My Buzz
Here is a comprehensive list of the things I’ve been particularly excited about, both recently and since forever. This isn’t what I’d like to talk about, or what I ought to talk about. This is what I actively talk about and recommend to friends and colleagues. I’ll add items as I catch myself telling friends about them.
Inspiration
The Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Website
Not only is this site exquisite, almost every page can stand on its own as a unique expression and/or concept. It won an Adobe site-of-the-day award in December 2006. I found it yesterday (7/12/07) while researching auto sites, and fired off links to everyone I could think of.
Environment
Corn Plastic
Sure, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the entire life cycle of this material, but imagine petroleum-free food packaging, water bottles, toys, and more! My next bit of research on this intriguing material will be to learn the specifics of its manufacture. Petroleum-based plastics undergo a ridiculous amount of processing before they become usable. How does corn plastic compare?
Children and Family
Book: Miss Rumphius
I bought this book long before I became a parent, because I have always collected picture books, and because the story continues to resonate freedom and hope in the simple, human things we do. It’s a story about a little girl who grew up at the turn of the century. She traveled the world, came home to live by the sea, and, at her grandfather’s suggestion, after great deliberation, found the thing that she would do to make the world more beautiful.
Book: Mole Music
Interestingly, this book contains a very similar message… but says it in a very different way. A little mole spends his days digging. One evening, he sends away for a violin. His evenings, and those of the neighbors he will never meet, are changed forever.
Social and New Media
Pandora
Start with a favorite band or composer, and Pandora builds their attributes to create your very own online “radio station”, with suggested music. If they miss, click the “thumbs down” icon, and the song fades away. If you like it, click “thumbs up”, and Pandora adds it to the criteria for suggesting more music. You can create multiple stations for your different moods, and there is social network function, for building a profile, blogging and connecting with other users (I’ve never used it).
