So, Invisible Children. You've heard me talk about it here before.
This Saturday is the Global Night Commute, and I can guarantee that you'll be hearing about it because over 38,000 people in 7 different countries have signed up to sleep on the streets that night. 38,000. That's pretty incredible.
Not only that, but Jason and Bobby and Laren are being flown to Chicago tomorrow to BE ON OPRAH! I normally don't watch her show, but seriously - if you can - watch tomorrow at 4.00.
Also, I noticed that a lot of people have googled "Providence Global Night Commute" and ended up on my site. If you're here and want to know more about what's happening in Providence on Saturday, here ya go:
Where: Bank of America Skate Center, 2 Kennedy Plaza
When: Saturday April 29, 2006
What time: We'll start checking people in around 7.00 pm Saturday. And we'll pack up and leave around 7.00 am on Sunday.
And of course: for more info, go here.
Weekend in the City.
Our beloved Joshua Radin was playing in the city this past weekend, as part of the Green Apple Music Festival. Since he recently signed with Columbia Records, and on his upcoming tour he'll be opening for a little known singer named Bob Dylan, we figured we'd better jump at this chance to see him in a small venue again. Plus, Cary Brothers was playing with him, so, you know...
The show was fantastic. Schuyler Fisk opened, and had the best "oh-my-god" moment when Sissy Spacek came out on stage with her, because, yeah, that's her mom. They both sing great and Mrs. Spacek didn't at all steal the thunder from her daughter. What a great mom (the other celebrity sighting of the night was Bridget Moynahan, quietly sitting in her booth looking all famous. And yes, she's just as beautiful in person). The venue, Joe's Pub was just perfect, seating (or standing) about 100 people, and we had great seats just right of the stage. Brothers followed Fisk with a 45 minute set, then Joshua Radin did about a 45 minute set as well. It was the perfect night: great atmosphere, good beer, and music that breaks your heart it's so beautiful.
Sunday was the day to hang out with Jervis and Michelle and go to the NY Auto Show. It was fun, but after 4 hours, got a bit too hot and crowded for me. I saw what I wanted to see: the new Shelby Mustang, and the new version of my car. Then we headed over to Brooklyn to eat at Sea, which is the second best Thai food I've eaten (the first, of course, being Krung Thai). And definitely one of the greatest atmospheres.
That's all.
The show was fantastic. Schuyler Fisk opened, and had the best "oh-my-god" moment when Sissy Spacek came out on stage with her, because, yeah, that's her mom. They both sing great and Mrs. Spacek didn't at all steal the thunder from her daughter. What a great mom (the other celebrity sighting of the night was Bridget Moynahan, quietly sitting in her booth looking all famous. And yes, she's just as beautiful in person). The venue, Joe's Pub was just perfect, seating (or standing) about 100 people, and we had great seats just right of the stage. Brothers followed Fisk with a 45 minute set, then Joshua Radin did about a 45 minute set as well. It was the perfect night: great atmosphere, good beer, and music that breaks your heart it's so beautiful.
Sunday was the day to hang out with Jervis and Michelle and go to the NY Auto Show. It was fun, but after 4 hours, got a bit too hot and crowded for me. I saw what I wanted to see: the new Shelby Mustang, and the new version of my car. Then we headed over to Brooklyn to eat at Sea, which is the second best Thai food I've eaten (the first, of course, being Krung Thai). And definitely one of the greatest atmospheres.
That's all.
So What Did You Do Today?
Me? I broke things.
First, my phone. I just dropped it. On the ground. And it slid under the 4Runner. I've dropped it before, so I thought "no big deal". Until I really looked at it and saw that the display died. This is seriously going to hamper the whole screening of phone calls thing that I have going on. Only not. Because I don't really do that. Ok. Maybe a little. Shhhh.
Then I broke a bowl in the kitchen (dropped that too), and almost killed the husband when he stepped on a piece of glass in his bare feet ("killed" might be a slight exaggeration).
So, word to the wise: should you have anything valuable or breakable, a nice vase, a mirror, a baby - don't entrust them to me. Which is kind of sad because I like babies.
On an unrelated note, should I be alarmed that the girl (read: younger than me) at the drive thru at Starbucks told me to "drive safe, hon"? Would you judge me if I said it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Yes? Well it didn't.
On an even more unrelated note, I drove right through a film set on the way to the gym this morning. Yeah. Here. In Providence. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything too exciting. Just Underdog. I got to see the dog though. Cute. And both more wealthy and more pampered than me.
Lastly, and really, really unrelated: does anyone else here find the name Harry Frankfurt funny? How about if I told you he wrote an essay called "On Bullshit"*? No? Just me? Fine. I'm going back to bed.
