Derive II

First, roll a die.

1-3=left

4-6=right

Roll the die at least 30 times and record the direction the die chose for you.

Drive in your car. Listen to the radio.

(*be sure to change the station every time you hear a commercial)

Every time the song changes, turn left or right according to what you have recorded.

Enjoy the ride =)

Derive

Street Names

Chance System:

First, roll two dice

     2=A

     3=B

     4=C

     5=D

     6=E

     7=F

     8=G

     9=H

   10=I

   11=J

   12=K

Roll the dice at least ten times and record the letters the dice have chosen for you.

Roll one die

  1-3=left

  4-6=right

Roll the dice another ten times (or the same amount of times you rolled the dice the first time, if more than ten) and record the corresponding directions next to your letters.

Sidenote: Living in Parkmerced, I've noticed that most of the street names begin with a letter in the first half of the alphabet. Therefore, I decided to use dice to randomly choose a letter.

Second, walk around Parkmerced.

The first time you see a street sign with a name beginning with the first letter on your list, turn the corresponding direction.

And so on.

(Of course, you don't have to walk around Parkmerced. You can go wherever you heart desires.)

Sidenote2: If you don't have dice, use 12 playing cards. Or Google "virtual dice." Or do anything else you can think of =)


This derive may or may not make you go crazy. Walking in circles will happen. So, to make it more interesting, pick the first flower you see every time you take a turn. At the end, you'll have a wonderful bouquet =)

Here's my system (for example):

C      L

B      L

G      L

H      R

H      L

F      R

J       L

F      L

I       R

C      L

Parkmerced 

Have fun!!!

LayAR

Layers... augmented reality... great ideas, yet they need serious work.

I've been playing with the programs Layar and Hoppala to place images in space in attempt to "augment" reality. My partner and I planned to create a Virtual Zoo, in which we drew zoo animals, brought them into the Hoppala, placed them in certain spots on campus using the Hoppala map, in order to view them from Layar on our smart phones. Didn't work. I still need to play with the programs to find out why it didn't work, but it was very frustrating to see our work go to waste.

Here are a few of our images:

The idea was fun! And if the execution was successful, it would have been great! I hope I can work with Layar and figure out its kinks.

Layar needs some development. After working with Photoshop, and Google Earth, and Sketchup, which have been around for a while and allow users the ability to create intricate projects, Layar seems lame. Even QR codes allow you to do crazy things like tattoo an animation to your chest. Layar is the younger technology. Layar needs to grow. And it will.

Hardly Strictly

The Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco is founded and funded by Warren Hellman. The best part about it (other than the live music aspect) is that it's free! Hellman obtained his fortune as a private equity investor and co-founder of Hellman & Friedman, and also co-founded what is known today as Matrix Partners. Fortunately, he chose to use his fortunes to give back to the community in the form of a free music festival.

The event began in 2001, originally named "Strictly Bluegrass." In 2004, the "Hardly" was added when artists from other genres were invited to perform as well. 

This great festival brings people together, merging music and art, food and dance, and strictly exists for joyous times.

          Music unites...

          the world!


This year, I attended the festival on Sunday, October 2nd. I spent most of my time at the Arrow stage, where I just missed Devil Makes Three, saw Hot Buttered Rum, and wished I could have stayed for Dark Star Orchestra. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hang around for much longer than a few hours, but it was nonetheless a great experience. Live music is fun, attracts people, and when it's free everyone has the chance to experience its magic.


          My track (and luckily, Google Earth decided
          to take a satellite photo during the festivities)

Another great aspect of festivals is the opportunity for not only the performers share their art, but for the attendants to do so as well. I myself made a few pairs of feather earrings that I was thinking of attempting to sell. This was my first attempt at selling my art, so I mostly observed others. People all around me had their small areas set up with displays of jewelry, hats, belts, and other homemade items. It was inspiring, and a great way to get your name out there.


All around, festivals are great! And I plan on attending many more in the future.

Shadow Art!

Click the link! It's great!

shadow art

Haight Tour

For my first project, I've created a track of myself through the Haight.

I imported the track into Google Earth as well as pictures I took throughout the journey. 

I plan on recording a tour in Google Earth with an audio narrative that documents my afternoon through this part of the city. 

Locative Media

Blast Theory: The Exploratron

A rotating screen that shows a panoramic view of
what the landscape might look like in the year 2050.



Rocket Snail Trail

Vegas Dollar

iSpots

"...maps the dynamics of MIT's wireless networks
across campus, revealing the ebb and flow of daily life."



more links:

Sky Ear
Pacmanhattan