RKNet Blog... Thing

I just want to apologize for any visitors who have actually gone to infinitedesu.com. While I feel as though I did provide fair warning when I originally linked it, I was looking at WPStats and couldn’t help but notice that people have actually clicked on that.

What you will find, upon visiting infinitedesu.com is the following: …nothing.
Apparently, I let the hosting or the domain or something expire. Could have sworn that auto-renewed. Well kids, looks like it’s technically up for grabs. If you buy it because you saw the name here, let me know so I can congratulate you on your refined tastes.

But if domain sniping isn’t your cup of tea, what you can do is visit RKNet’s new affiliate, TorsoPants. I came across their site earlier today and I was so impressed I decided that I had to be their friend. You can be their friend too, just tell them I sent you, ok?

There’s so much going for them: their site works in Opera without fuss, they’ve got all kinds of great design on the site, there are more hidden fun things than at a hidden fun thing convention, and I guess they’ve got good clothing, or something. I definitely spent a while at the site today, really just exploring all the things to see and do, and trying to decide whether or not I can afford to buy a pair of torsopants (which for those keeping score at home, is like a “shirt” only superior in every way) before I spend the money to renew Infinite Desu.

If I get the cash-money necessary to resurrect infinitedesu.com myself (hint), then I hope to achieve a similar standard of site awesomeness that I saw demonstrated by the proprietors of TorsoPants, instead of the old infinitedesu.com, which just had an annoying animated gif for a background, and the word “desu” over and over and over again.

I realize that some of my visitors may be coming here because they have no idea what the deal is with “desu”. I can appreciate being in the dark like that, and would like to take a minute (just sit right there) to explain a little more about what desu is and why I felt compelled to even buy infinitedesu.com in the first place.

Desu

Verb. Japanese form of the verb “to be”. Example: Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. I am an American.

(aux) (pol) polite copula in Japanese; (P) [via Jeffrey's Japanese Dictionary]

Exclamatory. Taking a cue from a character named Suiseiseki featured in the 2004 anime, Rozen Maiden, people on the internet have come to use desu in excess. This is most often found in the form of the “desu flood” where by a post or entire thread is comprised of ONLY the word desu, repeated over and over again. It is the determination of Encyclopedia Dramatica’s shadowy editors that Desu is a classic meme. No other sources seemed to refute this.

And now…
Needs more desu!

No, not the abandonment issues you the gentle readers feel when I neglect to update. Nor the abadonment issues my shoutcast listeners recently developed due to my foolish desire to pull the plug on that project.

The abandonment in question is a series of really engrossing photos on buildings and areas in the former Soviet Union. There’s a fortress, a prison, and even an entire city - all unfinished or simply left behind due to various conflicts or changes to the Soviet political landscape.

Weburbanist has links to several other abandoned building photosets at the bottom of that article, which I’d recommend taking a peek at also.

One of my favorite design blogs, I <3 Typography, linked to another really neat design blog today. More specifically, to The Book Design Review’s article on the author’s favorite book covers of 2007.

There are some really terrific ones in this post. Ones I found especially interesting:
Like You’d Understand, Anyway - Look For: The Escher-esque intertwined wrestlers.
One Red Paperclip - Look For: The simplistic obviousness of the non-verbal way the title is represented.
Fireproof - Look For: The seeming non-relation of cover to title, and the oddly chilling impression it leaves.
Darkness at Noon & The Yiddish Policeman’s Union - Look For: Obvious shoutouts to Soviet poster design.

Check them all out and if you’re actually able to narrow down a favorite, fill out the poll that author Joseph Sullivan has set up at the bottom of the post.

When I read this fascinating article from Soviet Poster A Day on a piece of Constructivist advertising from Soviet Russia in 1923, I’m somewhat ashamed to say that the first thing that came to mind was this:

(Related: For a complete and total waste of your time that may also induce seizures among the sensetive, please visit InfiniteDesu.com)