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Journal (The Ember Update)

Thursday, July 25

Looney Labs and XML

One of the exercises we've been given in our XML class is to create an XML document and format it using CSS for display.

I wracked my brain for an idea to build the project around, and decided to create a catalog of Looney Labs games, complete with photos and links.

Because browser support for XML (outright) is pretty much nil, and CSS spotty, the XML file I link to below really works best in:

• Windows, IE 6 or better (at least it should, I'll find out in class tonight)
• Mac, IE 5 or better

(It also seems to work on the Mac in Mozilla 1, Netscape 6, and Netscape 7 PR 1, except without the images or links ... not sure about on Windows.)

If you're curious, have a look here. Oh, and this screen shot is what it's supposed to look like.

Wednesday, July 24

Chaim Potok

On Tuesday one of my most beloved authors died at the age of 73 of brain cancer.

Chaim Potok was born to a strictly devoted, nearly Hasidic upbringing in the Bronx, but later became a Conservative rabbi, and was a teacher and author of numerous books including The Chosen, The Promise, and My Name is Asher Lev. The first I read was Davita's Harp, and perhaps my favorite (if I were forced to pick) was The Book of Lights.

My Characters tend to be loners, and they tend to be alienated intellectually. To be entirely candid about it, they are extensions of my own being, because I grew up very much involved in the world of the mind, and in the worlds of art and literature.

Though I have known little about Judaism (like many of his readers), Potok's books speak to me in authentic ways about being human; specifically the struggles between the intellectual and emotional, the inner and outer, the confined and liberated, and faith and uncertainty.

In an interview with Terry Gross, Potok described his very fundamental orthodox upbringing and schooling, and then how serving as a Chaplain just after the Korean war opened his eyes to new awareness and perspectives, much like the first adult novel he read at age 15, Brideshead Revisited.

While serving in Korea he spent some time in Japan. If you're interested, here is a related excerpt I transcribed from the Fresh Air interview (listen in Real Audio).

Monday, July 22

Bon Odori

Sunday evening Rash introduced me to an Obon festival, a centuries old Japanese tradition.

"When the spirits of the ancestors return to earth and prayers are offered for past, present, and future existences, it is only fitting that the visiting souls be welcomed and comforted—and what better way than with music and dancing." (source: "Discover Japan, Volume 2," publ. Kodansha 1983)

The festival was a short bike-ride away, at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. The main feature of the festival was Bon Odori, a series of partnerless dances done in a slowly progressing ring around a platform, upon which "model" dancers lead the crowd to amplified live music (at least in this case). Anyone can join the large and colorful ring, though most of the participants in yesterday's festival were prepared with appropriate dress and accessories.

"A line of dancers wearing kimono and yukata (summer cotton kimono) dance in a circle around a huge taiko (drum) mounted on a platform. A variety of dances are done with the syncopated beat of the taiko with live or recorded music. Uchiwa (round, open fan), tengui (hand towel), sensu (folding fan), and kachi-kachi (hand clackers) are used in different dances." (source)

Obon usually occurs in August in Japan, but commonly in July in California. The timing, and actually the whole thing really appeals to me because, a) the first anniversary of my father's death will be August 2nd; b) the somewhat undulating progression of the line was gentle, graceful and peaceful, thus appearing appropriately respectful and yet joyful for the occasion; c) the costumes were lovely; and d) I very much enjoy dancing. I just might participate next year.

Here are a few photos and an animation of the Bon Odori dancers (click to view):

Sensu dancer. (Shows image before and after editing.) (64k)

My favorite kimono, yellow. (Collection of three images.) (84k)

Uchiwa dancer. (52k)

Sensu dancers in QuickTime (372k) or Animated GIF (780k)

Saturday, July 20

Hair

Okay, it's still short, but I've had a couple requests for a current photo by which to judge the growing-out progress. Here you go (click to enlarge):

Slowly (at nearly 1/2" a month) but surely...

evolt.org in books

As a founder of evolt.org, a non-commercial and all-volunteer organization by and for web developers, I've been inexcusably delinquent in announcing that the first book containing a chapter about evolt.org has been published. Usability: The Site Speaks for Itself has been released by Glasshaus, with chapters written by Kelly Braun, Max Gadney, Matthew Haughey, Adrian Roselli (a.k.a. Aardvark, evolt.org's own), Don Synstelien, Tom Walter, David Wertheimer, Molly E. Holzschlag, and Bruce Lawson.

If you're in the web site creation business, you'll probably recognize a few of those names.

Six notable sites are discussed in the book, including BBC News Online, Economist.com, eBay.com, SynFonts, evolt.org and Metafilter. Amazon excerpted 4 pages from our chapter, which even includes a mirror-ceilinged elevator shot of a bunch of us in Austin for SXSW in 2001... not that you can tell which is me from Amazon's page shot. There's a better copy here (green shirt, right), and similar photos here, here and here.

Just in case, please use the following link if you actually decide to buy the book from Amazon, so we'll get a small kick-back. We could really use every penny we get.

As mentioned previously, the second book which will hopefully discuss evolt.org is due out from O'Reilly on August 15th: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. I won't know if the evolt.org related info (or even chapter) will have made it in until about that time. Keep fingers crossed!

