wo.rd. line. paragraph. column. from Sarah Calandro on Vimeo.
Click Here to Read More..July 24, 2009
wo.rd. line. paragraph. column. / the manuscript grid
Check out this weeks work on aftereffects. It was my first time to ever use the software and I'm quite impressed. I think it may become one of my new favorite programs :)
July 18, 2009
"Enjoy the little things...
for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
-Robert Brault.
From May 12 to June 27th, I found myself in a Timewarp. 47 days...............
of Timewarp.
After being in the big city. Doing everything myself. by myself. for myself. plus a lot more. figuring things out. living, loving, aching...... exhausting my inner being. i went home. I had the option of staying in Los Angeles until the end of June. I could have packed my car and headed straight to Pittsburgh. But, I had this burning desire to go home to mom and dad and sit in a bubble. a comfortable bubble. I pretended I had never left. and by 'never left', I mean, like college never happened. LA never happened. and maybe even senior year of highschool never happened. The ages between 18 and 25 ceased to exist. 17 was blurry. and 16 was maybe just catching on....
But in this time at home, there was a bit of a difference from when I was 16. Have you ever said to yourself, 'I wish I could go back 10 years knowing what I know now?' Life in Baton Rouge, at mom and dad's.... well, I got to go back... But I was enlightened.
When I was 16, I was a mess. A MESS! I was sooo rude. Self-absorbed to the max. Knew the world didn't revolve around me... But did everything in my power to try to get it to! I spent a lot of time worrying about who I was, how I was, and why I thought noone liked me. I cried a lot. I don't think I could have sat down when I was 16 and just thought, 'it's nice to be sitting down'. My mind was consumed with every thought from how I wanted to skip out on swimteam practice, to how I had to make an A on Sister Ursula's chem exam, to how I was going to convince this guy to like me who obviously would never like me in the first place [and yes, knowing that 10 years ago REALLY would have saved me some time]. But really, just a circle of self-centered, self-mutilating, estrogen-stricken, negative, exhausting thoughts consumed my being.
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
Amidst my vacation at mom and dad's, I began to notice this towel hanging in the powder room next to the kitchen. This little, simple, fabulous quote subconsciously began to hover in my mind throughout my vacation. Enjoy the little things... i.e., washing my hands in the powder room at mom and dad's house. After some time of seeing this towel every day, it would bring a little smirk to my face. I would think, 'Yes, I'm at home. I am at home and I'm drying my hands on this towel and my parents are here, and Mara is here, and I'm happy, and I love being alive.'
I know, this is one of the most well-known of the cheesy quotes of cheesi-ness. It definitely belongs hand-sewn on a towel accompanied by butterflies and flowers in a powder room... at mom and dad's. But it was so refreshing to read this quote that I have seen over and over throughout life, never thinking beyond, 'oh, how sweet...' and then, waking up one day, and realizing it had become a mantra in my head... and it was beginning to make me smile!
I am SO happy I am not 16 anymore. And I am so happy I am here.
So friends-
Enjoy the little things... whatever they may be.
Namaste-
S. Click Here to Read More..
-Robert Brault.
From May 12 to June 27th, I found myself in a Timewarp. 47 days...............
of Timewarp.
After being in the big city. Doing everything myself. by myself. for myself. plus a lot more. figuring things out. living, loving, aching...... exhausting my inner being. i went home. I had the option of staying in Los Angeles until the end of June. I could have packed my car and headed straight to Pittsburgh. But, I had this burning desire to go home to mom and dad and sit in a bubble. a comfortable bubble. I pretended I had never left. and by 'never left', I mean, like college never happened. LA never happened. and maybe even senior year of highschool never happened. The ages between 18 and 25 ceased to exist. 17 was blurry. and 16 was maybe just catching on....
But in this time at home, there was a bit of a difference from when I was 16. Have you ever said to yourself, 'I wish I could go back 10 years knowing what I know now?' Life in Baton Rouge, at mom and dad's.... well, I got to go back... But I was enlightened.
When I was 16, I was a mess. A MESS! I was sooo rude. Self-absorbed to the max. Knew the world didn't revolve around me... But did everything in my power to try to get it to! I spent a lot of time worrying about who I was, how I was, and why I thought noone liked me. I cried a lot. I don't think I could have sat down when I was 16 and just thought, 'it's nice to be sitting down'. My mind was consumed with every thought from how I wanted to skip out on swimteam practice, to how I had to make an A on Sister Ursula's chem exam, to how I was going to convince this guy to like me who obviously would never like me in the first place [and yes, knowing that 10 years ago REALLY would have saved me some time]. But really, just a circle of self-centered, self-mutilating, estrogen-stricken, negative, exhausting thoughts consumed my being.
