Unknown PSU
For the longest time I’ve wanted to snoop around this enormous University that I’ve called home for about three years now. Nothing affords this better than a Sunday during summer session. A couple Sunday’s ago I took about four hours and went into 3 buildings I’ve never had a reason to venture into: Science building 1 & 2, and the interim XSB Music building.
I found myself a full two stories underground, lurking in empty lecture halls and feeling completely feral. Some doors read “DANGER, Nuclear Materials.” Others looked like refrigeration chambers, Star Wars sets, and chambers that can only be described as the beginning of the Chunnel. I love that feeling of almost getting caught, like going to an RV show and pretending you’re in someone’s home. Not a soul to be seen, I snooped, tested locked doors, and wandered for half a day.
Do people know we have a complete whale skeleton on the 3rd floor of SB2? A whale, seriously. Plus a grizzly bear skeleton that is terrifying.
This school is enormous. I don’t think I’ve visited more than 50% of the campus in 3 full years. 55 acres to explore!
Oregon screenspace!
Driving home through Deschutes, Jefferson, and Clackamas counties yesterday I realized I wasn’t quite sure about all the counties in our fair state. After checking out the internet, there isn’t really a map that makes me want to learn more about them, so why not make one? Here’s a little prize from FORTPORT!
I also learned our motto: Alis volat Propriis which means “She flies with her own wings.”
This was a great way to learn about my state, oh lovely Oregon. I’m happy to report that I’ve called 5 of these counties my home (Douglas, Hood River, Jackson, Multnomah, and Clackamas). I’ve got it in a few sizes for you, check it out, visit as many as you can, especially those lonely ones to the West. They may be enormous but they aren’t empty by any means. Happy trails!
1920 x 1200
1680 x 1050
1440 x 900
1280 x 800
iPad
iPhone
Caribou, Florence + The Machine
We all know and love Caribou’s latest album by now. Their video for Sun has probably been seen or heard of, but in case you missed it here it is in its dream-like glory. I love these women! They are total art moms partying after a gala at the academy. The soul patrol group that comes in with Kid n’ Play hair and incredible sneaks are such a fantastic mix with the art moms. I can dig it, it brings life to the song that I already loved.
So the second part of this little entry involves Florence + The Machine (wiki linki for a quick rundown). Sure, her music videos are over produced and dramatic and have a mickey mouse house club feel, but here’s the interesting angle. Florence is intelligent, humble, articulate, thoughtful, and has a point of view. She’s not singing about boys in the yard, seeking Amy, or her fabulous amounts of money.
How do I take an over produced singer/songwriter that has something to say?
I watch, and I poke around, and I decide later, that’s what. I find myself enjoying her much more after watching the interviews she takes. I recommend you do the same. So what’s the verdict folks?!
Shaun Bloodworth
Shaun Bloodworth loves the electronic scene. He’s just released a film chronicling the electronic underground in the northern UK. It’s called Minds Locked Together. Beyond this though, Shaun is a photographer with a consistently eye-catching style. He recently graced the pages of Human Resources with a great little spot about his new film.
I do have a deep affection for startling and stark photography. I’ve just really never seen it done with humans before. Landscape/place photography can lend itself to exposing the beauty in a stark setting, and I am pleased to now be able to explore what that might look like in portraiture. Shaun’s eye for light is incredible. If I was found in particular in the room with the two chairs I might just convert to Mormonism. Am I alone in feeling that? The last photo makes me yearn for how I used to feel about Radiohead. The fiddle-players shadow reads immediately as Kentucky for me. What a player!
Descendant flowers + Whoopi
This is what full time work yields after 3 years of determination. An incredible story that is nothing short of remarkable. Director Heiko van der Scherm had the wherewithall to hire Whoopi Goldberg for this short film that chronicles a scene in the life of two flowers in a sunlit wood.
It is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I’d love to think that in the end the flowers shared consciousness with what had come before. As in, they were of the same mind and knew where they came from, a sacrifice. I’m relating to flowers! Clearly it’s effective storytelling.
I still am not really certain of the total dynamic between these two flowers. Why did the Whoopi flower do what she did, knowing it would be her ultimate demise? Was it to get back at the beast that trampled her family? Then why did she take the time to become beautiful again if she was only going to kamikaze herself?