Alive

Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Plate Collector magazine

The Plate Collector Magazine has advertisements of plates that are released in limited additions. Advice on how to display your plates. Recipes for the special plates. New additions to plate clubs.

My first visit to a museum was during high school. Salarjung Museum. Their doll collection is something I can dream about anytime. As a visitor, awe is a usual reaction after the visit of a museum.
The book ‘Creating Exhibitions’ shows all the inputs that go into creating this wow from visitors. The process and phase illustrated by Richard Cress is the key summary of the book. Wheel of dependent implementation companion is another sheet which will help you slot your experiences in the matrix of the exhibit’s mode of presentation. The authors have used lot of figures from various museums to explain the various stages involved in the making of an exhibit. With mindmaps and schedules it has a feel of a management book.
After this book, I can appreciate the long time that goes into planning and executing an exhibition. Next time I walk into a museum I will pare down the space into 2D and 3D displays, any displays that used a designers innovation in shaping up. The art pieces are their own wonder, but their installation, their framework too shape the visitor’s experience.

plate

This morning I was at a garage sale and learnt things about plates.

Calendar plates.

Life on two wheels

Right from the back of the book In the City of Bikes, line after line of the book seemed improbable. As I kept reading about the motivation of the author, an urban planner to visit Amsterdam, I felt that this will make a good gift to a freshly minted urban planner.
The book is funny with anecdotes of situations of throngs of bicycle and people treated as swarm of various animals. While reading the book i recalled a white bike left at an accident site in memoriam of it. The book calls it ghost bike. The only ghost bikes are the ones I know from childhood stories where a person feels like he is carrying a double on the back seat which is heavy because of an invisible ghost. This story wouldnt happen in amsterdam as it is illegal to ride double there.
Tons of info on biking history in the book.

Friendship in adversity

In Frosty the Snowman, Karen freezes in the temperature thats good for Frosty.
She jumps on a train to North Pole with Frosty saying, " Mom wont mind as long as she is back in time for supper".

Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus

Saw this Yes Virginia play on CBS. Its based on a true story of an 8yr old Virginia

Brick Shakespeare

LEGO make Shakespeare even more interesting.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Relaxing yoga

This video with Sybille Gebhardt uses yoga block for two poses. one of them is holding your lower body on the block. Also kapalbathi in Vajrasana but putting your palms in front of you.

Those who draw speak

Anno's alphabet

Zagazoo
The enormous crocodile discussion

Exercise: Focus on a wheat stalk for getting the field right.

Divide space like Eric Carle
Start with a tissue paper
Collage like Carle
The Mixed-up Chameleon discussion
Opposite of red

Monday, December 2, 2013

Bye Bye JCPenney

We bought this clothes drying rack. it looks like an antenna. When in use it looks really cool. Like you have the department store in your house. And then my husband wondered if we could get this fixture from JCPenney. It would roll too. We had heard a month ago Jc penney outlet chain going out of business at an Audubon event. And then it skipped out of mind as we were not looking for anything particular to buy. As a grad student it was our go to place and then with time its selection didnt suit my taste.

I was surprised to find the elegant side of JCP in NJ.

Stamps

I now have 3 stamps.

An Edna Ferber lying in an unused wallet.
A Snowflake stamp with a Direct TV ad addressed in beautiful pensmanship.
A Poinsettia stamp that brought with it a block party message.