*reading this for my Type class.
First, my phone. I just dropped it. On the ground. And it slid under the 4Runner. I've dropped it before, so I thought "no big deal". Until I really looked at it and saw that the display died. This is seriously going to hamper the whole screening of phone calls thing that I have going on. Only not. Because I don't really do that. Ok. Maybe a little. Shhhh.
Then I broke a bowl in the kitchen (dropped that too), and almost killed the husband when he stepped on a piece of glass in his bare feet ("killed" might be a slight exaggeration).
So, word to the wise: should you have anything valuable or breakable, a nice vase, a mirror, a baby - don't entrust them to me. Which is kind of sad because I like babies.
On an unrelated note, should I be alarmed that the girl (read: younger than me) at the drive thru at Starbucks told me to "drive safe, hon"? Would you judge me if I said it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Yes? Well it didn't.
On an even more unrelated note, I drove right through a film set on the way to the gym this morning. Yeah. Here. In Providence. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything too exciting. Just Underdog. I got to see the dog though. Cute. And both more wealthy and more pampered than me.
Lastly, and really, really unrelated: does anyone else here find the name Harry Frankfurt funny? How about if I told you he wrote an essay called "On Bullshit"*? No? Just me? Fine. I'm going back to bed.
*reading this for my Type class.
Moholy-NagyMoholy-NagyMoholy-Nagy.
This is it. The thing that will finally send me to the crazy farm. The nuthouse. The place with the padded rooms.
Awhile ago, I mentioned that I sometimes get fixated on certain words or names, and how this tends to drive me a bit crazy. So I have a new one for you:
Lazlo Moholy-Nagy (pronounced "naaj"), of Bauhaus (not the band) and the New Bauhaus.
We spent a lot of time discussing him in class today, and as a result, his name has been bouncing around in my head ever since. Particularly the Moholy-Nagy part. I tried drowning him out with some good music (Bright Eyes. Yay!) It didn't work.
Excuse me as I go gouge my ears out with a spoon.
Awhile ago, I mentioned that I sometimes get fixated on certain words or names, and how this tends to drive me a bit crazy. So I have a new one for you:
Lazlo Moholy-Nagy (pronounced "naaj"), of Bauhaus (not the band) and the New Bauhaus.
We spent a lot of time discussing him in class today, and as a result, his name has been bouncing around in my head ever since. Particularly the Moholy-Nagy part. I tried drowning him out with some good music (Bright Eyes. Yay!) It didn't work.
Excuse me as I go gouge my ears out with a spoon.
Rules for Stealing Someone Else's Work.
Just the other day, Herman and I were having a conversation about the role of influence in design (it was a good conversation). I know that it's a necessary part of the creative process for me. I enjoy looking at what other designers, especially ones I admire, are doing, how they're doing it, etc.
That being said, I've never outright stole someone else's design. That's just wrong. And lazy. And stupid. Really.
This whole thing wouldn't be noteworthy, except that I walked into my Type II class today, and saw that someone had stole a design of mine. Yeah. How do I know she stole it? Simple: we had Type I together. And the design that she stole was one that I had made for that class...that we had together.
Now, it's not a great design, but my professor liked it, and I worked really hard on it (that's it below. It's a hand painted poster - 34" x 50"), and quite frankly, I liked it. I also know that I'm probably not the first person to ever execute this idea, and I wouldn't have minded if this girl was like, "wow. Good idea. How can rework it and use it as an influence?"
I'm actually not angry about it, more, well, curious really.
For one thing: We're in Type II together. Did she not think that I would notice?
Secondly, she didn't even try to hide it. For this project, we're each given a typeface to study and design a page for. Her typeface is Didot, which is very similar to Bodoni. But instead of choosing a different letter, or even tilting it differently, or god forbid, placing it differently on the page - it looks just like mine. Except that it says "didot" at the top instead of "bodoni".
Which made me think that there should be some rules about stealing other peoples work:
Rule #1. Make sure you don't have a class with the person whose work you're stealing. It will just make them judge you.
Rule #2. Just don't! Because it's wrong. And lazy. And stupid. And it will just make them judge you.
That's all.
That being said, I've never outright stole someone else's design. That's just wrong. And lazy. And stupid. Really.
This whole thing wouldn't be noteworthy, except that I walked into my Type II class today, and saw that someone had stole a design of mine. Yeah. How do I know she stole it? Simple: we had Type I together. And the design that she stole was one that I had made for that class...that we had together.
