Pocket Universe

I admit, I liked the idea of vintage vandals more than I liked the end result of most of the pieces. However, I was particularly drawn (pun intended) to this piece.

If you’re a fan of progressive rock like I am, then you’re probably familiar with the artwork of Roger Dean. He has painted countless album covers, including many by Yes and Asia. In a Rolling Stone reader poll of the 50 best album covers of all time, five Roger Dean covers were in the top 20, including the cover for Asia which was ranked second (after Sergeant Pepper). So if you would like something to decorate your desktop, you can’t get any better than the Roger Dean Desktop Series.

Series 1 includes covers from Relayer, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Yessongs, Drama, and Classic Yes. Series 2 includes a couple of Asia covers, and the cover for everybody’s favorite album, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe. And the just-released Series 3 includes the famous Asia Pyramid from the cover of Alpha.

If I had to rank them by preference, I would recommend buying them in order. But honestly, they are all beautiful, and all worth owning. The price just dropped down to $9.95 apiece, so there’s really no excuse. And if you have a widescreen display, I highly recommend ordering the 1920x1200 versions, which fit perfectly on the 23" Apple Cinema HD Display. Maybe they’ll come out with new 2560x1600 versions to fit the new 30" display!

One of my coworkers has these really amazing drawings on his wall, so I asked where they came from. It turns out that his 21-year-old brother does them, and he has a website called MonkeySpin where he shows examples of his work.

Now, if youll excuse me, Im off to shoot myself in the head.