Bobst Wednesday

Reminder: we are meeting at Bobst Wednesday (West 4th and University) at 9:55AM. Go to the second floor. See you then!

Appleseed lives. . . .

The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Republic Review

As a student, I always try to find a place where I can get good dinner and drink. A place where you can meet up with friends, spend a good time and not be broke.
On Union Square West, between McDonald's and Heartland Brewery, Republic is a restaurant that offers a variety of Asian dishes. The menu includes small, vegetarian, broth noodles, noodles, and rice dishes. The average price of an entrée is $10.
You don't need to make reservation at Republic, it is a first come first served basis and customers share tables. Modern decor, walk passed the bar first, then the open kitchen, which makes the whole place kind of smelly, then you get to the to the area where tables are designed to look like a cafeteria. The clientele is young crowd 20's and 30's.
The service is mediocre, the menus were sticky and the tables as well.
I shared a Beef Satay for the appetizer and I had the well-known Chicken Pad Thai as an entrée. The food came relatively fast; the Beef Satay was well marinated but came a bit cold. The Pad Thai was a very generous dish, the noodles texture was good, but it was not a savory dish rather a dry one. You’ll have to add some of the spicy sauces. They garnish most dishes with a little too much parsley.
The concept of Republic is a good one, I feel that the management has some issues they should follow. I would not choose to go there again, but I will not refuse to go if some friends choose to go there. To sum it up the atmosphere, food and price are all average.

Food Review: Chipotle Burritos rock!

Amongst all the fast food I can get near New School - Greenwich Village Campus, I prefer 'Chipotle' the most. It is a Mexican Grill and branching over many area not only in the NYC but also over the U.S. I had enjoyed taking out 'Naked Burrito', also called 'Buritto Bowl' when I lived in Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago,Illinois. I'm very glad I can eat them here, too. I tasted a burrito from 'Qdoba', the rival of 'Chipotle', first but I hadn't been there ever since I tried 'Chipotle.' What's great about 'Chipotle's menu is that you have variety of sauces and salsas to choose without extra fee, except guacamole. The rice they use is different from usual Mexican food where they put chili. They mix cilantro and lemon sauce that create somewhat like a taste of Mediterranean food. Their burritos and tacos are more fresh than anywhere else because of their organic meat and vegetables. They make vegetarian friendly food such as grilled vegetable tacos, burrito, or naked burrito. They have own kitchen behind the serving table so you can smell the freshness while you wait in the line. I personally feel more relieved to see the actual cook and how clean the kitchen facility is. Moreover, their interior design is superb in comparison to any other fast food restaurant. The light wooden tiles and floors and stainless posts with circular angle of the space give you special feeling. They even added a new service so you can order your food online ahead of time to pick it up when you want.

TOKYO!

Sexy snails

This is a bit RACY . . . but if you haven't seen it yet, your eyes aren't fully open.

Weekly Project

Okay, this week's project: write a one page paper on the art of Andy Goldsworthy. Be specific! No general emotional responses. Address something (an idea, a theme, one installation) in a direct way. One way to think of it . . . imagine yourself famous 2 years from now. An interviewer asks you: "I see strange intersections between your work and that of the artist Andy Goldsworthy -- I know it's odd since you're a technology designer and he's a nature artist, but is there anything to that? Did you ever watch his movie "Rivers and Tides?"

Also, if you have not, please send me an electronic version of your mid-term. It's not 100% necessary, but I always like to have a clean copy on file for you. . . .

I posted a clip below for Yoav and Grace -- you can find the whole movie online though, albeit at low resolution.

Pixar's new animation 'UP'

I can't wait to see this ;) It's opening on May 29.

Rhizome is now accepting proposals for our 2010 cycle. The submission deadline is midnight April 2, 2009.


Get cracking my peeps! More info below.

http://rhizome.org/commissions/

The goal of the Rhizome Commissions Program is to support emerging artists by providing grants for the creation of significant works of new media art. By new media art, we mean projects that creatively engage new and networked technologies to works that reflect on the impact of these tools and media in a variety of forms. Rhizome defines emerging artist as artists who exhibit great potential yet are not fully recognized within their field. Commissioned works can take the final form of online works, performance, video, installation or sound art. Projects can be made for the context of the gallery, the public, the web or networked devices. The call for submissions is open to both national and international artists.

Proposed projects can be at any stage of production, from conception to distribution. Applications must be made and submitted online. Grant amounts range from $1,000 to $5,000 and can be applied to any aspect of the work, including labor costs, technology, or materials. In this funding cycle, Rhizome will award nine grants: seven grants will be determined by a jury of experts in the field, and two will be determined by Rhizome’s membership through an open vote.

Artists who receive a commission will also be invited to speak at Rhizome's affiliate, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and to archive their work in the ArtBase, a comprehensive online art collection.

Danza Serpetina

Check out this amazing piece of Kinetoscope, handpainted . . . the dance is from 1899!



Here's a still:

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Break. This video below has changed the way I look at design, technology, sheep . . . my dog. A wonderful respite from this rainy day.

