on words

the last physical book i purchased was shelley palmer’s “television disrupted:” – a required reading not available in digital format. i can’t remember the book i bought before that, although i’m sure i went for the “buy 4 and get the 5th one free” deal at commercial retailer a summer or two ago…

don’t get me wrong – the number of books i’ve bought is a poor measure of the amount of literature i’ve read recently, but rather reflective of the physical to digital shift. i’m an avid reader- swapping books with friends, borrowing from the archaic yet fundamental public library, and downloading e-books. while e-books are nothing new to the literary playing field, the electronic library has grown exponentially in recent times and is causing quite an uproar in the traditional publishing industry.

with e-books and readers proliferating the market and the google library project looming over our heads- books don’t seem to have the same weight that they once did. readership is shifting to the digital world and book sellers are scrounging to stay competitive this holiday season. two retail giants, walmart and amazon, are slashing prices for hardcover books as well as e-books in a price war whose casualties may be the very books and authors these retailers are trying to sell.

while the big retailers may be able to offer too-good-to-be-true discounts, independent booksellers are going to have to rely on loyal customers who value the whole book experience of staff recommendations and store events just as much as price. however, as more customers get wooed by the retail powerhouses and online options offering low prices and convenience, it could ultimately affect what gets published by structuring the industry around a few buyers deciding what gets published with best sellers dominating the market.

oh sure, there’s nothing like sitting down with a good book and flipping through its pages, immersing yourself in another world… but how much are you willing to pay for the experience and can the book industry survive off of that number? what does it do when new books have their prices slashed and how does this affect a books’ future in the market? perhaps the discounted prices will have a positive short-short term result, but will the discount effectively kill a book’s future sales?

downtempo day

it’s midweek. wednesday. already august now. damn… time flies when you’re in constant motion- and i’m not letting myself get settled and sorted until mid september when i’ll be returning to nyc from minnesota. so things will be at a standstill for slightly longer than i had anticipated.

however, today i’ve stolen away from the everyday madness and chaos to collect myself and steer all this loose energy into making something beautiful. curiously, my supplies reflect my state of being, a random assortment of odds and ends i’ve gathered for the task: two salvaged bamboo reeds, a few wooden ornaments, two stone discs, circular cut shells, carved metal rings, and a couple hanks of hemp to tie everything together… oh! and of course, the uke is out

*****

didn’t quite finish… i’m thinking that this will need a few more random things to make the vision in my head a reality.

the first knot

in the middle

i feel like this is martha stewart's version of "connect four"

bound for osaka

wow… this is the first time i’ve had some down time – granted it’s nearly 2 am here – details, details- i have a few spare minutes and energy to burn before i call it a day.

today- or rather yesterday- monday, july 7th, was one of the most relaxing days i’ve had in the past month or so; nothing outrageous, no fires or riots, a few pilfered goods, but nothing too ridiculous.

i awoke on my sliver of the bed – more on that later – when clover’s aunt came into the room (clover is my travel buddy and we’re staying at her aunt’s apartment). she said something in korean, clover translated and informed me we were going to the post office to ship some of her things home.

we walked to the post office with 4 grocery sized bags of goods that needed to fit into one medium sized box that the post office supplied free of charge. we managed to defy physics and possibly some size regulations considering how inflated the box looked even with the miles of tape used. regardless of its physical flaws, the post office shipped out clover’s box and gave us both free toothpaste. yep. they gave us both a tube of toothpaste… at the post office.

armed with our dental swag, clover, her aunt, and i headed to a nearby restaurant for breakfast where we had daeji galbi (spicy pork) along with banchan (korean side dishes), and, of course, rice! it was an amazing meal. the food here in korea is exquisite – but those who don’t like spicy food beware! chili paste is used in practically every dish.

we walked off our meal by meandering about the neighborhood and stopped for tea at a local coffee shop. it’s the cheapest in the area because it’s run by a local church – not quite sure how that works out. we sat down and i had fun reading the menu (as best i can) and listening to clover and her aunt speak. content from our meal and tea, we headed back to the apartment.

we spent the afternoon giving our makeshift plans for japan a little more structure by calling the ferry operator and checking train times. thankfully clover speaks korean!

we had dinner (yummy) and then stopped at lotte mart (a hyper mart… think of target plus walmart supersized and so much better) where we bought some foodstuffs for the trip. i managed to grab 2 bags of beef jerkey, raisins, and 3 of those plastic gum/candy containers. i was aiming for a more healthy assortment of vitals, but i don’t think i ever found the main dried goods section in my little go-round through the aisles.

we’d been expecting to hear from clover’s cousin who was intent on going to jeju-do island with us, so while we waited clover and i made plans to go to japan  (this started with my idea of going to busan and going to japan “for lunch”). while i wasn’t entirely serious, my idea blossomed into something of an impromptu adventure that begins today.

