Category Archives: thoughts

var t; Learning about art, using JavaScript. by Jenn Schiffer

var t; an inspiring coding project

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I wanted to write a quick post about a really amazing project that I stumbled onto a while back and has been getting progressively better with every post. Created by Jenn Schiffer, she describes var t; as:

a writing, art, and code project that I started to teach me and you about art, as well as to create interactive works that may motivate art lovers to program their own stuff.

Since September 2014, Jenn has tackled the art of Mondrian, Magritte, Matisse and Cassatt. With every entry, she describes her approach – why she has chosen each artist and what they mean to her as an artist and programmer. Then she shows the process of creating a really cool tool inspired by that artist.

The most recent post features the work of Mary Cassatt, an incredible artist of whom I was not previously aware, and I urge you to check out the post by clicking here. I totally dig her style, and I love reading her take on artists as they relate to her life. I’m already looking forward to the next instalment!

Fun in the sun at Golden Plains Festival, 2011

Nostalgia, nɒˈstaldʒə, noun

thoughts,
A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past

There’s something about being home sick that brings upon me a profound sense of nostalgia. I lie on the couch, listless, thinking about all the wonderful things that have happened or that I have loved and miss. I’ve always been a bit sentimental.

I’ve had la grippe for around two weeks now, hopefully I’m finally starting to improve and can go back to work tomorrow with a fresh sense of healthiness and vigour.

In the meantime, I’ve been dwelling on the things I miss back home in Australia and even the things I miss back in Germany. I was even starting to think about the things I would miss here whenever we do leave.

'Boot Salute' at Golden Plains Festival, 2012
‘Boot Salute’ at Golden Plains Festival, 2012

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Arc de Triomf

Post-IronHack Planning

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It’s been just over a week since I left Barcelona and the Ironhack course. It was a truly incredible experience in a broader sense than I expected.

The final two weeks were spent working on a personal project developed using the technologies that we learned during the course. I had a great mentor (@mediafinger) and worked on a little project called Townbikes – an AirBnB-style site for specialty bikes. Check out the github repo or Heroku app.  It was super-fun to work on something for ourselves: planning, creating, iterating and testing but it was also kind of strange to work by ourselves so much after spending so much time working in pairs or teams.

On the final Friday morning, we presented our projects to the rest of the class and a panel of judges. we spoke about the technologies we chose to use, how we implemented them and what worked or didn’t work for us. You can see the slides of my presentation here. After presenting to the class, I thought it was all over, but then the jury selected five projects to present later in the afternoon to an audience at the Hackshow. My project was selected… Continue reading Post-IronHack Planning →

German Spring

thoughts,

It’s been a bit of a strange weekend.

On Saturday, we had beautiful spring sunshine so we headed over to the Volksgarten for a grill session with a couple of friends. On the way, we stopped at the local “Australia Shop” because we needed Vegemite (don’t judge!) and figured we could grab some beer from home while we were there (Kölsch is ok, but it’s nice to be able to have a little variety sometimes!). We bought a sixpack of Coopers Red and not only was it totally worth it, it was possibly even cheaper than at home!

A little taste of home

We set up on the north shore of the small lake away from the larger crowds. While trying to find a nice spot, Tom made the comment that the crowded area was a little too “Apocalypse Now” which was actually pretty apt with all the grill smoke. We did find a quiet place eventually, though, and made the most of the sunshine with a little frisbee and chatting.

Grillzeit

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