+1 862 207 3288 Michael Bierut
“And May All Your Christmases Be Carefully Staged So As To Appear White”
Design Observer
http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=2827
The Nutcracker at The New York City Ballet, choreography by George Balanchine, scenic design by RoubenTer-Arutunian. Photograph by Paul Kolnik.
A few years ago, I was invited to a fundraising dinner for the New York City Ballet. Sitting next to me was a young woman who was a ballerina. I hardly know anything about ballet, so I was a little ill-equipped to hold up my end of the conversation. Because it was the Christmas season, and because it was one of the few NYCB performances I’ve seen more than once, I reverted to the obvious: “Do you get tired of dancing in The Nutcracker?”
My new friend was very gracious and said of course not. Yet The Nutcracker is to City Ballet what “Stairway to Heaven” was to Led Zeppelin. They’ve done it a million times, but it’s the thing that everyone comes to see. It can’t be easy. Is there anything harder than faithfully creating magic, night after night after night?
The legendary choreographer George Balanchine first danced the role of the Prince in The Nutcracker in his native Russia at the age of 15. Over forty years later, after founding New York City Ballet, he created his own version of the dance to Tchaikovsky’s familar music. With its debut in 1954, The Nutcracker was an immediate crowd pleaser, due in no small part to the beautiful sets and effects Balachine concocted with scenic designer RoubenTer-Arutunian. Today NYCB performs it almost 50 times a year.
My favorite part occurs at the end of the first act, during the Waltz of the Snowflakes. As they begin their dance, snow begins to fall on the stage of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, first a few flakes, then more, then a virtual blizzard. The dancers create dizzying patterns on the stage as their feet cut through the mounting drifts. The effect is breathtaking and, yes, magical. I’d like to think that I’ve become sophisticated after years of design practice, but I must say this staged snowstorm effects me as if I were a nine-year-old.
And, like a nine-year-old, I asked my new friend the ballerina the obvious question: “What’s the snow made out of?” She had heard this one before, I guess. She told me it was made of paper, little pieces of white confetti. About 50 pounds of confetti a night, as it turns out.
I asked if it were slippery and she looked at me as if I were, well, nine years old. “It’s not real snow, you know,” she said, rather slowly. “Like I said, it’s paper.”
So, I said, it wasn’t hard to dance on. She shook her head. No, slippery wasn’t the problem. “It’s more that it gets…everywhere.” She laughed. “It gets in your eyes. It gets in your nose. When you get home you have to comb it out of your hair. When you take a shower you have to scrape it off the drain. It can really drive you crazy. You never escape it.”
She leaned in, as if she was about to make a secret confession. “Sometimes, even in April, or May, or even June, I’ll be going through one of my sock drawers and I’ll find one of those…little…pieces…of…paper. When that happens, I almost want to scream.”
I’ve often complained how no one appreciates what designers do, how hard they work to achieve effects that the world takes for granted, if they even notice at all. Yet I realized then, and remember now — every time I see The Nutcracker — how happy I am to have someone else work the magic for me every once in a while. I still enjoy the snowstorm. But I wish I were nine years old again.
This essay was originally published on Christmas Eve, 2004.
“We can update your car, remotely.” Basically.
published 28 MARCH 2014
Elon Musk, responding to reports about Model S collisions and car fires:
The odds of fire in a Model S, at roughly 1 in 8,000 vehicles, are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car and, when a fire does occur, the actual combustion potential is comparatively small. However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds, substantially reducing the odds of a severe underbody impact.
Wait, did you catch that? An over-the-air update that alters the vehicle’s suspension system?
I find this fascinating. Nearly all other cars on the road, even 2014 models, are incapable of remote software updates, partly for territorial reasons:
Unlike Tesla, most automakers depend on independent dealers to sell their cars, and dealers have good reason to oppose automatic updates that would take them out of the loop.
In my estimation, over-the-air updates are an inevitable part of our future, and consumer choice will eventually trump dealer opposition. It’s worth debating, however, whether or not it’s healthy for a software developer to remotely update your $70,000 car the same as it would your $300 phone, which is precisely what’s happening in this Hacker News thread (among other debates).
P.S. Equally fascinating to me is Elon’s choice to use Medium to share this kind of news with the world.
BLOG – ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES OCAD University Contemporary Design Theories and Practices VISD 2B38, Summer, 2014 For this assignment, you are asked to create a blog where you contribute weekly entries based on issues and topics in contemporary design theory and practice. Your entries can be based on the weekly topics for the course, however you may also introduce design issues that arise outside of course discussions. Please aim to avoid focusing on material from the same source each week; in other words, use different media and sources (newspapers, journals, magazines, etc.). Provide your blog with an interesting title, in addition to a compelling design. Take risks, be creative! Create a fascinating read! Although critical writing drives your blog, it would be advantageous to include embedded images and videos. Note that there are many free blog applications online, so feel free to employ one that suits you best (WordPress, Blog.com, Tumblr). You will receive a grade for your blog ahead of the final exam. Please e-mail msmith@faculty.ocadu.ca with you blog URL and title of your blog on July 7th, by 5:00pm. Doing so will count towards your participation grade. On the due date of the blog assignment, August 11th, please ensure that you have provided your Professor with your blog URL and title.
Please Note Your blog will be checked randomly throughout the course, and you must write at least one blog entry each week must have an absolute minimum of 6 total blog entries. Your blog will be graded based on your engagement with course content, themes, ideas, and theories. Your blog should demonstrate an understanding of course concepts and an ability to use course concepts to write about and discuss material in contemporary design.
Blog entries should be approx. 150-250 words each. You are more than welcomed to include links, images, videos, and any other relevant web content that relates to your entry. Proper spelling and grammar is very important. You are asked to write a draft of your blog entry and take the time to make revisions prior to final posting. You must also ensure that you accurately and properly cite your sources, including web links.
This assignment is intended to accomplish two objectives… 1) To encourage students to think critically about their everyday engagements with the contemporary design using tools, theories, and concepts studied in the course; and, 2) To give students the opportunity to express their thoughts, ideas, and criticisms of design by using new media tools. Helpful Links & Sources Canvas main “Files” page for Chicago Manual Style citation guide. Writing design: words and objects /edited by Grace Lees-Maffei.London ; New York : Berg Publishers, 2012. English ed. Policy on Late Assignments Please contact me in advance if you expect to hand in a late assignment. Except in the case of documented illness or extenuating circumstances, late papers will be deducted 5% per day. It is the student’s responsibility to hand-deliver a hard copy of late assignments to me. Electronic submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances. Late assignments handed in after August 13th at 5:00pm will not be graded, and will receive an automatic fail.
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