spasticrobot

Fresh Links

ffffound = del.icio.us meets flickr with input by badass designers. I wish it was fully public so I could collect and submit images but at the same time, the users who are on there now are doing such a remarkable job it almost seems like they should keep it as a closed loop.

BLDGBLOG = my favorite architecture reading right now.

Ain't No Disco = the freshest agency and studio interiors around. Lots of inspiration here for our current studio renovation.

The Serif = Daily design inspiration.

A "When will this Indian Summer end?" List

Hotel Chevalier
The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack
Fall Television
LSU Tigers
The Return of the Aints (this is what being a Saints fan is all about people, embrace it)
Fantasy Football (at least one of my teams is winning)
Eastern Promises
Old Metairie
1507 Offices
Canseco's Market

A List of Transitions

• Jazzanova - In Between
• Hyundai Sonata
• Fall wardrobe shopping
• Annunciation Offices
• Idea Village & Tulane projects wrapped
• Global Green starting
• Bohemian Modern: Living in Silver Lake
• DWR (dordoni table, kyoto chairs)
• New Orleans 1960
• faub.org resurgence

Cultural Ephemera Stops the Demons Cold

More things helping me through the dark hot days of Summer 2007:

• Mylo "Destroy Rock & Roll"
• Justice "Cross"
• MSTRKRFT "The Looks"
• Annunciation Interactive
• Finance books
• Searching for office space
• Veronica Mars, Season 2
• The Idea Village, as a concept and a project
• Grilled Skirt Steak & Gorgonzola Salad
• Gambas al Ajillo
• N.O. Brew Storyville Mocha

Activities Around Snellville, Georgia

This weekend, as previously mentioned, Sonny, Lara, Will and I drove up to Georgia to catch a stage of the Tour de Georgia and to pick up a boat. It was a nice, relaxing weekend that consisted of:

• driving (snellville, ga)
• reading books & magazines (PHP Solutions, Dwell, Men's Health U.K. edition)
• listening to music & audiobooks (lots of metal, Thin Lizzy, some rap, The Old Man & The Sea, The Areas of my Expertise)
• eating delicious Southern treats (Waffle House, Whitt's BBQ, etc.)
• driving around lost looking for Sonny & Chris's new boat. Finding said boat only to realize the hitch ball and trailer hitch were incompatible sizes. Driving two towns back to switch ball out. Driving back to the boat and then finally pulling it across a narrow, ancient looking wooden bridge.  (watkinsville, ga)
• Drinking Tecate, making signs, chalking slogans to root for our favorite riders and shouting at them like crazy as they passed.* (centerville, ga)
• Frantically collecting items for aformentioned merriment and then driving crazy Jack Bauer style with cellphone updates and gmaps to get to the podium ceremony. (props to Will on the awesome navigation)
• Watching Brajkovic put on the Yellow Jersey as the GC leader.** (stone mountain)
• Passing out to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on tv.
• Driving home.

*side note: As we screamed and yelled at the passing race the Discovery team car took special note of us and honked and waved as they drove by. Later on we figured out the driver of said car was Directeur Sportif Johan Brunyeel and his passenger was the great ride Vladislav Ekimov. So awesome!!

**He went on to win the tour the next day. Keep your eye on this kid, he's gonna be a major contendor in the next few years.

10 Films from the Criterion Collection that I'd like to own

1. Alphaville
2. Amarcord
3. The Battle of Algiers
4. Black Orpheus
5. Contempt
6. In the Mood for Love
7. Metropolitan
8. Mon Oncle
9. Rushmore
10. Slacker

What would you pick?

Picking Up the Pieces

I'm going to try to pick things up on this journal again. It's been a few months since my last post and I've definitely got things I want to share. 

My little company Annunciation is chugging along and I've been working on projects with Cox, Whence, Emerge, Defend New Orleans, Storyville and Trumpet to name a few.

Through trial and error in these first 6 months or so, I've figured out that I'd much rather work with a small, agile team than in a corporation or alone. Teamwork and creative collaboration are essential to me and it's something I need to foster when I find it.

