Perpenduum » Remix

ONull

David Goligorsky — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:40:56 +0000

ONull is written in Java and uses Processing as a graphical engine. Awesome vector generator that rasterizes an image to give you a vector output file. You can choose the squares, crosses, circles, etc. or you can import your own vector to use as the “pixels.” Excellent tool.

Recycled Houses

David Goligorsky — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:23:33 +0000

The New York Times ran a slideshow of homes built by Dan Phillips. Mr. Phillips creates houses from salvaged materials ranging from branches to corks to wine bottles to picture frames. These are apparently low-income homes somewhere in Huntsville, TX but they look phenomenal. (Thanks for the tip, Molly.)

Finding the average color in an image

David Goligorsky — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:14:20 +0000

Just thinking about a project and quickly found this free online tool by Wise Geek that finds the average color in an image. Seems to be good! I’ve done things like this in MATLAB before, but it’s unnecessarily complicated and Photoshop doesn’t seem to have a good way to do this… please comment if you have a better solution.

The photo here is of the Stanford Solar Car.

Food’lebrities

David Goligorsky — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:25:08 +0000

My amazing friends are working on this amazing blog, Food’lebrities, which mashes up celebrities and menu items. Be sure to leave a “condiment” on your favorite posts.

Pita Gabriel

Quiche Richards

Come a long way, kinda

David Goligorsky — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:16:43 +0000

Check out this “record player” iPhone app. The author, Theodore Watson, threw it together in one morning. I really like projects that get the point across quickly. It’s a build-to-think mode and sparks dialogue (like this blog post) that gets people thinking about how to use what’s around them.

At Free Art and Technology, via NOTCOT

Lockwasher

David Goligorsky — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:25:29 +0000

Sculptural designs from Lockwasher (via ATG).

43

David Goligorsky — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:33:39 +0000

One of the finer things to come from the Bush Jr. era. It’s on eBay and the auction ends in a few days! Interestingly enough, the piece in Germany. (via Kempt)

Bianchi & Acne Jeans

David Goligorsky — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:16:18 +0000

Another cultural/counter-cultural zeitgeist collaboration: the Italian bicycle manufacturer Bianchi and the Swedish high-end fashion house Acne teamed up to produce some track bikes in great colorways with some typography from deep in the archives.

The bicycle itself looks to be identical to a Bianchi Pista with respect to geometry and components. As a bicycle, the Pista doesn’t do much for me. The geometry doesn’t make any sense, particularly because Pista riders typically ride in the streets and typically don’t ever see a velodrome. Why, then, cling to the 28mm fork rake? Your feet most certainly get in the way of turning the front wheel. The Pista fork is actually hideous in all respects. Acne just put lipstick on the pig, but it works well visually. I could see myself ordering one of these frames.

Leica D-LUX 4

David Goligorsky — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:24:10 +0000

Core77 mentioned the impending arrival of the new Leica D-LUX 4 as reported at Digital Photography Review. I use it’s predecessor, the Leica D-LUX 3, and I love the crisp optics, the macro option, the range of focal length in the optical zoom, the 16:9/3:2/4:3 aspect ratio options, the option to go fully or partially manual with aperture, shutter speed, and focus, and the Leica compact digitals are the most elegant-looking cameras in their class and price point (in my opinion). I have a few gripes about the usability design, including the lens cap, the arrangement of functions on the function wheel, the separate setting for macro auto-focus and normal auto-focus. My primary complaint, however, was the single lens strap attachment. It’s seemingly minor, but it is such a glaring issue in my opinion just because its faults are so apparent and the fix is so laughably simple. [Editor’s note: at this point, I had written a very long diatribe about this problem, but I realized that nobody wants to read my peeved product design venting, so I deleted it. Maybe someone does want to hear it. If so, leave a comment.] When photographers carry their cameras, they use their neck, not their wrist. See excellent t-shirt below for example.

