise lost in the Field itself.

The portraits are a new feature of Gormley’s Field series, as in previous exhibitions he featured only the impressive Field. For the viewers, it gives us a more intimate relation to the Field that becomes a collection of people; they have an identity as opposed to being a sea of anonymous gazes. And this I believe may alter the deeper meaning of the artwork. While Gormley suggests that the Field 'glows', "energised by fire" to give the audience, including one must assume the makers of the artwork, an empowering feeling, there is also a definite weight of oppression and sorrow to the artwork that is perhaps most keenly felt by the workers themselves and which thus begs the question of whom the artwork empowers:

A meeting of unequal gazes Sun Hui, 32 [1]

This Field feels dusty and even a little tired especially in the context of the gallery space- an old disused sheep shearing warehouse, dimly lit and tomb like in its abandoned grandness. (For his exhibitions around China, Gormley used similar sites- an old factory in Shanghai, a large underground concrete car park or possibly the basement level of a big building in Beijing. Each site rests like a tomb. They are the shells of sites that once housed activity and life and purpose but which now have a solemness to them; dull in colour, lowly lit, and always high roofed towering over the tiny figurines. There is an enormity of loneliness in these spaces.) Resting in amongst the Field lie outdated and rusted sheep shearing machinery, unbending like old sentinels that stand out of sheer pride rather than necessity. The artwork feels like a time and place and people forgotten or perhaps ignored.

Like the dust in our hearts Fang Wei, 25 [2]

The black and white photos, are like 'remembrance' shots in a 'lest we forget fashion' but with the understanding that we already have and will once again forget.

Numerous eyes watching you imploringly, you realise something must be done Da D [3]

Still, there is something undeniably magnificent about Asian Field, 2003. Whether it is the sheer magnitude or that the Field of eyes seems to hold you in trance. For the audience to interpret this work, perhaps it comes down to a question of whether or not This field of gazes looking at you, make you its subject [4], or it is you who are looking from the supreme position of power as a master might survey his crops and land.

[1], [2], [3] Asian Field, Human Fine Arts Publishing House. Hunan, China.

[4] 2006 Biennale of Sydney, Zones of Contact. Biennale Handbook, Pg 20

Task One: Interpretive

2006-06-28T03:17:00.000-07:00

Empowerment is one of the themes addressed by Antony Gormley’s latest instalment of the Field series, Asian Field 2003. In a long room on the top floor of Pier2/3, 180,000 palm sized clay figurines are carefully positioned to the effect of having the viewer look out upon an enormous sea of silent gazes, calm in stillness yet also alive with a tension and energy in its vastness, and though each figurine was specifically designed to have eyes but no mouth, the silence gazes are themselves deafening.

When confronted by this 'seascape' you are at once overcome by the sheer magnitude of the artwork and yet at the same time feel larger and more real than what it evokes, as if you were perhaps looking at the memory or an intangible spirit of a presence. This is perhaps why Gormley suggests the work invokes the spirit of our ancestors and the spirit of the unborn [1] and that while we are made the subject of this 'field of gazes' we are also empowered and reminded of the fact that we are the maker(s) of the world [2]. As testimony to this, the walls of an adjoining room are lined with the black and white portrait photos of the 300 volunteers who hand crafted each sculpture, and are each accompanied by another photo of one of their creations.

But the role of the viewer to the artwork becomes a dialectic one, a fluctuating power struggle of sorts where you are unsure as to whether you are the subject of this gaze or if you are in fact in the superior position of looking out over and down upon them as a master might survey his people or land. In a review by Anthony Bond, Head Curator International Art for one of Anthony’s earlier Field installations, he offers that I immediately responded to this mass gaze with guilt felt on behalf of mankind that has so badly bruised the land out of which it arose. Others claim to feel godlike. Perhaps both are appropriate [3]

But the exhibition Zones of Contact is not only about the meeting of gazes and contexts;

to experience a work of art is to enter an interval between time, a pause in time. In doing so, it offers a different way of seeing who we are and a new zone of contact [4]

In Field Gormley attempts to confront or create for the viewer a kind of understanding or knowledge. Field gives the viewer access to a wider picture transcending typical frames of reference, starting from notions of what is a gallery space to how much impact we have, can have and think we can have upon the world. He is also attempting to create or reconnect our relationship with of man to the earth which is investigated, not only through the terracotta figures but also the old sheep shearing machinery that rests among the sculptures. The machinery gives the work a greater sense of industry, toil and working with the land,

I really like the idea that Field belongs back in the earth. It is to be buried or to melt back into the earth. [5]

[1], [2], 2006 Biennale of Sydney, Zones of Contact. Biennale Handbook, Pg 20

[3] http://collection.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/
collection/results.doview=detail&images=
true&dept=western/contemporary&db=object&browse=
western/contemporary/browse&id=24738

[4] 2006 Biennale of Sydney, Zones of Contact. Biennale Handbook, Pg 4

[5] http://www.fdavidpeat.com/interviews/gormley.htm

Task Two Part D

2006-06-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

The reviews of my design crit were actually really useful, especially as we were asked to close read and critique it against certain criteria. Not only does it give me a picture of how others read and understand my review, but also how they interpret this against the assignment brief and as a piece of criticism.

