[ m i s t e r s t a r f i s h ]

Balloon Graffiti

And Now, the Coolest Thing Ever: "

OMFG, balloon graffiti!
· D.Billy: Street Interventions [And I Am Not Lying via Gawker]

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(Via Curbed.)

A Glimpse of Japanese American Life in the 40s

Here's a series of photographs I just found in storage. These were given to me by Mr. Miyazaki, a kind man who I used to volunteer for every other week through a Japanese American Social Services group. I would cook Sukiyaki and he would share his stories of his youth. I remember those days fondly but its now more than 10 years since we lost touch.

I wish I remembered the circumstances of each of these shots but I'd be making wild guesses to where they are, what year they were taken and who he's with. I especially love the first shot of him under the elevated tracks. It's full of energy and so evocative of that moment. I'm curious if the ball game was before or after the war. It's great to see a slice of Japanese American life rarely seen from this time .

Peter Funch photo of Central Park

Really like this photo by Peter Funch, so much energy and chaos yet so well composed, perfect for the article it accompanied, the feuds of pedestrians, bikers, dog walkers and other groups at Central Park. (link: New York Magazine, Who Owns Central Park? How Frederick Law Olmsted’s 843 acres of civilizing wilderness became a type-A battleground. By Gabriel Sherman )

Technorati Tags: peter funch, central park, pedestrians, runners, dog walkers, skateboarders

Queens is the future

Early Addition: "

Photograph by tgoldman on Flickr

(Via Gothamist.)

MIT developing carbon-free, stackable rental cars

I want one!

MIT developing carbon-free, stackable rental cars: "

Filed under: Transportation

[from Engadget] Sure, we know you love actually owning a car, but let's be honest -- in large cities with condensed layouts, your H3 doesn't make a lot of sense. A group of researchers at MIT have been hard at work developing a solution that's kind on the planet and your scrawny legs. A team called Smart Cities have designed a small, two-seat, electric vehicle -- which they call the City Car -- that can be 'stacked' in convenient locations (say, just outside a subway stop), and then taken on short trips around urban areas. The cars -- which are based around an omnidirectional 'robot wheel' that encases an electric motor, suspension, and steering -- can be 'folded' and attached to a group of other cars for charging. The lineups of rentable vehicles would be accessible from various points around a city, with six or eight cars occupying just a single 'regular' car space. Of course, you'll have to forgo your 24-inch rims... but that's life.

[Via Technology Review]

(Via Engadget.)

kristi sword

I love the kind of street art where you stumble upon and rewarded by whimsy.

kristi sword: "[from DesignSponge] one of the nicest things about living in new york is the way public art intregrates so seemlessly into your life. i love finding little pictures, tiles, and drawings people have placed on city streets and signs. some see it as vandalism but i really enjoy the projects that are fleeting (and leave minimal ecological impact) and draw attention to something seemingly mundane like cracks in the pavement or an old drainpipe. artist kristi sword has done both with her 'interventions' series that decorates tiny patches of city life with stickers and embellishments like ice cream sprinkles. you can click here for more on kristi's work and a full slideshow of installations [via craftzine]

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(Via Design*Sponge.)

Bill Sullivan's Subway Turnstile Portraits

A series of engaging photos of New Yorkers making their way through the turnstiles. Check out his site where he has a whole lot more from the series. What a great project.

(via vvork)

(Via swissmiss)

James Turrell's PS1 installation

from PS1.org


by floorvan via flickr

Saw the James Turrell installation for the first time at PS1. It's definitely an awe inspiring piece. As you enter this square room, you feel the crisp air right away and as you look up you realize there's no ceiling. The beautiful blue sky framed by white walls. That's it. It's an ethereal experience. Hard to articulate the delight. Here's the description from PS1's site:

"One of the highlights of P.S.1, this site-specific installation has been at P.S.1 since the fall of 1986. It was initially part of a series commissioned by Alanna Heiss focusing on light and perception. Meeting is composed of a square room with a rectangular opening cut directly into the ceiling. Carefully calculated artificial lights produce an orange glow on the white walls of the room, permitting the viewer to appreciate the intensity of the sky’s color. As Turrell described it: “There’s this four-square seating that’s inside, seating toward each other, having a space that created some silence, allowing something to develop slowly over time, particularly at sunset. Also, this Meeting has to do with the meeting of space that you’re in with the meeting of the space of the sky.” Meeting is one of Turrell’s series of “skyspaces,” all involving enclosed spaces with rectangular or rounded holes cut into the ceiling exposing the open sky."

Technorati Tags: James Turrell, Art, Sky, p.s.1, ps1

New York Aquarium Redesign

Saw a few interesting redesign proposals for The New York Aquarium at Coney Island. If built to plan, they will become buildings with a quality that New York architecture rarely seem to have: Whimsy. While there are plenty of inspirational buildings, as far as I know, this great city lacks building that makes it a point to makes you smile. Tokyo's Asahi Beer Building is one, Barcelona has a few buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi. I hope we'll get to see a big whale or jellyfish swimming in our skyline soon. [from New York Times article link]

WRT

Weisz & Yoes Architecture

Smith-Miller & Hawkinson Architects

Public Seating

This is what I wish New York had everywhere. How nice would it be if you could wander around the city and had a place to sit once in a while. Parks have benches everywhere, why not streets? Sure beats having to duck into Starbucks and pay $2 for an obligatory ice coffee, just so you can rest for 10 minutes. Then again, the pessimist in me wonders if there'd be strong neighborhood oppositions in fear of the homeless staking out their favorite seats.

Public Sign Seating: "

[quoted from Gothamist]Yesterday, reader Dave sent us these photos of some street seating options in Williamsburg. He wondered if it was courtesy the MTA, since the plastic seemed a lot like MTA plastic. Luckily, other people (well, blogs - Williamsburg Walkers, Curbed) were wondering the same thing and it turns out that the seats were from a Conflux Festival installation called 'Have a Seat. '

Artist Caroline Woolard's statements says, 'Although my 'Have a Seat' project may seem like three-dimensional graffiti, it is removable with the right chuck for the bolt that slides in the holes of the u-channel. People will see the seats and either sit on them or not, but I hope all people will enjoy resting while waiting for buses or friends.' Her blog also has the locations of the seats.

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(Via Gothamist.)