metasurface

Time-Out

2010-04-07T12:38:00.001-07:00

Time-Out
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

eczema

2010-03-14T03:44:00.001-07:00

eczema
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

this is Eczema of my Villain/Affliction project.

acidreflux

2010-03-14T03:43:00.001-07:00

acidreflux
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

I've been working on what I call the Villain/Affliction project. I thought that names of common illnesses sounded like comic book villains. Here is Acid Reflux.

Tango/Sotomayor Hearings

2009-07-29T15:31:00.005-07:00

Tango/Sotomayor Hearings
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

Hummingbirds

2009-07-29T15:31:00.003-07:00

Hummingbirds
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

Krill

2009-07-29T15:31:00.001-07:00

Krill
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

shoes

2009-07-29T15:30:00.005-07:00

shoes
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

nest

2009-07-29T15:30:00.003-07:00

nest
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

clock

2009-07-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

clock
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

weeds

2009-07-29T15:29:00.001-07:00

weeds
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

Critical Squares - Page 1

2009-07-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

This is a project that has been slow to come to fruition. It will, as the story unfolds, talk about my experiences as an academic and biases against visual texts - both external and self-imposed. The comic book format references some of the other works discussed - Palestine, Persepolis, and Maus - and supports the notion of alternative methodologies such as visual auto-ethnographies.

Click to see a larger version

poof

2008-08-05T14:37:00.001-07:00

poof
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

The Tale of Two Economies

2008-07-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to read/watch mainstream news these days. It seems there is some strange myopic syndrome wherein those who run mainstream news outlets are unable to see the economic situation outside their own luxury. When it hurts the middle class to gas up or, now, by weekly groceries, the story is pretty big. The housing market has been in meltdown and banking, now, is suffering similar fate. Yet the stories we get are more often than not concentrated on the suffering in the financial markets.

This isn't anything new. A couple of articles online, however, hint at the scope of the damage and the seriousness of this:

• Marketwatch has a commentary on how, with all the bailouts, America is becoming a 'socialist' state. The argument here is that the free market abuses have, ironically, brought about the conservatives' nightmare - social programs. The problem I find with this article is that it fails to mention that those really benefiting from the social programs are the banks and the lenders who are the very people who got us into the mess in the first place. This is all done at the taxpayer expense, right? Is the problem really being solved?

• I love this rant about the notion that shareholders must see a profit. Writer Daniel Davies yanks back the curtain on a crappy system that doesn't work and has serious ramifications for workers.

• Finally, Dan Schechter lays it all out and tells us that instead of praise for rescue of capitalism we should be rethinking and rebuilding a post-capital society.

Not so cuil

2008-07-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of press in the last 24 hours about Cuil, a new search engine created by former Google employees.

While I welcome any challenge to the Google empire, I tried Cuil this morning and was really very disappointed. It claims to search gajillions of pages but couldn't find the breadth or depth that, erm, Google does. For one search, it also list 2000 or so results but couldn't display them all and only gave me two pages of results.

I hope Cuil's creators rectify these problems so that they can live up to the hype they've received.

IF - Canned

2008-07-26T11:27:00.001-07:00

IF - Canned
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

Friday Lovin': Gnarls Barkley

2008-07-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Technofetish Rant Part II

2008-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

RANT: In an era when we are facing so many problems, it seems ridiculous to me the press that the new iPhone is getting. Give me a break. God did not open the heavens and put that piece of telephony/computing tech on earth to change our civilization for the better. But you'd never know that from what you read/see/hear. Yes, it is an interesting device but every friggin' day it seems there is an interesting new piece of technology introduced. It's all fetish. The new iPhone is a product that a company is selling for profit. Get over it. Buy it if you must but, please, look at the bigger picture and be creative. Demand more from those who will profit from it. What is the point of having a phone with seamless internet connectivity if the internet itself is threatened by corporate control?

The War Prayer

2008-05-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Lovin': The Flower

2008-05-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

On Record

2008-03-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok. It's 9pm on Sunday. Reading the economic news is definitely not for those with heart conditions. It seems that we are in for some very stormy weather. I can't help but to think (from looking at the Asian Markets tonight) that we are in for something serious tomorrow.

As with all things Bush administration, it never ceases to amaze me just how awful it can get.

Illustration Friday: Leap

2008-03-02T01:28:00.001-08:00

Leap

Is it change, vision, or winnability?

2008-02-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend I caucused like crazy. I was really surprised by the Obama momentum and I feel, now, as though I was a part of something special. But at the time, I sort of made a fool of myself (as usual). In figuring out how to divvy up our delegates we had to talk about why we supported our candidate. I was the last to speak and, by then, everybody had, for the most part, dissected each candidate. But I spoke as passionately as possible. When I had finished there was silence and everyone was looking at me as though I had a miniature kangaroo dancing on my head. Needless to say, I am surprised that they didn't discount my vote altogether. I wish I had Lawrence Lessig's argument with me. Take a look...

Layer's of Gondry

2008-02-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Leave it to a French person to put the final nail in the coffin of Postmodern irony. Michel Gondry is a very innovative film director (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) who often has his characters enter magical mental spaces that are filled with fantastic but low budget-like imagery. This imagery is a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) comment on filmmaking itself and the glossy imagery of Hollywood in particular. It is a complex dialog that ultimately reaffirms the connections between the cinematic image and the mental representation. What is fun and new is Gondry's pseudo-DIY aesthetic.

It makes sense, then, that Gondry is the director for the film "Be Kind, Rewind" starring Jack Black as a magnetized friend of Mos Def, a video store clerk. The two have to recreate the films Jack has accidentally erased. Here is the trailer for the film (pay attention closely):

Ok, here's where Gondry pulls a po-mo twist: he has created his own trailer for the film in the same manner of the characters in the film. This is 3rd order simulacra when you consider he is referencing work in the trailer that was referencing the original film. What we are left with is a crazy, barely referential pastiche of symbols that is, for the most part, impossible to make sense of:

She voted for the war

2008-02-06T12:12:00.001-08:00

Originally uploaded by seanbonner.
I find this fascinating because it says a lot in a very simple way. There is an assumption here, however, on the part of the creator that we'd know who "she" is. Not to analyze this to death but the fact that it has done the rounds online tells me that another assumption was that it would have a larger audience and that it would essentially be preaching to the choir. Regardless the simple both in form and content make it a sharp, direct piece.

Eustace Goes Travelling

2008-01-25T16:14:00.000-08:00

My illustration of Eustace Tilley, the iconic dandy from The New Yorker magazine, found its way onto the great urban travel blog Gridskipper today.

