hippoblog

Most Mobo

I heard of this new travel fare site called Mobissimo created by a lady who got tired of doing all the Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, et al searches, so she created an engine to search them all at once and present them without ads or any editorial comment at all. Pretty handy, if it works. I think it's still in beta.

* Ray, 6/26/2004 10:35:42 PM
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Sex and Dogs

D O G T O Y :or: M A R I T A L A I D - You decide.

...that's right, you should decide. But then stick to your decision and don't let the dog share your toys.

* Ray, 6/24/2004 08:57:06 PM
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Ron Reagan (nicer, less dead)

I suspected Ron Jr. would eventually say something less blubbery.

Political Wire: Ron Reagan Reflects

Q: 'How do you account for all the glowing obituaries of him?'

RR: 'I think it was a relief for Americans to look at pictures of something besides men on leashes. If you are going to call yourself a Christian -- and I don't -- then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight -- it has put them in greater danger.'

Q: 'How did your mother feel about being ushered to her seat by President Bush?'

RR: 'Well, he did a better job than Dick Cheney did when he came to the rotunda. I felt so bad. Cheney brought my mother up to the casket, so she could pay her respects. She is in her 80's, and she has glaucoma and has trouble seeing. There were steps, and he left her there. He just stood there, letting her flounder. I don't think he's a mindful human being. That's probably the nicest way I can put it.'

* Ray, 6/24/2004 02:04:58 PM
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Conan the Comedian

Arnold seems to be happy in the governor's seat. Plans to be in "prime time" at the Republican convention.
The New York Times > National > Schwarzenegger, Confident and Ready for Prime Time

Asked to describe his governing philosophy seven months after toppling Gray Davis in California's recall election, he said, 'Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women.'

He stopped himself. 'Wait a minute, that's Conan,' he said. 'I stepped out of character here for a second.'

* Ray, 6/24/2004 01:54:54 PM
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TRON XL

The man is committed to his costumes.

Jay Maynard's TRON costume

Some of the commentary is particularly revealing.

I painted up the Frisbee that came with the armor (not shown here, because it'd already been painted when I took the picture), and sent it off to Renaissance Dancewear, who I buy all of my tights for Renfaire clothing from.

and if you had any doubts about his sense of humor:

The universal reaction was "cool!". I submitted the costume for judging in the workmanship category, thinking I'd get some really constructive comments from the judges. After that, we went out, one by one, and showed off to the audience, and optionally gave a presentation; I spoke for a few moments about how I wasn't Tron, but a simple payroll withholding calculation program that had gotten overweight by changes in the laws. The judges went off and decided while the MC entertained us and the audience.

* Ray, 6/23/2004 05:34:50 PM
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The Life and Times of Herbert Muschamp

Here's a mini bio about Herb, with plenty of shit-talking and fun anecdotes:
As Muschamp Goes, Angry Adversaries Ready for Revenge

EXCERPT: "a relief to a new crop of editors unwilling to defend, as their predecessors did, the critic's iconoclasm and obscurantism, his unapologetic dilettantism and his unabashed socializing within the highest social circles of the creative world he judges in print"

* Ray, 6/23/2004 02:17:00 PM
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Lutyens, today

The grand-nephew of Edwin Lutyens has been hypnotizing architects to see what they'd design if they would only loosen up.
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | I dream of concrete

'Under the skin, and under hypnosis,' says Lutyens, 'architects will come up with much less rigid designs than they feel they have to make. I've not seen many examples of Modern Movement design; it's usually something far more organic, sometimes as if the spirit of Gaudi were hovering over their shoulders.'

Some of the drawings, however, look a little knowing and polished. Either some architects were only pretending to be cast under Lutyens's spell, or the subconscious world of Eastside architects is rigorously scientific, and not trance-like at all.

Y'know, I've taught kids who were quite high while completing their studio projects (their own decision). There's no doubt they drew with conviction and even passion, but in the end that's not what architecture is. Or is it? Should we all live under rainbows while lasers criss-cross our living rooms? Maybe so.

