Mirror

Images by Patrick O'Dell

Match Burro

Probably on an afternoon in the February of '99, while sitting in a dark lecture room staring at bright slides carrying crosses, I pulled the matches from my pocket. With inspiration that I can't now recall, I began to conjure a burro from that cardboard book and one long hair plucked from the plush seat I sat behind. It took maybe 20 minutes, only burning away a portion of the class I loathed, before I knew my donkey was done.

I brought him home and showed Heather, who was by then used to my impromptu constructions. After her brief inspection, I sat him atop the door jam next to a smaller ceramic mule of Mexican origin. From there he surveyed that Baltimore apartment for a couple more years before he was lost in our relocation to New York.

Below, a magnification of the one image in which he was caught:



Three weeks ago, I made my second match burro.

I cheated a little this time around, employing an X-Acto and two drops of Elmer's glue. Also, the hair has no structural function in this incarnation, crowning the saddle blankets only as an homage to the original.

Other than that, I made it to the specs I had committed to memory.



The new one turned out well, probably too well. A little of that MacGyver aesthetic disappeared in the absence of haste and stealth. That's OK though, I'd expect a big city burro to be fancier than his Mobtown cousin.

Below, the scraps of process.

Subway Constellations

On Friday morning, on the way to work a little later than usual, still kinda asleep and pretty hazy, I sat across from two men speaking Spanish. One was leaning over, his index finger to the floor, pointing out constellations in the linoleum to the other.

Mirror

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I'd been meaning to shoot something for the Mirror series at the Brass Monkey for a while; they have such shiny stalls. Also, the location has some gravity for me; Aaron and I have had many life-altering conversations and strategy sessions within their wooden confines.

Bushwick Disruptions

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This appeared yesterday opposite our building (a converted knitting factory that houses a couple hundred artists (think 248 McKibben or 950 Hart)).

I think the hand behind it is likely that of a fellow loft-dweller, and not a resident of the transforming industrial ghetto that surrounds us. Consequently, the exact meaning of this script is a little lost on me. One thing's certain however, this neighborhood has never had a higher saturation of white, young, creatives. This is a high water mark.

Bushwick Limitations

Claim Check

Found ground into the fat that lies underfoot in the Meat Packing District. Not blocks from work, under The High Line.

This Morning's Light

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With the prisms spinning in the AC's breeze, the segmented light pans fast across the opposite wall. This screen is easily 40 feet away from our grated and dirty windows, so the rainbow is large and moves fast. Falling under its heat is tricky at best.

One, two prior attempts.

Boy

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Heather's Cemetery Walks

Meeting Notes

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Rendered freehand over the course of 3, maybe 4 office exchanges, each has about an hour of active drawing time invested. Neither attempted the recording of information exchanged, instead keeping my hands and spastic brain calm while I focused on my participation (and their perception of it).

Sharpie on 60# Offset Text, 2005

Quotations

"When a design artifact becomes more widely known, it grows ever distant from the complications surrounding its birth." - Michael Bierut

The Collection

Delicious Library: Page 3 - Understanding the Market

What recreational purpose does a media collection serve? The consumption of the media itself is the obvious end result, but even there, shades of gray exist. A favorite song may be listened to hundreds of times spread over many years, but how many times is the average book read? Movies fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. A game's longevity and replay value depends on even more complex factors.

And yet these realities seem to have little effect on the relative sizes of each type of media collection. Book collections may dwarf music collections despite wildly differing frequencies of consumption. Some voracious readers may choose to get all their books from the library, but collect DVDs that they've only seen a few times each. I'm sure a few readers even know someone who has many more video games than either books or CDs (if not, check the gaming forum).

Clearly, the act of collection is an end in itself, at least to some degree. That's where a personal media library application has to focus, since it really has no participation in the actual consumption of the media.

Clues to the motivations and rewards collecting are not hard to find. Most media collections are not just stored, but are displayed somehow. Or if they are not displayed, then they are at least listed or otherwise enumerated.

In some ways, collections are a form of packaging for the collector. We judge others by what they choose to collect, and in turn expect ourselves to be judged based on the contents of our media collections. "What's on your iPod?" Even media that is only consumed a single time may still fulfill an important role by contributing to our public persona through it's mere presence in our collection. At the very far end of the spectrum are those who collect media that is never consumed. We have now entered the realm of The Collector, and he may not be as far outside your circle of friends as you think.

Digital collections present a problem because they have the potential to remove the traditional rewards of collecting. As an outward representation of your personality, a digital collection stored in a file on a hard disk fails miserably. Publishing and sharing these lists (e.g. playlists on your iPod or shared via iTunes) is a start, but it still falls short of the sublime satisfaction of the nicely displayed collection.

Text by John Siracusa

Treehouse Tour

Portal

Image by Justin Farrow

Collective Screenshots

We are pleased to announce that all CoverFlow technology and intellectual property was recently sold to Apple. It has been incorporated into the latest version of iTunes. Please visit www.apple.com/itunes.

Day + Night

iControl

Does anyone else think that when Apple debuts the "iPod video" (rumored currently to be fast approaching) it's likely to also double as a touchscreen remote that controls a newly-refreshed Mac mini?

