Great Local (or semi-local) Bands

Tennessee Rocks (and Knoxville rocks)! There all there is to it.
I just love seeing either of these bands live! 

First is the Royal Bangs(Hotties from Knoxville) with Cat Swallow. These guys are too cool to greet on the street (but I do see them at tomato head all the damn time). I adore them and their music. They are playing at Sundown in the City May 7th (its gonna be hot2death)

Second, The Features (from Murfreesboro area) with Contrast! Playing at Barleys May23rd (I sooo can't wait!) I've been a fan of them for a while. Both Bands ROCK OUT! and put on a great live show! If they come anywhere near you its a must must must see!

Gchatz @ work

This is what I deal with everyday... mizmargauxxx follower.. meet ryan

5:24 PM Ryan: i want to invent peanut butter dispensing knives... to make it easier to get peanut butter onto bread, the knife would contain an entire jar of peanut butter, but be only 1/8 the size!!

me: nice

Ryan: you dont invent enough things, you need to catch up

5:25 PM me: i dont?

are you serious?

i invented awesome

i think i got it covered

5:27 PM Ryan: i invented the need for awesome.... so, without that... you're pretty much just riding my coattail

*all my coats have tails, no matter how ridiculous

me: hahaha

as they should

Look What I'm Getting!!!

Some awesome band merch! Hooray! (and Thanks to maddog for turning me on to his band...) Soon I'll have me this sweet shirt! I am always hunting for new music, The Lake (maddog's band) has filled a small void in my search. Hard hittin' guitars, witty lyrics, and hipster attitude drips from this band. I mean, who doesn't love a line, "... Have some cigarettes for breakfast" ? I guess my only complaint, is that I have to venture to ba-dank middle Tennessee to see these rockers. COME TO KNOX!
Enjoy a lil' demo sneak peak of I'm So Sick of the End of World

This song is like a drug...

I just cant get enough! and I'm not even a Bright Eyes fan!!!

First Friday!!!

So tomorrow is First Friday!!! Hooray O'Wondrous Knoxville! I will have lots to post tomorrow, after I hit the town for the gallery showings and foodies and concerts. But now all I have is this great Magpies advertisement! ahhhh magpies... and check out the bit about the Maple and Bacon cupcake.. wtf?!? But I'm sure it'll be delicxxx

Best thing I've read all Mornin'

Thanks xkcd for this one!

I can't get this song ...

or video out of my head! Thnx Jennifer for this recommendation!

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Graduate Education is the Detroit of Higher Learning?

First off, I do like to hate on Detroit ... I mean it is Detroit. But I noticed this article via Mr. Finnerty's gtalk status (thanks btw), titled The End of the University as We Know It.

But after reading this article... I did find a few upsetting points, and I had a lover-ly discussion with my friend Eric on it...
magiceggo: I'm not sure how I feel about this article.

me: ha!

really?

which?

magiceggo: Well, the one ur writing ur blog on about restructuring universities

me: ahhh

yeah

5:24 PM i feel something has to be said about it

magiceggo: His argument might hold water for the social sciences

me: but i'm not entirely sure what

magiceggo: However, in my department this is not how research is conducted.

We are fairly specialized, but collaborations are more frequent in the sciences than in say religion.

5:25 PM me: tru

but not so much in architecture

which is bizarre because it is in the prof

5:26 PM magiceggo: It's highly authoritarian.

I don't like many of his points, aside from maybe point 5.

5:27 PM Create departments that feature a single "theme." So, we'll have a "drug" theme and put MY department in there with philosophers, pharmacists, bioethicists, and animal experimentalists.

That would be, in short, a pedagogical nightmare.

me: and essentially that's the only reason architects go to grad school is to specilize in x (be it theory, a type of contrustion, a form of representation) and what for? its nothing that i couldn't learn on my own, I guess I do have more authority and respect about that topic with that degree, but pretty much all i can do then is teach ?

ha!

yeah i can see your agrument

5:28 PM magiceggo: Well, that's point number five, which I agree with, that graduate students should be trained for more jobs than just teach.

Yes, train grad students for multiple careers. Their training should be such that you could ask them, "What are your plans for hwen you graduate?" And they reply, "i can do x, y, z, all based on their training."

5:31 PM me: 3. seems a little idealistic to me

5:32 PM i mean potentially its a great idea to collaborate between universities, but then what merit does one university have over the other?

magiceggo: idk

me: idk?

what does that mean?

magiceggo: i dont know

5:33 PM good question i mean

Thanks Gtalk...

