Engineer's Daughter

one week

show 277

playlist

from neurons to networks

Browsing through GOOD magazine's online archives recently, I stumbled across an inspiring excerpt from a TED book by filmmaker Tiffany Shlain in which she talks about her family's weekly "technology Shabbat."  An excerpt of the excerpt:

In his book The Sabbath, published in 1951, the Jewish philosopher Abraham Heschel describes the Sabbath as “a cathedral in time,” a concept that resonates when you unplug from technology. During our technology Shabbats, time slows down. Albert Einstein said that “time is relative to your state of motion.” With all this texting, tweeting, posting, emailing, we are making our minds move fast, which in turn accelerates our perception of time. It seems like there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t end thinking, “How did it get to be 5 p.m.?”

 

When my family unplugs, time starts to move at this beautiful preindustrial pace. And what is the one day you want to feel extra long? Saturday. So now our Saturdays feel like four days of slow living that we savor like fine wine. We garden, we ride our bikes, we cook, and I write in my journal. I actually read. One-thing-at-a-time. I can have a thought without being able to immediately act on it. I can think about someone without being able to contact him or her at that moment. I have found it’s good to let a thought sit. It changes when you don’t act on it. For one day each week I like letting my mind go into a completely different mode. We are also able to partake in all those activities that seem to get pushed aside by the allure of the network. While being neither orthodox nor Amish we do drive a car, turn the lights on and answer a land-line for emergencies, so it’s a modern interpretation of a very old idea of the Sabbath. But we try to be as unavailable as possible except to each other and our children.

See also:

• Tiffany Shlain
• Connecting Broadly Won't Replace the Importance of Connecting Deeply

agenda 09.25.13

Thursday, September 26:

• C2SV Music + Technology Festival
• The Illuminated Library Students Reception at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery
• Formalities at Johansson Projects
• Artist Lecture | Jason Jägel at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery
• Film Screening - way at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
• The Long Conversation: Performances by Tom Marioni, Jim Melchert, Mike Lai with Charming Hostess at Southern Exposure
• Depeche Mode at Shoreline Amphitheatre
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra at The Fillmore
• The City: SF Sounds at Tupelo
• A Light in the Attic at 1015 Folsom
• Yacht at Public Works

Friday, September 27:

• Off the Grid: Lake Merritt at OMCA
• Experiments in the Fault Zone Opening Reception at Mills College Art Museum
• Slut River // Death Drive // No Business at The Hive
• Autumn Defense & Bart Davenport at The Chapel
• Body Glove at the Garage Sale Project
• Oakland Active Orchestra at Duende
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers on the Crescent lawn
• Under the Influence at The Emerald Tablet
• Lapalux / Evian Christ / Kode9 / Vessel + Hyperdub Showcase at 1015 Folsom
• Peter Hook performing "Movement" + "Power, Corruption & Lies" at Mezzanine
• Savages at The Independent

Saturday, September 28:

• Got Pride Retreat
• Poets on the Occasion of Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field
• Shine On presents CCR Headcleaner, Scraper, Michael & The Strange Land, and Life Stinks at The Knockout
• Connect and Collect: Annual Art Auction and Exhibition at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
• Exploratorium's Fog Festival
• Stenciling 1.0 Class at 1:AM Gallery
• Station to Station - Oakland at 16th Street Train Station
• Phosphorescent at The Fillmore
• Menomena at the Great American Music Hall
• Life at Temple Nightclub

Sunday, September 29:

• Petaluma's Fall Antique Faire
• 2013 Folsom Street Fair Artists' Area Stage Showcase
• What is a Bridge, if not a Glorified Hammock at the Emperor Norton Bay Bridge
• Jacob's Heart - 15th Annual Kidrageous Celebration at Watsonville Plaza
• 5th Sunday at the Ruby Room
• Creative State Opening Day at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery
• Teresita Fernández in Conversation at the Contemporary Jewish Museum
• Icky Blossoms at DNA Lounge

Monday, September 30:

• Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History Lecture at Kroeber Hall
• Symposium | Reimagining the Urban at the David Brower Center
• Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series: Mickalene Thomas at SFAI
• Chelsea Wolfe at the Great American Music Hall
• Frightened Rabbit at The Warfield

Tuesday, October 1:

• Sukkah City Screening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum
• Violence Creeps, Brain Attack, Straight Crimes at the Night Light
• Public Program | Rainbowing Children's Picture Books Through Textual and Visual Interactions at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery
• Anathema at the Oakland Metro
• Man Man at the Great American Music Hall
• Holly Miranda at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Wednesday, October 2:

• Member Preview at the Contemporary Jewish Museum
• Bay One Acts Festival (BOA)
• Wet Drag // K^ren // Sara Century // General Hospital at The Boat
• Live Music Series with John Bischoff at the Mills College Art Museum
• Film Screening | Belonging: Bay Area Student Film Festival 2013 at the Pacific Film Archive
• Laura Veirs at The Chapel
• Man Man at the Great American Music Hall

hypocorism

Carissa Potter, Ivy Hill, Oakland.  September 22, 2013.

baltimore 2013

Omg I loved Baltimore.  Full set of pics here.

Monday
-mental soundtrack ---> The Walkmen
-talking art with my Jet Blue flight attendant
-talking baseball with my Kenyan car driver
-the very comfortable and super-historical Hotel Brexton, my home for the week 
-a Resurrection ale + a complimentary shot of Fireball whisky + city tips from a charming tuba player at The Brewer's Art 

Tuesday
-mental soundtrack ---> The Orb
-breakfast at the hotel and then a stroll through the surrounding Mount Vernon district and down to the harbor
-a magical morning at the National Aquarium with its pool of giant rays and a several-hundred-pound turtle, a walk-through rainforest on the roof with free-roaming golden lion tarmarins and sloths, a reef chock full of blacktip sharks, a tank of dancing dolphins, an exhibit of peacefully drifting jellies, and a full-scale recreation of Australia's Umbrawarra Gorge (complete with critters)
-eggplant parmagiana with a side of spaghetti marinara at Amicci's
-unbridled creativity from outsider and self-taught artists at the amazingly inspiring American Visionary Art Museum
-history and beautiful views aplenty at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
-Old Bay-encrusted crabs + a Natty Boh at L.P. Steamers
-funnel cake and good icy fun at the Bruins vs Caps match at the Baltimore Arena

Wednesday
-mental soundtrack ---> Charlotte Gainsbourg
-a cheese omelette, grits, and toast at Pete's Grille
-room upon room of treasures: books, music, zines, art, and more at Normals
-stylish shopping at Babe, Poppy and Stella, and Katwalk in Fell's Point
-an apple/manchego/fig paste sandwich + an iced coffee at Milk & Honey Market
-finding myself secretly grateful the stairs up the Washington Monument were closed and relaxing in a nearby garden with a pair of frolicking dachsunds instead
-poking around the gallery district near the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower including visits to the nudashank and sophiajacob storefronts 
-dinner at Corner BYOB: trout on a bed of pommes puree topped with wilted spinach and crab tossed in a tomato-infused Bearnaise + an eclair-inspired bread pudding with salted caramel ice cream on the side
-anonymity versus recognizable identity in the portraits of Erin Fitzpatrick at the Metro Gallery 
-a Yuengling, Panda Bear on the jukebox, and good conversation at Club Charles
-harmonious alt-country straight out of Rhode Island courtesy of Deer Tick at the Ottobar

Thursday
-mental soundtrack ---> AM & Shawn Lee
-comparing and contrasting Edgar Allen Poe's house to the blight-afflicted urban environment that has grown up around it 
-a fiery yellow curry with seasonal veggies over noodles at Clementine (PS check out Dana M. Chang's gorgeous book about the restaurant!)
-walking out of Green Onion Market with a picnic's worth of local treats for an afternoon snack
-street art everywhere
-dinner at the Blue Hill Tavern: a Southwick's red ale + a mushroom Wellington + a peanut butter shortbread/caramel/peanuts/marshmallow/chocolate ganache "candy bar"
-ambling around the shops of Federal Hill during the Downtown Style Stroll
-a balmy autumn evening + the harvest moon over the harbor + the Domino Sugar sign all lit up

Friday
-mental soundtrack ---> Bot'Ox
-one more turn around the neighborhood before off to the airport
-a toasty Potbelly veggie sandwich in the Boston airport
-The Bling Ring and multiple episodes of The New Girl for the flight home 

show 276

playlist

show 275

playlist

miguel arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

I have been avidly following the work of Miguel Arzabe since I first glimpsed it at his MFA exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum several years ago, and I was delighted to find these evocative images on his website that were taken during his residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute last year.  From an article in Santa Fe New Mexican:

Arzabe holds a degree in environmental fluid dynamics from Arizona State University.  While science and art making both involve experimental processes, Arzabe is not interested in categorical distinctions.  "Science is another way for understanding the world, and my art uses aspects of that method -- creating idealized models of systems by reducing the number of variables, inserting an intention into the physical world and eliciting feedback, trying to repeat results," he said.  "It's more important that there is poetry in the process, whether it asks interesting questions, than whether it is science or art."

