Japan: Memoirs of a secret empire

One of the projects I've been working on since April finally launched. It's a companion website to a three-part PBS documentary on Japan. The documentary won't air until spring of next year, but in the meantime you can read up on the program here. Don't forget to check out some of the flash fun on the homepage, including the "Create a woodblock print," programmed by Dennis Yuen.

Storycorps

NPR just had this interesting bit about Storycorps, a project in Grand Central Station to record people's personal stories. The NPR website has clips from individuals who have told their stories as well as the actual NPR story. You can find the official site here. One of the best things is this Egyptian song sung by Seoud Matta while his son beat boxes. The booth is in Grand Central and now I wish my parents would come visit so I could take them there. I've actually been thinking I want to interview my grandmother in San Jose, since I didn't get the chance to interview my grandmother on my dad's side.

Fun with Google

In Google, type in "miserable failure" and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button. Try the same with "french military victories" and "weapons of mass destruction."

Missing the Meaning

Once again, another Palgrave cover. I didn't think they'd go for it, but they did. I was playing with making the title easy to misread, and thus, miss the meaning (ooo, how high concept!) The grey will print in silver metallic, so the large letters are both the most prominent item, but will also, depending on the light, recede.

Eros

Advance word on an anthology of films by Antonioni, Wong Kar-Wai, and Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh seems like an odd pairing, and in fact he was called in to replace Pedro Almodovar (who is still working on the framing of the three films). Read more about it here.

Ratchet and Clank

Remember Iron Stomach Gebo Gebo attack? Well, there's another game online based on the same principle. You can find it at Ratchet and Clank Gadgets. Once you choose your country and get the popup window click on the middle box (it'll be called "Challenge Clank"). From there it should be self-explanatory. Courtesy la la land.

Conceiving Carolina

The latest in the series of covers I'm doing for Palgrave. It's perhaps a little red; I should use a browner color perhaps, but then I'm afraid of the entire cover looking a little too dusty. Though I guess that's the point in the end. If it were matte, it might take a little of the sheen off. . . . The type was hand-kerned, incidentally.

Secret diaries of Cassandra Claire

Here is a link to some Bridget Jones Diary style entries in the diaries of various Lord of the Rings characters. Simone liked them a lot. And Celvyn apparently. Note that they should be read in order.

O Canada

While surfing around the web I found toothpaste for dinner, where they're selling t-shirts with the above. The middle shirt says "If I had a dollar for every time I had sixty cents I would be Canada." I just got got back from Toronto, actually.

The Guardian 40 best living directors

The Guardian posted their list of the world's 40 best living directors. I was surprised at who topped the list. One great thing about this is that I finally know what Terrence Malick looks like. Though I think I'd probably still walk by him without noticing, which doesn't really say anything. The biggest star in the world could run right into me and I probably wouldn't recognize them. Anyway, it's great to see Tsai Ming-Liang on the list. He's definitely one of my favorite living filmmakers. You can find the list here.

Welcome Elaine!

My cousin Elaine's joined the legions of bloggers! You can read about her exploits here.

Shanghai Online

Remember this game? A solitaire game with Majhong tiles? Now you can play it online! I can't remember where I found this now . . .

End of the world

A funny little low budget flash cartoon. Note that the Japanese seem to have taken over China in the interim. http://www.mycatsboots.com/endofworld.swf

International Dunhuang Project

Dennis sent me this link to the Dunhuang Project, which is an "international collaboration to make more than 100,000 manuscripts, paintings, and artefacts from Dunhuang and other silk road sites freely available on the internet with top quality colour images." Check out the searchable database.

[x-woods]

X-woods is a site showcasing flash games. I'm not sure who made them, save that they're in China somewhere from what I can gather. It's a little slow loading sometimes, but the games are well produced and made. Well, at least the worm one is. :-)

Excercise your chicken

Becca sent me this link: http://www.chikinramen.com/exercise/exercise43.swf. Maybe they should have this on airplanes instead of the exercises they currently have. For some reason, setting it as a link doesn't work so you have to copy and paste it into your address bar.

