Stumptown "Berkie" 2008

What do you get when you mix six inches of snow with uncleared downtown roads and a handful of nordic ski fanatics? An impromptu Birkebeiner, of course! Being the first of this seasonally-annual event, the attendance was somewhat... low. However, the determination and spirit of the handful of participants more than made up for the lack of bodies!

In joyous celebration of the winter gods, humans reclaimed the roads! Even a photographer from the Oregonian was there, so with luck, this event will takeoff and become a somewhat beloved urban tradition!

The Humans are Coming!!

I wasn't aware that people do this... but now I want to try. Definitely check it out, and then challenge the metal beast yourself!

http://chasingthestreetcar.blogspot.com

Tillandsias and Noble Firs

I finally went to Pistils Nursery located on Mississippi Ave, and what a treat that store is! Hoping for some advice on my kitchen herb collection, I discovered the amazing terrariums and selection of succulents. The nice lady at the counter also informed me that there is no hope for keeping herbs healthy indoors. Sad.

However, I walked away with a handful of Tillandsias...

...which now reside in my Christmas tree (hanging in little glass globes). I'll post some pictures when the tree looks a little more complete. :)

* Pistils Nursery is having some terrarium workshops this Sunday and upcoming Saturday (the 14th and 20th). I'm definitely going.

Live... Bike!!

I love the pace of bicycles. Perfect for exploration, my personal history is intertwined with the bicycles of my life. Learning how to ride at a fairly young age, I first discovered my neighborhoods on the banana-seat. When I turned 9, my parents wanted to go camping and mountain biking with me... I never really did a lot of mountain biking, but when I outgrew that bike, I got another mountain bike simply because that's what I knew. That one lasted me all the way to my second year of college, when it was stolen from a locked garage that it was locked to. Boo to Eugene thieves. 

My love of the bicycle didn't become apparent until I visited Kyoto. Somewhat overwhelmed with the humanity and busy-ness of the city, it wasn't until I extensively rode around with my Japanese friend that I was able to understand what Kyoto was about. From that point on, the rest is 'history.' I came back, enthused about road biking. My friend introduced me to fixies, as well as the culture of road and cyclocross racing. 

Now I read, watch, and participate in everything I can that is bike related. Kazuma and I are currently planning our trip across the states, which will happen when we both graduate in a year and a half. I also dream of somehow building my own frame to create my ideal fixie... one thing at a time, though! 

*the above drawing is of the precursor to the bicycle; the velocipede, which had no pedals

It's not the 50's anymore, apparently...

I went caroling with a group of friends last night. We started off singing at people's houses that we knew, but then found ourselves knocking on the entire neighborhood's doors. I'm from Corvallis, which is a smaller town... but I didn't really think that people were nicer there, too. We were only successful in singing to half the houses; people would answer the door and then slam it shut when we started singing, or stare at us through the window! 

*sigh*

Maybe caroling is truly a thing of the past. I love it, though... so I guess I'll keep on trying! There was one house of elderly that started singing with us. As long as the old folks don't die off too soon, I'm good to go.  :)

Final Stop

On December 12th and 13th, you can check out the final showing of the Bike Film Festival in 2008. It will be held at Cinema 21, with after-parties at Holocene. Check it out at:

http://bicyclefilmfestival.com/2008_site/portland/friday.php#a

GO!!!

PostSecret

I found myself in Powells the other day and stumbled on the PostSecret book (a collection of  'confessions' sent to the author on postcards). 

People are... amazing.

HD

Ok, I don't mean to be so... obsessed. But I keep noticing things related to this 3d 'craze.' My friend just finished her CPA exams, and as a treat to herself, got a flat screen High Definition TV. When I was looking at TVs with her, it struck me; HD is kindof another form of 3d. The purpose of both is to create a more realistic image, but with very different approaches! I find it fascinating that society is going to such great lengths to make these images, which are mostly fabricated and not real, into 'realistic' scenes through the television screen. 

And then comes the question: is this a good thing? Is it good that we are making arbitrary and unrealistic images and situations into reality? We invest an enormous amount of money and time developing and enjoying this technology, but what do we do in the actual world?

Mii and the Wii

I'm home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, and upon my arrival, I was almost immediately challenged by my dad to a battle on Mario Kart. 

I hope I never have to play Wii to save my life.

