2008 Blog Archives - January
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New Year's Abstraction
Tuesday January 1, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
Daily Street Metal
Wednesday January 2, 2008 by Eames DemetriosRing in the New Year with Madrid Metal:
Geometry Junkyard
Wednesday January 2, 2008 by Eames Demetrios Comment [1]Daily Street Metal
Thursday January 3, 2008 by Eames DemetriosIs this the equivalent of the VIN number being scratched out?
Gecko + Mussel
Thursday January 3, 2008 by Eames DemetriosGlancing through an old Science News and saw an article about a material combining the stickiness of gecko feet and mussels. Here and an upcoming talk at Princeton.
Comment [1]Allowing the Land to Be
Friday January 4, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
I spend some of my favorite time in Joshua Tree—not as much as I’d like (pictured is a part of the Kymaerica project that’s out there).
Rhonda Hayes has started the Environmental Preservation Alliance. She addresses a problem which, though it sounds modest, is actually metaphorically quite huge: which is people moving to the High Desert of California and loving the landscape/environment, but not adjusting their behavior.
Specifically, kind of forgetting they are no longer in an urban environment. For example, over-enthusiastic fencing. OR the fact that a wandering pet dog in the city is mostly a danger to itself (walking out in traffic or whatever), but in a quasi-developed but essentially natural [yes, I know it is modified] or open space, free running dogs are a human intervention and can harm the wildlife.
Anyway, there’s alot more to it than that, but when she gets the site up, I’ll let you know.
ALSO: If you happen to be out there in the Morongo Basin on Saturday the 5th, there is a meeting of the California Desert Coalition focused on the ironically named Greenpath Powerlines—or should we say aptly named because significant parts of its path currently are green, but won’t be.
Comment [1]Daily Street Metal
Friday January 4, 2008 by Eames DemetriosUno mas de Madrid:
Biofuels
Saturday January 5, 2008 by Eames DemetriosIn the Guardian this week, an article showing the full analysis required to understand the impact of biofuels. Some are actually worse than fossil fuels—the article explains why.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Saturday January 5, 2008 by Eames DemetriosAnother kind of metal—love the rugged waves:
Iguanas Falling From Trees
Saturday January 5, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
(AFP image from Yahoo News)
With the cold weather yesterday in Florida, iguanas were literally dropping out of the trees.
Comment [1]Trees Absorbing Less Carbon Dioxide
Saturday January 5, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThis is the sort of thing that can accelerate Global Warming.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Sunday January 6, 2008 by Eames DemetriosI liked this detail from Madrid:
Observations about consumption
Sunday January 6, 2008 by Eames DemetriosJared Diamond writes about consumption in today’s New York Times. Hat tip to Snippets.
Here’s how he starts:
“TO mathematicians, 32 is an interesting number: it’s 2 raised to the fifth power, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2 times 2. To economists, 32 is even more special, because it measures the difference in lifestyles between the first world and the developing world. The average rates at which people consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world. That factor of 32 has big consequences.”
Please read the whole thing.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Monday January 7, 2008 by Eames DemetriosCool vocabulary:
Neocon Xpress Space
Monday January 7, 2008 by Eames DemetriosMy friend Souris asked me about the work of architect Stephanie Smith. You’ve seen that link on the side of DASFilmFest for awhile, but then that reminded me that I had posted a link to Luna Girl’s pix from Neocon Xpress, but not mine.
You see, Stephanie designed the Nomad Yurt and she was kind enough to let it be the DASFilmFest theater at Neocon Xpress last August at the LA Convention Center. Well: me, Stephanie, and Gen from the Eames Office assembled it in a couple of hours (it would be quicker now, because we were using the prototype!). Looked cool and people loved it.
Here are a few pix of it going it up . . .
But watch the slideshow and see it get assembled. It is pretty cool.
CommentDaily Street Metal (kinda)
Tuesday January 8, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThere used to be some street metal, now just a few cigarette butts . . .
Cool Bearded Dragon Images
Tuesday January 8, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
We have some bearded dragons which I really dig. And I found these Bearded Dragons on Flickr. They are pretty cool. Both pix are from the photostream of Agamid, posting pix from Brisbane, Australia.
A Better Mousetrap
Wednesday January 9, 2008 by Eames DemetriosJust liked this drawing . . .
. . . of a mousetrap-less mousetrap on Chris Glass’s site.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Wednesday January 9, 2008 by Eames DemetriosVery worn down . . .
