»i love getting an email from a friend (who lives far away), in which he is telling me about a great book he is reading at the moment – the same book i am reading.«
— Mareen. I think, this is one of our greatest coincidences so far.
The notebooks function like a security blanket for me. I can’t go into a meeting unless I have my current notebook in my hand, even if I never open it. Because I carry one everywhere, I tend to misplace them a lot. Losing one makes me frantic. Everyone who works with me gets used to me asking, “Have you seen my notebook anywhere?” which I assume gets irritating after a while: sorry. I’ve left them behind in clients’ offices. On one occasion, I left one on the roof of a cab on the upper west side. I ended up walking ten blocks, retracing the taxi’s route, until I found it on Broadway at 63rd Street, intact except for some tire marks.
I am really a fan of taking notes, sketches and especially doing collages in my so called gluebooks. At the moment I’m the proud of owner of eight books, done in four years.
TED: Tim Brown - The powerful link between creativity and play
At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play – with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn’t).
»Arbus’ Werk ist ein gutes Beispiel für eine Haupttendenz der anspruchsvollen Kunst in kapitalistischen Ländern: der Tendenz, moralisches und gefühlsmäßig bedingtes Unbehagen zu unterdrücken, mindestens aber zu reduzieren. Ein großer Teil der modernen Kunst zielt darauf ab, die Reizschwelle dessen, was entsetzlich ist, herabzudrücken. Indem sie uns an das gewöhnt, was zu sehen und zu hören uns früher unerträglich war, weil es uns zu sehr schockierte, quälte oder in Verlegenheit brachte, verändert die Kunst das moralische Empfinden – jenes System von psychisch bedingten Gewohnheiten und öffentlichen Sanktionen, das eine vage Grenze zieht zwischen dem, was nach Gefühl und Impuls unerträglich ist, und dem, was nicht als unerträglich gilt. Die allmähliche Unterdrückung des Unbehagens bringt uns einer ziemlich formalen Wahrheit näher, nämlich der, dass die von Kunst und Moral errichteten Tabus willkürlich sind.«
— aus: Susan Sontag – Über Fotografie, Essay ‘Amerika im düstern Spiegel der Fotografie’, NY, 1977. I’m sorry that’s all in German, but I don’t find the original text online and won’t translate it back into English on my own. (from: Susan Sontag - On photography, 2nd essay)
This evening Anne and I went to the movie theater to see The curious case of Benjamin Button on the opening day. A great movie and also a wonderful official movie website.
This is sad and bizarre all at the same time. And very freaky. This could never had happened before 1998. “Oh Peter, look! The Google Street View Car hit a deer!” (via livejamie)
