Wednesday
Two of my favorite things happened today.
1. The new issue of Cabinet arrived in my mailbox. Subject: friendship
2. The Blazers won.
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The image above (RSS readers, go to the site to see it) comes from the de-commissioned image-archive of the Portland State University library through which I’ve been sifting. This is my favorite image thus far, two of seven boxes into it (there’s a pile of boxes five feet high at our place full of these images). I’d like it even if it didn’t remind me of Pet Sounds but it does and so I like it all the more.
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Different subject altogether: ChatRoulette
It’s been pretty fascinating as reasonable people around the internet have begun to process the phenomenon that has become ChatRoulette, the at-random webcam connection website launched by a seventeen year-old kid in December. Alex Vadukul posted an interesting piece about going to a ChatRoulette party last night at Union Hall bar in Brooklyn.
“Audience members took turns, often in pairs, using the ChatRoulette station on the stage. The conversations with strangers began as they normally seem to, with sarcastic banter getting tossed back and forth. But the interactions began to change as soon as the stranger became aware of the larger audience.”
“Am I on some big fucking screen right now?” asked one very red-eyed, mop-haired boy staring into his screen after a few minutes of quiet conversation.”
And that Eugene Merman is now pulling up ChatRoulette while he’s on stage? haha that guy is funny.
We Went to a ChatRoulette Party Last Night – nymag.com
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Lastly today, for anybody who’s a Sam Shepard fan (and you all should be by the way, he was a Holy Modal Rounder!), the newest episode of the Moth podcast is Shepard narrating a story that happened to him while filming the Right Stuff. Without giving too much away, the story is about the stunt required for that horse-chase scene near the beginning of the movie. I’m not sure where I would link directly to that episode, but hey it’s free just subscribe to the podcast.
High Five
Just one thing on my mind today: Thanks.
Thanks to ever-awesome Amy Ruppel for the high-fives for my new blog Folk Object. I love me some Amy Ruppel.
Thanks to Grace at Design*Sponge for the fantastic write-up this morning. What a great way to start the week. http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/01/folk-object.html
and something I’ve not said nearly enough: Thank you to all of you who read, respond, tweet, click, and tumble the things I do. Really. Multiple high-fives for you. And lots of fist-bumps, the kind where we make the explodey-motion after we bump.
Thanks. For real y’all.
De-Inventory
There’s this Vietnamese food cart around the corner from Kate’s office. They sell the most sublime sandwiches; tender pork with Sriracha (maybe?), long slices of cucumber to cool down the spice, and served up on french bread with cilantro tossed on top of the whole thing. Kate and I had lunch there today. I met her at her office and while I was there I discovered that the PSU library had just de-inventoried their entire image-archive and sent it to the Art Department. The archive of about 100 folios has apparently been maintained for a couple of decades. The contents of each folio seem to have been carefully clipped from years of magazines and filed into well labeled folders. Like this for example: Coins! (the exclamation point is put there by me because I think these collection labels are more fun with emphasis.)
Another favorite was Parachutes! And the best was Parades! When I get these scanned in I’ll post ‘em up.
Folk Object
I’d like to introduce you to a new project of mine called Folk Object. It’s an ongoing collection of graphic objects derived from the world of folk culture. So far, the pieces include works by Inuits, Native Americans, and a host of current designers and illustrators. The common through-line is that pieces blend ornament with utility. In some cases it’s design-irony and in others it’s an authentic expression of craft. I find it interesting as these pieces come together into the same collection and I think that you will too. Drop me a line if you spot good additions to the collection.
New Year
On the radar today…
Kottke pointed out this flickr set of photos taken in the cafes of Paris in 1962. Been on my mind all day. They look as though they’re scenes from a movie but these were real people living their lives and doing their thing in Paris.
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David Hyuck pointed out this amazing video of What English Sound Like to Foreigners. The original title is Prisencolinensinainciusol. It’s a song produced for Italian television which was written in gibberish meant to sound as much like English as possible.
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The images posted up by A Journey Round My Skull from the 1971 Kiyoshi Awazu book knocked my socks off. Dang.
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Two more thoughts today:
1. The BingamanBurt household is obsessed with Jersey Shore right now.
2. I’m looking for a break in this drizzly weather for sunshine and snowshoeing. If you’re in my hood and want to go, drop me a line, really. We’ve been cooped up too much lately. Let’s go!
