Des Temps

Author: MHB

  • The Heidelberg Project

    Noah

    I am in Detroit.

    I think I have a crush on Detroit.

    Last night, I realized that I always fall for cities in a state of remix and change. Witnessed this in the economic rise of Mumbai, the empty spaces of Berlin, the shifting socio- cultural politics of CapeTown/Joburg. My previous life of urban planning has stuck with.

    Intro

    Detroit has become quite the media darling, rather than me add my two cents, I suggest you read this very smart essay from New Geography, and some snark from Viceland.

    dosbirditos

    In the meantime, here are some pics from Tyree Guyton’s mind boggling Heidelberg Project.

    candylandy

    The color and the scale reminds me of Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden, built in empty Tuscany. Both pieces are simultaneously audacious and humble; both artists are defined by these singular works.

    dosbirditos

    Both pieces are so emotionally open that walking within them is overwhelming. You see, but moreso, you feel.

    homeric

    I know I’ll be going back to Heidelberg tomorrow.

    tickled

  • Help Wanted: Game Developer

    casual game

    We need a freelance video game developer to help Desedo make the Cutest Casual Game Ever. Email your resume and portfolio to michael@desedo.com.

  • Cross Media Business Models

    Kirill2
    At the Power to the Pixel conference last week in London, Ben Grass of Pure Grass Films gave a brilliant talk that addressed this topic:

    Extending stories across multiple platforms not only helps build an engaged fan base but also extends the potential of new revenue generating possibilities. As traditional financing dries up, how can producers leverage new types of cross-media partners to expand the value of their properties?

    Leading cross-media producer and digital innovator Ben Grass explains how, with current case studies of brand new projects Shadowline and Circle of 8.

  • Pixel Pitch

    here comes HOTC!
    OMFG! We just got selected by Power to the Pixel to pitch our transmedia series Heart of the City at their conference in October. London bound, we be!

  • Asian Efficiency

    Digitizing Race

    One of the best books I’ve read in ’09 is Digitizing Race by Lisa Nakamura. In her essay The Social Optics of Race, she writes that

    the racio-visual logic of…science fiction films that depict interface use set up distinct roles for particular races, and distinct ways of conceptualizing the racialized body as informational property… [and that] Asians and Asian-Americans function as the material base for technologies of digitized vision….

    I was reminded of it when seeing this Palm Pre commercial from Modernista! in which masses of Asian bodies signify supreme technology. While I doubt that this was overtly outlined as such, I do think it is a product of Western subconscious.

    1ywUwca8tSY
    HT:Sociological Images for the clip and Erin Lamberty for noting it.

  • The Casual Dining Club

    Applebees + Times Square =I’ve been wondering about the differences between the wildly successful casual dining restaurants.

    Houlihan’s vs. Applebee’s vs. TGIFriday’s.

    And so we’ve started a supperclub to find out.

    The Casual Dining Club will eat its first meal this Thurday, 7pm at Applebee’s in Times Square.

    You should join us – email or tweet @michaelhb to RSVP.

  • Cookies

    Cookies!Idea?
    On the Desedo contact page, we suggest that if one wants to reach us, s/he could send cookies. And every so often this indeed happens. Last week the best. batch. ever. arrived from Elizabeth Suda, founder of Greensacs.

    Origins
    She and I had met last year at an All Day Buffet event, exchanged business cards, and never got in touch. She is recently back from Laos and reached out to us with these wonderful drawings + cookies, which we devoured before there was time to take a pic. Rest assured that they were as beautiful as they were delicious.
    ChipsNuts