With the D-LUX 4, Leica has improved the optics to allow wider angle photojournalist-style shots and provides for wider apertures to improve low-light photographs. In-camera color and contrast are fine tuned to simulate the image characteristics of Leica’s film cameras. Technical improvements aside, let’s take a look at the interface. The function wheel is now arranged without the playback mode, which was definitely a problem on the D-LUX 3. If you wanted to go from automatic (“A”) to an automatic mode with certain user-selected settings (Program Autoexposure: “P”), the camera would have to pass over the playback mode and the internal computer would get momentarily confused. The added hot-shoe on the D-LUX 4 is clutch. Most importantly, Leica added that second strap loop! Finally, Leica D-LUX users can carry their classy compact digital like they’ve always carried their cameras! I would genuinely consider swapping up to the D-LUX 4 for that feature alone. Fortunately, that option isn’t open to me yet because the D-Lux 4 still isn’t available.

Leica D-LUX 3

Leica D-LUX 4

Mr. Matsumoto

David Goligorsky — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:15:54 +0000

These wood and brass sculptures of common objects are phenomenal. They are by Mr. Matsumoto, who will have an exhibit of this work at the Paul Smith shop on Floral Street from September 15-20 to coincide with London Fashion Week and London Design Festival. (via Dezeen)

Lartigue, Avedon, and Wes Anderson

David Goligorsky — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:00:41 +0000

It’s been duly noted that Wes Anderson took inspiration from Jaques Henri Lartigue.
For one, the shot of Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman) as founder of the Yankee Racers is clearly homage to Lartigue’s image of his brother on a “bobsled with wheels”. Furthermore, his brother’s name is Zissou and any Anderson fan will tell you that Zissou is the name of Bill Murray’s character in The Life Aquatic.

As I was exploring the late Richard Avedon’s portfolio, I came across this image of a young rattlesnake skinner:

It recalled the fleeting image of Eli Cash (as played by Owen Wilson) on the cover of a NYT-looking Sunday Magazine in The Royal Tenenbaums…

I perused the internet to see if this has been documented, and of course it has been mentioned (although not as much as the Lartigue/Anderson homages.) Turns out, the mother of Luke and Owen Wilson, Laura Wilson, worked closely with Avedon, particularly in his documenting the American West. What’s more, Richard Avedon is the man behind the cast photo for the Royal Tenenbaums, according to the Criterion Collection page.
The best thing about great filmmakers is the ability of their work to affect you long after you are exposed to it. Woody Allen’s cultural references had turned me on to Swedish playwright August Strindberg, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, American comics the Marx Brothers, and countless other creative talents. Wes Anderson’s work seems to have the same effect on me, although his references also introduced me to new things in the world of typography and classic fashion in addition to film, music, and literature.

Parasitic Parking Spot

David Goligorsky — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:00:17 +0000

A tent in the shape of a car with canvas car cover. This is a great idea, although it would be fairly unsettling to be privy to the whims of passing traffic and “love-tap” parking jobs while you’re in a pod you can’t see out of. Also, I can imagine the looks you would get while setting up shop. Still, a nice way to claim you own slice of public space. This would be a fun tent to use at an actual campsite. (from an older post at the wonderful swissmiss.)

Crowded or amazing?

David Goligorsky — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:05:30 +0000

The following is an outlet available from Leviton. I can’t believe this is the first time that three inlets have been offered for a standard-sized electrical receptacle. (via NotCot)

Sightings

David Goligorsky — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:16 +0000

“Sightings” will be a recurring section for objects of interest that I was able to photograph.

Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand (MoMA, NYC)

Chairs by Jean Prouvé (MoMA, NYC)

Students’ Desk by Jean Prouvé (MoMA, NYC)

Handwritten Signage (Somerville, MA)

Mondrian-inspired Volvo (Harvard Square, MA)

Hotel Delmano (Brooklyn, NY)

Wim Delvoye - Belgian Artist

David Goligorsky — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:04:12 +0000

Check out Beligan Artist Wim Delvoye. He has some incredible original and extremely disparate pieces of work. His projects include sawblades and gas canisters that are decorated in a classical porcelain styling (pictured), incredibly ornate laser cut steel installations, bizarre x-ray stained glass, pigs with Louis Vuitton tattoos, machinery that emulates bodily processes, and innumerable other projects, often with controversy à la Damien Hirst. Find out for yourself and enjoy his well-designed site.

