scott adams gets his voice back

Every day I, along with countless other denizens of the corporate world, make a morning pit stop at dilbert.com to catch up on the office humor comic strip drawn and written by Scott Adams. Today I was surprised to learn that Scott Adams has spent the past year-and-a-half diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare condition where the region of the brain that controls speech shuts down, and you lose your voice permanently.

Since speech is processed in different areas of the brain depending on its context, some with spasmodic dysphonia have trouble only talking on the phone, while others with this condition are able to sing, but not talk. Adams has no problems speaking to large crowds, but offstage cannot muster anything louder than a whisper.

Doctors told Adams there was no cure for his condition, but on October 24th, he found a way to regain his speech. See his blog to find out how he did it.

Found via wired.

Color like no other

To announce the launch of its BRAVIA tv line, Sony put together some videos emphasizing their color "like no other" campaign with the help of 250,000 superballs and several tons of paint. The fact that both were created without the use of computer graphics make them all the more impressive. Click on the links below to see the ads.


BRAVIA Paint Ad


BRAVIA Superballs Ad

back of the yards "window shopping"

We took our first trip to the back of the yards, a southwest chicago neighborhood near the site of the former Union Stockyards, this past weekend. I'd seen a furniture warehouse sale flyer in an antique shop that seemed promising, and we actually had some spare time on Saturday so we thought, why not?

When we walked into the warehouse, we were immediately wowed by the vast collection of original mid-century modern furniture from well-known designers like eames, hans wegner, knoll, noguchi, and george nelson, and although we didn't end up buying anything, getting a chance to walk around the warehouse itself was well worth the drive.

Converso warehouse, where the sale was held, was previously used as a former repair shop for streetcar engines and its huge panels of sun-lit windows made us feel like we'd entered a cathedral, while a monstrous crane hanging from the center of the sky-high ceiling drew our eyes upwards whenever we weren't eyeing danish dining chairs or rolls of retro fabric prints.

Set up an appointment with lawrence converso to see his warehouse and old-school goods for yourself, or if you have the patience, wait until next October for his annual warehouse sale.

4800 S. Honore (Honore & 48th St.)
312.493.5633

trovata's graphic novel

Most online purveyors of clothing choose to exhibit their wares in a straightforward manner, men's pants on this page, women's hosiery on that one. Then there's companies like Trovata, a california-based clothing line, who choose to present their seasonal offerings online in the format of a murder mystery graphic novel.

Check it out, it's quite a treat.

kinetic singapore

Brilliant and fun flash site at kinetic singapore. Their use of sound really elevates the site experience so remember to turn on your speakers when you visit.

SMS rookie

A few weeks ago I decided to wade into the waters of text messaging, and sprung for a SMS package through my mobile service provider. This morning I discovered google's free SMS services and was amazed when I realized I could send a text message to google and get back a reply with:

The address or phone number of my favorite pizzeria
Driving directions to friend's place
Movie times for michel gondry's latest film
The local weather report for our camping trip this weekend
Da bears score on a busy Sunday afternoon
A digi-cam price conversion from Japanese yen to US dollars
The price of shaver online vs. at costco

Uh-mazing.

you cannot miss this

It's finally that time of the year! Chicago's annual turkish festival will be held in daley plaza september 13-16. I haven't missed it since my first year working downtown (3 summers ago), and the reason I keep coming back is the amazingly delicious turkish ice cream served by mado. I love the strange texture and consistency of mado's ice cream, cool and creamy to the tongue, while gummy and taffy-like in its properties. I'm smacking my lips as I type this entry.

You'll easily be able to identify which booth the ice cream's being sold, just look for the longest line in the plaza. I'll be heading down whenever I can this week during lunch, and again on saturday so sunny can get in her annual dosage. Make sure to swing by if you're working/shopping/playing in the loop anytime in the next four days.

upcoming show: david mead at schubas

It's been awhile since we walked through schuba's doors, but I'm hoping a trip this saturday to see David Mead will continue to cement our strong impressions of this venue. Every act we've see at Schuba's has failed to disappoint, and it's a great place to hear the little known talents in the Chicago music scene.

Mead's music would typically be filed away in the "pop" section of your local music store, but his songs are crafted quite sensibly and posses an eclectic quality about them. Some have compared his style to that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but his high vocals also remind me of Sting.

David Mead's website can be found here.

the queen of kings

If you ever tapped your toe to new wave grooves, dig shirley manson of garbage fame, and prefer to avoid the litter peppered across your radio dial, check out the demo tracks on myspace for the queen of kings. I can't remember how or when I first heard them, but this duet from Chicago knows how to drop danceable indie beats like few others.

feeding the 30,000

On the banks of the Mamigasaki River at the Yamagata Imoni Festival in Japan, 100 chefs prepared potato soup in a monster pot (the 20 feet diameter variety) as part of a PR campaign to encourage local agricultural product consumption. I have enough trouble trying to coordinate a meal for 6 people, let alone 30,000 guests.

If you were wondering, the recipe for this super-sized soup goes as follows.

Ingredients:
3 tons of taro potatoes (satoimo)
1.2 tons of beef
3,500 blocks of konnyaku (yam paste)
3,500 leeks
50 bottles of sake
200 kilograms (440 pounds) of sugar
700 liters (185 gallons) of soy sauce
6 tons of water

Directions:
Boil and stir for 4 hours.
Scoop soup into smaller kettles using 2 backhoes to allow for easy serving.
Grab the biggest spoon you can find and enjoy.

[From the pink tentacle]