Vox Vocis

Poetry After
the Beep

On a whim, we asked people to read their favorite short poems into our answering machine for a project we called Verse By Voice. And they did, creating maybe the first-ever poetry meme. Make sure to listen to novelist Zadie Smith reading Frank O'Hara's Animals and Laura Demanski reading Gerard Manley Hopkins' Spring and Fall. Note: we didn't include what is surely not Christopher Walken reading EE Cummings, but that's worth a listen too. Jim talked about this project during his appearance on Public Radio's Hello Beautiful! and the photos are courtesy of Sam Javanrouh's Daily Dose of Imagery.

Best & Worst Photo Contest

Whaddaya Got?

A Greyscalegorilla/CP Joint. Pair up your best photo shot in 2008 with your worst and post 'em to Nick's Flickr Group. We'll make some random judgments and dole out prizes from Jewelboxing and Field Notes.

The Field-Tested Books Book

I Must Have Read That Somewhere

Announcing our biggest, best edition of Field-Tested Books yet. We looked over the shoulders of lots of smart people while they read lots of interesting books in lots of familiar and unfamiliar places and now you can too. All the Field Tests from this new collection and previous years are online. Plus, we've created a sweet, new, limited-edition poster with Spike Press and we're totally excited to say that the first-edition of The Field-Tested Books Book, a paperback containing 143 selected reviews, is also available for purchase. We'll be making a donation to First Book for every one we sell, so order a book for yourself and help us buy a truckload of new books for underprivileged kids. Buy one today, we'll ship it today.

Note: Our Field-Tested Books project was featured in a piece by Alison Cuddy on Chicago Public Radio's "Eight Forty-Eight".

The Museum Of Online Museums

Collective Intelligence

Tons of new listings, like The Museum of Bad Album Covers, have been posted for the fall at our Museum of Online Museums. The MoOM was featured on All Things Considered and in the NY Times. It was also selected as one of Time Magazine's 50 Coolest Websites and was discussed on a recent episode of NPR's Hello Beautiful! Consider joining our Museum Board, a subscription comes with a coffee mug but none of the snootiness so often associated with the patronage of cultural institutions.

I brake for quasi-religious symbols

Vehicle Identification System Update

We have word that recently two readers in New York, who followed our guidelines for updating their vehicle identification systems, pulled up alongside each other at a traffic light and celebrated their common bond by honking and pointing. Excellent. Our plot is beginning to take hold. Write for yours free today, but hurry, we only have tens of thousands left.

Field Notes Called Out

Stuff This

Our Field Notes Brand Memo Books and related products have been showing up on a lot of Holiday Gift Lists lately and we sure appreciate it. They make for a perfect stocking stuffer or even a place to write up your list. Did we miss your list here? Write us using the "contact" link below. Ars Technica Art of Manliness Manly Gift Guide The Examiner Core 77 Gear Patrol Lifehack Positive Space ReadyMade Magazine (print) This Next Turntable Labs Uncrate

About A Tuesday Night

What a Time
and Place to Be Alive

(Bigger Photo) Most of the CP crew and our families and friends had the honor and the privilege of being in Grant Park Tuesday night. Truth be told, that party really started forty summers ago. We owe this celebration to those who chanted then in that very same field, who chanted in defiance of people who would seek to bend America to their small-minded and selfish wills. As we we cried and hugged while Barack spoke of justice, equality and pride it was all we could think about. It was true then and it's true now. "The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching."

A CP Film Copy Goes Here

Inaction Heroes

For the proper effect, check the trailer first and then please take a few minutes (eleven actually) to watch our short feature film about words, pictures and bravery, Copy Goes Here. In case you missed it, here's what our home page looked like when we debuted the movie.

An SD Film Regrets

Passing Fancy

If you're at all like us and are better suited for starting things than you are for finishing them, you ought to pay attention to the fifth film in Steve's "Regrets" series, Hobbies.

Layer Tennis The Final Fiasco

Forth and Back

It was a long, amazing Layer Tennis Season, relive it here while we start planning the next one. The matches were presented by Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 , the weapon of choice for creative people and Layer Tennis players everywhere. The project has just been shortlisted for Cannes Lions in two categories, "Best Use of Internet/New Media" and "Business Products & Services." Winners are announced Wednesday.

Each Row A Minute 2001 Redux

Cinematic DNA

If you're looking for an endorsement as to why you should purchase one of the few remaining Brendan Dawes' 2001 Cinema Redux prints here's some news. Brendan's project is currently on display at The Museum of Modern Art in NYC as a part of their Design and Elastic Mind exhibition. The photo above is from this week's opening reception. If that doesn't impress you perhaps the fact that the prints are luscious, large, limited-edition continuous-tone Lamda proofs will.

Brendan's thoughts on Redux, The Things Around Us.

January Guest Alissa Walker

An Icy Treat

Alissa Walker (alw) is a freelance writer, design enthusiast, and social butterfly. She runs the site Gelatobaby which chronicles her travels through the design industry, writing pieces for magazines like Print, Fast Company, ReadyMade and nearly everything in between. When she isn't appearing as a panelist at events across the country, Alissa hosts a monthly-ish party for designers in called de LaB, is regularly featured as a "guest expert" on HGTV's Small Space, Big Style, and she is the one person in Los Angeles who doesn't drive a car.

A list of all the brilliant people who have helped us by guest editing Fresh Signals can be found here.

Other recent features are listed on Page Two.