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
Amidst my vacation at mom and dad's, I began to notice this towel hanging in the powder room next to the kitchen. This little, simple, fabulous quote subconsciously began to hover in my mind throughout my vacation. Enjoy the little things... i.e., washing my hands in the powder room at mom and dad's house. After some time of seeing this towel every day, it would bring a little smirk to my face. I would think, 'Yes, I'm at home. I am at home and I'm drying my hands on this towel and my parents are here, and Mara is here, and I'm happy, and I love being alive.'
I know, this is one of the most well-known of the cheesy quotes of cheesi-ness. It definitely belongs hand-sewn on a towel accompanied by butterflies and flowers in a powder room... at mom and dad's. But it was so refreshing to read this quote that I have seen over and over throughout life, never thinking beyond, 'oh, how sweet...' and then, waking up one day, and realizing it had become a mantra in my head... and it was beginning to make me smile!
I am SO happy I am not 16 anymore. And I am so happy I am here.
So friends-
Enjoy the little things... whatever they may be.
Namaste-
S. Click Here to Read More..
July 12, 2009
school update : hcd movie
1. design observation
2. physical interaction
3. cognitive interpretation
4. emotional resonance
it's a silly video; though, it will give an idea of how the summer intensive is going at CMU.
2. physical interaction
3. cognitive interpretation
4. emotional resonance
it's a silly video; though, it will give an idea of how the summer intensive is going at CMU.
human-centered design from Sarah Calandro on Vimeo.
Click Here to Read More..July 11, 2009
immersion in humancentered-ness = purge of excess.
the title of this post may seem a bit... um. hypocritical? my goal is that i'm not being hypocritical.
This past week in class, we began a discussion of human-centered design. This discussion will continue for the next 2 years with the intent of teaching my classmates and me how to design for users / viewers / regular people [aka, people who know nothing / a little / a lot about design]. This preliminary discussion was enlightening. Basically, I spent the entire week feeling like I am nothing more than a consumer buying into the ideas of the people that are designing for me.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I have trained myself over the past 10 years of my life to see the world from an objective position. Not objective in the sense of being un-biased, but moreso in the sense that I see the world as an object designed for my viewing pleasure / criticism. Everything that I see, I see as a composition making up a larger composition that exists. I have a strong passion for color, space, shape, dimension, rhythm, balance, etc. Part of this composition of the world [the one that I see], is simplicity... cleanliness... organization... intention. It frustrates me when I see excess... disorder... messiness... randomness. For those of you that know me personally, this explains a bit of my O.C. organizational behavior. I HATE unorganized, unintentional, disorder. Even when it comes to design. Unthoughtfulness kinda makes me crazy. So, I guess this week overwhelmed in the sense that I, along with most others in the world, have completely and totally immersed my life in this chaotic, unorganized, competitive design equation that exists on the screen of a computer. So simple, yet so complicated. I am completely addicted to doing things on a lit-up screen. And what is funny about this is that i absolutely LOVE to do things naturally, but the more I am at a computer, the more I need to be at a computer... You know what I mean? For example, right now I am journaling on a computer that is on the internet. I used to hand-write journal entries. And it used to be something that I loved. I would disconnect from everyone and everything and sit with myself. Now, here I am, on mozilla, publishing my thoughts to the world [and don't forget that I can see my email inbox right now as I write].
I am totally ridiculous. and my life is a damn computer.
I cannot [and at this point, will not] give up my computer. Though, if I were in the ideal situation, I would go 'into the wild' and meditate all day every day. But, I am not going to do that. Though, I would like to limit my usage and only use when I need to. My career mandates that I spend about 75% of my time working digitally. I am going to mandate myself that I actually only spend 75% [maximum] on my lit-up screen. The rest, I must do with my hands. And my free time? Well, that's another story.... I have to figure out how I am going to purge internet surfing, tweeting, gchatting, blogging, facebooking....... so far, no tweeting, gchatting, or facebooking until Friday. I NEED some real physical interaction with human beings... or atleast talking on the phone.
So, I will still continue my weekly blog. But, I just won't be advertising it on facebook... twitter... gchat...
I am now going to paint! Have a wonderful weekend.