In Never Leave Well Enough Alone, (the memoir of one of the founding fathers of Industrial Design) Raymond Loewy constantly attacks “decalomaniacs.” That’s his term for “designers” who “improve” an object by painting some flowers or a landscape on a product or piece of machinery. He believed that the aesthetic nature of an object should be intimately related to the object’s functionality. The visual cues of an object should be regarded at the same level as the usability, interaction, and functionality of a product. This Wim Delvoye adorned gas canister is interesting to me on many levels. It’s a utilitarian object that is designed for low cost and safety. An object like this does not make emotional bonds with the user and these things are generally returned to the filling station and forgotten. The classical adornment of the object offers immense perceived value and make the gas canister essentially unusable since it is a presumably expensive museum-worthy piece. Wim Delvoye’s gas canisters also embody the period of decalomania in product design. Here, the decoration adds some high-brow humor to a common object, but it also harks back to the concept of branding- how adding something like the Louis Vuitton logo to anything makes an object generally more desirable, more expensive, and more symbolic, whether or not that object is an authentic Vuitton piece.

“I see some familiar typefaces”

David Goligorsky — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:12:52 +0000

Funny short film about personified fonts via swissmiss!

Digital Warfare

David Goligorsky — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:30:28 +0000

I’ve been spending serious time on Photoshop and InDesign putting something together for this year’s MUJI competition. The fingers are very tired of magnetic lasso.

Apparently, someone else has been playing around in Adobe apps… Almost every major news source had run an image of an Iranian missile test that has since been called “apparently digitally altered.” New York Times has the scoop.

(A rare political post on Perpenduum, via Telstar Logistics)

“Bestsellers For People With Low Expectations”

David Goligorsky — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:13:32 +0000

My favorites from a competition at Fake Interviews With Real Celebrities:

As I Lay Tired

Realistic Expectations

Half-Hearted Wave to Arms

Assistant Manager of the Rings

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

David Goligorsky — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:41:59 +0000

Pittsburgh’s premiere Biomedical-Engineer-turned-international-DJ-phenomenon, Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk), just made his latest album available. It’s called Feed the Animals He’s followed the example that Radiohead established by making the album available online at whatever price you think is worth it.

Name your price and download it here!

(via Kempt)

In a 2006 interview by Ryan Dombal for Pitchfork Media Review, Gregg Gillis talks about how he had his Engineering day job where nobody knew about his rising fame as a DJ:

It would just be weird that I’ve been hiding this huge part of my life from them. They always come in and ask me about my weekend and I am the resident young guy and whenever I have a wild night on the town in Pittsburgh they like to hear about it. A lot of times when I say I didn’t do anything I was actually in Miami doing a show.

New Weezer Video Starring Inadvertent YouTube Celebrities

David Goligorsky — Sun, 25 May 2008 13:36:42 +0000

My feelings for the band Weezer have been hot and cold throughout the years. When the “Blue Album” came out in 1994, I was headbanging to Say it Ain’t So with the rest of ‘em. I thought it was borderline hubris when they held off on a new album between 1996’s Pinkerton and the “Green Album” in 2001. Somewhere during that hiatus, I happened upon an interview in a reputable music magazine (don’t remember which one) where the interviewer poked at the astounding similarities between their Blue Album cover and the Feelies’ cover for Crazy Rhythms (a phenomenal album from 1990). I don’t remember the exact syntax, but lead singer Mr. Cuomo’s rebuttal was not much different than “this is a Weezer interview, we don’t have to talk about that shit.” Yikes! That attitude sullied my perception of the band and haven’t paid much attention to them since.

Until right now! NotCot posted their video for Pork and Beans, which is dense with references to popular YouTube content like Mentos & Diet Coke explosions, as well as guest appearances by the likes of the sissy Brittany Spears fan with the eye makeup, Peanut Butter Jelly Time banana, dramatic chipmunk, “Chocolate Rain” singer, Daft Punk hand and body text girls, and many more that I’m embarrassed to be familiar with.

So let’s see… Blue Album stems from the Feelies’ Crazy Rhythms. Pinkerton is exactly Hiroshige’s 19th century print Kambara yoru no yuki /”Night Snow at Kambara”. Their music video is just a compilation of available material. Maybe it’s all an homage to Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, or perhaps it’s like the saying, “if you’re going to steal, steal from the best.”