Girl Talk during Pacific Rim

So I saw the new Guillermo del Toro film Pacific Rim tonight in iMax 3D. I don't see a lot of the big budget hollywood films that are released, but I do make an effort to catch what might be deemed the main wave of things. These are the Avatars and the Spidermen, enough to stay up with the most attractive stars and the latest styles of filmmaking.

Enter my experience of Pacific Rim. I am not familiar with del Toro's films outside of Pan's Labyrinth, which I fell asleep during many years ago (due to the time of night, not the quality of the film). My interest in this film was based primarily on my love of Neon Genesis Evangeleon, which was highly influential in this film's story and style. I can say that I share many of the influences that del Toro called upon in making this film. Certain scenes were very clearly influenced by existing films. Outside of the plot being a reworked, westernized telling of the Neon Genesis series, Blade Runner, Inception, Avatar, and Shadow of the Colossus were the main influences I saw in the film.

The film was a good, big budget hollywood film. Guillermo definitely has good taste, pulling from the appropriate sources when necessary. The film doesn't break new ground in any sense, but it was a well crafted, enjoyable experience. It makes me think a little bit about Girl Talk's mash up albums. When those are successful, each moment is calling upon a collective appreciation of the appropriate source material. This is analogous to del Toro's film making here, and the reason for the film's success.

Yelp vs. Trip Advisor (The Meal Edition)

HELP! I'm hungry... 

I just moved to San Francisco and have settled down in the Mission District. I've become reliant on Yelp to help me get situated in the area. I decided to see what else was out there, and downloaded the Trip Advisor iPad app. The showdown began tonight, as I tried to figure out where to eat.

User Interface: 

Both UI's have their idiosyncracies, but Trip Advisor's UI is littered with inconsistencies that absolutely wreck the user experience. The app designers tried to cram the too many browsing options into the left panel of the app, which overcrowds that side with different options. The app is a whos who of contemporary UI tricks, with a page out effect to show different map types, a side panel on the right for the filer, a zoom in and out button and pinch gestures to zoom... I'm overwhelmed! Additionally every time a user moves in the map in the Trip Advisor app, the map listings change letters, which confuses the absolute hell out of me when I'm using it. Their top navigation bar is very poorly laid out. 

(Trip Advisor's map view)

On the contrary, the Yelp app has me comfortable and situated. It brings the additional UI elements into a bottom bar that accompanies the map view in the app. The top navigation is nicely laid out, segregating between the left panel options and the map options. The filter is much easier to find and use in the Yelp app. And, the search feature is much more responsive in the Yelp app, allowing you to search by keyword where the TA app forces you to search for a specific location.

(Yelp's map view)

Plus, the Yelp app has kick ass features like a monocle and a picture grid for viewing search listings.

(Yelps Monocle... I don't imagine I'll ever use this, but its totes rad)

Information Layout

Trip Advisor

Tabs?!! Come on TA, are you serious? This is not the best way to present information to a user on an iPad. I will say I do appreciate the formatted menu option. While Pizzeria Delfina sounds enticing, you are just not getting me excited about heading there...

Yelp

This is more like it. Do I even need to elaborate? In case I do, scrolling through a nicely designed information view is much sexier than clicking tabbed info dumps. One gripe... A menu option is totally missing from the Yelp app. (Although I found it on the mobile app as I was walking to the restaurant). Cha-Ya here I come!

Small note on Visual Design: 

Anecdote... My father took me golfing when I was growing up. I haven't golfed since. Don't make me feel like I'm searching for golf courses when I'm trying to go out! It makes me unexcited about doing anything in this city. Red on the other hand makes me want to get up and go!

The winner... YELP! 

And animals everywhere rejoices as we enjoyed vegan num nums.

Drone and Dance

Two albums that are worthy of your attention:

 

 

Replica, Oneohtrix Point Never purchase here
Higher Ground, Rimar. purchase here

A Hypnagogic Journey Through an Apple Vending Machine

James Ferraro's latest album Far Side Virtual plays out like a smooth, ambient journey through a Playstation 2 game. Allowing his samples to be recognizable to the point that they're inhibiting, this album recounts and confronts any utopian feelings we may have stumbled upon during our visits to Best Buy or the airport recently. I found myself at once grooving, chilling, and laughing. Check out his more abrasive Night Dolls with Hairspray if this gets too glossy for your liking.

Chill out, brah

Enjoy a cool Sunday courtesy of Norman McLaren.

Labor, Algorithms, and the work of Liza Lou

The SCAD Museum of Art opened up last week to an exhibition of Liza Lou's beaded 2d and 3d works. She makes her art entirely out of threaded beads, often without the help of any assistants. The piece shown here, Continuous Mile is a mile of beaded rope placed in the form you see (someone inform Guinness). The energy of her work stems from the labor involved in the construction of the pieces. The most exciting work for me was her "2d" work made out of Light Bright looking beads placed on their heads and glued to a flat surface. The image produced was a geometric patterning reminiscent of a computer chip or a really nice rug. I kept thinking of my old days in Computer Science school, endlessly programming various algorithms to create certain effects. Seen in this fashion, her work is not only a meditation on woman's labor but on energy output in general. With computer and mechanical labor slowly becoming more intelligent and capable, what human labor is worth keeping? Apparently cleaning and cooking.

 

Kitchen (1995). Yes this is made entirely out of beads.

Feeling hopelessly nostalgic?

Rest assured my good friends, we all do. About the strangest things too. Indulge yourself tonight, in lieu of the holiday season...
http://www.ubu.com/film/ahwesh_bethlehem.html

Comment if you wanna talk about this film...