Namaste-
Sarah.
Click Here to Read More..
This past week in class, we began a discussion of human-centered design. This discussion will continue for the next 2 years with the intent of teaching my classmates and me how to design for users / viewers / regular people [aka, people who know nothing / a little / a lot about design]. This preliminary discussion was enlightening. Basically, I spent the entire week feeling like I am nothing more than a consumer buying into the ideas of the people that are designing for me.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I have trained myself over the past 10 years of my life to see the world from an objective position. Not objective in the sense of being un-biased, but moreso in the sense that I see the world as an object designed for my viewing pleasure / criticism. Everything that I see, I see as a composition making up a larger composition that exists. I have a strong passion for color, space, shape, dimension, rhythm, balance, etc. Part of this composition of the world [the one that I see], is simplicity... cleanliness... organization... intention. It frustrates me when I see excess... disorder... messiness... randomness. For those of you that know me personally, this explains a bit of my O.C. organizational behavior. I HATE unorganized, unintentional, disorder. Even when it comes to design. Unthoughtfulness kinda makes me crazy. So, I guess this week overwhelmed in the sense that I, along with most others in the world, have completely and totally immersed my life in this chaotic, unorganized, competitive design equation that exists on the screen of a computer. So simple, yet so complicated. I am completely addicted to doing things on a lit-up screen. And what is funny about this is that i absolutely LOVE to do things naturally, but the more I am at a computer, the more I need to be at a computer... You know what I mean? For example, right now I am journaling on a computer that is on the internet. I used to hand-write journal entries. And it used to be something that I loved. I would disconnect from everyone and everything and sit with myself. Now, here I am, on mozilla, publishing my thoughts to the world [and don't forget that I can see my email inbox right now as I write].
I am totally ridiculous. and my life is a damn computer.
I cannot [and at this point, will not] give up my computer. Though, if I were in the ideal situation, I would go 'into the wild' and meditate all day every day. But, I am not going to do that. Though, I would like to limit my usage and only use when I need to. My career mandates that I spend about 75% of my time working digitally. I am going to mandate myself that I actually only spend 75% [maximum] on my lit-up screen. The rest, I must do with my hands. And my free time? Well, that's another story.... I have to figure out how I am going to purge internet surfing, tweeting, gchatting, blogging, facebooking....... so far, no tweeting, gchatting, or facebooking until Friday. I NEED some real physical interaction with human beings... or atleast talking on the phone.
So, I will still continue my weekly blog. But, I just won't be advertising it on facebook... twitter... gchat...
I am now going to paint! Have a wonderful weekend.
Namaste-
Sarah.
July 4, 2009
Word.
A transition in progress... quick progress. My life changes every day so quickly I've gotten to the point where I just sit back and watch, un-biased, merely an innocent bystander in the progress [or lack of progress] that occurs here. Six months ago, generally-speaking, I was the same as I am now [minus the few 'wisdoms' that currently sit at my forefront], but the terrain was very different. My life revolved around RIS3Nchurch, KAA Design Group, Tamal Yoga School, and the Marina of Marina del Rey. RIS3N was my spiritual advisor, KAA kept me in a productive routine [though, I won't go into my opinion of the 40-hour work week and its detriments on human life today...], and Tamal Yoga School and the Marina [or my 5 mile run route of the marina] kept me focused on my health and feeling happy. I have moved on from this lifestyle, though, peculiarly, that lifestyle still filters through. Now it has a heightened sense of awareness and lightness that it did not have before.
I have been reading the book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think I am her. The first 20 pages of the book describe a woman, a lifestyle, and a state of mind that I can relate to in so many ways. She is free-spirited, loopy in an 'i'm living in my own little dream-like world' kinda way, a yogi, and an emotional mess that gets tied up in emotional messes all over the place and still allows herself to be an emotional mess. She doesn't want to take medicine to get herself out of that emotional mess. Instead, she moves away, by herself, to Italy. There, she eats. and writes. and stays away from MEN [or any sort of personal/sexual/beyond chatting over coffee-type relationship]. Her last relationship was a complete disaster and left her scattered in pieces all over the state of Pennsylvania. Her relationship before that was an even bigger disaster, but with an emphasis on disgusted sour-ness towards the man rather than emotional chaos. So, what does she do? She leaves. and leaves to go as far away as possible. She first goes to Italy, then to India, and then to Indonesia. Last night, I finished her time in Italy. Towards the end of her stay in Italy, she is speaking with her Italian friend, Luca Spaghetti, about the 'word' of a town. What do the people who live in that town consistently think about? What is the focus? Luca Spaghetti says that in Rome, the word is SEX. He then goes on to say that Los Angeles is SUCCEED and New York is ACHIEVE.
