Living in the Perisphere

IKEA Hackin

2008-03-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

My 1.5 minutes of Web Fame:

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2008/03/show-em-off-action-figure-cabinet-and.html

Cottage WIP

2006-03-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at doing ArchVis using Maya and mental ray rendering. This is a Wrightian cottage which I designed a long (early 90's) time ago. Furniture are all based on Wright Usonian designs of the 30's - 50's. I still need to texture the dining chairs, cabinets, ceiling exterior brick planters. And need to modify the interior brick texture to look better. And and, grass and a ton of other things too. Comments and criticisms welcome!

Wither February?

2006-03-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

A dead blog lately. Sorry about that! I've been focused on re-entering the workforce and staying afloat. Here is a sample of me learning Maya's mentalray rendering package. I'm working on an Architectural Visualization (ArchVis from here on out) render of an old cottage design from 1990ish I did based on Wright's Usionian principles. I'll post it as it gets viewable.

Trylon Designed Tees: Shameless Self Promotion

2006-01-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

OK, so I've gone and opened a CafePress web store featuring some varied and random T-shirt artwork I have created.

My favorite so far is the "Caution Outsource Ahead" sign: I was walking back from my local cafe having spent an afternoon sketching random architectural images and came upon a School Ahead sign. Seeing it up close I noticed the strange stand-up type collar on the male figure and had a random thought that by notching it one would get a Nehru collar effect... which of course led me into the whole outsourcing realm. Probably due to article I had just read a few days before about FX company Rythm & Hues India offices contribution to "The Chronicles of Narnia". Thus the image idea was hatched and I started up Illustrator to work it up.

Having fun with a zen concept.

Retro ad art with a bit of innuendo. The cartouche effect has some promise as a way to stylistically tie designs together. We'll see...

Hopefully more images and ideas to be plastered onto t-shirts and other paraphernalia in the months ahead... in other words please check back often!

Ms. Bat Girl!!!!

2006-01-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Saw this article on Batgirl sketches. Which led me to the full listing of Batgirl sketches.

And I couldn't resist picking up pen and paper! Please be kind! I haven't drawn figures in a loooonnnnggggg time. But I thought my spin on "Babs" was funny, well it made me laugh at least! The costume is a variant of a "Batwoman" outfit from the 60's. I have the book somewhere in my stash o' comix... will have to search for it and post the cover.

EDIT:
And here is the comic book from my collection:

Friday Nite Fortune Cookie

2006-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

"When one door closes, another will open"

-o-

Yeah, but when?? I left the employed ranks almost 4 months ago and am still waiting for my next door to open. Patience grasshopper!

Wright Designed House (Not) Lost (update)

2006-01-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2006 (GARY, Ind.) - The Illinois man who owns a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Gary, Indiana, that was gutted by fire says he hopes to save the structure.

David Muhammad of Olympia Fields (Illinois) says the home isn't a total loss, and he hopes he can restore it with the help of the city and preservationists.

The Prairie-style house had fallen into disrepair. The house was completed in 1916 but has been vacant for years. Muhammad bought it in 2003 and was preparing to restore it.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

A landmark was lost to fire when flames Monday night destroyed the Wynant House in Gary. The home was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built about 1915.

(From the Chicago Tribune)

Exploded Barstool

2006-01-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

An exploded version of the Stickley barstool in preparation of constructing it in the 'real' world.

Mr Wright meets Gustav

2006-01-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

A variant on Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian dining table, now at counter height paired with a Stickley bar stool. Two woodworking projects which I'll get to when the rain stops! Models created with SketchUp. I love this stuff!

Sage Work Advice

2006-01-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

Something that I read last May and came back via a friend, some good advice:
-----

My Final Column (Sunday May 8th, 2005 SF Chronicle) What Works by Marty Nemko

Something just happened to me that, unfortunately, has happened to many of this section's readers: I was just told that my "services will no longer be required." The San Francisco Chronicle advertising department has decided to replace my column with nationally syndicated material.

So, I thought, l'd end by giving you my six all-time favorite pieces of career advice.

6. Don't focus on finding a so-called dream career.
Focus on getting your career non-negotiables met. It's extraordinarily competitive to land a well-paying job in most so-called dream careers such as sports, nonprofit work, fashion or TV. And once in, dream careers so often turn out to be disappointing. Because so many people want to be in, those careers, bosses can demand absurd work hours, be unkind etc.

