Daily Dribble In My Mind

Convo with my Dad-Tuesday 10:30PM:
ring ring
Dad: Hey pumkin
Me: Hey Deddy. How are you?
D: I'm just sittin' here finishing up a little work. In Lousy-Anna for business. Bo-o-o-oy, this place looks bad. What's goin' on in the bi-i-i-ig N-Y-C?
Me: Nothing. Finishing up some freelance. Oh my gah! I am turning into you!
D: Yup. So. How are your tomatoes doing?
Me: Eh. I think the time has come to plant something new. Not well, really. No tomatoes. A few still standing. The seasons coming to an end anyway right?
D: The important thing is to just keep trying.
Me: Word.
D: Huh?
Me: Nothing

















Ben Hopson:
This guy has put together some pretty interesting thoughts on zero gravity and dependent movement. Not to mention, he's got the will to explore his ideas! So tedious. Check him out and thanks to Newsday.com for the link











The Day The Type Stood Chill:
So, I was poking around on YouTube(shocking), looking for something to watch. What I found was amazing title credits in The Day The Earth Stood Still
I can't be too sure if I love the black and white approach for nostalgia reasons or that its a pleasant change from the saturate CMYK-circus in which I live. I don't believe its nostagia, for one, it wouldn't be my own. Most movies, even in my toddling days, where in color. While I was sat in front many o' Hitchcock movie throughout my youth, at the time, I was sure this was my mother cruel method of punishment for any future transgression. Anyway, if these title credits were done today, I am quite positive that we would be subjected to lightspeed travel and zip-zapping, 3-D pludering type.
Here, the type is a simple suggestion: Hovering, protruding towards the viewer in a still, galactic setting. Foreboding, but not giving it all away.

Type Is An Aquired Taste

In the three years that I "studied" design I was often told how important typography was. Some things seem so clear to me now: Tight kerning(space between each letter) is intense, whereas loose kerning gives off a more refined air. Still, there is much more to understand. This is a good start though.

Ooooh Heaven Is A Place On Earth

Oh come on! Its summer! There is nothing wrong with indulging in a healthy obsession with plants and animals but mainly bunnies. Woa! How freaky was that human foot?

How Catcalls Evolve

So, I left my apartment this morning with a quick pace. I was running late. There were two young boys ahead of me but I was coming up on them quick. I had plenty of room to pass on the left and started to but just then the one on the left step out of the walking pattern he was keeping. He was laughing with his friend and kinda gyrating around, as kids will do; as people will do. I decided I would hang back and wait until we got to the corner to move around them. However, the kid had already noticed me and my motives. Next we proceeded to do a little I-am-trying-my-best-to-move-around-you dance. He moved away from his friend to let me pass, I guess I hesitated so he jerked closer to his friend and away from the street but then I almost walked into him. I am not sure how long this went on but when I finally passed between them I realized 1)that I would have preferred to just wait for the easy pass at the corner- I wasn't in that big of a hurry. I am just a fast walker in general. 2)My dancing partner was about 11 yrs. old and feeling weird about what was happening. So I say 'excuse me' and continue on. I am only 15 paces in front of them when I hear a juicy, mouth-made fart. I chuckle and swing around. 'Was that for me?' The kid gives me a slo-mo head shake with "huh?" barely audible. So, I give him my best I'm-just-messing-with-you grin and repeat my question. His mouth finally finds the word "no." 'Yea, I didn't think so.' I smiled and turned to continue walking. If only I could have handled these boys when I was their age! There is no way though. The farting noise aimed at me would have crushed my spirit for the whole day. Only 5 steps later and I hear another little fart noise...more of a poot really. 'I heard that!' I declared with my finger pointed towards the sky but didn't look back. The boys giggled and let out a few more of which I critique. 'mmm, that wasn't even a good one.' Then the fart noises turned into intelligible shouts. And then whistles. Wouldn't you know it, I was no more than 25 paces away from the fart noises when I was catcalled by 11 yr. olds. "aaaaaaouuuu!" *flirty whistles*

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."

