My good friend Ben Davila sent me this theme song he wrote for Seas Of Science. I am stoked, it's perfect!
It goes so well with the logos my pal Jenny Comperda made for us.
YAY!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Inspirado: David Wilson and The Museum of Jurassic Technology
I’m almost done reading a great book by Lawrence Weschler called “Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder”. It was lent to me by a friend and has lived on my bookshelf embarrassingly untouched for some time now. I’m happy to report that it is a wonderful read. Mr. Weschler describes some of the background to the Museum of Jurassic Technology (further referred to as MJT) as well as conversations with Mr. Wilson about his museum and about museums in general. I’ve been to the MJT a few times while I’ve lived in Los Angeles, but I guess I never really quite “got it”. It was explained to me by my ex-husband, who was a well studied art student, that the museum was really an art piece. A museum that is a play on museums. Reading this book cleared up the confusion I always had with the MJT ("what?", "why?", "Is that real?", "That can't be real", etc.). I don’t want to give too much away for the sake of those who have never been, but I highly recommend it if you are like me and have always been baffled yet intrigued by the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
More than the museum talk, what I really liked about this book are Mr. Weschler’s conversations with David Wilson. I saw Mr. Wilson give a rambling speech at LACMA once. I watched his lecture with about the same confused look on my face that have on when I wander through the MJT. But this book reveals Mr. Wilson’s background and now I understand more about him as an artist. There's one section where he self consciously describes the time in his life when he realized he had a purpose, but wasn’t sure exactly what:
P.44 “ It was like something was being given to me – somewhere between a gift and an assignment – and one wants to be incredibly careful with how one treats of such things”
I like that quote. The author goes on about how reluctant Mr. Wilson was to let that part be published, but of all the book, that part sticks in my mind the most. He seems like a really neat guy who let his life experiences, good and bad, point him in the direction of what he really wanted to do.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Inspirado: Kurt Kobaya Y G.R.O.X
I bought this album because I liked the cover. I don’t know if you do this, but every once in a while I’ll go to the record store and buy a bunch of clearance albums or singles just to find out what they’re about. Maybe the cover looks cute or I’ve heard of the artist tangentially, or maybe I just like the name of the band. This album by Kurt Kobaya Y G.R.O.X was a total find. I still have no idea still who he is - a google search revealed little on this mystery man. But he sure did make a killer album. Robotic, funky but punk, total stokage. You can listen to samples through Amazon HERE. The robot sound to his songs gives me ideas for the next Banana Vs Robot challenge. I was not at all expecting anything like this music when I put on this CD, but I’m so happy I found it.
Its fun little finds like this album that give me small doses of Inspirado.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Making Sergio
The Sergio puppet is about 3 ft tall. He's got a little gold crown on on his head, heart shaped eyes, a big curly moustache, and many chins that descend to his big potbelly. Instead of functioning like a traditional hand puppet, Sergio is built more like a nutcracker. He has a lever that opens and closes his mouth.
I would like Sergio's skin to have a texture to it, not to be a fluffy fabric puppet. I saw this for the first time a while ago and I love those puppets in the first part of this music video.
I know I know...hipster blah blah, but those puppets are rad! I was thinking how much I liked the texture of those horror show puppets in the intro. I'd like Sergio to have a latex or rubber texture similar to those guys.
I know I know...hipster blah blah, but those puppets are rad! I was thinking how much I liked the texture of those horror show puppets in the intro. I'd like Sergio to have a latex or rubber texture similar to those guys.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Inspirado: The Monkees
I loved The Monkees as a kid. It was my favorite show when I was in kindergarden. I remember being heartbroken when I had to go to school and miss it. The show was made a before my time, but Nickelodeon would show daytime reruns. I was surprised to find info about its revival in the 80's on Wikipedia, but sure enough, there it is. I remember being totally in love with Peter Tork. I wonder if that set me up for a lifetime of being romantically partial to goofy redheads...
