Designer = Tom Seymour
This amazing structure is made with 5000 sheets of paper.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations -- Robert Frost
On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations
You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.
-- Robert Frost
You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.
-- Robert Frost
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Little Gamers + Facebook = Snark Attack
Since I stopped playing Scrabble via Facebook, I've stopped really using the website. I stop in to respond to comments or messages and then I leave. Anyway, this cartoon is full of LOLs if you're familiar with what happens to one's status page when the site decides it's time for a facelift (oh puns). I can't make the image any larger, so you'll just have to visit the link -- that is, if you care about such pop culture bites of snark.
LittleGamers FTW
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Allison Contey's Bobcat
Bobcat
There was a bobcat in my apartment
that wasn't a bobcat, really, but a stand-in for something else, and perhaps
that something else is the something else
that I don't want to discuss, but I do discuss,
in the guise of a bobcat conversation, a conversation in which
the bobcat is not you.
-- Allison Contey
As Found Here
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Homer Simpson: Snuggle Insurance
I'm not one for a lot of hugging or "snuggling," but I might be swayed if Homer sidled up to me and said the following:
“Baby, I hope you got snuggle insurance because I am about to file a claim”
- Homer Simpson
“Baby, I hope you got snuggle insurance because I am about to file a claim”
- Homer Simpson
Surface View
Can you imagine having this in your home? I'd just stare at it all day long.
"Surface View creates prints, blinds, and wall murals for your home or office."
"Surface View creates prints, blinds, and wall murals for your home or office."
Patricia Smith's poetry collection, Blood Dazzler
If you want some stunning poems about Hurricane Katrina that are as finely crafted as they are haunting, then you need to read Patricia Smith's poetry collection Blood Dazzler. And really, any writer that can move so ably between received forms like the sestina to free verse forms deserves some attention.
I blab on about the book in my review for Feminist Review. I don't want to be one of those writers who posts links to her work -- isn't that just a tad masturbatory? -- but if you want to know more about why I enjoyed the collection, then feel free to click the link. Below is an excerpt of my review to give you a feel for the subject matter covered in Smith's poems (i.e. the lazy way to tell you what some of the poems are about).
"This book is more than a marker for the dead. The people in this book don’t die; they live on well past the rotting of their bodies. I dare you to read Smith’s poems about Luther B, a dog left tied up during Katrina, without feeling goose bumps. Smith allows everyone the chance to speak past the images that still haunt us. She writes about the stories we don’t always see or experience: Ethel Freeman, a woman whose body was left to rot in her wheelchair; the thirty-four bodies of the men and women left to drown in St. Rita’s Nursing Home; and the nameless who talk about what it’s like to leave one’s life behind."
I blab on about the book in my review for Feminist Review. I don't want to be one of those writers who posts links to her work -- isn't that just a tad masturbatory? -- but if you want to know more about why I enjoyed the collection, then feel free to click the link. Below is an excerpt of my review to give you a feel for the subject matter covered in Smith's poems (i.e. the lazy way to tell you what some of the poems are about)."This book is more than a marker for the dead. The people in this book don’t die; they live on well past the rotting of their bodies. I dare you to read Smith’s poems about Luther B, a dog left tied up during Katrina, without feeling goose bumps. Smith allows everyone the chance to speak past the images that still haunt us. She writes about the stories we don’t always see or experience: Ethel Freeman, a woman whose body was left to rot in her wheelchair; the thirty-four bodies of the men and women left to drown in St. Rita’s Nursing Home; and the nameless who talk about what it’s like to leave one’s life behind."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Megan Whitmarsh Art
Megan Whitmarsh's embroidery work is so tiny and yet so detailed! I wish I had the chops to execute such amazing work. Hmm: I might need to first learn how to thread a needle without becoming so frustrated I throw said needle and loose it. After that, I might need to learn how to sew. Chicken/Egg/Whatever.
Also, Whitmarsh does more than embroider.
Her website is a smorgasbord of materials, pieces, and great ideas.
