Monday, January 31, 2011

Shoot, That's Fun. The Bullet Hole Art Of Walt Creel.



above image courtesy of The Birmingham News

Walt Creel of Birmingham, Alabama uses a deadly weapon, ironically, to create images of sweet Southern wildlife. Brandishing a rifle, he fires .22 caliber bullets through 4' x 6' white painted aluminum panels to form images of a deer, an owl, a rabbit, a possum, a squirrel and bird in his project, De-Weaponizing The Gun.


detail of Rabbit:


The pointillist-like art is as interesting to admire up close as it is from afar, and is the artist's attempt at taking away the destructive power of the gun.

Squirrel:

The finished image of Squirrel [above] and creating the piece [below].

Deer:

Close -up of deer:

Bird:

Possum:

Rabbit:

Owl:


DEWEAPONIZING THE GUN by Walton Creel

In the artist's own words:
The terms gun and weapon are practically interchangeable. From hunting to war, self defense to target practice, the gun has been a symbol of power and destruction. Art and entertainment have both taken the same approach to he gun. Traveling Wild West shows had gunslingers that shot crude silhouettes and names, but this was done to illustrate the shooters prowess. Some artists have used high speed film to capture a bullet slicing through its target, while other artists have melted guns into sculptures.



When I decided I wanted to make art using a gun, I was not sure what direction I would have to take. I knew I did not want to use it simply as an accent to work I was doing, but as the focus. My main goal was to take the destructive power away from the gun. To manipulate the gun into a tool of creation and use it in a way that removed it from its original purpose, to deweaponize it.



During my first experiment I came across the concept of creating an image hole by hole on a surface. I also figured out that canvas would be too stressed by the process of a rifle firing many bullets into it.

A test firing of the bullets into canvas:


I moved on to aluminum and, with further experimentation, I figured out exactly how far apart my shots needed to be and that moving beyond .22 caliber was simply too destructive. When the aluminum was painted beforehand, the blast of the gun knocked off a tiny amount of paint around each hole, which helped fuse the image together.



images courtesy of the artist and the Coleman Center For The Arts,

Deweaponizing the Gun is an ongoing series presented in installments.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Natural Straw Hat Mixed Colors Fashion Designer Acsesories

Model Patterns Available Fashion Design


Observations on Entertaining in Oman

Omanis are very famous for their hospitality... which is a very great thing if you are an expat or a tourist.

Invitations for meeting Omani families abound with a "come for a meal" or just for "qhawa" [i.e Omani coffee], usually accompanied by dates, helwa [Omani sweet], tea, pistachios, almonds, cashews, and various sliced fruit. Probably Mountain dew, Vimto, and Tang, as well.

If you are an Omani, you MUST, absolutely MUST keep all these things on hand at all times for your guests, which could arrive at any time, without notice, and for certain, without a phone call

Which is fine, if you are a bored housewife, and have little else to do right?

I am no bored stay at home house wife, but Omani entertaining varies VASTLY from the kind of entertaining I am personally skilled at. I have no skill at Omani entertaining because a. I need notice for people to come. [I was the girl who hand-made, and then hand delivered invites to build hype for my soirees once-upon-a-lifetime-ago]

b. I like to be dressed nice. [Now, I'm lucky if I have time to brush my hair and smear on some eyeliner let alone try on a nicer dress than the one I wore for cleaning and cooking].

c. I like to have the house nice. [When your guest just shows up at your door, you hide your knickers, and kick anything embarassing behind the couch cushions/musada].

d. I like to plan special little details to be appreciated for my guests. [If it is a movie night with girlfriends, I make popcorn, and cute appetizers, and make the room more comfy and glam- in Oman, the only details people get to notice is I don't have much ready for them, not even sliced fruit or nuts in a bowl!!!!]

e. I need time to go grocery shopping because I don't keep things that can go bad on hand. [Honestly, I eat out alot, and don't really keep alot of fresh fruit in the house that can turn in a few days.]

and f.: I generally like visiting to have a reason. [In Oman, it is part of the culture to visit for absolutely no reason, and to not even have anything new or worthwhile to talk about when one visits]. If it is to catch up with a neighbor or friend, and little prep need be involved, I am ok. For a stranger, I want time to clean the house (at least the majlis/living room ect).

Omani entertaining usually involves no time for prep. If you are lucky, you get a day.