I completely and wholeheartedly agree. Los Angeles is a place where there are seemingly millions of people all over the place doing all different sorts of random things and are trying to succeed at it because it is a place where anything and everything goes. Anything can be successful there if you can come up with the best marketing slogan and get a cult of followers to go along with you. Though I've never lived there, New York has seemingly less of an independent career culture. From what I know, people are climbing up a corporate ladder trying to make more money by impressing their super. In Los Angeles, everyone wants to do it big on their own and be recognized for it [even the yoga classroom is this way... crazy to think yoga could be pretentious].
So this morning, I was thinking about this idea of 'word-ing' a town. Los Angeles: SUCCEED [oftentimes, in a vain sort of way]. New York: ACHIEVE. New Orleans: DRINK. Baton Rouge: EAT. Washington, DC: BROWNNOSE [no offense...]. Rocky Mountains: OUTSIDE. Dallas: COPY. Destin, FL: SUNBURN. Halifax, Nova Scotia: INDIFFERENT. These are all based on my personal, subjective interactions with these places, but to some degree, contain validity. Soooo.... Pittsburgh. What do I think about Pittsburgh? What do I think people here think that are living in Pittsburgh? I have only been here for 2 weeks [minus 1 day]. I don't know much, but I do have an opinion based on the limited experiences that I have had. Before I moved, I had a negative idea about what Pittsburgh is like. I just thought DIRTY, RUSTY, CLOUDY, YINZ-YANKEE... STAGNANT, ANTI-CULTURE, WASTEFUL. Boy am I a debbie-downer! I was wrong. Really, really wrong. I vow never to have a pre-disposition of a place until I have spent some decent amount of time there. This morning, I came up with a new set of words for Pitts'burgh'ians: LEARN, ECLECTIC, UN-BIASED, CONCERNED, ACADEMIA, PRUDENT, COMFORT. I know there will be more in the days to come and the list will, at first, grow larger, and then, hopefully, will narrow down. I will eventually place a 'word' on the 'Burgh.
Now, in reflecting on my state of mind I realize why I felt sooooo heavy in Los Angeles. My word is definitely NOT succeed. Not at all. Of course, I want to succeed at what I do, but not in the sense that the majority of the Angeleno population does. I could care less if I'm noticed by the general population. Of course I like to be regarded for my talents... as most people do. But, the idea of having a LOT of people following me in some sort of way kind of disgusts me. It is sad that I got used to meeting people that were trying to rise up above the general population [amongst a million other people trying to rise up above the general population]. And then, the emphasis on fashion, looks, thin-ness really got to me. To be in a city where there are so many beautiful people having jobs in... being beautiful. And then being me, sitting in a desk all day in front of a computer trying to avoid sinking below all of this being beautiful-ness, perfect-ness, and skinny-ness and still trying to maintain a sense of self-worth. And then, the dating scene. WOW. Lots of superficial men. Whose expectations are hollywood. Not intellectuality. [fyi- don't date models. or actors. or model/actors... they are learned in fooling women!!!] I know, I am being a bit harsh. I love Los Angeles. And my friends there are some of the most incredible people I have ever met in life. So, Los Angeles isn't bad per say; it is heavy... I loved every second [or almost every second] of being there. But, one must be mentally ready to keep up with a lot of emotional turmoil [atleast from my experience].
Why do I feel lighter in Pittsburgh? Because all of this perfectionism has disappeared. I don't feel pressured at all to be, do, think, say, act in any specific way. I am me. I am able to be me and live my own lifestyle how I want to without the pressure of any external influence whatsoever. And, what's funny, is that I am living exactly the same as I did in Los Angeles. I just feel refreshed.
-Namaste
S.
Click Here to Read More..