Her website is a smorgasbord of materials, pieces, and great ideas.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Doodling: Kick-Starting the Brain
Doodling Helps Kick-Start Your Brain When It's Bored
"To understand where the compulsion to doodle comes from, the first thing you need to do is look more closely at what happens to the brain when it becomes bored. According to Jackie Andrade, a professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, though many people assume that the brain is inactive when they're bored, the reverse is actually true.
"If you look at people's brain function when they're bored, we find that they are using a lot of energy — their brains are very active," Andrade says.
The reason, she explains, is that the brain is designed to constantly process information. But when the brain finds an environment barren of stimulating information, it's a problem.
"You wouldn't want the brain to just switch off, because a bear might walk up behind you and attack you; you need to be on the lookout for something happening," Andrade says.
So when the brain lacks sufficient stimulation, it essentially goes on the prowl and scavenges for something to think about. Typically what happens in this situation is that the brain ends up manufacturing its own material. "
"To understand where the compulsion to doodle comes from, the first thing you need to do is look more closely at what happens to the brain when it becomes bored. According to Jackie Andrade, a professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, though many people assume that the brain is inactive when they're bored, the reverse is actually true.
"If you look at people's brain function when they're bored, we find that they are using a lot of energy — their brains are very active," Andrade says.
The reason, she explains, is that the brain is designed to constantly process information. But when the brain finds an environment barren of stimulating information, it's a problem.
"You wouldn't want the brain to just switch off, because a bear might walk up behind you and attack you; you need to be on the lookout for something happening," Andrade says.
So when the brain lacks sufficient stimulation, it essentially goes on the prowl and scavenges for something to think about. Typically what happens in this situation is that the brain ends up manufacturing its own material. "
The Official Creebobby Comics Archetype Times Table
The Official Creebobby Comics Archetype Times Table seems pretty spot-on.
Also, can we just give the artist a shout-out?This is a TIMES TABLE of COMIC ARCHETYPES.
Click the source link below to see a larger image.John Ashbery: Forties Flick
FORTIES FLICK
The shadow of the Venetian blind on the painted wall,
Shadows of the snake-plant and cacti, the plaster animals,
Focus on the tragic melancholy of the bright stare
Into nowhere, a hole like the black holes in space.
‘In bra and panties she sidles to the window:
Zip! Up with the blind. A fragile street scene offers itself,
With wafer-thin pedestrians who know where they are going.
The blind comes down slowly, the slats are slowly titled up.
Why must it always end this way?
A dais with woman reading, with the ruckus of her hair
And all that is unsaid about her pulling us back to her, with her
Into the silence that night alone can’t explain.
Silence of the library, of the telephone with its pad,
But we didn’t have to reinvent these either:
They had gone away into the plot of a story,
The “art” part—knowing what important details to leave out
And the way character is developed. Things too real
To be of much concern, hence artificial, yet now all over the page,
The indoors with the outside becoming part of you
As you find you had never left off laughing at death,
The background, dark vine at the edge of the porch.
—John Ashbery
Special thanks to One Poet's Notes for posting the poem and reminding me how great it is.
The shadow of the Venetian blind on the painted wall,
Shadows of the snake-plant and cacti, the plaster animals,
Focus on the tragic melancholy of the bright stare
Into nowhere, a hole like the black holes in space.
‘In bra and panties she sidles to the window:
Zip! Up with the blind. A fragile street scene offers itself,
With wafer-thin pedestrians who know where they are going.
The blind comes down slowly, the slats are slowly titled up.
Why must it always end this way?
A dais with woman reading, with the ruckus of her hair
And all that is unsaid about her pulling us back to her, with her
Into the silence that night alone can’t explain.
Silence of the library, of the telephone with its pad,
But we didn’t have to reinvent these either:
They had gone away into the plot of a story,
The “art” part—knowing what important details to leave out
And the way character is developed. Things too real
To be of much concern, hence artificial, yet now all over the page,
The indoors with the outside becoming part of you
As you find you had never left off laughing at death,
The background, dark vine at the edge of the porch.
