I stumbled upon Chris Jordan’s work last year and sent it around to friends. I just went back to his site and was completely blown away again. Running The Numbers, An American Self-Portrait is the work. It “looks at contemporary American culture through the asustere lens of statistics. Each impage protrays a specific quantity of something. Statistics canfeel abstract and aneshtetizing, making it difficult to connect with and mke meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month.”
Month: June 2008
These are crazy times. There is so much out there, so much that is available to us. Yet somehow it seems harder to find. Maybe there really is too much and we need some kind of filter. Or maybe its that its really hard to be heard above the din. So much money and effort is spent trying to make us care about things that we shouldn’t. We need the amateurs to speak up, those that do it out of love and true passion.
These Are Those Things is dedicated to the things that brighten our day: the good work, the original work, the work that strives and does not settle. The work that is not afraid to fail and not afraid to reach, to move into uncharted terrain. These are those things that make me want to keep working, to keep creating, to keep sharing.
Thanks for taking a look.
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The Fifty Greatest Cartoons Ever!
The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck. Five of the top fifteen are up on the internet for you viewing pleasure, including one of our faves Duck Amuck. Porky In Wackyland is so great (and not available on line). If you don’t have the Looney Tunes Collection, we recommend a netflix order or purchase. Vol. 1 has Duck Amuck. Vol. 2 has Porky In Wackyland. No life is complete without having seen Wackyland. Seriously. You have our word. Check these out online.
2. Duck Amuck (1953)
6. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
9. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951)
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Junkbots
The cardboard boxes are piling up in my son’s room. Plastic cups and stray wires reach ever higher. We dream of building a magnificent team, standing by ready for the rescue in case of alien invasion. These were the first two we built, soon followed by our first female bot to complete our household. We are now working our top creation yet, designed to be our first Guymeloff/Mecha/Robosuit bot with robots within the robots. Stay tuned.
LEGO continues to be one of the most creative toys and companies out there. This movie is almost as good as the first Indie, and definitely tops the other three. Plus it’s only five minutes!
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The Art Of Clean
Moose does “reverse” graffiti. He cleans away the dirt and grime to leave cool images on the newly clean surfaces. Not only does he make the world a better place to look at it, but he helps us realize how dirty the world really is (tip BoingBoing). For more info, check it out here.
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More Papercraft!
These are pretty unique papercraft with nice curves and lots of animals. They also have motorcycles and engines to build. We haven’t done it yet in our house, but it’s on our weekend plan list. Check them out here.
