Creating a Connoisseur

There was a great article in the NYT Dining & Wine section yesterday about a wine connoisseur in Japan who is driving major decisions of the wine industry there and in other parts of Asia. The only catch is that he is the creation of a brother and sister Manga team.

Product placement is nothing new in the entertainment industry but Let Gouttes de Dieu takes the reader on a journey of learning about wine through the experiences of its main character. So, as he learns about a new wine family, so does the reader who is then compelled to partake in that same experience in real time. As an example, Burgundy had almost dropped off the map in Japan until the comic raved about it and suddenly hotels were scrambling to keep up with the demand.

I'm intrigued by the use of narrative, education, and the new-found factors that contribute to success in the market.

Mobile Canvas

Driving across the Bay Bridge one day, we spotted the vehicle below. It's covered with a 3-dimensional city which is a work in progress (some of the buildings are still unpainted). I'm not sure how "legal" it is (insert visual of a miniature skyscraper lodged into the windshield of a nearby vehicle), but it's neat to think of the different ways you can create a mobile canvas. It also makes me wonder what inspires this type of dedicated creativity?

Merci Switzerland!

Recently I was lucky enough to be sent to Switzerland on business and when I wasn't working I made sure that I was either eating or walking around looking for something to eat. We stayed in Neuchatel and took a day trip to Geneve. Their appreciation for good design and delightful food was evident in the thoughtful execution of everything from a fisherman's shed to a child's slide. It made me wonder where our sense of style and our appreciation for beauty have gone? I wish the words "thoughtful" and "delightful" sprang to my mind as often as they did in Switzerland.

Though I didn't take many photos of all of the food that ended up in my belly, I did take lots of the local scenery and simple beauty that surrounded me. Enjoy!

These are boat sheds next to the docks that housed local resident's sailboats. Such a simple way to add color to a landscape and turn an otherwise boring eyesore (think of those plastic sheds from Home Depot...ACK!) into a beautiful element.

The water at the docks (and everywhere else for that matter) was so clear. The plant life living beneath the glassy surface of the water was beautiful...in a spooky kind of way.

For those of you who know me, you know that I'm not a chocolate person. Dee has always been the one in the family who loves the stuff but let me tell you...Swiss chocolate has ruined me for life! Oh creamy goodness, how I miss thee.

(drooling...)

Pantone cups at a design store in Geneve (we must have walked into about 3 or 4 of them within a 2 mile radius). My favorite is the coffee series located in the back.

A local fishing shed in Neuchatel is made more elegant by just adding some wood panels to redefine (not cover) the metal and fiberglass siding underneath.

The front entrance of the same fishery.

Woolly Mammoth slides at a playground in Neuchatel sans metal bars ;)

Almost every window has a form of shutter in Switzerland each having their own characteristics and displaying their wear with pride.

Some local art on the walls of an underpass in Neuchatel.

The window frame of a jeweler displays hand-painted diagrams of the tools of the trade.

An olive oil chandelier in Geneve.

Yummy pizza served on a wooden board. Look at how thin that crust is!

Ingenuity With a Dash of Crazy

Two curious scenes from my recent walk through the international terminal at SFO.

First, the ingenuity that I promised in the title. An orange caution cone inverted and used to funnel a leak in the ceiling into some water buckets below.

Here's a close up.

So, I left the cone to do its funneling and I'm minding my own business when I find myself face to face with a bit of crazy packaged in a blond Asian woman. It was an ad for "Supreme Master Television" (apparently available on Galaxy 25 at 97 degrees W). Can someone explain this to me? Is there a galactic cable channel that I'm missing out on?! Um, and, why is she talking on a cell phone?

Symphony of Fog, Smoke, and Fireworks

Ok, I forgot to post these earlier but this past 4th of July was my first in San Francisco. I had been warned that the fog is usually an active participant in the fireworks show but went anyway and dragged 4 friends and Craig along.

Shoom! Pop! The show starts and we see the first glow of the night. I thought it was quite beautiful -- fire wrapped in a veil of fog...there was something so romantic about it. This continued but quickly the smoke from the show mixed with the fog and the smoke from another show we were downwind from and then romance turned into... we would hear the launch, see the bright tails of the fireworks shoot into the cloud and then POP!...but there was not Ahhhh moment, only a brief glow and a fizzle. It had it's charm but the real kicker was that the 5th was a beautiful, clear day. Go figure.

