hippoblog

Grab Bag

Some links I found today...

The Art of James Bond
flickr: whatsinyourbag
The Return of Wallace and Gromit
Gridskipper: The New York That Might Have Been
Petition to stop Chris Bangle from continuing to design BMW's awful-looking cars

* Ray, 3/12/2005 09:51:00 AM
(0) comments

My blogospheric duty

Why not: Screen Rant - Star Wars Episode III Trailer

For added pleasure/envy: Lego Death Star II

* Ray, 3/11/2005 12:41:08 PM
(0) comments

Banners worth clicking

Fun stuff. See Bounce and Haircut.

Virgin Massage Banners

* Ray, 3/11/2005 12:39:13 PM
(1) comments

City as canvas

Project Fox in Copenhagen, 4/2/2005 to 4/23/2005. Sponsored by VW, as in "VW's new car Fox". Graphic designers and illustrators paint the town red and green and blue and so on. Chefs, too. Everything's up for grabs, apparently.

* Ray, 3/11/2005 12:36:54 PM
(0) comments

Identity

I read a press release today about Jerde doing a masterplanning project in Amsterdam, and I noticed their logo for the first time. Maybe it's new. It's striking, different. Not some smallcap sans-serif number. So then I looked up their site (The Jerde Partnership: www.jerde.com and watched the logo in action. It subtly changes color. It's hardly a technical feat, but I'm impressed.

* Ray, 3/11/2005 09:31:57 AM
(0) comments

Public Pictures

The New York Public Library has scanned a whole mess of images from illuminated manuscripts, maps, posters, and other things. Ok, that makes sense. The special part is, it's all available online for free, searchable and medium-res. They had a little bandwidth hiccup when they first started, but now it should be working ok.

NYPL Digital Gallery

via Lifehacker

* Ray, 3/10/2005 07:47:41 PM
(0) comments

Dare I liken it to a palimpsest?

I hate that word. No, this is just a really thoughtful, well-designed clock I saw at nearnearfuture:
The Last Clock

"Like a traditional analogue clock, it has a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand. The hands are arranged in concentric circles, the outermost circle being seconds, the middle circle is minutes, and the innermost circle hours. Each of the hands of Last are made from a slice of live video feed. As the hands rotate around the face of the clock they leave a trace of what has been happening in front of the camera. Once Last has been running for 12 hours, you end up with an easy-to read mandala of archived time. "

* Ray, 3/10/2005 07:42:52 PM
(0) comments

Clone Stamp Crazy

FilmWise Invisibles: guess the movie from stills (the people are photoshopped out).

* Ray, 3/10/2005 02:47:23 PM
(0) comments

West Meets Itself

First, read this opening to "Ruskin in the land of the rising sun" (telegraph.co.uk):

The Arts and Crafts movement has a bit of an image problem. Think of William Morris and what comes to mind? A fat, beardie man with dubious personal hygiene, cuckolded (in the comfort of his own home, no less) by his wife and the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Or think oak furniture, as lumpen and rustic as the man himself. But most of all when you think Morris, you think patterns. Lots of them. Mostly reproduced on wallpaper and easy-clean plastic tablecloths. Safe. Dull. Fussy.
Yanagi Soetsu.

Nothing could be further from the astringent purity of Japanese design - the sophisticated concrete simplicities of Tadao Ando's buildings, the foliage-free geometry of Zen gardens raked in gravel, or Yohji Yamamoto monochrome dresses, which only really look good on the perfect sexless lines of Japanese women.

What the hell? "Perfect sexless lines"? What a perfect colonial line for her to write. Inscrutable Occidental.

Anyway, if you can get past that phrase, the article goes on about V&A's new show, featuring the Arts and Crafts style of Yanagi Soetsu in Japan in the first quarter of the 20th century. I'd never thought about the (now obvious) connection between art nouveau and Japan. And if you take it further, it occurs to me that Frank Lloyd Wright was actually borrowing from William Morris via people like Yanagi. So you have this West to East to West to East thing going on, something like the zero-detail/Muji aesthetic that's been happening recently in industrial design. Ok, so it's not a new comment to make on the way design works. But it's a good footnote to make when people say Wright was inspired by Japanese architecture.