Uh, anyway... my new goal in life (when I have a little more free time) is to not be lapped multiple times by the stupid automated characters on that game. And someday I will rise triumphant and win against my own dad, who just turned 59 and can barely use the computer!! I mean, I thought games like this were targeted towards younger people!? Sadly, I think that in the next few hours, I will be defeated again by my 9-year-old nephew.  

While we're on the topic of the Wii, I just want to say that I am impressed with the marketing strategies of this particular product. It's not only a good and aesthetically pleasing design, but the value attached to it continually grows due to the limited production of it (vs. it's high demand). So, rather than having to create a newer model for the next year, Nintendo maintains interest with this perceived rarity.

Sadly, I don't think this lesson can carry over to my architectural practice in the future. *sigh*

Anaglyph Glasses

I found these cool, more permanent red and cyan glasses for anaglyph viewing. They look like aviator glasses, actually! Which got me thinking/day-dreaming... and now I am definitely going to do my studio presentation in 3d next term. And then have my reviewers wear the glasses, and have someone take a picture of my review! Ohhhh yes.

I think there should be a caution attached to the glasses, though. I mean, they looked so 'cool' that I just had to wear them around (to see if they enhanced the world to make it more 3d than it already is...). The result: a really bad headache. Don't try it. 

Daytrotting

One of the benefits to model-making in my architecture classes is that I have endless hours to listen to music and This American Life episodes. Needless to say, I go through my extensive music library at least once each scholastic year... so, in my quest for new music, I stumbled on a couple sites.

Pandora is pretty good as far as internet-based radios go, and eMusic often has sampler "cd's" in addition to its great deals on songs. However, one of my daily 'rituals' is to tune into Daytrotter.com while I check my email. Daytrotter is a studio located in Illinois, where bands that are on tour stop and record a few songs. These sessions are then posted on the site, and are available as free downloads. I would say that it's really hit-or-miss (only about a third of the bands are worth listening to). But what a great way for artists to get themselves out there! It's not just a radio, in this case, but a legal way of celebrating the craft.

I was talking with a friend the other day about the current trend in art galleries; how it seems that there are a lot of younger, live-in galleries popping up. This 'grass roots' way of showing art is a great opportunity to encourage young artists, and perhaps serve as a way to stick-it to the big business feel of so many galleries. 

These are similar outlets for music and art, though I wonder if there is a way to economically stabilize these efforts? 

How to go cross-eyed:

I never thought this would be a useful talent, so I never developed it. However, after recently working with stereographic photos, I have been told you can shave off minutes of wasted time by simply crossing one's eyes (to check your work as you go along). Apparently this technique has a name: "cross eyed viewing method." Somewhat self explanatory, I know... but here's another description in case you were wondering:

"A method of free-viewing stereo pairs where the left eye image is placed on the right side of a stereo pair and the right eye image is placed on the left side. It is generally believed to be easier to learn than the parallel method and can be done with substantially larger images. However, it cannot be used on most stereo cards since they are printed in parallel format."

Too bad I'm horrible at crossing my eyes! Maybe there's a youtube instruction video on it...

'Das Rad' and Civilization

I was looking for another short animated German film the other day, and found this instead. 

Find "Das Rad" here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj3rT_yYCw8

I guess I especially liked this short film for its commentary on civilization. I love the manipulation of the speed of time.

Artist's Block?

I just got the 27th edition of McSeeney's. I love McSweeney's.

In it was a published sketchbook of Art Spiegelman; a sketchbook that he titles "autophobia." When I saw the book, I thought that it might be about the fear of cars... but he is referring to a fear of himself. I found this introduction interesting:

"Drawing, which in childhood had been a pleasure, has turned into more and more of a painful chore for me, an unavoidable part of being a cartoonist who needs to somehow make ideas visible... I stopped drawing in bound notebooks long ago so I wouldn't be gratuitously confronted with a permanent record of my meager skills... 

To shake this Fear of Drawing and the accompanying self-loathing, I started an organized sketchbook again. I did a page straight in ink almost every day, a page without purose, a page not intended to ever be seen by anyone."

In his introduction he explains that he now can doodle while talking on the phone again, and doesn't dread practicing his chosen craft anymore. While this sketchbook is a successful exercise for Spiegleman, I found it mind-boggling that someone so successful could be so self-conscious. I guess it's somewhat validating, too.

A Night of Universal Design

I would say that Halloween typically doesn't bring out the best in society. However, it is a safe, justified way of expressing oneself... which allows many people's creative talents to come out. I am one of the people who are less-inspired this time of year, but I give props to those who put in excessive amounts of effort!