Armenian people from ancient to modern times

  As some of you know, I have a running side gig doing covers for Palgrave, the scholarly and reference division of St. Martin's Press. It's interesting because there are so many constraints leveled on the designs. It at once makes it easier and harder. The above were two books in a series I did over the weekend as a rush job. One was to look more modern. I was probably too subtle on that couse. The left cover uses Penumbra, a somewhat ancient looking serif font, and the right uses Futura, a modern sans-serif. I wonder if anyone noticed the difference? It's probably hard at that size.

Evasion in English

NPR had this segment, which describes the use of language to evade speaking directly. Maggie Balistreri, author of the The Evasion English Dictionary, defines the many subtly different ways Americans pepper our speech with euphemisms and oblique references. Like, wow!

NYC Marathon Course Simulation

Guillemette sent me this super cool link which shows the progress of runners in the NYC Marathon. You can enter up to four of your friends and watch their progress. Now all it needs is a Howard Cosell voiceover. I can't wait to see how Lin (nee Mary) and Ed do this year. And also how Guillemette compares to last year. It's too bad you can't enter the same person on different years to see how they improve or, well, *ahem*. The advanced tab gives "live" updating as far as placement and speed. It must be great to look back over your run and be able to use this to plan for next year.

You must see it for yourself

Becca sent me this ascii animation, taking a famous scene from the Matrix and turning it into, well, not quite ones and zeroes. Find it here.

The last flight of the Concorde

My roommate Ed was one of the passengers on the final commercial flight of the Concorde, along with Christie Brinkley and Joan Collins. One of my favorite details of his story is that of the windows warmed by the friction of the air. I also like his comparison to the night-train from Calcutta. Dan Rather signed off his broadcast commenting on the passing of this era with words to the effect, "that's part of our, now slower, world." You can read Ed's piece here.

Ethnic Conflict and International Politics

I'm going to try to be better about posting some things here. I've spent a lot more time with my photoblog for better or worse. The above is the last cover I designed for Palgrave. They wanted an all-type solution, so . . .

Graffiti Machine

Dennis sent me this link to an online graffiti machine. Put your tag together and then print it out!

26.2: Marathon jam

For a New York marathon party she was throwing, Guillamette made marmalade, for which she asked me to design the label. With two of her friends, they make jam under the name LaConfiDesPotes. This was the result. Unfortunately, I missed the party.

Go Go Yubari

I saw Kill Bill the other night. I didn't think it was a great film (or even a particularly good one) but it was a lot of fun and there are great parts to it. It's like a collage where the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Be that as it may, I loved Go Go Yubari, who's my favorite character in the film. I wish they'd put together a Go Go anime or something. I think I liked her also because the actress was in Battle Royale (which, incidentally, I thought was a lot more violent than KB. You can read a somewhat long-winded review of Kill Bill here and one of Battle Royale here. For the latter you'll have to scroll down a bit since I posted that before I started using "A name" tags and I don't want to put them in now due to version control.

Snood

I've been addicted to Snood recently. It's like Bubble Bobble. I play with the Girltalk character set because I find it easier to read the shapes and they're somewhat less distracting. Anyway you can download your own copy here.

Fametracker

Recently, Ed and I have been egging each other on sending links back and forth from Fametracker.com. It all began with the fame audit and then progressed through the various sections. There's even a bit on the California gubernatorial elections. And that guy in the corner? That's James Hong.

Ahh the power of cheese.

Ben just sent a link to this commercial.

Bollywha?

My obsession this week is Bollywood. I'm even thinking of joining IndoFilms, the Netflix of Bollywood. This week in heavy rotation I've been listening to the Mohabbatein soundtrack non-stop, and with the help of Bollywhat I'll be singing the songs tomorrow! Incidentally, over the weekend I rented Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, which played really similarly to Mohabbatein, even casting the same two male stars in very similar roles. A short review can be found here. And the first two movies I'm planning on renting from IndoFilms? Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Devdas.

The Dinner Party Game

A new take on solitaire, this game has great play and a neat tactile look to it. Recommended! Play it here. (Courtesy coudal)

Aunt or Ant?

The Dialect Survey used a series of questions, including rhyming word pairs and vocabulary words, to explore words and sounds in the English language. While the survey itself is ended, you can still view the results here.

