March 2009 Archives
These picture-perfect paintings of books make my heart flutter. I was looking for paintings related to books/bookshelves a few months ago and gave up. Both for lack of result and lack of the money. I doubt I'd be able to afford any of these, but it does give me hope if I ever need to find some again.
painting by Victoria Reichelt
And then there's this version of an environmental "Never forget". Taken from the site:
The world was remembering the Exxon Valdez ecological catastrophe that happened 20 years ago when drunken captain Joseph Hazelwood lost control of its huge tanker in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness.
It reminded me of Jessica Charbonneau's project in my packaging class a few years ago. Jessica was using an existing black soap as an activist product to create an awareness campaign against the danger of oil water transportation. The product is called (in French) « I wash my hands» referring to Pontius Pilate and also to the attitude of the oil industry in regards to the oil spills. The campaign also acts as a reminder of famous oil spills like Exxon Valdez and Dona Marika's. «...And I say to my self: what a wonderful world!»
From my friend Jenn, now up in the bio section:
Cory Watkins is a straight-shooting kind of gal. If this were a monarchy, she'd be the power behind the throne.
She grew up in sweet Spokane, spending lakeside summers with her family and creating a film company by the time she graduated from high school. In her eighteenth year, she moved to the northwest corner of the state to attend Western Washington University, where she majored in Communications, theorized on lesbian pulp fiction, and managed a radio station. For Cory Watkins, this is all in a day's work.
With a Bachelor's Degree under her belt, Cory headed to Seattle, where she found herself gainfully employed by a certain multinational computer technology corporation. Always fascinated by the intersections of technology and community, Cory jumped on the Web 2.0 bandwagon and created www.spiritquesting.com, a blog and information hub for her network of friends.
When not catching up on episodes of Ugly Betty, Cory may be found haunting various bookstores and coffee shops on Capitol Hill, trusty MacBook in hand. She enjoys Sunday afternoon art projects, being an indoor kid, and playing video games with her two nephews. Cory plans to continue her studies in popular culture and gender studies, and dreams of a world where teleportation is a reality.
Also, she really likes wearing fake mustaches.
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Categories:
- science
I don't know if you like fish or not, some people find them slimy and disturbing. And I don't know if you like innards, because some people find those also slimy and disturbing.
Just think of this as one of those plastic anatomy sculptures in science class. Clear so you can see the circulatory system and the major organs.
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Categories:
- bonus
I do love that on Friday night I didn't have to wear a jacket when I went out. Still, though, I love more the leaves being thrown around the hard dirt outside my window, the blustery March afternoon which oscillates between grey and sunny skies. Fall/Spring are the best this area offers. I love me some cozy afternoons and brisk walks to brunch.
Also: I just figured out how I can try to de-clog my sink by playing with the U-pipe (is that what it's called?) Color me independent.
I am such a sucker for dance parties. And when it's brought to you by drum machines and DJs and electronica and basically the feeling you had when you were six years old dancing around to Michael Jackson in your underwear, I'm sold.
I have no idea how it took me a year to get to this song, but to my credit I heard of Lady Gaga at least a year ago.
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Categories:
- bonus
Buying cat food and kitty litter at a high end pet store like Mud Bay probably means you're a yuppie with yuppie cats. Good thing I don't care about being a yuppie.
Because besides being right behind my apartment, Mud Bay also employs some really swell people. I don't know a single one or their names, but every time I go in there I come out wanting to be best friends with each of them.
I guess I'll have to buy a lot more kitty litter for that to happen, though.
PS: I really like it when my cats sit like humans:
I've only seen Grover do this. I think Abigail is too classy for such things.
A good portion of what I post here, besides my random reviews and new exciting purchases, will likely be links via Notcot.org/Notcot.com and Kanye West's blog when I can make it over there. Can I help it if I have a soft spot for design? I think I can't. And some of this stuff is really really cool. So just go with it.
The first roundup of these cool things are:
- Artist Jay Horinouchi does some cool stuff combining robot-ism and traditional Japanese painting.
- Stefan Bruggeman also does art, this time using strictly text. I'm a textophile myself and when art incorporates text, I'm pretty close to sold. (ps: what would someone obsessed with text/words be called? textophile is not it and google didn't help)
- If you're interested in special effects that don't have to do with Doomsday/natural disasters/monsters, then you might be interested in this short video by Bruce Branit. It's 10 minutes long, a solid love story, and really amazing/beautiful/inspiring to watch.
- This sparkling chocolate powder sounds delicious and fun!
- Michael Wandelmeier does some really cool, surreal art. Usually prints for stuff I see like this run into the $50-$75 range. At $21.22 a pop, these may end up on my wall sooner than later.
- Maybe you're a little morbid like I am, or you just really like architectural photography (also like I do) - anyway, this new photobook from Richard Ross looks particularly intriguing: Architecture of Authority looks inside prisons and other institutionally authoritative buildings to examine how exactly they work as mechanisms of authority. Amazon has it priced lower than most hardcover photobooks you find, too.
- And finally, if lit light bulbs as art is your thing - or if Norweigan electronica is your thing - then this video may also be your thing:
Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.
Just finished reading Watchmen, with only days to spare before the movie releases. All I can say about it is this: if the adaptation of a book looks that beautiful, how can the actual book not be as amazing? It's impossible.
For those who: are into action/adventure stories, conspiracy theories, superheroes, a great quick romp. Any of the above.
You can find more videos and trailers for this movie at Apple's Trailers site. You could easily also waste hours of your life there.
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Categories:
- maintenance
Right now comments are disabled because I broke something when designing the site. Not sure what, but as time allows I'll dig around some more.
In the meantime, feel free to utilize the handy-dandy contact button to the left. It will open up an email using your default mail client, pre-addressed. Kind of like the internet's own version of a pre-addressed-stamped-envelope. If you don't use a mail client (and instead use webmail), just copy the link target and paste it in.
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Categories:
- books,
- photography
Last week I finished reading this book, which is, simply put, about early-mid 20th century American photography. It traces the elements which might identify one photographer into the next. (ie. Walker Evans photographed an abandoned plantation in Mississippi in the 1920s; ten years later Edward Weston photographed the same plantation. etc) tying together a whole half century of photography.
Sometimes this book was a tad slow, usually when it delved into the personal lives and dramas of the photographers instead of their work. On the whole I enjoyed it and it definitely introduced me to new photographers, while expanding on the work done by those who I already know from one or two iconic images.
One of these new favorites of mine is Dorothea Lange - best known for the photo of a migrant mother during the Depression. The one in this book that I liked even better, though, was this:
Walker Evans was another one I hadn't known before, as was Robert Frank with his photos of lonely roads, car trips, and drive-in theaters:
There were more I won't mention here, but if you're interested at all in this era of documentary photography - this is a fantastic introduction to the work of the period. Plus, it definitely got my own juices flowing as I found new subjects to photograph.
