Image borrowed from Architectural Record
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Amazing Architecture/Sculpture
...made from packing tape! See it at fastcodedesign.com I wanna make one!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Listening to Book CDs in Public
Speaking of books on CD...
I was once listening to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander on the car's CD player, back when it worked, before that ugly eating-the-parking-lot-ticket incident... ahem, anyway! When the audiobook used to loudly recite to me, I'd drive along, listening to the characters troubles and their (Outlander being racy in part), um, romantic interludes. Except for at the traffic light. There I was, listening, and as the narrative got warmer, the guy outside with the cardboard sign got closer, and I turned the volume lower, so warmer, closer, and lower, and so on until in pure embarrassment I hit the "Pause" button.
Ridiculous but true. It's the same flinching that keeps me from reading certain books on the train in case someone looks over my shoulder.
An earlier post on books on CD in the car here
I was once listening to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander on the car's CD player, back when it worked, before that ugly eating-the-parking-lot-ticket incident... ahem, anyway! When the audiobook used to loudly recite to me, I'd drive along, listening to the characters troubles and their (Outlander being racy in part), um, romantic interludes. Except for at the traffic light. There I was, listening, and as the narrative got warmer, the guy outside with the cardboard sign got closer, and I turned the volume lower, so warmer, closer, and lower, and so on until in pure embarrassment I hit the "Pause" button.
Ridiculous but true. It's the same flinching that keeps me from reading certain books on the train in case someone looks over my shoulder.
public domain + Wikimedia mashed
An earlier post on books on CD in the car here
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Alice on Halloween Sale
Alice Through the Proscenium: more scenic set design goes on sale. Again.
Those wacky publishers! They crave excitement I think. (And I'm excited that Alice is selling better than I'd expected.) Care to join the rush? Being "In" and in-formed is suddenly cheaper!
Those wacky publishers! They crave excitement I think. (And I'm excited that Alice is selling better than I'd expected.) Care to join the rush? Being "In" and in-formed is suddenly cheaper!
Read more about Alice here.
Scramble!
...sixteen hours later... carpenters wait, one foot in the pickup truck, for sketches to be scanned, to be finished, to be started, after designs get redesigned - fast - so carpenters can estimate materials, so they can buy materials, so they can start building...
'cause last night the show's concept changed.
'cause last night the show's concept changed.
Luckily, I like this version better. These things happen.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Public Domain Images
I found a great new source for public domain images: The Graphics Fairy.
There's a land office rush going on in cyberspace as designers and bloggers (and especially designer-bloggers!) upload the treasury of Victorian images that are out of copyright. The Graphics Fairy is another rich source. (I can see I'm going to need to scan in my own old-book illustrations. "Fly! Be free!")
From the Graphics Fairy - thanks! - here's an appropriately Halloween-y sample image:
There's a land office rush going on in cyberspace as designers and bloggers (and especially designer-bloggers!) upload the treasury of Victorian images that are out of copyright. The Graphics Fairy is another rich source. (I can see I'm going to need to scan in my own old-book illustrations. "Fly! Be free!")
From the Graphics Fairy - thanks! - here's an appropriately Halloween-y sample image:
public domain image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Not a Review - Spring Awakening
WaterTower's production of Spring Awakening is a wowser!
So much youth and energy onstage! I haven't seen the show before, so I can't compare it to the original NY production, but this one is worth seeing. I really like the music. Choreography, direction, actors... all just wonderful.
The set - by Chris Pickart - makes a handsome framework, with just enough detail to suggest the period. Its whitewashed texture of brick, wood, and metal acts as a sort of building/cyc for the lighting. Leann Burns' lighting is fantastic! Rock-n-roll colors and moving light; sensitive transitions, mood shifting as if on a swivel; stars; wild grafitti-like scribbles of light dancing; and there's a moment when dots of light seem to flutter across the stage and collect like blown autumn leaves that's so beautiful and so perfect...
This is a show that I could see suffering under a weak production - this marvelous one is worth celebrating! Glad I caught it on its last day.
So much youth and energy onstage! I haven't seen the show before, so I can't compare it to the original NY production, but this one is worth seeing. I really like the music. Choreography, direction, actors... all just wonderful.
Photo borrowed from WaterTower Theatre
The set - by Chris Pickart - makes a handsome framework, with just enough detail to suggest the period. Its whitewashed texture of brick, wood, and metal acts as a sort of building/cyc for the lighting. Leann Burns' lighting is fantastic! Rock-n-roll colors and moving light; sensitive transitions, mood shifting as if on a swivel; stars; wild grafitti-like scribbles of light dancing; and there's a moment when dots of light seem to flutter across the stage and collect like blown autumn leaves that's so beautiful and so perfect...
This is a show that I could see suffering under a weak production - this marvelous one is worth celebrating! Glad I caught it on its last day.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Where Good Ideas Come From
I'm reading Steven Johnson's book, Where Good Ideas Come From. Fascinating!
This is a well researched and thoughtful book. (Useful research for my own project too.) So far I particularly like the discussion of Darwin's process in thinking through The Origin of Species and the development of GPS. I find the rebuttal to the Heroic Lone Designer theory interesting too. I'm pretty sure he's right, it IS the network of seemingly random information and people that enable creativity. It needs a little chaos. Yet not too much. There are some fascinating examples of the ways and means of insight and inspiration.
A link to the author's TED talk: here. (If you haven't discovered the TED talks... Do so now!) Or see Bill Gate's book report on the book here.
This is a well researched and thoughtful book. (Useful research for my own project too.) So far I particularly like the discussion of Darwin's process in thinking through The Origin of Species and the development of GPS. I find the rebuttal to the Heroic Lone Designer theory interesting too. I'm pretty sure he's right, it IS the network of seemingly random information and people that enable creativity. It needs a little chaos. Yet not too much. There are some fascinating examples of the ways and means of insight and inspiration.
A link to the author's TED talk: here. (If you haven't discovered the TED talks... Do so now!) Or see Bill Gate's book report on the book here.
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