From the Editor's Desk | #6

Things from the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief

CADET is a bi-annual, self-published, independent magazine and online publication about West Point.

created by 2 USMA grads @chrisWpestel @carolinepestel

For Your Eyeballs
MOVIE BINGE I went a little nuts and watched Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, Black Panther, Last Jedi, Inception, Ant Man & The Wasp, The Departed, Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, Solo: A Star War Story and National Treasure. Felt like a plebe again over a three day weekend.
RADIO GA GA
THE KILL BILL SOUNDTRACK is terrific blend of Japanese and American funk, jazz, and country.
For Every Heart…in Gray
WEST POINT MAGAZINE we’re always super-pumped when we get ours in the mail, which arrived late last week. Check out the online version here.
ARMY BOXING PORTRAITS we posted some from a few years ago.
RECRUIT HEAT MAP this map by Sal Interdonato was an awesome representation of the reach of Army football and the leg work put in by the coaching staff…what off-season?
WEST POINT FORUM this forum is full of some rigid people and is not the best representation of the West Point graduate base - its why the admins have shut it down for 30 days. As grads we still self-police. And we must be better.
WRESTLING/LAX RANKED its great to see more teams in the national ranking.
SNOW, SNOW, GLOOM AWAY cadets were armed with their cameras as another snowfall blanketed West Point.
The Matrix
THE DAYS whether you’re counting up or counting down. This website will help.
The Design of Things
MARVELS 25th ANNIVERSARY comic book artist Alex Ross is one of a kind. I first came across his work in high school art class in about 1996-1997 and his work has stayed with me ever since. His reverence for the subject material has always permeated public opinion of super heroes. And now with Black Panther nominated for Best Picture, it seems his reverence is catching on with critical stature. It’s a great time to be a fan of comic book culture (…the Chicago Cubs and Army Football).
GADSDEN FLAG an old friend moved to Virginia around the same time we did. We met up for the first time this past week. Earlier that day he had come from getting new license plates at the DMV. He went with the Gadsden flag version of Virginia plates (there are 10 states that have a Gadsden flag license plate option) - which are a pretty cool design. Well the flag has a history and he did his homework before slapping something so symbolic on his car. If you’d like to know a little about the history: here’s a small primer - TL;DR = it was a meme created by Ben Franklin.
SKYBOX BASKETBALL CARDS these beauties have aged like a fine wine. We are dead-set on incorporating these designs in to some facet of something down the road. Here’s the previous year’s design.
THE 3-STEP CREATIVE PROCESS this weekly wrap-up (that you are reading) of influence and inspiration is an attempt not to slip in to THE VOID portion of the creative process…which is far too real of a thing.
VALENTINE’S DAY
A WEST POINT STORY I had actually never watched this trailer for A West Point Story. I’m head over heels for it. SWOON.
Podcast FROM THIS WEEK
STACK Homesick Magazine on archived photos that need a home and eyeballs on them.
99% INVISIBLE The Secret Lives of Color is remarkable.
PHOTOGRAPHY
ALL ACADEMY GYMNASTICS we put together a small gallery from our first actual campus visit to the Naval Academy for an all academy showdown between Army, Air Force & Navy. Army finished third.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CADET BORROWED we started a secondary IG account. What’s it for??? you ask…stay tuned.
CADET - The Magazine
THE KNIGHTS OF WEST POINT - The Knights of the Round Pond include: the 100th Knight, the 500th Knight, Post Knight, Branch Knight, John Collabro - the Knight of the Arts and of course, the Black Knight. And they all wear red sashes with a gold coat…of arms.
PORTRAIT BOOK as we continue to gather portraits from our West Point events, gigs and adventures we are nearing a cumulative total that juuuuust might warrant its own publication. More on this in the near future.
VOL III COLLABORATORS PREVIEW Take a peak at who we collaborated with ahead of the release of VOL III of CADET.