What's Missing from Project Runway 4

My good friend Jason at DoodleWhore just sent me this clip of Santino's signature Tim Gunn impersonation. I remember Santino being such a jerk, but so hilarious that I never wanted to miss an episode of PR Season 2. There's something about this season's PR that lacks the lightness and exuberance (to use some of Tim Gunn's favorite descriptors) of the past seasons. I hate to face the possibility that PR is growing tired and old and that Tim's "Make it work" is coming out a bit half-hearted, but I fear that this very thing may be happening. Tim, you are my pedagogical idol. Your mix of encouragement and brutal honesty strikes the perfect balance between support of your students when they are on the right track and stern warning when they are about to falter. Please don't continue to do PR if it's getting lame: you have far too much quality, taste and style for that.

MacBook Air Debuts

For the low price of $3100, you can get your very own MacBook Air with a 64GB solid state (hmm, solid state, that sounds cool) hard drive and a 1.8GHz processor. Looks sexy and it only weighs three pounds, although there's no optical drive (old school) or ethernet port (big ugly ethernet cords would only ruin the aesthetics of this pretty baby). Steve Jobs referred to the "environmentally-friendly" nature of the MacBook Air, with its aluminum housing and pvc/bromide-free motherboard. I wonder if the packaging of this little cutie will be eco-friendly (iPhone: not so much). I remember way back when: Apple actually used raw cardboard with white spot ink (no slick, full bleed images on black—a quadruple hit, I'm sure) for its packaging. It was simple, beautiful, and truly eco-friendly.

Mirko Ilic and Design of Dissent

Last spring, at the AIGA Y-conference in San Diego, I had the good fortune to see Mirko Ilic give a talk on The Design of Dissent, a book that he co-authored with legendary designer Milton Glaser.


Imagine my excitement, when I was able to bring the exhibition The Design of Dissent, and Mirko himself, to Cal Poly. Mirko is wildly intelligent, slightly subversive, really funny, quite bawdy and totally un-P.C. In other words, he's a breath of fresh air in academia. He managed to both inspire and demean my students—California softies—who are in need of a good demeaning once in awhile. I wish I could hang out with Mirko on a regular basis, so I could soak up a little of his brilliance, talent and charm. Thanks for making the first week of my quarter the best ever, Mirko.

Animal, Vegetable, Mmm, Marshmallow

I know it's a new year and we're all about healthy resolutions. I just read Barbara Kingsolver's brilliant and eye-opening, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If you love food and care about its provenance and the impact of corporate farming on our bodies and our earth, this book is a must read. I'm inspired to start my next batch of heirloom tomatoes from seed and to take up canning all manner of sauces, chutneys, and pickles (a fantasy, I'm sure).

But, even after the wake-up call of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I can't help my decadent ways. For Christmas I made marshmallows from scratch after seeing this charming instructional video, courtesy of Readymade. It's actually quite quick and easy to make these little glorious sweeties. With an amazing consistency when melted, they are a revelation in s'mores.

This year, I will try to make less sweet indulgences and more things with chard.

How It Should Have Ended

My little Iain loves to watch anything related to superheroes on You Tube. Lately he's been especially taken with the How It Should Have Ended series. We can both watch Spider-Man 3 HISHE over and over again. [Was Spider-Man 3 a franchise killer or what?] I love the part where Superman and Batman make fun of Peter Parker's strut. Hilarious!

It's the Simple Things

Little Iain received an outrageous number of Christmas gifts, especially given the fact that he's only two years old. Everything from an obnoxious light up monster truck (okay, so it was a gift from a 10 year old boy) to Thomas and Friends trains to cool Automoblox wood cars designed by industrial designer Patrick Calello to a spiffy Razor designed for the youngest scooter enthusiastic. However, his favorite gift by far was a cheap light up spinning top ball point pen from Target (a stocking stuffer: thanks Santa). This magic pen could heal sore muscles, whiten teeth, fix boo boos, shoot lasers, etc. Hmm, it's the simple things that seem to capture the imagination of the youngest creative minds.

Happy Flowers

Last weekend, I had the utterly inspiring and mind-blowing experience of seeing the ©Murakami exhibition at MOCA in L.A. The youngest art critic in our family gave the show a big thumbs up and spent two hours in rapt fascination at the sight of Murakami's superflatalicious paintings, sculptures, animations, and glorious installations. I was overwhelmed by the explosion of color, pattern, imagination, insanely surreal imagery, and, of course, happy flowers. To see Murakami's work in person is transformative—for both children and adults. There are some naysayers who take issue with the conflation of art and commerce, but, I view the interweaving of high and low, culture and consumption, museum and boutique as a brilliant commentary on the current state of the bizarre world in which we live.

Speaking of consumption, one of my favorite forms of shopping is consuming the pre-consumed. After the Murakami show, we visited our friends Jeffery and Rita in Claremont. Rita is the director of the Oldenborg Center, where, several years ago, I gave a presentation on the Superflat phenomenon to a fantastic audience of young, dare I call them: scholars. Last week, this supercool (1970s?), wonderfully kitch coffee dispenser was unearthed from some forgotten corner in Oldenborg. Isn't it Murakami-esque? It is now in my possession and I can't wait to have an opportunity to fill it with mulled wine or hot cider or the strongest of holiday spirits—glogg—and bust it out at my next party. The perfect excuse to wear my bright yellow, holiday caftan from Palm Springs. Thanks, Rita.