It was good to have my work reviewed by people who weren’t from discipline and could pick up where I was being exclusive in my terminology, and if criticism is something that should be more adopted and open to the public, then this is an invaluable insight.

Task Two Part C

2006-06-28T03:13:00.000-07:00

The Postcard: Picture Australia

In a critique of visual communication it is often useful to consider the medium on which the image is presented as a feature of the visual design itself, and in this case, as a visual communication object and strategy, this postcard advertisement for the Picture Australia Organisation has ticked all the right boxes.

‘But I’ve never seen it before so how successful could it be?’ I hear you say. ‘Not to mention that next to nobody uses them anymore and it wouldn’t be a very effective way to advertise something.’ And true, you’d be right on both accounts. Postcards as means of advertising and communication, even at the height of popularity, was inevitably doomed to be outmoded, and have always been more about the novelty than the necessity. Ironically enough, this may also be the very reason why postcards have survived the last century of Telstra, Nokia and Gmail. It is because the postcard never pretended to be anything more than a novelty that its use was assured if not widespread.

The humble postcard never desired global communication dominance nor tried to compete with other, bigger, bossy communication technologies; instead they appealed to the more sentimental side of the user/receiver and created for itself a market niche as the quaint, kitschy and collectable form of correspondence, slipping under the destructive radar of new technology that leaves so much ‘dead media’ in its wake. (Which only goes to show that while technologies and all things associated with the necessities of life may date, the lure of the novelty and the ‘useless’ will always remain) Furthermore, the postcard also has that personal touch and as a hand generated, posted message in an age of digital media, will always have a slightly romanticised and antiquated quality.

In the Picture Australia postcard, these characteristics are favourably exploited. The front side features a black and white photo, taken in 1945 and capturing a jubilant moment in time of cheeky carefree children. This is classic nostalgia for we of the 21st century, who look fondly back on the time when the war was ending and the world was emerging form the devastating effects of depression toward a more hopeful and optimistic age. Conceptually the postcard has embodied an engaging sentiment that is matched by the ‘playful and novel’ nature of the medium. Aesthetically, while the close cropping technique of the photo is a more modern aesthetic that focuses in on the faces and eyes of the subjects, the picture still exudes the right sentimentality associated with the glory days of ‘way back when’.

In this day and age however, nothing comes without a branding label and the spell is broken by the logo in the top right hand corner of the postcard. The moment is lost to an obvious advertising strategy.

Picture Australia is an organisation that manages a visual archive for many significant online pictorial collections [1] primarily featuring black and white photographs and old painting prints of the early Australian lifestyle and landscape. And though the sans serif font of the logo (reminiscent of the earliest styles of type) and its black, white and antique terracotta colour scheme attempt to reflect a certain period it is too thoroughly modern, especially the pictogram of Ned Kelly. While this may be appropriate for the organisation, something is decidedly lost in the mood of the photo.

But according to Avant Card, a free postcard advertising company through which this postcard was printed and distributed, Picture Australia has closely followed a winning formula:

It has been proven that the fastest moving cards out of the displays are a simple strong image with no logos on the front and minimal text on the front. [2]

The back side of the postcard is a fairly standard format, most likely the publishers design with a blank space for the message and ruled lines for the address separated by the publisher’s details;

Cards with space for people to write on the back are also super popular [3].

It is in all a fairly subtle and unobtrusive design, as suited to the nature of the organisation, though small inclusions help to ‘sell’ it further: captions explaining the photo, repeated logo with the URL, tag lines for the organisation ‘one simple search, many collections’ and a cropped section of the front picture in the space reserved for the postage stamp, all reveal another fundamental component to the success and survival of the postcard medium and ultimately the reason why Photo Australia chose this method of communication- its advertising potential.