UPDATE: My Eustace was selected by The New Yorker. See it here.

An audio commentary about Eustace Tilley and the contest that mentions my entry is available here.

3 Cultures, 2 Projects, 1 Idea

2008-01-03T00:07:00.000-08:00

Two Rivers is a documentary film about reconciliation efforts by European Americans and Native Peoples in Twisp, Washington. I was attracted to the story not only because it was local but also I was interested in seeing the outcome. It didn't disappoint. View the trailer and, if possible, find and see the film.

Another project about the meeting of cultures and the importance of hearing stories about the lives of others is White City Stories. The films on the site tell about life in the hills of Southern Peru. It is a fascinating journey.

Both projects are worth your attention.

Found the video below while looking for the Two Rivers film site. Beautiful.

The Road

2007-12-22T00:31:00.001-08:00

Illustration Friday: Horizon

I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road a while back and it has haunted me since. I tried, with this image, to capture the darkness and the gray landscape that makes the story so vivid yet suffocating.

Race in Britain, the video

2007-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

This video is a powerful statement about race and class in Britain.

For succinct and comprehensive analysis read this posting from Obtusity.

That Grocery Mood and the Starbucks/Safeway Hybrid

2007-10-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

I can't really file this under Design in a Small Town because I am sure it is happening everywhere.

My local Safeway, which seemingly just opened in its present location a few years ago, has undergone some renovation. The whole notion of renovation to a store that was new to begin with is utterly confounding to me.

The newspapers (yes, apparently this merits coverage) report that Safeway is now better suited to be a 'lifestyle' store. I have searched for some meaning in that and I have to call a designer/marketing bluff and say this is nonsense. I am sure I will royally anger other designers by this proclamation but the fact is this is appears to be a frivolous venture meant simply to provide Safeway with some differentiation when, inevitably, the Walmart superstore goes in across the street. Safeway = equals lifestyle (read 'high class') and Walmart = equals convenience and economy (read 'low class'). The brilliant part of this is that by claiming the lifestyle status, Safeway gives itself justification for its prices. Heck, they might even want to set the prices higher for allowing us to experience their store.

It is funny how 'lifestyle' is expressed. It is as though the Starbucks, once relegated to an awkward corner of the store, has now exploded, covering the rest of the store in a creamy hazel nut mocha wash. But this doesn't produce lifestyle. I still buy the same crap that I did before. I am not viewing myself any differently when I shop there. It is still the same old Safeway just darker, I suppose.

The store is dark. Apparently, my lifestyle is supposed to be vision impaired. Dim lights, faux cherry fixtures. In fact, it is so dark my wife and I joked that the next time we visit they are going to have to hand out flashlights. The fixtures are interesting, actually, because the cherry wood makes the bread aisle as though it were some sort of library reading room.

In fact, the whole store has that feel. It is an exclusive men's club. Ironically, when the store takes this affectation, the in-store Starbucks still seems awkward. It has grown in the current redesign and now, strangely, includes a fireplace. I am not sure anymore how exactly I am to use the store. Do I hang out by the fireplace with my skinny half-caff latte then, when the grocery mood hits me, wander the store in search of items meant to supplement my social standing? Or do I buy my crap but then, to reaffirm that I am more elevated that my Tide and Bounty suggest, I can put my feet up by the fire and count my commercial blessings?

I guess one good thing about the dim lights could be that the store looks cleaner than it really is. You know the Walmart will be bright enough to reveal the everyday, working class grime.

But beyond the differentiation one should consider the strangeness of this arrangement. Our grocery spaces, it seems now have to be injected with mood and atmosphere. Yet, our public structures (libraries in particular) which should have that same sort of quietness and interiority are all about transit, openness, and light. The university libraries, for instance, are about windows and wide, communal spaces.

Needless to say, we can see that our focus is to be trained in the commercial site and the public place is quite the opposite. Public spaces, for the most part, represent prestige and scale yet are designed to move you through. Not to linger and contemplate but to move on to other spaces.

Perhaps to the comfort of a lifestyle space.

Another reason for change...

2007-10-06T01:33:00.000-07:00

Read this and feel concerned, please.

Serious Strips

2007-10-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

Graphic Novels are often remarkable for the frankness in which they deal with issues that, until recently, were not the common fare in comic form. In fact the strength of the graphic novel, as opposed to the traditional comic serial, is a concentrated storytelling that allows for in-depth exploration of ideas, relationships, and more implicit internal states. The complexity of stories then is allowed to occur in ways often developed through a series of parallel sub-stories or shifts in time that rival anything found in, say, HBO dramas or the well-crafted film.

If graphic novels are a sort of visually-rich literary meat (Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan being a very juicy prime cut), then comic strips are the equivalent of those little baco-bits that your grandma used to sprinkle on your salad to hide the fact that lettuce had gone a little limp.

Recently, two baco-bit comic strips from my youth have become, I dunno, hormone injected (my metaphor is falling apart) and thus more meaty. For Better or For Worse, while at times super-saccharin, has also had moments of emotional intensity and social consciousness. I remember several years ago a storyline that followed a gay character. I found the telling the of his story remarkable in its unremarkableness (if you'll allow me this term). The character appears infrequently but when he does there is little to bring us back to the story the centers on his gayness (unless you are like me and have followed the story for some time). He is, for all intents and purposes, any other character woven into the meandering story of the protagonist family's lives (he is a friend of the son, I believe). If we are to criticize then we should comment that he is perhaps too bland and, worse, a token personage.

More recently I think that mundaneness has worked to great effect however. The grandfather has suffered from a stroke and the stories surrounding him and his companion have given us insight into her and the grandfather's internal struggles. The story has unfolded in an excruciating slow pace to the effect that we, like the caregiver, desire some progress and we share in the grandfather's frustration. It is an interesting device in this series that the characters often are saying something but never connecting. This point made more explicit by the fact that they are framed by the same box thus share that space with dialog balloons that never really interconnect.

The story is ongoing and unfold in way that begins (if only slightly) to mirror the sort of storytelling happening primarily in graphic novels.

Funky Winkerbean is another strip that has been a bit more daring. Recently, the strip has followed the story of a character who is dying from cancer. The story falls back on some very common devices (autumn=death, rain=sadness) but the harshness of the end of this woman's life this week - her physical pain, her husband's unending selflessness hiding his fatigue, and both characters coming to grips with her impending death - all somehow make the story real and, ultimately, life-affirming. It is this type of storytelling which reveals that, far from being irrelevant, comic strips can and should probe more than the silly little things children do. And make a nice meaty read.

