art

Pearls Before Breakfast

Posted by _tango! on April 8, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, music, style, thoughts. 5 comments

“Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour?”

Here’s an astonishing experimental story that questions talent, location, knowledge, culture, perception, a bit of marketing, and displacement. What happens when you take a world famous musician, Joshua Bell, and put him in the morning DC metro posing as a street performer seeking extra change? Do people stop and listen, do strangers acknowledge his talent, does a crowd form in awe, does he cash in, does talent simply pass by ones ears because of his environment, or are people too busy to stop and listen?

Read this incredible experiment after the jump along with videos. (mirrored from WashingtonPost.com)

Florence: Outs and abouts

Posted by _tango! on April 1, 2007

Posted in: art, design, experience, food, information, inspiration, me, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Florence was a bit cloudy and rainy the few days I managed to sneak out of the office, but I caught a glimpse of the surrounding area including the many restaurant I’ve been posting about. Besides my complaints of tourists ruining the magical escape known as Florence I absorbed a great deal of culture and lifestyle rummaging around in the morning markets, late night bars, and street crowded corners. Food is fantastic and fresh though shady in some populated areas beaming with english menus.(if it has english words, it probably isn’t authentic italian) The ceramic landscape is breath-taking minus the touristy attractions and street dwelling purse sellers. Advertisements also known as expensive graffiti cascades over historical building and streetscapes in bothersome ways, but I guess money can buy many unsightly needs. The lifestyle of people breath fashion and simplicity yet seems complex in an unorganized chaotic way. They like to play it by ear and go by tradition rather than by new means and modern technologies. People are kind, friendly, and hospitable. They are proud of their culture, food, language, and love to share this knowledge.

My journey around the city was brief but meaningful and delightful. I’d rather visit when it’s sunny, but I’ll be back in June when more tourists are lurking and blossoming gardens fill the summer sun. Besides all the great restaurants, I took several pictures here and there. I don’t really have a story to tell about the city, so enjoy the many pictures I’ve posted, with brief thoughts after the jump.
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Florence: TASTE Conference

Posted by _tango! on March 28, 2007

Posted in: art, design, experience, food, fun, information, inspiration, me, thoughts. 2 comments

My first stop in Florence was at TASTE, a 3 day food gathering of Italy’s finest foods ranging from jams, wines, cheeses, meats, chocolates, and much more from over 160 select exhibitors. This mouth watering event allowed attendees to eat, taste, question and buy products from a wide range of creators and distributors around Italy, though many of them seemed to be small independent family run organizations, which I liked. The highlight of the event for me is pictured above….it’s buffalo mozzarella! Simply Amazzzing!!

More pics and info about TASTE after the jump. Continue Reading

TED2007

Posted by _tango! on March 13, 2007

Posted in: art, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, TED, thoughts. 5 comments

I’m back from the mind-boggling TED conference and am detoxing my brain from the incredible stories, experiences, and knowledge shared by the hundreds of shakers and movers present there. My minds exhausted and happy while my bodies trying to catch up all at once. As usual, I’ll point to Tom, Ethan, and Brunos blogs for their incredible recap on the TED speakers this year. As I slowly absorb and digest the many wonders of TED I’ll post them on up with my thoughts. For now, I’ll post a few glimpse of my journey there.

Overall, the TED Experience was incredible as usual with a diverse crowd of individuals craving to learn more about every topic imaginable. There was a new simulcast room with HD plasmas hovering over beds and comfy bean bags, a new chocolate tasting section which was oooo so yummy and satisfying thanks to Vosges, a few demo booths by various sponsors, a big gift bag, a cool IT help desk, an amazing photography studio, an addictive Google Snack bar, and much more. One thing I missed was the Aquarium party that usually happens on Friday night but was instead moved to Tuesday night for the speakers party hosted by Google. This years Grand party took place in an airport hanger which was cool, but by no means as magical as the Aquarium. The after Conference Beach party was very good as previous years ended with no party. I could go on and on about this years event, but much like JJ Abrams comments on his magical box, I’ll keep that to a mystery but post a few pics for a glimpse of my experience. Enjoy!

TED2007: Icons, Geniuses, Mavericks.