Chris Doyle

Ed.S pointed me to American Cinematographer, which this month shares Chris Doyle's journals from the filming of wuxia as fashion photo shoot Hero. One of my favorite cinematographers, Doyle gained reknown for his work on Wong Kar-Wai's films, and also recently shot one segment of the Thai-funded trio of short films, The Eye as well as Noyce's The Quiet American. According to the Internet Movie Database, he's back at work on WKW's 2046, though that update is a little old. You can find the AC article here.

Unicode as the new Rosetta stone?

Ben pointed me to this Times article on Michael Everson. A 40-year old typographer from Dublin, his "largest project to date - a contribution to a new version of Unicode 4.0, an international standard for computerizing text - is cementing his reputation." (n.b. subscription required)

On the issue

I might be a little late to this site, but Ben just pointed me to www.ontheissues.org. Based on the information presented there, I'm starting to like Wesley Clark. Read about his stances here. And here's a radio bit with him.

Koss PortaPro

Last night, Simone gave me a pair of these headphones. They rock. The frequency response is amazing. I found myself using them to listen to music all night (and I was the only one home). I wanted to go to sleep listening to music through them. The only drawback is that since they reproduce hi quality engineered and recorded music so well, I keep wanting to listen to slickly produced albums even though some of the music I've recently been getting into is lo-fi indie rock. What to do what to do? You can learn more about these headphones as well as the full line of Koss products here.

Runway Music

NPR aired the third part in a five part series on fashion week this morning. This one was about runway music. Probably not surprisingly, models like walking to deep house, the better to find the beat. Read more or listen to the article here.

Mandala sand painting

Sophia recently called my attention to a mandala sand painting being created at the Asia Society as a gift from the Tibetan Buddhist monks of Drepung Loseling Monestary. The mandala commemorates the events of September 11th, and honors His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who will receive the Human Rights Award from the International League for Human Rights on September 19th. You can read more about the process and the gift here. Some of the more interesting interactive features are a live webcast as well as archived images of the daily construction.

Trouble in Paradise

I finally managed to see this film. Four years ago, I first heard of Ernst Lubitsch from reading Peter Bogdonovich's Who the Devil Made it and was determined to see Trouble in Paradise. It was unavailable on video, but the New York Public Library had a 16mm version. Unfortunately, their screening room was being remodelled, and so the chance passed. In the interim, I saw Ninotchka and The Merry Widow, but I never forgot Trouble in Paradise Not too long ago, Criterion released it on DVD, and this past weekend I finally had the chance to see it. It's exquisite. It's amazing the lightness and sophistication Lubitsch brings to his films, and its great to finally see this early American effort. It's said that Lubitsch created Hollywood, and after seeing this film, I believe it. You can learn more about Lubitsch at this website, which includes a gallery of movie posters. You can read my mini-reviews of Ninotchka here, of The Merry Widow here, and of Trouble in Paradise here.

Johnny Cash

CNN posted a number of tributes to Cash culled from a compilation I have in heavy rotation today. Some of my favorites are from Bono: "Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash," and Tom Waits: "When Johnny Cash comes on the radio, no one changes the station." You can find the complete list here. Learn more about Cash here.

Twenty-four hour comix

In 1990, Scott McCloud issued a challenge. To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 contiguous hours. You can read the dare here. Rising to his own challenge, he produced A Day's Work on August 30th of that year. I can't draw myself out of a paper bag, otherwise it'd be an interesting experiment (though one person created a comic photographing Lego people, hmmm). Looking through the index of comics submitted since, one of my favorites is Chris Allan's A Life with Death. I'm amazed he produced such a great comic in such a short span of time.

Who would buy that?

O.K. I admit that I'm slightly addicted to ebay. Not that I buy all that much, but I troll through for camera equipment on a fairly regular basis. Things that I rarely come across are almost all of the items listed on this blog.

Laduree Macaroons

Simone de Bride and hubby returned yesterday from their honeymoon in Paris and brought back macaroons. But not just any macaroons, Laduree macaroons, which are the finest I've tasted (not that I've tasted many macaroons. Personal favorites would have to include the coffee and citron macaroons. Guillamette mentioned she's going back to Paris and so I've asked her to bring some more back, if she has the time. Either that or I'll have to find a cheap ticket and spend some time in Paris myself. You can learn more about macaroons, Laduree, and even sign up for their email newsletter (which promises to offer occasional recipies) here.