What struck me about going back and watching this show as an adult is that it is it's a really good kids' show. It's funny and zany and sweet. The songs are catchy, the colors are bright, the jokes are corny, and the plot lines are super silly. The Monkees were just fun. Say what you want about the prefabrication of The Monkees or the overall significance of their music to the vast tundra of modern society, but I had a lot of fun watching that show.
And I'm not embarrassed to say that I still like their songs.
Man, that last one is a good jam.
What struck me about going back and watching this show as an adult is that it is it's a really good kids' show. It's funny and zany and sweet. The songs are catchy, the colors are bright, the jokes are corny, and the plot lines are super silly. The Monkees were just fun. Say what you want about the prefabrication of The Monkees or the overall significance of their music to the vast tundra of modern society, but I had a lot of fun watching that show.
And I'm not embarrassed to say that I still like their songs.
Man, that last one is a good jam.
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Theaatah
I’ve been going to the theater lately. One of the nice things about living in Los Angeles is that there’s no shortage of plays going on at any time. Since I don’t have a background in the performing arts, I thought I’d better go check some out if I intend on putting on SOS live later this year.
The two shows I went to this weekend were very different – one was at a children’s theater in North Hollywood and the other was at a performance art space in Echo Park.
The first show I went to this weekend was delightful. It was a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk by the Storybook theater. I’D never been to a children’s theater before, it was PACKED! The show was short - 30mins 1st half, 10 min intermission, 20 min 2nd half. I sat in the back and took notes. I was hesitant to go because my number 2 had an obligation come up that day and I thought I might seem like a creep by myself. No one cared, or even noticed really. The kid’s were SO into the show. There must have been 150+ kids all totally engaged for the whole hour. It was definitely geared towards a younger audience (3-9), but they had all these great and simple ways for the audience to participate. Really good stuff, I took a ton of notes. I’m glad I went to go see it (creep or not).
The second show I went to was sort of a performance-meets-science-research personalized art show…thing. I’m kind of at a loss to explain was it was exactly. It’s an installation put on at Machine Project described as puppets and art meets science. “Puppets meets science! That’s what I want to do!” I said. So I signed up and went for my personalized performance to see what it was all about. It was definitely a unique experience. The best way I can think to explain it was is to say it was flavored more to the social science spectrum than the science-science spectrum. I can’t tell you about what happens in the personalized art performance, but you can sign up and go see it for yourself HERE. It's neat. Go try it.
In summation: I believe in both cases that this was time well spent. I also realized I have a lot more work to do.
The two shows I went to this weekend were very different – one was at a children’s theater in North Hollywood and the other was at a performance art space in Echo Park.
The first show I went to this weekend was delightful. It was a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk by the Storybook theater. I’D never been to a children’s theater before, it was PACKED! The show was short - 30mins 1st half, 10 min intermission, 20 min 2nd half. I sat in the back and took notes. I was hesitant to go because my number 2 had an obligation come up that day and I thought I might seem like a creep by myself. No one cared, or even noticed really. The kid’s were SO into the show. There must have been 150+ kids all totally engaged for the whole hour. It was definitely geared towards a younger audience (3-9), but they had all these great and simple ways for the audience to participate. Really good stuff, I took a ton of notes. I’m glad I went to go see it (creep or not).
The second show I went to was sort of a performance-meets-science-research personalized art show…thing. I’m kind of at a loss to explain was it was exactly. It’s an installation put on at Machine Project described as puppets and art meets science. “Puppets meets science! That’s what I want to do!” I said. So I signed up and went for my personalized performance to see what it was all about. It was definitely a unique experience. The best way I can think to explain it was is to say it was flavored more to the social science spectrum than the science-science spectrum. I can’t tell you about what happens in the personalized art performance, but you can sign up and go see it for yourself HERE. It's neat. Go try it.
In summation: I believe in both cases that this was time well spent. I also realized I have a lot more work to do.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
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