ephemera
bioephemera | February 27, 2010
A visualization from NOAA representing the dissipation of energy from the Chilean earthquake.
bioephemera | February 22, 2010
Feb 23rd (tomorrow) is the last day to snag advance tickets to the Seven on Seven conference in NYC:
Seven on Seven will pair seven leading artists with seven game-changing technologists in teams of two, and challenge them to develop something new --be it an application, social media, artwork, product, or whatever they imagine-- over the course of a single day. The seven teams will unveil their ideas at a one-day event at the New Museum on April 17th.
If you go, let me know how it is!
bioephemera | February 15, 2010Astro Rocket
I got my boyfriend one of these adorable Astro Rockets from cardboard safari for Valentine's Day. The large ones are frighteningly expensive, but the smallest one is cute, remarkably well designed, and despite being cardboard, has that pleasant burnt-wood odor of a carpentry shop. Mmmm, laser-cuts.
They also have these kind of hilarious cardboard big game trophies:
Bucky
I have seen a collection of these in a gallery, and they're pretty awesomely weird.
bioephemera | February 13, 2010
Upcoming at Observatory in NYC: Entomologia (Feb 26-April 4), a group show of art incorporating and inspired by insects. I'm particularly intrigued by the discussion scheduled for April 3, "Transgenics, Cybernetics, and Evolution:"
Silkworms engineered to produce pharmaceuticals and hormones, cyborg dragonflies designed for high-speed missions and surveillance... In connection with her recent work, Shanna Maurizi has been delving into the nether regions of genetic engineering and transgenics, molecular biology, and military cybernetics.
Ok, sounds good to me! Plus it's curated by Curious…
bioephemera | February 9, 2010
It literally took me a good 20 seconds to figure out what was. . . off. . . about the first photo in this great post by Emily at SheChive. Sigh. ;)
Thanks to Jake for the heads-up!
bioephemera | February 8, 2010Okay, so most people don't even bother to read EULAs. But I'm glad we glanced at this one, by Ben Long for his Photoshop Action Pack:
You can use these actions for anything you like, and you can give them to your friends and co-workers (or even your enemies, if your experience of the actions leads you to believe that that's where the real worth of this software lies). However, if you give them to someone else, you must give them the whole package including the installer, documentation, sample workï¬ows, and a kiss on the cheek. You must then stand on one foot and cluck like a chicken. (Man, I…
bioephemera | February 6, 2010
Those of you who like to play with color may be interested in the newColoRotate interface, designed to make editing color palettes more intuitive. This tool was produced by the same team that made the useful educational website Causes of Color, which I've blogged about before. It explains the differences between iridescence, interference, luminescence, etc. in simple language easy for nonscientists to understand.
There's a quick demo video of the ColoRotate Photoshop plugin below the fold.
bioephemera | February 4, 2010Seaweed Picture No. 31
Alyson Denny
Photographer Alyson Denny's closeups of seaweed and jellyfish couldn't be less like your usual natural science documentation. Often, very little of her subject is in focus; she's more concerned with how the forms and colors blur and overlap as the field recedes. From a distance, her photographs are dazzling abstractions; the jellyfish photos are reminiscent of jewel-encrusted sets for high-end, artsy diamond ads. But when you realize what the subjects are, you also realize that her photos are just what you'd see if, like a child, you were lying on the beach…
bioephemera | February 2, 2010Why time goes slower when we get olderRhonald Blommestijn
for Douwe Draaisma interview, Audi Magazine
Dutch graphic designer Rhonald Blommestijn's illustrations play with medical and technical themes in unexpected ways. Check out his blog, and his series of concept illustrations for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
The Effect of Playstation on the Human Body
Rhonald Blommestijn
For Playstation Belgium
Rhonald Blommestijn
For the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
bioephemera | February 1, 2010Matthew Albanese makes miniature dioramas out of everyday materials and photographs them, producing Uncanny Valley landscapes that seem almost, but not quite, real. His Paprika Mars, above, is made of 12 pounds of charcoal and spices (paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder). Fields, After the Storm, below, is mostly faux fur and cotton.
Albanese's scenes are convincing precisely because they're so paradigmatic - the standard desolate planetary surface, Western grassland, etc. His work exploits our cognitive tendencies to interpret stimuli against the backdrop of our experience, especially…
bioephemera | January 31, 2010Okay, so between vampires and zombies, the undead have officially conquered pop culture. It's not really new - I was fascinated when young by Michael Jackson's Thriller and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles - but it does seem a bit out of hand.
With the release of "Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers," I feel like we have slalomed down the slippery slope marked by "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," ducked under "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," and smacked a tree with our collective faces. From the synopsis:
Soon after 'twas apparent that the fate
Of all on Earth--the evil and the…
bioephemera | January 30, 2010This is apparently a real ad for the hotly contested Orleans Parish Coroner's race:
Poor Dr. Frankenstein Minyard. This takes negative campaigning to a whole new level.
bioephemera | January 30, 2010"Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
-John Updike
bioephemera | January 25, 2010A quick plug for Fashion For Nerds, a fun blog by a San Francisco biologist with an eye for mixing thrift store finds. See? Living in the lab doesn't mean you can't have style.
bioephemera | January 23, 2010Peacock Backpiece
Paul RoeBritish Ink DC
From the files: one unfortunate consequence of trying to cover all of last year's Artomatic event in a single visit was that I didn't get to explore British Ink's faux-Victorian tattoo parlor. I don't do tats myself, but how awesome is this?
PS. This was not intended to coincide with Conan's last day on the Peacock network, but since it did: I'm with Coco.
bioephemera | January 20, 2010
Camille Allen's tiny baby sculptures have been all over the blogosphere. Contrary to popular belief, though, they're not made of marzipan (almond candy) or icing - they're polymer clay and mohair. So you're not supposed to eat them - thank heavens. Still amazing, though. (And a perfect counterpoint to the giant baby sculptures by Ron Mueck - or the giant baby I just posted by Parmigianino.)
bioephemera | January 18, 2010
A Journey Round My Skull uncovered this DISTURBING children's book about anthropogenic talking fruit who appear to be suffering from a contagious respiratory disease.
I'm not sure why I find it so disturbing, but I do. It makes me feel like I'm on some sort of mind-altering substance. (I know many children's books can have that effect - and the Spongebob movie, too - but for some reason this fruit book is just creepier than usual).
Is anyone else reminded of Henry Darger's work?
Check out more illustrations at A Journey Round My Skull. You can use them to frighten vegetarian children.
bioephemera | January 16, 2010
Back in October, there was an interesting article by Peter Hessler in the New Yorker about Chinese painters who make a living painting western scenes (Venice is popular) that they neither recognize nor are particularly interested in. Unfortunately the article is subscription-only, but if you have access it's worth a read. If not, you can check out a brief audio slideshow here.
The article raises some discomfiting questions about how America is perceived by the outside world, and how concepts we view as central to our culture are utterly meaningless when seen from outside. First, our small-…