Well, maybe not bears. But GC and I are finding that we are cohabiting not just with one another but with a wild assortment of odd creatures who have taken up residence in our apartment. It sat vacant for a while and lies at the boundary of our property and a protected bird sanctuary so we're close to all kinds of wildlife.
We have dodged wild turkeys and slowed down for grazing deer as we've turned sharp corners on our way home at night. There are quietly behaving black-faced sheep at the nearest intersection and an assortment of horses contentedly grazing in their paddocks. And I swear I heard something rooting around in the dirt outside our bedroom windows (which actually sit just above ground level) GC thinks they're probably local wild pigs that supposedly wander these parts.
That's all outdoors. Indoors we've evicted two really charming lizards (I worried that they wouldn't find enough to eat inside) and several really gnarly looking spiders. That aside, I haven't made a dent in the indoor spider population. We have small workmanlike spiders, graceful, long-legged spiders and two really nasty looking tarantula looking things on a much smaller scale.
I'm a catch and release kind of girl so it's slow going but I think there are just too many of them for the two of us. And I can't seem to convince them to leave of their own accord.
Artist Ken Rinaldo on the other hand (www.kenrinaldo.com), might be more successful. Rinaldo is fascinated by "living systems" and the confluence of those systems and technology. In particular, he mentions interspecies communication as an influence in his work. Along those lines, his piece "Spider Haus 2001 to 2005" creates an artificial environment for spiders that allows...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Moving House
While it's neither art in it's "purest" sense, whatever that means, nor is it technology, I've got decorating on my mind. My gentleman caller and I --let's call him GC -- have just setup shop together. Set up shop, living in sin, shacking up, whatever. We're leaving our separate residences and combining two lives and all the accompanying detritus into one studio-ish apartment with a galley kitchen and 2/3 of a 3 car garage as extra live/work space.
It's a challenge but one made pleasant by my guy's generous and easy-going nature. Lucky, lucky girl.
The biggest stressor I have to admit is the notion of decorating. On the one hand it's easy, GC has completely turned over all decorating decisions to me. Plus, he has been living simply the last few years. While it's not exactly two duffle bags and his scuba gear, he doesn't have much that I have to match with my stuff.
That's the good part. The bad part is that I'm decorating challenged. My sister and my friend Victoria both have a breathtaking gift for knowing that this knick is a nifty, nifty thing to set on the mantle or that knack would look perfect sitting on top of the pile of design books in the hallway. I, on the other hand, know that I shouldn't leave my clothes in a heap on the floor. That's about the extent of it.
So I'm spending lots of time on Victoria's blog trying to become inspired. It's a wonder. If you're at all interested in design (of all kinds), in decorating and in particular in a mid-century aesthetic, check out www.sfgirlbybay.com.
It's a challenge but one made pleasant by my guy's generous and easy-going nature. Lucky, lucky girl.
The biggest stressor I have to admit is the notion of decorating. On the one hand it's easy, GC has completely turned over all decorating decisions to me. Plus, he has been living simply the last few years. While it's not exactly two duffle bags and his scuba gear, he doesn't have much that I have to match with my stuff.
That's the good part. The bad part is that I'm decorating challenged. My sister and my friend Victoria both have a breathtaking gift for knowing that this knick is a nifty, nifty thing to set on the mantle or that knack would look perfect sitting on top of the pile of design books in the hallway. I, on the other hand, know that I shouldn't leave my clothes in a heap on the floor. That's about the extent of it.
So I'm spending lots of time on Victoria's blog trying to become inspired. It's a wonder. If you're at all interested in design (of all kinds), in decorating and in particular in a mid-century aesthetic, check out www.sfgirlbybay.com.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Rise and "Shine"
Oh forgive me the dreadful pun but it keeps rattling 'round my brain of late. I was invited to attend a pre-launch event this past Saturday for Yahoo's new foray into online publishing for women. They invited a group of women who were involved in some way or another in online content creation -- blogging, online journalism, etc. -- to come see what they've got cooking. And to invite us to join the party.
Nice!
As of this writing, it's called Shine. I have to say I am not sure what I think about the name. I'm similarly concerned about whether I can get past the fact that "Entertainment" and "Astrology" both feature prominently on the home navigation panels (to the exclusion of more weighty subjects of more interest to me, like "Art and Culture" or "Politics and World Events." That having been said, their editor assures us that it's more an issue of form than function. She reminded us of the dilemma that many of us who develop online sites suffer to resolve -- how to you boil a whole area of content down to one descriptive, understandable navigation label? So "Entertainment" it is; I'm suspending judgment and diving in.
No, not diving, rather mulling, masticating, obsessing over ideas. I've tossed and turned the last two mornings thinking about all the things that I've allowed to slip out of my daily ruminations and into notebooks and folders and project cases gathering dust while I took time to be with my ailing mother and all that entails.
And it has been both torturous and glorious.
Now, as I move my belongings from my apartment of eight years to a new place a little farther away from the city (where we hear frogs and birds as we wake and dodge wild turkeys as we drive home from getting our morning coffee), I think about unpacking my microcontrollers and soldering iron, buying more solid core 18 gauge wire, and pulling out all my project plans. It's time to blow the dust off my ideas, rub the sleep from my eyes and get working again.
Time to rise and shine!!
Nice!
As of this writing, it's called Shine. I have to say I am not sure what I think about the name. I'm similarly concerned about whether I can get past the fact that "Entertainment" and "Astrology" both feature prominently on the home navigation panels (to the exclusion of more weighty subjects of more interest to me, like "Art and Culture" or "Politics and World Events." That having been said, their editor assures us that it's more an issue of form than function. She reminded us of the dilemma that many of us who develop online sites suffer to resolve -- how to you boil a whole area of content down to one descriptive, understandable navigation label? So "Entertainment" it is; I'm suspending judgment and diving in.
No, not diving, rather mulling, masticating, obsessing over ideas. I've tossed and turned the last two mornings thinking about all the things that I've allowed to slip out of my daily ruminations and into notebooks and folders and project cases gathering dust while I took time to be with my ailing mother and all that entails.
And it has been both torturous and glorious.
Now, as I move my belongings from my apartment of eight years to a new place a little farther away from the city (where we hear frogs and birds as we wake and dodge wild turkeys as we drive home from getting our morning coffee), I think about unpacking my microcontrollers and soldering iron, buying more solid core 18 gauge wire, and pulling out all my project plans. It's time to blow the dust off my ideas, rub the sleep from my eyes and get working again.
Time to rise and shine!!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Moments not stories
I remember once having a discussion in a Media Arts class (or was it the Digital Arts Festival class?) where I told my classmates that I "preferred words to sentences" and "moments to stories." At the time I hadn't really discovered experimental filmmaking or digital arts so the observation seemed to me at once both peculiar and satisfying. I really do like the moments, flashes of feeling, turns of phrase. So it was absolutely delightful recently for me to discover Twittervision (twittervision.com).
It's one of umpteen-million Web2.0 social spaces. Twittervision is a graphical interface to Twitter (twitter.com), the online communication space where, according to their website, people answer the question "What Are You Doing?"
Twitter is interesting but the Twittervision interface makes it compelling. Twittervision pops up random "Tweets" (what a single twitter message is called) on a global map showing the avatar, screen name and message just posted. dbinkowski in New York has a migraine, aurynns' shoulder (in Canada) shouldn't make those noises, DioniNespral es "en asturias. esto es el paraiso." I'm happy for him.
Now I just have to tear myself away and get back to work. Oh wait... That one looks like it's from Beijing! Gotta go...
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