For those back in the home country who liked to tease me and call me Martha Stewart with all my do-it-yourself work, projects, and plans, it would surprise them vastly to hear I am a horrible hostess. Me, who once got paid just to show up at parties or host them for others, what seems a thousand lifetimes ago now.

Yes, dear non-Muslim friends and family of yore, I am a horrible hostess by Omani standards. I hate the whole process, and I cannot abide to listen to women gossiping about eachother or talking about the same old same old boring on repeat.

You may not believe it, friends at present, that while I was never famous for my cooking (I famously poisoned many Muslim women at an Eid dinner by not defrosting some meat before cooking it), I was a rather lauded hostess. I did get paid to show up at parties (my great style and conversational skills I am sure [which are no avail in Omani hosting being I am not a conversationalist in Arabic, and my dress has to be a form of Muslim dress] being the reason), and friends and co-workers always coerced me into hosting and planning their affairs.

A visit with other women to me is a few things:

It is to chat: and thus non-alcoholic cocktails, girly clothing, and cute appetizers should be the order of the day, or a tea party-esque adventure. http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/01/real-parties-gossip-girl-inspired-bridal-shower-part-2/

It is to eleviate boredom. Numerous kinds of these bits.

http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/06/real-parties-twilight-dinner-party/

Or for occasions:

I am just no good at this no planning but a little thing. To be honest, it gets very, very boring to me. A repeat of the same, on the same, on the same.

And where I am moving in a few years (have to, my house is there) same will apply with multiples of 2-3 guests a day, the only variation of daily routine in entertaining possibly being related to rather traditional Omani white weddings.

How I miss harvest themed festivals, and friends that threw Marie Antionette themed parties!

Aalia, from "Chasing-Jannah " http://chasing-jannah.blogspot.com/ was once my favourite host, as her tea was immaculately delicious, and her cute Marie Antionette movie party with pink cream soda and cake from Daniel's Pattiserie was wonderful [though I loved the new conversations and lack of gossip]. Remember that rainy boring day Aalia?

Anyways, I think I will try to creative-up my Omani girlfriends and their family members, and an OPNO or two. A party is planned this summer to unveil my new back yard. Theme: of course garden party.

Anyways, for once I will post pics:)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sneaker Lovers Can Get Their Kicks With These Cool Items




Now, you can own a part of advertising history.
Freedom Of Creation (FOC) designers, Janne Kyttanen and Mads Thomsen, produced this Laser Sintered creation for the international ad agency Amsterdam Worldwide for its client Onitsuka Tiger ‘ASICS’ premium heritage brand and the ad campaign called Electric Tigerland. (By the way, the recent Tansu Shoe for Onitsuka Tiger by Amsterdam Worldwide won a Gold Lion at the 2010 Cannes Advertising Festival for design)

The meter-long shoe called the ‘Electric Light Shoe’ was central to the global Electric Tiger Land campaign for 2008. The 70 cm and 40 cm sized versions were created for Onitsuka Tiger stores world-wide and are now available for purchase.

Several additional designs were produced by FOC to support the campaign such as USB sticks, keyholders, POS material, shoe displays etc. and now you can buy some of these items.

The Electric Shoe
Created for the 2008 Onitsuka Tiger brand campaign, The Electric Light Shoe was the 2nd in the series of iconic sneaker sculptures developed from the agency's ‘Made of Japan’ strategy.



The one meter long ‘city in a sneaker’ was inspired by and pays homage to the Toyko cityscape and provided a platform to tell more stories about the brand to engage the target audience.





The sculpture was used in POS, online and television advertising and received numerous awards and now is your chance to own one.

Electric Light Shoe (large, 70 cm and small, 40cm)
Limited consumer edition of 10 pieces
Type: Media art developed in cooperation with 'Amsterdam Worldwide' for Onitsuka Tiger campaign
Color: White with LED colored lights
Material: Laser Sintered Polyamide
Designers: Janne Kyttänen & Mads Thomsen 2007
Awards: Titanium Lion, International Advertising Fest. Cannes 2008, Dutch Design Awards 2008, Integrated Silver, ADCN 2009
Price for Large (excl. VAT): € 5879.83 buy it here
Price for Small (excl. VAT): € 1678.15 buy it here
Delivery Time: 6 weeks

The USB Shoe (sold as 4 pieces)
And the USB memory shoe – a tiny replica of ‘Electric Light Shoe’ that once activated, the key diffuses a soft illumination, is also available.