Posted by _tango! on March 5, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, information, inspiration, me, tech, TED, thoughts. 2 comments

I’m off to my 5th inspirational brain safari known as the TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) over in Monterey, CA this week. This years speakers list is pretty damn amazing but as usual the conversations with attendees into the late nights will be the most memorable.
If you have not had a chance to dive into the world of TED you can catch a glimpse through TEDtalks (my selected picks here) or by exploring their site. I’ll post the captivating daily speaker schedule after the jump though the interactive one on their site is a bit more useful.
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Faceted Curtains

Posted by _tango! on February 24, 2007

Posted in: art, design, ideas, inspiration, style. 1 comment

Woa, cool…faceted curatins by Hannah Allijn ….I love the untraditional especially in fabrics! Reminds me of an incredible faceted purse a friend owned by master fashion designer Issey Miyake. ( I cant find a pic online of it, but it rocked…the triangulated black leather mesh cradled to any surface while flickering reflections in all directions just like a diamond)(made me very jealous but then again, anything from Miyake would make a designer drool)

via designsponge
update: This Faceted Gas Station oddly reminds me of these curtains. I prefer the curtains though…

L.A.S.E.R Tag:Graffiti Research Lab

Posted by _tango! on February 23, 2007

Posted in: art, entertainment, fun, inspiration, style, tech. 3 comments

laser tag graffiti research lab
Here’s another amazing project and video by the beloved urban communicators “Graffiti Research Lab” making a slick and beautiful interaction between a user, a simple green laser pointer, a projector, and some code! This is projected graffiti at it’s best! Here’s a nice Flickr collection from the project. I’m all for making art on buildings with projectors since there’s no damage done though I’m sure a huge flicker of light into your office space can be crazy annoying when your panicking to finish up a deadline without distrations…oh well. Keep it rock’n ya’ll!

Thousands of Snow Angels

Posted by _tango! on February 20, 2007

Posted in: art, fun, information, inspiration. 6 comments

snow angels world record

Call it inspirational, funny, or plain cool…..when 9,000 people gather together to make snow angels in a park it makes me smile. The great image reminds me of “Where’s Waldo” though my eyes quickly gravitated towards the flock of orange lined jackets in the center….that would rock if Google Earth captured this over the weekend. Otherwise, it would make a cool micro print.

Another great find via bookofjoe. (washington post article)

All Look the Same: Exam Room

Posted by _tango! on February 10, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, entertainment, experience, food, fun, ideas, thoughts. Leave a Comment

The incredibly fun and rather tough “We All Look the Same” test to differentiate between images of Chinese, Korean, or Chinese people that I posted about before has expanded their face test to several other cultural tests in their “Exam Room“. Besides faces, the test now includes Modern Art, Architecture, Photos, Urban Scenes, Food, and Architectural Details. I took the food test and scored 14/18, but I failed miserably at the Art test with 9/18. Go take the tests and feel proud or miserable about your eye for asian culture.

FYI: If you prefer not to create a login account, use one I created:
login: designverb
password: designverb

Thomas Raschke:wire frames

Posted by _tango! on January 29, 2007

Posted in: art, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style. Leave a Comment

Thomas Raschke brings to us his wonderful series of “wire frame” artwork pieces ranging from full sized rooms, teddy bears, radios, power tools, and various other objects made from wire steel…yup I said wire steel (the above image is not from a computer). Most 3D designers are use to seeing wireframe on the computer screen, but having a wireframe table, house, or space would actually be pretty cool. I’ll post a few of his images after the jump.

Advertising Graffiti

Posted by _tango! on January 27, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, entertainment, ideas, information, inspiration. Leave a Comment

Rocketboom has a great video clip from graffiti research lab, eyebeam and the anti-advertising agency on nyc’s graffiti problem inspired by jo lee’s abstractor tv. Watch it, wonder, and get inspired! I never thought about advertising this way, but this video made me realize the obvious.

update:Here’s an interesting follow up to this story where a simple marketing ad campaign turns into graffiti which then turns into a huge media blitz on being a bomb threat in Boston considered to the big media an act of terriorism when it is hardly even that. If you have not heard about this somewhat stupendous media buzz yet incredibly successful marketing act, follow up on the story on some great coverage here, here, here, or the many links here….then the great sign to “the media” about what they should cover here!

Perceptive Pixel

Posted by _tango! on January 18, 2007

Posted in: art, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, tech. 12 comments

A nice FastCompany article on Jef Hans Multi-Touch progression that I posted about last year. If you get the chance, check out the printed article which includes aÂ fun Matrix-like cover image of Jef with multiple hands(image after the jump). Jef has launched a new company to further develop this project called Perceptive Pixel. Press on the image above to watch the video or go to the embedded video after the jump.(I embedded after the jump cause the video plays automatically with music that can be distracting)
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