American Idol Suicide

I just learned of this today when one of those TV shows from which I anticipated catching up on news (but instead found sensationalism) that an American Idol contestant killed herself in her car in front of Paula Abdul's home in California. This is the first I'd heard of it, so I googled to find more about what happened.

Linked in the title is an article that came up in the search, which includes the video from the woman's spot on the show and all the comments that were made to her. As usual, it's really terrible to hear how the judges respond. I don't watch the show specifically for this reason and it feels like a sad world that much of the public enjoys(ed) the degradation of these contestants. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for constructive criticism, but is what they do constructive in any form? Perhaps it was never meant to be constructive. I suppose simply saying "It wasn't good, thanks for trying" is just not interesting enough.

I'm going to call the next trend: Now that someone committed suicide partly over the rejection on American Idol, we'll all suddenly claim the show is wrong and not feel the least bit guilty that we ever found it entertaining in the first place—after all, the ratings have been dropping.

What's the next blood thirst?

Just as I was going to post...

...beat to the punch by Under Consideration. Gosh, what a nice blog site.

After taking a "quick" road trip to Chicago, I noticed Days Inn has a new logo. Apparently so does Super 8...check out the title link.

Another interesting find...

I stumbled on this wacky site this afternoon, while searching for "doodles" online. If you go to the homepage of the site, the author has organized pages according to rooms of his childhood house.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Have you noticed the new tweaked face for Applebee's? I wondered if they were ever going to update their look. Since all of the restaurants were closing in the South, I just assumed they were going to shut down altogether.

The newly refined logo really isn't so bad for what it is: 1) Appropriate update to the original logo and 2) Better representation of the restaurant.

I never understood the typography selection of the old logo in relationship to the actual restaurant experience. It seemed to be disconnected. Although the new apple does indeed still feel fairly generic (and nevermind that the tagline seems to have been left back in time), the new logotype as a whole starts to suggest that the restaurant will provide a warm and friendly, down-home country sort of dining experience (no comment on cuisine). In that respect, I would say it was pretty successful.

Here's a good blog I found on the topic: http://www.leibowit.com/?p=182

Sad

On msnb.com, how terrible is this:

‘100 Things’ co-author Dave Freeman dies at 47

Writer of the travel guide and ode to odd adventures fell and hit his head

updated 1 hour, 14 minutes ago

Dave Freeman, co-author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die,” a travel guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators, died after hitting his head in a fall at his home. He was 47.

WTFBBQ

I'm always so amazed at how unconnected minds seem so connected at times. I just found this post about the Bloop on another good blog, screenshot above.

In case you missed it, I included a post about it July 31st, under "The Amazing World of Cryptids."

Refine/Redesign

Okay, so this was supposed to be sent out there into the world weeks ago, and I have become completely swamped in my ever-growing pile of paper. I'd been obsessed with the transformation of the celebrity face for some time, scrounging online for before and after photos. New York Magazine wrote an article pertaining to this topic (with a few reference images), though it touched on the edges of my idea (title of entry is a link to such article). More than anything, the writing spurred me to make this post. Because of my intrigue with the new facial likeness of the writer's friend being comparable to Madonna, I will give Madge as my main example. It occurred to me a bit ago that she—along with many other infamous pop icons—is no longer (and hasn't been for some time) the face that was implanted in my head years ago. Rather, she is merely the essence of what Madonna used to look like, slightly tweaked here and there over the years. But it's so subtle really, besides that her face has been seemingly frozen in time. One doesn't realize just how unlike Madonna this new Madonna (entertainer) has become, until one compares photos from different years.

From here I began researcing the faces of other celebrities: Cher, Meg Ryan, Katie Holmes (I'm proud to say I called that one before I observed it was on the covers of cheesy mags at the grocery check-out), Nicole Kidman...the list goes on. I started thinking that this facial transformation was much like the life cycle of the logos of well known brands. Over years and years of slight changes here and there, the eye never really quite notices that those hard, once square-edged letter forms have become a little more rounded. Or that the spacing between forms has opened, or even that the name has now become an abbreviation (see Kentucky Fried Chicken). Oh, don't forget that hint of perfect shadow and highlight. Wait, was that always there?

Check out this great page for great examples of the evolution for many car manufactures' logos, as well as other interesting info: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/02/18/evolution-of-car-logos/