Studio Project: Digitize a musical instrument. I have my own issues about this assignment but I am trying to put them behind me so that I can focus on the task at hand.

I learned more today than I have in a very long time. I spent most of the day in my living room, at music stores, at a coffee shop and the library researching. I learned about soundwaves and the science of sound, the history of the Moog(symthesizer), and about a vast array of instruments from the violin to the Tharamin. Here are a few cool videos:

The Musical Saw:


The Theremin:


Digital Guitar


and The Glass Armonica:



But I will leave you with this:


-Rubes

Chris Price

Damn this stuff is so great. I am 100% inspired right now.

CHRIS PRICE

here are a couple sneak peeks.

If you do nothing, nothing will happen.

The end of my first day without Facebook! I found myself reaching for my phone a couple of times but I am really glad I don't have it any more. It feels good knowing I am no longer a part of that world. I felt obligated to use it but I say, if I really want to stay in contact with someone, I will. I think my connections with people will be a little more meaningful because of it. AH! It feels good!

So! I have been toying with the idea of doing month-long projects. Like, one-a-day type things and writing about where these experiments take me. It could be things like, writing one letter a day for one month, or designing once poster a day for a month, or making something new every day for a month, or making a new recipe every day for one month...you get the idea. I was inspired by this project that I have been following for a long time called The Uniform Project (click on the link to go to the site). One girl per month wears the same dress for that entire month and takes a picture of herself wearing it. The girl then blogs a little about what it means to be a part of the project and her outfit that day. People donate money based on if they think the girl is doing a good job and all of the money she raises goes to the charity of the girl's choosing.

I wish I could be one of the girls in the project. I have been following it from the very beginning when Sheena, the founder, wore the same dress for an ENTIRE YEAR. Of course she had the most fabulous accessories but they were all donated, thrifted or designed from discarded shipping material/recyclables. I think that is just way cool. You all know how much I love using odd materials to make something cool (See: Utility Quilts). I really think I could do it too.

But I am not really established in anything just yet so I think I might have to wait my turn. Until then, I'll do my own Uniform Project. Except I'll call it something else. Something pretty sweet. I'll come up with it tomorrow and get started ASAP. Why? because this is the year to get shit done.

On a similar note my roommate, and me by consequence, are really into Dubstep remixes of pop songs lately.

Click here to listen to a shitty dubstep remix!!!

Trav says that this is the year that dubstep will die. I believe him. He called it. So anyway, we're sitting here in the office (our microscopic dining room, if you could call it that) listening to various shitty dubstep songs like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd7LDhvZqrc
this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-KoUlHG6fU&feature=related
and this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8e0MPlnoHM&feature=related

Then I saw this....


and this...


this...


and this...


- I leave you with babies dancing to dubstep.

Goodnight
-Rubes

New Year, New Projects

I wonder how many projects get started on New Years Day.  And I wonder how long they last.

This year is all about commitment and starting projects. Its all about being proactive.  And its all about being honest with myself. My dad told me that if he died tomorrow, and he had one piece of advice to give me, it was "to be honest with myself".  So here goes...

...I feel like I can bullshit myself sometimes.  I tell myself I am getting work done and that I am being productive and that I am living my life exactly how I want to be living it. I tell myself a lot of things. But am I listening to what I am saying? Am I truly being honest with myself? No. Not all of the time.  I can try a lot harder most of the time. I can push myself a lot further.  I need to hold myself accountable for my own actions and I plan on starting that now. On New Years Day.

Damnit. I just realized that technically, it is the second day of the year and not the first.  Well, at least I am being honest...


So! How do I recapture and live my 3-Dimensional life to its fullest?

Step 1: Get rid of Facebook.The first proactive thing that I did this year was to delete my facebook account.  Facebook makes whores of us all.  I hate that I care about things on facebook.  I hate that I have documented my life on facebook for the past 5.5 years. Wow. 5.5 years. That makes me a little bit sick. I rely too much on it and fear that I have forgotten how to communicate without it.  Facebook is stifling me and it is preventing me from existing in the 3-Dimensional world.  If I really want to "Be Here Now" I need to "Get Off Facebook Now."  So I did.  I feel pretty good about it. Perhaps I will regret it tomorrow.

