Free! Audiobooks

Podiobooks.

You can register for free and then go through the archive and see if there is anything that interests you. Wasn't anything from my too read list, so I couldn't bring myself past that registration barrier.

Lyre Bird

This bird is amazing, as a mating call it mimics the sound of its environment. This came up in my Beautiful Networks class, and we discussed how it was a measurement of what is going on in the world. People are trying to create various feedback systems [in regards to energy use and environmental impact], and here nature has presented us with an amazing signal of our times. Someone mentioned the sad irony of this bird unknowingly signaling the nearing of its own destruction by sounding out chainsaws and tractors. A its almost natural emergency signal, disguised as a call for love.

On a more inspirational note, hearing the Lyre bird mimic a camera  and camera with a motor drive is pretty awesome. In class we also talked about how this reflects upon art as a means to get a mate. Another student noted, that it is fantastic that the best way for a male to get a mate is to reflect his environment sort of causing the female to say "oh, you're right, that is where we live." Speaking of reflecting one's environment, Michel de Broin's Superficielle is quite interesting.

Grafische Visualisierung

I'm assuming that means graphic visualization, and that the topic of that visualization is interaction. I don't know German, so I can't say for sure. I just think the graphs looks beautiful, I can only hope that they're representing the information well. I could argue that it's not done well enough, or else I'd be able to understand it regardless of the language. This is just on the cusp of my understanding though, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt...

That's how the post started out, until I discovered the little english button in the corner of the webpage. Haha. After reading the english summary of the goals and process execution I am very intrigued by the graphics from a different perspective. I enjoy the combination of human interpretation and machine automation side by side. The finer details of how they went about trying to represent the info was informative. It was also a bit to complex for me to internalize, and I'll have to reread it later on down the line.

image via munterbund.de

Free! Films [from books]

Watch the books that were made into films on a big screen for free at the Pasadena Library, Wednesday's from 1pm to 3pm. I know, the timing is poor, I'll work on finding a better free film event. 

Camping

I went camping this past weekend. Spent the first night in Santa Barbara and the second in San Luis Obispo. It was great to get away from cellphones and deadline. Just spend the night out on the beach, and the days exploring... well the beach also.

This was a fantastic pattern on some rocks on the beach. The odd thing was that they were only in one spot. I couldn't find it anywhere else along a mile long stretch of walking.

The beach stretching out towards the ocean. It almost looks as though the rocks are floating above the water.

This was from a cafe we stopped in driving up the One, in the town of Guadalupe.

A lone barn in the middle of the fields. I loved the worn feel of it.

Close up of a Cedar or Cypress tree, we couldn't tell [and I've yet to look  it up on the internet].

More photos from camping.

Free! Match Maker

Spent Valentines Day alone? You now have an entire year to remedy that situation, and you can start here.

James Turrell

I went with my Illumination and Lighting Class out to Pomona College yesterday. We were there to see the amazing James Turrell Exhibit, Dividing the Light. It is completely indescribable. I could spend a million words attempting to relate to you the feeling of being in his space. Being there in person for one second says more than all of those words though.

I literally walked into the space and my jaw dropped. Its a cross between the feeling of walking in San Francisco fog, the final scene in Millenium, and eating fresh blueberries.

Free! Museum Admission

List of museums around the Los Angeles area:

Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, Claremont - Free Wednesdays

Autry National Center: Museum of the American West, Griffith Park, Los Angeles - every Thursday from 4-8pm and the 2nd Tuesday of the Month

MOCA [Museum of Contemporary Art], Downtown Los Angeles - Free every Thursday

MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Downtown Los Angeles - Free every Thursday

Skirball Cultural Center - Free Thursdays noon - 9pm

UCLA Hammer Museum - every Thursday

Long Beach Art Museum of Art - Free Friday

Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach - Free on Fridays

George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles - Free the first Tuesday of the month.

Natural History Museum, Exposition park, Free the first Tuesday of the month.

Craft and Folk Art Museum, Mid Wilshire, Museum Row, Los Angeles - First Wednesday.

Huntington Library, Collections and Botanical Gardens, Pasadena - Free first Thursday of the month.

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena - First Fridays from 6 to 9pm

LACMA [Los Angeles County Museum of Art] Mid-Wilshire, Museum Row, Los Angeles - Free second Tuesday.

Bowers Museum, Santa Ana - Free second and fourth Tuesdays .

Museum of Neon Art, Downtown Los Angeles - Free second Thursdays.

Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Arcadia- Free third Thursdays.

Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo - Free third Thursdays.

Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena - Free fourth Fridays.

Fowler Museum at UCLA - Free every Thursday.

California Science Center - Free Everyday!

TRUNKsale

Was a blast. Thanks to those who came, too bad for those that missed out. Great thanks to those who purchased. Pictures will be posted after I sleep.

Free! Google.Books

Google.Books

I forget how I stumbled upon this exactly, all I know now is that I did. It's not a hundred percent free, because allegedly some pages are left out. Also, not every book is scanned in with a preview. I can say that it has benefited me so far, as I needed to read a book for class, that the school library didn't have, and no local bookstore's had in stock. So, in the mean time, I'm reading In The Bubble online, first 3 chapters check out fine.