Wednesday, July 17

Sushi and Neon

Rash's brother Jeff was in Berkeley on business at the end of last week. Jeff is Editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series at Monticello. Last time I saw him (and his wife Judy) was when Andy, Kristin and I went to Six Flags in New Jersey, near to Princeton where Jeff then worked. Judy was pregnant with their twins (it must have been about 1996), so she stayed at home while the rest of us gallivanted off to the park. Though it doesn't include Jeff, here's a favorite photo I took from the front seat (A & K behind me) of a roller coaster back then.

Friday evening Rash and I met with Jeff for a sushi dinner in Oakland. Rash found a really great sushi boat place, called Bonsai Japanese Restaurant (510-653-3161, 4345 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA 94609, map). Not only was the decor very pleasant, the sushi chef a character, and the sushi yummy and extra-lovingly prepared, but instead of using typical "boats" in their moat they had miniature surfboards which floated the sushi around! BTW, earlier in the week, after eating at the Fish Market (which I've not been impressed with), I firmly decided that I prefer raw fish to cooked.

Here are a few photos of Jeff and Rash, the sushi chef, some salmon (right) and tuna sushi, and the surfboards (click to enlarge):

It may not be obvious, but I don't know Jeff very well. Still, like Rash and Andy, he has a pleasant wit and is an interesting guy, and I wish we'd had more time to visit. After dinner we drove to College Avenue in Berkeley, and while R and J had ice cream for dessert, I went for a walk in search of the Eric Christiansen Gallery which has a few AWESOME pieces I'd been wanting to show to Rash. They're glowing jellyfish made of neon and art glass, in a range of color combinations and sizes, and I think they're absolutely stunning (especially the blue/purple one with the orange tips). However, since the three times I've been by the gallery they've been closed, I have no idea who the artist is or how much the pieces cost (probably pretty pricey). Not that I can afford to be buying artwork anyway...but I believe Wunderland should have one at least.

P.S. Andy and Looney Labs won another Origin's award! Here are some pinhole camera pictures of the award with Andy and Alison. Groovy hat.

Rivers and Tides

There may be little opportunity for you to ever see it (unless it gets a US distributor), but Rash took me to see a showing of Rivers and Tides last weekend. It's about Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy "working in time" through his often temporary natural pieces.

In the landscape surrounding his rural Scottish home, Andy Goldsworthy makes exquisite, profoundly simple works of ice, leaves, stone or twigs. German filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer captures that process, the missteps and the triumphs, in this enchanting documentary that also serves as an animated gallery of Goldsworthy’s uniquely ephemeral art. Slowly and patiently, the film tracks the artist as he endeavors to match technique to materials to inspiration. A lovely, understated score by Oakland composer Fred Frith enhances a mood that's as meditative and respectful as its subject. (source)

Here's Jon Carroll's review, The Theory of Relative Temporality. Another review: Deep 'Rivers' Restore the Soul. (The photo at right was taken from the Roxie Cinema's home page, which will undoubtedly change soon.)

Kerin wanted to come along, but couldn't make it in the end. Without seeing it, she said it sounded kind of like Koyaanisqatsi, and given that Koyaanisqatsi filmmaker Reggio describes his idea as "an object in moving time" she wasn't far off the idea. I hope you get to see Rivers and Tides.

Tuesday, July 9

Tim

If you've been reading this journal for a while, you probably recall the issues I had with the owner of the gallery where I used to work. Well, Tim's filed Chapter 11. I'm still owed commissions to the tune of about $300 (I was slowly being paid as the picture framing was finished and picked up by customers).

According to the manager, Anne, Tim closed one of the stores, laid off a bunch of employees, hasn't paid anyone for the month of June (or the rent), and many of the artists have pulled out because of Tim's underhanded business practices. Also the employee I replaced committed suicide, and the woman who replaced me quit (which was why Tim was sitting at the front counter when I happened to walk by on the 4th of July).

Tim tried to talk Anne and another manager into buying the business, including all his debt. In addition to bilking employees, vendors and artists, he apparently hasn't been paying his taxes either. Naturally they declined (they only wanted two of the locations).

Anne suspects that Tim neglected to list me when he filed, so she's going to send me copies of the legal letters when she gets them, which was very nice of her. Don't know if I'll ever see the money. What a soap opera!

Getting settled

Rash and I are all moved in, and are well on the way to getting unpacked. I'm swamped with work (doing some product design in addition to the site), and I've started a 5-credit summer class on XML. The class is going to be like a part time job, with 8 hours in class weekly and supposedly another 10 hours reading chapters and doing the assignments and the take-home mid-term (there is no final).

Saturday, July 6

Corporate Welfare

Heard that Amtrak is in danger of going under again. Hasn't our government been bailing Amtrak out for years and years ... using our tax dollars? This country is a capitalistic republic, right? If a business is failing under its current model, change the model or let it fail, for goodness sake! I'm really tired of hearing about my tax dollars going to prop up unsustainable businesses. (Not that I have anything against Amtrak, I happen to love trains.)

Though I haven't checked the source myself, I read this relevant quote in someone's email signature today:

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back, for their private benefit."

--Robert A. Heinlein, "Life-Line"

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