public listing

2 ideas for plotting your future (short & long term).

To Do Tattoo, purchase your official hand writing kit here.
found via cool blog swiss miss.

Or, for the more serious goal-setter who is savvy to social media benefits, 43 things offers a public forum to list goals, chart progress and provide/elicit support to/from others.

What's on your to do list? Mine includes visiting Austin, Texas (SXSW '09?)

polaroid love

Many inspirational blogs document love for polaroid pics but here are two that are especially good:

the above is the bloghead for a girl and her polaroid. Jen, the artist, has some very cool sharpie projects being documented there as well as here.

I would live in the visual world of nectar & light if possible. Jenifer Altman's photos and writing are lovely, lovely, lovely.

saying it with music

In lieu of other creative pursuits, there is the appealing comfort of trying to make a good music mix. My mixes are made for friends, siblings and most often myself. But back in the courtship days the mix tape was key. It provided a way to say I like you, I get you, we have things in common. And choice selections offered a glimpse into the depth of your feeling. A you know what I mean that went straight to the heart.





Recently, thanks to delicious, I came across the blog
cassette from my ex documenting gifted mixes. Check it out for a nostalgic smile. Perhaps you have your own contribution? A mix that was amazing or totally off the mark. A mix complete with artwork on the limited real estate afforded by the cassette cover.


A new school take on the mix tape can be found in muxtape. Here's how it goes: create your mix, make it good cause you only get one, upload mp3 files and viola! The mixes aren’t embeddable, but the links can be shared with anyone, and muxtapes are available for public access. Get started here.

I've been searching through muxtapes and enjoying the eclectic selections out there. As for my personal muxtape, I'm still crafting it and heeding the advice provided in High Fidelity.


Rob Gordon (as portrayed by John Cusack): The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

Do you have a favorite music compilation? What makes it good?

additional muxtape info found via mashable!

word of the week:

oversharing
It's a perfect starting place for discussing public vs. private in these days of social media.

Have you been guilty of oversharing? Were there repercussions?

A few of my favorite things...

Bicycling, Public Clocks, Canadian Cities, YES!


photo via daily dose of imagery

You Are What You Share

Great video presentation explains the main ideas of the Charles Leadbeater book WE THINK. What do you think?

Curate vs. Create

The increasing popularity of the word curate prompted me to look the word up. In doing so I found the following definition: v. select, organize, and look after the items in (a collection or exhibition)

Could it be that the word's newfound prevalence reflects a cultural shift towards our habits of organizing and sharing our lives via photos, music, you name it? Are we increasingly aware of our roles as content specialists of our day-to-day realities?

What percentage of your time is spent curating? Compare that to the time you spend creating. Which do you spend more time doing?

Slot Cars on the Radar

A NASCAR commercial featuring slot cars prompted a "that's cool" from MAS. What's cool? He gave me the 101 on the art and craft of slot-car racing. This wiki is almost as good as his explanation.

A couple of days later he smiles and says, "here's your debut effect" pointing to this article in the Wall Street Journal that describes the comeback of a hobby in which tiny electric cars race around a plastic track with grooves, or slots, to keep the cars on course. A quick search revealed plenty of blog interest in the hobby such as this one.
Even if these events were fueled only by NASCAR-mania and even if I remain impervious to the charm of all things related to racing automobiles, I'm again pleased by the power of awareness.

photo via wikipedia

HOME

The very cool Eames Stamps will be released on June 17, the day that Charles Eames would have turned 100.
Metropolis gives them props in their May 2008 issue that is chock full of good articles including WHERE'S HOME? written by Natalia Ilyin. Which leads me to the question of the day:

Do you know where home is? Is it where you are?

Hey, all you Oregonians

VOTE!




















photo via design crush

If it makes you uncomfortable it's art

By this standard, Harmony Korine's artistic talent is unquestionable.

At the age of 19, Korine wrote the screenplay for KIDS, a disturbing study of urban youth gone awry.

In 1997, he made his directorial debut with Gummo, relying on a heavy dose of trailer park nihilism set in Ohio.

Now he is back with a new film, Mister Lonely, made in collaboration with his brother.
The film tells the story of celebrity impersonators and nuns. Check a recent interview here.

Favorite Quote:

"Sometimes, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they shake their ass."

Getting out the vote

by mail. That's how it is done in Oregon. There's no convening at election day poll booths, make-shift style in elementary school cafeterias.

Here, choices are made in the privacy of one's own home with ample time provided to send the completed ballots out the door. And though the mail-in system is well regarded & held up as a national example, I wonder if others have nostalgic memories of being behind the musty curtain?

The curiosity about what those strangers are thinking as they cast their ballots in the booth next to yours. Who are they voting for? Is it possible to guess just by looking at them? Isn't that one of the goofy guys who stood on the corner holding up that wacko's sign? Who is his pick for precinct committee person?


After the act, you would emerge from the building wearing your badge of citizenry, the I voted sticker. You knew, and those around you knew, that you were in this deal together.

With primary ballots due on the 20th, have your decisions been made? How have you arrived at them? Do you know who your precinct committee candidates are?

You Are Not Alone

"Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone." -Kurt Vonnegut


The A.V. CLUB recently posted 15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will. Find their complete list here.

There's something about Kanye

Drama Queen, entrepreneur and techno-astronaut, I've become intrigued with the many facets of Kanye West.

Tracking some of his recent and upcoming endeavors:

1. Advice Book titled, Thank You and You're Welcome. sample page

2. The team up with his BFF Takashi Murakami to design a diamond pendant collection.

3. A search engine to rival Google, uncleverly named Search with Kanye. check it here

4. His blog retort to Entertainment Weekly after their published review of an April 16 performance at the Key Arena in Seattle. "You're f***ing trash! I make art. You can't rate this. I'm a real person. I'm not a pop star. I don't care about anything but making great art. Never come 2 one of my shows ever again, you're not invited and if you see me...BOW!! This is not pop, it's pop art! read more of his blog entries

Keep it coming Kanye, shine on you crazy diamond.

toronto:

One of my childhood dreams was to live in Toronto. Why? My grandmother's coffee table book about the city described it as being a Canadian metropolis with minimal litter. I remember thinking, "Ooh a clean city in Canada, I could see myself living there."

25 years later the idea still retains appeal though I've been told Montreal is where it's at. Regardless, my imaginings found a little feed when I stumbled unto this daily dose of imagery photoblog, featuring lots of Toronto, shot beautifully.