We shall see. 

-Rubes

The Phantom Tollbooth

I have recently noticed a severe lack of literature in my life.  Prior to France, I always read a book, other than those for school, that I would be reading (albeit slowly).  During France, I was too busy writing, drawing, studying, and plus, books in English were hard to come by.  After France, my world was inundated with design and I had a lot to catch up on.  Needless to say, I can't remember the last book (of Fiction) that I read, cover to cover, since Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. 

Laughable, tragic, shocking, I know. 

This is why, as I close one volume of my life, I pick up a new book a new book and begin another.  In this volume, I will move out of Eugene and into a new apartment in Portland, I will get my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Product Design, I will read more, and I will write more.  

A new friend of mine recently told me, after I said I had nothing funny or interesting to write about since France, that indeed I did and that just because I wasn't in Europe doesn't mean interesting things aren't happening every day.  

Dangit. He was right. He IS right. 

The first chapter of this volume begins with a book. I have read this particular book more times than any other book and it happens to be one of my favorites. I recommend that every person read it in his or her lifetime.  It's not an epic classic, or a New York Times bestseller, but a young adult fiction book, with numbered chapters and sketches intertwined within its pages. This chapter begins with The Phantom Tollbooth.

I consider this book one of the most underrated books, ever.  Not many people have heard of it, or really understand the depth of it.  Norton Juster weaves in these little gems, these little pearls of wisdom and states them SO SIMPLY and in such a matter-of-fact way that it makes you lower the book and stare off into the wall for a few seconds going, "Of course..." Its brilliant and more people need to appreciate this book.

Which is why I invite you to read this book with me. In fact, I invite you, whomever you are, to read not only this book with me, but also the next and all subsequent books with me. I want to set a goal of reading one book a week for an entire year. That would be 52 books in 52 weeks...but I'm hesitant to bite off more than I can chew (WHICH I have been known to do...FREQUENTLY).  So instead, I will keep it a loose goal...

...I will try to read as many as I can in an entire year.  

I have already asked a few people that I feel have great taste in books, or that I feel have an interesting perspective on life, for book recommendations but I extend the invitation to anyone that reads this.  If you have a book that you feel should not go unread in anyone's lifetime, a book so strikingly important or well-written or incredible that you would like to recommend that I read this year, please, leave me a comment.  I am 100% open to suggestions.  

"Do you know where we are?" asked Milo.

"Certainly," he replied, "we're right here on this very spot.  Besides, being lost is never a matter of not knowing where you are; it's a matter of not knowing where are aren't--and I don't care at all about where I'm not."

Its fun reading old blogs.

I was just going back through and reading some of the stuff I wrote when I was in France.

I miss writing.

Maybe I should go back to France so that I can have funny blogs again.

-Rubes

Valemtimez Day!

While all you love birds were out romanticizing and canoodling together in dimly lit corners, listening to the soft sounds of indie bands and crooners, eating overpriced meals for two and bathing in the wafting scents of the roses and chocolates surrounding you, I was stuffing my face with soul food, dancing in my chair to the down home blues tunes from a man who sounded like Keb Mo', and drinking champagne with three of my good friends. I loved every minute of it.

Usually, and well, always, now that I think about it, I'm very impartial about Valentines Day. I could care less about all that floofy stuff. This Valentines Day was just an excuse to go out to dinner with my friends. We laughed and drank and danced and had our fair share of adventure, excitement and maybe even a little lovin'. I ended up having a really really great time that night. I realize that this Valentines Day was more of an excuse to pamper myself and think about how much I love my friends and go out and have a great night without thinking about stresses, homework and how much that beer just cost because damnit, its a holiday and Im going to celebrate it. Phew....I needed it.

It's week 7 which means I can smell spring break but its still too far away to touch.

I've decided to start posting funny/interesting/pertinent things at the end of each Blog. Here is something I found today that I think those of you who read this would enjoy....so...go and enjoy it, damnit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ&feature=channel_page

Happy Valemtimez Day
143
Ruby