-hg wells

I Had No Idea The Moon Was So Colorful

The Colorful Moon
Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA

Explanation: Do you recognize the Earth's Moon when you see it? The crazy, patchwork appearance of this false color image makes this nearly full view of our Moon's familiar nearside look very strange. The image was taken in 1992 by the Galileo spacecraft enroute to Jupiter. The Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis) is the blue area at right, the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the extensive blue and orange area on the left, and white lines radiate from the crater Tycho at bottom center. Three filters were used to make three separate exposures, combined in an exaggerated color scheme to emphasize composition differences - blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. NASA soon plans to conduct an extensive remote exploration of the lunar surface, including a search for water ice near the lunar South Pole, with the Lunar Prospector spacecraft.

Thanks Astronomy Picture of the Day

No Space For Vegetebles

I have a very small kitchen with no counter space. I don't even really have room for one of those 3 tier, hanging, metal food basket. So I hung my I'm-eco-friendly bag.

Plant Update

So, last weekend I separated out, repotted and set up dowel for all of the tomato vines to climb up. Half of the transplants were successful. I am realizing now that I should have done all of this about a month ago. This weekend I finally got some tomato fertilizer and general plant fertilizer. The plants seem to respond to this almost immediately. To be honest, the last couple of weeks the plants, on a whole, haven't been doing well. They have been....how can I say this.... There have been some causualties. I have learned a lot over the past couple of months. While I can't be sure what will survive or produce flowers and fruit, I know they look good right now. Oh, I ate the basil for the first time today with warm pasta, cherry tomatoes and motzarella and I was pleased.
















Tomato
From left to right: Basil, dead tomato and Forget-Me-Nots
From left to right: Snapdragon and Zinnisa

















The Bachelor Buttons are no longer

Shady

This guy is pretty shady. Sure, he may look cute and innocent, but then you didn't see what I just scraped, taped and lint brushed off that lovely, red-orange couch of mine(thanks Amy!) He is not even really sleeping, just silently shedding.

Just Heard This on NPR

"It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch."

Lazy Sunday

This is what I did today....but not much else.

A Gripping Tale: Mongoose Vs. Cobra

Ok so the mongoose has got a bigger mouth and has taken an offensive posture. Good for you guy. Now scram! What are you thinking?! That thing has got collapsible poison-panels.
Here we go...I hope this is what you really want. He is an inch from your neck. You do have to respect Mr. Mongoose's all-in, committed approach. "AaaaaaaaaaahI-love-you-mo-o-o-omahhhhh!"

















No way.

















Um, did someone just order a can of whoop ass? Yeaaah! Mongoose!

Everybody Needs A Little

Thanks Jeannius

Busy Is The New Black

I wear it cause its easy and goes with everything!

And bunnies are the new Friday

Keeeping Them Alive

Tomato Plant- ummm...giant, really
Basil-Smells delicious
From left to right: Bachelor Buttons, Forget-Me-Nots(I think...), Snapdragons with Zoey












Tosca on the drop cloth












Zoey watching the guys at the carwash below

Make-Shift

Simon Elvins has recently been added to my Favorite Designer/Thinker List. This is a record player he made out of paper.








To play the record the handle needs to be turned in a clockwise direction at a
steady 33^1/3 rpm. The paper cone then acts as a pick up and amplifies the sound
enough to make it audible.

