first of all i received a happy letter that may influence my plans for the summer… andy and i were selected/commissioned to design and build a bench for the detroit metro YMCA… after receiving our portfolio back a couple days ago with no letter indicating one way or the other we just assumed we had not been selected. but, as you can read below, that is not the case…

second, i saw a beautiful project by two of my fellow students that attempts to give a last breath to a structure slated for demolition… there are still some decisions to be made about how the project will be treated in the coming days/weeks, but there was a real poetic beauty to the work that was inspiring and enlightening [refreshingly] about the people who had worked through the project… you can see a couple of images here

the third inspiration [and yes, i was also inspired the other day by someone who posted a list of happy occurences for the day] was that i got to see/hear a lecture by malcolm mccullough today and sit out in the sun for an extended Q&A… he’s a professor at the university of michigan and a bona fide geek and a very smart and engaging one at that [i do mean this in an endearing way, but i’m sure if you read this blog regularly or know me you will already know the special place i hold in my heart for geekdom] anyways, he spoke about digital craft and design in a way that felt very close to many of the things i have been thinking about and trying to articulate recently… it also helped that his first slide [er, powerpoint image (just as an aside, his comment about powerpoint was that it has done about as much for public speaking as the microwave did for cuisine)] anyways, his first image was a quote, or paraphrase of a quote, that has come to mean more to me by association than by actual content — “an active taking a line for a walk” — it brought an immediate smile to my face…

he said and showed a couple other things that prompted thought and gave me some encouragment in the validity of my work… he said that the question of the hand-made is always used to devalue work in the digital realm, but that this question is curious because “does a glass blower ever actually lay his hands on molten glass? i think not.” now i’m sure this will raise immediate flags, but he went on to discuss the need and relevance of haptic engagements with the work and continued with this quote [it may be his, but if not i don’t know who said it] “it is the degree of participation, and not necessarily of manual control, that most determines the perception of craft in postindustrial work.” anyways, i could ramble about this for some time, but i think i need some more time to digest… and it is friday night…

malcolm also gave me some people to research a little more [hiroshi ishii, michael rodamer, william mitchell, brenda laurel] and one more little quote to dwell on… “the shift between usefulness and beauty equals pleasure”

on that not i should get going… more thoughts later.

i know, i’ve been rather sparce with the thoughtful ponderings lately, but i promise i will be back, and in rare form, soon enough… i’ve had much to spark the curious processes of my mind these last few days and many words that i am itching to put in ‘print’ for others to ponder in their own curious manner…

but, [note the emphasis…] i have made one of those marvelous little discoveries that can’t help but make the geek in me glow with satisfaction [and maybe kick myself for not discovering this sooner] at the ease at which i can make one of my biggest web-surfing pet peeves evaporate almost completely with just a couple of keystrokes…

it’s called Bookmark Synchronizer and it allows those users of Firefox [those who use other, dare i say lesser, browsers will need to find other means for doing this] to upload my bookmarks to a FTP server [which i recently obtained… to be announced at a later date] and shared with any other computer i own… [all behind the scenes once it is set up, which only takes about 10 seconds…] so, my laptop and my desktop can save and update bookmarks until the end of time and i will never be without that one link that i need and know i bookmarked on my other computer, but can’t remember how to spell, or even what it was, save that it was something extremely important and time sensitive…

of course there is always del.icio.us but i looked at that and it seemed too public and too tedious… maybe i just don’t know… but another day will reveal the end of that story… until then, i am quite happy and you could probably be too… if only you used Firefox….

so, last night i decided that it was a good night to take a break from studio… actually i don’t think it was really a good time to do that, but Sin City was opening and i just couldn’t pass up going out to see it… even if i had to go by myself because no one else wanted to see it… some people just have no appreciation for quality cinema these days… anyways, it was awesome… watch the trailer, realize that moviemaking is watching one of it’s greatest assets prolifically fill our world with work that is both smart and entertaining, and go see this movie.

of course, after the movie i went to lounge and played some shakey pool and stayed up far too late for my own good… i did go home before the sunrise though and at some point i realized that i had missed the chance to wish a dear friend happy birthday… i’ve never been good at remembering birthdays and i think i am relying on friendster here [and there’s a possiblity that that information is false…] but anyways, in case you are reading this and it was your birthday yesterday…

oh…. just found out one more big moment in detroit’s near future… fantômas is coming to st. andrews hall on april 17th… one of my absolute favorites!!! hooray!

and…. on top of that, their new album sports artwork from yoshimoto nara… can hardly wait!!

first of all, i have realized that i need [really… need] to make a cooler layout for this blog… actually, maybe incorporating it into a website would be good… that should happen before the end of the school year though. i’ve seen some cool looking ones, and have been privy to two new versions of the blog that inspired me to start blogging since i began… anyways, that said i also wanted to add some links and some info to this site that really should go in the sidebar sometime, but i don’t feel like doing it right now. so here they are…

detroit info… [link]
adult. is coming to the motor city may 6…
.:.their label
.:.their site
autechre is coming to the motor city may 12…
.:.tour info
.:.their site
hafler trio…
.:.their site [i assume it’s theirs, but lots of stuff buried in this site, if you dig for it…]

now for some meandering thoughts… well, maybe i’ll just think them right now… and actually try to finish up some work…

just remembering parking in the windy city… felt like we were living there… guess this might have helped contribute to that illusion.