(My apologies for the shameless self-promotion. I'd also like to use this opportunity to give a shout-out to Rey. See below.)
As you know this year's Republican National Convention will take place in Twin Cities from September 1st. The local art community decided to organize a political art event (ironically named The UnConvention) using the convention as a backdrop. They have invited many artists from all over the country to participate in the event, including me. My installation, Political Science 101: A Crash Course in Civil Discourse on Political Blogs, is an appraisal of the political blogs as a civil discourse medium. It will be shown at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis from August 31s to November 2nd.
The New York Times has a report on the event and my work (the reporter got my name all wrong; I've asked for a correction):
If you will be in the area and are interested in attending the event, more info can be found here:
Rey Peralta has been helping me on the front-end programming. This wouldn't have came to fruition without his talents!
--Fang-Yu Lin
Lately, I have become convinced that multitasking is the enemy of qualitative productivity. Sometimes quality results from working on a bazillion things at once but generally a lot of potential for greatness gets lost in the maelstrom. Most of the time, you produce a variety of material that is middling in quality with maybe one or two better constructs. And you can only hide in meeting rooms and work from home so much. The most compelling article in support of the nascent unitasking movement was published in the Atlantic Monthly a while back. If I don't remember writing about it here before, and I'm really not sure if I did, it's because of this simple little idea.Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires--the constant switching and pivoting--energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we're supposed to be concentrating on.Anyway, this brings me to a new application for the Mac OS X called "Freedom"; Lifehacker alerted me to its existence a couple of days back. Perhaps best of all, "Freedom" doesn't allow you to just turn it off when you start jonesing for the 'net. Here's the scoop, straight from the Freedom "read me."
Stopping or quitting Freedom will not re-enable your network adapters. This is purposeful. To re-enable your network before the time period elapses, you must restart your computer.Download it here and get big chunks of your life back.
Turman
A portion of the pageantry that is the brewing process at this little dandy.
In this first edition of our exploration of the Organic network's many, many ways of making coffee around this great continent of ours, we start with this hulking yet techy-looking Starbucks-branded machine.
Stolen straight from the Star Trek set, this monster has a bunch of bells and whistles, but is really limited to coffee and cocoa, as far as I could tell. With Clover taking over the world, you'd think this would be a sweet machine, brewing basically two types of coffee by the cup in a very controlled setting.
And it was OK. Not as bitter as Starbucks coffee that's been sitting in a thermos for a couple hours. (After a direct comparison, this By-The-Cup machine provides a noticeably fresher cup...but not any fresher than you could get by just grinding the beans yourself right before brewing.)
Long story short, it wasn't quite as magical as one might hope for standing in front a machine for 90 seconds and listening to it buzz and whir and all that. But it was fun to do. So that's something.
Location: DET, Main Kitchen, 1st Floor
It's a busy day. You're tired. You've got a ton do to, and then a ton to do after that. Wouldn't it be great if you could just take a 20 minute break and get a relaxing, energizing massage before you jump back into it?
Well, you can! Every other Wednesday, the on-site massage
therapist is in the building to help you get for the day. For only $10
(normally $20, but Organic covers half for full-time employees!), you can get a
fantastic massage that will get the blood flowing and add some much-needed
energy to your day.
Sign up now - you'll be glad you did!
-Daryl B.
BTW...for those who might find themselves in Southern California on the big day (8-31-08), get ready to enjoy the tasty rhymes of one Kanye "to the"...live at the Coliseum. Who's gonna be at yours? Oh, doctor!
(Many more hott pooch pics after the jump...)
Hi, All.
On Tuesday (8/5), Mitch is bringing in his dog for a photo shoot. If you cannot be around dogs for whatever the reason, please note that the dog will be in Mitch's office and if you can avoid this area, please do.
If there is an issue with this you need me to address, please do not hesitate to let me know.
(Camp 13 Insider Comment of the Day: If we had GloCator, you could all find this huss in a jiffy.)
