Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:55:25 GMT
Umbrella Art Installations
Umbrella Art Installations.Abri N°177 by OzCollective:
This installation is created by Ozcollective using 32 large golf umbrellas with curved handles, wood, cables and nets.
Cumulus Light Canopy:
Beautiful lighting concept by Steven Haulenbeek, made from simple white photographers" translucent umbrellas.
Umbrella Installation by Ingo Maurer:
Umbrella installation at the entrance by Ingo Maurer (design week in Milan 2007).
Bloom by S Spenser:
Umbrella Art Installation in Greece:
Umbrella Art Installation:
Umbrella art installation at Island Six Studios:
Umbrella Art Installation in Melbourne:
"Rain" Umbrella Art Installation:
Paper Umbrellas:
Flowers adorn large paper umbrellas put from the ceiling. Part of the spring celebration in the Bellagio"s conservatory.
Andy Wharhol-ish art exhibit:
Collection of umbrellas between two buildings:
Installations of umbrellas in a shopping center:
Umbrellas and Fans:
Story House Umbrella Art:
Umbrella House:
Art House at Night:
Umbrella Art:
Umbrella Art Project of Swiss Group:
A house in Zurich, the outside of which has become an art project of Swiss group.
Installation at Socrates Sculpture Park, New York:
Colorful Umbrella Landscape Art:
Photo: Wolfgang Volz ©1991 Christo
Posted by: Venus Read more Source
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:00:52 GMT
Hotelicopter
Experience the adrenaline rush of taking off and flying high in the largest helicopter ever produced. The Hotelicopter features 18 luxuriously-appointed rooms for adrenaline junkies seeking a truly unique and memorable travel experience.
Each soundproofed room is equipped with a queen-sized bed, fine linens, a mini-bar, coffee machine, wireless internet access, and all the luxurious appointments you"d expect from a flying five star hotel. Room service is available one hour after liftoff and prior to landing.
Posted by: Gerard Read more Source
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:50:03 GMT
PROJECTproject's Weekly BYOB Improv Night
On Wednesday nights, some of the hottest improv comedy performers get liquored up with you and put on a show. It"s only five bucks and you get entertained for a few hours, making this possibly the best entertainment deal going in the city.
It all goes down at Unit 102 at 46 Noble Street in Parkdale. It"s spitting distance from the LCBO, so they encourage you to BYOB beforehand (must be 19+). There"s even a fridge in the studio/rehearsal space to keep the rest of your suds chilled while you enjoy your first drink as you watch the often laugh-out-loud antics on stage.
Posted by: Roger Cullman Read more Source
Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:05:57 GMT
Chanel F09
(Don't forget you can trouver moi on twitter and Chicagomag.com)
I'm from Florida and my first job was selling Lilly Pulitzer dresses at a little beachside shop in my hometown. When Karl Lagerfeld does pink and green, c'est une autre histoire!
Posted by: Elisabeth Fourmont Read more Source
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:37:53 GMT
Artwork By Nina Levy
Artwork By Nina Levy.Here we have some really impressive and interesting artwork by Nina Levy, who has been living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn since 1996.
(Image credit: dar-jan.livejournal).
Posted by: Venus Read more Source
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:07:26 GMT
iCiNG Transformation Challenge
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” — Paulo Coelho
Posted by: Gala Read more Source
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:40:45 GMT
The Book Cover Archive
An archive of book cover designs and designers. You can browse by designers, titles, authors, art directors, photographers, illustrators, genres, publication dates, and publishers.
Posted by: Gerard Read more Source
Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:24:45 GMT
Kidtropolis' Indoor Tree House Bedroom
Kidtropolis" Indoor Tree House Bedroom.The craftsman at Kidtropolis created this beautiful children"s bedroom that looks like a tree house. We are sure that any kid would love this custom made bedroom, as we ourselves would love to be in it if we were kids. The creation shows the craftsmanship of the professionals who created this, and well in such custom made things money isn"t something which is to be considered. Well if you have loads of cash, why don"t you make one for your kid, least that"s what we would have done for our bundle of joy ;-)
Posted by: Venus Read more Source
Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:17:31 GMT
The Porsche Museum
A confessed automobile sentimentalist, I believe that every auto manufacturer with a recordable family tree should maintain a museum featuring the most significant cars of its legacy. Considering that Professor Ferdinand Porsche began influencing the fledgling industry at the start of the 20th century, one wonders what took the company so long.
But, finally, there exists a Porsche Museum, due to open on January 31st, 2009. The building itself is an architectural statement along the lines of "love it or hate it." An artistic construct of M.C. Escher, the Porsche museum's exterior plays tricks with the eye. Geometrically haphazard from some angles and beautifully precise from others, the building's aesthetic changes depending on where you view it.
