AutoCAD Art

After much hassle, I am finally teaching myself AutoCAD Architectural desktop. Wow. Sometimes I come across something that is like an extension of my mind.

Apart from all the cool building design I am doing right now, it seems some people are right into using Autocad 3D extensions to do art. How good can it possibly be?

Check out this picture (click on it to go to full size):

Here is the link to it, and others: http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=19908

Update: I just noticed how weird that pic looks due to the wide angle perspective. The vertical edges look like they are tilting in. Interesting.

Bamboozled

It amazing what you come across online when you are mindlessly bored and randomly clicking shit doing productive research. Today I was looking for a pic of a bamboo forest for the new incarnation of frashcards.com (yes it's a real domain - I bought it last night for $8.95, what a bargain).
Anyway, I should get to what I discovered....

This site: http://www.bmeres.com/bambooframe.htm which is about a bike a guy made out of bamboo. Looks pretty neat. He's got a review of how it performed over a whole year. Very nice job.

Grey Matter

Square A and Square B are the same shade of grey. They ARE.Check out the proof and other brilliant illusions here.

The Plywood Tree

Here is an interesting site detailing what I guess you'd call, well I dunno what.

http://plywoodtree.grographics.com/


Basically, a guy creates a tree out of plywood, and then chops it down, recycles it into a sheet of plywood and then returns it to Home Depot for a refund. Some kind of statement I guess.

Personally, I really like the tree he made, and it is a shame to chop it down after all that work.

Living Homes

Wow. It's not that often that a website blows me.....away, but here it is: Living Homes.net
It's another modular building company, but as you'll see these guys are hitting it hard. Serious eco responsibility theme going on here. This is architecture, design and technology blended together perfectly. Awesome.

Go and check out that website tho, seriously. It's really cool. The front page is made up of timelapsed sequences showing the house through out the day.
There is a video showing a cool time lapse sequence of the house being erected on the site in 8 hrs.

It worth having a poke around at other things, particularly take the tour.

LivingHomes.net

Trailer Trash

I like retro caravans, and mark my words they will make a comeback. Vintage caravans are where it's at.

Anyway, I came across this interesting site that is all about making you own retro travel trailer. $60 USD gets you all the plans and info you need to make your own caravan.
http://www.desertteardrops.com/

Juxtaposed: Religion

As far as Art goes, I quite like this....

5,084,000,000 people 5,360 pages 3,700 years 243 countries 7 books 1 shelf

San Francisco designers Mike and Maaike have created JUXTAPOSED:Religion the first in a series of Juxtaposed curated bookshelves for blankblank.
“For the first time, the world’s most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated.”
(I don't agree with that emotional fluff, but I like the resulting art)The shelf is made of reclaimed hardwood and is offered in a limited edition of 50.

mikeandmaaike.com
blankblank.net

Sketch Furniture

This year I am going to be busy, so I will write less, but post more. Mainly interesting things I find online.

First up is Sketch Furniture.

The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined.

Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture.

I really like the concept. Just not sure I'd like to look at a scribble in my living room for any length of time. (unfortunately, the youtube video is no longer up - that would have been interesting I am sure)

http://www.frontdesign.se/sketchfurniture/

Photography Exhibition Numero Uno

On Friday and Saturday nights, the Arty Farty One hosted her very first photography exhibition, which was held in conjunction with, and as part of, a fundraiser party for a foreign guy, Mark Selikoff, who is currently in a coma after a serious motorcycle accident Sept 27th.

The venue was the River Bar, Jhongli, which has a small gallery area upstairs. It went pretty well considering the short notice, and everyone that came really enjoyed the shots.

Here is an online version of the exhibition I put together for the Arty Farty One:
http://www.truant.net/Vietnam_Cambodia_2006/index.html

Here is what the venue looked like a few hours before everyone came (taken during the day):

The Best Photographer You've Never Heard Of

Stephen Kennedy

Check out this guy's portrait photography. These are not famous people, just ordinary folks in ordinary situations. What is so amazing about these shots? The lighting is fantastic, the focus is pin sharp, the composition is incredible, the depth of field is perfect. Even though technically the shots are brilliant, the magic is in the interaction the photographer has with the subject, it's outstanding.

Have a look at some of the portraits on his website, they're pretty cool.






StephenKennedy.com

Paper Cuts

I got these pics by email today. No idea who did this, or if it is even one person...I figured this might have sort of cult following, so I did a wiki search on paper cuts. All I found of interest was Lingchi, a form of chinese torture known as 'a death by 1000 cuts'. Ouch.

I won't ramble on about this art, it speaks for itself. Click on a pic to enlarge (just slightly sorry)...

The Happy New House

Architecture is interesting. People that are into Architecture are interesting....well I think so anyway.

Check out this. thehappynewhouse.com

My wife and I are remodeling the house we’ve lived in for the last sixteen years. We moved in before pets. Before kids. Before the internet.

We couldn’t afford the house when we bought it. Now, we can sort of afford it. We just can’t all fit inside of it. (We have three children -- two of whom are teenagers.)

