[video]
[video]
[video]
(Source: evildorina, via bookoisseur)
Tweenbots by Kacie Kinzer:
Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. Because I built them with minimal technology, I had no way of tracking the Tweenbot’s progress, and so I set out on the first test with a video camera hidden in my purse. I placed the Tweenbot down on the sidewalk, and walked far enough away that I would not be observed as the Tweenbot––a smiling 10-inch tall cardboard missionary––bumped along towards his inevitable fate.
The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the “right” direction, if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, “You can’t go that way, it’s toward the road.”
The Tweenbot’s unexpected presence in the city created an unfolding narrative that spoke not simply to the vastness of city space and to the journey of a human-assisted robot, but also to the power of a simple technological object to create a complex network powered by human intelligence and asynchronous interactions. But of more interest to me, was the fact that this ad-hoc crowdsourcing was driven primarily by human empathy for an anthropomorphized object. The journey the Tweenbots take each time they are released in the city becomes a story of people’s willingness to engage with a creature that mirrors human characteristics of vulnerability, of being lost, and of having intention without the means of achieving its goal alone. As each encounter with a helpful pedestrian takes the robot one step closer to attaining it’s destination, the significance of our random discoveries and individual actions accumulates into a story about a vast space made small by an even smaller robot.
(via remykat)
[video]
chimneyfish asked: Jess, when can we expect your next vlog? Your visual presence is in demand! Not to detract from your written ouvre, as it were, but... <blush> you are adorable.
Aw! Thank you! Yeah, that has been a massive fail on my part. About three weeks ago things got super busy for me. And not in that “Yeah, I’m SO busy” but not really busy way, but in the “Oh god oh god oh god oh god” sort of busy way. Ha. I would still definitely like to do the vlogs, especially with all the awesome questions people asked me, but it will be June sometime before things slow down enough for me to be able to do it. Hopefully. Ha!
Thank you for watching and reading my stuff! I really appreciate that.
[video]
“Have you seen most of the plus-size sections out there? It’s horrifying. Whoever’s designing for plus-size doesn’t get it. The entire garment needs to be reconceived. You can’t just take a size 8 and make it larger. In my travels, I’ve been an advocate for larger women. I’ve been talking to designers, but only a half-dozen make an effort. Most say, ‘I don’t want a woman who’s a size 10 or 11 wearing my clothes.’ Well, shame on you! It’s not realistic. We need to address real women with real needs.” —
Tim Gunn
He needs his own line and it needs to be available at Target.
BOOM!
(via fornowjustcarryon)
Tim Fucking Gunn! I love this man even more now! You tell ‘em!
(via nightbecomesme)
FRAK YEAH.
(via theroseinbloom)
YES. THANK YOU. I’m making a rage face right now. You can’t see it, but it’s there.
(Source: fashionista.com, via theroseinbloom)
Ha ha! GPOY. Workaholics FTW?