Here's what I predict:

Apple will launch an iMovie Video Store (it may start out as the iTunes Music Video Store) selling content of varying lengths (from music videos to feature-length films (Pixar)). This content will be downloaded in high-definition, FairPlay-wrapped, MPEG4 compressed with H.264 to an Intel-based Mac mini (launched concurrently with the Video Store) which will in turn be connected to an HDTV in the living room.

The mini will be controlled by a widescreen, touchscreen, Wi-Fi remote (also Intel-based (something like the one Apple has already patented, or a slimmer version of my proposed iBook DS)): The iControl.

The iControl will in fact, be the same device marketed to the public as the iPod video. It will dock directly with the mini (via the mysterious vestigial FireWire bus currently included within the mini, detailed here, here and here) to pick up compressed versions of HD content via an effortless sync for mobile viewing (the Wi-Fi connection will still be too slow and unreliable for the transfer of full-length films upon release). The Wi-Fi connection will be fast enough to wirelessly sync music however, and may also allow for direct playback from the iPod video/iControl to an AirPort Express.

As widely predicted, the iPod video/iControl will allow for direct connection to standard televisions via a cable that supports both Component Video and S-Video, as well as viewing on its widescreen display. The Mac mini will connect to HDTVs via DVI (already present in the current configuration).

This pairing of media server and remote client/display also allows for the easy download of video podcasts (already fully supported by the ITMS infrastructure) for viewing at home or on the road. Think of it as open-source television (or as Steve might say "Television Reborn").

Sure would be nice to browse that library of downloaded music, music videos, podcasts and movies with an intuitive, beautiful and living room-appropriate interface, huh?

Have I mentioned CoverFlow?

Summer Reading

Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes
Dear Raymi by Raymi the Minx

Incense Process Fig. 2

Claim Check

Lifted from a puddle left by yesterday's summer hydrants.

Meet CoverFlow

We are pleased to announce that all CoverFlow technology and intellectual property was recently sold to Apple. It has been incorporated into the latest version of iTunes. Please visit www.apple.com/itunes.

Colonial Fashion

What can I say that I haven't said before (1, 2, 3 times now)? I find the disregard with which my peers don the keffiyeh utterly offensive. Just so sad.

Image from Misshapes

Via Tale of Two Cities

Dispersion

Quotations

"To define is to kill; to suggest is to create." - Stéphane Mallarmé

Mirror

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Rural via TIBOR

Range Grilled

Artifacts from last night's meal.

A Sign

Image by Lonely Radio

Humans

Humans Manifesto:

No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Sometimes being dumb is the only smart alternative. Shy people are secretly egoists. Nothing is real. Everything you see is a dream you project onto the world. Children live out their parents' unconscious. The only animals that suffer from anxiety are the ones that associate with humans. I don't trust people who are very articulate. The only way to be sane is to embrace your insanity. When you feel guilty about being sad, remember Walt Disney was a manic depressive. Everything I said could be totally wrong.

Key things to learn from Mark:

1. Trust your most crazy ideas, trust your most crazy self. 2. Have fun, Mark is really good at not taking things too seriously. 3. Just do what you want and don't worry if it's freaking other people out - They'll get over it or they might even grow to like it or you'll probably stop soon and they can go on living. Whose life is it anyways? 4. Simple can be complicated 5. Cooking is as important as art.

Texts by Mike Mills

False Mirror

After Magritte.

Image by Brianjayfrost

Cypress Knees

The cypress knees of Brooklyn, New York and Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Covert Street

Leaving Maplewood

Blocks

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Eye Contact

Via Boing Boing

Self Portrait

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"Astronaut Steve Robinson turns the camera on himself during his historic repair job 'underneath' Discovery on August 3." - NASA

Via Eyeteeth

No Diversions Scheduled

How Do You Predict The Future?

We Are the Web by Kevin Kelley

Via Wired

Wire Animals

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My dad slips ground wires into my hands when he visits, like a grandmother should candy, convinced that their use in my frequent electrical work will eventually save my life. What he doesn't know is that in a building in which it's illegal to dwell, little effort was made by the landlords to meet code. The receptacles aren't grounded, which leaves me with little need for these charming copper leads.

Touching Teeth

I abandoned habitual nail biting in the 9th grade, 6 years later picking up another nasty habit: a regularly clenched jaw.

I'm sure people notice. My masseters plump like the fetal pig from which I learned the term. Two tense discs worn like makeup.

I could attribute it to stress; to anxiety inborn; to months of MDMA; the need for a cigarette; fear; anger; tetanus. All logical deductions unable to assist in dampening its eventual reemergence.

I only loosen up when I notice I might look mean, immediately ceasing the squeeze. My conscious thoughts always trumping the subliminal need for subtle pressure.

My teeth come apart with a little resistance, a little stick. Like a glass left covered in condensation and later lifted from the table once dry, with a click.

A Portion of Our Books

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Gray on Grey

Even though I held these tags (1 throw-up) in low esteem, it quiets, saddens me to wake up and walk by newly buffed walls.

Mental Note

Never walk by Union Pool without stopping in for a photobooth series. No drink necessary. I guess the rule applies to Lakeside Lounge as well, though I'm not often near there.

Images from Lakeside Lounge Photobooth

Meanface

The visual product of a project not dissimilar to Brevity's 50 People See, Meanface.