This is what it looked like in our courtyard yesterday. Over night the wind was blowing so hard that all the windows were covered in snow and we couldn’t see outside. I found this little gap and shot the neighbors doing some shoveling. Of course after they had spent an hour doing this the snow removal firm showed up and plowed. Silly people.
We usually are parked out there. But with the help of our pals David and E we put our car in a garage for friday, sturday, and Sunday. We’ll shovel a bit and get it back in place. Thing is we are expecting snow again on tuesday and wednesday.
This is our second huge storm since moving downtown.
We have lost Howard Zinn. Luckily he spoke his mind and it was captured in video and in print. This is just one of many enlightening lectures he gave not that long ago – 2008.
“His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives. When action has been called for, one could always be confident that he would be on the front lines, an example and trustworthy guide.”
– Noam Chomsky
A sad day for Gumby and Pokey. Art Clokey, the animator who created the lovable, bendable clay creation Gumby over a half-century ago, died. Many a saturday morning was spent cereal bowl in hand watching the green guy and his orange pony pal.
It was Eddie Murphy’s SNL Gumby sketch 40 years after the birth of Gumby that finally created some financial reward to Art. The cultural icon is still popular today and has even moved into the new world of social media — Gumby has over 134,000 fans on Facebook.
hulu.com currently has some Gumby available for viewing.
Off rows of windshields
in the Amtrak lot
rain in sudden
clumps like jacks. Parked cars
with people in them
awaiting people they imagine
hurtling through suburbs
of silver woods
awaiting them. True
love needs interference,
a certain blizzard distance,
for the words to worm through.
Remember Iowa?
August storms that would self-spark
as if our fights could trip
the finest wire beneath the sidewalk.
And the sunlight, harder after.
This is a capture from my first tweet in Following Piece 2.0, a global collaborative art project as part of @Platea. I’ve written a recap of my experience participating in the project. and you can find it at : the @Platea blog.
I have been working on an online book of the project and expect to add more thoughts here and at my ARTlog. I hope you’ll check back on the project and leave your thoughts about the work. It was an exciting experience.
Following Piece 1.0
Forty years ago, in October 1969, artist Vito Acconci performed Following Piece. A study in the public spaces we occupy and assumptions around privacy, Acconci followed random people in Manhattan during the month and reported on their activities until they entered a private area such as an apartment or car.
Following Piece 2.0
And so, with that in mind, I thought it might be fun to do a cover of Following Piece, but to look at it specifically in the contemporary context of Twitter, a world where public/private boundaries are shifting and eroding, as once-private activities are broadcast into online public space. In the world of Twitter, the idea of following has taken on a new meaning: once an uncomfortable thought, it’s now regularly seen as a good thing to have one’s private actions followed by many strangers.
I would buy this device. I know it only does books – a one trick pony. But it let’s you lend your books to others and it doesn’t look like a Texas Instruments calculator. This device looks like BN hired some product designers and some interface designers, and a marketing crew that knows how to do point-of-purchase.
Barnes and Noble have listened to the criticism of the Kindle and have brought a more sophisticated and attractive device into the fray.
The price is reasonable from the start.
Design is clean.
Multi-touch.
Color navigation panel (for swiping through book covers, a la iTunes)
You can buy it in a BN store. (many distribution points – one a few blocks from me)
You can browse digital books
You can lend your book to others on a number of devices
It has a memory expansion slot
It can play MP3’s
It can read PDF’s (essential)
Did I mention that the design is clean? The device is a bit thicker and weighs more than the Kindle. The other important part is moving away from proprietary formats.
Lending is good.
I’ll be heading down to the Barnes and Noble to check it out. I’ll let you know if I am as impressed when I can touch it.
This was a great site that I found about actions taken around the world to support the election protesters in Iran. An easy to navigate site that incorporated map locations. It used your IP to present you with an appropriate map view. You could drag and position the map to see other areas.
At the height of the protests the map was filled with green. The sea of green was information made visable.
Sorry I didn’t get it up sooner. The site is still live although it has changed.
Craig was an amazingly hard worker while helping us move. I think the rewards of going to the cafe for crepes and coffee was part of the motivation to get things done. Still, we had fun moving this piece of furniture and he put in each drawer by himself. He was very pleased when he completed the task. And helped me hang the George Nelson clock too; making sure it was straight.
We could still use some of his help.
Maybe I’ll give him a call.
August 11, 2009—A mystery object that punched through one of Saturn’s thin outer rings created a glittering spray of ice crystals and pulled some material along in its wake, as seen in this rare image recently released by NASA’s Cassini orbiter.
It’s believed that the object is a moonlet. yes a little moon. There are some 60 moonlets around Saturn. Ok so this is what happens to make Saturn disappear:
“Whenever equinox occurs on Saturn, sunlight will hit Saturn’s thin rings, the ring plane, edge-on,” said Spilker.”The light reflecting off this extremely narrow band is so small that for all intents and purposes the rings simply vanish.”
Saturn’s rings are 200,000 miles wide, but amazingly are only about 30 feet thick.
Working on getting the new adventure in shape. Still lots of boxes. Still no internet. Still tired. This post is just a short note so you know I’ve survived.
Lots of work too do to get settled. Excited about the possibilities of the new space. We need to paint here too. White is needed. This is a look at some sticky bubbles that David and Erica picked up for us. I think they’ll be terrific on the door. When we open the door to the street you’ll see our bubbles.
Branding for two spaces is going to be challenging.