5. Work hard.
My clients who had been sad or even depressed found that working hard turned out to be their greatest antidepressant.

4. Be aware of the moment of truth.
There is a moment when you - usually unconsciously decide, "I'm going~to do that task later" Stay alert for that moment of truth, and each time ask yourself, "Would I be wiser to procrastinate on this task or to do it now?" You'll procrastinate less. Then break the task down into baby steps and, when stuck, get help.

3. Be nice.
Look for opportunities to brighten the day of every person you encounter, even if it's just to flick a piece of lint off their jacket.

2. Integrity is key.
My mouse pad is imprinted with the statement, "Integrity is key." And you will go through life with your head high, knowing you are making the world a better, not a worse, place.

1. Never look back.
We've all had bad things happen to us, but my successful clients rarely wallow. They ask themselves, "What's the next positive little step I can take?" I can offer you no better advice.

Thank you dear readers for your loyalty all these years.
I welcome hearing from you. Write me at mnemko@earthlink.net.

Friday Nite Fortune Cookie

2006-01-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

"The only normal people are ones you don't know very well."

-o-

A new weekly tradition - a fortune cookie saying that I've received this week. I thought this one is really funny and the first time I've ever seen it. Who writes these things?

Zen Koan

2005-12-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

Enlightenment
is life without a future,
liberation from the pretense of safety.

Without a future, where did the past go?

It is the end of the known,
and the endless exploration of the Unknown!

It is the end of the struggle
to be anybody or get anything.
It is the end of looking for anything.
It is the end of trying to become anything.
It is the end of trying to hold onto anything.
It is the end of trying to make something happen,
or not happen.

What a relief!

Scott Morrison, Open and Innocent: the gentle, passionate art of not-knowing

-o-

This is the part of Zen that I cant seem to get past: the knowing of not-knowing. If we try not to do anything isnt that wasting our ability to help out the world? And yet if we try to make something happen how can that be bad?

I remember a scene from "The Untouchables" with Sean Connery saying to Andy Garcia as they are standing in an alley about to go after Capone, Sean says something like "Don't watch for it to happen, don't even want it to happen... just wait - it'll happen in its own time". He is all nonchalant while Andy is a pile of nerves, anxious to make the bust. I remember at the time thinking how zen that comment of Sean's was and still don't quite understand it. One should be prepared, make preparations, but how does one do that if we are not to make something happen? Idunknow.

Cycles

2005-12-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

"We die so that we can be reborn. We are born so that we can die. Blossoms bloom in the spring so that there will be seeds in the autumn. Then the winter gives the seeds time to adapt to the soil. Then spring comes again.
Having settled down into the ground, after their hibernation, the seeds are reawakened. Then the plants grow, and there are more seeds. Then another spring comes, another summer comes, another autumn comes, and so forth. Things change constantly, always."

-Chogyam Trungpa, THE LION'S ROAR: An Introduction to Tantra

Freezing Flakes

2005-12-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

Was looking, er googling for some eps format snowflakes for a cd label I want to make and came across this awesome web site.
Wow, really fun and amazing, will be easy on the trees to not have to use so much paper!

Reel Complete!

2005-12-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

I've been feverishly working the past few days on creating a new demo reel for myself. Now that Mercury has gone direct I will hopefully see some progress in my search for my next gig. (I'm a Virgo and we are 'ruled' by that planet, so when it is going backwards we tend to get all screwed up.) And to assist with that search I've needed to update my reel with the 3D CG modeling and texture painting work which I produced this past year.

It can be frustrating coming back to a software package that sits unused for the better part of a year. or even two. As it is so specialized, one tends to forget all the ins and outs of its operation: flip this switch, toggle that button. Add on top of that the changes to the operating system that it is running on and you're setting yourself up for having a "grand ole' time"!

To fill you in, I've been running Adobe Premiere 6.5 on a G3 iBook with MacOSX 10.3 and Quicktime 6.5. Which according to all the big guys isn't supposed to work. I had upgraded at one point in the process to the latest Quicktime 7 which really did break Premiere. Fortunately Apple has a "Quicktime 6.5 RE-installer"... I guess they've had a number of older packages lose their ability to function properly with the new 7 in place. But now with my Quicktime back to 6.5 Premiere is happy - but I just can't view the latest "Cars" trailer from my friends at Pixar. Oh well, they'll survive.