Or so say the Porsche press releases.
Of more importance to car fans is the building's content. In Porsche's words: "About 80 vehicles and many small exhibits will be on display at the new Porsche Museum in a unique ambience. In addition to world-famous iconic vehicles such as the 356, 550, 911, and 917, the exhibits include some of the outstanding technical achievements of Professor Ferdinand Porsche." For European travelers and those fortunate to visit Europe in these troubled times, the Porsche Museum is worth a visit. Highly unlikely, however, that you'll see a film comprised of race footage taken by the Porsche family, the editing of which was my first assignment on joining VW/Porsche Canada in 1959.
Posted by: Philip Powell Read more Source
Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:11:39 GMT
How to Avoid Procrastination
Nowadays, though, for those living in technically advanced societies, procrastination has become a "modern malady": everything must be done now or, even better, three weeks ago. For good or evil there are now endless to-do lists to work through, appointments that must be kept and commitments that have to be fulfilled. Such is modern life.
Whatever the cause many people certainly view their procrastination as a problem. Psychologists have found that college students consider themselves champion procrastinators with almost half considering it problematic. Adults are not far behind with some 15-20% self-identifying as "chronic procrastinators". Meanwhile the rest of us are guaranteed to procrastinate from time to time. So, perhaps psychology can offer some hope in the ongoing fight against procrastination.
It"s all in the construalIn a new study published recently in Psychological Science of using contrasting points of colour to build up an image.
After this both groups completed the same survey which they were asked to return within three weeks. The survey"s question, however, were essentially irrelevant, the only thing experimenters were interested in was how long participants took to complete and return the questionnaire. This was their measure of procrastination.
The results of this apparently simple manipulation were striking. Those who were thinking about the techniques of pointillism (concrete construal) returned their questionnaires in an average of 12.5 days while those thinking about emotion and harmony (abstract construal) took almost twice as long at an average of 20.5 days. This is an impressive result which seems to point to one very straightforward way of avoiding procrastination: to get tasks done, make sure you focus on the details.
Another reason this research is potentially very useful is its simplicity. Many of the other techniques for avoiding procrastination seem to involve a lot of mental effort - surely not good for procrastinators! Steel (2007) mentions things like increasing the expectation of success, increasing the value of the task and reducing distractions - all good suggestions but largely effortful. For example it"s difficult to increase your expectation of success without the evidence of having completed a similar task successfully. In other words you have to do the task to find out you can do it - exactly what procrastinators are avoiding!
There is, however, another simple technique for avoiding procrastination that has been examined experimentally: using deadlines. Ariely and Wertenbroch (2002) found that self-imposed deadlines were effective in improving task performance but, watch out, people aren"t as good at setting their own deadlines as they are at conforming to deadlines set externally. Strangely, when left to their own devices, people seem prone to handicapping themselves with irrational deadlines.
Self-control and procrastinationAlthough McCrea and colleagues" new research has a neat conclusion, it"s vital to consider it in the context of two other studies recently covered here - these show that concrete, low-level construals aren"t always the answer.
In the first on self-control experimenters found that higher level construals increased self-control (Fujita et al., 2006). At first glance this appears to be saying the exact opposite of the present study - that procrastination is decreased by higher-level construals - but they are actually looking at subtly different situations.
Here"s why: in the present study participants were being asked to carry out a task which they didn"t place much value on and was very easy, it was just something that had to be done at some point, a chore. In other words people weren"t debating with themselves whether the task had to be done, just when it had to be done. In Fujita"s study, however, looking at self-control, it was a question of whether or not participants would do a task. It"s the dimension of time, then, that most distinguishes between procrastination and self-control. Concrete, low-level construals help you start a task sooner but don"t help you decide to do it in the first place.
A second study covered here recently looked at how to get big projects done. This added another piece to the picture, suggesting that a low-level, task focus was a great way of coping with demotivating failures on hard tasks. This adds another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of how we can get things done. In fact taken together these studies start to uncover the complexities inherent in procrastination and self-control.
Summary: how to get things doneHere"s a summary of the main conclusions from all the studies discussed:
To avoid procrastinating on a task, focus on its details and use self-imposed deadlines.To stick to a task, while actually carrying it out, now it is beneficial to keep the ultimate, abstract goal in mind.When evaluating progress on a hard task, when the chance of failure is high, stay focused on the details of the task.Once tasks are easier or the end is in sight, a more abstract, goal focus is once again the psychological approach to choose.So, whether or not you feel procrastination is something in need of a "cure", McCrea and colleagues" study does show that a very simple manipulation of our thought processes can be incredibly powerful. Who would have thought pointillism could save us from procrastination?
[Image credit:
monsieurlam]
Posted by: Jerry Read more Source
