Photography

We saw them on desks. We saw them on lawns. We even saw them on a car. But by far the best was still the one where it was taped to a rock in the wilds of remote Australia:

A big thanks goes out to Clinton & Meech, who will be receiving a real Squirrel Table of their very own shortly (well, shortly being how long it takes to get to the outback)!
Thanks everyone for the pictures!

We'd like to give a big hearty thanks to Clinton & Meech for this photo of a downloadable Squirrel Table in the wilds of Meekatharra, Western Australia!

It's the furthest (and best) photo yet! Keep them coming!

Remember, download the table, cut it out, take a pic, and send it to us. Best photo by the end of October wins a real Squirrel Table in the size and finish of the winner's choice!

Yup. We are back from our week long trip to Oklahoma. Why did we go there? That is the first question everyone has asked us. Why would you go to Oklahoma? I guess that question comes quickly to mind as Oklahoma is not really thought of as a "place to go". We asked our friend COOP what we should see while there, as he grew up in that state.

He replied "NOTHING. There is NOTHING there."

Well, we had already bought the plane tickets, and we were heading out there to visit some family, some possible business relations, and to go to a wedding. There was no turning back. So we set out to prove COOP wrong. Nothing you say? What about Hugo, OK. -- Circus city USA?!

Being just down the street from The Crucible , we have been watching them set up for this year's Fire Arts Festival for the past month. More and more stuff started to go up in that lot across from their building, and this year we finally got the chance to go and check it out.

We know a few mad scientists, and one who works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He took us there the other day to see THE SYNCHROTRON (dun dun dun....)

The old American Flat mill, an abandoned mill that once processed gold and silver ore about four miles out of Carson City has been abandoned for years, and is in the process of being demolished by the BLM.

I first went there in 2001. It was an amazingly scenic place as the buildings, by that point, were just shells of what they once were, being reclaimed by the surrounding vegetation. The apparent numbers of visitors that had come through was seen through the years of graffiti coverage on almost every surface. Burned out shells of cars that had been a night's entertainment for some forgotten squatters, the countless beer cans and squatter encampments. American Flat Of course, all of these things that made it so wonderful are the same reasons it is being torn down.

The American Flat is being completely demolished into the ground. The Steel and what ever else can be reclaimed will be hauled out. Every thing else will be buried, soil samples taken, and re-vegetation planting will begin. In a few years, it will look like it never existed. An area that had mining history dating back to 1859 will disappear. Though, understandably..... it was not a safe place. And with very easy access.

American Flat The place was huge too. 45 acres of enormous buildings. Some as tall as 60 ft. Huge areas open to the sky and bowl shaped, used at some point for the refinery. Tunnels everywhere. Underground tunnels that traveled the area beneath the facility. And graffiti everywhere. Graffiti and puddles of water and plants determined to get in.

American Flat It was one of the most photogenic places i have ever been. So in memory of that beautiful place, I have uploaded all my photos from that trip to Flickr here .

Enjoy the photos. Bye Bye American Flat. I'm glad I saw you when I did.

The last leg of our trip was Los Angeles. We spent 3 days there- then thankfully zoomed home sweet home. A quick overview of our time in LA. Or at least, this is how quick it felt.......

We went to Machine Project where we saw Mister Jalopy give a talk on some of the projects he has been working on. He spent part of his talk speaking on the merits of Custom Vans, which of course no sane person can argue with, but now has Jeffrey even more convinced that we need one. Thanx for that Mr. J.

After the talk, we hung out with him and Coop and Coop's wife Ruth, all really nice, funny, easy going people. We had a blast. Got to see Coop's studio, and looked at some stencils we are cutting for him out of Aluminum.

Coop's studio with an amazing in-progress painting on the wall. He does a wonderful blog of his paintings in-progress, you can check it out here, he has a great animation of the painting "being painted".

We then met up with the people who run the Reform School store in Silverlake (on Santa Monica Blvd). They purchased a few of our Whoville-like X-mas trees for their store, so we stopped by to take some photos of the tree in the window:

Really cool stuff in that store. Especially now! heh.

 While in LA, of course, we *had* to go to the infamous restaurant BaHooka's

All booths. Nothing but booths. Each booth is flanked on three sides by fishtanks. Some of the tables are held up by an enormous chain. How can it possibly get any better than this? The food is expectedly horrible...

and the drinks are served in a salad bowl and on fire. Why not!? After drinking from this bowl the whole place begins to make sense. Well.... sort of.

We made it a rule to only eat at places with great signage.

So we also patronized Canter's, the famous Jewish deli, 

and Norm's to name a few.

We went to the fabric district to buy fake fur for our lapdesks . We are very excited about making them more impressive and lush. The fabric we got is crazy fun, and hopefully will sell!

We then went to the Schindler house, which was the Architecture, ed-u-mecation part of the trip. Cool house, too bad they are now filling it with what they called "contemporary art".

Finally, we spent our last night at the "Ask A Ninja" DVD release party invited by our friend Scott Beale . There we spent our time watching Scott take photos,

And then we were "sketched" by some guy who "sketches" people on a etch-a-sketch.