Stamps
Thursday January 10, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThe Eames Stamps have gotten a lot of online buzz in the past couple of days, thanks to generous links like this
CommentFunny
Thursday January 10, 2008 by Eames DemetriosFunny link n aestheticoutburst, even funnier Flickr group called LP Portraits
CommentMore on the Stamps
Thursday January 10, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThe response to the stamps just keeps growing. here’s the Flickr Page where I posted them. Lots of great comments.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Thursday January 10, 2008 by Eames DemetriosMore from Madrid—I had a great time there one afternoon, taking in the street metal (don’t worry, I did make it to the Prado as well):
A Week From Today
Thursday January 10, 2008 by Eames DemetriosHi All,
A week from today the Eames Office will be opening TWO shows:
the 100 Photos Show (the Gifted Eye) that opened in Beijing:
PLUS:
Part 2 of the Charles Eames Centennial Show—from California to the World. And there are some sweet special things in there. Monoliths from the Franklin and Jefferson show in Mexico City, some special plastic shells—lots of wonderful things.
So: RSVP to rsvpATeamesoffice.com if you are in LA—6-9 PM.
CommentCool Review of UFO Book
Friday January 11, 2008 by Eames DemetriosClaire Evans reviews a cool sounding book about the meeting of Soviet and US UFOlogists at start of glasnost.
CommentDaily Street Metal
Friday January 11, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThe light was not great (afternoon shadows instead of afternoon gold), but I like the pattern:
Some Other Cool Stamps
Saturday January 12, 2008 by Eames DemetriosHat tip to GrainEdit:
Daily Street Metal
Monday January 14, 2008 by Eames DemetriosIn transit . . . more tomorrow:
Who was the Mona Lisa?
Tuesday January 15, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
They say they know for sure.
I hadn’t known that the painting was also known as La Gioconda—making it a pun on the sitter’s name. It is also interesting that in this case it is a final confirmation of Vasari’s identificaton of the woman. Kinda cool.
Comment [3]Las Vegas Strippers May Influence Global Nuclear Waste Policy
Tuesday January 15, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThat was the bizarre headline on Bloomberg News:
“Las Vegas Strippers May Influence Global Nuclear-Waste Policy “.
And when you read the article it is clear that the only untoward thing the strippers plan to do regarding Global Nuclear-Waste Policy is vote and otherwise participate in the democratic process.
The current media system is profoundly broken in its representation of sustainability issues and the views of the middle and lower classes. The real point is that when the media frames an idea in this way it is hard to unpack it logically.
Absurd (and offensive, but also mindbogglingly self-parodical [is that a word? Is that what The Onion is, a parodical?]).
Anyway, not the biggest deal in the world, but a little snapshot.
UPDATE: grabbed the screen a little better
CommentThanks for dropping in
Tuesday January 15, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThe Nuclear Strippers post has gotten alot of new visitors, so thanks for coming by. Our website is focussed on design architecture and sustainability. We show a new short every few weeks which you can watch or podcast.
If you want to enjoy some non-partisan all-plywood elephants, try this on YouTube, we showed it here as well.
We’ll be adding new features in the next months, so bookmark us if you like.
Comment [1]Akari by Noguchi
Wednesday January 16, 2008 by Eames DemetriosA few years ago, in the fall of 2003, I was fortunate enough to go to Gifu, Japan and photograph the making of Isamu Noguchi’s Akari lamps.
Here’s someone working with a mold:
And another with the paper around it:
Some of these molds are signed by Noguchi. The wonder of these products that Noguchi made is that he wanted to save these manufacturers
More tomorrrow
Comment [1]Sorry that it is upside down . . .
Thursday January 17, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
Wearing my Eames Office hat, I’d like to invite you to the opening of a new show celebrating the Charles Eames centennial.
It is from 6 to 9 at 850 Pico in Santa Monica, California and will be open until July 17th. Come if you can.
Here is a sneak preview Flickr set of the show set up.
Some rare prototypes:
Daily Street Metal
Thursday January 17, 2008 by Eames DemetriosFrom China, not far from the Great Wall in Simatai:
And a detail:
Thanks, Pocketnoodle
Thursday January 17, 2008 by Eames DemetriosThanks to Pocketnoodle for the link. New visitors, you might consider clicking on the video archive on the home page and see some of our other videos. You are also invited to an event tonight. The vast majority of our video content is hosted here, but we did put the elephants on YouTube, if you need a warmup.