So we’ve decided to build. Up. And out. More rooms. More showers. And most importantly, more places for us to accidentally bump into one another. Places to gather, to play, to sleep, to work on our laptops, to push back the furniture + dance, to hide from each other, to eat, to laugh, to live. In short, more opportunities -- under a single roof -- to connect with one another as a family.

It's an interesting website, and got a cool feel about it too.

thehappynewhouse.com
Check out the 'work in progress' section for all the shots of tools n concrete n steel n wood n stuff.

Lean on me

I like design ideas, and hanging out in design type stores. I even like going to IKEA.Anyway, Room Safari is a German design company with some pretty groovy ideas. This shot shows their Leanon coatrack , which is made to lean anywhere against a wall. Also shown in this pic are their Musical Triangle coathangers.

roomsafari.com

Ferrari 599 Fiorano Available With iPod Dock

I am really glad this fine car now comes with an iPod dock. Now I think I might get one.

The Ferrari 599 Fiorano is now availible for purchase at dealerships worldwide. The 599 Fiorano was unveiled at this years Geneva Motor Show and was designed by Pininfarina. The car which is named after Ferrari’s test track and the engine displacement has a V12 engine similar to the one used in the Enzo which can output 612 hp. The chassis is based on the 612 hence the striking similarity. The most interesting feature is that the car will come with an iPod dock connector as standard so you will be able to plug your iPod in and listen to it on the Fiorano’s Bose speakers straight away.

Nice. Oh, that is a farking sexy car, btw.

Ferrari website

Everyone needs a leather notebook

Isn't it awful when you go shopping for one thing and see something that makes what you thought you needed (read: wanted) seem like crap?

Well, yesterday we finally decided to go and have a look a buying a replacement notebook for our ailing Compaq 1500AP. It has served us well....er actually, not that well, but it has served. From the word go, it's always overheated, randomly crashed, weighs a ton, the battery is dead and isn't really that much to look at either. A few months ago it was sitting on the arm of the couch and I was chasing Jack the dog around and round the couch....or was it him chasing me? I can't remember, but, eventually in all the excitement, someone knocked the 4 year old P.O.S off it's perch. "Ah HAAAAAA!!!!" I yelled at it. "There you go you piece of shit!". I could sense the tears of joy welling up in my eyes as I contemplated setting fire to it.

But it kept going. The screen was ok even. There were a couple of cracks on the lid, and the wireless PC card was smashed, but it still worked fine. Even the wireless did, damn it.

Anyway, the Art Director at Truantville, suggested perhaps it is time we got a new notebook (actually it was me, relentlessly mentioning it, but the "Art Director" sounds better)

So yesterday we ran the gauntlet of Laptop stores at Guang Hua Computer Market in Taipei. In the Pissing Rain.
It seemed that the best machine for what we need was the Asus W6F. Nice. Dual Core CPU, 100 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, Super DVD Burner, Widescreen...blah, blah, blah. Here is a link to the Asus W6F details.
I say "seemed" and "was" because as we were about to leave the store, the Art Director spotted the S6.
I have to admit, if all things were equal (Namely, er, the PRICE) then I'd like to get that too, but it is almost 50% more than the W6F. But what a work of art....it's a very high-end machine in specification but what people like Art Directors notice is not how high-end it is, but the LEATHER all over it.

I really like design master pieces, and this has to rank right up there as something pretty stunning. I just wanted to stick my nose to it and smell that leather in big deep lung fulls, but the shop was busy. Besides that, the demo had protective plastic on it. Probably just as well.

This link: Asus S6 Leather Collection, 2006 is actually pretty arty itself, nicely done in flash.
Oh shit, I just noticed they do the W6Fp-, which is a leather version of the W6....oh dear.

Asus website

Traditional Wood Fired Pizza Oven

I think I have mentioned before that not having a garage in Taiwan is driving me crazy....but it's bigger than that. I mean, what do I want a garage for? To build shit, that's what.

Recently my Mum (That's Mom to those from North America) sent me a copy of a fine article out of a NZ magazine called "The Shed". The article is a step-by-step thing on how to build your own Traditional outdoor oven.
I could scan in in for you, but it's just too hard. Instead I found a pretty good site on it.

Here is one that I reckon looks cool:

More pics here

I'd actually forgotten about these things until recently, but when we were travelling around Italy in 2002, these ovens are actually the 'normal' way of cooking pizza, although usually they are built indoors. I found it fascinating to watch the doods making the dough, then turning it into Pizzas for cooking right there in the restaurant.
At the time I was thinking this would be a good addition to Truantville. I like the idea of (wait for it....the Binford idea) making a combo style, that includes a BBQ, or one that is built into a wall of the house and can be used from either inside or outside. I haven't seen that done yet, but I am sure that would be the best way to do it to avoid freezing yer ass off in the winter, or being forced to cook inside while yer mates are outside boozing on the deck in the sun. I reckon it would be great to invite people over and have them cook their own pizza, just the way they like it.

Anyway, I reckon this will be one of the FIRST things to be built on Truantville. Even if it's all there is, it gives food, warmth and a social focus....and let's face it, that's what a good home is all about right?

http://www.traditionaloven.com