Ed Ruscha

Parking lot pictures by Ed Ruscha
Here is a set of flickr images taken from google earth that attempt to recapture Ruscha's 'parking lot' series of images. This documentation on American car culture is amazing. These stark photos stand in opposition to the dominant, drive-in dinners and movie theatre photos that attempt to paint American homoginization as a fun new way of life.



Thirtyfour Parking Lots, 1967
Twentysix Gasoline Stations, 1963
Wikipedia
Web 1

Insert Clever Headline Here

Make that Clever & Catchy.
Use puns and cliche's.... Oh! cliche's with a twist.
That reminds of this bumber sticker I saw.
It was like 2+3 = 1, you know?
Maybe those numbers are wrong.

And then you ask yourself, what's going on here.

Use Few Words.
Write with impact.

My river runs broad and deep.
Your river is like a shallow stream with rapids.

Got it?

Fix it.

Don't forget to breath.

Breath again.

Women fight for rights in Film

Iron-jawed Angels.
A true story of the women who fight for their right to vote.

Best scene: The woman was handcuffed with her hands high above her head. The other women raised their hands above their head in protest of the woman's treatment. Moving with solidarity and strength.

So this friend.
I was talking to a friend about this movie. And he said, "Oh you mean the one they shot in Richmond?" Yes. That one. (Was shot at the old railway station) So my friend (whose house literally just burnt down, no joke, I'll take donations for him) was working at Elwood Thomson at the time the movie was being shot. Hilary Swank walked in wearing these big sunglasses that said, "I want to be recognizably incognito." The cashier pretended not to recognize her until he handed her card back. He grabbed her hand and said, "I absolutely loved you in "the Next karate Kid." She snatched her hand away and stormed off. ROFLMAO LOLCAT


Music dates the film - droopy hip hop bass beats and sappy strings - might have been edgy in the 90's, now it's trite.

re>envision • housE sizE

Tiny Homes. I want one. Better yet, I would like to design my own from a single 40x8 foot shipping container. The house would require an activity & people centered, not stuff centered life.

The New York Times wrote about this phenomenon back in 2007. Their multimedia presentation gives a nice overview of the topic.

Recycled shipping container. Luxury. Simplicity. Tiny. These are not words that easily combine, but I believe that requires a different perspective on life. The movies below are some of the basis's of my inspiration. A shipping container would be highly mobile as well and find its home comfortablly in a narrow city lot or a great expanse of wilderness.

buy design

We don't buy products, we buy product design. A stroll through Target and poster design project has had me thinking. Grids systems, Swedish design and the oh so holy Golden Ratio of (1.618...) help bring beauty into our lives everyday.

In our age of mass consumption, products that appear valuable and rare are a welcome addition to supermarket shelves. During my routine rebuy process of toothpaste, I usually reach for Colgate - the brand I grew up with. But in an aisle of blues, reds and sparkling swooshes, Rembrandt stood out in design (and in price). I paid the extra few dollars for the paste. Holding the package in my hand felt like I was holding something airy, something special and something that held a secret. Upon opening the colored tab on the front of the box, the whie exterior yielded to rich lush solid colors that held the prized tube of toothpaste.

At checkout I bought a small box of Starbucks Cafe Mocha Truffles. The exterior design was richly textured and the handwritten name made it appear one of a kind. The little box felt like it contained two little gems. With the opening of the front flap, a sentence was revealed "When coffee dream, it dreams of chocolate" The two truffles sat on a cheap looking gold tray the the candy itself was without luster and tasted cheap.

So much of our consumer experience is subconciously shapped by expectation. There have been many experiments in which people's expectation of quality actually shape and affect their judgement. Two glasses of wine from the same bottle were given to test participants. They were told one bottle was pried at $21 Dollars and the other at $8. People overwhelmingly enjoyed drinking the glass of wine they thought was more expensive, then the inexpensive one. Even thought the wine was the same. Price points go hand in hand with design.

Rembrandt is set apart in both price and design. And will I feel better about brushing with Rembrandt? Absolutely. Will I be able to tell any real difference between this and my trusted Colgate? I doubt it. After all, most of us probably can't tell a difference between toothpastes other than by taste and coloring.

In case we forget how far technology has come

now you can track your every movement and find other who do the same

I just installed this new application on my blackberry and am, like much 'future' technology, I tend to be an early adopter, which means that I have no 'friends' or gFriends if you will (g for google) who also have installed the program. But I would imagine such a 'friend finder' would go over well in a more populated area such a NY or Asia.

What are the future implications of such a technology. Could this lead to the further erosion of social skills and the further closing our selves off in public space and hiding behind technology? Ah, of course, instead of looking around and being aware of our environment, it's another "extension" of our senses. We pour our senses, out ears and eyes into devices that promise to do more for us than we can do for ourselves. But at what cost? The movie Wall-e comes to mind with everyone plugged into their floating chairs in the spaceship. But perhaps some other, still unknown use may come out of this. What do you think?