out and about

The Lost Object Project will have a real-world configuration (and drop box for contributions) for a couple of weeks between March 1st and 13th. It's part of the Special Projects class showcase in the Museum School's Project Space (there's a lot of "project" going on). If you're local, stay tuned for details about an opening event/happening, likely to occur the week of March 4th.

I spent twelve hours yesterday in the screenprinting studio, hand-printing 400 flyers (in two colors) and submission forms to distribute at school this week (grad students and faculty are getting a slightly different version, quite like a wedding invitation, that I'm computer-printing...thank God). I haven't printed like that since mid-November last semester and man, am I out of screenprinting shape! My entire back is sore, as well as my hands and forearms. Squeezing the excess water out of a sponge is excruciating.

I'll have documentation of the flyer and invitation a bit later. I'm hoping to get all the materials ready for assembly by the time the Oscar hoopla starts. Nothing like five or six hours of focused t.v. watching to get me through some serious production.

ask me about my briefcase (a call for contributions)

Another online project! Well, sort of. I'm in the "collecting materials" phase of The Lost Object Project, which is still mostly an empty shell of a site, but will (hopefully) eventually host more than just my example of a virtual memorial for an inanimate object that is no longer in my possession but still manages to hold a lot of meaning for me.


Last semester, as something of an afterthought, I printed a postcard to link a gallery installation with a website that I hoped to make somewhat interactive. That part of the project mostly failed, but I think I'm addressing community and interaction a bit more directly in this project. Still, I'd like to collect at least a handful of stories and images to build up the project (with the thought that folks will be more likely to respond if there are a number of examples they can browse) before I start advertising it to the already-online communities. If you think of a story you'd like to share - even if you don't have an image of your object - fill out the online submission form or print out the PDF flyer. Check the site within a couple of days for your object's virtual memorial.

And, hey, thanks for being a part of my test batch!

happy valentimes!

My evening class was cancelled due to nasty weather, which gives me a little time to give you an update on my t.v. watching habits (while Neal makes me a mystery dessert...all I know is that it includes bittersweet chocolate...and that's all I need to know!). I'll start with Wednesdays since it's, well, Wednesday. Lost returned last week and I'm always late to write about these things, after many other trusty sources have already dissected the gnarly tidbits. But I will say that I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I would. I was not impressed with the first six weeks of the show, and certainly not sad to see it take such a long hiatus. But I'm glad it's back. I think if it continues to reveal information - about characters and about the bigger picture - at the rate of last week's episode, it might just hold my attention for another six weeks.

On Thursdays, I watch (for another two weeks, anyway) The O.C. Even though I think this season is greatly improved over last, I find my interest waning these last few weeks. Maybe it's self-protection, knowing the show is being cancelled, but I just feel like there are so many story lines going and it's all kind of silly and light that I just don't feel as intersted in the characters as I used to. I'm still really sad it's ending, on principle, if nothing else.

I wrote about Ugly Betty a couple of weeks ago and we haven't made a whole lot of progress since then. I am up to date, however, on 30 Rock, which I find truly hi-larious. I can't think of another show in recent memory that has made me laugh so hard and so unexpectedly.

Also making me laugh on Thursdays is The Office, which we finally caught up on a couple of days ago. The Pam-Jim love...square?...is excruciating, but, of course, I probably wouldn't be quite as interested in the show otherwise. And Steve Carell is really great but I have to say, sometimes his Michael Scott is too much for me. It goes past funny straight to uncomfortable. The episode or two when Michael met his match in Andy, though, was well played.

On Friday nights, if we're home (who am I kidding...we usually are), we're likely to watch an episode or two of Battlestar Galllactica. We just finished season one. I really enjoy that show...a lot more than I thought I would. But I feel it deserves its own post entirely (especially bits from the miniseris that are particularly pertinent to my "work"), so more on that later.

On Mondays we watch Heroes. I really like the show, I do, but I have to admit I've been a little distracted lately, what with my latch-hooking and time spent on the laptop. Monday nights are tough, you know? There's a lot of stuff I didn't get done during the weekend that I'm scrambling to complete before too much of the week vanishes. Maybe I should record it to watch later...

On Tuesdays, in theory, I watch Gilmore Girls and House, but I haven't seen either in several weeks. Gilmore Girls just isn't as good as it used to be and I think House was on a long break for much of January. Veronica Mars is still rockin', though. That show kind of satisfies my California t.v. needs.

And in a couple of weeks, I'll be tuning in to America's Next Top Model. As far as reality t.v. goes, I tried watching American Idol, becuase I really feel like I should watch it, but I couldn't get past the weeks and weeks of rejects. I suppose it makes for good t.v. for some folks but I just want to see the people with talent. Now that the show has finally made its way to Hollywood, though, maybe I'll give it another try...

remembering Osiris

In the week since my "too, too much" post, I've rethought my community/connection/interaction/photo/memory project. It will no longer focus on people's lost or otherwise passed on pets. Instead, I've placed the 54 images in my collection of old photos into a photo gallery on my website. I created the web gallery with Adobe CS 2, modifying their template ever so slightly. I preferred the slide show template, but couldn't figure out an easy way of eliminating their image info table...Anyway, it takes awhile to load and I'm not sure how the feedback thing works, but the images are there!

All is not lost, though. I'm busy collecting materials and technical know-how for my revised project, which I hope to launch by about the first week of March, maybe earlier. There will be a PDF brochure that I'll make available on my website that you can download and print out so that you, too, can be a part of the project. I hope you'll interact...Stay tuned!

just how cold is it?

It's so cold that the little bit of heat emanating from your eyeballs fogs up your glasses.

too, too much

I've been tossing around ideas of what I'd like to work on this semester. Everything seems to revolve around communities, connection, interaction, photography, and memory. And kittens are cute so why not apply all that to pets in some way. So I've been doing a little "research & development" today, checking out cat photos on Flickr and videos folks have shot of their pets on Google video and YouTube.



Not a bad way to spend a little time on a Saturday afternoon. Still, I'm plagued by a lack of both confidence in my ideas and the technological know-how to make it all happen. So if anyone wants to lend their PHP/MySQL skills to a project with a lot of potential for overwhelming cuteness, I'd be more than happy to collaborate.