StringGrrl sees the World

Pop-up Haiku Shop  I've been representing companies at technical conferences and tradeshows for sometime, and had started to think that all of them are fundamentally the same. Hollow out the inside of the convention hall, fill it with booths, vendors, rolls of disposable carpeting, bad padding, and it's another show. I guess I have not been going to the correct conferences, or have just been in the wrong field all this time., The Dell EMC World conference in Austin gave me a whole new perspective on what trade shows could be like, if you joined an industry not only run by engineers and shop rats. Queue for poetry requests During the Dell EMC World conference in Austin they filled the convention center, not only with booths and vendors, but also had live music throughout the day. Local Austin bands filling the convention hall with everything from Roots rock and Country, to Bluegrass and the Blues. For the gala premiere party dinner the rolled in Food Trucks that se...

 Over the years I have owned and broken many digital cameras.  Mostly point and shoot simple versions burt a shame none the less. Broken displays (2)-dropped at Disney and broken in back pocket Burnt out power sources (1)- placing batteries backward in the camera  Obsolete media (1)-floppy disk camera Jammed lens motor (1) I always feel bad having broken the tech and have horded the damaged goods in some cases for years. Alas at some point I do need to toss the stuff out; or do I? I stumbled upon an Instructable to convert crappy old digital camera into an IR or Near-IR camera.  Digital photo as captured to SD card- no digital manipulation or changes Finally a way to make use of the Hoard or broken and obsolete digital cameras... the patient was my Canon PowerShot A 400 with a cracked display I figured that not having a display would also be a throwback to the predigital days when we took our pictures without the ability to preview the result...

So we are walking along Roppongi Hills minding our own business on the way to get some Sushi one of the Sushi restaurants there (conveyor belt sushi so I was really looking forward to it), when out of one of Geigers nightmares walks a giant spider. It was enormous. Trying to find an angle in the plaza to take a full picture was a bit of a challenge.   Then it occurs to me, "I've seen this before!" but where? June 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland 2014 in Tokyo The work it turns out is  Maman  or "Mother" by French Sculptor  Louise Bourgeois   June 2011 Zurich, Burkliplatz 

In the Akihabara UDX building on the 4th floor is the "Tokyo Anime Center" which for the grandeur of its name is a fairly understated locale. However, it is remarkable in the fact that on the day that we visited we met a writer of the first exposure I had to anime in the 1970's and 80's Starblazers ; back when we new it by the far from PC genre label of Jap-animation. Sensei Teiji (Reiji) Matsumoto an Anime legend The Series I and many 70's kids grew up with, Sensei Matsumotos work This day he was there promoting the forthcoming release of a commemorative DVD and BlueRay disc set of Galaxy Express 999. Galaxy Express I was not familiar with, however the character design and aesthetic are exactly what I remember from my childhood with Starblazers. http://animecenter.jp/201405/28123036.php   & http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan/anime_news/AJ201406050025 Character study Maetel (メーテル Mēteru) Autographed original works fo...

Among the things great about living in (near) the city is texture, that is the stuff that makes cities like the "D" what they are. You never get the feel of a city just bustling about in your car from work to grocery, home to church (or what not). No, in order to get a feel for your city or any city you visit need to partake in the people. Napkin given me by Paris at the National Coney Island Go to the Coney Island (for any not from the D this is a Hot Dog joint that specializes in dogs with beef chili served with onions and mustard) for the midnight shift and see who you meet, take the bus, be downtown, talk to the people you meet. Today in the Coney, singing along to Motown I met Paris. Sitting three stools away at the counter, Paris was sketching on the back of the placemat with the kids meal crayons. He asked me if my phone had internet and suggested that I Google his handle "Parisel313". What I find is his YouTube channel featuring his drawings set to m...

The installation is behind an artfully done hedge and wrought-iron fence but still a little visible to freeloaders