(click for larger version if you so choose)
Glad that I found time to do I.F. again. I've been so incredibly busy. This is a pencil sketch with digital color. Quick as usual. Maybe at X-mas I will be able to slow down a little and spend some time on my submission. This took about 20 minutes at most.
The work displayed on this site are all delicate little sculptures made from single sheets of paper.
I thought that I would never see
My DNA inside a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is mine
Hidden genes that tow the line;
A tree that looks with my own eyes,
And lifts my leafy arms - SURPRISE!;
The Me-Tree that does like to wear
A gel of nests up in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
But I don't have breasts - Hey, don't complain!.
The DNA of fools like me,
Can now be hidden in a tree.
(Apologies to Joyce Kilmer)
I must admit something rather silly. I stole the book above from my daughters. In part because it is one of the few books by illustrator Mary Blair but it really has more to do with the sentimental value.
The book was originally mine and I wanted to kids to enjoy it as I had. The illustrations are light and colorful and, to me, seem a perfect visual metaphor for my youth. The book, unlike any other I own, is pure comfort and memory - an warm old blanket, if you will.
I was surprised then to find that many people are sharing illustrations that they remember from their childhood. It is an interesting study to see what influenced people and what they remembered or found valuable now. While some of it may be a celebration of all things retro, I think there is more to it. I think it is the sentimentality and the fact that a lot of the work was really pretty good.
My kids don't get "I Can Fly" and want nothing much to do with it (justifying my petty thievery). It will be fun to see what they hold dear. I wonder if it will be the Harry Potter video games, the Arthur DVDs, or, perhaps, Olivia.
My vote goes for Olivia.
Addendum: I love Drazen's Halloween take on Mary Blair.
In the classic Calvin and Hobbes comics there are several moments when Calvin sends notes to his future self. The more academic description comes from Wikipedia:
In a storyline in the daily comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin attempted to create an ontological paradox by travelling two hours into the future to retrieve a story he had to write for homework and did not want to do. He reasoned that by that time it would be done and he could then bring it back to the past and spend the time goofing off instead of working. Of course, the future Calvin didn't have the homework either, having decided two hours previously to time-travel instead of doing it. Calvin eventually ended up fighting with two of his future selves, while Hobbes and his future self wrote a story based on the whole predicament. The story (which was about Hobbes saving the day) received an A+.
I actually done this once in my life (writing to myself) - primarily to see how long it would take to post something in town. But I found it quite interesting writing to my future self. It is sort of like reading a journal or diary years after the fact.
Well, Forbes has a page where you can email yourself or someone in the future. I am thinking of sending myself an email in 1 year. 5 years could be interesting. 20 years is a bit optimistic considering I go through email accounts as frequently as my cat goes through chew toys.
Anyhow, it could be a bit of fun. Delayed gratification.
It could also be a bit heart wrenching especially for those who may send messages then pass away before they are delivered.
Regardless, it might be nice to let your future selves know that you are thinking about them.
(from Boing Boing)
It is no wonder that the riots in Paris, ignited by the deaths of two Muslim youths, coincides with Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. For many Muslims world over, it is time of thanksgiving, the end of a period of reflection, and celebration of family and faith. It is, for those living in west, also a moment in time that sets the divisions between cultures in fine contrast.
Let me explain: I wanted to share with my class images of how people celebrate both Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights) and Eid al-Fitr. Doing a search for images I could find many for Diwali but was really frustrated by the fact that all images pertaining to Eid were, for the most part, people praying. The strangeness is this: think about Christmas and now imagine doing a search for the holiday and calling up only pictures of people sitting in church.
Flickr has some 500 photographs of people all over the world celebrating Eid. The images are often personal with little that actually gives some overriding sense of the celebrations.
And this brings me back to Paris and the riots that started in Clichy-sous-Bois. It takes us to Birmingham and Amsterdam. All these places in Europe that have large immigrant populations from predominately Muslim countries. In these places Muslim immigrants live in what could be considered nothing less than ghettos. Not only is there a lack of integration but downright bitter poverty and boiling frustration.
Radicalism blossoms in these conditions and European countries, which welcomed immigration in the past partly as a long term result of colonialism and as means of building and sustaining modern economies, are now facing the stark reality that, whether they like it not, immigrant cultures cannot be ignored. To continue on this path means only more roiting and unrest, at best, and, worse, radical fundamentalism. Islam, throughout Europe now, is an identity one can hold onto when one is neither Moroccan or French, Turkish or German, Pakistani or English.
If governments and their citizens really considered this and are really concerned about the potential for terrorism they would act immediately to integrate disaffected populations and begin to celebrate the cultures which now augment their great traditions.
Back to the images of Eid. When I can do a search and find images of Eid celebrations in Paris, or when I see a commercial for Eid in London, and when I look and can say to myself, "that's French" or "that's Dutch" I know that we, this global culture, will be just a little better off.
Visual Complexity is a vertible warehouse of over 200 examples of representations of complex networks.
It is a fascinating site in that it makes explicit the complexity that underlies seemingly simple things. Take high school social networks and look at the image above. Hmmm. See that little dot over by itself on the left....that's me.
Actually what can be gleaned from this image is that white people (in white) hang around with other white people (mostly) and african-americans (in green) with other african-americans (mostly) and that everyone else fits in all over the place (at this one particular school).
Some of the images are hard to read and understand. Some are full of overlapping images and we can't really make sense of them. But, in some instances, that may actually be the point.
(Almost Forgot: Thanks, Jayme)
