Brief Hiatus

My most recent posts have all been audio mixes and little finds online, but I will be making more design oriented posts within a brief time period. The grind has been really intense so far in 2010, but that’s definitely a good thing. At the same time, I’ll be working on the insertdrg.com website as well as sorting out the sections and focus of the blog. Mixes will pop up here and there, but soon there will be an insert site, as well as a more streamlined flow of creative juices flowing on this end. All the best.

M

OFL eMix

A friend in Rome, Francesco Lipari [OFL], is having an exhibition of his offices’ work and asked if I would produce a mix for the show. The funny thing, he says, “I like your mixes, but for the exhibition not so house.” If you’ve listened to previous mixes, they’re fairly deep and dance focused, so this was a great opportunity to try something I had never done before. Low tempo, ambient, atmospheric sounds. Francesco was really happy with the product, as am I. I hope you enjoy the mix.

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116 minutes that can change your life | Randy Pausch: Really achieving your childhood dreams

TED Talks In 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who was dying of pancreatic cancer, delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that made the world stop and pay attention. This moving talk will teach you how to really achieve your childhood dreams. Unmissable.

more about “Randy Pausch: Really achieving your c…“, posted with vodpod

sporeTankUpdate – Force + Beauty

I’ve continued working on the fun little ‘spore’ project. I’ve been learning a bit more about coding, and ventured into programming forces, gravity, friction, etc. These are the first tests using these techniques. It’s nothing ‘new’ in the larger

spore Tank v1.0

*Above image links to the app

sporeTank is something I’ve recently started to try to develop some interesting interpretation of ‘sensing’. How a computer, or object within a program senses its’ environment, but also how it does it sense the elements outside of its’

[insert] OnSite 3.0[Wrap Up] : Yas Hotel + Ferrari F1 World

Photo wrap up from Yas Island.

[insert] OnSite 2.0[nightVersions] : Yas Hotel + Ferrari F1 World

I was told I had access to the site 24hrs…when I went into the hotel suites to complete some work, of course there were no lights. So instead of attempting surveys in the dark I did some night shooting instead…and it was incredibly creepy. If designers get creeped out by your architecture, what’s going to happen to all of the innocent children whose parents think, “Oh this will be great for the kids.” referring to Ferrari F1 World. Someone recently told me, “A weakness is a strength taken too far.” and with Ferrari World, I feel the NURBS surfaces have gone WELL overboard…reducing it to what I would call a very weak project. And with a 1M USD budget the project is incredibly under designed. If you happen to catch the you tube video of the project, all of that surface hangs 30meters over head completely disengaged with the buildings interior. I will stop myself now, I’m no Nicolai Ouroussoff or Michael Beirut, but I’m guessing any architect/designer with experience in advanced geometry will look at Ferrari World project and just shake their head. Being on site has been a great experience though. Unfortunately these are my last days … more to come.

[insert] OnSite: Yas Marina Hotel by Asymptote

This week I’m on site at the Yas Hotel by Asymptote on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Drove out at 5.30am to get to site by 7, for site induction at 7.30. A hectic day to say the least but I still managed to get some decent shots. I’ll be on site all week so I’ll definitely be posting more images throughout the week. Just from my walkthrough today, I was impressed with the project. While friends at ASY play modest, the fact that this managed to be in it’s current stage just 18mo after signing the contract is well deserving of a nod. Very well done guys, David, Jono, Matt, Robert, Andrew, and the countless others that pushed to make this happen.

Processing: Gaming[studies]

I’m aware that I haven’t posted the source code for my last couple batches of processing sketches, I’ve just been lazy to be honest b/c they’re static sketches, but I’ll put them up soon. Also, the stills were output at 1280 x 800, so feel free to download the images for wallpapers or whatever if you please.

Paradise Lost 1.1 ‘Rolla’

For the last few weeks I have been staying in the Emirate of Sharjah which neighbors Dubai.  It is frequently  referred to as the residential annex of Dubai, mainly because some 70+% of Sharjah’s residence are employed in Dubai. Relegated to Sharjah because of the high cost of accomodation, Sharjah boasts a population with an incredibly rich culture in stark contrast to the public jetset persona of its’ neighbor. These photographs were taken throughout a neighborhood known as ‘Rolla’, which is often referred to as the little-India of Sharjah.