Have you seen this ? It's pretty concise and unique explanation of CERN's collider. Pretty catchy too.
Be sure to check out the credits on the right info bar on YouTube. It's interesting to see the backgrounds of the people involved in this little vid.
I'm kicking myself right now. It's a good thing I've started biking more and have some new leg strength because I want to feel this. For years, like many of you, I stored my assortment of computer, television, printer, and general electronic boxes and packaging just in case I needed to send it somewhere or sell it out of back of my pick-up as "gently used." I finally decided to part with most of my collection when I moved down South. I figured that with their warranties long gone and vintage computers not having the market share right now, I would not need them to take up space.
THEN CAME THE STYROBOT!
I saw some of these online a few months ago from artist and teacher Michael Salter created several for exhibition. Then I thought they were awesome, but out of my space limitations. Then Kevin Kelly over at Geekdad , a blog I greatly enjoy (even though I'm no dad), featured a homemade one at a size I could have handled.
I would have named him "Squeaky," or "Squeakatron."
There are certain things about this years summer Olympics that I really enjoy (amongst many that I don't). I like the evocative names that the venues have, like "Watercube" and "Bird's Nest." They are so much better than the Georgia Tech Aquatic center (in Atlanta) or something similarly boring and generically clear. "Watercube" seems like a place that could host some modern, cinematically influenced gladiator games later on without even changing the signs. I have also enjoyed some of the usual Olympic's cross-cultural language divide stories, such as this cafe named "Translate Server Error."
However, what i have enjoyed most happened last night, and yet again emphasized my nerdy contrast to the athletes (that a chart raised my adrenaline far more than a tight race). This amazing interactive chart is displayed on the New York Times website and is one of the most beautiful and elegant representations of Olympic glory. As many of you know, I am totally enamored by information design, and I wish I could make something this nice. Go check it out!
I originally found this map at one of my new favorite blogs, Strange Maps . I highly recommend giving it a look.
It was a foggy night in Minnesota, bringing about fond memories of Maine. I went walking blindly through the tall grass and came out with my nostrils filled with spring and my pants soaked up to the knees. I hope this beautiful phenomena exists frequently in Northern Louisiana.
It's the bottom of the fifth, Twins up on Baltimore 6-3. The season opener, a marker that has long ushered in the end of Minnesota's winter and lead fans into the first weeks of what I like to call "the beer and grilling season."
After a return from living in Georgia for a few years, I am warmed by what this particular day means to Minnesotans. There is a genuine excitement and positive cheerfulness, not aggression. A tangible glow of history and hope.
I did not plan to watch this game, but turned it on while making dinner and was stuck. The HUGE contrast between baseball and the last sport I watched on television, basketball, filled me with awe. Where are the glitzy commercials… the blatant fouls… the obvious cussing??? Apparently sports can still appear casual and gentile, even at this level, and these ten reasons to enjoy baseball are just the ones on the tip-top of my head.
1) Batters warming up at the plate. I love it. The shimmy. The little butt wiggle. I personal ritual that is completely their own. I can still remember Kirby Pucketts, lodged in there from my childhood for the rest of time.
2) Quiet acceptance. A strike is usually a strike. Arguing with officials is reserved for really important moments, making them special instead of annoying.
3) Missing fouls. Sometimes a scuffle occurs, but mostly it is clean play, not pre-planned attacks filling the hours with endless free throwing.
4) Classic. The uniforms, the logos, the wood bats. Throw in some dirty 16mm film and catch a game and it would not be far off from 100 years ago. Even the announcers feel just right.
5) Short advertisments. Inning is over, here's a little commercial… makes sense. Also, the great public service announcements starring coaches and players with silly puns as well… those shaped my moral being.
6) Not too Hip (hop). I like to listen to hip-hop and some rap, but am amazed by it's presence in sports. Not just basketball and football, but so many others. The organ belongs in every sport.
7) Understandable strategy. Anyone who picked dandelions during tee-ball can understand this sport enough to follow.