Type: 2 GigaByte USB-stick
Color: White with colored LED
Material: Laser Sintered Polyamide
Designer: Janne Kyttänen 2008
Price (excl. VAT): € 81.51
Delivery Time: 2 weeks
buy it here.


Shoe Sculpture Charm (sold as 4 pieces)
A metal miniaturized reproduction of FOC’s ‘Electric Light Shoe’ which can be used as a key ring, pendant or charm is also available for purchase.



Type: Miniature reproduction
Material: Stainless steel
Designer: Janne Kyttänen 2008
Price (excl. VAT): € 81.51
Delivery Time: 2 weeks
buy it here.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Daily Diary: I kicked off Muscat Festival in Qu'rum Park and traditional Omani architecture facts to do with mud bricks and sarooj

So, last night I headed out to Qu'rum park to kick-off Muscat festival with a visit to the Omani heritage village there.

My intention was to learn to do half-tanjeem's for my Omani Kuma embroidery (I suck at these little traditional knotted stitches), to weave a palm mat to the embarassment of some, and to learn how to restore a traditional Omani house that is falling down.

I know, not your AVERAGE Muscat-Festival go-er, but this was my OPNO agenda.

First off though, I did the tourist bit and got some yummy traditionally made Omani food, and bought some freshly made laban. Not a fan of it, but some of those I was with totally are. I also nearly bought traditional Omani dresses from Dhofar, Al Wusta, and Ad Dakliyah because the prices were good, and an Omani silver anklet. But I resisted. I will be back so do not waste all my pay check at once was my thinking.

I also watched the (minscule) firework show, and strange laser neon thingies parade. I had to, because I wanted to leave at the time of both and was stuck in the traffic.

At the heritage village I plopped myself down with some Omani ladies weaving blankets and embroidering kumas. If you want to learn traditional crafts, Muscat Festival is the free-est tuition for the old arts that you can get.

After my kuma half-tanjeem embroidery was improved, and I was espousing my favourite abaya shopping haunt in MQ to a group of women "MashaAllah-ing" my abaya, I headed to the area close to where they had some rather skinny donkies pulling the traditional style well. Don't they usually use the ox for that?

Here, I found Omani men making bricks the traditional way.

First off, I learnt that once the grains were stripped from the wheat shafts, the straw was put in a pile hacked and whacked by men in a circle with heavier date frond tips smacking it into small pieces.

To make a traditional mud brick, the kind used to build the houses in Al Hamra in Ad Dakliyah region for example, you take this hay, and mix it with mud, about 60% straw and the wet clay-like mud. This is cut with a mould that slices the bricks into squares. While still wet, these mud bricks are stacked on/and with stones and they bake together in the sun, to make your structure. I need to go back for more on this, because my structure skills are weak, and I neglected to ask the precise ammount of time before another layer of bricks is added/ ie how dry do they have to be?

I also learned how to make the stronger building component in traditional Omani architecture, sarooj. Sarooj is made by making mud into cakes and burning them a series of times between coals of searing palm bark. After the mud is baked and the fire is out, it is smashed into powder and then water is added to it to make the right consistancy and thus you have a cement stronger than cement to be used to secure stones together. This is what is used to repair old falaj systems and to make Omani fortresses. I am waiting to hear from this man http://smarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-mud-bricks-omani-style.html if he knows anything more than I do. I intend to diagram/sketch and label the process, as I will be, within two summers, working on repairing some old village houses belonging to MOP and his wife.

Who were with me at the festival, BTW.

MOP threatened OPNOother with divorce if she jumped on a donkey with the kids, so that SERRIOUSLY tempted her to do so, but all was well, since she was wearing a designer abaya and she didn't want to get donkey on it, and MOP would never divorce my girl.

Afterwards, we got icecream, and played with street cats in Al Qu'rum since it was a long, long walk to the car. By Omani standards anyways.

Soup For Sluts & Other Rad Ramen Noodles




The folks over at Blue Q have taken the college student's staple, instant Ramen Noodle Soup, and cleverly repackaged four different flavors with hilarious names. The genuine and yes, authentically edible, instant Asian noodle soups come in the following flavors; Soup For Sluts [spicy vegetable], Wasted & Broke [spicy beef], Hello Lazy [chicken flavored] and Din Din Fuk Chow [shrimp] and cost $2.99 each for each 3oz 85g package. Admittedly a bit more that the .39 cent versions you can find at your local market, but the reaction when someone sees them is worth the $2.60 difference.