I have been reading the book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think I am her. The first 20 pages of the book describe a woman, a lifestyle, and a state of mind that I can relate to in so many ways. She is free-spirited, loopy in an 'i'm living in my own little dream-like world' kinda way, a yogi, and an emotional mess that gets tied up in emotional messes all over the place and still allows herself to be an emotional mess. She doesn't want to take medicine to get herself out of that emotional mess. Instead, she moves away, by herself, to Italy. There, she eats. and writes. and stays away from MEN [or any sort of personal/sexual/beyond chatting over coffee-type relationship]. Her last relationship was a complete disaster and left her scattered in pieces all over the state of Pennsylvania. Her relationship before that was an even bigger disaster, but with an emphasis on disgusted sour-ness towards the man rather than emotional chaos. So, what does she do? She leaves. and leaves to go as far away as possible. She first goes to Italy, then to India, and then to Indonesia. Last night, I finished her time in Italy. Towards the end of her stay in Italy, she is speaking with her Italian friend, Luca Spaghetti, about the 'word' of a town. What do the people who live in that town consistently think about? What is the focus? Luca Spaghetti says that in Rome, the word is SEX. He then goes on to say that Los Angeles is SUCCEED and New York is ACHIEVE.
I completely and wholeheartedly agree. Los Angeles is a place where there are seemingly millions of people all over the place doing all different sorts of random things and are trying to succeed at it because it is a place where anything and everything goes. Anything can be successful there if you can come up with the best marketing slogan and get a cult of followers to go along with you. Though I've never lived there, New York has seemingly less of an independent career culture. From what I know, people are climbing up a corporate ladder trying to make more money by impressing their super. In Los Angeles, everyone wants to do it big on their own and be recognized for it [even the yoga classroom is this way... crazy to think yoga could be pretentious].
So this morning, I was thinking about this idea of 'word-ing' a town. Los Angeles: SUCCEED [oftentimes, in a vain sort of way]. New York: ACHIEVE. New Orleans: DRINK. Baton Rouge: EAT. Washington, DC: BROWNNOSE [no offense...]. Rocky Mountains: OUTSIDE. Dallas: COPY. Destin, FL: SUNBURN. Halifax, Nova Scotia: INDIFFERENT. These are all based on my personal, subjective interactions with these places, but to some degree, contain validity. Soooo.... Pittsburgh. What do I think about Pittsburgh? What do I think people here think that are living in Pittsburgh? I have only been here for 2 weeks [minus 1 day]. I don't know much, but I do have an opinion based on the limited experiences that I have had. Before I moved, I had a negative idea about what Pittsburgh is like. I just thought DIRTY, RUSTY, CLOUDY, YINZ-YANKEE... STAGNANT, ANTI-CULTURE, WASTEFUL. Boy am I a debbie-downer! I was wrong. Really, really wrong. I vow never to have a pre-disposition of a place until I have spent some decent amount of time there. This morning, I came up with a new set of words for Pitts'burgh'ians: LEARN, ECLECTIC, UN-BIASED, CONCERNED, ACADEMIA, PRUDENT, COMFORT. I know there will be more in the days to come and the list will, at first, grow larger, and then, hopefully, will narrow down. I will eventually place a 'word' on the 'Burgh.
Now, in reflecting on my state of mind I realize why I felt sooooo heavy in Los Angeles. My word is definitely NOT succeed. Not at all. Of course, I want to succeed at what I do, but not in the sense that the majority of the Angeleno population does. I could care less if I'm noticed by the general population. Of course I like to be regarded for my talents... as most people do. But, the idea of having a LOT of people following me in some sort of way kind of disgusts me. It is sad that I got used to meeting people that were trying to rise up above the general population [amongst a million other people trying to rise up above the general population]. And then, the emphasis on fashion, looks, thin-ness really got to me. To be in a city where there are so many beautiful people having jobs in... being beautiful. And then being me, sitting in a desk all day in front of a computer trying to avoid sinking below all of this being beautiful-ness, perfect-ness, and skinny-ness and still trying to maintain a sense of self-worth. And then, the dating scene. WOW. Lots of superficial men. Whose expectations are hollywood. Not intellectuality. [fyi- don't date models. or actors. or model/actors... they are learned in fooling women!!!] I know, I am being a bit harsh. I love Los Angeles. And my friends there are some of the most incredible people I have ever met in life. So, Los Angeles isn't bad per say; it is heavy... I loved every second [or almost every second] of being there. But, one must be mentally ready to keep up with a lot of emotional turmoil [atleast from my experience].
Why do I feel lighter in Pittsburgh? Because all of this perfectionism has disappeared. I don't feel pressured at all to be, do, think, say, act in any specific way. I am me. I am able to be me and live my own lifestyle how I want to without the pressure of any external influence whatsoever. And, what's funny, is that I am living exactly the same as I did in Los Angeles. I just feel refreshed.
-Namaste
S.
Click Here to Read More..
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