The Dublin Spire

2007-09-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

Slate magazine has a very good essay by Witold Rybczynski about a monument in Dublin. The article describes the qualities of the Spire and why something that is primarily an exercise in engineering has more impact that those monuments (read: world trade center memorial) that deal only obvious, staid symbolism. Rybczynski writes:

"What does the Dublin Spire mean? Whatever you want. There is no writing, no iconography, no overt symbolism. This spire is not a sign. St. Augustine said of signs that if you didn't know what an object was a sign of, it could teach you nothing, but if you did know, what more could you learn from it? That's why the most potent monuments—the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the Kaaba at Mecca, the Washington Monument—lend themselves to many interpretations."

The essay is accompanied with photos of the project: LINK

photo by bruno brunecky (sxc.hu)

I don't know what to say exactly...

2007-08-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

(from Cartoon Brew)

Ron Mueck

2007-08-01T21:53:00.001-07:00

Ron Mueck Installation - "Untitled (Big Man)"
Originally uploaded by The Modern.

If you aren't familiar with Ron Mueck's work you should Google his name or click on the image to see the installation of some of his better known, more recent pieces. Mueck, an Australian artist who worked as an effects artists for tv and film, has created very hyperreal human forms that are out of scale (either very large or very small). The are amazingly well-crafted, so much so, that when assembled they give you pause.

Great Picture

2007-07-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

I think this is a strangely captivating photo simply due to composition and cropping (as the photoblog's name implies).

Under Tokyo

2007-07-29T18:44:00.001-07:00

There is something in underground Toyko. Could it be a secret city or just giant storm drains?

The Divide

2007-07-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

This video is essentially raw footage that betrays its quiet presentation. There is nothing graphic about this video but it is subtly disturbing nonetheless. The story unfolds quickly and while most of the video is a police spokesperson explaining the situation, she does little to bring closure or even fully explicate why the police did what they did.

A/Effective Display

2007-07-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ran across this recently and thought it to be an effective visual display of presidential doublespeak. With all the useless dribble cut away we see the real meat of the speech. The simple revision makes apparent a certain desperation that I find pitiful. I guess the speech was meant to stir us up and scare us even, perhaps. It utterly fails to elicit those feelings. I think what I feel is tantamount to frustration even a little pity.

Summer 2007

2007-07-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is a crap picture of the Bodleian library at Oxford University in England. It is one of the oldest in Europe (the library not my picture - hah!) and is the main research library at the university. The architecture has made it a favorite of the film industry (parts of the first two Harry Potter movies were shot inside). It would've been fun to visit the library but my visit to Oxford was filled with other academicky (<-- my new word) things to do.

Jayme and I presented a paper at a visual literacy conference at Mansfield College early in July. I think we both enjoyed ourselves although Jayme was probably just being very polite as she usually is. We met lots of interesting, talented, and gentle people and gorged ourselves on pub food (not in front of them thankfully). I stayed on in England for the past month to visit family and experience British-style rain .

It rained - I am not joking - almost every single day! Needless to say, I am thrilled to be back stateside in our near 100 degree temperatures. I had plenty of time to read and think. Stay tuned.

My Bad, Part Deux

2007-06-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe I was right?!

For honest eco-building check this out.

It's called empathy. You might try a little...

2007-06-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

Is it the healthcare system or have we just stopped being human?

Friday Lovin': Animal Actors

2007-06-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Where are they now?

(This is funniest thing I've seen in a while.)

Sisyphus Family Vacation

2007-05-28T13:59:00.001-07:00

(click for larger version)

Illustration Friday: Cars

Why? MCA!

2007-05-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Some people have too much time on their hands!

My Bad: Eco-Dubai

2007-05-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

In an earlier posts I put down the growth in Dubai because of the unsustainability of the development. But recently I have come across some very interesting projects that use Dubai's abundant natural resources (mainly sunlight and wind).

Check this out. A very interesting project that incorporates solar panels and wind turbines. What's equally interesting is that there was concern for incorporating social spaces and using the design to reference middle eastern Islamic architecture and geometric patterns.

Intimate Pain

2007-04-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

Renee Byer recently won a Pulitzer Prize for this incredibly heart-wrenching series of photographs for the Sacramento Bee.

The images remarkably steer clear of saccharin sentimentalism and reveal the intimate pain of a mother who must confront every parent's nightmare. There is a delicacy to the way Byer has handled the events and their representation. It is honest and not intrusive but yet brutally there-in-the-moment. Byer's work reminds me of Philip Jones Griffiths but without sweeping political undertones. The story is simply and powerfully life affirming.

Father and Daughter

2007-04-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

From Videosift

Tuesday Lovin': An American Self-Portrait

2007-04-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

Serious small multiples here.

A Failure of Imagination

2007-04-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it seems, we are consumed by visions of the future. I think this is a learned behavior as capitalism, at this point in time, seems obsessed with selling us a shinier, technologically enhanced version of ourselves. Techno-fetish lust abounds and the never ending cycle of new product introductions continues unabated. Everyday there are countless technological devices that bring to the mix unnecessary new features or styling.

There are moments, however, when the national (or global?) psyche bubbles up and we are forced to face our demons. Iraq is ever present as is global warming. Corruption, corporate greed, and the list goes on and on. We try desperately to hide in our personal mediascapes but we can't escape the real world.

This week there was an item that kept popping up. The Ministry of Defence in the UK released a report about future threats. The report outlines the use of such technologies as neutron, biological, and chemical weapons. More interesting is that it discusses social class imbalances and even raises the spectre of a Marxist revolution.

The meager descriptions of the report got me thinking about this clip regarding the movie, The Children of Men:

Slavoj Zizek is one of the great thinkers of our time and lays it out for you in black and white about how the real story in the film is the background or the situation. To me it is the nagging sense that everything in the techno-present isn't rosy and outside of our mediated bubble things are beginning to disintegrate.

But I am not really interested in what the film reveals as these fears we openly express everyday or, in the least, surround us in a subtle mediated hum.

The more interesting concern is that our governments are unable to envision a new world and instead prepare for the worst. Yet "the worst" that is "probability-based, rather than predictive" is actually the made-for-film simulacra/parable of what exists now.

It strikes me as wholly plausible that late capitalism, as Zizek reports, has run its course and instead of investing in new paradigms (that could do a hell of lot more to saving the planet, for instance) the vision lingers in a pitiful old-school utter villainization of alternative economic and social models.