In the early 1900’s when the postcard enjoyed its most popular period, the successful Real Photo Postcards primarily featured advertisements signalling the commercial potential of postcards which became an intrinsic part of the medium, and where visuals (not necessarily the written message) played the vital role in sustaining its use,

…the picture postcard hobby became the greatest collectible hobby that the World has ever known. The official figures from the U.S. Post Office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, cite 677,777,798 postcards mailed. That was at a time when the total population of the U.S. was 88,700,000. [4]

Though postcards may not have the same user-ship they enjoyed in 1908, the advertising success of postcards relies on the same formula which this postcard has closely followed in order to increase its usability, readership and ‘collectable/pick-up’ quality. And even though the readership of the postcards is comparatively small and while this postcard may only reach a limited audience it can also potentially be a highly specified and targeted one.

Avant Card cites that most of our audience is tertiary educated, in full time employment and earning middle to a high disposable income and that their postcards reach approximately 4 million people with a readership multiplier of 2.5. As the products sold by Picture Australia are not typically the consumer goods of a technology thirsty general public and are unlikely to become pop culture fodder, the Avant Card audience would seem appropriate. Educational institutions, museums, galleries, art house cinemas are all venues specifically targeted by Avant Card where Art is at the very heart of its design and are generally places where the more conventional methods of commercial advertising are not often found.

If this research is anything to go by, then Picture Australia has achieved a fairly cost effective and successful advertising campaign using a sound aesthetic with a great ‘pick up’ potential, which for this particular organisation might just be satisfactory enough. For postcards, even if they aren’t used to communicate across the globe but are instead lovingly stuck to the fridge door or made into dog-eared bookmarks, to have their legacy live on for another intensely new media saturated day might just be enough as well.

[1], [4] http://pictureaustralia.org/

[2], [3] http://www.avantcard.com.au/GeneralPage.php?id=4

Task Two Part A

2006-06-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, grab a coffee, its a li'l bit a long...

The Postcard: Picture Australia

In a critique of visual communication it is often useful to consider the medium on which the image is presented as a feature of the visual design itself, and in this case, as a visual communication object and strategy, this postcard advertisement for the Picture Australia Organisation has ticked all the right boxes. Of course you may argue that ‘I’ve never seen it before so how successful can it be?’ and that ‘postcards are hardly the most effective, efficient or popular method of mass media advertising or communication’. And on both accounts you are likely to be right. For even at the height of its popularity the postcard as a means of communication, was inevitably doomed to be outmoded and has always been more about the novelty than the necessity. Ironically however, this may also be the very reason why postcards have managed to survive the last century of increasingly fast, efficient and certainly more convenient communication methods. Indeed it may be that because the humble postcard never pretended to be anything more than a novelty, its use was assured if not widespread. Postcards never desired global communication dominance nor tried to compete with other communication technologies; instead they appealed to the more sentimental side of the user/receiver and created for itself a market niche as the quaint, kitschy and collectable form of correspondence thus slipping under the destructive radar of new technology that leaves so much ‘dead media’ in its wake. (Which only goes to show that while technologies and all things associated with the necessities of life may date, the lure of the novelty and the 'useless' will always remain) The postcard also has that personal touch and ultimately the greatest message of the postcard is not necessarily the one written but the one that that is imbued within the object itself saying: ‘Well even though I’m over here and you’re over there, I’m still thinking of you (not in any great detail perhaps, else I would write you a letter, but at least I’m still thinking) and so I thought to send you this’. And as a hand generated, posted message in an age of digital media, postcards will always have that slightly romanticised and antiquated quality.

In the Picture Australia postcard, these characteristics have been favourably exploited. The front side features a black and white photo, taken in 1945 and capturing a jubilant moment in time of cheeky carefree children. This is all classic nostalgia, and while the close cropping technique is a more modern aesthetic, the photo evokes the right sentimentality associated with the glory days of ‘way back when’. Unfortunately the spell is broken by the logo in the top right hand corner. Gone is the memory of a bygone era, instead replaced by an obvious advertising strategy. As may be assumed, Picture Australia is an organisation that manages a visual archive for many significant online pictorial collections [1]. It primarily features black and white photographs and old painting prints of the early Australian lifestyle and landscape, and though the sans serif font of the logo (reminiscent of the earliest styles of type) and its black, white and antique terracotta colour scheme attempt to reflect a certain period it is too thoroughly modern, especially in the flat vector shape symbol (which is more often a practical requirement in logo design) of Ned Kelly. While this may be appropriate for the organisation, something is lost in the mood of the photo. However, the logo is not overly obtrusive and according to Avant Card, Picture Australia seems to have followed a fairly winning formula It has been proven that the fastest moving cards out of the displays are a simple strong image with no logos on the front and minimal text on the front. [2]

The back side of the postcard is a fairly standard format, most likely the publishers design with the token white space for the message and ruled lines for the address separated by the publisher’s details, cards with space for people to write on the back are also super popular [3]. It is in all a fairly subtle and unobtrusive design, as suited to the nature of the organisation, however small inclusions help ‘sell’ the organisation further as the objective of the ‘postcard as advertisement’ becomes more obvious: captions explaining the photo, repeated logo with the URL, tag lines for the organisation ‘one simple search, many collections’ and a cropped section of the front picture in the space reserved for the postage stamp all reveal perhaps another fundamental component to the success and survival of the postcard medium- its advertising potential.