* Ray, 3/10/2005 11:38:36 AM
(0) comments

Another look at another look at Terragni

I happened to notice today that Eisenman's book on Terragni, which at first sounded like a nice collection of diagrams, is being consistently rated with 1 star. Descriptions include "simplistic," "contrived," "uninspired," "lowbrow," "lethargic," "unperceptive," "inept," "shallow," "totally disappointing," "predictable," "monumentally superficial," "befogged," "bloated and extremely tedious," and "joyless." I'd say that's an impressive failure 40 years in the making... but maybe if it weren't Peter.

* Ray, 3/09/2005 12:37:00 PM
(3) comments

ME! ME!

link courtesy of Willis.

glarkware :: chung chung -- NoN -- ships april 29

* Ray, 3/09/2005 10:15:53 AM
(0) comments

Not yours

Boing Boing: U.N. landmine commerical won't air in US.

UN creates ad to raise support for removing landmines around the world: American girls playing soccer get blown up by a mine, followed by "If there were landmines here, would you stand for them anywhere? Help the U.N. eradicate landmines everywhere." Naturally US networks don't want to run the ad.

See it.

What a mess. The UN figures approximately 26,000 civilians are killed each year by dormant mines, one-third of which are children. At least it seems there's some progress in using technology to detect and eliminate mines. A quick Google search came up with flowers (to me the most ingenious... unless people go try to pick the pretty flowers), water spritzers, 3d ground-penetrating radar, active plastics, micro-cantilevers, xrays, and other methods, including addicted rats, which is a little sadistic. Of course, Google ads being what they are, these results appeared on the side of the page:

Stop Landmines
Urge your Representatives to ratify
the Mine Ban Treaty before 2006.
www.unicefusa.org

Landmine Sale
New & used Landmine. aff
Check out the deals now!
www.eBay.com

Download "Landmine"
Listen to "Landmine" track free.
14 days Free w/ no obligation!
RhapsodyLive.com

Landmines in Nepal
Hundreds of deaths and injuries
Nepal army & maoists plant mines
www.landminesnepal.org

Thus concludes my PSA for the evening. Thank you for listening.

* Ray, 3/07/2005 11:21:41 PM
(0) comments

Blue Marble and more

...courtesy of NASA. Open-source project: World Wind

World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.

Virtually visit any place in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps, or along the African Sahara.

Map geography, weather, place names, national borders and other stuff. See all the features here. Download here (171MB... not bad considering this is the whole world). Needs Windows, 2GB free drive space and a 3d card.

* Ray, 3/07/2005 02:53:00 PM
(0) comments

Cell phones don't cause brain mutation any more than tobacco is addictive

Found on slashdot, why no one has a straight answer on the question of cell phone radiation. In short: scientists in 1995 discover DNA damage in mice exposed to two hours of microwave radiation deemed safe by government standards. They try to tell the story but get sidelined by the industry. And if you look at the "research" now...

Lai says there have been about 200 studies on the biological effects of cell-phone-related radiation. If you put all the ones that say there is a biological effect on one side and those that say there is no effect on the other, you’d have two piles roughly equal in size. The research splits about 50-50.

"That, in and of itself, is alarming," Lai says. But it’s not the whole story. If you divide up the same 200 studies by who sponsored the research, the numbers change.

"When you look at the non-industry sponsored research, it's about three to one--three out of every four papers shows an effect," Lai says. "Then, if you look at the industry-funded research, it's almost opposite--only one out of every four papers shows an effect."

But no one knows if the effects are harmful because no one's really looking into it. All I know is, when I'm on my phone for more than two minutes my ear hurts a lot. Oh, and I also know that when my phone rings my monitor goes all wobbly. That can't be good.

March 2005 Columns Magazine Feature: Wake Up Call

* Ray, 3/07/2005 02:09:43 PM
(0) comments

Big Pixels

Found some links to big mechanical "mirrors" made of chrome balls and wooden blocks (mocoloco). Stunning.

Shiny Balls Mirror (2003). Clever: chrome balls in tubes, retracting to different lengths. The chrome balls, themselves, reflect your image too.

Wooden Mirror (1999). I saw this one in Tokyo years ago. It's slick. Just rotating blocks of wood reflecting different shades. Makes sort of a bubbling sound of tumbling wood. I really like the low-tech/high-tech conflation.

* Ray, 3/06/2005 11:57:49 AM
(0) comments

BoingBoing vs DPRK

Big juicy post on BoingBoing today. It starts with a link to a promotional video from North Korea, then goes into an angry/petulant letter from the DPRK, then ends in amusing commentary. And a free mp3, naturally.

