On First Reading the Geologist’s Report On the Condition of the Bluff

The ice age made this.
Though something was here before.
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First swim

First swim, originally uploaded by jseiden.

Summer started today for me with a cold swim in Cape Cod bay. The
winter storms hit hard this year: you can see the remains of the storm
fencing at the foot of the bluffs.

The day was a jewel of sun, water, sky and air.

Summer storm

Summer storm, originally uploaded by jseiden.

The first thunderstorm of the season came through the other night,
cooling off the 90 degree day and knocking down trees.

Emerging forms, more iPad thoughts, finger creates art…

I got an email this afternoon from 20×200, a wonderful site that sells art at consumer prices. Today’s featured artist is Jorge Columbo, who creates images using a painting app called Brushes that runs on his iPhone.  And although the images feel traditional, there is something appealingly new about them. Aspects of photoshop and fingerpainting shine though in combination to offer some new angle on the streetscape.

I’ve also been collecting my thoughts on the iPad, and was struck by a comment by Columbo in this morning’s promotional email:

I do not have an iPad yet, but will surely get one. I have drawn on one already, and loved a larger screen. (I’m tired of mixing phone calls in with my art supplies). One day we’ll be able to draw on touch screens the size of a door. Compare the early iPods—2001: heavy, grey screen, no pictures, etc.—with current ones. Doesn’t it make you feel like this one iPad is ONLY the beginning? The basic thing for me remains: no visible tool. Finger creates art, period… The other key point is portability: a regular digital studio is now in your pocket. It’s not so much a toppling of status quo, more like a broadening of alternatives—shooting a movie in black-and-white film now doesn’t mean the same it meant a century ago—back then it was the single option; now it’s a choice among many.

In another blog post I read this morning, David Sheilds wrote:

Art, like science, progresses. Forms evolve. Form are there to serve the culture…

Sheilds doesn’t make the technological argument (that new forms are made possible by new technologies) but he doesn’t have to. The forces of change are multivariate.

And I’m buying Brushes.

What’s in your front yard?

In at least one case, the answer is: a John Deere windmill frame stuffed horse with mirror in corner.

American Airlines promises you’ll be cold, tired, hungry & cramped

Service = brand. Policy = brand. Experience = brand.

This should be obvious by now, but apparently someone forgot to tell American Airlines. At least, that’s my feeling now that I’ve returned from a vacation week in Hawaii. I made the round-trip on American Airlines, and I hope I never have to fly AA again.

At a functional level, AA delivered on most of the basic promises of air travel: they got me to Hawaii safely and on time. They didn’t lose my luggage. The flight attendents were polite, friendly, and competent. And yet, I will never fly with them again.

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