Hope you come back to the site.
CommentLast Night's Opening
Friday January 18, 2008 by Eames DemetriosBefore the Party, we checked out the 100 photos, made sure they looked right.
The valets awaited:
The calm before the storm:
And then, ALOT of people came:
Great turnout, alot of wonderful conversations.
CommentPop-o-Ganda
Saturday January 19, 2008 by Eames DemetriosNick Graham‘s show at the Ampersand opened last night. Buzz wuzz all the paintings sold—congratz to Nick.
Here is Apple and Google:
More Noguchi
Sunday January 20, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
I did not express myself clearly in the last post on Noguchi when I said: “The wonder of these products that Noguchi made is that he wanted to save these manufacturers.”
It is true, but pretty opaque.
What I was trying to say is that Noguchi is a very interesting person when it comes to the nexus of Art and Design. Because in design for mass-production, the object being designed is the one being made tomorrow. You aren’t just designing a one-off object, you are also coming up with a system for making that object again and again with its original intention and spirit.
Noguchi was very conscious of this, because he wanted to find modern forms for the traditional craftspeople of Japan. He wanted to take the incredible skill set of the paper lantern makers and create something else that might have another kind of longevity. The Noguchi Akari Lamps made today under the control of the Noguchi Foundation are utterly authentic and true to the designer’s vision, though he died 20 years ago.
So that is a very design oriented goal, and yet at the same time he made his beautiful sculptures which are one of a kind objects where part of the magic is knowing the artist stood next to it once, maybe where you are standing, carving it himself.
Pretty Cool
Tuesday January 22, 2008 by Eames DemetriosI heard about this Sustainable Investing company called Portfolio21 today. They are based in Portland, Oregon. I am certainly in no position to recommend them just yet, but I really like this part of their site:
Actually, that makes it sound too glib. But the point is that they research many of the companies whose reputations make them sound appealing and examine them from a sustainability standpoint. Then, should the company be found wanting, they publish the reasons with a goal of putting pressure on the company to behave better.
The writing is NOT a bunch of put-downs. It is very analytical and, actually, very interesting.
CommentSolar Streetlights
Wednesday January 23, 2008 by Eames DemetriosDesigner Ross Lovegrove designed this solar tree — a streetlight in Vienna that gathers its solar power during the day and is powered all night.
Here is a link to a Hungarian site with more. Under the image there is a link to a gallery.
CommentFrank Zappa
Thursday January 24, 2008 by Eames DemetriosAs a believer in freedom of speech, I found watching Frank Zappa on Crossfire from 1986 pretty wonderful.
CommentMore of the Pond
Friday January 25, 2008 by Eames DemetriosIt is nice to see it all filled up by nature. (Some of it is a bit beat down by raccoons)
Rain
Friday January 25, 2008 by Eames Demetrios
We are having rainstorms in southern california today. Since they are not that common, they have quite an impact. Very disruptive.
But the sound on our roof was wonderful, and our little pond in our backyard is all filled up.
Lately too I have really been feeling the desert-ness of Los Angeles. Not the obvious way (the hot summers) but the way the nights get quite cold in the winter, even if the days are moderate. (No, I am not comparing this to the arctic! but it is the wide swings of temperature that are typical of the desert in the winter that interests me. We don’t always notice that.)
CommentDiscovering Design
Sunday January 27, 2008 by Eames DemetriosHerman Miller has put up some interesting Design Resources here at Discovering Design.
CommentA Great Ad
Monday January 28, 2008 by Eames DemetriosRegular readers of this site know that we rarely feature partisan politics here. We are unafraid of people who feel Global Warming is inherently partisan, because it won’t be when the water is alpping at all of our feet. And We look forward to the day that the spirited debate is between different means to address the problem in a meaningful time frame.
Having said all that, this may be on of the all time great political ads:
(no pressure, Steve)
CommentSorry, in transit
Thursday January 31, 2008 by Eames DemetriosSorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days. I am giving a talk in Dubai and have just arrived. Hoping to share some of the sights here.
Also: we’ll be post DAS18 pretty soon—a glimpse of the show at the Eames Office
CommentWhat Font Says "Change"?
Thursday January 31, 2008 by Eames DemetriosAn interesting article in the Boston Globe desconstructing the font choices of the various presidential candidates: What Font Says Change?
Comment