This reveals that those in power are of a generation trained to be in their place (often narrowly defined, uncreative roles). They are so uncreative, in fact, that they can't even see that a real defense would be to attack the inequality and the existing system - not their country's own citizens. Needless to say, it is time for visionaries to put forth their imagined realities.

New Stuff

2007-04-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

I know I have been negligent in keeping up with the posting but, hey, haven't you heard that blogging is, like, so 2005 and, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Anyway, with that said, I must say that I have updated the all my sites just to keep them tidy. Metasurface has been turned into a general homepage that will primarily host the links to academic writings (metasurface.net/deeper) and the two blogs - metasurface blog and parallel practice.

The blogs have moved to blogspot and I think by the end of the school my focus will be primarily on parallel practice.

Not that it matters. Metasurface is dead. Long live Metasurface.

Sunday Lovin': Famous Balloon Movies

2007-03-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

Cartoon Brew has an interesting post about a animator who has used After Effects, a post-production effects editor and video compositing tool, to add balloons into well-known films. The results are very well done and very funny. I have added them all below:

Anniversary

2007-03-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

My wife and I just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary recently and it is hard to believe that during a sizable chunk of our married life the US has been at war in Iraq. My daughter is as old as the war and just celebrated her 4th birthday. (If the war was a child it'd be jumping on the couch, and telling potty jokes)

It is interesting to see how, beyond the daily potpourri of images of violence and political talking heads, we visualize the war, the costs of war, the other, and, really, how the visual becomes a playground where we think through all facets of our situation trying to make sense of nothing less than our political reality.

Here are two illustrations of that:

The Iraq Veterans Memorial is a video tribute to fallen soldiers in the vein of the Vietnam memorial or the AIDS quilt project.

Rageh Inside Iran is a BBC documentary that gives the viewer a very complex, nuanced view of Iranians.

UPDATE:

Additional videos to check out: Hometown Baghdad follows several young Iraqis as they struggle to survive in Baghdad.

Global Interior Design

2007-03-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

My wife Lipi sends this one: Normal Room is social media/design culture taken to its breaking point. The premise of the site is this: upload pictures of your house to share it with a global audience.

That's it.

What results is, as Lipi describes, strangely fascinating. What I find interesting is that people make no attempts what-so-ever to clean or organize the rooms they are showing and a meta-reading of the whole experience of viewing several hundred pictures of various rooms in homes all over the world is that we, as citizens of that giant condominium we call planet Earth, pretty much all have really bad taste.

There are, of course, some anthropological investigations begging to be done. How, for instance, does the Irish family squeeze into that teeny bathroom, get the door closed, pull down their pants, and successfully navigate to the toilet without falling into the shower? Or what is wrong with the Brazilian kids? Why is their bedroom so frighteningly clean?

Billed as an inspirational interior design resource, Normal Rooms does little to inspire thoughts about design but instead is the internet equivalent of driving through the neighborhood on a winter's evening and peering the windows of your neighbors' homes.

If some of the web 2.0 has been about getting the average person to share their creative enterprises with an international crowd of like-minded people then I think it is important to note that what seems to matter to most is not cutting-edge aesthetics or the latest design fashion. It is, instead, comfort and the grind of everyday life.

And piles of books and magazines, apparently.

close encounters of the 5th kind

2007-02-27T10:39:00.001-08:00

close encounters of the 5th kind
Originally uploaded by raccuia.

Technofetish: Taking it down a notch

2007-01-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

This week's technofetish award goes to all those who are drooling about the new Apple iPhone. My reaction at the announcement was: *sigh* a phone. Apart from being a little turned off by the hype (can't anyone see how the slavish followers reflect the 90s Microsoft fan club or is that just an ex-Seattlite privilege), I have to admit that I am not excited by the fact that it is an all in one package - phone, camera, internet device, media player. I actually like my appliances being separate so that when one gets outdated it is less expensive (in theory) to upgrade. Furthermore, the whole phone thing (what Jobs calls the killer app) didn't interest me simply because, surprise, I rarely use a phone (cell or otherwise).

Kottke has a wonderful distillation of all the recent writing about the iPhone.

While I thought the design of the phone and interface was very beautiful both, at closer inspection, leave a little to be desired. I don't want to go into detail (see some of the mentions in the Kottke piece) but I will say that the iPhone does begin to spark my interest when you think of small computers such as the oqo. I am more than eager to see a full-fledged OS X machine in a package slightly larger than the oqo or the iPhone with features like voice recognition and touchscreen/stylus input.

Heck, you could make calls through something like skype if you really needed, as I have ascertained from exhaustive informal research and eavesdropping, to tell your friends about the incredibly mundane things about your life that you wouldn't normally tell anyone (except perhaps your gastroenterologist).

I think if Apple did a small form factor sub-notebook with touch/voice/stylus and it could perform some of the same tasks as both the iPhone and appleTV devices, then I think they'd be looking a more than the 1% market share they are hoping to attract (which I am sure they will get) and would have a product that is perhaps more attractive to the Japanese and European market where space is premium.

But Apple Inc. is more about cleaning up: Taking the jumble that is out there and making it better. My bet, though, is that the iPhone is just a test technology that is a stepping stone to a larger more powerful device (sub-notebook? tablet? both?).

Note: Blake, a grad student, asked why voice recognition and speech-to-text technology that has been around for a while wasn't incorporated to make facilitate speedier texting.

The Gimli Glider

2007-01-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

Found this on Digg and thought the experience for both pilots and passengers sounds horrifying. It is a quick and captivating read.
More on the incident: 1, 2

Note: Apparently the incident is a result of bad metric conversion. This happens to me all the time when I convert to the decabet!

Media Diet

2007-01-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

The last post got me to thinking about mythologies. One that I see students buying into all the time is that media are inert. When I taught Introduction to Visual Communications, I was surprised by how students were unaware of the "mediatedness" of their daily lives. After all, sometimes I go home with "plastic poisoning" from spending too much time in front of the computer only to go online minutes after the kids go to bed. But I also spend a lot of time in social situations. Could I be the one believing in something that is fundamentally incorrect?

So, as a sort of New Year's experiment, I am going to follow New York Magazine's lead and write about my Media Diet. Here it is:

Wednesday: 7:15 - 7:30 - Check email and quickly review nytimes.com, cnn.com, commondreams.org, huffingtonpost.com, digg.com, gizmodo.com, and surf for CFPs (calls for papers)

7:35 - 8:00 - Watch Arthur while feeding the kids.