—John Ashbery
Special thanks to One Poet's Notes for posting the poem and reminding me how great it is.
Put Your Foot Down -- Riitta Ikonen
put your foot down installation by riitta ikonen
crayon stub shoe (photo by riitta ikonen)
puzzle shoe (photo by riitta ikonen)"london based artist riitta ikonen was recently commissioned to create an installation piece through YCN for actionaid’s put your foot down campaign combatting violence against women and helping to end HIV and AIDS. the installation was created using 200 pairs of old shoes donated to the project. ikonen transformed the hundreds of shoes into a special installation that was displayed within the department for international development buildings to coincide with international women's day on march 8th."
Source
+
Riitta Ikonen Website
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dallas Clayton's An Awesome Book
Rocket-Powered Unicorns. Do I really need to say more?
This image and the one that follows are from Dallas Clayton's An Awesome Book.
This image and the one that follows are from Dallas Clayton's An Awesome Book.Magic Watermelon Boats
To see more, I highly suggest taking a look at the book.You can buy it here for $15.00
Guess Who: Sweet Bargains!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
henrique oliveira: 'tapumes' at rice gallery, houston, texas
Henrique Oliveira: 'tapumes' is opening at the Rice Art Gallery in Houston, Texas on March 26, 2009. 
I'm tempted to drive there to see it. I can't imagine what it would be like to see this work in person. I'm moved and interested while looking at it on a computer screen. Incredible.If only, if only seems to be my mantra: there's so much to see and do before I head out of New Orleans for the summer and head north to New York, Boston, and Cape Cod. Still, I can't imagine what it would feel like to stand in front of these salvaged wood pieces. Talk about a sensory experience.
"oliveira uses tapumes, which in portugese can mean fencing, boarding, or enclosure, as a title for many of his large-scale installations. the term makes reference to the temporary wooden construction fences seen throughout the city of são paulo where oliveira lives."
"Henrique Oliveira was born in Ourinhos, Brazil in 1973. He received a BFA in painting in 2004 and a masters in visual poetics in 2007 from the university of São Paulo, Brazil. He lives and works in São Paulo."
I'm tempted to drive there to see it. I can't imagine what it would be like to see this work in person. I'm moved and interested while looking at it on a computer screen. Incredible.If only, if only seems to be my mantra: there's so much to see and do before I head out of New Orleans for the summer and head north to New York, Boston, and Cape Cod. Still, I can't imagine what it would feel like to stand in front of these salvaged wood pieces. Talk about a sensory experience.
"oliveira uses tapumes, which in portugese can mean fencing, boarding, or enclosure, as a title for many of his large-scale installations. the term makes reference to the temporary wooden construction fences seen throughout the city of são paulo where oliveira lives."
"Henrique Oliveira was born in Ourinhos, Brazil in 1973. He received a BFA in painting in 2004 and a masters in visual poetics in 2007 from the university of São Paulo, Brazil. He lives and works in São Paulo."
Type It Up: Perodic Table Revised
How smart! A periodic table with some of the most popular or influential typefaces used today.
Larger Image Available via Artist's website
Artist = Squidspot
Source via Here
Larger Image Available via Artist's website
Artist = Squidspot
Source via Here
"As with traditional periodic tables, this table presents the subject matter grouped categorically. The Table of Typefaces groups by families and classes of typefaces: san-serif, serif, script, blackletter, glyphic, display, grotesque, realist, didone, garalde, geometric, humanist, slab-serif and mixed. Each cell of the table lists the typeface and a one or two character 'symbol' , the designer, year designed and a ranking of 1 through 100."