New Money

Coming on October 9th, new money. The interactive bill details a number of the changes, including different colors for each bill. Also, be sure to play the design you own bill game, which is one of the square block links to the right. You can read more about the bill here. (courtesy coudal)

The Japanese Paper Company

Sarah, whom I was introduced to through the Center for Book Arts, pointed me to this company, which is based in Toronto (it makes me want to head up there again). Their mission is to encourage and support creativity through the sale of quality Japanese papers and related materials. Apparently, some of the papermakers they use sign their papers and Sarah said that professional acquaintences of hers would actually request papers by the people who made them. When a number of these papermakers retired, the Paper Company flew them to Toronto to meet with some of their clients. One bookbinder was shocked to find that one person's paper he always requested was a woman. "I could have sworn she was a man," he said. Unfortunately the site is a little hard to navigate through. You can visit them here. One plus is that they'll ship internationally.

Bride and Prejudice

While reading Film Comment, I noticed a blurb indicating that Gurinder Chadha (who directed Bend it Like Beckham) is now filming a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice starring Aish Rai, who was mentioned a few posts ago in relation to her small but pivotal role in Mohabbatein.

Mirah

Last night I was talking to Abby about the new Liz Phair album and how fall short it falls when compared to Exile in Guyville. The conversation did remind me of Mirah, who is sometimes likened to Phair. I'm particularly drawn to her first album, You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. You can learn more about her here. And the allmusic link is here.

In heavy rotation

It must be from the same part of me that likes Weezer and that Hanson "Doo bop" song, but for the past two days I can't stop listening to the All-American Rejects. (I can still remember Patty commenting, "how high school of you," when I told her I was going to see Weezer in concert a year or two ago.) And I appear to be a little late in the game as far as their popularity is concerned. Be that as it may, it's some great pop rock with some nice little harmonies. And I can almost detect a little Gloria Record in their sound. At least in the opening bars of the last song on the record. Their official site can be found here. My cousin Becca is mortified.

Mohabbatein

I've had a fascination with Bollywood films for a while now, but only recently have I been more involved with actually indulging it. The latest guilty pleasure is Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan (pictured), and Aishwarya Rai. Amitabh Bachchan's performance grounds the film, a sort of Dead Poet's Society struggle between fear and love. Shah Rukh Khan reminds me something of Howard Coale, for those who might know. You can learn more about the film from it's website. A lackluster mini-review of mine can be found here.

Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra

On the 17th of October, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra will perform their final concert. In a statement, Akiyoshi wrote, "I started my career as a pianist, and I want to devote my remaining years to composing and playing in solo and small group formats. I am artistically challenged by this decision and want to become a better pianist and for me this is the way." As part of the program, they will perform her Hiroshima: Rising from the Abyss for the first time outside of Japan. Here's a small article that aired on NPR as part of their series "Art out of the Cataclysm." Now that I have tickets it will be the first time I've seen a show at Carnegie Hall.

East of Eden

John Steinbeck kept a list of what went into the writing of this classic book, including eleven years of mental gestation, one year of uninterrupted writing, 25 dozen pencils, and approximately three dozen reams of paper. What emerged was a potrait of the Salinas valley wrapped around an allegorical story of good and evil mirroring that of the fourth book of Genesis told over three generations. It is also now, an Oprah book club selection. Fortunately, I bought my copy before the offensive cover change bearing the book club seal of approval and ugly logo. You can read more about the two versions here. You can read more about East of Eden as well as Steinbeck himself on the National Steinbeck Center's website. And on another design note, who had the grand idea of scrolling type from left to right over the images on that site? Are you supposed to read the quotations backwards?

La Strada

Criterion once again announces the release of La Strada (my favorite Fellini film) on DVD, this time in November. Last year they had announced the film, but the DVD inexplicably disappeared from its website a month before its release. I'm placing my order now. Having seen this film long before Le Notti di Cabiria I was surprised to hear Masina speak in the latter. You can read more about the release here.

