Art (Photos): Photobloggies

Photobloggies were announced today. Some good sites I saw:
Daily Dose - won Best of. Neat design. He's married to an Iranian cool.
Joe's NYC: good looking site. I liked the tips he gives on equipment and SW in the About section. Rion - what a well designed site. Great series photos as opposed to on-offs "So, why sets and not single images? Part of why I have stayed with the multiple image format is that there is a power in sequential communication that I enjoy exploring -- multiple images can build a different story than just one image"

Naughty Krishna, originally uploaded by Shrez.

Warden Road, Bombay. December 2004

Technology: NY Times - 2 articles

Is Silicon Valley Similar to Detroit? All reports about the demise of technology are premature. Technology is dead. Long live technology!
A Service That Aims to Make Cold Calls a Bit Warmer Here is a very effective way to use social networking technology.

Technology/Design: EyeArchitect

They designed Tufte's site. EyeArchitect They have built 4 separate architectures to show how the same content can be presented differently on a website. Very effective.

Quotes: Genius steals

Saw this quote on Design by Fire.
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. Albert Einstein
Reminds me of what Ed Tufte said at one of his seminars - The intelligent borrow; genius steals.

PSLC Week #7

I thought I was going to have a zippo-nada for the last week of PSLC. But lucky me, as I was driving home from breakfast at Juan in a Million with Peter and others, I saw the Coexistence exhibit on the shores of Town Lake. Great public art.

Art : Movie Club - Silver City

Theresa invited me to Movie Club. We pick a theme and watch a movie every three or four weeks at someone's house and then discuss it. What a nifty idea. No reading like a book club - show up, watch and talk. We watched Silver City.

Vision, originally uploaded by Shrez.

Austin, 5th & Red River. March '05.

Cool tshirts

Tiny factory T's. Some are yummy.

Music: 4 New CDs

Back from NYC and needed my Waterloo fix. Bonanza! 4 CDs. Add to that a bunch of tunes I will scope out on the SXSW site. Bummer that I misseed it this year.
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm: Full lenght release by these punk-funk Brits after a super EP last year. Guud shtuff.
M.I.A. - Arular: Lots of hype for this Sri-Lankan artist. A very infectious mix of dancehall and hip-hop. A bit of a stretch for me since I have very little hip-hop in my collection.
Ada - Blondie: Indie electronica (tech-house). Good melodies and vibe unlike most electronica releases.
Thunderbirds Are Now - Justamoustache: Spazzy post-punk. Some of the songs are catchy. Not sure if I will hang on to this one.

Travel: impersonation

I went to NYC last week and this was in yesterday's NY Times Style section:
"In some ways, travel always holds within it a degree of impersonation. Setting out for distant lands, the traveler not only leaves behind his home - with its utility bills and nosy neighbors - but he can also leave behind his dreary shopworn self." Scott Spenser

Andhra travelogue by Statesman reporter

A good travel article about Renuka Rayasam's trip to see her family in Andhra Pradesh. She is a reporter for the Austin American Statesman.
A visit to old India
Shopping for a sari, India's fabric of life

Nowruz

A good article about Persian New Year - Eid Nowruz - which is today.

PSLC Week #6: NYC & RISD

I went up to NYC with Aunty Faizeh and Parinaz to help her pick a fashion design school.
So, went to the newly renovated MOMA. I really enjoyed the models and drawings section on the architecture and design floor.
Also went to the Met. I spent time looking their Japanese collection, hoping to see some good ukioyo-e. Also spent a bit of time in photography and looking at a Matisse special exhibit.
We drove up to RISD and I really enjoyed the undergraduate exhibit. MOMA and Met were good, but this was fresh, vital, invigorating.
Also went to see Ashes and Snow with Stef the first day I was in NYC. The Nomadic museum it is housed it was incredible. It felt like being in an old cathedral. The photos were good - sometimes a bit contrived - but mostly beautiful.

PSLC Week #5

I was invited to a rehearsal of Salvage Vanguard Theater's Ghenghis Khan - an opera - which opens next weekend. There were about 20 of us there. It was amazing to see and experience the creative process the group was engaged in. The singing really blew me away too. I am definitely going to see it.

Mumbai nightlife

This is a great article from the travel section of the NY Times about nightlife in Bombay. I wrote about some of these places in my last travelogue.

New CDs

Latest release by the Doves - Some Cities. I love their first two cds and this one is a strong third release. More guitarry than the first one. Not as dark as the first or bright as the second.
Adding to my Stereolab collection - Switched on. Early krautrock work. Simple, infectious, driving beats and melody.

PSLC Week #4

2040 Gallery opening of Sky Above Earth Below. Seeing all 7 of Stella's chakra paintings together was incredible.

Xerox Offset, originally uploaded by Shrez.

Near Dalal street, Bombay. Dec. 2004.

Concert Posters
I am missing SXSW this year - bummer - going to be in NYC - cool. Besides all the great bands, I wanted to catch the concert poster exhibition:
Flatstock. Also came across this book: Art of Modern Rock a few months ago. What great graphic work.