The Nine Variables: June 2008

Monday, June 23, 2008

Cheap Thrills - Another DiddyWah Muxtape

Visit for tunes http://www.cheapthrills.muxtape.com/

Enjoy!!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The 9 Variables – Sun Tzu

A general should know the importance of "The Variables" in order to win the battle:

(1) An inaccessible area is not an ideal place to set up camp.
(2) Route to neighboring country from the camp must be easily accessible.
(3) Avoid remote terrain.
(4) Beware of area surrounded by mountains in case of sudden attack.
(5) If surrounded, employ various tactics to fight.
(6) In a hopeless situation, fight with all strength.
(7) Change route to confuse enemy.
(8) Ignore small skirmishes but concentrate on gathering all the army at the main battleground.
(9) Refrain from attacking minor places, but advance to the major strategic center in order to gain a speedy victory.

Heaven Is An Amusement Park That Never Closes

“Heaven is a place,” sang the Talking Heads, “where nothing ever happens.” Not so in this version of the Afterlife. This is what Heaven might have looked like in the Divina Commedia had Dante not been a medieval Italian intellectual, but a contemporary Californian comic artist, like Malachi Ward, who drew this map. In Ward’s vision, Heaven is a place very similar to your local amusement park. Only better: it never closes, you don’t ever have to leave!

Beyond the Pearly Gates (emblazoned with the slogan You Did It!) is a Nu-Body Machine (1), instantly providing everybody with the body they’ve been trying to shape into while still alive. Catholics are welcome to Heaven, but are confined to a small section next to the entrance (2) where they can indulge their semi-idolatrous tendencies at the Throne of Mary (3). Others can try their hand (and their wings) at Angel Boot Camp (4), which is “great for Pentecostals and Charismatics.”

Those less inclined towards spiritual war could go for the snack bar (5), the marital coitus castle (6), the go carts (7), the dinosaur petting zoo (8) or Joab’s candy shop (9). Joab, a nephew of King David and eventually killed at his behest, was mainly known for his martial exploits, not for his sweet tooth.

Evil is not completely out of view in this Heaven: in fact, the Damned Viewer (10) allows you to visually check up on “Adolf Hitler, your philandering boss, the smug atheist next door and all the vile people you hate” get their comeuppance in the ‘other’, decidedly less amusing place. Maybe in Hell there’s a similar viewer, showing the Throne of God and Jesus (11) and the place where people can line up to sit, as if he were a giant Santa, on God’s lap.

And there’s more. Go to Family Land to chew the fat with pre-deceased loved ones (but wouldn’t you eventually bump into them anyway elsewhere in the park?). Visit the Arena of Answers, where the Illuminatron will tell you who really shot JFK, RFK and MLK. Go to Memory Land to relive your own finest moments or, if your existence was less than extraordinary, to Fantasy Land to relive somebody else’s. In the Hall of Heroes, visit with Abraham Lincoln, Moses and Princess Diana (among others). Visit America Land, where it’s always Memorial or Veterans’ Day.

Many thanks to the ever wonderful http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/. Visit website to see an enlarged and detailed map.

Moso Pendant Lamp

The Moso pendant lamp creates an inviting warm glow with its bamboo veneer shade panels. This innovative design combines sustainable materials with an energy-efficient light source. The shade panels pop into a bamboo frame without the use of fasteners or glue. This permits the lamp to be shipped flat to minimize packaging. The Moso pendants are expertly crafted in the US. The bamboo is produced by Smith & Fong Plyboo® from sustainably managed bamboo forests in China.

Schmitt Design

Brian Schmitt also produces a line of lovely mobiles crafted from cherry veneers -Adrift Mobiles

Finnish Summer Houses

Nobody appreciates the summer more than Scandinavians. After seven months of winter they savor the brief spell of long days and temperate climates like a precious resource. Many residents—particularly those from Finland—choose to spend this period communing with nature, often in private summer homes. Finnish architects are no different. Their secondary homes are used as blank slates where they can construct their personalized visions and experiment with more daring design concepts.

Documenting these distinctive houses was the task of Jari and Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen, an artist and architect, respectively. Their book, "Finnish Summer Houses", details them, employing original artist sketches and archival photographs, along with contemporary shots. The 20 villas, cottages and cabins selected highlight summer houses dating from 1895 to the present. Featured homes are the products of architects like Alvar Aalto (pictured above on book cover), Juhani Pallasmaa and Bertel Saarnio (pictured at right). Common design themes include a focus on recreational comfort and an intimate incorporation of natural surroundings. Many also employ uniquely Finnish cultural features, like the inclusion of traditional saunas.

A particularly good read for the coming months, "Finnish Summer Houses" will appeal to fans of Scandinavian design and rustic architecture in general. It's available from Princeton Architectural Press and Amazon.

by Doug Black, 5 June 2008

http://www.coolhunting.com/

AntiVj

AntiVJ is a visual label from crustea on Vimeo.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Berlin Sessions @ Future Classic - 21 June Sydney

SolidState Los Angeles - Fine Lines - Edits

It has been a while since I last posted a SolidStateLA session on the blog......too long. Listen to the last mix Fine Lines - Edit Edition (and others). Soul, boogie, party classics, and some disco to boot:

http://www.solidstatela.podomatic.com/