* Ray, 6/23/2004 12:29:40 PM
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bravo Luis

The 7th Spanish Architecture Biennial catalogue has been published, with pictures of the stunning Teatro auditorio de Guadalajara by Luis Rojo de Castro, Begona Fernandez-Shaw Zulueta, and Angel Verdasco Novalvos. It reminds me of the buildings that got face time before the Dutch invasion--beautiful, careful, built to last. You know, back when a diagram was just a diagram and not a finished piece of architecture. Anybody still remember Torres/Lapena, Cruz/Ortiz, and Viaplana/Pinon? Mmmm. Call me a reactionary old fart, but...

more pics

* joshua, 6/22/2004 09:06:12 PM
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Model

This is made out of an uncut piece of paper.

The New York Times > Science > Cones, Curves, Shells, Towers: He Made Paper Jump to Life

One of Dr. Huffman's main interests was to calculate precisely what structures could be folded to avoid putting strain on the paper. Through his mathematics, he was trying to understand 'when you have multiple folds coming into a point, what is the relationship of the angles so the paper won't stretch or tear...'

Not to compare myself to genius, but... I wonder, having read this article, was I supposed to become a scientist at MIT studying minimal surfaces and origami and so on? I mean, I have paper models of minimal surfaces I made in college. It sounds so familiar, the esoteric things he worked on--and I never heard of the guy.

I can't help but think of RPG games, where you have to spend a finite number of skill- or attribute-points on your character. For those of us who've played them, I think it's pretty obvious that the ones who don't diversify do the best, no matter what game it is or who's playing it. Barbarian is stronger than Barbarian-Scholar. Assassin is deadlier than Assassin-Musician-Cook. Times like these, I think perhaps I wasted too many skill-points on learning how to weave an infinite periodic minimal surface. Or maybe it hasn't been a waste. You wouldn't be reading the hippoblog otherwise, right?

* Ray, 6/22/2004 02:27:48 PM
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My toys never moved like that

One more in the continuing reclamation of the Transformers.

* Ray, 6/21/2004 09:55:59 PM
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Fossils

Went to the Museum of Natural History this weekend looking for Frogs, but it was sold out. Looked at old bones instead, which was pretty damn cool. I realized, looking at the T.Rex, that I used to think dinosaurs were a lot bigger.

"Specimen Temporarily Removed for Study"

* Ray, 6/21/2004 10:01:19 AM
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Betsey Johnson

Current promotional t-shirt from Betsey Johnson.

* Ray, 6/21/2004 10:00:22 AM
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Bug Screen Art

This dude was selling his figure drawing/art outside the Met. Fascinating.

It's made of bug screen.

Bug screen.

* Ray, 6/21/2004 09:40:49 AM
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mail fetish

I saw that Gizmodo was giving away Gmail accounts as prizes (Best Future Gadget and so on) and then Fleshbot did too (best Olsen twins fake porn), so I'm thinking, hey does anyone want me to invite them to a Gmail account? Let me know. Maybe it's time to have our own photomorph competition.

In the meantime, Watch the Gods Make Love!

* Ray, 6/21/2004 09:37:47 AM
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"useless and absolutely splendid"

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Entertainment

Danger is as basic to Philip Johnson's Fort Worth Water Gardens as trees and fountains. 'He felt the thrill of 'pseudo danger' increased the visitor's appreciation of the park,' his biographer Franz Schulze said in 1993, nearly 20 years after it opened.

Visitors don't stroll through wrought-iron gates to plop down on a manicured green lawn; instead they pick their way down angled concrete slopes to peer down into a maelstrom, with no fences or railings to hold them back. This isn't the concocted danger of the amusement park ride. It is more like peering over the edge of Niagara Falls or sitting at the tip of the 'diving board' at Half Dome in Yosemite. You can fall, but you probably won't. In this tension between possibility and probability resides the thrill.

Water Safety tips Mr. Johnson's 'pseudo danger' turned tragically real Wednesday, when four people were sucked under the churning waters of the so-called 'active pool' and drowned.

Another article, with photos.

When the $6 million Water Gardens were donated to the city, the gift was described in 1975 by a New York Times art critic as both "useless and absolutely splendid."

* Ray, 6/21/2004 09:23:48 AM
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