All posts by keith

Art

I’m also liking…

…Carol Padberg
Here’s her artist’s statement:

Using the “modernist DNA” of typography fonts such as Bauhaus, Futura, and Helvetica, I create visual improvisations. I use fragments of found typography to take apart and put back together language. My work employs traditional painting media (encaustic and polymer resins) as well as materials that extend the medium of painting (adhesive vinyl, flocking and metallic films). Often I choose materials with which I can create a tension between the flat graphic voice of type and the fluidity of paint and handwriting. Sometimes comical, sometimes minimal, these images ask questions about design, nonverbal language, and the modernist lineage of abstract painting.

I’m liking her collage especially the Helvetica at sea series:

Helvetic at Sea #8

(via Two Coats of Paint)

Life

Core Beliefs

from Spider Robinson (one of my favorite writers).

Kind is better than cruel–I’m sure of that. Loose is better than rigid. Love is better than indifference. So is hate. Laughing is the best. Not laughing will kill you. Alone is okay. Not alone is way better. That’s about it…and in my life so far there’s not a single one of them that’s always been true.

From Very Bad Deaths

General

50 facts you might not know about Barack Obama

Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know – Telegraph This is an interesting list. He’s definitely a geek (he collects Spierman and Conan comics, among other clues). His favorite book is Moby Dick, which is not my favorite, but is probably in my top 50.
And, of course (the most relevant thing for this blog), his favorite artist:

His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

He’s intelligent, and hip, and seems to be an all around nice guy, who does mean well. I may disagree with a lot of things he’s going to be doing, but I gotta respect the man. He’s the most intellectual president we’ve had in many a decade.

books, memes

phrase from nearest book” meme

Via Agile Testing

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open it to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

My quote is from Richard K. Morgan’s Broken Angels (which I happen to be reading right now).

Immaculate.

books, Politics

Mark Twain’s The Curious Republic of Gondour

This story is about democracy and why a limited (voting) franchise is better than an unrestricted one. It was first brought to my attention in Robert Heinlein’s book of essays Expanded Universe, and is quite hard to find, since it’s probably not as popular as some of Twain’s other stories. I found it online after being pointed to a different story by a different author. That is why the internets are so great.
The Curious Republic of Gondour by Mark Twain