pyromaniac’s dream
Posted by Adam | Filed under photography
Quick post for today. I wanted to share these images that Joyce so kindly brought to my attention the other day. Beautiful. They are the work of bast-86
resonate
Posted by Adam | Filed under illustration
Graphic artist and illustrator Si Scott is behind this beautiful and elaborate set of images. Using animals as the base picture, Scott illustrates with delicate lines and decorative frills. I had assumed most of this work was digital, but there is a video out there demonstrating his hand drawing abilities. If these are indeed hand drawn, he is an even more phenomenal artist in my mind (no ctrl-z puts you just that much higher in my book)
The Koi illustration is probably my favorite. The fish is captured with a very natural swimming motion while the decorative elements across the fins look just like flowing water. And while it doesn’t seem to be part of the “Resonate” series, the Humming Bird print captures a similar feeling of wings flapping in the air.
I actually have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Humming Bird print, as I have had several ideas for a humming bird piece of my own going back a couple of years. This might just be too good, and I’m not sure I would ever be willing to share my own attempts (or even get around to creating one). Still, these are inspiring. Check out some more of Si Scott’s portfolio at http://www.siscottstudio.com/
Below are a few more illustrations in a similar style, but I don’t think are officially part of the Resonate set. Still worth a look.
If you are interested in purchasing these prints, I found some for sale
As a related resource, if you are interested in learning how to work with frills and decorative elements, I recommend Abdizeedo’s nifty typography tutorial
musica
Posted by Adam | Filed under music
I’ve been gathering a song here and there over the last week or so in anticipation of creating my first music post (at least with more than one song). I can’t claim to have any expertise in music, but I certainly know what I am passionate about and what I like to share. I tend to prefer electronic based music, from breaks, dub, dnb, to downtempo and ambient. Then of course there is a long time fav – womp. That one might not be an official genre, but it probably should be. Below I’ve uploaded a couple of tracks so you can listen.
Bassnectar & Kraddy – SnakeCharmer
Falling squarely in the “womp” genre is this collaboration between Lorin Ashton and former Glitch Mob member Kraddy. This one is especially sick with sweet woven bass beats and middle eastern inspired melodies flowing over the top. I suggest you turn up your speakers, and make sure your sub is on.
Kether – Graffiti
Also very deep in the womp genre, Kether layers slow beats in a dub step track that I could just fall into. This is the kind of song that reverberates the world around you, vibrating you to your core, and yet keeps you tranquil enough to just keep swaying. Thanks to Miguel for posting this.
Bassment Jaxx – Raindrops
Switching gears quite a bit, we have the catchy song “Raindrops”. Bassment Jaxx as been around for a long time, and while they have a signature sound that is yet again reflected in this song, they continue to reinvent themselves. This song comes off their upcoming album due out in September ‘09. Everything about this song just screams fun and is perfect for dancing around when you know that no one is watching. I like the retro sound and daft-punkish lyrics.
Reii – Shocks
Shocks takes me back to when I first started getting into electronic music. My friend and I would put on Aphex Twin or Orbital and ask ourselves how we had missed out on all of it for so many years. Reii throws together a melodic ambient track that reminds me of the sadder trance I used to love (ok still do), but with a more character. Also I think there is just a touch of Rokysopp in there too. I can see this one at sunrise.
Links to the artists:
Bassnectar
Kraddy
Kether
Bassment Jaxx
Reii
and the boot is off
Posted by Adam | Filed under health
Back in January of this year, while playing soccer with some coworkers, I took a nasty spill and ended up fracturing the top of my left foot (5th metatarsal for those that are curious). The type of fracture, known as a Jones Fracture, occurs in an area of the bone that is particularly difficult to heal. I guess there is not a lot of healthy blood circulation, and thus, it just takes so much longer than a regular fracture to heal. As of this writing, I am still not technically healed, but I am excited to say, that I finally am out of my cam walker (soft casted boot) which I have worn now for over 5 months. It is weird to say the least, wearing normal shoes, walking up stairs, thinking of the day I might run again. I am supposed to wait another 2 months and go through a final set of x-rays before I am good to go. I think of all the things I missed, I missed dancing and fire spinning the most – and I happy to say that this last Saturday I lit up again for the first time since Thailand.
Going through all of this, I learned more about my health care insurance, and doctors in general than I ever have before (prior to this I had never sustained any kind of injury beyond a couple of stitches). Plenty of people already bemoan the health industry, and most of them have much more just cause than myself. That being said, I find the range of doctors I visited to vary greatly in quality. My first doctor examined me in urgent care, said I probably didn’t have a fracture, but ordered an x-ray anyway. He’s pretty much neutral in my book. As soon he saw that my foot was broken he referred me on to the referrer person (not a doctor) to go see a specialist. He said they would probably put me in a walker, I would need 2 weeks on crutches, and then I would be walking in a boot for about 6 weeks. In the mean time I am given crutches and my foot is splinted while my referral is processed (go HMOs).