8:40 - 9:00 - Listened to iPod on my commute (car stereo doesn't work): Oldies - Police (Roxanne), Pink Floyd (Wish you were here), Beatles (Strawberry fields)

9:00 - 9:10 - Walked to work from far reaches of parking lot listening to iPod (too cold to read): Jazz - John Coltrane (Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye), Ahmad Jamal (The Awakening)

9:30 - 9:50 - Review CFPs (calls for papers)

10:00 - 10:10 - Review digg.com, drawn.ca, boingboing.com

11:05 - 11:25 - email

11:25 - 11:30 - prepare last post

1:00 - 1:20 - prepare this post

(more later)

Happy New Year (Now, Don't Mess it Up!)

2007-01-10T11:35:00.001-08:00

Open Democracy is an interesting website that:

is the leading independent website on global current affairs - free to read, free to participate, free to the world...offering stimulating, critical analysis, promoting dialogue and debate on issues of global importance and linking citizens from around the world.

This article captured my attention recently. How many mythologies have you bought into recently?

What we know now

2006-12-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of 50 interesting things that we now know that we didn't know at this time last year.

How to handle telemarketers

2006-12-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

Why is it that I joined the no-calling list yet I still get telemarketers calling at dinner time? Here is sweet revenge. This has to be the best trick played on a telemarketer. It's very funny.

From Neatorama

Tuesday Lovin': 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials

2006-12-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

Very funny list of failed holiday specials. There are such goodies as: Muppet Christmas with Zbigniew Brzezinski, A Canadian Christmas with David Cronenberg, and Ayn Rand's A Selfish Christmas.

Feeling Lucky, Punk?

2006-12-11T00:30:00.001-08:00

Sunday Schadenfruende: Tom Delay's Blog

2006-12-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

If I've got the story correctly, Tom Delay started a blog and was so overwhelmed by negative comments that he took it down. But not before some wily person copied and re-posted it. Read the nice, warm and fuzzy comments.

Warning: After the first few posts it deteriorates into puerile name calling and is rather distasteful.

Looking Back: New Old Photographs

2006-12-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

By chance I came across these two collections of photos from the 30s and 40s. They both candidly reveal a very different America. It gave me pause to think about an 8mm film I'd seen years ago when I had gone with a friend to visit his grandparents. The color film was of New York in the late 1940s or early 50s and was fascinating. It's one thing to see a city represented in a Hollywood film but quite another in a home movie. It is in some ways more magical because it is evidence made by someone you know and trust. Of course, the stories that accompany a viewing help make it vividly real.

The comments on both these collections work similarly.

Happy X-Mas

2006-12-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

from Crooks and Liars

RIP: Big Bird

2006-11-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

A sad day for muppets everywhere.

Yeah for Politicians!!

2006-11-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections

Design in a Small Town 9: Proximity

2006-10-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

(I am in storytelling mode tonight, forgive me)

My father teaches Entomology at the university and his department, which houses an insect museum, shares the building with the Food Science and Human Nutrition department.

Many entomology researchers rear insects in effort to keep live samples to study. Apparently someone had been rearing Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches only to have them...um, escape. Needless to say, they have begun to appear throughout the building. Without invitation, I might add.

There is nothing more that needs to be said. You put two and two together. Food and cockroaches.

What does this have to do with design, you ask? Well, who on earth thought it was a great idea to put the entomologists and the food science people together? This was bound to happen, I suppose.

BONUS: Roach Cam! (from South Carolina)

About this Time

2006-10-31T22:54:00.000-08:00

When I was an undergraduate I was at the mercy of my fellow classmates when it came time to find rides home for the holidays. Precious few friends, it seemed, were making that 300 mile trek across the state. One year, I happened to finish early and was very fortunate to catch a ride with a friend who lived 80 miles from my hometown and who was gracious enough to drive me to my front door before turning around and continuing on for another hour and a half.

I remember it was a cold November evening and my friend had decided to leave the major highways and take a back road in an attempt to cut time. We had to pass through several small towns on the way. Without warning the crystal clear night turned into a thick fog and as we entered the first town it was as if we had entered a dream. The town was completely deserted and apart from the one or two street lights the town was unlit - not a single house was illuminated from within.

It really bothered us. I remember we drove a little faster to get past this place. The fog lifted and the second small town we passed through was bright and full of life. It was very strange.

When I got to my parent's home, it was late and I was greeted by my sister, who was also visiting, and after getting settled I told about the creepy little town and she replied, "I have something really scary to tell you."

I am not a brave soul and the tone my sister set with those words really got to me. I sat down on the couch and grabbed a pillow for security.

My sister went on to explain how earlier in the evening my dad had casually admitted that, while we lived in our previous home (a creaky old Dutch colonial job a block or so away), he had had reoccurring nightmares about someone falling into a well. This was the first time he had admitted this to anyone and my mother, who had researched the history of the home, remarked that there had been a well that sat where the back porch was now. To take it further my mother now felt it safe to admit that she too had had strange experiences: a number of times she had seen out of the corner of her eye someone standing near her only to turn quickly to see nothing. This was beyond the usual sense that we often get at times.

My sister's confession, however, was beyond belief and to this day still makes me uncomfortable. She revealed that on more than one occasion she had awoken to find a young woman standing at the foot of her bed. She has since told me that, unable to speak or scream out of sheer terror, she would squeeze her eyes shut until she knew the girl had gone. Mind you these encounters happened not when my sister was a child but when she was teenager.

I had a hard time sleeping that night. In my mind I thought back to all the strange things I had experienced such as the times my cat would hiss and growl at things that weren't there or the time my sister's friend came to spend the night and pulled the blinds down and up again only to return to the living room later to find the blinds down again. I remember this because I took the blame for it and it seemed unusual that the blinds would be pulled down (they never were used at all in the room).

I don't know how much of these stories is embellishment and distortion over time. But I do know that when I recently revisited the house (a friend lives there now) that I felt nothing. The only awkward vibe I felt was when I remarked to my friend that I'd forgotten how small the bathrooms were.

But maybe he is not telling me something. Maybe, just maybe, he has inherited the nightmares and lonely little girl at the foot of the bed.

Happy Halloween.

Thursday Lovin': Resentful Rover

2006-10-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Mars Rover Beginning To Hate Mars

PASADENA, CA—After nearly three years of nonstop data collection, Spirit has begun transmitting obscene gestures and confusing rants.

Friday Lovin': Poodle People Unite! (and exercise)

2006-10-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

I am not quite sure what to say about this:

Wednesday Lovin': Movie Pitches

2006-10-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Found this on Digg.com:

Erik Blevin's Kick Ass Movie Pitches

Dubai as Metaphor

2006-10-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

image: Â© 2005 Harry Lambert

My sisters-in-law have vacationed in Dubai for a decade now and have remarked on what an utter and complete transformation has happened there. Once desert, the city is now home to some new and visionary architectural projects.

