| I'm reading "Life After God" by Douglas Coupland right now |
[Apr. 5th, 2009|08:01 pm] |
"I was feeling a sense of loss as I heard these people. I felt like Jesus was sex-or rather, I felt like I was from another world where sex did not exist and I arrived on Earth and everyone talked about how good sex felt, and showed me their pornography and built their lives around sex, and yet I was forever cut off from the true sexual experience. I did not deny that the existence of Jesus was real to these people-it was merely that I was cut off from their experience in a way that was never connectable."
This is a real succinct way of describing my own feelings toward religion. |
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| Tangólumen Completed / Post Review Reflections |
[Mar. 18th, 2009|01:12 am] |
After living in my studio for the better part of a week, reviews finally came, and Tangólumen was up and doing things. It wasn't doing exactly what it was supposed to...but it was doing things, and that's something.
Tangólumen In Action from Andrew Parnell on Vimeo.
People seemed to enjoy it, and I got a lot of really useful feedback ranging from what to do next, tweaks to make, things to consider, possible redirection, and so forth. Now that I've gone back and adjusted the lights and programming so that it's actually to spec, I really need to start inviting people into the space and use data I gather from that to further development. |
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| Assemble Flooring - CHECK |
[Mar. 12th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
The flooring is 100% operational and 100% assembled. I do need to run some gaff around the perimeter to keep it in place, but that has to wait until after I glue the Vcc line into place.
[X] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[X] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[REDACTED] Recut 1 servo-box
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable.
Oh man, it's so close I can almost taste it. It tastes like the floor, which, coincidentally, I've slept on the last 2 nights. |
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| Progress Report [for lack of a better title] |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|04:44 pm] |
Started putting down the wood flooring on Sunday/Monday, then ripped them all back up last night, started taping down strips of fun foam, and putting the flooring bag down last night. It's tedious (see: I am the for loop.) but the results are quite satisfying.
Even more satisfying is seeing them in action:
Daniel using the lights on top of the active panels
Daniel using the lights on top of the active panels as seen from the panel's point of view
[X] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[~50%] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[REDACTED] Recut 1 servo-box
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable. |
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| I am the for loop. |
[Mar. 7th, 2009|01:42 am] |
There's one thing that seems nearly thematic in my current project: repetition.
This is a side effect of the modular design I'm really proud of across the board in this project, but at the same time it's making the assembly portion of fabrication really repetitive.
Some examples:
There are 64 pieces of chipboard in this project, each with a 17" long strip of aluminum tape running up their center. Each piece is then taped into a grid, with cat 5 cables shared among every eight panels.
When I designed all the acrylic pieces for the pulley system, I designed it around an interchangeable system of pieces. Six pieces combine to make 1 part, there are 32 parts in this system, meaning that I cut 192 pieces (not including extras, or the pulleys). Cutting took ~30 minutes (well, an hour, but that's because I had to do it twice), assembling them was another story all together.
Review prep checklist:
[19/64] Strip Cat 5 cables + Glue them to the panels with conductive epoxy
[ ] Assemble flooring
[ ] Attach Vc to flooring
[ ] Recut 1 servo-box
[ ] Cut 2x 1' of threaded pipe
[ ] Attach pulley rig to dimmers
[ ] Cut and crimp steel cable.
i++; |
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| Bacon We Can |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|08:55 am] |
Saw this image on my desktop as I was cleaning it up and I realized I never got around to posting it. Can't believe it.
Bacon served by Bacolicio.us.
[via swissmiss] |
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| Key to surviving on under 4 hours of sleep: |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|08:07 am] |
Drink a large coffee right before bed. Once the placebo effect of having just drank a large coffee wears off, you have a bit under 4 hours until the caffeine actually hits yourself and sends you flying out of bed at breakneck speeds.
It's actually kinda nice. |
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| Some Assembly Required |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|01:04 am] |
The downside to laser cutting is that if you want undercuts, you basically have to create them as separate pieces and then laminate them together. The upside is that they look, and are, awesome.
Last leg of cutting is scheduled for tomorrow. Then I just have to cut the threaded rods down length and assemble. |
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| Food Note |
[Feb. 25th, 2009|12:10 am] |
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Chicken + asparagus + parmesan + ground salt and pepper pistachios = great on pasta. (Sorry, no pictures tonight.) |
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| Fun With Lasers |
[Feb. 23rd, 2009|12:35 am] |
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. |
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| Made For Each Other |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|02:41 am] |
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... |
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| O.L.S.G.P. PASTA |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|01:00 am] |
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. |
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| Chairs! |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|11:54 am] |
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. |
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| Xbox Live Vision |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|07:37 pm] |
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. |
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| Scott Pilgrim #5 |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|11:59 pm] |
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. |
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| Doom Stew |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|12:12 am] |
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. |
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| I'm bringing it back. |
[Feb. 3rd, 2009|01:37 am] |
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. |
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