Tired of parking tickets? Dreading that half hour drive around the neighborhood for a spot only good ’til morning?
Let me introduce BKPK. Free parking in Brooklyn. I am proposing a parking-space swapping community.
How will this work?
There are a few systems we plan to enact.
1. Public Message Board – Users opt in to receive updates via Twitter or SMS for parking spaces in their zip code.
2. Karma System – This is an iteration of the message board with a points system. Points awarded if user posts free space [1 pt] or when he takes a posted space [2 pt]. When another user takes a space that someone has posted, the original user gains more credits [4 pt].
3. Free Space Map App – I’m very excited about this feature. This would map out all of the possible spaces in the neighborhood based on the local “No Parking” regulations. The user will be able to select whether he wants to view – order of newly expired no parking zones OR future expired no parking zones (ie – in 30 minutes). Another function will color code the spaces for how long they last (ie – this spot is good for 3 more days).
Background:
I’ve recently brought my car to Brooklyn, so as to give my folks room in their garage and because I’m too attached to the thing to sell it. Having lived in Brooklyn Heights for a couple years, I’ve had a few run-ins with the parking authorities. Let’s me put this in perspective. Hazards on, carrying equipment up to a third floor walk up – ticket. Moving a three piece couch into our apartment – ticket. Five minutes late to a street cleaning sign – ticket.
Granted, some of my friends do average a ticket per month in lower profile neighborhoods, but I assume that they forget to move the car once in a while (they don’t have the parking FEAR that exists in my area).
So why does our local parking community have such (a justified) fear of tickets?
Brooklyn Heights and surrounding area has an unnaturally high demand for parking spaces. This is for many reasons. There is a higher population density, as the buildings are taller as well as it being one subway stop from Manhattan (specifically the Financial District). The income level is also very high compared to surround neighborhoods, meaning more can afford the luxury of owning car despite the availability of mass transit.
Downtown Brooklyn is the site of many government buildings, court houses and prisons. This is probably why most of the side streets are metered north of my street. I estimate 30 percent of the eligible parking in my neighborhood is metered (usually one hour).
Back to the court houses. There is a noticeably high percentage of cars with parking permits displayed on the dashboard. I get the feeling that the local officials apply for permits for each of their vehicles which results in family and friends using the other cars and permits. Even if the proper driver is using the permit, is it fair if he is doing so when he is not working?
The content is intended for use at the Bronx Museum to complement Acconci Studio’s pieces in corean. This was a test to see how the projection lends itself to curved surfaces, since we had only seen it on our screens until now. Notice how the image seems to wrap around the model when it’s actually going off screen.
Upon experiencing new video content against the Acconci wall, it became obvious that the two dimensional patterns we projected onto a curved surface did not flatter the shape. The somewhat dense pattern visually flattened the architectural features (maybe if the weave had more negative space).
Our last visit to the Bronx Museum revealed an important constraint – projection edges. Rectangular edges of a light source on the wall proved the its greatest disservice.
Spandex
Overview:
Our first proposal is content that convinces the eye that the wall is not fully rigid. The wall itself maybe be solid but with visuals becomes elastic. It can now express emotions unlike the other pieces of the building. It can use gesture in the attempt to feed its lust for attention. Maybe it becomes dormant on a dreary day. Maybe it becomes violent when its environment becomes too noisy. Different areas of the wall could have specific behavior.
Inspiration:
Researching visual art for inspiration Angela showed me the work of a collective AntiVJ. They use a technique called “projector mapping” in which the artist projects onto a three dimensional surface. These artists use the projectors to throw shadows and highlights to give the impression that the physical surface is changing, moving, breaking, etc. The ‘mapping’ label is due to the masking of architectural features to virtual 3D space in the rendering software.
But how could this concept of using shadow and highlights be applied to the corean wall?
Taylor proved that natural samples (real footage) worked much better as source material than algorithms. The images that were successful were not too literal. What I mean to say is the subject cannot detract from the wall.
Production details:
We built a 2.5′ x 5.5′ frame from PVC and stretched a length of white spandex across. Angela sewed the material to itself, creating sleeves around the edges. Stark side lighting was used to throw shadow of desirable size and diffused fill light to regulate shadow contrast. Filmed with a DV camera.
Vertical content is something we also wanted to address. There is a great visual sensation watching imagery appear or disappear from the crevices of the architecture. I imagine anthropomorphic visuals shifting in and out of its spaces. Imagine: eels, tendrils, smoke, ink or oil.
Production details: India ink dropped into water. Filmed with a high-speed camera (hence the grainier quality).
Hair
Production details: Angela’s hair in water. Also filmed with high speed, at two speeds 210 fps & 420 fps.
Vito’s vision for content parallels the process of working with the corean. Stretching, deforming, pulling, tearing, perforating, and other forms of augmentation.