There's an extensive explanation if you click here.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
T. R. Hummer's poem, "Argument from Design"
Linebreak posts some of the most beautiful poems. I particulalry enjoy this one:
Argument from Design
The failing kidney is a portal — the leaky
heart valve, the clot, the lesion in the brain:
All doors unlocking themselves. Likewise
outside the body: the razorblade,
The bottle of barbiturates, the utility pole
beside the curve in the icy highway,
The rifle over the mantelpiece (it must
go off). He understands the radio
On the shelf by the bath in particular
as a crystal hatchway, hermetically unsealing,
Leading, after a prelude of unspectacular
fireworks, to a region beyond
The invention of the hinge and the hasp,
where jamb and lintel are less
Than ugly rumors, and nobody has
a key to worry over, wear out,
Misplace, twist off, or jangle obsessively.
-- T.R. Hummer
Head to the website if you want to hear a recording of the poem!
Argument from Design
The failing kidney is a portal — the leaky
heart valve, the clot, the lesion in the brain:
All doors unlocking themselves. Likewise
outside the body: the razorblade,
The bottle of barbiturates, the utility pole
beside the curve in the icy highway,
The rifle over the mantelpiece (it must
go off). He understands the radio
On the shelf by the bath in particular
as a crystal hatchway, hermetically unsealing,
Leading, after a prelude of unspectacular
fireworks, to a region beyond
The invention of the hinge and the hasp,
where jamb and lintel are less
Than ugly rumors, and nobody has
a key to worry over, wear out,
Misplace, twist off, or jangle obsessively.
-- T.R. Hummer
Head to the website if you want to hear a recording of the poem!
Bathroom Time: Brainstorming Session
From an advertising campaign for the School of Visual Arts.
Not going to lie: I'd like a roll to write on.
Wouldn't that be one hell of a poem? Talk about metaphor!
Click the link to see more cool as heck products (I also enjoy the sugar packets).
Monday, March 9, 2009
Gregor Colienne
These Gregor Colienne pieces are as strange as they are well-executed. I enjoy the way the photographer uses the frame and the way he takes a stab at the world we live in. His work is snarky, and I like that.
Detail by Eamon Grennan
Detail by Eamon Grennan
I was watching a robin fly after a finch—the smaller
chirping with excitement, the bigger, its breast blazing, silent
in light-winged earnest chase—when, out of nowhere
over the chimneys and the shivering front gardens,
flashes a sparrowhawk headlong, a light brown burn
scorching the air from which it simply plucks
like a ripe fruit the stopped robin, whose two or three
cheeps of terminal surprise twinkle in the silence
closing over the empty street when the birds have gone
about their business, and I began to understand
how a poem can happen: you have your eye on a small
elusive detail, pursuing its music, when a terrible truth
strikes and your heart cries out, being carried off.
This pretty much sums up what happens to me when I am naive or cocky enough to think that I know what my poems will be about. Side note: I was supposed to study with this poet this past October but life got in the way.
I was watching a robin fly after a finch—the smaller
chirping with excitement, the bigger, its breast blazing, silent
in light-winged earnest chase—when, out of nowhere
over the chimneys and the shivering front gardens,
flashes a sparrowhawk headlong, a light brown burn
scorching the air from which it simply plucks
like a ripe fruit the stopped robin, whose two or three
cheeps of terminal surprise twinkle in the silence
closing over the empty street when the birds have gone
about their business, and I began to understand
how a poem can happen: you have your eye on a small
elusive detail, pursuing its music, when a terrible truth
strikes and your heart cries out, being carried off.
This pretty much sums up what happens to me when I am naive or cocky enough to think that I know what my poems will be about. Side note: I was supposed to study with this poet this past October but life got in the way.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hand Write Your Font: Fontifier
Yo, you can make a font out of your own hand-writing.
Go here to make your own font!
For those who know me, you know the font would be small and precise or a linked scrawl of near-indecipherable letters. A pal once said this was because I was an Aquarius: I like to think it's because I'm sometimes irritable or in a hurry.
Source
Go here to make your own font!
For those who know me, you know the font would be small and precise or a linked scrawl of near-indecipherable letters. A pal once said this was because I was an Aquarius: I like to think it's because I'm sometimes irritable or in a hurry.
Source
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