I'm also working with a small group of excellent designers and developers working in the greater New Orleans area on a project called the fauborg collective. More to come very soon. This is a very exciting project.

other things that are doing me right these days:

• Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee
• Transcending CSS
• Whole Foods Fleur de Sel Caramel Chocolate bars
• Commutes via Bicycle
• Cycling in General (need to ride more still)
• Abita Springs Town Garage Sale
• Kyoto
• Iced Coffee and skim @ Mojo on Race St.
• The Shins "Wincing the Night Away"
• Amy Winehouse
• GTD
• The War of Art
• collaboration
• creative inspiration
• spring bloom, the flowers and foliage are so lovely right now down here

Short Visit to NYC List

I just returned from a very nice 3 day adventure in NYC. Here were some of the things that I was able to enjoy:

• Bagel & Cappucino in SoHo
• Sugarbowl viewing and Popeye's in BKYLN
• Cooper-Hewitt: National Design Triennial
• Macaroons, Jambon Sandwich and Earl Grey at Payard
• ñ tapas: Can Feixes, Croquetas, Quesos, Tortilla, Boquerones
• Stephen G. Rhodes, "Recurrency"
• Mint Julips at The Hawthorne Inn
• Stella Artois & a Cheeseburger at the Corner Bistro
• Everything Bagel & Cappucino on 2nd Ave.
• MoMA: OMA in Beijing, Architecture & Design collection, Minimalism collection, Pollack, Rauschenberg, Duchamp
• Sidewalk Hotdog
• Volver @ Lincoln Plaza
• El Pastor & Pollo Tacos from Diablo
• Queens Park Swizzles at Little Branch

My Summer Reading List

Earlier this month I compiled a list of my planned summer eating. Here's a list of my planned summer reading:

• Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford
• Triksta: Life & Death & New Orleans Rap by Nik Cohn
• Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
• The Nasty Bits : Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain
• Barcelona by Robert Hughes
• Red Thunder by John Varley
• Pig Perfect : Encounters with Remarkable Swine and Some Great Ways to Cook Them by Peter Kaminsky
• The Omnivore's Dilemma : A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
• JPod by Douglas Coupland

It's a nice list of light and easy books with an emphasis on food writing. So far I've started reading Triksta, which is a good if loosely written anecdotal history of the Pre-K rap scene in New Orleans, and Heat, which is the brilliant story of New Yorker writer Bill Buford's adventures in Mario Batali's kitchen intermingled with the story of Batali himself. Both books are providing just the right amount of summer enjoyment.

I'm sure I'll have more installments as the summer wears on. What are you reading? I'd love to know.

Spring Inventory 2006

Here's my Inventory of activities for Spring 2006. It's everything I've been doing, working on, eating, reading, watching and listening to for the past three months. I've been keeping these lists for 5 years now and they serve as a great document of all of the external elements that shape my experience. I love looking back at them.

Books
The Rider by Tim Krabbe
Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling
Visionary in Residence by Bruce Sterling
A Good Old Fashioned Future by Bruce Sterling
Time Out Barcelona
Barcelona Eating & Drinking Guide
Ajax in Action
Head Rush Ajax

Movies / DVDs / TV
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Terminal
Wedding Crashers
Paycheck
Videodrome
V For Vendetta
Crash
The Hole
City of God
Party Monster
Elizabethtown
Sopranos Season 6
Entourage Season 2
Wonderland
Red Dawn
The Aristocrats
Kung Fu Hustle
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Lost Season 2!
Entourage
The Sopranos
Big Love
The Battle of Algiers
Tarnation
L'Auberge Espagnole
Barcelona
Citizen Kane
Into the Blue
Domino
The Interpreter
Rumor Has It
In the Mood for Love
Deadwood Season 2
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

Music
KCRW
Feist
Rogue Wave
Samba
Tropicalia
Gotan Project
Cibelle
Gnarls Barkley
Seu Jorge
Sergio Mendes
Manu Chao
Jorge Ben
Gilberto Gil
Caetano Veloso
Gal Costa
Brazilian Girls
Alton Ellis

Projects
Cox Ecommerce Administration
Web Marketing Efforts
Local and Lovin' It

Events
Rouge Roubaix 8
St. Patrick's Drunkery
NCAA BB Tourney Watching
Tour of Flanders
Paris Roubaix
French Quarter Fest
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Giro d'Italia
Michael O'Brien's 50th
Holiday in Barcelona
Barcelona Futbol Madness
Douglas Gordon at the Miro Foundation
Vinyl & the permanent collection at MACBA
Degustacion at Cinc Sentits
Memorial Day Cookouts

Stuff
Cox Digital Cable with DVR
Jellybeans
Croissant d'Or
9 Roses
Italian Sausage with Swiss Chard
Shrimp Fettucine
Airport Express
Carrer Aurora no. 11
Jamon Iberico
Cafe con Leche
Croquetas
Boquerones
Vichy Catalan (Agua con Gas)
Cava
Spanish Quesos
Lomo
Pa amb Tomaquet
Anxovies
Pintxos
Tortilla
Muji
Durrum Wraps
Vodka con Limon
Mojitos
Estrella Damm
San Miguel
Spanish Gummies
Vino Blanco
Black Beans & Rice with Tortillas