The Center for Book Arts

While searching for a clamshell box, I came across the Center for Book Arts (which sent me an impressive list of bookmakers and binders in the city). Looking through their course selections, I wanted to actually take the boxmaking class they offer, but this semester I'd have to take vacation in order to do so. Which would be one thing if the course were offered in Italy, but since the center is on 27th street I think I'll wait until it's offered in the evening next semester. And unfortunately, the class still wouldn't end soon enough for me to have the box I want for a certain project I'm working on. I sent the link on to a friend, however, who is now enrolled in the Bookbinding I course. I'm currently debating whether to join him in it.

Touchez pas au Grisbi

Looking for something to do after dinner I stopped by the Film Forum and saw Touchez pas au Grisbi. A French gangster film almost concerned more with the daily existence of gangsters after their scores than with the score itself, the film proves to be a study of manners as much as of gunplay. My mini-review can be found here along with a bunch of other mini-reviews I've jotted down over the past few years. The cool poster can be purchased at the Film Forum website, where you can also find more information on the film including a review by Francois Truffaut.

Grass art

On my other blog, I had once mentioned Binh Danh's chlorophyll photography. I think you might be able to get to it by clicking here. Now, an article on Canada.com describes two British artists who are using lawns as a photographic medium. You can read more about them here. For examples of their work, check out the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum site, which has a sampling of their work from an exhibition last year here.

Quiz show

I'm a sucker for these things as you'll no doubt find out. This one purports to tell you your inner silver screen siren. I wasn't going to bother mentioning it save for when I sent it to a cousin of mine she replied, "I don't think I can answer the questions. I've never heard of half the guys listed." Makes me feel old. Winning one for the Gipper. And me? I'm Katie Hepburn. But my favorite line? With respect to marriage, "I like to wake up each morning feeling a new man." Now who said that?

By the People For the People

The Library of Congress has a link to a site of posters from the WPA. They're superfantastic. It's a huge site containing 908 of the 2,000 known to exist. The "silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s." (courtesy contientious)

Print portfolio?

It's been a while since I've attempted to amass a print portfolio. For one reason or another I spent some time this past weekend attempting it. You can see the results here. Click on the right page to go forward and the left to go back. There's no cover at the moment so if you go back too far it'll become problemmatic. And I'm still playing with little bits of it. Feel free to let me know any thoughts you might have on it.

Losing one's marbles

In college one of my instructors used to always use the diminutive form of a writer's first name. So it was Jimmy Joyce and Harry James (which made me think of the Golden Bowl as a sock hop). These examples are invented but the concept behind them is true. All this to introduce Maggie Atwood. I spent the whole of Friday reading Cat's Eye, which I had started reading at the beginning of the week. The blackout allowed me the free time, with nothing better to do than sit on a park bench in the shade of a tree and read. I finished the book after the power had returned and I had moved to the bank of the Hudson River, near Stuyvesant High School. The book is good when it stays in the past. As it tries to explicate the present it becomes somewhat less interesting. The French maid had lent it to me, commenting on how a woman might read it differently for the nuanced way in which Atwood describes the relationships between adolescent girls and the feminist bent of the writing. Rather, the way in which the feminine mind is rendered. I was intrigued. And, eventually, rewarded by a very good last line. Still, in deference to Young Kirsten Jane, it ain't no "Isn't it pretty to think so." I welcome any recommendations on what to read next. And as an aside, I think this cover (and the one that bound the edition I read) could be significantly improved. Oh, and you can check out a reading guide on the book here.

Music videos and Bjork

The Times has an article in Sunday's paper taking the form of a round-table discussion with Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michael Gondry. Coincidentally, all have worked with Bjork. Not-so-coincidentally, all have released anthologies of their video work. Cunningham has long been one of my favorite directors working in the music video field ever since his Kama Sutra meets industrial robots video for Bjork's "All is Full of Love." I also love the video he did for Squarepusher's "Come on my Selector." You can learn more about Cunningham here. I seem to remember this site having links to the videos in the past but it seems those are now unfortunately missing. You can find some of Gondry's and Jonze's work for Bjork here, but unfortunately not Cunningham's. (Incidentally, I do really like Jonze's video for "It's Oh So Quiet" with it's sunny 40s movie musical numbers and Gondry's for "Human Behavior," with the giant teddy quite a bit as well.)