Ever wonder: "What exactly do they do?This summer 7 students were chosen to participate in Organic's
internship program, the Farm. As the best, brightest and freshest
talent they are learning to cultivate exceptional experiences for
clients while serving all departments across the network. In addition
to rolling up their sleeves our Farmers are getting a taste of what's
growing in each department.
In the past few weeks they have had the opportunity to meet the leaders
of the Technology department, Creative department and this week they
will meet with our San Francisco Engagement Management team in our four
part speaker series; "Get Acquainted".
On Monday, July 21st, the Farm invites the Organic network to meet the
leaders of the Engagement Management department and learn about what
they do.
"Hint: Someone has to talk to our client"
--Rebecca Sanders
I've seen a bunch of views of the Earth...from mountains, from satellites, from Google's camera cars driving around my hood...but this.
If you were hanging out 31 million miles away from where I'm sitting, the Earth would look something like this to you through your powerful camera. Click here to watch the video...seeing the moon pass by is the freakiest thing I've seen since visiting the Arch in St. Louis way, way, way after closing time.
Big ups, NASA.
--Mike Hudson
IR-2008-82, June 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service today announced an increase in the optional standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2008. Taxpayers may use the optional standard rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
The rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008. This is an increase of eight (8) cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008, as set forth in Rev. Proc. 2007-70.
(Booyah!)
On the down side, this email went to DET-ALL:
We have some bad news regarding the fruit/milk/OJ deliveries every week. We received a phone call from our delivery company this morning saying they would no longer be able to provide their services to us, as the gas was just too much for them. They are located in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, so it's just too much for them to take on any longer. In the mean time, we cannot guarantee fruit/milk/OJ until we can find another company who will deliver. We have a few other possibilities, but for now, please bear with us during this difficult time. J
(Worst)
DETROIT -- Whene'er I find myself in the Motor City, I take a moment to kick around the office of Creative guru Scott Lange...a long-standing favorite of all Organics who have had the pleasure to make his acquaintance.
Scott's office stands as a living monument to interesting trinkets and, if he's around, stories to go with 'em. This masterpiece -- an original poster of the 1985-ish Michigan Panthers Cheerleading Sqaud of the now defunct USFL brought to you by your Metro Detroit Dodge Dealers-- will be the first of what I hope to be many bloggish explorations of this impressive collection.
Try, if you can, to allow the eye to be drawn away from the fearsome Panther's Eyes for a moment. Near the middle of this pack of Michigan's finest b-list cheerleading corps (impressively including two gentlemen) are two old school Chrysler products from the K-car era. One is drawn back to the days of the Iococca Era -- straight talk, can-do attitude and "lead, follow or get out of the way". These are the Dodge Daytona and the vague "Dodge Convertible" Just imagine the wind blowing through your hair on I-75 in that convertible Dodge Aries...freedom defined.
And there is more to be found as we explore to the left of the frame and see a strange cloud of smoke (click on the picture for a larger view). For details, we asked Scott himself.
"I imagine it to be either a smoke machine that didn't get going very well or, more likely, I'd see it being the photographer's van running just outside of the shot," Lange said.
--Mike Hudson
Common Threads
Until July 31st
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
212-247-0082
This is a show with works by female artists. All of the works speak through fabric worked and molded in various constructions. The show features artists such as: Faith Ringgold, Lee Bontecou, Bety Saar. I loved them all, the sculpture by Yayoi Kusama(image above) is something to see, it's a sculpture make of painted gold (think the color of 18kt gold) it's an elaborate intertwining of tubular constructions, maybe phallic. Barbara Chase-Riboud's piece of silk and bronze creates tension between the strength of metal with the fluidity of silk. I had a chat with Michael; he said what makes this show unique is the fact that few male artists have done work using fabric as extensively as women artists have. I believe this is a female thing. Is this related to the role women played in society years ago? We sewed by hand, we mended, darned and quilted; even the wealthiest women spent many a leisure afternoon in the drawing room engaged in needlepoint.
We've come a long way baby.
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