5 days later the administrative office that is responsible for my referral has not called me back. I jump through a number of hoops and finally get an appointment with a podiatrist. My doctor turns out to be a semi-severe woman, who has little tolerance for my questions. She blanket tells me I need a cast and crutches for a minimum of six weeks. Needless to say I am upset by this as the previous doctor told me two weeks. She won’t budge and so I am stuck with the crutches and her recommendation. 6 weeks go by, then 9, then 12, and I am still not recovered. My bone was healing, but I was still 100% on crutches. And my doctor won’t commit on anything, wont say when I might be able to put on partial weight, and in general seems annoyed that I ask so many questions. I ask to get a second opinion in case I might need surgery.
Enter my third doctor, a kindly orthopedic surgeon. He goes through a thorough examination, and really talks me through the process and the complications with my injury. He suggests that we try putting some weight on it, to see how it goes. He says its all kind of an experiment, and people react differently. If I experience pain, stop. If I am not in pain keep going cautiously. Low and behold my foot starts to heal, and my new doctor works me through the process getting off crutches. Every time I saw him, he would take 15 minutes or so to talk about the kinds of activities I could be doing, checking the rate of my healing, and asking questions about my pain threshold etc. In the end, with either doctor, it may have taken the same amount of time, but having a doctor that was really very aware of my concerns, helpfully answering my questions, and open to new ideas really made the process easier.
I don’t know if some doctors just communicate better, or some doctors are just simply better at their profession, but if I ever have to go through a complicated health procedure again I really want a doctor like my last one. I think it is extremely unfortunate that so many people get shoddy health care (and so many more are not fortunate enough to have any health care). I think in some ways there is a crisis in the way we handle our professions and our jobs – we often don’t work with the degree of care that we should. In a world now where Obama is touting reforms in health care and universal coverage, I hope that we can all reach a point where we feel very comfortable with our doctors, and get the best care possible.
preparing for the burn
Posted by Adam | Filed under burning man
As you may or may not know, I am planning a trip to Burning Man this year at the beginning of September. This will be my second time out to the event, which is held the week before Labor Day out on the Black Rock Desert, in North Western Nevada. I am not going to bother explaining what kind of an event this is. If you don’t already know, go do some reading. If it seems your style, I would love to see you out there.
Preparation for a week out in the desert in a climate that can range in temperature 50 degrees, create fierce dust storms and even rain or hail, is somewhat daunting. There is food, water, shelter, and all kind of other supplies to consider. Fortunately since this is my second year, I feel a little bit more prepared to handle the elements, and so the majority of my preparation is focused on the fun parts. I am trying to put together as many costumes, and decorations as I possibly can. Last year we had a lot of success making our camp look harem / opium den-esque, and I believe we’ll probably try to go for a similar approach.
I really want to focus a lot more on my own costumes this year, which is something that has proved a little tricky. Most stores don’t really have very much burner gear, which tends to be eclectic, home-made, and somewhat post-apocalyptic. So I have been looking around a lot trying to find a cool item here or there to piece it all together. So far I have some pretty sweet molded leather masks (mardi-gras / masquerade-esque), some fisherman pants, bandannas, and goggles. I am looking for anything interesting, so if you have ideas, leave a comment. I would love to make some things, and I may give it a shot and document the results here.
Other stuff on my list:
Scarfs
Hats
Umbrellas / Parasols
Necklaces
Bracelets
Vests
Cloaks
Boots
Furry Jackets
Flags / Banners
Staves
And I’m sure there will be a random assortment of light toys as well. Should be fun.
burial + four tet – moth
Posted by Adam | Filed under music
While wasting time on dropular, I came across this amazing song and video. From what I can tell this comes out of a collaboration between burial and four tet, but that someone else added the visuals. Of everything I watched and listened to over the last week, this video stuck with me. I find it highly soothing and mesmerizing and keep coming back to it.
Take a minute (or rather 9) to watch, preferably while in the dark and with decent speakers. The visuals seamlessly align to the pace of the song, and rock back and forth with every beat. At the beginning, various abstract patterns fade in and out. The artist then fades the shots into a combination of urban landscapes and movie scenes played backwards and forwards creating a surrealist vibe. As the music develops in complexity, the images become more clear, but still keep tempo with the pacing of the song.
While the video is beautiful, the song itself is the driving force. Four Tet I am already quite familiar with as he has produced many favorites such as “My Angel Rocks Back and Forth” (for which Joyce did an amazing video) and “Unspoken”, but Burial is new to me. I’ll have to give him a closer listen, and watch out for more of his collaborative work as well.
the challenge
Posted by Adam | Filed under random
I am writing here today because a friend of mine and I have challenged ourselves to do something a little bit creative or at the very least a bit outside our comfort zones. We spend a lot of time talking about things that we would like to do or accomplish one day, only to find out that we never actually get there. Talking about doing only does so much (and not much at that). Thus I have a challenge to do something consistently creative as does he.
Mine is to write a blog. The topics can range in subject and are completely at my discretion, so you should expect a fair amount of schizophrenia in what I cover. For the most part I think this is going to be a place where I just talk about whatever I like, or am fascinated by at a particular moment. For those of you that don’t know me, I am sure to talk about design, music, festivals, art, and film. I’ll also likely talk about completely unrelated subjects as I sometimes become fascinated with that most would consider very boring (like why can’t you divide a number by 0).
So I hope you enjoy what I have to talk about. If after reading some of my material you have suggestions for topics that you think I would like, please leave me a comment, or send me an email. I am always excited about something new. With that, welcome to my blog, and its very first post.