Prometheus to the Cave Man and Now Igniting Ingenuity

At the beginning of the Disney movie Ratatouille, the main character, a small rat, says there is something interesting about humans:  “they don’t just survive; they discover; they create.”  The young child, cave woman, adult, professional, pirate, educator and artist in me held on to this observation by Remy, the rat, as the cornerstone that supports art and art making.  When asked to articulate a low-tech metal casting process to a high-tech computer crowd, I felt compelled to investigate a new angle. 

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Murder on the Avatar Express

I bought my first computer in April of 93 after my typewriter broke. A trip to the local electronics store and two thousand dollars later, I walked out with a Compaq 386 windows 3.1 jam packed with 2 megs of ram. I could have gotten 4 megs but as the salesman noted, "Nobody will ever need that much memory."

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Sebastiao Salgado: Eye Contact

It’s something about the eyes.

In times of conflict, war, rebellion, or natural disaster, it is so often the civilian who suffers, and it is the children who suffer most for they had supposed themselves to have the longest future yet to come. It is not the terrible shock of seeing homes destroyed or parents or siblings killed.  It is not just the hunger that eats at the body or the tiredness in that same body; it is the loss of innocence that changes the eyes. »»

Invite Beauty To Remind Us Of Hope

Ah, my last outdoor show — last weekend, in Peoria, IL –and it was actually quite good, considering…
and I had to do a lot of grounding to keep myself from panicking — one of the things
I did was write this piece –

Hope and Beauty

“it is an ethical obligation to search for hope.”  Tony Kurshner »»

Photofunia.com

November 4, 2008 by Lesli Jason  
Filed under Art Commentary, Digital Lifestyles, Media, Photography, Top

It never fails.

Just as I get rolling on something I need to finish, someone emails me something which completely catches my attention and takes me away from whatever it was that I was doing.
(what was I doing?)
 
Distraction du jour: Photofunia.com.
There are several online tools which allow you to have fun with images, Dumpr and Gooifier are two free sites that I’ve used in the past, but Photofunia, also free, offers a more sophisticated selection and I like their interface better. Using face detection technology and offering 50 different templates which allow you to apply funny, creative or artistic effects on your images with just a few clicks, Photofunia can help you transform your everyday photography to something you can have fun with and even frame and give as a gift. The results are that good. There is no need to have any deep knowledge of photo editing. No program download or registration is required. Just upload your picture or graphic, select your desired effect from the comprehensive assortment of image thumbnails, and viola! Then, just click and save.
 
I had such a good time with this program that I sent my kids all the funny and cool photos I made of them on Photofunia. After about the seventh or eighth photo, I received an email back from my 19 yr old son who is away at university. That, in and of itself was a miracle.
 
"Dear mom, Get a hobby. Love you. =)"
 
"Dear Bobby, I found a hobby. Have you found a job?"
 
I haven’t heard back…

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stumbling blocks

Write of Passage

October 17, 2008 by Lesli Jason  
Filed under Art Commentary, Books, Commerce, Digital Lifestyles, Hardware, Media, On The Frontpage: The Not-So-Daily-Edition, Photography, Software, The Not-So-Daily Edition, The Write Stuff, Top, Workflow

I never really gave much thought about the actual process of writing, or even that it was a process at all. I liken it to brushing my teeth or walking or breathing. It’s just something I do. And while we all get a little writer’s block from time to time, like constipation, eventually you know that something’s gonna give.
 
So when a friend recently asked me to blog about "signs" (no smoking, no parking, caution-crime scene etc) I thought "Sheesh. What could I possibly write about signs that would be interesting, sardonically humorous or even remotely relevant?" Enter Pom Cosmos because hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere… »»

Apple and Emerging Creativity

The Computer, Slow Food and Stone

September 15, 2008 by Ralph Petty  
Filed under Art Commentary, Digital Lifestyles, Editor's Choice, Hardware, Photography, Software, Top, Workflow

When Goethe suggests that the artist is a universal character, writer, painter, musician, philosopher and general good citizen, it’s a pity he didn’t have a Mac to organize his production.  Garage Band keeps my music in order and progressing, emails and the Internet help me communicating and stay in touch, Photoshop helps experimentation with images and iMovie looks to give an introduction to the world of moving images. We have the orchestra at our fingertips‚Äînow what can we build from this?

I’m writing from a small village in the Ardeche in southern France. Having just returned from my morning walk up the hill behind my house, I began thinking about a subject  that has been on my mind a lot lately:  How to integrate work and life into a harmonious whole where the work, the place, the people,  time available and the entire natural world hum. It just occurred to me, half way through my coffee that the computer is the tool that can link these elements together. In a way, this seems obvious, but how now, in our troubled times does it work and what can it mean and what can a computer do in this context of ‘going back to Nature’ particularly as it relates to the arts? Apple seems to have  understood this new concept the best, indeed has made it possible.  And here is some background to my thinking. »»

Beat Down Those Who Think Different

Apple Bans Digital Comic

September 5, 2008 by madBADcat  
Filed under Art Commentary, Featured Stories, Panels & Gutters & Zip Ribbons, Sequential Art

Is it a case of "think different- think just like us"?

Murderdrome, first digital comic made especially for iPhone/iPod, has been banned from the iTunes App Store as inappropriate.

Infurious Comics, the publishers of Murderdrome, are making a plea to Apple for the same age categories to their books/comic sections as in their games and music sections. "We have extensive support from the industry in this and would welcome a change in the current store in order to make sure that content is categorised appropriately, " says an Infurious spokesman.

Visit Infurious’ Website to add your comment about this ban. All comments will be forwarded to Apple in protest. »»

The Broad Strokes

The Computer, The Painter, The Image and His Brushes

May 12, 2008 by Ralph Petty  
Filed under Art Commentary, Commerce, Digital Lifestyles, Software, Special Feature, Workflow

When Dr. Michael Roach asked me if I might consider writing an article for DigitalAppleJuice, I was taken aback. I am a painter, and, one could say, a primitive, when it comes to the making of digital images. At least I used to be. Over the past five years, for a number of very practical reasons, I have become more adept at manipulating images on my Mac, »»