The weblog, writing, whatever of Bill Turner | Brilliant Corners

Kids and the subway

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:42:06 -0400

It was fun to read (and see) Christoph Niemann's visual story on his kids' infatuation with the New York subway system, because my own kids got a huge kick out of riding the subway when we were in Rome this March. We weren't there long enough, or rode the subway enough times, for Clara and Eliot to memorize the routes and stops, but they enjoyed it enough. My kids are so used to riding in cars that taking any kind of public transportation is a truly unusual treat.

Here's Eliot demonstrating his subway pole holding technique from one of our rides on the Rome subway:

creativescrape

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:53:09 -0400

creativescrape is a neat (just in its infancy) online tool for catching inspiration. (via)

Hannah Stouffer's uber-detailed illustrations

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:14:02 -0400

Hannah Stouffer's art is something to behold. The line art illustrations (paintings? prints? I'm not sure what this style would be called) she makes are mesmerizing and beautiful. I would love to see these in better detail as the image sizes available on her site just aren't big enough to see all the intricacies.

She has several prints and canvas bags available in her store (some also available on Little Paper Planes), but I wish there were more prints available (like of the piece I included a small sample of above). And, in addition to the neat illustrations, you can see some of the commercial work she has recently completed on her professional site hannahstouffer.com, all of which is just as lovely as her non-professional work.

Future Trash Crash

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:53:57 -0400

Scott Teplin has been posting some images from his new "Crash" series on his weblog. The color version of the one above is awesome, but I love his initial sketches just as much; the details are excellent. Don't miss his Alphaville series either. You can even see how his work progressed on the whole series on his Future Trash weblog.

Again with the rebuilding

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:46:55 -0400

I think the best way to teach yourself a new web technology is to build yourself a weblog application. Well, I wanted to learn Merb, so that's what I did. Kinda. Basically, I just took the same database layout that I had in the last incarnation (which was written in Ruby on Rails) and then just wrote a Merb application around it.

I'll probably have more on Merb as I've learned quite a bit, and I've become quite enamored of the little framework that could!

For those of you in feed readers, I apologize if you get all my posts in your reader again. Some URLs have changed, and the commenting doesn't work as well as I want it to yet, but it's passable for now.

Mixed media textile by Cathy Cullis

Fri, 30 May 2008 16:54:58 -0400

Cathy Cullis is creating a kind of art that I've never seen before. She calls them "mixed media textile works" on her Etsy shop, but I've never heard the term before. I love the faces and people she's sewn into all the pieces.

There is more to see in Cathy's Flickr photos, including some great landscape-like paintings.

Now, that's a big picture!

Fri, 30 May 2008 16:24:48 -0400

Alan Taylor just launched The Big Picture over at the Boston Globe's website. Fantastic news photos from around the world.

The library saved me $66.75 today

Tue, 20 May 2008 22:17:24 -0400

Yes, I saved that much by visiting the local library today, and that's not including tax! That's what it would have cost if I went to the comic store and bought the five graphic novels that I checked out today.

Since I first got my library card I've checked out 56 items, most of which are graphic novels/comics. I don't feel like adding the cost up from all of those, but I know it's several hundred dollars. Now, I'm grateful to have saved all that money, but at the same time I'm sad I'm not contributing to the wallets of those certainly-deserving writers and artists. How can I resolve this quandary? Well, maybe my mind can be put a little at ease thanks to the cost of graphic novels. Something just seems wrong paying $20 for something that can be read in 15 minutes, great art or not. Still I feel a little bad about it, but that's what libraries are for, right?