My first personal project this summer is designing an iPhone case that will eventually have a periscope on the back. This will enable the user to take pictures of oneself while viewing the on-screen image. The touch screen proves a difficult interface when trying to take reverse pictures. Once I finish the case, I’ll upload it to thingiverse, a website that offers 3d models by fellow designers to download for free.
Highline Park opens to the public tomorrow – June 9th!
The tracks now. Photo by Iwan Baan
The tracks abandoned. Photo by Joel Sternfeld
Check out this sweet 3D rendering of the plans for sections one and two. Note that only section one is opening this month. The second section is supposedly opening next year.
Friends of mine, the Greenpoint based comedy troupe, Serious Lunch, made a hilarious spoof on Conan’s new set. I’ve already seen this on facebook, so you might’ve already noticed it. Good job guys!
Fellow ITP students Sebastian Buys, Edward Gordon, Milena Selkirk, and Emily Ryan just finished this mini-documentary for their Video for New Media class. It rocks! Check it out:
Last week Winslow brought the high-speed camera he rented to the floor. There was a thirty-second film fest for which he, Elie & Michelle were filming ideas. Needless to say, I found time to help throw some grilled cheese at Elie’s face, have Carolina slap me in the face, and do the classic sloppy-cheek.
In Nature of Code, we learned how to regulate entropy and imitate the physical world. I seized this opportunity to realize the Miyagi Fly Catch that I begun during 4-in-4.
The game is played with real, untethered chopsticks. The tips are painted a neon color in order for your webcam to be able to differentiate the sticks from the other objects in the frame. Mr. Miyagi’s right arm follows your tracked chopsticks across the screen during your pursuit of the rendered housefly.
Here are some pictures from ITP’s Spring Show.
Calibrating the color tracking. Photo by Joseph Kelberman.
Man who catch fly accomplish anything. Photo by Syed.
Go Tommy Go! Photo by Joseph Kelberman.
The fellow project “A Fish This Big” also uses color tracking, enabling me to use my chopsticks with their project too. Their program uses the two blobs as scaling handles (no pun intended) to place the fish. This is picture is from the computer’s view.
Fellow ITPer, Cameron Cundiff, is tying the knot this Saturday but some family can’t make the ceremony. I spent some time with Shawn Van Every ironing out the kinks using flash-based LiveStream.com. Here’s the feed, if you happen to be around Saturday night.
Don’t worry Cam, I shut off the chat room. No trolls at this wedding (hopefully).
I’ve been working on a program (in Asterisk) that will call display phones in retail stores all at once (or whole tables at once). When a curious someone answers the phone, the patch will initiate another slew of phone calls to another local retailer. Once the two strangers are on the phone, the call is conferenced. These calls will be recorded and uploaded to a url.
Borrowing my classmates’ phones, here is some progress to call whole tables of phones. Thanks to Liangjie for help with editing Shawn Van Every’s PHP code.
During 4-in-4 I started a “Catch the Fly” game, inspired by the Karate Kid. Using the capture class, I have the webcam color tracking one chopstick. For the midterm project, I want to redesign the fly so it is more natural in appearance, but more importantly, movements & flight pattern.
There are so many interesting aspects of the fly, but the wing movement and texture is what I’ll start with. Ideally I’ll have separate states, so the fly can walk around when it’s not flying. Maybe a hover state for when it senses food. Another effect could modify sound on conveyed distance.
02.17.09 | Comments Off on Swerdloffing on Houston
For our second assignment observing the public, we were to determine the rules of our setting. Set at the Whole Foods Foodcourt on Houston street, John focused on recurrent behavior he saw among occupants. I focused on how the space influenced its occupants. Good work John.
Valentine’s Day 2009
The Whole Foods on Houston is very immersive in quality, unlike any other locations I’ve visited. The second floor has the quality of an exclusive indoor mall, much like Chelsea Market. With its surplus of floor-space there are home goods, as well as apparel, for sale at prices relatively native to the Lower East Side until recent years. The focus of the second level is the food court, consisting of multiple made-to-order stations, with respective seating for said stations, as well as a larger, general dining area.
John noticed the etiquette placard, distributed every few tables. Disguised as a menu card, the tri-fold laminate set standards for mitigating times of frenzy. The rules were specific and concise.
1. Eating customers have seating priority.
2. Limit of one chair per person.
3. No alcohol consumption.
4. No outside food or drink.
The brevity of the placard suggests that there are mutually understood standards for appropriate behavior. It is a reminder that you reside in a very limited iteration of public space. A complete listing of inappropriate behavior is unnecessary.
Each section of the upstairs “mall” had implications of proper behavior. These sections include a café, salad station (hands off), hot food station, and a sushi counter with novel conveyor belt. Both the entrée counter and sushi bar have seating intact. This is more obvious exclusion, in an already privileged setting. Patronizing these services incurs larger cost (all-you-can-eat sushi at $25 per person). The counters, set at eye level, become fixtures of curiosity and benchmark the Whole Foods caste system.
