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from http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/

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Batson Guitars - www.batsonguitars.com

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This is a fascinating show i discovered. If you are a fan of traditional Japanese woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style, Mononoke is basically that, animated. The style is crazy and somewhat psychedelic, and though the storytelling can get slightly abstruse, this is definitely worth looking up.

-From http://www.animeseason.com/mononoke-episode-1/

Note: This is not Ghibli's Princess Mononoke. Just to clarify.

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From http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2011/11/22/the-sketchbook-of-susan-kare-the-artist-who-gave-computing-a-human-face/

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"In a rather unorthodox move, the New York City Department of Transportation has installed a handful of signage from left field. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and co. enlisted artist John Morse to design twelve graphics, each complemented by an obliquely explanatory haiku, in the interest of raising awareness for cyclists and pedestrians."

-From http://core77.com/ 

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Thoughts on Hospital Design

Big windows, on least two walls. Sunlight. Trees or vines outside, but something with verdant, living, complex visual interest. Not concrete, at least in the way that it is used today. Warm surfaces inside, but ones that are more than anything easy to wash down. No cloth room dividers. No colours that, on exposure to sunlight, will fade to depressing tints. Rooms with resources other than T.V.'s T.V. fosters passive detachment, non conducive to recovery if on all the time. Provide art supplies, books and stimulating magazines, chess boards, conversation. Private rooms are a good idea, to prevent the spread of infection, and create a calm atmosphere. Water features. However, not solitary confinement. There needs to be good food. Make the patient feel welcome, valued, and safe. Temperature adjustment by the bed. 

Fortunately I have not had much reason to find myself inside hospitals, but on the occasions that I have, I could not help but be struck by the massive opportunity for improvement through industrial design and ergonomic design. These notes came from a restaurant-napkin scribble, and have been directly transliterated. Even new hospitals miss the mark all to frequently when it comes to making a hospital a place to enjoy, as much as possible, rather than a place to dread. Note: these are opinions only and are based on no factual research.

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Fantastic Hospital Architecture Design by K2S Architects- from http://homebasedecor.com/fantastic-hospital-architecture-design-by-k2s-architects/

More on hospital design to come....

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A piece from the current scion of the original raku family, Raku Kichizaemon xv -from http://elogedelart.canalblog.com/tag/Raku%20Kichizaemon%20XV 

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Porsche Type 64 from 1939 (by Beast 1)

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Sometimes the sight of a butcher's stand at a market seems to be the best thing in the world. I'm usually a moderate meat-eater (especially when the typical varieties of meat found in my university-student fridge cannot be readily identified by name), but seeing smoked hams, legs of lamb, cured salamis, sausages of all descriptions makes it hard to resist the primeval reaction to a successful hunt. Combine with a wedge of sharp cheese and a tumbler of (preferably) syrah and I wonder why we bother with the elaborate hassle of cooking at all. 

(www.coolhunting.com)

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There is no substitute for the immediate. It is only by distancing ourselves from the immediate, by living a filtered existence, that we can convince ourselves of the non-importance of the immediate. Reality, the more it is experienced directly, the more it creates a need to experience it directly. We live in mortal peril of forgetting this.

-Anon

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Automotive design is an area of industrial design that has constantly proved fascinating for me. British car design is, equally, a specific area of concentrated interest within the broader discipline, probably ever since I saw the designs of Jaguar and Aston Martin from the 1950's and 60's. While these two historic companies went through a bit of a design lull in the last part of the 20th century, both have, in my opinion at least, successfully updated their look in such a way that you can tell, ultimately, that the E-type and the DB5 are from the same bloodline, there's a third company with no less distinguished roots that I'm a bit more concerned about. That's right. Anyone a bit confused about the new Evoque?

 While its received more than enough press coverage at the past year's auto shows and on design websites like Cool Hunting (incidentally, where the photo originates www.coolhunting.com/) I remain to be convinced that I need one, or even that its not merely a Nissan Juke or an Infiniti thing masquerading as the little brother of the venerable Defender.

And that's the thing. Good cars have to convince you that you need them, immediately and desperately, despite the fact that you need a V12 Vantage like a hole in the head. The fact that it burns through what I would imagine to be roughly equivalent to a square mile of polar ice cap in gas every time you take it out matter not a bit: It would make your life complete. It tells you a story. In fact, chances are it will make you think you're James Bond, until you try flashing the police your MI 6 badge when you're caught speeding. But sports cars do this so well. Its part of the reason why sports cars are sold to people who do not drive on tracks, and could get to the supermarket equally well in, say, a minivan. Or a Smart car. 

But back to the Land Rover. The story it tells me is not that it can carry my ewes to the market, slogging through thigh-deep mud all the while. It also says nothing about a privileged lifestyle in which I can turn a humble pack mule into a warhorse (by way of the Range Rover). So, if not satisfying practicality or indulgent power, what story is the petite Evoque purveying? Damn. We're back to the Smart car again.

The Evoque is a city car made by a company that trades on its rural values. Behind the facade of every Range Rover sport is an army vehicle, secretly hoping that you might scratch up the paint in the mud and brambles a bit. Cars for the city have been made, and made well, by companies that do that sort of thing, companies that know what they're on about, and who should be left alone to get on with it. 

This begin said, I haven't driven the Evoque yet. And maybe when I do, I'll be forced to come back to this, to revise my diatribe. Maybe its more fun than the Golf, better on gas than the Mini, and more eye catching than the... ah. And that's why I won't delete this post entirely, if all else proves to be equal. Visually, it just doesn't make sense. Ideologically, I might be just too far opposed to this experiment of Land Rover's to fully approve of their foray into urban futures.

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An excellent example of warm/cool contrast (not to mention a striking, spiky composition) in photographer Simon Norfolk's work, taken from a series titled "The Shape of War". www.bldgblog.com

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More on Sargent later, but this painting is one that I'm thinking about particularly right now. Sargent (John Singer) is one of my favourite artists, and perhaps the one who most inspires me to improve my technique on a regular basis. The other day I rented a relatively new book focusing particularly on his early (and lesser known) seascapes, and among them, "En Route Pour la Peche", 1878 (On The Way To Go Fishing) is a masterful rendering of the subtle effects of atmosphere and light on a bright and windswept beach. Although the technical aspects of the work could easily take up an entire essay, one of the most interesting points that the book highlighted was the fact that although it has the feel of a work by the artist's Impressionist contemporaries in its colours and free brushwork, the dramatic, even grand composition and careful layout is the result of work done in the studio and Sargent's greater interest in tradition and formality. From The Independent (www.independent.co.uk/).