Jim Henson

Well, let's see. It all started when I was 3 years old. I was raised on Sesame Street and Whiney the Pooh. My affection towards pig characters was tremendous, to say the least. At this point in my stuffed animal collection career I had acquired a Sleepy Suzy that I addressed as Jodi, an assortment of teddy bears, and a handmade version of Raggedy Anne (thank you Grandma) but only one of my beloved pigs, Piglet.
Then in the summer of '81 my father planned to take my mother and I to his annual company picnic. It was to be my debut. A 2.5' girl with red shorts, a white patent leather purse, giant eyes and even larger glasses could hardly go unnoticed...at least I was hoping. I was checking out the scene. There was a lot shmoozing to be done. A lot laps to sit it. A lot smiles and giggles to hand out. While entertaining a small group of my parents close friends I was approached by a woman handing out raffle tickets. What's this? What's a raffle ticket? I was pointed in the direction of the prizes and went immediately to investigate. I can't tell what the selection consisted of because when I locked eye with that voluptuous, gown-donned pig, everything else dimmed and I knew that we would be together. And we were. My Miss Piggy puppet wore a violet gown, evening gloves and bedroom eyes. I love her dearly.
Years later I would find the same fascination with the Dark Crystal. I thought if was perfectly fitting that the girl gelflings had wings and the boy gleflings didn't. After all, my father was constantly insisted that I couldn't walk around the neighborhood with my shirt off. But the boy were doing it...
A-a-aneeee way Jim Henson. A great and imaginative power.
A few highlights:

* Rowlf was originally built in 1962 for Purina Dog Chow
* Kermit first premiered on a show called Sam and Friends, a five min. puppet show in 1955
* In 1969 he made an experimental film called the Cube that aired on NBC(haven't seen this yet but plan on it)
* said about Henson's funeral "At the end of (the funeral)...Frank Oz was talking and he suddenly lifted up Kermit's puppet and started to sing this song called 'One Voice'. And it turned out that all the guys in the memorial service had brought their puppets with them, and they lifted them up, and when you turned around and looked backwards there were fifty puppets all singing. And Big Bird walked down the aisle of Saint Paul's Cathedral, and they all came forward and just this massive chorus of puppets all singing...It was an extraordinary thing..."

If...

...you find yourself lost in the middle of the woods, build a house and live there.

Post and AntiPost

Yea so I have been pretty busy, socially but mainly due to work. My tomato plant is v. large now. He is taking on some responsibility around the house though....which is good. He feeds the cats when I work late and tidies up a bit. ok OK me going crazy. me can't help it. sometimes me want to cry and run away. me also want cookie.
Yeah so when I am not bound by money to be in front of the computer I will tell you all about my wonderful life, affinity towards Jim Henson and possibly some brooding thoughts on geniune stupidity.

Words To Live By

The Gambler
Kenny Rogers















On a warm summers evenin on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, son, Ive made a life out of readin peoples faces,
And knowin what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.
So if you dont mind my sayin, I can see youre out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey Ill give you some advice.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when hed finished speakin, he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count you r money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Misogynist or Genius

Is Lars von Trier a misogynist or genius? Dancer in the Dark took sweet Selma and raked the unfortunate reality of human greed over her till her hanging death. Grace pointedly offers herself up in this martyrly fashion throughout Dogville. Whatever her selfless offerings, Grace makes off with her life by turning the philosophical tables, so to speak. Both women's innocents are taken advantage of by a tainted world. However, Selma's innocents is more organic whereas Grace's is then product of a backlash towards her understanding. The women spend their energies in maintaining this unwavering innocents by way of a blind belief in good.
We can see the same organic innocents of Dancer in the Dark in Breaking the Waves. The leading female character Bess, obstensibly dizzy but whole-hearted, finds herself dirtied and adulterated by transferring her devout faith in God to her husband Jan.
By removing gender from the equation of these three films, we can see that the main characters are compassionate, pure and selfless. Each story shows how "the world" preys on virtues until there the resources are drained. So why are the characters so decidedly feminine women? I can only reason that he sees the traits as female. The undying love of a mother? The majority of your elementary school teachers? The faceless social worker? I began to wonder why then would he use a child, boy or girl, but immediately realized that this would not facilitate the aim. Most children can help but to be unaffected. They haven't yet gotten the chance to defend their virtues. They are usually, to some degree, protected by a parent or g*d help us all, a society that cares (sadly this is not always the case). The women in these films are all grown and alone in one way or another. They have chosen to live with a giving spirit. His portrayal of this is as lovely as it is gripping. If Lars von Trier's use of women is not merely a symbol of grown innocents then his empathy runs deep.
Willing or resistant, we are all breaking the waves.