Blackout

Yesterday at 4.11 or thereabouts the power went out. Looking across the street we could see people in office buildings looking back at us, milling about, or staring at their computer screens. Buildings soon emptied into the streets as we discovered power had gone out all around the city. Last night it was peaceful. A camraderie had built up from the shared experience as people ate on sidewalks by candlelight, the city not as dark as one might expect. After dinner I climbed up onto the roof to look at the stars and the shadow of the city. The waxing moon rose orange on the horizon. Guillamette wrote a story by candlelight, longhand with pen and paper. And then sent it in by carrier pigeon, "the modem of the poor," as she calls it. If you can read French, you can find it here.

World's finest selection of logos.

Goodlogo!com is dedicated to the artform of the logo and its accompanied corporate identity. Including case studies and the like, the site continues to grow. Submissions are welcome.

Madden NFL 2004

Wired has an article about Madden NFL 2004, the game that made Electronic Arts. Madden apparently told them they could only put his name on it if the gameplay reflected the sport by using 11 players on a team rather than the shortened rosters of other games. From that kernel of realism came a philosophy that revolutionized the industry. One of the funnier bits of the article are the players themselves, who eagerly await each new generation of the game to see how their stats fare within the game itself. (thanks ben)

James Bond First editions

While poking around the internet I came across the Art of James Bond (courtesy Dublog). The site is "a celebration of the work of a number of largely unsung heroes who have contributed superb artwork and designs that helped James Bond become one of the most successful and recognisable icons of the past half century." What caught my eye in particular were the cover art for the first editions of Ian Fleming's novels. One of the cooler examples is the accidental oxidized version of The Man with the Golden Gun. It reminds me of the intentionally rusted Bill Evans box set on Verve that received so many complaints. Still, it was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Recording Package, boxed, in 1998. It lost to Rhino's Beg, Scream & Shout: The Big Ol' Box of 60s Soul, which housed the cds in sleeves to resemble old 45s packaged in an old 45s carrying case.

Four blades over three

Next month Schick is releasing the "Quattro," the first razor with four blades. They're trying to unseat the market dominance of Gillette's Mach 3's three-blade razor. Unfortunately, there's no pictures yet on their site. The trials and tribulations of design and one-upsmanship are documented in an All Things Considered piece you can listen to here. I use the disposable ST. Though I never seem to dispose of them.

Museum of Arts & Design

The American Crafts Museum changed its name to the Museum of Arts & Design last year. Somehow I missed that. Be that as it may, the museum is currently devoted to USDesign 1975-2000, "offering a critical and comprehensive analysis of American design during the last quarter of the twentieth century." You can read more about the exhibit here.

Kate Spade takes to the air

The New York Times today reports that Kate and Andy Spade will be dressing the flight attendants for Song, a new low-cost carrier started by Delta Airlines. Kate will do the women, Andy the men. Apparently, flght attendants and customer service staff will each receive one basic outfit for free and then be able to buy more pieces at cost. "They will choose from among 15 pieces, more or less, in a color scheme of charcoal gray, white and green--the color of an exotic parrot--with plenty of stripes thrown in. There will be green and white striped short-sleeve oxford shirts and coat linings in a gray and green stripe the Spades designed for the airline. Other choices will include sleeveless tops and straight skirts for the women, along with trousers, trench coats and canvas luggage." It may seem that I'm particularly inclined towards design in the airline industry, but that's coincidence. However, this does seem to be a good time to relink to uniformfreak, a collection of flight attendant uniforms from around the world. I had mentioned this on my other blog, but it seems particularly apt here.

Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend of mine about Noguchi and his lamps. I believe it might have been Shawmut speaking of Shawmut. While clicking around the Smithsonian site, I stumbled across this exhibition of his ceramics. Make sure you click on the interactive bit in the column on the right of the actual page which you can find here. I almost expected that they would animate some of the objects. Complete with roars and whatnot. Akin to Alexander Calder's circus.

