Prototype

Untitled from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.

We Have Decided Not To Die

We have decided not to die | 2004 from Nick on Vimeo.

...wow. Did you watch that? I just watched that. Wow.

...ok, some of the cgi is a bit iffy, but the video in general, it's just great. I really like the use of mixed timelines. <3

Food note

Chicken + asparagus + parmesan + ground salt and pepper pistachios = great on pasta. (Sorry, no pictures tonight.)

Fun With Lasers

It's been a while since I've given a project update here. In part because I've been really busy (1 job, 2 internships, and school) but mostly because I'm trying to find a way to tell you all about my progress / what I'm doing without giving away the ending.

I don't think I'm risking too much with this update, so here it goes.

The project I've been working on involves a lot of both large and small scale work. The small scale stuff requires a lot of parts to be fabricated. This gave me an excuse to design stuff to be made on the laser cutter we have in the building here.

Last week I cut some test pieces:


Which I then assembled into a 3d form so they can serve their purpose of joining threaded rod at perfect 90 degree angles.



Eventually I'm going to cut a few more of these (with modifications made, this is a learning experience.) and eventually wind up with this:


For now though I've gotta say, lasers are just awesome.

Made For Each Other

Goodby , Silverstein & Partners has come out with a series of wonderful ads for Frito-Lays, just in time for Valentines day.





My favorite of these is definitely Fire Sprite, which features a cute little flame burning everyone it tries to get close to (we've all be in that relationship, right?) There does seem to be a bit of a non-sequitor between the animations and frito-lays chips and dip, but they're so cute and wonderful that I'll forgive it.

In addition to these wonderful ad-spots, they also rolled out an accompanying webpage: madeforeachother.com. It takes forever to load, but it's really fun to explore.



Goodby, Silverstein & Partners really has a wonderful use of texture as color that is evident in all their animations, as well as in the webpage.

And now, for your enjoyment: some of the couples you can pair up on madeforeachother.com



Just to show a few...

O.L.S.G.P. PASTA

O.L.S.G.P. stands for Onions, Leeks, Sausage, Garlic and Parmesan. I know, clever title for this recipe, oh well.

I've been working a lot lately, and earlier in the week things got truly desperate as I found myself to be down to just some pasta, a bag of onions, and a bag of pre-grated parmesan (and a few other things, but nothing else that could potentially be combined).

At the time I was also sick, and I wasn't about to go to the store anytime soon.

So I sliced the onions really thin, caramelized them with some garlic, boiled the pasta, and threw on some cheese. Cheap, quick, easy, edible.

Today I finally went and hit up the store, and I came back to this recipe. Deciding I wanted to expand on it some, I got some leeks, italian sausage, and a block of parmesan.

The onion is still the star of this recipe though, so there's a good bit of onion.

Here's the recipe:

1 package italian sausage
2 onions
2 leeks
8 cloves of garlic
Half a box of angel hair pasta
Block of parmesan.

Put a big pan over medium heat. Brown and drain your sausage. (If it is in a skin, remove it from the skin.) Remove the sausage from the pan, and set aside.

Reduce the pan to medium-low heat. Slice your onions and leeks really thin and throw them into the pan. Don't touch them! Let them sit for a little bit and start to caramelize and brown. Don't let them sit too long though, or they'll start to burn.

While the onions and leeks are caramelizing, chop your garlic. By the time you finish doing this should probably be a good time to toss the onions for the first time. Add the garlic at this point.

While this is cooking, boil some water and cook up your pasta. I did a half a box, but really how much you make is up to you.

Toss the onions every so often to prevent burning. Once they're all brown and soft, and the garlic is soft, you're pretty much done. Drain your pasta, toss it with the onions, leeks, sausage and garlic and serve. Grate parmesan on top.

Chairs!

I got some free chairs off craigslist. All but one of them needed repair (dowel replacement). A bag of ribbed joining dowels cost me $1.99, so effectively I spent 50 cents a chair. HURRAY!

I still have to fix the last one, but once I do I'll have 2 pairs of matching chairs.



I finally have a place to sit at my table.

Start your day off right...

With an amazingly executed stop motion music video featuring the most compelling characters I've ever seen created from some of the most basic geometric shapes.


Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

[via shape+colour]

Anti-representationalism

Well it is. Well, I guess this isn't, but that's sort of the conundrum of showing you a photo of something that exists in the real world....

There's a part of me that wants to drop the $550 for a last minute plane ticket to London...

Xbox Live Vision

The Xbox Live Vision is an excellent webcam. You can find it for about $15 on ebay and it uses a universal driver, making it compatible with pretty much any computer without hassling with drivers. This makes it an ideal choice for interactive video installations. I used two of them in The Eye. But if regular visual data isn't enough? Modify it to see infrared!

I really need some exposed film.

Scott Pilgrim #5

Oni was at Floating World for a First Thursday Scott Pilgrim #5 release party, and I dropped by.

First of all, the book is just plain sexy. Look at that foil cover. Purdy. Secondly...I still haven't opened it. I'm getting antsy, but I haven't had a chance. Tomorrow night is going to be Scott Pilgrim read-it-up night for me.

Some other Scott Pilgrim related goodness:

I picked up a few of these at the release, you can download them at Cubeecraft.



And finally, if you read the book, you probably already know all about this, but just incase you don't: look how perfect this casting is.

DOOM Stew

I made a potroast about a week back, and it's been sitting in my fridge since.

Not wanting it to go bad, I decided to do something with it tonight.



Really simple, really delicious, and like any proper beef meal: really manly.

Here's the recipe (Sorry, I didn't measure a damn thing):

Put a pot over medium heat with a splash of olive oil.
Cube precooked pot roast with gravy.
Throw in cubed onions, cook until edges just begin to carmelize
Throw in 1 bottle of beer
Add chopped:
Mushrooms
Carrots
Celery
Potatoes
Dice 6 cloves of garlic
Add 1 cup water, simmer until cooked.

Eat. Grow chest hair. Enjoy.

Teen Lover's

The Virgins - Teen Lovers from inyourfaceTV on Vimeo.

Talk about a great music video. Director Ace Norton took a wonderful concept, and made it amazing. And those "stills" .... SO GREAT.

[via Shape+Colour]

I'm bringing it back.

I've been working 13 out of 14 days the last 2 weeks, and am going to continue to do so the next 2 weeks, so I haven't really had as much time to bake/cook. (Or grocery shop)

But I made a batch of White Chocolate Cranberry cookies last week, and while they came out good, they needed improvement.

So I remade them tonight.

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Preheat the oven to 375

2/3 cup butter flavored shortening (not butter. It drastically effects the final product)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces white chocolate
8 ounces dried cranberries.

Scoop onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Excitement.

We're building up to something....