In the early 1900’s when the postcard enjoyed its most popular period, the successful Real Photo Postcards primarily featured advertisements signalling the commercial potential of postcards which became an intrinsic part of the medium, and where visuals (not necessarily the written message) played the vital role in sustaining its use,

the picture postcard hobby became the greatest collectible hobby that the World has ever known. The official figures from the U.S. Post Office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, cite 677,777,798 postcards mailed. That was at a time when the total population of the U.S. was 88,700,000. [4]

Though they may not have the same user-ship they enjoyed in 1908, the advertising success of postcards today relies on the same formula- engaging visuals and the functional but largely ‘token blank space’ on the back, both of which increase its usability, readership and ‘collectable/pick-up’ quality. And while the postcard may have a comparatively small audience it can potentially also be a fairly targeted one.

Avant Card, a free postcard Australian advertising company through which this postcard was printed and distributed, cites that most of our audience is tertiary educated, in full time employment and earning middle to a high disposable income and that their postcards reach approximately 4 million people with a readership multiplier of 2.5. So there is at least a considerable population of people out there defying the digital age and as the products sold by Picture Australia are not typically the consumer goods of a technology thirsty general public and are unlikely to become pop culture fodder, the Avant Card audience would seem appropriate. Educational institutions, museums, galleries, art house cinemas are all venues specifically targeted by Avant Card where Art is at the very heart of its design and are generally places where the more conventional methods of commercial advertising are not often found.

If this research is anything to go by, then Picture Australia has achieved a fairly cost effective and successful advertising campaign using a sound and capable aesthetic with a great ‘pick up’ potential, which for this particular organisation might just be satisfactory enough. For postcards, even if they aren’t used to communicate across the globe and are instead stuck to the fridge door or made into dog-eared bookmarks, to have their legacy live on for another intensely new media saturated day might just be enough as well.

[1], [4] http://pictureaustralia.org/

[2], [3] http://www.avantcard.com.au/GeneralPage.php?id=4

Taste

2006-06-19T05:03:00.000-07:00

1. Favourite Television Show in the last 2 years. How many hours television do you watch a week?
House. Maybe 3-5hrs a week?

2. What sort of camera do you have? What do you take pictures of: events, friends and relatives, things I find interesting, beautiful things?

Digital camera. Events, travels, all things strange and/or interesting. I’m a bit of a snap happy/wannabe artistic type photographer

3. What sort of car would you like to drive? How often would you get under the bonnet of that car?

I would ‘like’ to ride a motorcycle…do they have bonnets?

4. Do you play a musical instrument? Which?

Nope, but not though lack of want…just effort…

5. List your most favourite and least favourite type of music?

6. Which of the following would you visit or attend at least twice a year: art galleries, museums, public lectures, public libraries, political meetings, demonstrations or rallies?

Ideally, museums and art galleries.

7. List 4 films you have seen in the last year, from favourite to least favourite, and indicate how you saw them (cinema, video/dvd rental, video/dvd owned, pay TV, free-to-air TV)?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Donnie Darko, Clockwork Orange, Narnia (terrible)
All of them on dvd, Narnia at the cinemas…shame

8. What is your favourite sport or game to play? What is your favourite sport or game to watch?

9. Where would like to travel to (apart from to friends or relatives)?

Everywhere. Big cities to small villages to out in the middle of nowhere

10.What is your primary source of news? To what extent to do you take an interest in the news?

Newspapers, probably the SMH. I guess I would have a moderate interest; I read everyday though not always in depth, more like a glance at headlines

11. Should the government be spending more or less funding on: tax relief, sport, the arts, the environment.

12.Which country are you from? Could you live in a country other than where you were raised for the rest of your life?

Australia. Yes, quite a few actually

13.Where do you tend to meet your friends: at each other’s homes, shopping centres, pubs or clubs, cafes and restaurants, parks or exercising?

Pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants

2006-06-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

blog?