Well, maybe I can't completely justify it, especially since I don't plan on stopping my visits to the library to check out more books and comics. However, there have been many that I enjoyed so much that I do plan on buying and adding them to the bookshelf:

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan

Gorgeous art and a wordless, yet moving and powerful narrative. I had seen this mentioned on a couple of "best of the year" lists, but it just took a look inside to see the reason why.
Skim, by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki

The story is great, but it's Jillian Tamaki's art that really grabs me. It reminds me a lot of Dave McKean's Cages for some reason, which I loved tremendously.
La Perdida, by Jessica Abel

I had read the first issue or two of La Perdida many years ago, but thanks to the library carrying the collected comic, I've been able to read the entire story (almost in a single sitting).
Persepolis 1 & 2, by Marjane Satrapi

These are some of the first graphic novels I checked out from the library. I still haven't seen the film, but if it is anywhere near as good as these then it should be fantastic.
The entire Lone Wolf and Cub series, by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

A Zen-like assassin and his infant son travel from job to job, often without saying but just a few words. Yeah, it can be quite violent at times, but it isn't overly graphic or gruesome. The beautiful art is what grabs me the most.

I really have enjoyed reading everything that I've checked out of the library, but those above are the ones that really stood out. I can also thank the library for getting me hooked on Iain M. Banks' sci-fi books. They had an old beat-up copy of Consider Phlebas which I loved. Sadly, many of his earlier SF books are still not yet available in the US (although they are being released, slowly) so I've had to resort to buying some from overseas in order to feed my Culture fix.

A nice, diverse list of 100 recommended jazz albums

Tue, 13 May 2008 11:18:56 -0400

100 Essential Jazz Albums from The New Yorker

Laure Nollet's Notebook sketches

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:32:02 -0400

It was a hard choice of which of Laure Nollet's sketchbook drawings to include in this Inspiration post. So many colors and drawing styles and subjects. Some seem freehand, while others use a pasted-in photo as a starting point. Many more in the "pen" set at Flickr and on her website: volume

THEBLOG WEEMADE

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:09:04 -0500

THEBLOG WEEMADE celebrates the artwork of children. I love this.

The Ben & Joey Show

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:31:40 -0500

My pal Joey (and his friend, Ben) have started a comedy podcast called The Ben & Joey Show. Give it a listen, it's good.

Planting something in my (ex-)front yard

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:32:51 -0500

I was working with Google Maps for something I'm dealing with for work and thought I'd take a look and see if the "Street View" vans (or cars, or whatever they use) had been down the street we used to live on in Dallas. little StreetView trip to our old house--our first house--in Dallas. They have:

It's odd looking at the house from this perspective. First of all, it's no longer our house. Secondly, the current owner has been adding all kinds of changes to the front yard. It looks like he's adding some big flower beds or something there. From the Street View, they're still dirt so who knows what the final result will be. I'm sure he had a blast going to the Dallas Preservation Society meetings to get those changes approved. We had to go several times ourselves: first time was to let us remodel the inside, one time to get the fences approved, another time to let us tear down the old garage, and another time to get the "O.K." to have a new front porch poured. It was a hassle of paperwork and useless meetings, but in the end we didn't really have many problems.

Next time we're in Dallas we'll have to drive by and see what went into the new flowerbeds, since I doubt Google will update the views anytime soon. I don't really have that strong of an attachment to the house anymore, but it is a strange experience seeing it from the angle of ex-owner, and seeing the changes that have happened since we sold it.

And as long as he keeps the trees that we planted, one after each child was born, then I'll look on the changes with approval. Otherwise, he'll need a talking to.

Crafted camera case

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:17:34 -0500

Flickr user hine has posted some images of her newest crafted digital camera case. The idea is great, but it's the execution of the camera case that puts it over the top. All the small details were thought of, including a button on the top to signify the shutter release. So, so cute!

This is just one of the excellent items that hine has crafted. There are loads more neat things in her crafted set. Some of the items, including (at the time of this post) one of camera cases, are for sale on her Etsy shop.

Standing by Wil Freeborn

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:27:06 -0500

Another watercolor and ink piece by Wil Freeborn. I love his sparse use of watercolors in his sketches. He's not trying to cover everything, but instead picks a few things here and there to highlight. I love the effect.

A while back, Wil offered to send some of his Moo cards to anyone who emailed him. I occasionally come across the cards he sent and keep telling myself to make some for myself.