Now, it's not a great design, but my professor liked it, and I worked really hard on it (that's it below. It's a hand painted poster - 34" x 50"), and quite frankly, I liked it. I also know that I'm probably not the first person to ever execute this idea, and I wouldn't have minded if this girl was like, "wow. Good idea. How can rework it and use it as an influence?"
I'm actually not angry about it, more, well, curious really.
For one thing: We're in Type II together. Did she not think that I would notice?
Secondly, she didn't even try to hide it. For this project, we're each given a typeface to study and design a page for. Her typeface is Didot, which is very similar to Bodoni. But instead of choosing a different letter, or even tilting it differently, or god forbid, placing it differently on the page - it looks just like mine. Except that it says "didot" at the top instead of "bodoni".
Which made me think that there should be some rules about stealing other peoples work:
Rule #1. Make sure you don't have a class with the person whose work you're stealing. It will just make them judge you.
Rule #2. Just don't! Because it's wrong. And lazy. And stupid. And it will just make them judge you.
That's all.
Martha, Martha, Martha.
I used to be a Martha fan. That was like, 10 years ago, when I thought that I needed to be crafty (I'm so so not crafty). Then I sort of moved on*. I just didn't feel like I needed to recycle that dead animal, dye it blue, and make a day planner cover out of it. Sorry Martha**.
But still I went to see her and some of her worker bees talk at RISD tonight. I guess she likes to hire RISD people (and she gives 2 scholarships a year or something like that, which is actually pretty cool), and visits here once a year. I wasn't going to go, but decided to when I found out that all of my friends were going (apparently I would jump off a cliff if all of them did), and well, according to one of them, "It's Martha!".
It was fine. She and the RISD grads that work for her talked about building a design vocabulary. Interesting enough.
And she collects dead fish. It's a good thing.
*Besides finding that I'm not crafty, I think it also had something to do with me failing miserably at making one of her cakes. Although to be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault that I couldn't find cognac in the spice aisle. That was just my naive stupidity. Still. Stupid recipe.
**I'm so not going to get the Martha Stewart scholarship. And no, I don't think Martha reads my blog.***
***And my apologies to any Martha fans. I joke because I care.
But still I went to see her and some of her worker bees talk at RISD tonight. I guess she likes to hire RISD people (and she gives 2 scholarships a year or something like that, which is actually pretty cool), and visits here once a year. I wasn't going to go, but decided to when I found out that all of my friends were going (apparently I would jump off a cliff if all of them did), and well, according to one of them, "It's Martha!".
It was fine. She and the RISD grads that work for her talked about building a design vocabulary. Interesting enough.
And she collects dead fish. It's a good thing.
*Besides finding that I'm not crafty, I think it also had something to do with me failing miserably at making one of her cakes. Although to be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault that I couldn't find cognac in the spice aisle. That was just my naive stupidity. Still. Stupid recipe.
**I'm so not going to get the Martha Stewart scholarship. And no, I don't think Martha reads my blog.***
***And my apologies to any Martha fans. I joke because I care.
Y is the Peace Sign.
I'm not one of those people who can pull all-nighters. Granted, I've never actually pulled an all-nighter (the latest I've gone is 3 am), but I know the quality and coherency of my work dramatically decreases after 1.00 am.
Last night, at 2.30 am, after a myriad of printing problems, and execution issues, I triumphantly held my project in my hands, admiring my workmanship, and feeling pretty good about myself. Until I proceeded to open the piece and realized that I had glued the contents in UPSIDE DOWN. Frick! At that point, there was nothing left to do but go to bed.
Then I started laughing. That sort of manical laughter that can only happen after you've put 12+ hours into a project only to have it ruined* by one tiny detail (It's my attention to detail that's going to make me a great designer, really). I think I was twitching at that point too.
I was still sort of punch drunk and giggling by the time I crawled into bed at 3.00, which prompted this brilliant conversation between me and Herman (who up til that point had been fast asleep):
Herman: "What's funny?"
Me (between giggles): "I glued my piece in upside down."
H: "Why did you glue your piece in upside down?" (At least, I thought that's what he said).
Me: "Because I'm tired."
H: "No. Y is the peace sign upside down!"
Me: "okay."
When I showed it to my professor, and explained why it was upside down, I mumbled something about not working well at 2.30 am. His response? "So why were you?" Touche, Janitor. Touche.
Last night, at 2.30 am, after a myriad of printing problems, and execution issues, I triumphantly held my project in my hands, admiring my workmanship, and feeling pretty good about myself. Until I proceeded to open the piece and realized that I had glued the contents in UPSIDE DOWN. Frick! At that point, there was nothing left to do but go to bed.
Then I started laughing. That sort of manical laughter that can only happen after you've put 12+ hours into a project only to have it ruined* by one tiny detail (It's my attention to detail that's going to make me a great designer, really). I think I was twitching at that point too.
