Prince George, British Columbia
The worldwide climbing community was shocked earlier this month to learn that acclaimed Canadian ice climber Guy Lacelle was swept to his death (while momentarily un-roped) during an ice climb in Hyalite Canyon (when a team climbing above him triggered a spindrift avalanche into the gully) in a competition at the Bozeman Ice Festival in Montana. Our collective hearts go out to Guy’s widow Marge, and to the many, many friends and climbing colleagues whose lives this master touched…
A 2008 Alpinist interview with Guy worth reading is here.
Twas the night before Christmas…
(Acoustic listening devices developed for the Dutch army as part of air defense systems research between World War l and World War ll… )
Toronto, Ontario
Tired of weeding through rows and rows of cards, looking for just the right one? Say goodbye to that! And say hello to Overly Generic Greeting Cards. They say just enough to apply to all situations. Nothing else says, “I care… but not quite enough to find the perfect card” like Overly Generic Greeting Cards.
We go to great lengths to be as overly generic as possible. But sometimes, it’s not quite enough. That’s why we’re giving you the chance to create your own Overly Generic Greeting Card. Go ahead, leave out the details. Be vague and non-committal about how you feel. This is truly the art of omission… (more here).
(A somewhat tongue-in-cheek “thanks” to Bob Roach for this link).
An insightful piece by Stephen Hansen…
Calgary, Alberta
My “X-mas present” just arrived by e-mail from friends Gregor & Janice… four more down-loadable clock screen-savers to choose from. (I’ve expressed my enthusiasm for clocks like this previously here, here, and here, so that made shopping easy, eh?) Thanks!
All this to-do about clocks and time does however bring to mind this cautionary old maxim: A person with a watch always knows what time it is; a person with two watches is never sure.
My older brother Jim always loved blue cars. I liked everything but…
New York, NY
It seems that the venerable I.D. Magazine is folding… after a run of 55 years. Pity, that…
Tainan, Taipei
Today was the last leg of our three-city 2009 Conference of International Design Competitions lecture tour—with a very enthusiastic audience of nearly 400. It’s been an interesting week, presenting alongside (my new friends) sensei Nakanishi Motoo (one of the great corporate identity masters of our time, responsible for creating and/or managing the image of over one hundred top-500 companies worldwide, among them Bridgestone, Kenwood, Mazda, Asics, Kirin beer, etc., etc.), and Hiroshi Tsunoda, a talented young Tokyo-born product designer with a burgeoning practice in Barcelona, Spain.
A bonus—end of day I had the chance to bend elbows back at the hotel with long-time Manitoba climbing/skiing buddy Richard Tilley (who moved to southern Taiwan nearly a decade ago, and now spends his time scuba-diving along the southern coastline).
A big thanks to event organizer Apex Lin, Pang Soon, the dear design colleagues and professors who showed up for the tri-city events and celebratory dinners, to our excellent(!) professional translator Tracy Wang, and to our lovely, long-suffering, and insightful personal interpreters (you rock, Tree!).
Taiching, Taiwan
I’ve just spent a delightful and inspiring two days in Taiching (aka Taichung). After arriving by bullet train from Taipei yesterday, our delegation gathered at Asia University to deliver a series of lectures—nice bonus, a chance to peruse the University founder’s private collection of bronze sculptures (including one of 25 Thinkers by Rodin). Japanese architect Tadao Ando has just designed an impressive bespoke museum that will house this collection in years to come.
Today’s highlight was a guided visit to the beautiful Taiwanese National Museum of Fine Arts, where the 2009 Asian Art Biennial | Viewpoints & Viewing Points was on exhibit (see photos above). After a sumptuous lunch at the Xin Yue Wu Tung (Shanghainese) restaurant it was off again by bullet train to Tainan…
Big thanks and a virtual hug to my personal interpreter this week, Tree (in striped dress—a Taiwanese fashion design student who has just returned from three years of study in Paris).
