see.saw

Found Photos

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:26:34 -0500

I was reorganizing my hard drive and I found some pictures taken by my brother. Dont mean to brag, but he is pretty good.

Pendant Lights

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:22:00 -0500

So my parents are redoing their kitchen and every single day my mom sends me pictures of pendant lights for over the kitchen table. I guess their aesthetic is vaguely craftsman, except they love white walls and have modern art on all the walls, so I have been pushing them in a more Modern aesthetic. But jesus, it is hard to find pendant lights that aren’t terrible. Here are some contenders- in order from my favorite to my mom’s favorite.

Over the knee boots.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:35:25 -0500

I want some so bad, but I am poor and they are crazy expensive. Discovered these yesterday. They offer a really good alternative and look amazing over other stockings.

Bill Cunningham on the street

Manufactured Landscapes, et al.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:25 -0500

I finally saw Manufactured Landscapes last night, the film following Edward Burtynsky through the artificial landscapes created by our need for manufactured goods. One of the more striking non-visual aspects was the equality between men and women in industrial China.

Burtynsky was in this show at Mass MOCA which I wrote about last year. He is a stunning photographer and has a great quote at the end of the film explaining why his work is never overtly political. I don’t remember it, of course, but point is he is an aesthetics man and sees the beauty in thing- that is his concern. He leaves it to those who better understand and can express the political themes in his work to do so.

And that is what is so wonderful about Manufactured Landscapes as a film. It is entirely not political, but through aesthetics forces the viewer to consider what we are doing to our landscape and out sense of beauty in order to live the way we all want to.

Edward Burtnsky

the kids are alright.

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:13:00 -0400

A, I thought I posted on this already but a which scroll through makes me think I haven’t. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before; 13-year-old girl with a fashion design blog that is nicely done and surprisingly well written. And her style sense is similar to yours.

Isn’t is a bit depressing to think that in five years our generation will all be out of jobs thanks to the new wave of tech-aware kids?

-J

UPDATE: J- Found this today. A website devoted to fashion photographers taking pictures of well dressed kids. Probs dressed by their parents, but still. Makes me real jealous.

Planet Awesome Kids

Cal

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:33:33 -0400

For $20,000 and some, CalArts had a significantly worse Halloween party than the last Drag Race.

Photo

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:11:26 -0400

Photo

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:10:49 -0400

Preservation Briefs

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:46:00 -0400

Emily Dickinson House parlor ceiling collapses. Bad 1960’s plaster repair probably the cause.

Walter Gropius’s Reese Hospital buildings bulldozed, by the city of Chicago.

World Monument Fund Watch List: Includes the Merritt Parkway?

One more to come down in Chicago: The YMCA Building

-a

Dear God, Please send me $2000

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:39:53 -0400

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA RUNWAY

Suede Assymetrical Shoe $945

Olympus E-P1 Pen Digital Camera (Silver) w/ 14-42mm M.Zuiko Digital Lens and FL-14 Flash

$899.95

Down in the Valley

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:12:00 -0400

There is a contingent of the digital-effects community to whom that is the holy grail - to create photographically real humans. To me that is the dumbest goal that you could possibly have. What’s wonderful about the medium of animation isn’t recreating reality. It’s distilling it.

-Brad Bird

Every now and again I go online and try and watch every new trailer out there, just to see where things are going. One of those that caught my eye was the new Christmas Carol.

To which I have to say WHY? First off the story has already reached film perfection (see bottom of post). Second off, Zemeckis used to be a fucking amazing filmmaker. Certainly more commercial than artistic, but there’s nothing wrong with that so long as the final product is good. But that really isn’t what bothers me.

Way back when my sister and I once thought to brave The Polar Express. And it was awful. Truly, truly, unspeakably awful. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worst an elf version of Steven Tyler comes out to sing some rockin’ song just before the closing credits. But even if the plot had been tight, even if the pacing had been spot on, there still would have been something fundamentally wrong with the film. The old uncanny valley come back to haunt us again.

As Brad Bird notes there is a strong push out there to get photo-realistic CGI, especially when it comes to humans. Despite the push to get it right, it seems the closer one gets to photo-realistic the more revolting the image.

