Blog
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Saguaro by Carson Mell
A review in tabs—excerpts I found noteworthy in Carson Mell‘s—who as far as I can tell is a young independent writer—writing about Bobby Bird, “a classic rock star who’s been producing rock albums of greatly varying quality since the early 60s”, 2006 (second edition 2008; ordered directly from Mell and his apartment in LA). Page…
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Transcribed Inspiration
Passages from films I’ve found particular poignant / relevant / inspiring of late. Adaptation John Larouche’s pollination monologue Note: skip to 3-minute mark “Point is what’s so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There’s a certain orchid looks exactly like a certain insect,…
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Listened in 2008
The top 25 artists in rotation for 2008 as recorded by Last.fm, the website that tracks my listening habits in iTunes on my computer and iPod*.
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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
A review in tabs—excerpts I found noteworthy in Gladwell’s latest sociological look at the factors that contribute to the outstanding success of individuals with talent, drive and, most importantly, the right opportunities at the right time. Page numbers from the first edition hardcover, November 2008.
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Emily Carr Pilgrimage
A video: students of the Emily Carr University make a winter morning pilgrimage to the grave site of their school’s namesake, and Canadian painter, Emily Carr, in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, Canada. Post-respects coffee at Cafe Fantastico in Cook Street Village. Ed. note: best espresso I’ve maybe ever had. Also: below, an image of Carr’s…
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iPhone University?
An open letter to Haig Armen, sessional instructor, concerning my concerns over his Spring 2009 2D Design Concentration course: Interactions and Applications for small screen technology (iPhone), at the Emily Carr University.
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Clément Quotes
“Everything we see is an iceberg.” Clément Vincent, Assistant Professor in Communication Design at the Emily Carr University. Myself and a handful of senior students attend his weekly Design Futures class. We give presentations and discuss readings on the design process, how we define design, and the paths we take around / through / beyond…
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Congregation Wallpaper
By popular request, desktop wallpaper of your favourite heads of Emily Carr. 1024 x 768 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1440 x 900
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Notes on Ira Glass’ Notes on Storytelling
A textual summary and paraphrasing of some tips Ira Glass (of NPR’s This American Life) has for people starting out in the broadcast business and want to know what makes a good story. Taken from a four-part series of little YouTube videos. Two building blocks of broadcast storytelling: The Anecdote A sequence of actions. Story…
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Grad Projects, One Month
Presentations by fourth year Emily Carr University Industrial Design students after their first month of initial research. Instructors Tom Becher and Jim Budd. Live-blogged from the classroom. All notes below paraphrased (at best) and interpreted by me. 9:27 Michelle: Secrets of eating habits. Research books (Richard Buchanan’s Rhetoric, Humanism and Design, Hungry Planet, (un)popular Design…
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Scenes from Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog, 1982.
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2360 Burger Night
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David Foster Wallace Dead
The most influential artists in my life seem to kill themselves soon after I discover them. Spalding Gray, Elliot Smith and most tragically of all, today, David Foster Wallace. David Foster Wallace Dead of Suicide at 46 My favourite author, a man who was highly influential in not just informing my writing style in both…
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Need and Affordance
Fourth Year First Day: A fourth year industrial design graduation project class at the Emily Carr University attempts to sort themselves into theme-based groups on the first day of their final meeting. (At this point the professors have already left the class in frustration). Tom Becher flips over the course syllabus at his desk in…
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Learning to Drive
I am learning to drive a manual transmission as we truck across America. Although I’ve driven extensively for 12 years, and have owned two cars in that time, I never had the opportunity to own or command a stick. Scott is teaching me how in his ’91 Nissan pickup. The first lesson in first gear…
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Montana to Murdo, South Dakota
We woke up at sunrise in the Middle of Montana to the sound of a vehicle passing on the gravel road close to the tent. Two minutes later the vehicle returns and a man yells “This is private property, get going.” And so we did, and continued across the never-ending rolling ranches and farms that…
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Nelson to Middle of Montana
Scott buying coffee at Oso Negro in Nelson before heading out on Day 2. Oso Negro coffee in Nelson, BC. Recommended. View of the GPS navigator / DJ / Photographer / Videographer / Blogger office in Scott’s truck, heading over the near 1800 metre Salmo-Creston Pass. Gas station in Creston, BC. In Creston, too. Our…
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Vancouver to Nelson
Scott is moving to Kennebunkport, Maine, USA. He’s driving there and I’m tagging along for the ride. This morning he took the ferry from Victoria and picked me up in Vancouver. We drove to Nelson. Before heading out I was given the task of configuring an Eee PC and a Garmin GPS for navigating and…
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Future Perfect Career 1
The following email was written to a professor of mine in June, 2007. I’m reviewing it again to see if it still holds true: is my dream job still Jan Chipchase’s job? This two part article will first look at my thoughts on the topic from one year ago and then re-evaluate them in conjunction…
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Mars Phoenix Is My BFF
Image courtesy my buddy, Mars Phoenix. 3:15 AM Jeffrey Werner Have you been following the MarsPhoenix on Twitter? It’s so great. Possibly one of the best things the internet has ever done 3:15 AM The wha, no 3:15 AM Jeffrey Werner Ya, you know the Phoenix is over there right now digging up soil and…
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Interning With NGOs
A friend is about to embark on an internship with a South East Asian NGO and asked for some advice. I’ve been thinking about some general principles I learned during my time in the Philippines, in Bali, and with other non-profits and project-based organizations over the years. The following is my response, a sort of…
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The Fit of Existenz
David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) is a near-future noir of virtual reality gaming, genetic mutations and–like all Cronenberg films–a graphic discussion of the nature of the body and its relation to invasion and manipulation. Specifically, I’m interested in the designs of the organic game pods: mutated amphibian semi-creatures with synthetic DNA that port into the gamer’s…
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Eindhoven Idioms
A short assignment for Forum with instructor Danielle Arets at the Design Academy Eindhoven: Come up with a new slogan (or an anti-slogan) for Eindhoven: Try to think of a promotion campaign to embed this slogan in a series of activities Your slogan/ campaign has to be based on some research; what is the creatieve…
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Becoming Dutch and Other Exhibits
Eindhoven’s Van Abbemuseum is free to the public on Thursday evenings, and although I’ve been to the nearby Designhuis, I’ve been reluctant to check out its big brother. I’m generally pretty bored by galleries and museums (although I do enjoy working with them). But surprise, the Van Abbe is pretty sweet, surprisingly contemporary and physically…
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Anne Frank House
I likely first heard about the Diary of Anne Frank in grade school, though I don’t recall reading the actual diary. I never gave her much thought again until I happened to walk past the Anne Frank Huis, now a museum and major tourist attraction, on my first visit to Amsterdam in 2003. At that…
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Identity Feedback
The travel bag that transforms. A short essay, referencing class readings, about a product that has transformed my life.
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Living With the Composers
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Emily Carr Design Graduation 2008
A selection of works from the Communication and Industrial design grads that caught my eye while checking out the exhibit website.
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Design Academy Unit Phase 2
Second half of an Atelier Module 3 class assignment for the second midterm presentation on April 23, 2008. Includes images of student work and comments from the instructors.
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Utrecht Excursion
Spent the day (April 26, 2008) in this happening central Netherlands city with some fellow design students visiting the Dick Bruna Huis and the Rietveld Schröder House.