August 28, 2009
August 27, 2009
Arlington Map For Heath and Christina
August 24, 2009
In Celebration of Sub-creation
August 21, 2009
August 18, 2009
Time-lapse
A couple of interesting time-lapse videos. The first is a boat crossing the Panama Canal. Having just read a book on its construction, I have an enormous respect for this engineering feat.
The second is made by a random American walking across China. I really like the little touches of combining pictures to form little animated vignettes and the running captions.
The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.
August 17, 2009
Recommendations
Film:
Ponyo
I feel really spoiled having seen both a Pixar flick and a Ghibli flick in the same summer. Laura and I went to see Ponyo on Saturday and had a great time; the theater was filled with kids and we sat next to two old ladies who loved Miyazaki. The story was something of a mix between Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid and Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. It had beautiful (if unexpectedly rough) animation, adult characters who were realistic and genuinely caring, child characters who were surprisingly mature but still childlike, complex environmental themes, a great mom who was also a crazy driver, a love of ham, and lots of Devonian fish.
Book:
A Place of My Own
I just finished this book by Michael Pollan, an author who is best known by his writings of food. Because of this I was surprised to find his name as I was browsing our firm’s library; what is a food writer doing in an architecture library? However this book is not about food but his thoughts as he builds a writing shack back in the woods on his property. He offers great insights into the world of architecture and construction from an outsider’s point of view. His usual mix clear thinking and wandering reflections are in full force here, and my only complaint was that the book needed more drawings (but that is my usual complaint no matter what the subject matter).
Art:
Butchers, Dragons, Gods, and Skeletons
The Kimbell’s current exhibition is a bit unusual but utterly fantastic. A good portion of their permanent exhibition is on display. I will pause a moment to say just how amazing their collection is. They have everything from Ancient Greek vases to Bernini’s terra cotta studies to a fun Caravaggio to a great Asian collection to impressionist masters. Interspersed through the collection are five films by Philip Haas, each based off a painting in the collection. These films are very interactive and give you a glimpse into the making of, the larger context, and the details of each painting. Best of all, it is entirely free.
August 14, 2009
IF - Wrapped
Laura just finished “The Lost City of Z” recently which describes the adventures of Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett exploration of the Amazon. This week’s Illustration Friday is my interpretation of his mysterious disappearance.
August 10, 2009
August 7, 2009
August 5, 2009
Update on Denton
We have put our move to Denton on hold. The person that was looking to take over our lease bailed out. We decided that we didn’t want to break lease lest we find ourselves in a legal mess down the road. We are still hopeful that someone will eventually take over our lease but are content to stay in Irving in the meantime.
August 4, 2009
August 3, 2009
Settlers
Two weeks ago, when we were in Pennington, Brian re-introduced me to a great board game: The Settlers of Catan. We enjoyed it tremendously, so I decided to make (instead of buy) Laura one for her anniversary/birthday present. I painted plywood sheets and then cut them with the laser cutter into hexagons. I also engraved player tiles and number tiles as well. I added a few of my own features as well; the major two being the addition of the resource of fish and the addition of guilds. We are still working out some of the kinks (such as fish resource cards) and have decided to use legos for settlements as well as the lego robin hood for the robber. Here are some pictures of the game: