3.09.2013

Peter at the beach

The other day at work I learned that you can remove backgrounds from images in Word 2010. What takes 10-20 minutes to do cleanly in GIMP takes 10 seconds in Word: insert picture, click "Remove Background" under "Picture Tools", and you're done (provided the image isn't too detailed). Insert a new background image, click "send to back", and you've got a new setting. Mind blown at the simplicity of a utility that's been there all along. Here's Peter from The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie in new landscapes.





3.02.2013

Amanda Palmer: The Art of Asking (TED)

I know many feel TED talk fatigue, & I can be one of them. But if you're interested in the sharing economy, or art, or Twitter, or bringing humanness to a busy impersonal place or interaction, or even just or maybe especially *how to present a short talk well*, I recommend Amanda Palmer's 13-minute talk (2013):



1.26.2013

"The Friends List: a Poem in 292 Parts"--Carolyn Guinzio

I love Carolyn Guinzio's "The Friends List: a Poem in 292 Parts"--a short stanza on each of her Facebook friends. On Facebook, Kathleen Ossip shared it and wrote that it "chimes with affection and connection". I think so, too, but also think some sections capture the slightness and wisp-like surprise, the oddity of some of those connections--it's a poem that makes sense of Facebook, when "Making Sense Of Facebook" sometimes doesn't seem so far from "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All".

A few brief excerpts that I hope it's okay to quote (read the entire poem here*):

1. 
She was worried 
about the phantom
kittens in the grate.

39. 
I was won over
by the fictional contents
of the fictional little girl’s purse.

77. 
I both knew and did
not know that was her
at the next table.

88. 
You can look, but I think
he has already found
all the good fossils.

102. 
Where can she be
at peace?
On a horse.

195. 
Even at the hospital,
I see her in the light 
of chandeliers.



*link may be broken after a week or two--just learned of poet's intention to only keep the page up for a short while