Boids are balls of light designed by Klaas van der Molen that interact with ambient light and each other. They pulse and glow in patterns when they’re together or randomly with their environment.
Blog
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Hello from DUMBO
Here are few shots that I took while walking around DUMBO. I love this part of Brooklyn!
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Good Vibrations?
Maybe I’m a little behind on the times, but I just discovered that there’s such a thing as vibrating mascara. With names like the Lancome Oscillation Vibrating Infinite Powermascara, Estee Lauder TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara, and Prescriptives Motor-Eyes Instant Action Mascara and at 7,000 vibrations per minute I start to wonder if these little picket-sized accessories weren’t designed for more than one purpose.
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Inspiration on the Side
This post from Smashing Magazine really inspired me and in more ways than one.
For starters it really made me want one of these cute little programmable Nabaztag rabbits. They accept anything that can be delivered via a http push, so the coding/custom options are almost limitless. The premise is that these cute little creatures can interact with a set rfid tags which can be applied to everyday objects. For example, it can keep track of how many times you wore an outfit, read RSS feeds, and send out emails from your keys. Oh, and did I mention how cute it is? It lights up, plays music, and moves its ears around!
Beside the cute factor, this little guy provides the perfect excuse to learn new coding skills or be innovative with old ones, which is the real focus of the article from Smashing. It’s far too easy to get sucked into the never ending stack of projects at work and the countless side projects sitting at home and forget to do something fun. Now that good old Catholic guilt (thanks high school) can still be assuaged while I’m having fun, because I can learn new stuff at the same time. I know it might sound a little cheesy, but I really do miss doing fun little projects. That’s how I learned all this stuff in the first place. For now, though, it’s back to work…
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See Fernando
Check out Jenny Lewis’ See Fernando music video. She brings back sexy 60’s spy like no other.
[vimeo]5514928[/vimeo]
[nggallery id=1]
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Fail
There will also be “not” proofreading.
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Dance
“We don’t have ideology. We don’t have theology. We dance.” –Shinto priest to Joseph Campbell
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Cockroach
I had just gotten out of the shower. I was standing in front of the mirror getting ready when I saw something large move out of the corner of my eye. As I jumped back and spun around I saw the biggest cockroach ever. Huge. It was crawling slowly down my shower curtain as if it owned the place. Breaking out of my terror stricken freeze, I started trying to figure out how the hell I was going to kill this thing. Obviously I couldn’t step on it. Finally I resigned to the fact that I would have to deal with feeling this enormous cockroach crunch in my hand and went to get some paper towels.
Thankfully his pace didn’t pick up and he was still within reach when I raced back into the bathroom. I took a deep breath and prepared to strike. I moved quickly, but I didn’t get him in my grip. He dropped to ground and raced between my legs and out of the bathroom. I could actually hear its feet clicking against the floor as it moved into the hallway.
With the cockroach grounded I changed back to classic squashing. Except I was barefoot. I darted into my room, grabbed a shoe, and lunged into the hallway. A thud, crack, and pop later, I reclaimed ownership of my apartment, for now at least.
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This Isn’t Vietnam
All design follows a set of rules (grids, golden ratios, balance, etc.) and every good designer knows how to keep them and when to break them. What amazes me about design though is that one can follow all of the rules exactly and still have a mediocre design. These designs pass and they get all of us through those moments of designer block and impending deadlines, but we know they’re not great. There’s something living in a great design, something that makes the rules fade away. I don’t know exactly what to call this. Creativity? Inspiration? Talent? Luck?
I often feel like the rules are an exercise that gets me there, while occasionally I nail it the first time. More often than not I have to work through all of my bad ideas before I have a great one. Still, I love the process. I love working through a design problem.
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USB Owl
He’s a little noisy, but makes up for it in cuteness.
