Mr. Miller, you are indeed an idiot. (not design related)

So, as I am reading the Toronto Star, on Wednesday, May 28, the cover story conjured up some thoughts that I had to release via blogger.



The title of the article is this "PLAN TO BAN RANGES STUNS RECREATIONAL SHOOTERS"
What the story is about is how 'they' want to close private shooting ranges in the City.

As a prelude, I would like to say that from the time I was 8 or 9, I owned either a daisy pump rifle, a Co2 pellet rifle, or a handgun that shot b.b.'s., and I have not gone awol and killed a man.

Here are some excerpts from Jim Byers article.
"Charlie Gulston, an 81-year-old who took up the sport in 1962 and reckons he's won 300 awards, is lying on his stomach and peering at a distant series of bull's-eye targets through the sights of his air rifle."

I think that if Mr. Gulston were to approach me and shoot me with his air rifle, short of being a little pissed off, I MIGHT have a small flesh wound.

"There are grandmothers and grandfathers, teenagers and even a 24-year-old woman, Sandy Chan, who alternates her weeknights between target shooting, ballroom and swing dancing, and horseback riding lessons."

Well, David Miller, you are correct again. Let us close all the ranges, recall all the guns, and just to be safe, since Sandy Chan is an obvious threat to society, we should ban horseback riding lessons across the province. This is clearly proof that people who ride horseback enjoy shooting people.

The article goes on about Florence Morris, (a grandmother who has brought her two grandsons, and their bags of medals they have earned, to the range tonight) and how she thinks that "the mayor doesn't have the balls" to tackle the real issue here, of street guns and violence.

The people who frequent these facilities are tested AT the facility before being allowed to use it , and have to pass government testing as well.
There are a total of 10 shooting ranges in the GTA. If they do get shut down, those people who shoot there, (who have transportation) will have to travel outside of the GTA, and will shop there, and support other economy instead of local one.
Yet another well thought out idea, eh David?



So, now that I have had my chance to make a political rant in a design-designed blog, I will lay it to rest, but first I must ask, with all due respect, Mayor Miller, take your head out of your ass.

not to be taken internally

Here is a small sample of external design. I hope you enjoy


New York interchange between the 5 and 110 freeways.




What a rat’s nest. Half of the time, I can’t maintain which roads are one way and which ones do not allow right hand turns in Toronto.

Remind me never to drive in New York.







Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris was the designer of the Biltmore Estates. He designed the house in the Chateau style for George Washington Vanderbilt II, who spent much of his family’s fortune on the project.












In 1833 Robert Mills won the design competition sponsored by the Washington National Monument Society. His 555-foot-tall obelisk, a mixture of Greek, Babylonian, and Egyptian styles, took nearly 40 years to complete as construction was interrupted by cash shortfalls and the Civil War.




Bradford Metropolitan District Council was commisioned to build this watergarden. It is absolutely stunning with the perfect edges, and the symmetry. Aside from the walkways, the greenery in the courtyard are maintained to perfection.





I was in Ithaca, New York a number of years ago, and they had this sculpture in the campus courtyard of Ithaca College.

At first look, it doesnt seem to be anything specific, but upon closer inspection, you will see it is actually a fish. The fins, tail and eyes are quite apparent, once you know what it is.

It was a neat sculpture then, when I was viewing it strictly as a piece of art, and not from the eyes of a designer.



There is a new experiment going on, by the students of University of Edinburg. The Division of Infomatics have been experimenting with ‘Invisible Art.’
If you look at a building, you see nothing out of the ordinary, but if you take a photo with a cellphone, and email the photo to a server, it is put though “powerful image-matching algorithms.” These tests decide the characteristics of the building and then send back the photo with the digital content added to it.

This is also being called Geekriti

Design with Character(s)

I went to the bookstore today, Pages, to be specific, and bought some required reading for the course, and as I was approaching the register I saw something fun.

Meet Mr. Product.



This is the title of a book on 'the art of the advertising character.' I thought to myself, 'Self, buy this.' And, so I did. The book is filled with little stories about many, many characters that have been used to sell products. From Aunt Jemima, the Michelin Man, the Kools Penguin, and also a lot of obscure characters like Psyche, the white rock girl, this book has it all.










I particularly like the fact that half of the book has images of the old characters, and is followed by a little write up. The book is sectioned into Food, Drinks, Kids Stuff, Dining, Technology, Home, Automotive and Leisure. A fantastic purchase just to see how things have changed, and to gather some inspiration for a throwback, or even to update an old idea.

Here is a small excerpt.

We share our dinner table with them, trust them with our cars and children, and whether we realize it or not, we've been listening to their counsel for generations. With smiling faces and helpful slogans, the Jolly Green Giant, natty Mr. Peanut, the cute little Morton Salt Girl, and countless other advertising characters have been helping us navigate the grocery aisles and choose our products for years.


