I've always been a big fan of starting with paper.

Although it's hard to tell what the content is, it gives you a good sense of timing of a user interacting with a site. Amit Pitaru demonstrated and assigned paper prototyping when we had to design clocks for people with low-vision or blindness. This was mine my design.

This site shows sketches of very popular sites like Twitter.

I just received this as a gift, and am planning to buy more. Aside from designing chairs, one of my favorite designs is an animation titled The Power of Tens.

Love these:

Need I say more?

Does it have to be on every excerpt? Actually, you can avoid this if you subscribe to feeds not related to technology.

I visited this exhibition today despite the controversy and ethical concerns of the bodies used. The admissions is quite hefty, but it was worth every penny. The most amazing part of the exhibition is the pulmonary room (i.e. arteries/veins). The technique of stripping and injecting the arteries and veins with silicon and preserving them in place with formaldehyde and water is pretty amazing. I was fascinated with the lungs because although they appear symmetrically similar in tissue, they are not. The right lung has more arteries or red vessels than the left one.

Lots of interesting facts that stuck with me...

-there are 16 muscles in the tongue
-babies have 300 bones while adults have 206
-the heart can squirt blood at least 30 feet
-there are about 60k miles of blood vessels
-the body shrinks because the bones dehydrate over years
-the kidney can filter 2 liters of blood in a minute
-one pack of cigarettes takes approximately 3 hours of your life
-eating breakfast helps memory

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My goal will be to eliminate soda out of my life and drink water. On the topic of health, New York Magazine, has a great segment on breakfast, and the page layout for cereal has a cool design. I checked the rating for a couple of cereals, and they were right on target (i.e. Whole Foods strawberry rice crispies looks tasty, but is awful--in my mind I thought it would taste like strawberry crunchberries from the Captain Crunch series without the corn puffs, but it doesn't). Love the information visualization and cultural study on what people eat for breakfast. One lady ate organic eggs with Budlight beer. Amazing!

I was fortunate enough to find this indie theater through NYU Ticket Central. I watched Reasons To Be Pretty by Neil LaBute. I've been following his works via film and theater for approximately one decade now (In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, The Shape of Things). Most of his works are a little dark, but his new play that just came out actually has a sliver of a silver lining, which is a "coming of age" tale. Love his note in the program, which he expresses that he wishes he was a "braver person," and continues to sympathize and admire the protagonist, Greg. I was impressed with the cast (i.e. Piper Perabo, Thomas Sadoski, Alison Pill, Pablo Schreiber). Subscription prices are reasonable, click here for more information.

MCC Theater at
The Lucille Lortel Theatre
121 Christopher St
New York, NY 10014

Schedule:

Fifty Words
By Michael Weller
Sept 10-Oct 25, 2008

The Break of Noon
by Neil LaBute
Jan 14-Feb 28, 2009

Coraline
Based on the Novel by Neil Gaiman
May 6-June 20, 2009

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Other recommended theater picks from my friends include: Xanadu (within 2 weeks) and 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock).

I just recently bought this watch because when I was in 5th grade I remembered I wanted one, but instead got the Mickey Mouse watch (Mickey Mouse's head ticks in sync with the seconds). When I asked my mom for the calculator watch (then it was a black version), she told me to save my allowance, which was at the time $2.00 a week). So I saved and saved, but by the time I saved for 5 months, I wanted and ended up purchasing the Fuji Disc camera (which took about a year and three months to save for).

Anyway, I recently found a redux version of this watch. It seems they added a couple of modes the version in the late 80's (it saves telephone numbers too). So far I've used the calculator mode 3 or 4 times, which is easier than pulling your phone out of your purse, and fiddling with the menu. I wish this watch had a digital-compass function (if digital compasses exist), which I found pretty helpful when I visited Paris (awhile back-- and also most people traveling do not use their mobile phones, which have GPS). I saw a modular compass piece at MoMA, through their Destination Japan promotion, but it looked too bulky, and only seem to fit a certain watch band.

I thought this manual was funny because its thickness makes it look super-geeky, but only an eighth of it showed how to use the watch in English. The other 7/8ths were in other languages.

For jazz lovers, check out Birdland this month. Last night, Saxophone Summit [Ravi Coltrane/Dave Liebman/Joe Lavano/all sax players, Cecil McBee/bass, Phil Markowitz/piano, and Billy Hart/drums] played some songs from their new album Seraphic Light and some work from the late John Coltrane. As a novice to jazz music, I recommend seeing live performances, especially with more of the experimental genre.

Tickets are $40 for orchestra seats and there is a $10 minimum purchase for drinks/dinner. I was impressed with the food too (had the scallops plate and stuffed pepper with mushroom risotto).

Loved it!!!

Anyway, it was crazy here in New York opening weekend for the movie Sex And The City. I was buying several tickets for a group viewing for Saturday night on Friday night, and when I called each theater for a 7:30-8:30pm showing, every show was sold out in almost every theater in New York City. Finally, I found a theater with tickets for 5:30pm, and when I stood in this long line, it seemed like everyone was buying tickets for the next day as well, since every show was closed, even the midnight ones.

It seemed like every girl was decked out in designer labels and stilettos. I have to say it was definitely an event. Lots of product placement in the movie. I am curious as to what the sales numbers are. Could it be the equivalent to Grand Theft Auto for girls? I hope so because women do have purchasing power.

p.s.
There was one discrepancy (with the hair) that made it look like the script supervisor made a tiny faux pas, but whatever, I'm probably watching it again anyway. :)

Unlimited World Plan, which is only $9.95 a month. If you sign up before June 1, they knock off 20 or 30 percent, so it's really like $5 or $6 a month. You get a Skype Out number, which is local, and you can call it from your cell or land line. You can also save 6 numbers in speed dial mode or press 2 for the other option to call even long distance in the US. I just set one up for my mom, who frequently calls Korea and Canada, and she was pretty surprised at how good the reception was, which is another plus when you call from your land line versus the mobile phone.