Categories

Hollowed-Out Retail in the US

After living away from the US for so long, lots of things strike me as interesting every day. One thing I’ve noticed recently is what I’m calling “hollowed-out” retail: retail stores have a limited selection of merchandise, suggesting that customers purchase the rest of the items online. In fact, it seems as if they’re pushing […]

Psychedelia from the AV Geeks

Went to see another Darmstadt event at the Spiegeltent. This time the emphasis was more on “found footage” than live performance, though there were a couple of exceptions.

A highlight for me was the AV Geeks presentation of some very odd psychedelic films for schoolchildren, produced by Encyclopedia Britannica, and… the US Government.

The following […]

My first electronic game project – Simple Simon

I got this thing to work, and am very pleased!

It’s basically a Simple Simon game. The LEDs blink in random order, then the player has to press the buttons in the same order. If you get it right, the green light blinks (and in future, the game gets harder). If wrong, the red light […]

Bright Lights, Big Chili

A battle is being fought on the streets of New York, not far from where I live and study. Two family-owned Indian restaurants, side-by-side in the same building, strive to out-do each other in the matter of illumination. The interiors are equally overwhelming. More info here.

ITP Speakers – Exploring the Medium

One of the classes at ITP has a very interesting structure – every week there is a guest speaker, and presentations by students responding to the speaker from the previous week.

So far the speakers have been tremendously interesting: Vito Acconci and Vik Muniz. Both had a lot in common:

Extremely engaging as speakers – […]

Unity Gain at the Spiegel Tent

Went to see a Unity Gain performance at the Spiegeltent, the elaborate temporary structure now living at the South Street Seaport. Unity Gain is a sort of electronic jam session of audio & video artists, mostly using computers. Great layout of the space – big vertical screen on top of a round table, all the […]

Art Parade SoHo

Went the SoHo Art Parade, organized by Deitch Projects. Interesting subversion of a traditional form (the “parade”) to present some amusing, satirical and quite snarky art.

Back to School

Today is the first day of class at ITP!

I am taking the basic four foundation classes:

Applications of Interactive Communications (taught by the chair, Red Burns) Communications Lab Introduction to Computational Media Introduction to Physical Computing

I had considered waiving one or more of them, since they cover ground that I’ve known extensively for […]

Better than a mirror

Spotted at Madras Mahal, 28th & Lexington. One way to fix a broken mirror in the bathroom.