these are not my photos

A couple of weeks I decided to do what a random guy on the internet told me to. I really don't remember how I found this artist's website, but I did...and midway down the discombobulation of the homepage was this screenshot:


I read it, bought a camera, mailed it, and opened the mailbox yesterday to see it returned.

Not gonna lie, when I went to get it developed I gave the photo lab person a debriefing that this was an art project of sorts and I have no idea what's on that camera. Luckily my disposable flash machine produced photos of the sky, weeds, trees, a clock, what looks to be a few interiors of an art studio, and a random assortment of people who all look like they'd rather have not been the subject of a flash photo. The collection above are some of my favorites, although flipping through photos of people who you don't know anything about is quite interesting...but strange. Having digital photos is one thing, but having the only copy of negatives and printed photos is another. I feel like it's weird to own them.

Overall it seems like this guy David Horvitz has some interesting ideas...and who knows, one day he may become super famous and I'll have a roll of film he took :) In the meantime, you can follow his Tumblr account where he posts random "assignments" for readers to do, typed on and screenshot from Text Edit, which is part of his 2009 project.

You can also send him money to do ridiculous (or sometimes not so) things. This section of his site called "THINGS FOR SALE THAT I WILL MAIL YOU" is hilarious. I love all the ideas, the exact monetary denominations, and (even more) the fact that quite a lot of people have actually made a transaction through PayPal to further this.

For example:
• if you pay him $3,143 he will go as far away as possible. "I live in New York. I will go to Perth, Australia the farthest distance from New York on Earth. I will mail you a photograph of me standing in New York. I will then mail you a photograph of me standing in Perth"

• if you give him $3 he'll will send you an empty envelope. "It is like sending you nothing. Or at least, it is sending you something that has traveled a journey that is the distance from me to you."

• if you give him $5 he will write down a memory he hasn't thought about it a while and mail it to you. "I will think really hard for this. I will only write down things I haven't thought about in over a year."

• if you give him $2,443 he will rent a car in Iceland and find you three things. "I will find you a lava rock and send it to you. I will find the Aurora Borealis for you and send you a photograph of it. I will find you the best hot spring, and I will sit in it for you."

Sounds like a small price to pay.

oggi sciopero (on strike today)

this blog speaks up against the "DDL Alfano" gag
Today in one of my most favorite squares in Rome, Piazza Navona, people will gather in protest of a proposed bill (the Alfano decree) on the Italian books which will limit the freedom of speech as it pertains to online voices within the Italian Internet...bloggers, twitterers (is that a word?), social network posters, etc. Thousands are expected to fill the piazza against this proposal wearing gags around their mouths.

I remember hearing about the beginnings of this motion right as we were about to move back to the States, and am in some ways surprised it's gotten this far...but in other ways not too surprised, as is such with the Italian government. The context of which I first caught word of the proposal was on the news over there speaking of one of the many times, famed Italian comic/activist/blogger, Beppe Grillo had gotten in deep for his uncensored outbursts, speeches, and blog posts against the corruption in government.

So, with not much else to say about it, I'll be...

... in this piazza (in spirit) with the other protesters later today.

• Learn more at dirittoallarete.ning.com
(downloadable English explanation here).

a remodel in black & white

Well. Our house is finally free of contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc, etc...for a little while at least.

The big bathroom remodel that started a few months ago is finally complete. YAY. And, since I've noticed that I don't have much of a consistent theme of subject matter going on here on this blog, I figured why not throw in in a little design before-and-after magic.

Alas, I just found out that I really didn't have any before photos of said room. And I did remember to take some after the ceilings were complete, but also just found out that I accidentally deleted these from my camera...

...so the ONLY photo I found was from last fall of a friend getting ready (identity spared from humility of using the sad bathroom! ha :)). A bad photo, which maybe is even better as a bad before photo so you can see the mess it really was: 1) extra low drop ceiling, 2) boring standard white tile floor over even worse mauve linoleum, 3) a fitted tub with peeling off-white finish. on and on. UCK.

BEFORE & AFTER

I'd collected several ideas from some excellent design blogs I read, plus had some ideas of my own. Then after consulting with our contractor and laying out the basics, the room was stripped to the studs on all surfaces...walls, floors, ceilings.

One of the biggest changes was getting plumbing and electricity to the right side of the room where it didn't exist before. We wanted to combine our utility room into this bathroom so we can later expand our living room (where the current utility room is now). This required expanding the current towel closet to accommodate a stackable washer/dryer, and then building recessed shelving units in the extra wall space closer to the tub.

plexiglass panels rolled away to access the washer/dryer • tracks on the ceiling for the flat panels as not to have a door that encroached into the room space • magnetic spring-loaded plexi shelving cabinet doors
The drop ceiling was taken out and a flat ceiling was put in, raising the room 8" higher. A new can light and fan were installed as well. I knew that I really wanted this black & white theme, including black ceilings and floors, so that was pre-planned...

...but while all this restructuring work was going on, I was still finalizing my ideas for the tub area...which led to one of the most excellent scores ever: a vintage 1926 clawfoot, complete with original hardware including faucets, hand-held sprayer, shower head and rod, plus the curtain ring. This pretty much made the room, and everything else was just planned out around that.

right side of the room • tub detail • sink area
It ended up to be about 3" too long for the space, so we put a recessed shelf on the tiled wall, which worked out perfectly. The entire area is actually plumbed and designed as a shower space, with extra support to hold the super heavy tub on top.

Wanting to be more eco-friendly where we could, I chose one of those "green toilets" with low water usage, lighting with low wattage florescent, and 100% post-consumer recycled rubber flooring. Yep, all ground-up old tires under foot in this new room.

Simple clean design. Mix of modern + antique. A good book. Lavender essential oil. Bubble baths. Ahh.