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

left to right: Sweet Basil, Bachelor Buttons, Tomato, Snap Dragons and Gardenia(not one of the original seedlings)
So I won't bother discussing the others since obviously this tomato plant is getting crazy big. Twenty-one inches to be exact. I need to wire it soon!
Few notes on tomatoes from, who else but our lovely, collaborative, Wikipedia:

• The story goes that the lingering doubts about the safety of the tomato in the United States were largely put to rest in 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced that at noon on September 26, he would eat a basket of tomatoes in front of the Salem, New Jersey courthouse
• Arkansas takes both sides by declaring the "South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato" to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its botanical and culinary classifications.
• Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in a plant part being a fruit botanically while still being considered a vegetable.

Konono Nº1

This amazing sound and celebration comes from the area right across the borders between Congo and Angola. Konono Nº1 is the first volume of Crammed's new series Congotronic, which is devoted to electrified traditional music from the Congo.

















Instruments are hand made. The main instrument used is called a likembé or a thumb piano.









Much thanks to Daye for the heads -up

Swarm

These makes me think that creativity has more to do with an appreciation of what already exists than imagination. I have never seen birds swam like this. The images were sent to me from jason. The photos are from Europe...somewhere.

In the Mood?

Ladies and Gentlemen the world's oldest condom from 1640. Its reusable, made of pig intestine and comes with a manual that suggest disinfecting with warm milk.












Thanks to b- for the enlightenment.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

Its funny I, of course, never conjured this image when I thought of floating. Now I will not be able to think otherwise. For meat balloons and other odd ideas see Unusual Cards

Satisfaction

There are few things truly satisfying in this world. To be sure, satisfaction comes in different forms for different people. Its doesn't even keep a consistent form throughout the life of one person. For instance, in college I used to drive past 5 coffee house to get to my favorite one. I would order a large "Mint Condition" consisting of espresso, steamed milk, chocolate syrup and mint syrup. This was truly satisfying. I savored every last drop. And then one day...nothing. It just didn't do it for me anymore. I am content but not thrilled with a regular cup of joe. Occasionally an album will come out that will hold me over to till I see the Dia at Beacon for the first time, encounter my first flasher or wake up early.
I think even when you pine for something and finally, after pouring all your time, thoughts and energy into this thing, finally you obtain it, that its not half as satisfying as the process was to get there. So then maybe its the search that's holding on to all the satisfaction.
In my search for this thing I found Marian Bantjes, my new design crush.







Thanks to HugeRash for the heads-up

Play Time

A couple of months ago I bid on a fairly large lot of letter magnets on ebay and won. I am working on an animation with the letter forms now. This is the test run.

Saturday

Aaaaah, Saturday. Last night some friends and I wished Peter bon voyage for his journey to teach in Japan. His is a good man that will be missed. I am looking forward to the stories he will have to tell. As you might imagine sending someone off who you will not see for some time involves a late night of drinking games, jokes and singing. So, this morning I woke at leisure. I managed to leave my phone at the party and haven't retrived it yet. A pleasant break from communicating.
Soooo, plant update(you'll notice a huge difference from the last):
Top image from left to right:bachelor buttons, tomato, snapdragon, forget-me-nots
Tomatoes are better than expected. I have already given two small pots of them away. I only photographed the big one but there is another of comparable size that is doing just fine. The snapdragon just now sprouted. I will have to re-pot them soon. The bachelor buttons are also doing pretty good. I can't really tell how these are going to unfold yet, but they seem to be getting there. Forget-me-nots...forget it. They are all but dead.







From left to right:zinnia and sweet basil
The zinnia are not plenty but the few are growing tall. Sweet basil is doing good. I don't want to get too excited about this one; keep your fingers crossed.
Onto the topic of pancakes; I love them.