Maybe this isn’t the best example. Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within isn’t the worlds greatest movie. But neither is it the horrific mess it’s been branded. Well, not nearly as bad as Polar Express. The point is that FF was the first feature film to attempt photo-real CGI humans. And it came off… okay. Okay on a long shot without too much movement. For me the real test of CGI is in the mouth. To this day a lot of facial movements still feel like tweening. That the mouth isn’t really opening and closing so much as stretching. This ‘tween movement’ is clear in some of the early marketing work for Heavy Rain, a video game yet to be released.

And despite the creepy quality that still hangs around some of their best efforts, filmmakers and gamemakers (programmers? writers? what’s the correct lingo here?) still work towards a “real” CGI human image. Which begs the question, what’s the point? I can somewhat understand the gaming industry pushing for photo-realistic. The game play and angles are, to a degree, limitless and there’s no way to film an actor from all angles and movements and edit that into linear play. The means to store such a massive amount of data and the programming to make it work simply don’t exist. But when the frame is locked why would one need to ‘fake’ the human image? If it’s creating a world of pure fantasy the filmed image can be seamlessly blended (sorta) with the digital. A and I have touched before on why CGI in film is a bit lame and I worry that no matter how goddamn close someone gets to photo-realistic it will always age, falling back into the valley. A lot of people have cited Gollum as the litmus test for believable emoting from a CGI character. But even he has aged. And it isn’t pretty. The fundamental difference is he’s not a human character so the audience can still buy into him without being creeped out, despite being aware that the image isn’t contained within the frame.* But in regards to the human image any CGI will age back to creepy. So even if you get it right, you’re still damned.

And when your only fate is to give your audience the willies, the heebie jeebies, the old creep-out, why even bother? Why make it your holy grail? Bird had it right when he said “the medium of animation isn’t recreating reality. It’s distilling it”

-J

*I have this theory about aged-CGI standing “away” from the screen, the layer that was once seamlessly composited in, peeling back to reveal discrete layers. But I won’t get into that. For it will start to sound like crazy crack talk.

Blog.

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:25:18 -0400

A, this girl may only be 13 but she’s got a pretty awesome blog. I think you’d appreciate it.

-J

Domecage Prison

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0400

I have now seen this building a couple of places. Its a recreation center indoor/outdoor pavilion for— a prison in the Netherlands— which houses illegal immigrants. Does it remind you of anything? Maybe a film?

Domecage Prison via Graphic Hug

art about ART

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:43:19 -0400

So apparently films about silly people making “ART” is in right now.

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

-j

Listen to this- Why hasn't Gregg Gillis been arrested?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:17:17 -0400

Amazing radio article on the legality of sampling from On the Media. Applies to all art/ fair use cases. Listen.

Best of Etsy

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:42:00 -0400

I stumbled across Natalie Low on Etsy. Amazing clothes. And all way under $100.

Front

Same dress back. I know! I am getting it ASAP.

She will make this in like 13 colors.

Navy Dresses

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:32:39 -0400

I need a navy dress for R’s wedding in May. For some reason it hadn’t occurred to me to check out Etsy before today. There are some amazing designers and designs out there. Here are the contenders. Comments and votes welcome.

Natalie Low - My favorite. See my next post about her other clothes- she is good

Amanda Archer- Monarch Pleated Collar Dress- A more traditional bridesmaid dress. I would get it with the racer back. I like that better. Maybe a little too bridesmaidy?

Tuilleries Sleeveless Dress - This would be my favorite if it was less indigo and more navy. I just think I would wear this a million times.

Annabel and Ruby- Emmeline Dress- Totally different, kind of vintage. Maybe a little casual?

Annabel and Ruby- Delphinium Dress Too boring for A?

Thoughts?

Tori Amos...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:31:00 -0400

is live on the World Cafe right now talking about female sexuality. She is kind of amazing. I am physically able of running down the street right now and busting through the door and hugging her and am kind of considering it. It will eventually be on the site, after it is over, or turn on the radio now.

-a

Rotundas

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0400

Beautiful collection of rotundas @ Fashion is Spinach

Medellin

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:01:38 -0400

Another article- this one quick- about the work going on the Urban Renewal projects in Medellin.