For making my life at work more interesting. I have the best friends, with the best stats! Brent has had this one up for about a week, but I still chuckle every time I hear it.

First Tornado of the Year

Welcome to KC, right? WTF! I spent most of the evening yesterday watching the news and part of it in my saferoom, aka the bathroom. Let me just show you what I saw on the news at one point last night.....


Ok, so I made this map just a minute ago (thanks Google!), this is what the news told me around 5 pm last night. So the red marker is the tornado and the blue marker is me, the red area is the projected path. Awesome... Luckily the nader broke up before reaching its intended target, me. Here is the footage....

Best Gallery Showing I've Seen

Maybe ever. I, bored at work, began exploiting my time by taking pics of me in the bathroom (I know I'm narcissistic, but I was lookin' really cute that day) but... luckily Dianna came to my rescue and we (with Patrick and Dave) walked around the corner to the UT MFA thesis exhibit, titled A Fork In The Road. The Research and Information that went into this exhibit was potentially overwhelming, but the artist, did such a great job of presenting it, graphically and also very much interactive-ly! I felt so comfortable and in awe. The exhibit discussed energy usage and how local agriculture can affect energy consumption. After my initial passing through the gallery I did decide to take part of a smaller installation where the artist provided rainbow chard seeds and soil for my own planting and future eating enjoyment (I can't wait til it sprouts! pics will be added!). The information concerning local products, really astonished me... I mean, I know alot of energy went into the transporation and production of food, but the difference that could be made from local farmer grown or your typical grocery store.

Architecture in Helsinki!

Who wouldn't love these guys? Their songs are too cute! that beep that beep that beep beep beep

Why can't I focus?

It's not boredom infecting me today... more of a lack of focus mixed in with antsiness and stirred with my laize faire attitude. . . Maybe its the super awesome figure 8 diet I'm on, or maybe its the coffee I still drink (even though I vowed to give up that shit), or maybe its all these other people around me... I'm not out and about today, but I have always had a 'focusing' problem, but oc never medicated for it - don't believe in it. With a strict hispanic father and hippy-esque mother, I didn't get much exposure to the world of medication to fix your problems, it was more or less beat out of me. So what is wrong with me today? I'm so restless, yet, can not for the life of me get out of bed. There is nothing to watch on tv or online, atleast nothing that holds my interest for more than 2 minutes (I know!, not even 30 rock). I am also painfully sore from a lil bedroom rompe on tuesday night... yeah.. still... and my lame ass work out routine. So PLEASE! Let's do somethin' today! the sun is shinin' and there is alot goin on, but I'm stationary!

Oh Miss Molly...

Miss Molly always has the best status updates, and today is no different!
Love ya!

I just ordered this!!!

Thanks to Nubby and her link to a sweet helvetica jewelry site, via thisisstar! I can't wait til it arrives! I'll post pics when it comes! til then, here's the pics from the site!

Dr. Dog

One of my fave songs, and I had only posted 'lady bands' up til this one.
Here is 1. My Friend - around minute 3 it really changes up and the banjo towards the end get to rockin!
2. A great cover of Architecture in Helsinki's Heart it Races.
So enjoy, the Philly based, psuedo-psychodelic, rockin band, Dr. Dog!

I would own a Bible if...

they looked more like this! Check out this The St. John's Bible. Its overall graphic design and text layout and diagrams are beautiful! forget those faux gold edged papers and times new roman fonts, this Bible is beautifully hand drawn and illustrated. Started in 1995, The St. John's Bible is a project by Donald Jackson (and team) and Minnesota's Saint John's Benedictine Abbey and University to produce a hand-written and Illuminated Bible to, as they put it, celebrate the new millennium.

Thanks to Kottke.org for the original post.

What is kitty doing?

ok, now that I have gotten my little rant out, I will let you in on what kitty is doing.....


Answer: Getting a belly rub!

Let me just say AIA blows, just a bit...

So, as you all have read, I am an unemployed architect that just moved to the Kansas City area. I am trying my darnedest to network and find a way to meet people so I can get a job. BTW I actually just finished my BSCE last year and worked for about 7 months as an engineer before I decided it wasn't for me. Now that I have decided I DO truly want to be an architect, I emailed the local AIA chapter to see what I needed to do to become a member. By member I mean, member for free, since I have no (career oriented) job. After 3 months and no response, decided to contact the National AIA chapter personally to see if I could be a member, for free. Well, those delightful people told me that not only do I not qualify for a free membership, that I don't qualify for a membership at all, because I am not employed! Oh goodies! Thanks AIA, thanks a whole helluva lot! Can't a girl catch a break around here, jeeze.