I woke thinking that I wanted cheesy grits but when it came down to cooking time, pancakes won by a landslide. Occasionally I will add chocolate chips or top with bananas. Not in the mood for super sweet and, as always, having a bum banana dilemma, I opted for a pear topper. Now as most of you know I am a lifelong vegetarian with complicated relationship with eggs. I enjoy trying to cook eggs for family but couldn't eat a naked one to save my life. Even quiche and flan make me quiver at the thought of consumption.
Having said that, I relish baked goods and bread pudding. Don't ask me to make sense of this. The problem has plagued me for 25 years now and I don't care to investigate any further. But we all know ya gotta put an egg in your pancakes and so I do it. Today though, my egg freaked me out. It had a white thing in it. What is that? Needless to say, I didn't use this egg

Amnesty

Impeccable. Thanks to Walker for their Amnesty International Ads. And thanks to Chris & Daye for bringing them to my attention.

The Corporation

First allow me to make a few surface observations. I like the use of the Base Nine for the section titles. Who doesn't love to use an Emigre typeface?! Also, it donned on me that Noam Chomsky seems timeless. Its almost like he always has and always will look the way he does right now. Sure you can find photos of him when he was younger but that wasn't Noam...I assure you.
Now, this movie was recommended to me twice in one week so I took it as a sign to move it to the top of my queue and watch it the very day that it came in. The opening scene was a flickering of logos. Though, each logo was held on the screen for a mere second, I could identify all of them. *drool* 'Wow' I think immediately, 'those must be very successful marks from a design stand-point if I am recognizing them all.' *snap out of it* Did anyone watch the cartoon Duck Tales with Scrooge McDuck and his nephews? Well, Mr. McDuck's motto was "work smarter, not harder" which seemed to be the heart of the first corporations. No doubt he was a rich duck with money first and foremost on his mind. While his nephews clearly reaped the benefits of his ambition they also acted as his conscience.
Anyway, what really shocked me was how quickly coporations found a loophole out of responsibility; as early as the 14th Amendment. This gave them the rights of an individual. A little tacky I think, but not half as tacky as deforming human beings and animals(seriously drove me to tears), trying to claim a living organism as your on patented creation or privatizing rainwater. Overall I thought the most acute statement was made by Ray Anderson from Interface: "I realized that I was a plunderer. To plunder is not mine, its something that belongs to every creature on this earth."
And while this devastating documentary ended on a positive we-can-all-make-a-difference note(much appreciated and its true we can...somehow), lingering in my head were the words of Jonathan Ressler, president of Big Fat and official mayor of Choadsville. After describing his deceptive methods of corporate guerilla advertising, he summed up what he thought the general public should do in response to this corporate dilemma. "Just Say Thanks." Hey thanks! Your choad-key to the city is in the mail.

Ladies Love Cool Jays

...and so do men.
Everyone say hello to brandon, one of my best friends and subject of one of my favorite photos of the year. Even though I have known B- for 5 years now, I never knew he was one for karaoke. You learn something new everyday. I imagine he is at the last chorus of "I Will Always Love You".

W.O.T.

September 12th is a interactive simulation of the war on terror.
Honestly, its not the funnest game I have ever played. I kept making a lady cry, but you should check it out for yourself.

Knowing is Half the Battle

When I started my first year of design at Georgia State I was hungry to know everything that I could about this thing called graphic design. What was design anyway? Do I really get to be creative? Oh, and the new macs were just so sexy. How indulgent.
I was shock and intrigued to find that there was "well know" designers. It may have been a close friend at the time or my impeccable History of Design teacher, Liz Throope, but my eyes were opened. Not only are there highly skilled typographers out there, but there are also a lot of amazing efforts being made to educate the public. One of my favorites is COLORS Magazine originally edited by Tibor Kalman. The magazine releases serveral issues throughout the year. Each issue is dedicated to a particular topic and has a web site companion.
The Story of Energy is a good one.

WebLove

Again, Flat has managed to produce a both interesting and functional web site. How do they keep doing it?! .... Thaaaaa-nk youuuuuu Flaaaaaaat; talented bastards.

*Sigh*

That's it. That's all I got right now.