Meet Mr. Product - Dots & Husain,
Chronicle Books 2003.

Weekly muses and distractions.

This week, I logged my media usage and I have learned that I am addicted to music.

Reading
a)books: 45 minutes
b)newspaper: 30 minutes
c)magazine: 2hrs

Listening to Radio
4hrs, in the car, on the way to and from midland

Listening to Music
How: cd-35 hours +
itunes-10 hours

TV/DVD viewing
TV : 6hrs
DVD : 0 hrs

Email
Good:17 emails
Junk:40+

Web time
Surfing: 5 hrs
Chatting: 23 hrs
Facebook: 8 hrs
Youtube: 10 hrs

Video Games
0 hrs

Cellphone usage
Talk time: 84 minutes
Text messages: 21


WOW.. I need a hobby.

Watch out, iphone. Microsoft is comin for ya.

So, I was going to bed, and just thought I would do some random youtube'ing. I found something that I read about a while ago. Microsoft is doing something called Microsoft Surface. I first heard about it last year, and thought to myself, "Self, this could be really cool." And boy, was I right. Just think of sharing your media (images, audio, video) with your friends, or even just running a cool interactive image on your tabletop. (not to be confused with your Desktop).

Surface is exactly as it sounds. It is a tabletop that is 100% interactive. It can be manipulated my touch, or interaction with bluetooth or mobile devices, and can replace the server at a bar. Interactivity at it's finest.
Check it out here. http://youtube.com/watch?v=rP5y7yp06n0

BUT...

before you get too excited, think about it. Interactivity is great, especially when you are on hold, after pressing #2 for english, then #4 for customer service, #1 for electronics support, then #5 for hand held components. "Your call is important to us. Please continue waiting!"
Wow, isn't technology great. When the hell do I get to talk to a real person?

After watching the above video, I continued my research and discovered a parody of it. I love spoofs, if not just for the sheer stupidity. Check it out, and although it is trying to poke fun, they are making a few good points.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY

With all of that said, I can't wait for it to come out. I love to play with useless technology. (I HAD to have a palm pilot when they came out, and then I needed (yes, needed) to buy the infrared, compact, foldable keyboard to go with it. Shortly after I got it, boredom set it. SOLUTION: Buy a wireless SD card and make my palm pilot wireless internet ready. EXCELLENT. Hmm.... install Microsoft Word for the palm... Check. Digital Camera for the palm... Check. All set. To be honest, I have NO idea where my Palm Pilot is now. Oh well, time to find a new, outrageous, useless bit of tech-toy to buy.

I have gas and need to be washed.

I was on my way to Toronto, from Midland, after my weekend away and stopped in Barrie to get gas. And, beside the pump was an ad for the car wash beside the station. I thought it was lots of fun. It was a car in the middle of a parking lot, and there were other cars in the lot, but they were all sitting far away from the 'dirty' car. The caption read "Even cars need showers." Sometimes I feel that way on the subway. One dirty man at one end of the car, and the rest of the commuters hiding in the other end.
I apologize for the random opening paragraph. What I really wanted to talk about was the new ad for the 2009 Subaru Forester.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vasc8ghyu1g


I know it isn't an original concept, but somehow I still find it damned funny. In a world of sexy women (young girls) washing cars in their bikinis, this is a nice change. I particularly enjoy the part where the guy is waving his hair in slow motion at 0:46.

Critical thinking is a key element in this. It is typical to have the hotties washing the cars, and as we know that sex sells, but in this case they thought differently and hit the target market on the head. They are not trying to sell to 25 year old women looking to buy a family van, they are targeting men who have a great sense of humor and don't like the usual in your face marketing attempts. Personally, this also makes me feel that Subaru, as a company, is built of 'real' people, and not a bunch of tight-assed suits who are only there for the almighty dollar. (Even if this IS actually the case)

Hope you enjoy the commercial.

Darkness and the sleeping imperfections.

I was in the passenger seat of a friend's car yesterday, and we went for a drive downtown to see what we could see. Two young men touring the streets on a perfect evening for clubbing. As I am sure you can imagine, our eyes were not always on the road.
The reason I mention this is not to enforce the perverted stereotype of
youth, but to focus on the intricacy of clothing design and fashion.
I am astounded by how fashion statements change from culture to culture. To look at a twenty-something, European male, you will see a nice dress shirt left unbuttoned, revealing a hairless chest and a designer chain. On the other side of the street I was noticing young men with long, black, straight-haired mullets, and highly teased coifs, and petite girls with even more petite candy-striped dresses in the lineup of asian youth waiting to get into another club.

Imagine someone in our class, lets pick on Todd, coming to class with a long, black, straight-haired mullet. He would look more than ridiculous. Prime example of how different cultures can get away with different styles.
Although I mention just fashion, this of course pertains to furniture, architecture, advertising and electronics.



Style is such an amazing thing.