My Halloween costume story of the night: I was cleaning my room about an hour before I was going to go to a party. I looked up on my desk from my position on the floor, when I saw it. A role of packing tape. So, naturally, and out of my indifference for the holiday, I made myself another arm. I like Christmas better anyway, with all it's gifts and glory. So I gave myself a drafting arm, you know, so I can work faster. I wish it would actually work! 

*sigh*

Cheese!

I just bought a camera. 

After losing my beloved canon of four years (I think it was stolen, actually), I finally caved-in and replaced it... of course, not until there was the sufficient two-month mourning period! After researching, and drooling, and then researching some more, I finally went to the store with two cameras in mind. I was waiting for the salesman to tell me which one to buy at this point. It turned out this man knew even less about cameras than I. 

Nevertheless, I walked away with a camera that put a smile on my face. I was thinking to myself "Great! Now I can post pictures of my projects and bikerides on my blog!" How could I have lived without the camera! And then it hit me. How could I have lived without the camera? I had no way to document all those moments of life, so how can I prove they actually existed? How can I say that I had a good time at that concert, if there are no pictures of me grinning in front of the stage? How will people believe any of my stories without the physical evidence of a digital photo? I might as well have not lived, it seemed to me. 

Ok, so maybe that was a little overdramatic. But I wonder sometimes. Cameras seem to get thinner and lighter every year, to minimize the bulk and promote usability. But with this freedom, we have established a responsibility to carry that little camera with us EVERYWHERE. Like the cell phone, it has integrated into our lives imperceptibly to the point in which our view of life could easily be distorted. What if people start to look at their lives solely through the lens of a camera? 

I saw an interview of Stan Brackhage once, addressing his movies on his first child's birth, and the experimental movies of the Vietnam War. When asked how he was able to carry out such intense topics through this medium, he explained that the video camera was a sort-of filter that allowed him to translate what was going on. The moment itself was too intense for him experience alone, but with the camera he was able to remove himself and then replace himself into the scene. He felt that he was not actually 'removed' from the event, but rather given the opportunity to abstract the actual event. 

Another Massage... Please?

I recently came across an interesting concept in my Urban Design class... a concept brought to the world by Archigram, an "avant-garde" architectural group formed in the 1960's. Archigram was futurist, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist, working mostly in hypothetical drawings. These projects dealt with the new possibilities that technology had to offer. I'm not entirely clear as to who was influenced first by technology and its new role in our lives, but Archigram closely follows the same theories of McLuhan in "The Medium is the Massage."

My favorite project is that of the walking city. 

Like the internet (or television, as McLuhan and Archigram were no doubt thinking of), one can just "plug in" the city in any random geological site! It's brilliant really, aside from the fact that civilization would perpetuate the idea of Disposable. On the bright side, it could eliminate the need for travel by plane! Think of all the fossil fuel you would save!

Actually, I suppose on a smaller scale, trailer homes are a lot like this. Maybe trailer homes are cooler than I thought.........

*some of the drawings from Archigram might look familiar; they make an appearance on the opening clips of Monty Python's Flying Circus

Recycled Design

This summer I moved to Portland, leaving behind all of my non-inspiring and somewhat decrepit Eugene furnishings. After perusing craigslist for a couple days, I found it; a clawfoot tub for practically free! Since my bathtub in the apartment wasn't clawfooted, I decided to use it for seating. It was quite the adventure, and it took much longer than expected to complete, but here it is!

Turns out this isn't an entirely original idea, however. 

When showing it off for the first time, my friend said something like "How 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' of you!" I thought I'd seen the movie before... it was funny though, to see how influenced I am, even if it is at a subconscious level. Curious to see if there were others out there, I 'googled' it, and here's what I found:

The best part is that the sofa above is sold for about $4000. Yikes. This site had lots of other neat 'recycled' designs. Check it out at reestore.com

...the science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of being.

My friend earlier this summer was explaining to me how the Architecture program she was in is considered more "phenomenological" than that of the University of Oregon's. Because architect's are notorious for making up words, I had to look it up... aaaand it's a real word. 

The idea fascinates me... "an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience." I suppose that this reminds me of the issues of reality; how we distinguish our individual realities, perceptions. Which brings me to the article, "Seeing is Forgetting," by Lawrence Weschler. Here are some quotes that I feel best express this idea:

"All art is experience, yet all experience is not art."

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."

We move through the world with a certain degree of expectation. We see what we want or know we will see. So, what is it that I see?