North Korea promotes vacations with wacky Flash movie

* Ray, 3/06/2005 11:09:22 AM
(0) comments

X

Search hippoblog's favorite design sites

archives:
08.24.2003... 08.31.2003... 09.07.2003... 09.14.2003... 09.21.2003... 09.28.2003... 10.05.2003... 10.12.2003... 10.19.2003... 10.26.2003... 11.02.2003... 11.09.2003... 11.16.2003... 11.23.2003... 11.30.2003... 12.07.2003... 12.14.2003... 12.21.2003... 12.28.2003... 01.04.2004... 01.11.2004... 01.18.2004... 01.25.2004... 02.01.2004... 02.08.2004... 02.15.2004... 02.22.2004... 02.29.2004... 03.07.2004... 03.14.2004... 03.21.2004... 03.28.2004... 04.04.2004... 04.11.2004... 04.18.2004... 04.25.2004... 05.02.2004... 05.09.2004... 05.16.2004... 05.23.2004... 05.30.2004... 06.06.2004... 06.13.2004... 06.20.2004... 06.27.2004... 07.04.2004... 07.11.2004... 07.18.2004... 08.01.2004... 08.08.2004... 08.15.2004... 08.22.2004... 08.29.2004... 09.05.2004... 09.12.2004... 09.19.2004... 09.26.2004... 10.03.2004... 10.10.2004... 10.17.2004... 10.24.2004... 10.31.2004... 11.07.2004... 11.14.2004... 11.21.2004... 11.28.2004... 12.05.2004... 12.12.2004... 12.19.2004... 01.02.2005... 01.09.2005... 01.16.2005... 01.23.2005... 01.30.2005... 02.06.2005... 02.13.2005... 02.20.2005... 02.27.2005... 03.06.2005... 03.13.2005... 03.20.2005... 03.27.2005... 04.03.2005... 04.10.2005... 04.17.2005... 04.24.2005... 05.01.2005... 05.08.2005... 05.15.2005... 05.22.2005... 05.29.2005... 06.05.2005... 06.12.2005... 06.19.2005... 06.26.2005... 07.03.2005... 07.10.2005... 07.17.2005... 07.24.2005... 07.31.2005... 08.07.2005... 08.14.2005... 08.21.2005... 08.28.2005... 09.04.2005... 09.11.2005... 09.18.2005... 09.25.2005... 10.02.2005... 10.09.2005... 10.16.2005... 10.30.2005... 11.06.2005... 11.13.2005... 11.20.2005... 11.27.2005... 12.04.2005... 12.11.2005... 12.18.2005... 12.25.2005... 01.01.2006... 01.08.2006... 01.15.2006... 01.22.2006... 01.29.2006... 02.05.2006... 02.12.2006... 02.19.2006... 02.26.2006... 03.05.2006... 03.12.2006... 03.19.2006... 03.26.2006... 04.02.2006... 04.09.2006... 04.16.2006... 04.23.2006... 04.30.2006... 05.07.2006... 05.14.2006... 05.21.2006... 05.28.2006... 06.11.2006... 06.18.2006... 06.25.2006... 07.02.2006... 07.09.2006... 07.16.2006... 07.23.2006... 08.13.2006... 08.20.2006... 08.27.2006... 09.10.2006... 09.24.2006... 10.01.2006... 10.08.2006... 10.15.2006... 10.22.2006... 10.29.2006... 11.05.2006... 11.12.2006... 11.19.2006... 11.26.2006...

LINKS
Search hippoblog
Hippogoogle
Ray

FRIENDS LEKKERdesign
ditherdog

DESIGN
WMMNA
Future Feeder
Kaliber10000
Pruned
things magazine
Archinect
Inhabitat
int'ive architecture
arcspace
MoCo Loco
R.E.
dezain
IDFuel
CORE77
Simplicity
Thinking
designboom
Architecture Buzz
Record News
Arbitare
A Daily Dose
agglutinations
atlas(t)
Infosthetics
Jalopnik
Cartype

TRICKS
Lifehacker
MAKE

MUSIC
createdigitalmusic
City of Sound
Aurgasm
Zoe Radio

TRAVEL
SideStep
Mobissimo
Gridskipper
NY Airfares

STRONG NEWS
Foreign Policy
3quarksdaily
CSMonitor
News Dissector
Atrios
Tom Tomorrow
Dreyfuss Report

MILD NEWS
Boing Boing
MetaFilter
Wired
Slashdot
Gizmodo
Cin-o-Matic

ADVERTISEMENTS