Villaware blender

Once they lost the ribs they lost the brand. This could be anybody. Too bad because they really had something.

Pens

Dora Atwater Millikin
Pens, 2010
Oil on linen
32 x 48 inches

one lap top

This thing has gotten a ton of press and the goal is admirable but someone should have told the design team that now one wants a laptop that looks like a preschoolers toy. Sure, people will take it for free, but why make it brand the owner?

CCAD

As we were discussing Mike, CCAD has the talent pool, facilities and potential but they lack the focus, at least in the product design department. Fine Arts is flourishing, why? Simple, there are people in leadership positions that understand that business. Product design is floundering because the connection to the business of product design is flimsy to non-existent. Worst of all, the people that are there are good enough at faking it to dig an even deeper hole.

RED

Not exactly fine cinema but worth seeing just to watch the fight scene between Bruce Willis and Karl Urban (McCoy in the latest Star Trek). Very Bournesque.

30 years later

They sound the same and look at least as good.

Steely Dan

Annemarie told me today that she never really liked Steely Dan. Impossible. Even their over played stuff is worth a listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgYuLsudaJQ. Even 30 years later I still love it.

Better days

Good title for the painting by Julie Taggart, Dean of Fine Art at CCAD. It looks great in the studio and reminds all of us CCAD grads of the Columbus area. It really captures the feel without being cliche. I'm still not sure what the title is though. I thought it was Beasley Apartments but on the website it looks like it is Better Days.

oil clean-up vehicle

www.arktoscraft.com Interesting photos of their vehicles manuevering over ice-rubble in and out of water doing spill clean-up. Cool find Taylor.

Wellesley

I saw this painting in the place next to Blue Ginger in Wellesley over the weekend. I think that the place is called Susu?
It is a bit outside of my budget but terrific.

Dora Atwater Millikin
Early Morning, 2009
Oil on linen
72 x 44 inches

Marine One

Taylor just told me that she is delayed in Philadelphia because Air Force One just landed. We were texting about the use of Marine One and I wondered if there was a Navy One. Wikipedia said that there has been only one, the plane the Bush flew out to the aircraft carrier a few years ago.

Rugged Rigs

I am not sure how often the body styles have changed but it would be great to see a line-up of how the toy truck has evolved over the years. This one is by little tikes. Good memory Scott.

Infiniti

I like what Infiniti has done with their line and specifically how they have used that brand to evolve the Nissan aesthetic. It seems like that model is being implemented by all the majors but none more successfully than Infiniti. I just hope that this is not the next evolution. This looks like it was a little too inspired by Dairy Queen...although, the proportions remain compelling.

Pierogie Kitchen

TT concept car

Mike was just talking to me about a presentation he is doing showing how the original TT concept evolved as it went into production. I think that this is the original concept by Nikola Vargov. Wikipedia said he was a 26-years old Bulgarian economist who was also a car design enthusiast. This photo is of his first foam model, in 1:5 scale.

Yo-Co

Corner picture frame part of the yo-co collection by bussolari

Storm King

Widely known as one of the world's outstanding sculpture parks, Storm King Art Center is located the Hudson Valley. Storm King's permanent collection of sculpture, dating from 1945 to the present, includes works by many of the twentieth century's most influential artists, integrated into a pristine, 500-acre landscape of rolling hills, fields, and woodlands. I am thinking of torturing the boys by taking them here before the first snow. Maybe I will let them bring their DSs.

singer

More Miriam Singer. This piece is on paper and called Souvenirs.

Brined Chops

3 tablespoons coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 3/4- to 1-inch-thick pork rib chops
1 head of Treviso radicchio
1 head of Belgian endive
3 tablespoons (about) extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
Chopped fresh Italian parsley

The rest of the recipe is on Epicurious. It is a good one

sarolea

Saw this bike on Pawn Stars tonight. Pretty great proportions. It is amazing how many people watch the show Pawn Stars. The people at the History channel have to be impressed with the popularity of the programming they have created.

Sean Barber

Check out the many dynamic and distinctive paintings by Sean Barber at www.sdbarber.com
Good find Tina, thanks. This one is comedian Margaret Cho, I think.

table and chairs

Welded aluminum table and chairs.

Apple TV

I don't know anyone that has decided to take on more TV related complexity and get apple TV. There is so much going on in that area right now with Tivo, DirecTv, netflix, DVRs, internet TV, PPV, amazon on-demand and everything else that it is understandable. But this remote is so simple a clean, this alone might make it worth a try. And, after reviewing dozens of CES innovation award entries it is clear that this brand clarity and simplicity is a lot harder to execute than one might think.

Maison & Objet Trade Fair 2010

Garden bench, not the coziest form but compelling. In a warmer material and color this could be amazing.

footwear

I am not sure if it is or not but it looks to me like classic DiTullo. Footwear is another good place to study technique, especially the use of texture and branding.

technique

We've been talking in the studio about adding new concepting and rendering techniques in an effort to maintain the artistic emotion in the sketch even as we simultaneously have to push for efficiency. This technique is a little tight but has a good feel without overpowering the concept. It seems like most of the best techniques come from automotive.

Winvian

The treehouse room at the themed hotel in Morris called Winvian.

Saab

This concept is funky...even for the designers at Saab.

president

One of the more difficult aspects of my job is having to field inquiries from talented people struggling to find work or even just a connection with the company. Many times these people are also really nice people, the kind of people that make it tempting to stretch the organization for and bring them into the fold. Especially when talking with people who have gotten used to a large salary it becomes difficult to communicate honestly without being discouraging.

McD's Monopoly

We used to play monopoly once a week but Edison's interest has faded. I bet he will be into playing the McDonald's monopoly though. I am not sure that we have ever played it. I think that there is an online component to it this year, sort of like Coke Rewards.

Ford Edge

The change to the front-end improves the look and clearly brings it even closer to the Audi aesthetic. Inside and out the Edge Sport is well done but I can not imagine that it is up to the level of quality over of Honda or Toyota...or even VW. Maybe things have changed? The appearance has certainly improved.