Green Platform

Hey Kids! (This is going to be rushed...and for that I am sorry.)

I'm in Siena, Italy doing a study abroad for the month of July. It's been pretty much amazing, in spite of my speaking ~15 words of the language. (...I started at 4...so... 15 is an improvement? Ci?)

Anyway, I don't really have internet access here. Not when I'm at my apartment anyway. But when I was in Florance Friday night, our hostel had wifi. Which was amazing, because it just so happened that We Make Money Not Art had posted this. We're talking serious stars aligning here.

So of course, I (along with two of the other artists I'm here with) went! It was this cool combo between art exhibit and science fair, which resulted in a really amazing experience.

Here's a sampling of images for you. The first 3 are my own images, the last two though are taken from the Green Platform website because I apparently was too enthralled by the piece to photo it well. All images are linked to the artist's page on the Green Platform site.


Nicola Toffolini

Nicola Toffolini just made it to my list of artists I think are super cool™ because of this piece, Volumi mutevoli a regime di crescita disturbato, which puts so many degrees of seperation between plant grown and natural sunlight its just breathtaking. (Three degrees are in the photo, realistically there are probably even more levels. But in the gallery it's spotlights powering solar panels powering red and blue grow lights.)


Dave Hullfish Bailey

There's something almost whimsical about Dave Hullfish Bailey's combination of text on planks and 360 degree photos of the library in Slab City, California.


Christiane Löhr

These structures are only ~3 inches tall, and made of grass stalks. I'll say no more.



Nikola Uzunovski

Nikola Uzunovski: congratulations, you've also made it onto the list of artists I think are super cool™. Artificial suns in the arctic circle? Beautiful. But the way you present it in the gallery? Even better. ...is there any way I can get a copy of that video?



So yeah... best 4 euro I've spent on this trip thus far. Click the links on those photos. I'm really not doing any of these pieces justice.

CIAO!

The Man Without A Shadow

Will you look at that? It's amazing! Life sized, 3D, LED person sculpture by Makoto Tojiki. Suffice it to say I'm impressed.

Can't sleep. Watching amazing cartoons.

[via Cartoon Brew]

More EyeTV related scripting.

Ok, so I spend way too much time with my laptop in my...well, my lap.

I've become a bit dissatisfied with the remote control that comes with EyeTV. But it has some strange lag at times, and things like changing the aspect ratio is under a web of menus.

So, I figured out how to do a litany of things via applescript, which I run through an ssh connection.

Now, for your enjoyment, here's some scripts (as called in SSH, if you're going to copy them into an applescript script, take out the osascript -e ' and the trailing ')

Full Screen:
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to enter full screen'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to exit full screen'

Channel Changing:
Since I've still got the DTV box sitting between the EyeTV and my cable, the remote control is a way better way to change the channel, since this basically doubles the applescript lag.
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_change channel number 60'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_up'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to channel_down'

Play/Pause:
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to pause'
osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to play'

Aspect Ratio:
Even via applescript changing the Aspect Ratio isn't straight forward. There isn't a direct command for it, so what I've been doing is instead telling the computer to pretend it just got the short cut key for the various aspect ratios.
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "1" using {command down, option down}'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "2" using {command down, option down}'
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "3" using {command down, option down}'

ZephIR & EyeTV

Comcast recently switched the majority of their analog cable over to digital, forcing me to get a little digital converter box to sit between the cable and my EyeTV. It also killed my ability to change channel thru EyeTV (I have the first gen of the 250+, which doesn't have built in QCAM) so I bought a ZephIR.

It works pretty well, but when quickly flipping through channels, it just doesn't keep up. Often I'd land on a channel (say 42) but since I'd been using just the up/down buttons, it would stop somewhere between (like 55).

So I wrote a little perl script to fix the problem.

In order for it to work you have to make sure that the components are named DIFFERENTLY in EyeTV and ZephIR. (Severing the connection between them.)

Here's the code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Declare the subroutines
sub trim($);
sub currentChannel();
sub blast($);
sub blastUp();
sub blastDown();

# Declare channel variable
my $curChan;

$curChan = currentChannel();

while(1) {
my $chanNow = currentChannel();
if(!($curChan == $chanNow))
{
$diff = $chanNow-$curChan;
if($diff==1) { blastUp(); }
elsif($diff==-1) { blastDown(); }
else {
blast($chanNow);
}
$curChan = $chanNow;
}
}

sub trim($)
{
my $string = shift;
$string =~ s/^\s+//;
$string =~ s/\s+$//;
return $string;
}

sub currentChannel()
{
$result = `osascript -e 'tell application "EyeTV" to get current channel'`;
return trim($result);
}

sub blast($)
{
my $in = shift;
my $command = "tell application \"ZephIR\" \n";
foreach (split(//, $in)) {
$command .= "fire zephir command \"$_\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"\n";
}
$command .= "fire zephir command \"enter\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"\n";
$command .= "end tell\n";
system("osascript -e '$command'");
}

sub blastUp()
{
system("osascript -e 'tell application \"ZephIR\" to fire zephir command \"Channel_Up\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"'");
}

sub blastDown()
{
system("osascript -e 'tell application \"ZephIR\" to fire zephir command \"Channel_Down\" of component \"ComcastDTA_\"'");
}

REMINDER! (Or maybe it's an announcement)

I'll be speaking at Dorkbot 0x03 along with Michael Bunsen and Dan Gilsdorf tonight at 7pm.

The talk will be at AboutUs 107 SE Washington St, Suite 520. here in Portland.

It's open to the public, so you should stop by!

See you there.

[More info]

Authenticity Visual Responses

So far I've only posted 1/6 of the visual responses for Zara's class. Initially it was because I was debating whether or not I wanted to post them on my blog, then it was just because I was just not doing them. I'm still not sure I want these on the blog, but since I'm doing them all at once, what the hell!


Authentic Brand



Adafruit Industries is the epitome of an authentic brand to me. Why? I'm not sure. But I feel a strong emotional connection to it as a brand, and really feel like the values it embodies are ones that should be upheld within the DIY community.

Authentic Portland Architecture


What could be more authentic to Portland than its iconic bridges?

Authentic Experience



Ok, so this book is actually pretty sub par, and by no means is it an experience, but it had this really cool excerpt about authentic experiences, so I thought I'd include that.

"We choose a package deal with Authentic ExperiencesTM.
According to the brochure, there are five kinds of Experience: Urban, Rural, Semirural, Ethnic, and Ethnic with Danger. Standard Endangerment is Mild or Implied, but those in the know understand they may inquire discreetly about Actual Hazard - e.g., I've heard there might be something more? wispered into the ear of a client services representative (along with a slip of paper, folded and pressed into the palm, on which has been written a four- or even low five-figure sum) - for which damage waiver/general release forms will have to be signed and notarized..."

"'When does the Authenticity start?' my wife says. 'I want to have some Experiences.'"

Authentic Artist



I really can't think of anyone who embodies the idea of an authentic artist. Really, I think anyone who is putting work out there with artistic intent fits. (And no, I don't think they have to handle all stages of production to qualify.)

Authentic Designed Product



Is it wrong to mark my own product as an "authentic designed product?" I mean, come on, Shawna thinks it authentic, and I'm not about to disagree with her!