I was still sort of punch drunk and giggling by the time I crawled into bed at 3.00, which prompted this brilliant conversation between me and Herman (who up til that point had been fast asleep):
Herman: "What's funny?"
Me (between giggles): "I glued my piece in upside down."
H: "Why did you glue your piece in upside down?" (At least, I thought that's what he said).
Me: "Because I'm tired."
H: "No. Y is the peace sign upside down!"
Me: "okay."
When I showed it to my professor, and explained why it was upside down, I mumbled something about not working well at 2.30 am. His response? "So why were you?" Touche, Janitor. Touche.
Who's Absent?
"The Wonderful World of Graphic Design"* recently took us to the early 1900's and the art of propaganda posters. The coercion and guilt placed on people during war times in order to get them "excited" about a war they don't want isn't new, and apparently, neither is the random renaming of harmless objects (see Wesley's take on renaming here).
During WWI Americans renamed sauerkraut "liberty cabbage", German measles "liberty measles" (there's a misnomer for you), and, my favorite, the poor little Dachshunds became "liberty dogs".
There was some joy to be found in the "Liberty Dog". As seen by the sketch my friend Katherine made in my notebook.
*aka, the History of Graphic Design
During WWI Americans renamed sauerkraut "liberty cabbage", German measles "liberty measles" (there's a misnomer for you), and, my favorite, the poor little Dachshunds became "liberty dogs".
There was some joy to be found in the "Liberty Dog". As seen by the sketch my friend Katherine made in my notebook.
*aka, the History of Graphic Design
Back to the Northeast.
So. That was one crazy trip. But we had a great time, and being home was amazing (prompting me to ask Herman at least once a day "so, we'll move home after I graduate?"). Here's a quick recap:
Friday: Arrived in SJ. Late.
Saturday: Slept in. Hung out with Sumiko all afternoon.
Sunday: Spent time with Wendy, Susan, and the beautiful Isabelle. Had Herman's birthday dinner with his family.
Monday: Drove down to LA. Hung out with my cousin Mikael (and made a whirlwind trip to Riverside). Spent the night with my cousin Kelly (she's getting married next summer!).
Tuesday: Drove back to the Bay Area. Dinner at Krung Thai!
Wednesday: Had lunch with an old friend, Dale, who I hadn't seen in 12 years and who happened to be in the Bay Area for a job interview. Threw Herman a birthday party with a bunch of our friends.
Thursday: Had an interview in Berkeley at Ready Made Magazine (hopefully for a summer internship). Spent the evening with Dean and Sumiko.
Friday: Woke up at 4.30 am. Made Dean take us to the airport at 5.00 am. (Thanks Dean!). Flew back to Providence.
Also: Put an extra 1000 miles on my car. Ate tons of good food. Visited all our old haunts (Mountain View!). Decided that I definitely want to live in the Bay Area.
Good times.
Photos:
Sumi and me.
(A very pregnant and beautiful) Elena and me.
Eli and Jacob (Herman's cousins kids)
Mama and Herman
Our second apt (the "other side of the tracks" apt)
Us
Our first apt (the "$1700 a month 1 bedroom which we only lived in for 6 months" apt)
Friday: Arrived in SJ. Late.
Saturday: Slept in. Hung out with Sumiko all afternoon.
Sunday: Spent time with Wendy, Susan, and the beautiful Isabelle. Had Herman's birthday dinner with his family.
Monday: Drove down to LA. Hung out with my cousin Mikael (and made a whirlwind trip to Riverside). Spent the night with my cousin Kelly (she's getting married next summer!).
Tuesday: Drove back to the Bay Area. Dinner at Krung Thai!
Wednesday: Had lunch with an old friend, Dale, who I hadn't seen in 12 years and who happened to be in the Bay Area for a job interview. Threw Herman a birthday party with a bunch of our friends.
Thursday: Had an interview in Berkeley at Ready Made Magazine (hopefully for a summer internship). Spent the evening with Dean and Sumiko.
Friday: Woke up at 4.30 am. Made Dean take us to the airport at 5.00 am. (Thanks Dean!). Flew back to Providence.
Also: Put an extra 1000 miles on my car. Ate tons of good food. Visited all our old haunts (Mountain View!). Decided that I definitely want to live in the Bay Area.
Good times.
Photos:
Sumi and me.
(A very pregnant and beautiful) Elena and me.
Eli and Jacob (Herman's cousins kids)
Mama and Herman
Our second apt (the "other side of the tracks" apt)
Us
Our first apt (the "$1700 a month 1 bedroom which we only lived in for 6 months" apt)
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