clover and i will be leaving daejeon today and going to busan by train. then we’ll be boarding a ferry that will take us to osaka. all in all, it will be a little over a day of travel.

so now it’s off to bed and off to japan!

the short list

5 days:
1 three am 2.5 mile walk around manhattan carrying 100+ kilos
1 train ride
2 bus rides
1 east to west coast flight
1 movie night
1 new song idea
1 three mile jog
1 amazing crepe
1 birthday celebration
1 delicious steak
1 roadtrip
1 tank of gas
8+ hours driving
2 bridges crossed
2 tolls avoided
2 energy drinks
1 thesis idea inspired by broadway’s lion king cd
1 yummy bbq pulled pork sandwich
1 kodak disposable camera
25 pictures
1 sweet still time commemorative framed poster,ticket,cd
12+ hours of music
1 incredible concert
9 cds
24+ hours w/o sleep
200+ unread emails

and now:
1 power nap

rainha do mar

rainha do mar

final project, media practices:design

For the final project you will need to select an issue or organization you would like to work with and submit four different images that promote your organization in some way. All of these images should feel like part of the same collection. You should not simply repeat the same image in four different sizes. Each image should be its own but they should all relate to each other either through color, theme or visual language.

You need to create a:
POSTER – something that you might see hung on a bulletin baord for example. Most likely this will be the size of a piece of paper 8.5 X 11.

1 Poster

WEB BANNER – the narrow rectangles that advertise things online. Think something around 2 inches by 6 inches.

2 Web Banner

 
POSTAGE STAMP – those things that keep going up in price. These vary but are rarely more than an inch and a half square or so.

3 Postage Stamp

STATIONERY – basically the letterhead that might be used for this organization or issue. This needs to be in black and white or greyscale for an additional challenge! This should be on the top and perhaps side or bottom of an 8.5 X 11 piece of paper.

4 Stationary

life light

When my mood was high, I seemed normal, even buoyant. I felt smarter. I had secrets. I could see God in a light bulb. -Gene Tierney

life light

spring at last

the sunny weather sucked people out of their nyc apartments and left directions to central park on saturday. i zig-zagged my way uptown towards the park, in a futile attempt to make good time. every street was teeming with people glowing in their spring attire.

 

carousel

when i finally reached the central park’s southern edge, i was a bit more tired than usual. maybe it was the sun or the dozen apples and grapefruit i had lugged up from 20th street… or a combination of the two. at any rate, i made my way past the heckscher playground and carousel, towards the naumburg bandshell where i was planning to meet friends for a picnic. however, there seemed to be an unusual amount of activity on the roads even beyond the fact that all of new york city decided to spend the day at the park. the folks in ‘volunteer’ shirts sent up a red flag. some sort of event was taking place. maybe a foot race or some sort- but i’m usually on top of those activities…

 

puw

upon reaching the mall i realized that there was indeed something special happening in central park: the “parkinson’s unity walk” which was established in 1994 and still going strong. not surprisingly, the bandshell area was all decked out for the event. after trying to get in touch with my friends to see if we were still meeting in the area, my cell phone puttered out of battery life. so instead, i decided to check out this unity walk with a very clear intent: swag (not that i needed anything more to weigh me down). i managed to snag an event t-shirt and bag, one of those nice knit shopping totes you see around these days. then i sat down to rest in front of the bandshell and enjoyed a fresh apple. i kept an eye open for anyone of my picnic friends, but was quite content to just be.

 
i was sitting right in front of the bandshell which was constructed in 1923 to replace the original cast-iron one. it was at this time that the entire concert grounds were expanded as well which events like the parkinson’s unity walk use to their full capacity. i was just enjoying the space itself, when the central park brass introduced themselves on stage and for the next 2 hours, i enjoyed a concert in the park. it was an interesting concert, the ensemble played a wide variety of tunes from bach to bernstein and even an arrangement of gottschalk. all the pieces were short, some just highlights and there were long breaks in between pieces, but even so, it was a pleasant experience.

 

i never bumped into any of my friends. can’t figure out why. it’s not like there was anyone else in the park. but i did enjoy an afternoon in central park, got a new tote and tshirt, and have fresh fruit!

jack & jill, season 1 end

jack & jill, August season 2

jack & jill, 1.8-death & taxes | jack & jill, 1.7-traditions | jack & jill, 1.6-march madness | jack & jill, 1.5-food | jack & jill, 1.4-global warming |jack & jill, 1.3-toilet seat | jack & jill 1.2-ice cream | jack & jill 1.1-bumper cars | jack & jill season teaser

locked on target

The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves.  -Arnold J. Toynbee

locked on target

 
okay… i’ll stop with the digital art madness and get back to academics…