In addition, my Sony TRV103 camcorder refused to be controlled by Premiere. About a month ago I was trying to dump a quickly edited temp movie using the DV device control which kept failing: no error messages just starting and stopping on the camcorder side. Since I couldn't figure out what was wrong - I exported from Premiere a quicktime movie which I opened in iMovie 3.0.3 (ugh) which could converse properly with my camcorder and let me dump it for a quick one off reel.

But today, knock plastic, Premiere controlled the camcorder just fine... I don't know what I did differently but am glad that it decided to function properly. So tomorrow I'm helping my buddy hang sheet-rock and in exchange he's gonna burn the final movie to DVDs for me. Then next year I'll get the new laptop with the SuperDrive that can burn everything. Or maybe I'll wait till the new BluRay discs (www.blu-ray.com) come out - 54GB on a disc -wow.

Aroma

2005-11-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Waiting, waiting... waiting for inspiration to strike.

Lunch first, and now coffee at my local independent coffee establishment. Watching the crowd come and go - short java fixes for workers on the run and longer sustenance breaks for the ladies who lunch. The changing of the guard as the 3 o'clock shift comes onboard.

An unexpected pleasant surprise as I get to say hello to an old friend when she comes in for her afternoon mocha. We catch up briefly, she's happy being in a firm of four now and works around the corner. A bit different from our previous mega-house of seven hundred plus. I tell her I'm still looking for my next gig, waiting, waiting for something to help me figure out what I should do.

After she is gone I wonder (hope?) that my self description to her is seen as a positive experience, not wanting to add any negativity to the world.

Now working on both laptop and sketchbook, creating a new demo reel to showcase my talents, creating new sketches that help me push my design skills, wondering who my audience is and how to tailor (and should I tailor) my work for them.

Writing this blog to put off what needs doing, while I'm waiting, waiting for my muse to appear.

Running After

2005-11-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

"If you were able to put a stop to the mentality in which every thought is running after something, then you would be no different from a Zen master or a Buddha. Do you want to know what a Zen master or a buddha is? Simply that which is immediately present, listening to the Teaching. It is just because students do not trust completely that they seek outwardly. Even if they get something by seeking, it is all literary excellence; they never attain the living meaning of the masters."

- Lin Chi (803- 867)

www.dailyzen.com

Sweet Patootie

2005-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Turkey day buffet at friends - great food, some good conversation and of course a lot of football! (having turned off my cable 3 weeks ago I had forgotten what a magnet that box can be.) An amazing bevy of sweet potato dishes - not one of my favorite foods - but here it was in a variety of forms: biscuits, pies, mashed with brown sugar topping. All tasted with the obligatory "spoon of this and a spoon of that". Yet the sweet potato biscuits were the overall winner, both savory and sweet, as well as surprisingly light, probably due the the fact that there were eight (8!) teaspoons of baking powder (soda?) in the recipe. That's usually enough to lift a small truck. But I guess the density of the sweet potato needs a bit of coaxing to rise. And their texture was similar to flour biscuits - not cake-y or pie-y as I would have expected - almost flakey. A true hit with the crowd as everyone made a favorable comment on them and most had seconds. And best washed down with a cool Chardonnay or cold light beer. Let the holiday zaniness begin!

Navaho Blessing

2005-11-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

I ask all blessings,
I ask them with reverence,
of my mother the earth,
of the sky, moon, and sun my father.
I am old age: the essence of life,
I am the source of all happiness.
All is peaceful, all in beauty,
all in harmony, all in joy.

--Anonymous Navaho (19th-20th century)

Found this on a Buddhist forum, I really liked it and thought it'd be nice to use for any holiday dinner.

Break of Day

2005-11-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Morning walk:

Yellow clap board house showing a few years of neglect. Three pickup trucks parked askew in the dead grass and sparse gravel lawn, empty beer bottles strewn haphazardly. Liscense plate "shezgone"... I guess it was too early in the morning to hear some Willie, Waylon and the boys.

Time for another cup o' joe.

6 Simple Steps

2005-11-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Each Day...

1. Do something for someone else.

2. Do something for yourself.

3. Do something you dont want to that needs doing.

4. Do a physical exercise.

5. Do a mental exercise.

6. Do a spiritual exercise.

-Aunt Grace
(as written in Reader's Digest July 198? - if you know the article and year please leave a comment! I cant seem to locate the original. Thanks!)