Flash

Isn't this Dead Drops project cool? Dead Drops is a project by Aram Bartholl (above) in Berlin. Dead Drops is an anonymous, offline peer-to-peer file-sharing network. USB flash drives are injected throughout town and passersby drop or upload files found on the dead drop. I think someone should make one in St. John's! I'm so curious about what types of files are being shared. It seems like the 2010 version of a message in a bottle to me. Images via SwissMiss.

Pendants

In thinking about the appropriate height to hang photos and having just purchased a Nelson bubble lamp, I've now turned my mind to the appropriate height for a light fixture to hang above a dining room table. 

My research suggests somewhere between 30 and 40 inches above the table. Does anyone have any conventional wisdom to share, beyond holding up the light fixture above the table and lowering it until it looks just right? We're hoping to create an intimate dining space to host a few friends. I'm also thinking a dimmer switch is a must have. Thoughts? Image via Ninainvorm. 

Talent

Fake it 'til you make it; truer words have yet to be uttered as regards my creative abilities. I wasn't born with perfect pitch or poetic vigour. However, I have tried my hand at tap dancing, painting, singing, theatre, violin and ballet. With such a string of ventures (many short-lived), one could come to the conclusion that I give up too easily (and they'd be half right).

While I do feel pangs of jealously when I see others create in ways that seems to be effortless from the outside, I think the most cathartic way for me to release creative energy is through the written word. I don't linger for long with the green eyed monster. While I've enjoyed the other pursuits, I don't feel empty without their accomplishments and embellishments.

This love affair with words began a long time ago. As a child I wrote poetry and preferred to play with books over dolls. In the midst of my teenage angst, I dabbled in online journalism and wrote a short story that to this day I reflect upon fondly. In my university years, I wrote a bi-weekly newspaper column. For a long time I missed that writing, and in fact, many days I still do. Thinking about words (and even fonts) excites me. Thankfully writing, albeit not of the creative bent, is a major component of my current profession.

Greg and I chatted about creative energy on our road trip. We were exposed to poets, actors, musicians and potters. The joy that stretched across their faces when talking about their art was infectious. It got us to thinking about our own energies. In thinking back on that side-by-side chat on a hazy Saturday evening, I write this post as a commitment to myself to delve into writing more thoroughly. I'm sitting at a juncture in my life right now, and I'd like to use my pen more frequently in this next chapter. I'm venturing forward with the intention to write another short story. We shall see where this pursuit takes me. I think this is one of those truck stops.

Image via Janny Brocken.

P.S. I haven't given up on ballet, and hope to continue in the fall.

Stripes

While living in the UK for a stint a few years back, I came to enjoy the BBC. As part of my course requirements in discourse analysis, my professor asked us to absorb UK media - popular, new and conventional. I took to reading The Guardian and watching the dinner time news on the BBC. I poured over the glossy pages of British Cosmo. I paid attention to posters and advertisements in the tube stations all around London.

Being accustomed to North American news media where hard questions are rarely raised, and partisan leanings are often too visible to suggest any neutrality in the reporting, I was impressed and intrigued by the hard hitting BBC journalists. It was abundantly clear that it wasn't their mission to make politicians feel comfortable in studio and allow them to tick off public relations goals through positive press. I felt more informed. I was impressed by the quality of reporting.

I heart the BBC. This isn't to say I dislike the CBC, in fact, I am a huge fan of Wild Roses, but I do appreciate the guts and integrity of British media. I think studying journalism in the United Kingdom would be a great education.

I support the BBC, and it seems they support some of my notions too. The namesake of this blog - Horizontal Stripes - has long been touted as unflattering. However, The University of York, as reported by the BBC, has found that horizontal stripes are more slimming then vertical stripes. The study involved asking people to decide which women wearing striped dresses looked slimmer in 200 pairs of pictures. This study was based on Hermann von Helmholtz optical illusion which shows two identically sized squares next to each other - one with vertical stripes and one with horizontal. The horizontal striped box looked taller and thinner, and so did the women.

Long live horizontal stripes!