Didn’t expect to write two posts today, but more coolness came along that I couldn’t resist. Today’s Google Doodle is just too fun.
In honor of (what would have been) guitar legend Les Paul‘s 96th birthday, you can actually “strum” the strings. Of course, you won’t be able to play that Leo Kottke song like my brother did a few posts back, or recreate a Les Paul lick, but what a cute bit of ingenuity!
“The word spectacular would be an understatement.”
These were the words of Cupertino Councilman Orrin Mahoney after hearing Steve Jobs’ presentation about plans for a new Apple Headquarters.
As an appreciator of everything Apple, this is exciting news. But regardless of your own personal relationship with “everything Apple”, this will be a stunning architectural feat in its own right.
For example, by moving the parking underground, the grounds will lose the asphalt and double the number of trees, including the addition of an apricot orchard. The campus will be efficient, beautiful and of course, state-of-the-art.
Another example of coolness-meets-practicality. Gotta love that!
“52 weeks of peace” has gone to press… stay tuned!!!
Beautifully interpreted by the very gifted David Saxton …
proactively punctuating life with the plausible, powerful possibilities of positive thought presented through a plethora of “P’s”.
Thank you ~ for your bravery, your love, your principled, unselfish courage ~ from the wells of our hearts, with a gratitude that knows no bounds.
“Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours.” ~Wallace Bruce
The book cover I’m wrapping up for author Sam Moffie has an interesting story on the back relating to Kurt Vonnegut. Hearing Vonnegut’s name triggered the memory that he was not only a successful author, but an artist as well ~ making him fit snugly into my “creative duet” series.
Dubbed “America’s greatest satirist” back in the late 60’s, Vonnegut’s best-selling, and most powerful novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, is pretty much considered classic literature at this point. His novels are dark, complex, persuasive, and controversial.
I can’t say that his art strays far from that description, either. There’s no hint of romantic artistic fancy here, but a continuation of the Vonnegut mind, a unifying sense of something off-beat that intimates deeper meanings despite a deceptive simplicity. His art is as unconventional, and almost as successful, as his writing.
Vonnegut stepped into the graphic arts with illustrations for Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions, his favorite tool being a felt-tip pen. Later he developed a greater passion in art for its own sake, creating silk-screen prints, which I find have an intriguing, “Picasso-esque” feel. And a kind of cool tidbit of note is that his 2004 album cover art created for (the band) Phish is included as part of a traveling exhibit for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Vonnegut’s career as novelist and essayist spanned nearly 6 decades. He died in 2007 at the age of 84.
(More art prints and more about Mr. Vonnegut can be found at vonnegut.com. There is also a lengthy, informational page at Wikipedia)
proactively punctuating life with the plausible, powerful possibilities of positive thought presented through a plethora of “P’s”.
“People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped.” ~ Author Unknown
So much of life is about our point of view. Are you so close to something that you miss the bigger picture? Or do you soar above, taking in a broad view, missing the details?
Is your view softened by “rose-colored glasses” or do you see only the hard, harsh angles? When you walk, do you look up, look down, look straight ahead?
Are you near-sighted? Far-sighted? Do you look back, look forward? Do you see what’s right in front of you? Do you consider situations from all sides?
Our perspectives change, of course. But like all thought, we can direct that perspective towards the best possible light.
proactively punctuating life with the plausible, powerful possibilities of positive thought presented through a plethora of “P’s”.
I know, not the image you might expect… Power often connotes masculinity; a certain brawniness. It also gets mixed up with things like control and willfulness. Or conjures up motors and engines, watts and voltage.
But the essence of power is energy. It’s that energy that creates the ability to do great things. It’s a force that inspires and sustains. And it’s a force that’s strongest when it comes from the heart. Uncontrived and elevated.
Power is neither masculine nor feminine, and doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, fat or thin, black, brown, white, red, yellow, green, purple…. We all have power within ~ power to give, to heal, to love. We have power to generate, and accomplish, the stuff of dreams.
(Tell that to your mind.)
I think I’ll keep this one as a pet. Maybe I’ll name him Ted. Although he looks more like a Bartholomew. Or maybe Garth. Yea, Garth.
Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi is known for his engineering genius, but there are clearly so many other elements at work in his work that he is far more than “architect”.
He was an artist. Buildings were his canvas. And those buildings are grand treasure troves of design and unbridled creativity.
Revered worldwide as one of the most important modernist style architects, Gaudi lived from 1852-1926. “Over the course of his career, Gaudi developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Gaudi’s characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew admiration from other avant-garde artists.”*
Gaudi takes “thinking outside the box” to whole new levels. His extraordinary works, many of which reside in Barcelona, are movement and dance, they’re delicious sugar-laced monuments with creamy frosting; they’re all marshmallows and gingerbread, sand-castles, stone, glass and iron; they’re original, dramatic, striking blends of angle and color.
I marvel at the ingenuity and the boundlessness. Fantastic. Illogical. Stunning.