Fresh Signals

All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem, the newest from the crack-up, cut-paper universe of Laurie Rosenwald. alw-yesterday

A new Japanese trailer has hit the web for The Watchmen. ms-yesterday

Hey there folks, exercise can be awesome. ms-yesterday

Fly through the remnants of a star that exploded 330 years ago. dw-yesterday

The Vignelli Canon as a free 50-page PDF (only partially set in Helvetica). alw-yesterday

I hope the allegations of Bill Richardson's corruption don't screw up the awesomeness that is Spaceport America. bb-yesterday

Shopping online in Holland is pretty exciting. (Thanks, Andrew!) bb-yesterday

Rest in peace, Ron. Here's some great Stooges footage from 1970, with funny Cincinnati anchorman commentary. bb-yesterday

The man who could make three chords sound brilliant, Ron Asheton, passed away this week. sd-yesterday

Minnesota's new junior senator impersonating Mick Jagger on Solid Gold. Rad! bb-yesterday

A really great read and fantastic images too when Selectism interviews the inventors of Freeman Transport bike. ms-yesterday

The mechanical art of destroying the rainforest. dw-yesterday

A sneak peek at the Battlestar prequel series Caprica. dw-yesterday

Sayaka Yamamoto's imaginary insects found in a kitchen. Don't worry MS, there aren't any spiders. dw-yesterday

ReadyMade asks five designers to make new WPA posters. alw-yesterday

Dallas Clayton's wonderfully illustrated children's book in its entirety: An Awesome Book! Via Transbuddha. sd-yesterday

An explanatory sling, perfect for the injured who are tired of answering the question "Hey, what happened to your arm?" Via bblinks. sd-yesterday

FotA and Caveman Robot co-creator Jason Bell has a painting show at Thomas Robertello opening Friday. bb-yesterday

A more animal-friendly version of a bearskin rug. ms-yesterday

For BB: Slap Chop? All I can say is Sham Wow. alw-yesterday

What a difference a music track makes: the :60 version and the :30 version of the great "Lightbulb" spot for the World Wildlife Fund. sd-yesterday

A mission for the Coudal Scuba Team: Is there a Stonehenge on the floor of Lake Michigan? alw-yesterday

"We wanted to take the train to the airport, then we wanted to get on a plane and when we arrived we wanted to unpack the summer things and then we wanted to go for a bit of a stroll in the sun." True Love. ms-yesterday

A few days into the new year you've probably discovered several occasions that could have used a Napkins Calendar. Via Design Feast. alw-yesterday

Thousands of photos of 45 rpm vinyl singles. Via Things. ms-yesterday

1000 Things That Matter. ms-yesterday

Slap Chop!. Skip to 1:45 to solve your onion issues, then pop back to :54 and 2:28 for more larfs. Bless you, Vince. bb-01.05

The rise of cell-phone novels in -- where else? -- Japan. alw-01.05

Next time you make salsa, don't cry for me. Wear these onion goggles instead. Via The Moment. alw-01.05

Couldn't have come at a better time as I try and figure out how to build a better home office: Where We Do What We Do, shots of people's work spaces. sd-01.05

Objectified trailer. jc-01.05

"Congratulations! You now have time for lunch. (Somewhere cheap, of course.)" Michael Bierut on weathering a recession. alw-01.05

Almost seven minutes of Thom Andersen's brilliant Los Angeles Plays Itself. This sections is about Hollywood's war on modernism. Via Daily Dose. sd-01.05

The Ultimate House, clips and photos of some of the world's most impressive examples of modern residential architecture. sd-01.05

Opening this Thursday in NY: A Few Zines: Dispatches from the Edge of Architectural Production. alw-01.05

Page Two contains the previous 35 Fresh Signals, recent features, a key to the icons and the categorical archives.

Grab our blended RSS feed here.

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15 Minutes

Aaron Evans [?]

The Producers

Claire Zulkey
Howard Mann
Carlos Parrilla
Damien Newman
Drew Myler
Grant Hutchinson
Skipintro
R.BIRD
Karen Labenz
Andrew Figgins
Mark Powell
Mike Keen
Chet Yeary II
Greg Storey
Matt Lee
Jeremy Quinn
Grant Unrau
Debbie Millman
David Demaree
Charles Adler
Paul Joyce
S.J. Barlament
Stephen Vance
Sam Potts
John Tolva
Cameron Moll
J. Thomas Lowell
Hillman Curtis
Gridiron Software
Loyd Boldman
Heidi J Nyburg
William N. Kilarjian
Mario Van der Meulen
Simon Angling
Colin Scroggins
Inline Studio
Witold Riedel
Alan Hawkins
Marko Dugonjic
Chris Bernard
Matt Mullenweg
Alexander Muse
Dan Rubin
Thomas Mackechney
Dan Cederholm
Eric Mersmann
Ben Edwards
Brian Seethaler
Lightburn
Matt Haughey
Bill Keaggy
Pierre Mai
Kevin Hamm
Andre Torrez
Greg Hoy
Issa Breibish
Drew Stauffer
Abby Urban
Christopher Ebmeyer
Jeffrey Rutzky
Robert D. Whitson
Hunter Weeks

Your Name Here

the pitch

You can be an Executive Producer of our new short feature film, 72°. If you've always wanted to be a hotshot Hollywood player, or you just want to lend a hand to the project here's your chance.

A Thing We Made:
Jewelboxing

We hated the options available for custom packaging DVDs and CDs so we created a brand that gives creative professionals and hobbyists the tools to make great stuff. Here's a bit from the latest Jewelboxing weblog entry:

"If all the snow we got last night is any indication, winter is officially here. And with winter comes the..." Read the entire post.

Some Other Things We Made:

Field Notes Brand "I'm not writing it down to remember it later. I'm writing it down to remember it now." A CP/DDC joint.

Pinsetter: Spell with buttons.

Limited-edition, professionally mixed and mastered, custom-designed live performances on CD. That's The Show. With partners like The Pixies and Dead Can Dance. More news soon.

Lowercase Tee: For politically and otherwise active kids.

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