Color me Madd Kidd Roger

What's your pirate name? Find out here. Just in time for those Pirates of the Carribean theme parties. Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Proce55ing

Speaking of heroes, former roommate Ben Fry finds himself in Wired magazine this month on page 61. The article is a shot blurb on Proce55ing, an application he created and is developing with Casey Reas. The scary description is "Processing is a context for exploring the emerging conceptual space enabled by electronic media. It is an environment for learning the fundamentals of computer programming within the context of the electronic arts and it is an electronic sketchbook for developing ideas." What it is is a tool that helps people disinclined towards programming to make complex things simply within java. Or, as Fry writes, "It's java with training wheels. we try to make the cool stuff more accessible." He's been trying to get me to learn for, it seems, years. Maybe I'll start learning in September once my life calms down a bit. You can learn more about the application, see some examples, and download the beta here. And while we're at it, here's an example of someone putting it into practice. Incidentally, the image above is a still from a proce55ing piece created by Peter Cho. You can now find the Wired article here.

The life of Pi and I

The narrator of The Life of Pi claims that the story he will tell is one that will make you believe in God. Ed counters that it is one that will make you believe in the power of narrative. I subscribe to the latter. Though I'm not sure that the effect could have been achieved in fewer pages. Perhaps according to my custom of reading fiction of a country I am visiting, I finished Yann Martel's book while I visited Toronto this past weekend. I am just returned. I went to attend a wedding, which was outdoors and beautiful. The reception took the form of a brunch and I relaxed and ate with my friends on the verandah of the estate upon which the wedding was held. Family ate indoors. Once I have the time, I'll develop the film I took and print a few of the better pictures. Some might even find their way to my photo blog. When I arrived at the airport, I was surprised to find the friend with whom I stayed as pregnant as she was. She told me she was still four weeks from her delivery date, but her size made me wonder. I am expecting a birth announcement any day. Unfortunately, she wouldn't let me treat her husband and her to dinner or brunch and so I find my pockets stuffed with Canadian dollars. I've decided to keep it and find an excuse to return to Canada soon. You can read more about The Life of Pi here, including the first chapter, which takes on the form of an author's note, here. I am now, thanks to the generosity of the French maid, going to embark upon reading Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye.

The Om Factor

Slate had a small essay on new trends in architecture. A new minimalism seems to be creeping into buildings, a reaction to the flamboyant works of the recent past. The article is an interesting look at a little of what's going on with some good images to illustrate. You can find it here.

Album covers art

I was watching Liz Phair's latest video, Why Can't I, which uses the metaphor of a jukebox to great effect. Phair appears on a number of old album covers and then animates, singing the song. What it has to do with the lyrics I have no idea, but it's a cool use of old rock album covers. You can see the video here. I wish there was an article somewhere that listed all the original source material. As I thought more about album covers I started looking for an online resource of Reid Miles designs for old Blue Note album covers. Chronicle Books has put out a number of collections of the covers, a short excerpt of which can be found here, but I couldn't find an online compendium. Those old Blue Note covers are one of the reasons I got into 50s and 60s jazz and also into graphic design. A few years ago I started collecting the actual albums on vinyl until I realized I would quickly run out of both space and money. A short bio of Reid Miles can be found here, along with some somewhat humorous designer trading cards. The listing of Eric Gill's weaknesses is particularly biting given his proclivities. At home I have a few books of Gill's inscriptions. While I'm not always crazy about the digital translations of his types, he was a fantastic letterer.

Step Into Liquid

I've long been fascinated by surfing. I've tried it only once and managed to catch only one wave, but there's something about the idea that still thrills me. Standing was out of the question. The same trip to California I watched Endless Summer with my friend Patty (who also has a thing for surfing). Now, the filmmakers have returned with Step Into Liquid, featuring some breathtaking cinematography that seamlessly moves from above ground to underwater and includes the highly anticipated footage from Cortez Banks. The film was announced a while ago and there used to be a much longer and cooler trailer than the one currently being used to advertise the film, but it only now seems to be coming out in wide release. At least the new trailer doesn't do the wavy type effect of the old one. If you have a fast connection, you can download the original trailer here. I think it's worth it, but then if I had the time and money I'd go to Costa Rica to surf school. The official site is here.

Peter Cho and letterscapes

Peter Cho is one of my heroes, if for nothing else than Letterscapes. Of course there's much more than just that, as you can find out for yourself both here and here. Oh yeah, and on the subject of heroes, Ben Fry is another one, if only for introducing me to Peter. ;-)