Best Documentary Ever!!!

I stumbled upon this documentary a few weeks ago, and it has been haunting me since. The waste land of today's Chernobyl is now over run with wildlife, and at the heart of this documentary, the viewer follows a family of domestic house cats around the abandoned town. My sleuthing this morning did help me discover the name of the documentary, Chernobyl: Life in the Dead Zone. I highly recommend it and you can catch it on You Tube: part 1 . part2 . part3 . part4 . part5. 'Cause I know all you guys are as big an internet watcher as me!

When the F did this Happen?

The super awesome break out artist of 2008, Santogold, has changed her name to Santigold. When asked about this she was quoted saying, "I don't think I'm answering that one. It's just too much. I just did, okay?" What the F?!? and why do I really care? I do love her music... but could careless what to call her, just when is the next album coming out?!? For more info click here.

Google has a Torrent Search!

Hooray Hooray! GOOGLE SEARCH

What I do...

This is a graphic I just made for my latest client... Its not yet done, but will hopefull look really rad when its print 9ft by 13ft! ha!
The idea started from this awesome tutorial : PSDTUTS

Color by Number - Your Own Clothing

I have never been one for kiddie color by number books when I was a youngen, but new edition to the fashion world does have me intrigued, I mean I did always color my adidas sambas. How fun would it be have a 'custom - by - you' piece of clothing? Taking this simple idea to a new level, one designer has come up with an idea to let people color their own dresses and other apparel. The Designer, Berber Soepboer has also created a series of dresses that are designed to change color and pattern by snapping and unsnapping selective buttons and recombining layers in various ways.

I DO Love Penguins

I have always wanted to own a penguin... or 12, so when I saw this post via 2PzNaPpod, I was so excited! Meet my newest obsession, RoboPenguin!
for more info on my future pet, visit engadget

Lady Music (remixed)

I promise I like male artists, I actually prefer them! But lately I guess I have been on a female artists kick. So here's a good classic (as in last October, thanks to Kylie), Lykke Li's I'm Good I'm Gone (remixed by Metronomy). Not only is Lykke's voice haunting and infectious, but whoever does her album art is a graphic genius. I'm loving the montage / hand done feel with these soft black and white photos and the text and graphite over laid is hotness!

Knoxville Fails stikes again...

So thanks to The Blaze, who now lives in the apartment complex I spent 3 of my glorious college years, for sending and taking this picture! Hooray for Country Oaks! Adoo and Kat, I am sure you will enjoy this too!

What is kitty doing?

Answer: Sleeping (and being super cute) of course!

What is kitty doing?

Answer: Hogging the remote!

.

edition deux

1. The Design Files - a great blog with fantastic images of all things bad ass in design, architecture, graphics, illustration, furniture! especially check out the post: everything is ok
2. Paramodel: Graffiti-style Rail Track Art - via Ping Mag. Artists Hayashi Yasuhiko and Nakano Yusuke create these graffiti-esque installation that resembles circuit boards with vinyl, paint, lights, or whateve. else. Its definate candy for the eye and mind!
3. PSDTUTS - This particular tutorial, dynamic recessed watercolor typography in photoshop, is one I am tryin out today, and will post the results! promise!
   
4. 2PzNaPpod - This particular link is to Kylie for giving me a great laugh yesterday afternoon with her two link finds. The first one is great, I promise tons of laughs! and the second one made me miss modern rock from my middle school days! I mean, what the F happened to modern rock? Now we have 3 doors down and nickelback?!?! Those bands can't even compare to the Cranberries, or Smashing Pumpkins, or Local H... ahhh... memories
   

It Hurts When I Pee

Bre Pettis posted 30 illustrations from the book Elektroschutz in 132 Bildern. These diagrams outline causes of electrical accidents, and its a down right knee slapper!
check the rest out here.

Welcome to Weston, MO?!

Alrighty, here is the first of many posts on what to do in and around KC. So, I know what you are thinking, "What the hell is there to do in Kansas City?!" I, myself, thought the same thing when I moved here, but soon found out that there is plenty to do around here. Sure, there are no mountains or beaches, and the lakes are the size of ponds in the south (not kidding), but this is America, and there are bars. One of my favorite, and I am sure it would be yours too, is called O'Malley's in Weston, Missouri.

