Something Beautiful

Branches with Almond Blossom is a very different look from Vincent Van Gogh's usual style. This painting shows the influence of Japanese art. As a gift to his brother Theo, Van Gogh excitedly completed this painting to celebrate the birth of his nephew.

Way Open Concept

Imagine being able to pull up not just one, but two walls across from each other and letting nature breeze through an entire room in your house. In this condo you can.

At first I thought, "Amazing concept, but will it keep the elements out?" After doing some googling I found some people with the same concerns. But upon closer inspection, the walls appear to have a second set of glass paneled windows that slide up to the ceiling along with the metal shutters.

Like skyscrapers, this condo adopts the same outward appearance of flat nothingness. Clean lines and absence of ornamental design this modern piece of architecture reminds me of sans serif typography. At a starting price of an easy $3 million even you can have Shigeru Ban's Metal Shutter Houses.

Want to know more?
Shigeru Ban's Website
Wired Magazine article

Hello, spaceship Laing.

Observing Renee Laing

Auditory & Vocal
• An extremely laid back person, Renee speaks in a calm and unhurried manner.
• The friendly tone of her voice invites others to have a conversation with her, a sign that she is easy to get along with.

Visual
• Overall, Renee is a tidy person. She has neatly groomed eyebrows, face clear of make up, and nails free of polish.
• She seems to be a sensible person because she is wearing a turtleneck underneath her zip-up sweatshirt. By doing so she has given herself an option to easily remove a layer of clothing if she grew too warm indoors.
• Large earphones give the impression that Renee enjoys music and would not sacrifice quality sound by using inferior earphones that would decrease her listening enjoyment.

Tactile
• Careful not to invade others' personal space, Renee keeps her arms and limbs close to her body.

Olfactory
• Renee does not seem wear perfume because has no detectable scent.

So, this one time...

...nothing happened, and nobody cared. I know because I was there.

True Story.

Don't look at the time, I'll tell you what it is. It's 4:40 AM.

By the way don't give limes away unless you mean it. They're for keeps you know.

Shades of gray

A movie review

RENAISSANCE
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386741/

Let's get this stuff out of the way first.
1. The movie was not my choice.
2. I swear it was all a coincidence, it was only halfway through the movie that I recognized Daniel Craig's voice as the protagonist.

And so...

After watching this movie on the weekend, I've developed a new found appreciation for gray. Though I have to admit this movie is visually interesting in its use of black and white, I found myself wishing several times for a little bit of colour, or some gray. The style got in the way of viewing this movie because it was constantly reminding me that I was watching a movie. At various times throughout I was forced to step back and think, "What the hell am I looking at?"

The plot, I found, was as black and white as the images. In the end I wanted the bad guys to win. It felt like the character development was lacking and the writers waited too long to introduce another cause to fight for.

Fighting the good fight is all well and good, but in the end the bad guys are still cooler, and shades of gray are worth looking at.