I Heart Newsprint

I was at the MomaStore a few weeks ago during their summer sale and spotted these blank notebooks which have cardboard covers and newsprint pages. Newsprint is one of my favorite materials to sketch and write on because it "feels like velvet." They are really simple and the cropped graphics on the cardboard covers add that little extra bit of love (like Freitag in book format). They run a little pricey (around $20) but I thought it might be a great idea to try myself one day.

Patterns of My New City: Lines

I recently moved up to San Francisco and have been enjoying this new city of mine. Walking around and exploring, there is just so much to see so, here's just a peek at some of what surrounds me. Like the India pix, I'm splitting this series into themes. First up -- the patterns I spy all around me.

lines in the sky criss cross just outside of my window

and down on the street

lines of safety

of transportation

and of movement

Noah's Ark at the Skirball

This weekend I was down in LA to see some friends (congratulations Vee and Oscar!) and was surprised with a visit to The Skirball to catch the popular exhibit, Noah's Ark, before the end of the month.

For those of you not familiar with it, it is an interactive exhibit which showcases a slew of animals made from repurposed/found objects. Inside the exhibit is an actual ark complete with rope ladders, a mini kitchen, and even foam pieces of poop that the kids can use little dustpans to sweep up. It was a great opportunity to get into that child state again and allow myself to give in to that sense of wonder -- something we should all do more often. So, adults, kids, if you haven't seen it yet be sure to stop by before it closes. Below are a couple of highlights and here's an article on the designs and artists.

This crocodile's head is made from a violin case, its teeth are pipette tips, and its tongue is the neck of a violin. If you look closely, you'll notice that the brows are actually leather gloves and the eyes are small cabinet knobs.

This deer has shoe forms for ears and below...

an assortment of found objects from rulers, to pulleys, to wrenches make up its body.

These turtles, perched innocently atop a wooden beam of the ark, are made from steel rebar and...catcher's masks! They are made of found objects yet manage to capture so much personality!

There were a number of different bird friends floating over head but this one was definitely the most dramatic with her red fan wings and spring torso.

I should also mention that one of the greatest things was watching the kids interact with the exhibit and hear their commentary on it. At the end of the exhibit, they have a little desk where visitors can make a statement about what they can do to improve the world. That statement is then projected on a nearby wall in circulation with a host of others for about a week. This one was just too good not to post :)

Education First!

The Art Center petition to put education first is closing tomorrow, June 13th. If you haven't signed it already, please do so and tell all your Art Center friends about it!

Art Center Petition: Education First!

On the Road

These are just a few of the pictures from the road trip Craig and I took up the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco. Everyone has always said how beautiful that ride is, but it wasn't until the wind from the Pacific Ocean was whipping my hair in my face and the colors of the wildflowers were surrounding me that I really knew what they were talking about.


The natural landscape of the California coast is beautiful.

Lazy days for the seals that lined various rock beaches along the coast. It made me sleepy just looking at them.

Along the way we stayed a night in Pacific Grove which is right next door to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's an amazing facility and there was a lot of beauty to be found but still it was sad to see wildlife such as otter living behind glass and under fluorescent lights.

Jellyfish are beautiful creatures...the layering, colors, and varying forms are so elegant.


Moon Jellies
An antique clock shop on Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove

The windblown trees of Pacific Grove

And finally at the end of the road...San Francisco, my new home :)

Icy Pops!

This book is just in time for summer and is a great new spin on a classic summer tradition -- making your own icy pops!

Written by a former teacher of mine and great mentor, Krystina Castella, Icy Pops brings the fun and creativity back to this childhood treat. With recipes like Thai Coffee and Tea pops, the fun isn't just for kids anymore :) She even shows you how to make your own popsicle molds with silicone!

Buy a copy here or visit the website which is a wealth of information all in its own.

Family / (ˈfam-lē)

A couple of things have happened recently which have made me really re-evaluate what the word "family" means. Traditionally, the word family has been associated with people of the same blood relation though I would argue that in this growing world of ours, everyone with a significant impact on your life can be counted as family because they each play a role in how you have been and are being shaped. For me, family (and you know who you are) are the ones who I find myself thinking about in the oddest of moments -- before I go to sleep, during a movie, when a certain song come on. How do you define family?

My biggest worry is that they don't know how much they mean to me. Think of the ones you love often.