And that was LA.  

We are still here in Vegas, on our last day, and frankly, it's about time! Jeffrey has given all of his three talks. And luckily only one of them was strewn with technical difficulties including, but not limited to, the light jazz that started playing from the hotel speakers halfway through his talk. That talk seemed to take all the bad luck, as his others went seamlessly, and he received praise from the attendees on all three of the presentations.

All of his talks were taped, so you can watch them by logging onto the AU Online site.

We have been put up at The Venetian, with it's plush accomidations and amazingly friendly service. The interior design of this place is amazing.

This tower here has a long hallway flanked on either side with gas wall sconces. The center of this hallway is a reception area with an amazing ceiling and chandelier. There is so much security here, you have to have a room key to go anywhere in this hotel. Luckily, we did.

We've decided that is the ceilings and lighting fixtures that really hold the personality of a vegas casino- as eye level and below are typically filled with slot machines and a multicolored carpet to hide stains.

The Venetian has a pool that was still open while we were here, even though the temperature high was in the low 50's. I went swimming, and it was *WONDERFUL* as they keep the pool at a constant 85 degrees! And I had it all to myself, as more rational people than I figured it was too cold to be swimming.

They give you heated towels as you are on your way to the pool.

The other day I saw someone vacuuming this lawn. So today I took a closer look at it.

This is by far the nicest and softest, and most likely the most expensive astroturf you can find. I want some for my livingroom!

Even the exit signs are fancy at The Venetian.

Now onto our room... We had 35 people in here on Tuesday night. I'll say it again..... 35 people in our hotel room at one time, and it wasnt even tight! I think this room is larger than our space in Oakland.

The bathroom has it's own makeup table, as well as a separate bath tub, a shower with glass walls, two sinks, and a separate room for the toilet. I could live here. If only it weren't in Vegas!

We are currently in the middle of a 2 week long road trip that began with ThanksGiving dinner in Carson City, NV with the folks.

Currently in Las Vegas, where we are presenting at the Autodesk University Conference. And at the end of the week will will be heading to Los Angeles to meet up with some prospective clients.

On our way to Vegas we stopped at the base of Mt. Whitney, touring through little mountain towns that have not been updated since the 50's..... especially the signage.....

mmmmmm...... signage....

Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the continental united states. So, of course we had to continue on through Death Valley, and see the lowest point too! Mt Whitney gets 14,000 ft and some chage in it's height, while Death Valley goes to 282 ft below sea level. It's EXTREME! Amazing that you can drive from one of these points to the other in one day.

you can see all the photos from our trip here 

I dont think that water is gonna last him all the way across the desert. Obviously that man is doomed.

We made it into Vegas Sunday night and had most of the next day to sight see as the first conference activity did not start until later that night.

So, like any good American would, we went to the Atomic Testing Museum.

They dont let you take pictures inside the museum, so you will need to go see this one for yourself. Filled with 1950's memorabilia, videos, posters of 1957 Miss Atomic Bomb , and facts. Lots of facts. Though nothing on what the testing in the Nevada desert did to the people working there, or the surrounding wildlife. I guess they forgot about that stuff. We bought a shot glass.

To keep with our 50's theme we went next to The Pinball Hall of Fame

Run by Tim Arnold, this pinball-rific place is 5 rows deep of machine after machine. Most from them from the 50's to the 70's. A few modern ones. One that's all in Spanish. One that's Punk themed and plays new wave music at you. All wonderful.

I got a little obsessed with the graphics on these old machines and took a ton of photos. You can see them all here.

That's all for now. I will post later on our plush accomodations at the Venetian and more on the Autodesk University Conference. 

Back to Vegas! 

This last weekend was the 10th Anniversary of the Bay Area ArtCarFest - and it was a BLAST! Or at least, when I heard all about it, it really truly sounded like a good time. Great bands played at the San Jose Museum of Art to celebrate, like The Mermen and Meshugga Beach Party . Which were both awesome (or so i hear). And there were over 60 cars there, parked around the museum. This one is a crowd favorite (and one of mine) that comes all the way from Vancouver:

We did get to see Thursday night at Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley, which was really so cool. It started at sundown and went long into the night. We ate and drank delicious Pyramid Brewery beer and strolled around the 30 or so ArtCars that were on display there. There were some really great cars there, and some from across the country! See photos from Pyramid Brewery's parking lot here.

This is one from a new-on-the-scene ArtCarArtist. He has done a ton with LEDs and neon and it is VERY cool:

We spent the next day of the fest making these cool emblems for the Artists.

We designed the teeshirts and patches too. We fabricated the aluminum emblems in our shop and handed them out on Sunday. It was a really cool project as everyone really liked them, and the artists usually dont get so much cool swag.

Art Car Fest is such a public event, it takes pedestrians and people in traffic by surprise every year. It is the only 4 day long art show that is continuously on display as it goes from venue to venue! Making the emblems was a really cool way to thank the artists for all the work they do over those four days. And they came out way cool!

One more car photo. But you can see all the photos if you click here