Sweet Miscellany

Lego Robot 5, originally uploaded by tom gauld.

I like this because:

1. It’s a nice example of how form is emphasized when color is uniform

2. The robot has four eyes.

His photostream has more like this one.

Due to some last minute changes, we had to postpone our going-out-of-California vacation, replacing it with a stay-at-home vacation. Today was the free day (3rd Wednesday of the month) at the California Academy of Sciences, so we drove to Golden Gate Park to finally see the new building. There is a lot to like, certainly. Though it was filled to capacity, it was comfortable.

I took the photo above with my iPhone, using the Pano application for stitching together panoramic photos. I enjoy using Pano for building these quirky, bent-perspective montages. The ghosts of people add a nice touch too, I think. This links to the full size, 6929 pixels wide image.

Over eight thousand checks an hour!

Another gem from archive.org.

shining ornaments, originally uploaded by normnode.

The East Bay Nursery is a great place to shop for Christmas tree ornaments.

Elevator Trail.

A Saturday afternoon walk up a muddy and steep trail.

It takes a community. Like The Fresh Loaf

Jorge Colombo’s art got a fair amount of attention last May when the painting shown in this video was published on the cover of The New Yorker. His work was highlighted again last week, in the short segment featuring Brushes for the iPad during the Apple announcement event. You can see more of his work here: Jorge Colombo.

I hope Layers and Autodesk’s Sketchbook Mobile will be ready for the iPad by the time it is released, but two factors make Brushes my “almost always” drawing app. First, the simplicity. Both Layers and Sketchbook are certainly well designed and easy to work with, but Brushes just seems more immediate. For me at least, it is better at getting out of my way.

The second thing Brushes has that the others don’t is the recording of the painting process. I know it seems like a novelty – after all, the finished product is what really matters, right? But the video recording has a lot to offer. I think it is helpful to see the process, and I love to watch other people’s drawing “grow.”

The New Yorker has a few more of Colombo’s painting videos you can watch.

panoramic kitchen, originally uploaded by normnode.

Completely distorted perspective. Marvelous.

all the way around, originally uploaded by normnode.

Still having fun with Pano. The perspective starts to get a bit quirky, but I like that.

How to Brew a Good Cup of Coffee from Ben Helfen on Vimeo.

I probably shouldn’t categorize this post as one about food; don’t try following these instructions, whatever you do. If you take coffee seriously – really, really, really seriously – then you must watch this.