Fans Wearing Gloves. I am still afraid of baseballs, and attend games with one purely to hold it in front of my face while I curl into a fetal position.
9) Mascots. Gnate the Gnat is a close personal friend, and like so many baseball mascots, it tough as well as jovial.
10) Umpire armor. That shiny black chestplate reminds me of Darth Vador in a sports coat… and it makes me laugh. Now if they wore a necktie too I would have a new career.
My big computer is in the shop, having a transplant. And with it all of my recent images, so today on the blog, it's words!
You are all keeping me so busy. I mean it. I'm mostly at fault, but you are keeping me very busy. All you bloggers, with your interesting thoughts, delicious photographs, and constant comments streaming in. If it wasn't so interesting I would walk away and spend a little more time on my bike or doing my job.
I have been monitoring the shift in how I spend my computer time lately. Conscious that how I procrastinate, at least, is becoming slightly more intellectual. Better that I am looking at some of Jeremias' new work or reading some of Alec's completely unexpected connections rather than surfing Myspace.
Another way that I use up time is podcasts. Last week, John Dickerson , Slate's chief political correspondent was explaining why he has never listened to, and avoids listening to This American Life. the imminent radio program, entirely because he knows he would love it. At first I wondered why anyone would avoid TAL, but in a voice of obvious burden and pain, he makes a good case.
"The problem is, my media diet is already way too full."
Oh My Yes! I am horribly obese with media obligations, or, more appropriately, media obsessions. I evade invitations to watch regualr programs like Lost as though my friend's couches are on fire. The thought of a movie night while my coffee and strobes get cold makes me twitch. Do any of you skip a decent movie prospect to stare in silence at the wall with a notebook. Dickerson is right, I trust my friend's opinions about what I "need to see." so much that I avoid it, under great pressure, in order to have a moment to ingest their earlier recommendations.
I suppose I won't cut out the blogs, it's too late for that. Too late to give up Todd's biweekly wordless, Memo's musings and Jon's treasures, but I am going to be watching the media calories this spring.
Sorry for the rant… interesting blogging coming soon… I promise.
I am finally getting around to reading the recent Aperture and am happy to report that it has been getting me pretty psyched up for the upcoming weeks ahead. Next week, a quick trip to Louisiana and the week after that presenting an Imagemaker lecture at SPE's National Conference in Miami. The last month in Minnesota has been less than hospitable for photographing, but I am buckling down to drop some film this weekend with the help of some new strobes.. woo-hoo.
A lot has been passing through my head, but the very first article that I read in the current Aperture has been lodged in my head for days. The article is a dialogue between writer Luc Sante and Stephen Shore regarding his book, The Nature of Photographs. I have read very little from Shore. An article here, an interview there, but not his entire book. After this short article I am looking forward to getting my hands on this book.
Within the wide range of topics addressed, Shore even touches digitization's effect on photography, something I have never heard from him. It is valuable to hear someone who was at the front of one photographic revolution speak about another massive shift. He answers with an open mind that seems characteristic of an eloquent and supportive professor. Essentially a nod to go ahead, but with caution. He refers to there being a lot of "junk" being produced because of the immaterial aspect of digital, something I am looking forward to hearing more about in Nancy Spector's keynote lecture at SPE .
What really has been stuck in my head was Shore's very last statement:
I guess what it comes down to is: an illustration is aiming the camera at the direction of some content, while the photograph is making sense of it."
I am someone who likes to define things. Creating personal definitions for things allows me to really understand something and more effectively create what I am after in a specific art/job/task. This definition of Shore's is well said. Many people like to think of photography in terms of illustration, and I sometimes feel as though my work walks the line of illustration in other's eyes, but when I put it in the context of Shore's definition I know exactly where I stand. Making Sense, that is exactly what interests me about photography and why, in the end, I am obsessed by it.
On a side note: Those of us who studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design know Mr. Shore as Stephen "F'ing" Shore, a result of a funny story about a professor's experience at CAA 25 years ago, when Shore received his long held position at Bard College.