The money it must take to create, say, what will be the world's tallest building or to do massive terra forming is mind-boggling. No wonder architects and engineers are lining up to strut their stuff in Dubai.

The problem is that as forward-looking as the work is and as seductive the visual forms are, the power use to keep those structures functioning (cooling for instance) is very old world. I haven't seen many proposals (not that I have looked very hard) that, for instance, use solar as an integrated element - one that would make the buildings sustainable. The focus then seems to be on extravagant form.

Dubai then becomes symbolic of our time. With money comes the potential for something truly great that could be used as a model throughout the world. Instead it is used for an investment in surface.

Thinking outside the box

2006-10-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was reported that Muslims were offended by the shape of an Apple store in New York City because of its vague similarity to the Ka'ba, a holy site in Mecca. Needless to say, the story played up to stereotypes about Muslims as irrationally fastiduous to the point of militancy regarding anything even moderately resembling religious symbols and artifacts. Well, the story appears to be a pitiful extrapolation from one person's statement.

However, reading the comments today on a site dedicated to fanatic mac users is really very interesting and does so much to destroy many stereotypes about Muslims . It shows how light and entertaining things can be when we don't fall into prejudice and, instead, embrace our techno-fetishes.

Old School Collision Control

2006-10-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it is the time of day or what but I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this:

Proof: There is only one me

2006-10-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0

people with my name

in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Rosa Parks (Her Chevy?)

2006-10-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Slate has a good article criticizing a new Chevy commercial. The commercial uses a number of images that, because of their juxtaposition to inane imagery and music, make the commercial...well, kind of "icky".

Wednesday Lovin': Your Last Elevator Ride (or not)

2006-10-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

I love this trompe l'oeil painting in an elevator.

Scandal, glorious scandal.

2006-10-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mirror Neurons and the Agony of Bad Advertising

2006-10-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

The AIA (American Institute of Architects) have run this image in their magazine adverts for some time now. The caption next to the image reads: "Mom's cranky. Dad's irritable. The kids are grouchy. Everybody needs counseling. With an architect."

Ok.

This ad is really quite awful for so many reasons. First of all the image of the woman screaming does nothing to promote architecture. Secondly, the scream annoys me to no end. I actually think this is due primarily to my mirror neurons. I see someone screaming, it makes me uncomfortable because she looks to be in pain, and now I, just in looking at her, relate to that pain and make a mental connection to the AIA. Great! The advertising firm has now united the AIA and the idea of pain.

But probably the most offensive thing about the advert is the fact that this comes off as sort of a cheap bit of advertising. The image looks like the redundantly bland images spat out by stock image firms and it seems as though the advertising firm slapped on the copy to make it fit the client.

Architects and the field of architecture deserve better than this. There needs to be something in the AIA's advertising that talks about the exciting new developments in architecture or, in contrast, how the contemporary AIA continues a very rich history.

Whatever, just please, no more screaming ladies.

FOREST FOR THE TREES UPDATE:

It just came to me. It seems that the image of the screaming woman plays into stereotypes of the hysterical woman who is so overwhelmed and unable to handle life's pressures. Only to be rescued by the professional (read: male) architect. Mom's cranky, huh?

Visual Evidence: Republicans are psychopathic

2006-10-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

Today I found this interesting site that has a number polls and their results. In a general survey about current events and governmental policy, I found the results very startling. On almost every question the histograms provide evidence that a fair proportion of people who define themselves as Republicans are concerned primarily for themselves and do not want any social programs what-so-ever. To extrapolate is to tread on dangerous ground. So, that's why I am willing do it, just for you dear reader: Republicans are psychopathic!

Judge for yourself. A Wikipedia definition of psychopathic (I actually looked up the term sociopath, but I like psychopathic as it has more sting):

A psychopath is defined as having no concern for the feelings of others & a complete disregard for any sense of social obligation. They seem egocentric and lacking insight and any sense of responsibility or consequence. Their emotions are thought to be superficial and shallow, if they exist at all. They are considered callous, manipulative and incapable of forming lasting relationships, let alone of any kind of love. It is thought that any emotions which the true psychopath exhibits are the fruits of watching and mimicking other people's emotions. They show poor impulse control and a low tolerance for frustration and aggression. They have no empathy, remorse, anxiety or guilt in relation to their behavior. In short, they truly are devoid of conscience.

quod erat demonstrandum

Congratulations, America!

2006-09-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

Your government officially approves of torture and indefinite detention.

I used to worry about being called a bleeding heart liberal. You know, I rather be that than a cold-hearted conservative. Jesus wants us to torture - I don't think so. My belief deep down is that, somehow, this will come back to haunt those pricks willing to destroy the constitution in order to protect the most pitiful president this country has ever had.

Incredible. Where is my country?

Sunday Lovin': Balloons

2006-09-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Am I the only who finds this a little annoying towards the end? BTW, I think the eagle wins.

Getting Serious

2006-09-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

I spent the day at a conference about the importance of play and, by default, gaming. All guest speakers were quite interesting and enjoyed myself until the last question and answer period. Then it struck me: what a luxury it is to talk about games.

Let me back up. The speakers included Shawn Rider, a down-to-earth gamer and former instructor currently working at PBS, who provided a great general overview of the field of game studies. Laurie Taylor, from University of Florida, who discussed gender representation in games. Dr. Taylor's discussion, like Shawn's, provided context and prompted quite a bit of commentary from the gameplayers in the audience. She began the project of laying out the problems of gender, race, and (to a degree) ethnicity representations both in the games themselves and the media about the games.

The final lecturer Julian Dibbell, of "A Rape in Cyberspace" fame, spoke on what he called Ludocapitalism and goldfarming in networked online games (MMOs to those in the know).

During the panel question and answer period, an emeritus Economics professor sitting next to me raised a number of questions about real world implications of games. The initial question, if I remember, was regarding the lack of any critical review or mentoring that happens when a young person consumes the narrative in a game. The panel response was that the game as medium is not unlike the novel to which I countered that we learn to evaluate novels critically in school but are left to our own devices with video games.

As the conversation progressed, the Economics professor made a statement, in response to something Dibbell had said about how wide-spread gaming culture was (hence his thesis that play is to the 21st century economy as steam was in the 19th century), to the effect that games are, in essence, the toys of a mere few.

I asked Dibbell if he went to the villages in China. He explained that the countryside is where many of the virtual sweatshops and goldfarming firms are popping up. I didn't pursue it further but I should have called bullshit on that.