See also:

• "The Art of Miguel Arzabe"
• Miguel Arzabe

agenda 09.11.13

Thursday, September 12:

• The Long Conversation at Southern Exposure
• Sanya Kantarovsky at Altman Siegel
• MCO Fest 2013: Danny Paul Grody, Carta, Skyscraper Mori at Rock Paper Scissors
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: Settle Down and Image This, Curated by Christine Kown at Oddball Film+Video
• Culture Shock Night of Punk Rock & Roll at the Missouri Lounge
• Art Auction '13: Transforming Art Into Action/Standing Up For Human Rights at SOMArts
• Public Program | Cylindr.us at the Asian Art Museum
• Film Screening | The Singularity at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
• SFEMF 2013 at the Brava Theater
• Weekend at The Chapel
• Ra Ra Riot at The Fillmore

Friday, September 13:

• Pechakucha Night: Found in Santa Cruz at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
• Art Explosion Fall Open Studios
• Mark Taylor at Little Paper Planes
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: Freaky Friday- FolkNoizeQueer4thaEarz at The Web
• MCO Fest 2013: Wild Hunt // Badr Vogu // Northern Bastard // Cron at the Night Light
• Last Nite | 2000s Indie Dance Party at the Elbo Room
• East of Man at Needles and Pens
• L@TE: The Long String Instrument at the Berkeley Art Museum
• Johann Johannsson at Yoshi's San Francisco
• Jason Isbell at The Chapel

Saturday, September 14:

• MCO Fest 2013: Vandella, Eight Belles, Laura Benitez and the Heartache at The Legionnaire Saloon
• 2012 SECA Art Award: Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, David Wilson
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: Fest-O-Rama: Workshops/Music/Vendors Daytime Awesomeness at the Humanist Hall
• Comedic Storytelling and The Stage Created Memoir with Margot Leitman at SF Comedy College
• Sir Rudy Blackout Vs Sure Shot Live Radio DJ Battle Soundclash Fight To The Death at Radio Valencia
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: Stringing Together Meaning in Gender // Art Opening at MOCO
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: ElectroGrrrr, UpDaFemmePunx, QuEeRiOt at the Totally Intense Fractal Mindgaze Hut
• Rock 'n Rumble-The Bellfuries, The Atomic Aces, DJ Okie Oran, Scarlet Conte, Kara La Fleur, Bramani Quinn, 23 Skidoo PinUp Pageant & Free Retro Styling by Peter Thomas Hair at The Blank Club
• Bangarang Crash - Special Guest King Daddy at St. Mary's Pub
• Rock the Bells 2013 at Shoreline Amphitheatre

Sunday, September 15:

• Urban Air Market in Hayes Valley
• Bay Area Ladyfest Presents: Sharing is Caring Rad Workshop Day at Adobe Books
• Hijacked at El Amigo Bar
• Bay Area Ladyfest & Fabulosa Presents: Silly, Sass, and Surf at El Rio
• MCO & Mashi Mashi Present: Midday Veil, Malditos, and Time Release at the Night Light
• 3rd Sunday at the Ruby Room
• Lecture | Zen and the Art of Architecture at the Asian Art Museum

Monday, September 16:

• Water: Posing as Sculpture (Auditions) at Southern Exposure
• Allan deSouza - "Avatar Syndrome: Past Imperative, Future Conditional" at UC Berkeley
• Dominic Angergame: 16mm shorts retrospective (second in a two-part series) at The Emerald Tablet

Tuesday, September 17:

• Shame Folder: A reading with Matthew David Rana and Matthew Gordon at Et al.
• Stars at the Great American Music Hall
• The Julie Ruin at Slim's
• Diarrhea Planet at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Wednesday, September 18:

• MCO Fest 2013: Pleasure Leftists // Cold Circuits // Fossor House at Good Bellies
• Draft Horse: John A Givens, Sad Clown(s), Raphi Gottesman at MOCO
• Tiger Honey Pot, The Starlite Wranglers (Japan), The Bastard Makers, Them Creatures & DJ Handsome Hawk at The Knockout
• Fresh Wednesday at Bar 355
• Public Program | Surface Currents at the Exploratorium
• Public Program | Bay Area Trajectories at SOMArts
• Film Screening | Holy Motors at the Pacific Film Archive
• Stars at Slim's