Midweek things I like. . . .

Some great cinematography and animation in this Japanese video:

Above, from a Joffrey Ballet

Chris Johanson art, also, above.

Sadly, PingMag is "on Hiatus" but check out this great article if you're interested in sustainable living

Ayiti - The Cost of Life

Ayiti is a flash game about life in poverty in Haiti.  Your mission as a player is to keep your family alive and healthy for four years.  There are four main strategies you can try focusing on Health, Education, Money and Happiness.  Despite feeling well-informed on the problems of life in the developing work, I had to start over 3 or 4 times because I had either worked the family to hard and made them sick or ran them in to a debt they couldn't get out of.  Its a very interesting game, so please check it out!  

Rat poison and biomechanics

"One day, when Hugh Herr was a small boy in rural Pennsylvania, his father, John, showed Hugh and his two brothers a jar filled with rat poison. John then placed a drop of the poison onto his tongue. Maybe he meant to entertain, or educate. To this day, the boys still don't know. But they do remember staring, awestruck, as their father's mouth began to burn. . . ."






Check out:
http://www.tomorrowmuseum.com/2008/04/16/building-the-body-better-john-hockenberry-and-hugh-herr-at-the-mit-museum/

and

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/best_foot_forward_february/


Both great articles on biotechnology. Who doesn't want a third arm?

Another roundtable discussion can be found here:

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/479/

Midweek Links. . . .

Adobe's "thinktank" publishes some great essays on technology and design. Check it out at: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/

Also, I love the Space Collective's motto, "The Future of Everything." A great website with lots of great projects: http://spacecollective.org/

The Girl Effect

This is one of my favorite semiotic pieces. It makes me what it means to be a girl in this world and how much I appreciate to be here now.

Her Morning Elegance :: Oren Lavie

Technology-Driven Design

Boat Bot

I came across a link last semester of someone hacking in to a wii to make a controller for a canoe motor. No- I have not misspoken, someone has in fact made a motor for their canoe and has hacked in to a wii to make its controller. When I come across a project like this I am reminded of why I went to design school. Though the project was no easy undertaking and I admire the creators just for their technical abilites I must ask why it was made. What about the experience of paddling a canoe needed to be changed? And why was a wii used to control it? Were these additions meant to make the experience less strenuous and more peaceful? I find myself asking these questions again and again because of the design foundation I gained at Parsons. I seek to create tools and objects that have significance even if it is only for a small group of individuals. Indeed design has the potential to help many people if it is used appropriately and effectively which is what I strive for in my educational work.

Then and Now: Ben Burtt with a lightsaber versus Wall-E

Weekend Links. . . .

From Y0UNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, check out these web-movies:


(0UT 0F THE INTERNET AND) INT0 THE NIGHT


CUNNILINGUS IN N0RTH K0REA


Dakota

AND. . . .

7 Random Things About Graphic Design

1. The Michelin man has a name, Monsieur Bibendum. He’s also a century old.

Monsieur Bibendum

2. The Nike swoosh was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971, while she was a student at Portland State University. She was paid $35.

3. Woody Allen uses the same typeface in the titles and credits of nearly all of his movies. The typeface is Windsor.

4. According to Salary.com, the median salary for a graphic designer in the United States is $45,704.

5. The worlds first website(as we know them today) was launched in 1992. You can still visit the URL here.

6.Newly defunct The Designers Republic was hired to design the in-game artwork, packaging and manual for The Wipeout video game series as part of a carefully marketed ploy to position the game among the “fashionable, club-going, music-buying” audience the publisher was trying to attract. The results make Wipeout games some of the most visually stunning ever.

7. The Red Cross is known as The Red Crescent in Muslim countries. Its logo also changes from a cross to a crescent.

Poached from: http://tishon.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/25-random-things-about-graphic-design-and-stuff/

Burning Koolhaus

Some old school sound editing from 1961:



and some irony (a burning Koolhaus building in Beijing):

and some street art from Berlin:

Bladerunner was 26 years ago--are we slow?

Check out this story, about an MIT lab creating a "sixth sense" for humans. It seems inevitable to me that this would happen. http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six.html. What are the design implications? How would it change the face of applications and the presentation of A/V material. . . ?

Timesculpture

If you haven't seen this already, you must check it out: essential!

Week One: Input/Output

Exhibit #1

Hillary and Yoav

Perspective // instructor's mind map of the class. . . .

New work with Yahui!

Week One Reprised

Another video to check out, look at this papercraft animation, this by a publisher in England:



And this week's assignment. Read "Goodbye to All That," by Joan Didion and write a one page response paper. How has New York changed you as a designer? The answer is something you may want to consider when writing your essay.

Week One

Welcome to week one of Academic Writing for Designers! After the first class we should have seen how asking questions on paper --and getting answers-- can lead you to interesting places. Next week is New York time: "Goodbye to All That" by Joan Didion.



If you haven't seen them before, check out these kinetic sculptures by Theo Jansen. . . .