Buy them here

Intel's CHASE Web Video Is Kicking Ass On The Viral Charts




To build excitement around the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor, Intel launched this action-adventure video titled "The Chase." The spot demonstrates the performance capabilities of the new processors by creating an action-movie style chase sequence that takes place through a wide variety of program windows on a computer desktop.



Ad Age reports that "With 1.8 million YouTube views and its first entry onto the chart, Intel's "Chase" mini-movie makes it to the straight to the top for a good reason -- it's a great action flick with a sexy heroine and two leather-jacket-and-gold-chains bad guys. The campaign won 1.1 million views in its first week alone."


Credits

Advertising Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, USA
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will Mcginness
Creative Directors: Paul Foulkes, Tyler Hampton, David Kim
Copywriter: Josh Parschauer
Art Director: Beau Hanson, Dan Kenneally
Director Of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Agency Producer: Kacey Hart
Interactive Producer: John Eagan
Interactive Design Director: Ezra Paulekas
Production Company: Nexus Productions
Director: Smith & Foulkes
Director Of Photography: Oliver Wood
Executive Producer: Tracey Cooper
Production Manager: Alistair Pratten
Editing Company: Trim
Editor: Paul Hardcastle
Sound Design: Human
Music: Human
Composers: Edmond Dunne & Gareth Williams
Music Producer: Jonathan Sanford
Mix: Play, John Bolen
Color / Flame: Time Based Arts, James Allen & Sheldon Gardner
Aired: January 2011

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Life In A Day

Just watched the live premier of "Life in a Day" streamed Live from Youtube, and it was amazing! I was fliping around youtube a few days ago getting my news fix and I saw it. I did not think i would get the chance to watch it. But yep, and it was Amazing!! Ah the Q&A is starting. So cool, I never thoat that something like this would be possible, but man the internet can be so amazing. If your reading this now go quick. You can fine the link on the mane page of youtube! Go Quick!!

Omani Traditional Dress on the Runway

Oman has managed to preserve much of its original culture, including the differing and colourful varaiations of regional dresses for women. Now more or less reserved for special occasions or hidden under black abayas, the traditional dress is being reinvented and influenced by the different regions brought together in workplaces and schools. The kind of jewelry once worn by women in Dhofar is now worn by women in Buraimi, ect. Designers of the "new " traditional dress are influenced by the other regions or other media, and this has always been the case in Oman, due to the import of Indian craftsmen and trade in Zanzibar, and a policy of welcoming foriegners as valued guests.
Traditional Muscat/a form of Al Batinah regional dress is constantly adapting, but has strongly influenced the perceived form of the 'national dress' along with the interior Ad Dakliyah region. Often worn for state occasion and by school children for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Al Batinah and Ad Dakliyah dresses could most commonly be considered the majority Omani dress.

Mistakenly referred to by expats and non-Omanis as "Hindu" or "Pakistani" influenced dresses, due to the predominance of the tunic top and sirwal, Omani pants, being tighter at the ankle, are in no way similar in cut to the churider pants of India, nor is the cut of the Omani tunic, though the embroideries of these dresses today, are predominately Pakistani and Indian due to the tailors originating from those countries in Muscat.

*In the 1900s it was quite common for the women of Muscat to wear the birqa face covering now more closely associated to Beduoin culture in other regions.*

Traditional Muscati dress consists of a knee length tunic dress and worn over sarwal /pants, a headscarf often fringed called waqayah or lihaf, worn under another longer rectangular scarf without fringe called the leso or a kanga by the Zanzibari/East African Omani population dependent on the textile used. Al Batinah and Ad Dakliyah Regional Dresses

Dresses of the Muscat and Al Batinah region also typically feature what are called zarrie laces running from the shoulder to the hem as a means of decoration, on the sirwal, and at the neck fastening of the tunic. This is also consistant from Muscat, Al Batinah, and Ad Daklihaya region/governates, only difference being Al Batinah and Ad Dakiliyah typically have a textile trimming the bottom of the tunic additionally called, I believe, the sinjaf??? Al Batinah usually use purple fabric to form the sinjaf traditionally, while Ad Dakliyah tunic styles are hemmed on the longer side, mid calf rather than knee length. Ad Dakliyah dresses ALWAYS include the leso and the yarn fringed warqiyah/lihaf, and this is the Omani style you will most often spot OPNO sporting.uscat style, are also, now being influenced by Western and Indian culture, as these artistic expressions below bear testment to:

Dhofari dress: The outfit worn by Dhofari women is made up of three parts: the sarwal (the trousers), the loose dress which is shorter in the front and longer in the back called abuthail "father of the tail", the shayla/headcovering. It differs from the regional dress of other parts of Oman, mainly because of the area's classical relation to the Hadramout Kingdom.
Traditionally, the sarwal were not worn in areas of Dhofar further away from Yemen, although they always WERE worn in Yemen. Today, however, women in Dhofar wear the sarwal when leaving the house. For more casual occasions they are made of cotton and for special occasions velvet, silk or another more valued textile, and often decorated at the ankle hem.
Daily worn, the abuthail dresses are made of cotton with no embellishment and with a shorter tail hemline as exampled in the below, albeit, the below being a highly embellished example of the shorter, more practical day-wear hemlines.For special occasions they are made of velvet and silk chiffons, and highly embellished with crystals or embroideries. Traditionally, black velvet was worn for the abuthail with edging embroidered with bright alternating coloured threads in pointed and straight lines. Though new styles have evolved, originally the dress had a square neckline with no sleeves, only openings in the side seams. With the back trailing behind and the front hemmed above the ankles, legend in Salalah says the dress evolved this way to erase a woman's footsteps. Of course, it wouldn't have been made of silk in the past, if the legend holds true;)
The headcovering in Salalah is traditional worn loose but is now securely wrapped, this having evolved from more Northern Omani styles.
Having just covered one of the most often produced traditional dresses reinvented by designers on the runways, after the Dhofari dress, the other dress most worn by my Omani friends who aren't ACTUALLY from Dhofar or Sur in Ash Sharqiyah region, is the traditional dress of Sur, the suri.

Ashsharqiyah Dress from Sur is traditionally of the same function as Northern Omani dress, consisting of a tunic dress and sarwal pants, but the way that these items are embellished is distinct to the region. While other Omani regions typically embellish the bottom of the tunic and its chest, this region only embelished the garment on the wrists and on the bottom hem of the Sirwal. Additional embroidery for the chest panel was left for the suri.
The suri, better described pictorially in its traditional form in this post http://howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com/2010/12/suris-traditional-sharqiyah-dress.html is a loosely woven (traditionally black) wide sleeved overgarment, usually extensively embroidered along the chest, and often minutely on the sleeve hems. It is worn over the embroidered traditional tunic and pants by pulling the sleeve edges up and over on the head so that they criss-cross eachother. This can leave the arms either covered to the elbow, or to the wrist, depending on how far back on the head the garment it tied/pinned. It may also be used to fully envelop the face. It is very breathable, and easy to move in and usually covers to the feet or ankles, unlike the shorter tunic worn beneath.

Barka Al Jig Baluchi dress- There are no concrete facts as to the origin of this design but popular opinion is that it originated in the city of Barka in the Al Batinah region. However, there are numerous other cities where the Baluchi women also wear this style.

Unlike traditional Baluchi dress with ruched siding seams at the waist, this dress is not worn beyond Omani borders, and the embellishments on the chest, wrists, and hem all demonstrate an Omani influence, including the two vertical lines that run from each shoulder to the hem.

This style dress usually includes a lihaf (headcovering), tighter sirawal than traditional Baluchi pants embroidered Omani style with laces and zarrie, and a mid-calf dress without set-in sleeves called a Juma. Similar to the Dhofari abuthail, it has side seam openings instead.

Although I could not find any pics of traditional Baluchi dress at this fashion show, I posted about it here:
http://howtolivelikeanomaniprincess.blogspot.com/2010/10/not-traditional-omani-dress-but-close.html

and this Muslim woman whose blog I enjoy also did: http://muhajabat.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/dress-of-the-balooch-women/


Beduoin Al Wusta Dress traditionally consisted of a long dress mainly embroidered at the wrists called a jalabiyia, with sirwal that could hardly be seen that were rarely embellsihed, and shayla/headscovering made from sheer black cotton mesh.
The burqa/facial mask is always worn by married women in Al Wusta region, and traditionally dark colours like indigo and black are preferred for the burqa.
Overtop of the jalabiyia a ghabaah is worn. A ghabaah is a fine black mesh covering worn over the full-length of the jalabiyia and unlike the Suri version, is not used to cover the hair and so, is much narrower in cut and unembellished traditionally. This covering is completely sheer but tends to protect the clothing underneath from being scratched by sand and dust.
*These are the runway fashion pics I could find thus far depicting regional dressing, though I will still endeavor to include regions thus far neglected.*
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