Here's where I stand. Let's set up the picture:

~ 50% of the global population live in urban areas
~ 45% of the people in the world live without basic sanitation
~ 20% live without clean water sources
~ 15% are going hungry (this includes people in all continents on the globe)
only 10% have received a secondary education

here's where it gets interesting:

only about 10% of the world's population owns a computer with only 2.8% actually having internet access.

50% of the people in the world live off of less than ~$2 US/day

Um, I think a sizeable chunk of the world's population could careless about games. Thus I would posit that Ludocapitalism is but one form of SplinterCapitalism (if Dibbell can create neologisms so can I, dammit). Anything goes in order to preserve power. Material goods are there in all their oily splendor and that reality is very Old School Capitalism.

While I would like to see creative production in the digital era be supported and grow with a healthy dose of play (Homo Faber meets Homo Ludens), my excitement about the potential of gift economies and of anarcho-communism as their underpinnings, is often watered down with day-to-day evidence that Capitalism is feisty beast who will not go away. One result, perhaps, are the statistics above.

But that is immaterial as is, Julian Dibbell will tell you, much of what we trade these days. Yet to do so is a sign of extreme wealth and luxury.

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/poverty/edocuments.htm
http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/
http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/povmap/ds_info.html

The Small Multiple Memorial

2006-09-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

A shady lawn stretches out in front the administration building at the University of Idaho - a reminant of the original campus designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park in New York.

Maybe it is that New York connection that made it a interesting place for a 9/11 memorial. This morning the lawn was covered in 3000 minature flags.

That's quite a number of flags. In fact, I assume that was the desired affect. The small multiples (as Edward Tufte calls them) work in a number of ways:

- a visual rhythm is produced through the repetition of colors and symbols
- a reference to graveyards is made with row upon row of headstones
- a certain 'wow' factor is achieved as our visual field is consumed with little flags

It is not my goal to critique someone's display (although I did wonder what 100,000 little Iraqi flags would look like) but I sort of wondered if this mode of presentation - in particular the use of small multiples - actually works against the idea of it being a memorial. We lose the fact that each flag really represents someone.

Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial is powerful in part because every single name is written on that wall. Other displays (sometimes during protests) have used props to remind the viewer that the numbers represent actual people.

Regardless, it is interesting that someone felt compelled to sit on the grass and plant each flag by hand.

Saturday Lovin': The Storm

2006-09-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

i000765_big.jpg

These photos of hurricane Katrina are breathtaking. I really like the images like this one where the calm sky is being overwhelmed by ferocious clouds. Click on the image to see more in the photoset.

When I became a cartoon...

2006-09-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

At one point in my life I had a friend who carelessly admitted to me that she thought that I was like a cartoon character both in appearance and action. Now, I am not quite sure if you understand the ramifications of such a statement. For me, it seemed to throw my life into disarray. Young girls and boys (I must’ve been maybe 13 or 14 at the time) are, I’m sure you remember, often unsure of themselves as so much of their character is formed and transformed by an internal dialogue shaped in large part by social interactions - especially those with the opposite sex.

Like the vestibular system, the interior dialogue that the pre-teen has with him or herself helps maintain social balance and forward momentum. If the system is pulled or pushed too far, the result in a sort of destabilization and, more often than not, the need to grab onto something. Quick.

I never seemed to be able to properly stabilize myself and, instead, I think I sort of began to embrace the notion that I was in fact a cartoon.

What does that mean? On the surface, I guess, it is a simple adaptive measure developed in part from the fact that, like my gen-x peers, I’ve watched way too much television. But how convenient it is to daydream like Ralph Phillips. Or simply be my default character, that goofy vulture from Bugs Bunny. (I am convinced that that is how I must be perceived most of the time)

I am not divulging this to elicit sympathy or pity but it has become a bit problematic. I look at my peers who can command a classroom. I see the years of training, the intellectual fire, and, most importantly, a well-crafted reputation being built before my eyes. Then I go to speak and facilitate and do all the things an instructor or mentor is supposed to do and in the back of my mind there is that damn singing frog who only performs in private - never at the pivotal moment. That’s me.

I don’t know what to do. I am embarrassed to admit that this is becoming more of an existential crisis at this point. Why can’t I escape my own mental model of myself?

The immaturity involved in sustaining such idiocy is staggering. Yet I am fully cognizant of my own role in this game. While I am convinced that everyone struggles to upright themselves after the vicious push and pull of adolescence, I still wonder if others, out there, circumscribe themselves so narrowly through the media they consumed.

I guess I will go along with it until I can find an alternative mental model. In the meantime, there is always the mid-century cartoon renaissance to keep me stabilized.

Wednesday Lovin': 3D interface

2006-09-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

While this concept still uses the very dated desktop metaphor, I find the additional use of touch screen and the 3D effects very nice. I'd like to see more.

That whistling has got to go!

The Great Inversion

2006-09-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dennis's shout out to Olberman highlights a week of rising voices and a political inversion that is becoming apparent. This inversion is something that could've happened earlier if only more people had had the courage to come forward (people in positions of influence) and protest.

My shout out goes to Rocky Anderson, the mayor of Salt Lake City who spoke in direct reference to the administration's spin happening at the American Legion conference in Salt Lake. A portion of the speech is here. For a write up about Rocky Anderson see this article in The Nation.

When the national momentum shifts, the inversion is possible. While it is pretty clear in a meta-reading of recent polls that a majority of those polled are weary of our government, it frustrates me to no end that we've had to wait for this inversion.

I can't decide whether it is a popular course to take and, if so, if we should tone down our celebration of those now dissenting voices. Where, for instance, are the 20 year olds whose lives could be most impacted by our foreign policy and our reckless fiscal practices and the aftermath that they will inherit? Why aren't they on the streets? Or are they quietly dissenting online? Logging in to some progressive myspace to plan the revolution? I doubt it.

The proof will be in the pudding. What will the congress be and how will it act? Will they be the counter balance to the administration? Will the GOP figure some way to tweak the election results in their favor?

And what about Iran? How will that come to play? It seems that there are so many things in play. I am somewhat pessimistic. But then again Olberman's Murrow moment and Mayor Anderson's unabashed progressive populism do ignite hope and, with any luck, we will see the celebrations spread. Come November.

Sick of Business as Usual?

2006-08-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

This looks fun and, well, just in time...

Thursday Lovin': Huffpo People Ranker

2006-08-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Playing around with this little tool - which compares the number of blog entries that mention the provided keyword(s) - I found it somewhat humorous to compare food with personalities or disparate things...