Weston is about 30 minutes north of KC metro and it is pretty awesome. It was established in the 18oo's shortly after the Louis and Clark expedition came through. In 1972 the town was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, since it has maintained a significant portion of its pre Civil War buildings. There are 2 wineries and a brewery located in this historic town and O'Malley's is attached to the Weston Brewing Company. The bar is located in one of five stone lager cellars dug in the 1840s. This is where the original lagers were brewed to keep them at a constant cool temperature. So, it is official, if any 'naders come through, I am going to O'Malley's!

What is kitty doing?

For those of you who read 2PzNaPpod, you obviously keep track of what kismet is doing. I decided you all might like to know what kitty is doing. So here she is, the national debut of my 13 year old kitty. So what is kitty doing?!


Answer: standing for TREATS!

The Art of Remixing Space

Courtesy of dornob.com, this article is a great look at the redesign of old spaces, and the installation of Krijn de Kooning.
Walls, as we know them, define interior spaces. Most walls create unique spaces. These walls, however, disrupt, permeate, infiltrate and invade them. They challenge ideas of architecture, interior, exterior and place - these additions interfere, obscure, distract and contradict.
The installations of Krijn de Koning are created in all kinds of contexts, from galleries and museums to homes and forests. Some are small scale and seen by few, others are large and placed in highly public spaces.Where he goes, he turns places upside down and inside out.
Using bright colors and simple geometries, this incredible installation artist sets up stark juxtapositions between old and new, permanent and impermanent, functional and artistic. Whether you call it art, architecture or interior design his works are worth experiencing.

Why can't I find this book?

Well Bruce Mau has done it again. He is the genius graphic designer who rocks all aspects of the design world. (his website). But this new book, the Third Teacher seems especially relevant to me lately, what with the amount of educational facilities my firm does, and how education and design affects so many.
check out the excerpt:

Doors to desks, windows to walls, hallways to wayfinding — they all encompass a single environment in support of learning. Environments that are stimulating, sustainable, and sincerely effective.

Design needs to graduate to an understanding that a schoolhouse must be one unified world centered on one very important thing: the student.

for more click here

Thank you (to the makers of Helvetica)

I know I'm a little behind the times (great blogs like 2PzNaPpod have already covered this). BUT the director of Helvetica, one of the best documentaries I've seen in a while, is releasing a new film titled Objectified. I can't wait! The trailer is here, check it!

This Might be the Best Post Ever!

Thanks to 2PzNaPpod for this great video find! For those of you who don't know its the best damn blog out there, but this vid. has had me and my office crackin' up all day!
check it!

New Midwest Correspondent!!

Hey folks! I am proud to be mizmargauxxx's new Midwest correspondent. You can call me Adoo (no variations please). Let me tell you a little about myself:

I was born and raised in Knoxville, TN and went to Architecture school with the lovely mizmargauxx. I have recently been hurled into the joys of the midwest, currently Kansas City (the Missouri side). I am an unemployed (in the working towards your career sense) architect/structural engineer and I will be your Kansas City tour guide, among other things :)

-Adoo

Great New Post today on..

Urban Life Style Decor. Check out Sue's Post.
The Pure Modern Lifestyle begins with the long drive home and ends with the serenity of a hillside oasis. Open space + pure white define the laid-back lifestyle of "Less is the New More." There is something to be said for the absence of rich color or bold prints and in today's overly connected Blackberry world, who isn't on the search for the simple pure beauty of ~ white. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy a few moments of pure bliss + pure modern home interiors.

Is This Your Luggage?

i stumbled upon this site thanks to swissmiss, and let me say its a great lil' site. The photographs are great, and the format of the site is simple and clean, and its totally a fun 'collection'.

I COLLECT LOST LUGGAGE, PHOTOGRAPH IT, AND THEN TRY TO FIND THE OWNERS.IT’S A LITTLE ODD BUT NOT AS ODD AS STAMP COLLECTING, JUST A LITTLE HARDER TO FIND STORAGE SPACE.
-luggage home

Make way for the S - O - V

dose of vintage

I stumbled upon superbomba, a flicker-er who scans vintage photos. I'm pretty sure from now on, this is where I'm getting all my scale figures.

Type Nerd. . .

You can never own too many type related items of clothing.