D E S I G N /// ck

This thing is as fascinating as it is creepy. And it's all mechanical! Check out the blinking golden eyelids of the "Chronophage" ("Time Eater") grasshopper monster.



If you've ever read The Golden Compass, then you know the Corpus Clock belongs in that world.

Continuing the obsession:

Take the skyscraper grid motif of North By Northwest:



add the abstracted falling man from the movie poster for Vertigo:


and you get the Mad Men intro:



Thank you, Saul Bass!

also noteworthy, the above poster definitely influenced the poster for Burn After Reading:


And this is just fun:

...or How to Escape IKEA Before It Sucks the Soul From Your Body.

Most Americans, upon being born, thank their lucky stars for being born in the strongest, richest, freest nation on earth. But those of us who grow up to be designers often lament, "Why wasn't I born in Scandinavia?!" As we learn in architecture/art/industrial design school, those former Vikings have positioned themselves at the top of the design world.

Bringing their stylish wares to us tacky Americans, Swedes have set up IKEA- the paradise/hell of aspiring designers. Cheap, well-designed furnishings? There must be a catch!

well, there is... "The Store Experience"

IKEA is not Target- there isn't one in every town. You must make a hajj-like trek to the largest city of your region, far enough away that you have to make this trip count and buy EVEYTHING. Upon arriving, you saunter through a bunch of fake living rooms thinking, "My place is going to look AMAZING!" If you're a first time IKEA shopper, you may pick up a lamp and a nifty wine rack and call it a day. But the long-time IKEA addict goes for broke. Maybe you have to buy all the kitchen and bathroom cabinets for your new house (like me). Then you launch into a whole new level.

First, IKEA has you understand that you are buying WELL-DESIGNED and CHEAP stuff. CUSTOMER SERVICE is not part of the package. Employees will flee from you if they sense a question forming in your mind. Second, you have to do everything yourself. You want the aluminum doors with the horizontal cabinets? "Sorry our new hinges no longer work that way, even though we still have pictures of it in our magazine." You want birch faced lower cabinets? "We have 5 out 6 you need in stock." Do these handles work with these doors? "I don't know."

Once you get together your bible-sized order, you go to pick it up. This takes however long they feel like. God smiled upon us and it only took two hours. However, they will give you extra pieces you don't need, forget crucial pieces, until you have to unpack your car and go over the inventory bit by bit. After waiting in line again, you have everything you need (hopefully) because you have to do all this in one trip! Now you just pack your (Swedish) car in an intense life-size game of cardboard Tetris, and drive home slowly hoping you don't break an axle.

Title of Picture: "I Heart Sweden ['s products]"

Sitting comfortably on the bandwagon, I have a new favorite show. At first it was just out of interest with all the award buzz, then the characters that I empathize with (especially their dark secretive sides) hooked me. And this intro sequence that I LOVE:



The whole show could be summed up as "calm before the storm" and the above sequence sets that mood perfectly.

I have been trimming out doors and windows for the past few days, including our fireplace, which I am very excited about (but no picture yet-sorry). Alice and her mom and my mom painted all weekend and got most of the downstairs finished. More soon...
And I liked this picture with the trees. It makes our house look like it's in the country, which is definitely not the case. Our neighbors' houses are just out of frame. If only I could hold my iPhone steady.

Alice is gainfully employed!

She will be an 8th grade language arts teacher at Farragut Middle School.

Thanks for all the prayers!

Alice had her interview at Ijams today, so we should know soon about that. And out of the blue on Monday, Farragut Middle School called Alice about a position there. She went and interviewed with the principal yesterday and has to get back to them by the end of this week.

So that's good news. I always feel better with a backup plan.

And... I'm going through the confusing process of setting up our first mortgage, which is scary. And working on the house non-stop. It's crazy.

I'll post some pictures of the trim I've been putting up this week. We start painting the interior tomorrow, doors should be in on Tuesday. So look for lots of updates.

Please please please pray for Alice this week... She's been ill (it's a long story so I won't waste trying to tell it here) and she wasn't able to go to a huge interview on Thursday. She's made it to the second round to be the Site Educator at Ijams Nature Center (pronouned eye-amz), a really cool preserve near downtown that's the main environmental education center for Knoxville and the surrounding nine counties... in other words, perfect for Alice. So pray she does well this week and doesn't get ill again. She has to do an "interactive interview" in which she basically teaches a whole outdoor lesson that she has had to design. I heard through the grapevine this morning that it may be down to two people now for the postition. It's exciting, but also nerve wracking! I'll be glad when this month is over. Many things will be resolved in our lives, for better or worse.

Apparently my favorite genre is called "Baroque Pop". I knew there was common thread through all this music, but I didn't know it was so defined. It's a style that "with clear indie-rock inclinations, uses additional members in the band to create a fuller-bodied, more orchestral sound. The writing style of the genre often has a distinct narrative quality to it and often makes references to history, literature, philosophy, and folklore." It's interesting they've revived the word "baroque", a term I'm more used to seeing in architectural descriptions. But if you've ever seen a jumbled, multi-layered, self-referential baroque palace, then you know that this is an apt term. It seems that architecture and music often swap references.

Look at the list in the Wikipedia article; it's a who's who of all the stuff that I've been obsessed with the past few years, plus old stuff like The Association that I've always loved.

Check out some "Baroque Pop":

Sufjan Stevens

Andrew Bird

Vampire Weekend

Panda Bear

Beruit

and of course, Of Montreal

[Disclaimer: this post is aimed at everyone but Jason, who manages to stay light years ahead of me in music awareness. Go ahead and laugh that I'm still catching up with 2007, you hipster scumbag]

As promised, a few photos from the trip...


Alice presents... The Field Museum! Va-voom!


Colleen and Cevin basking in the glow of public art. Note the matching SLR cameras to document everything.


Yup, they like public art in Chicago. Add water and you've got one crowded piece of art.


It's a pretty city, especially at sunset.

We had a lot of fun- I wish we had time to experience it more. There's too much for just a weekend. It would take years to fully soak in Chicago. I think it might be my favorite city in the U.S. I'm thankful for little time we've spent there and the good memories.

Now, back to total focus on getting this house finished.

Alice and I got back from our long weekend in Chicago last night. What a beautiful city. We had a great time and got to meet Colleen's boyfriend Cevin. I'll post some of the pictures up here tomorrow.

Now on to the hellacious month working on the house!