Enjoy!

Rant: Waking Up the Left

2006-08-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

I thought it was interesting that during the interview with Ned Lamont when Colbert mentions friends of Israel (if I remember correctly) that Lamont follows a party line and remarks that Israel has a right to defend itself.

I like Lamont but find the Democrats and much of the left's uncritical and zealous support of Israel too much. While I am frustated with Hezbollah's provocation, I feel that Hezbollah's creation is in large part due to Israeli actions in the past.

That frustration with the favoritism for Israel in Middle East only fuels the very things that Israel and the United State hope to qwell. Especially when so many innocent people, in what this administration once touted as bastion for democracy during the Cedar Revolution, are killed or displaced. Why don't more thinking people on the Left realize that this is very dangerous, very sad, very wrong path we are taking.

Lipi sends along this article expressing the same frustrations. If you love peace, if you are a humanist, if you truly believe in progressive ideals then you cannot stand back and watch this happen. By mere inaction you become an accomplice.

The frustration that I have heard from many Arabs (we seem to forget that there are significant populations of Christian Arabs in Lebanon) and Muslims is often summarized in one word: justice. Injustice breeds so many ills. If we truly want change and peace it cannot be done through violence especially when one side in the conflict is so favored. Why is that such a hard lesson for people to learn? With growing sentiment against the war in Iraq why can't people make the conceptual shift to understand the same ideas about the failure of force as a measure to promote change applies to Lebanon?

I think the whole course of events so far does not bode well for the US or Israel. It is only when this mess is too far along and, as Lipi often tells me, we are paying $10 for a gallon of gas will most Americans wake up.

I worry a lot about it all when I try to sleep at night. At the risk of trodding on Dennis' territory I have to say that the recent events have clarified something for me and that is that we are all interconnected. We are really one. I don't want to be hokey but it seems that those in charge have the inability to see the consequences of their thinking and their actions. Utopia or oblivion? Start thinking about love not violence as an answer. Hokey, perhaps, but very powerful. Think love.

From Guernica to Qana

2006-07-31T01:38:00.000-07:00

The images from Lebanon remind me of this piece but somehow the painting now fails to show the horrors of war to me. It seems too tame to me now. I could've chosen to post an image of a dead child pulled from the rubble in Qana to represent what I am talking about but it is too painful.

It is strange how, as a parent, every child is my child. You see the same eyes and the same expressions of fear. It is simply painful to see a dead child because it is your own.

Picasso's Guernica can't speak of these things in the same way. It is first and foremost an intellectualization of the horrors of war and then a visceral one. But one that ultimately says the same thing about the human cost of war.

Shout Out: Dennis' Daily Bliss

2006-07-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

Dennis Bennett, my most loyal reader (besides my wifey-poo...actually I am convinced you two are my only readers), has a new blog. What Dennis has created is the blog equivalent of licorice allsorts. Chewy politics dipped in little Buddhist sprinkles or surrounded by another chewy layer of smart progressive observations.

I am digging what Dennis has called "Daily Bliss" - small stories to highlight a Buddhist thought or to simply make you think. I spent an hour one day trying to make sense of one story. I sat there staring at my monitor then folded up the laptop and walked away. I guess when it starts to make sense to me, I will have made the journey. (Either that or found the Diamond Sutra Cliff Notes - Har Har Har)

I can't wait 'til Dennis folds baseball into this all.

DIAMOND SUTRA UPDATE:

from the British Library:

"Hidden for centuries in a sealed-up cave in north-west China, this copy of the ‘Diamond Sutra’ is the world’s earliest complete survival of a dated printed book. It was made in AD 868."

"The sutra answers that question for itself. (Greg's comment: Of course!) Towards the end of the sermon, Subhuti asks the Buddha how the sutra should be known. He is told to call it ‘The Diamond of Transcendent Wisdom’ because its teaching will cut like a diamond blade through worldly illusion to illuminate what is real and everlasting."

"The teachings of Buddhism are subtle and open to more than one interpretation. The ‘Diamond Sutra’ urges devotees to cut through the illusions of reality that surround them. Names and concepts given to both concrete and abstract things are merely mental constructs that mask the true, timeless reality lying behind them."

To see the Diamond Sutra in all its illusory glory click here.

DIAMOND SUTRA UPDATE 2:

I got to thinking. Doesn't some of the Diamond Sutra sound like String Theory?

Thursday Lovin': Document(ed) Weirdness

2006-07-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Lovin': New York Rooster

2006-07-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

New York Rooster

Illustration Friday: Opposites

2006-07-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yeti and Squirrel's 1st Date

My 6 Keys to Peace in the Middle East

2006-07-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

TIME has an article with 6 Keys to peace in the middle east. Without going off on the shortsightedness of the suggestions I decided to promote my own 6 Keys for Peace:

1.) Impeach Bush and Cheney for lying to get us into Iraq

2.) Recall troops from Iraq

3.) Close Guantanamo

4.) Support the Palestinian State to the same degree as Israel (and promote business development and International Peacekeeping forces in Palestine)

5.) Deal with so-called terrorists states in an open and honorable way (it may even require looking at the root causes of terrorism - I bet you'll find plenty of young, openminded, and rational people ready to be part of the global economy)

6.) Get over your racist, bigoted impressions of Arabs and Muslims

Bonus:

7.) Realize the rest of the world doesn't believe this is WWIII and the Second coming and especially don't want America to bring promote more bloodshed in the hopes of bringing both on

If you want to know what really prompted this entry read this article.

Forgive me the Digression

2006-07-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Israel's (and by proxy the U.S.) response to Hizbollah has been horrifying to say the least. I was surprised the mainstream media let Americans fleeing Lebanon report about the insanity of the air raids. While Hizbollah's provocation might have been an act of war it seems the Israeli response is too brutal if not a war crime.

There have been a lot of interesting visual artifacts outside of the usual spectacular images - not to mention that this is the 1st real "blog war" providing gruesome and vivid accounts from the war zone. Of the artifacts take these drawings warning people about the Hizbollah leader Nasrallah. The article calls it "clumsy war propaganda".

More hard-hitting are these illustrations by Mazen Kerbaj. Mazen so skillfully gives us insights into the frustrations, fears, and anger. The drawings, like so much from this whole series of events, are, I am sure, eye opening for many. I say to myself: "Here is a blogger and artist like me but someone made a decision that has inexorably impacted his life in a very real way." Could it happen to me?

Visit Kerbaj's blog for his updates and very real commentary.

Saying it all

2006-07-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

click image for slightly larger version