...gadgets gadgets gadgets

..in the january issue of wired magazine there is a brief article about the over-abundance of gadgets in 2005 and the fact that they're practically obsolete an hour after they're purchased and that many are launched before the technology is developed properly, ie, camera phones. I can't find the article online so there is no link -- here is an idea..find the issue with einstein's photo (left) and look through it to find the piece.


ok, here is a link for those who didn't understand the directions above..www.wired.com/wired/

this blog thing is new to me so halo to all u blog people . finalli a place other than my godamn diary to put down ideas ... ill start with this one for now... people hav all sorta "favourite" quotes , one might remember a quote their grade 9 teacher toldem or simply just steal it from some "profound" book to impress a lova ? i dono ... write to me ... me needs to know about those little sayings in ure head . oh ya this pic is one of ma fav ladies of course Louise Bourgeois , shes a French artist livin in NY sorta like the grandmother of her thing ( feminist based work- sculptures ) she doesnt call herself a feminist !! uhm what was the point of all this ? ohya ... she wrote in her diary ," onli tomorrow is interesting " ! yes n that is the quote i like tonight . ciao

...secondart..really cool site that lets collectors like you and me buy n sell high quality art! it's in the uk and i don't know of a north american version. dealing in art involves a lot of commissions from all sides, which at the end of the day hits the art buyer. it's nice to be able to cut out the middleman -- hoping this model does that to a degree. only fee is listing charge of 40 pounds. not bad..

(thanks maryam :)

..amazing how much you can learn from what people are searching online these days. google zeitgeist breaks it down really nicely by categories..who could have guessed the top News search would have been for Janet Jackson?!!

...happy holidays!

biz...subway maps..

I haven't used isubwaymaps.com myself..it sounds like a cool idea, but I'm not totally convinced on its relevance on an ipod. the service is pretty self-explanatory - subway maps you can download on your ipod.

I love the idea of location-specific ipod services and I think it still has some way to go. ipods are in a lot of people's hands these days and more uses will be developed for them other than listening to music. more on this later...

for now, if you want to have the subway map on you at all times..download away!

bad biz..

I flew to vancouver today on air canada and discovered on the flight that all northamerican flights are now without the usual services, meaning if you want to eat, or be warm, you gotta pay..and that goes for everything, from their gross sandwiches to their mysterious nuts and even the gross little pillows and the flea-infested blankeys they used to give you!!

when I enquired as a curious customer would, I was told that the airline has kept the fares the same for 20 years, so how could it possibly afford to keep providing these services!? hm, I wonder if a toronto-vanoucer flight would have cost $760 twnety years ago? anyway, I don't really care - I don't like their food anyway - I just hate that there is basically NO competition in the airlines industry in canada.

vancouver is very lovely this time of year, thank you...

..paris..

The Louvre is re-shaping itself again. First it was I.M. Pei's contreversial pyramid, now it's this cool structure to house the Islamic Art collection in the museum's courtyard. This floating carpet strucutre (alibaba goes to paris) is the winning design (by Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti)!


This design was also a runner-up and worth showing...it is by zaha hadid.

why doesn't toronto have such cool plans?? oh wait, it does! love it or hate it, liebskind's ROM re-design plan IS very cool and different.

archidose.blogspot.com

...book

I love architecture and I admit, I enjoy architecture books with lots of pictures! I know it doesn't sound so intellectual, but I really like to SEE the works, not just read about them - is that so wrong? Hence, this Phaidon book. All their books are high quality but I want to own this book! It is the best general contemporary architecture book I have ever seen. I was in the Guggenheim a few months ago and the only part I remember is standing in their bookstore for almost an hour looking through this book. If anyone knows how to get this book for cheaper than its regular hefty price tag please let me know. (i realize it comes with a cery cool, clear carying case but it's still a good chunk of money)

www.phaidon.com

design to the rescue...

seeing those bags from yesterday's post on my site was depressing me...so here are some solutions! I'm not going to turn this blog into an amateur version of Stuff Magazine, but I did promise to find an alternative to those black, boring lap top bags. Freitag bags have been around for some time now and have always loved the bags, and their concept. Two brothers, waterproof transport truck tarp, bicycle innertubes, seatbelts and smart design - et voila! (ok they may not have been made specifically for laptops)
also, I saw the red maloo recently out of Japan. very cool and simple bags made for laptops and accessories. no stores listed for Canada yet unfortunately. (www.joshspear.com)

style..less

coming home from work the other day I looked around on the subway and I noticed that almost eveyone has the standard-issue laptop bags made from Teflon or the latest Dupont technology material...some are lucky to carry the latest thing in cube-land: laptop bags with "Telescoping handle and in-line roller skate wheels" these things are honestly the ugliest invention created. Who designs these things? and why do they seem to come up with the exact same colors and materials every time?

what happened to the days of carrying a simple leather briefcase? this is an area of product design that seems to have been completely ignored. ok, I've ranted enough about this. I'm going to try to find some designers who are doing something about this...

clothes..

I've seen a lot of street style sites like style arena or japanese streets popping up and I was interested in doing this myself for some time. I liked that they're basically fashion magazines but much more raw and closer to, well, the streets..so I started researching it...unfortunately, I realized that where I live is not exactly a style mecca..toronto, where I currently reside, has a style that is conformist and very mainstream on its good days. I think for many cities it makes sense to have this sort of site but for UNfashionable street style that is everywhere..think about it - it'd be different, unique and I'm sure in any city with PLENTY of material to use. After all, being a true fashion victim or style disaster takes some skill and creativity too.

biz .. BlockView maps..

..after spending about about an hour playing around and trying to find the street I used to live on in Mill Valley, CA I was disappointed when no pictures existed of my block..regardless, this is a really cool map - Amazon's maps.a9.com show street views. hope they start covering more cities.

..art..games!!

Gaming has been the new thing for a while now. I heard recently that pro gamers hire people in China to take them through the easy stages of the games to pass it on to them for the later stages that are more fun and new!

anyway..I digress, some very cool art ideas are being produced with games. Two that caught my eye: Cory Arcangel's Super Mario Clouds, a simple but cool play on old favorite..even cooler is Velvet Strike, virtual 'tags' that you can add to the game, Counter-Strike. I don't play the game but the idea of you and I tagging video games with grafitti kinda made me go, hm? Must mention that Velvet Strike originally started as a protest to Bush's war on terrorism..

www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/007579.php

biz..

...no one likes them, everyone has gotten them at some point in their lives. Londoners have a new way of avoiding them with www.radar24.co.uk ..so do the Swiss (Natel Futé) and so do those lucky Danes (Razzia) ...so why not canada?
Yes, I live in Canada where I think most people like things calm and safe, and that's why you do not see as much entrepreneurial activity around. I digress...you pay to receieve texts about traffic cop locations and speed traps..how do they know where the action is? They pay some drivers to send in the messages. I don't know how well it works but it's a cool model.


www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/play.html?pg=7

..art!!

A site I came across a while ago..this is the COOLEST art site!! watch others' sketches be created in any speed you want...click on FLASHCARDS 2 link below the main screen to choose other sketches to view.

http://fcmx.net/vec/get.swf?i=003702

(mizubitchy.antville.org)

me

I'm starting a blog for fun and also because I think our attention spans can't handle more than what a blog has to offer these days - snippets of information. We glance at headlines while watching TV, on elevators, on subways and subway stations. We like things quick and basic. Are we all going to become jacks of all trades? Regardless, that is what I feel like sometimes.

This blog will be about everything..all things intersting. And it will be for those of who feel ADD is becoming a way of life :/