There is an inverse relationship between the cost of participation and designed length of stay. Each space has been constructed for specific use so that customers will identify their intended activity in accordance with the appropriate space. This directly relates to Goffman’s notion of projecting moral character. If I am to apply his rules of a stranger to each space of the food court, I suggest that the spaces’ interior designers have used a similar system to Goffman’s initial definitions. He states:
“…when an individual [space] projects a definition of the situation and thereby makes an implicit or explicit claim to be a [space] of a particular kind, he automatically exerts a moral demand upon the others, obliging theme to value and treat him in the manner that persons of his kind have aright to expect. He also implicitly forgoes all claims to be thing he does not appear to be…”
The spaces’ projection (character) dictates protocol. There is a noticeable difference in turnover rate, social variance and personal activity across the delineated areas. The café and the sushi bar proved the most differential in this respect. The café seating, among the most inclusive areas, has very vague social etiquette, as there are feet up on the tables. It serves as a haven for lingerers of all types: readers, web surfers, day-dreamers and all the like, at his or her own pace. The sushi bar saw mostly couples and occasional lone diners, none who used laptops or read outside material.
The sushi counter kept a swift turnover, as it is surely designed, with two chefs standing not ten feet from the customer. The high chairs that become less comfortable over time were surely intended as such. Upon our departure, the café might be the only section with occupants present during our arrival.
Another theme transpiring during our time at Whole Foods is the Skinner reference “Where to Look,” describing methods for keeping civil inattention when seating across the table from a stranger (138). The only outlets in the main dining area are located on the columns that separate the tables from the windows. The shortness of laptop power cables necessitates perfect strangers to disobey the unspoken rule of leaving at least one empty chair between oneself and another.
There are two obvious strangers, sitting directly across from each other, laptops back to back, at an otherwise empty, fifteen-foot table. There is an understanding that the window seats of the table are also the powered seats. Their actions showed general politeness, one can interpret as their mutual acknowledgement of each other. All while avoiding eye contact.
A red head in her late thirties, covers her mouth while she chews. Sifting through her biodegradable container for the next nugget of salad bar gold. The young man in his Ecko sweatshirt tends to a proper steep, dunking the bronze teabag with his plastic fork. I’m sure they’ve mastered the peripheral glance over laptop, but their LCD shields keep them from ever meeting eyes.
Our first assignment for Mechanisms was to crack an egg using no less than five methods of transduction. Karla, Jill & Hye-Jin and I put our playful minds together for some Gondry-esque fun.
My first idea was to modify an old pair of mono headphones I found in Arizona. Once dissected, I found induction coils where the speakers should be. The cable was braided, and the ends were silver
The food court on the upper level of Whole Foods is great people watching territory. There is always a variety of foreign and local, students and professionals, the boisterous and the introverted, and all usually agreeable. I seldom run into people, so my studies are uninterrupted. If I stood on the sidewalk, I’m sure it would be quite the opposite. The eating area is far less chaotic than the waiting line suggests, five abreast, coiling around through the aisles. It’s a great rendezvous, as there’s usually seating, and no moderation of outside food. The full-length, windowed view of the park draws those eating alone, and serves as a contemplative branch on which to perch.
Subject 1 – Green Hat
Female, early thirties.
She’s wearing a fashionable, somewhat odd green plaid hat, with an oversized button affixed, right of the crown. It has a proper name, and that she knows that proper name. She probably takes pride in educating people on it’s name, history, including the actress that first brought it in vogue. She reads an oversized magazine, about the size of the New York Times Magazine. She flicks the nails of her thumb and forefinger, seemingly disagreeing with the author’s stance on, whatever it may be, Rourke’s performance in his latest and whether his success is ironic or not.
She eats her bowl of salad and edamame rather quickly, although if she were in a rush, she wouldn’t be reading in the first place. This suggests and underlying compulsive nature. She is conscious of her eating habits. Her slender, pink fingers operate the plastic fork with great precision, while her eyes dart from margin to margin. The fingers, articulate in nature tell me she can sew and that her handwriting is somewhat delicate and restrained (i.e. -not bubbly).
Her dark brown eyebrows give her dye job away, although she seems the type to update her look constantly, as her clothing looks brand new. This includes the knee-high, red leather boots. Shoes are like cars in the way they describe the owner. Red wants attention. Knee high leather adds dominance. The combination make for an ego-centric personality, although the matte finish and short heal dilutes the intensity.
I cannot tell if she’s local or not. Her eyes and bone structure say Eastern European, but her nose, lips and chin are more Irish or English. Her style is more San Francisco than NYC, if she isn’t a tourist, I’d say she’s only been in town a few months, since her shoes are unscathed and her taste hasn’t augmented. She heads toward the exit, I realize her slenderness is such that her thighs don’t rub together when she walks. I wonder if this makes her stealthier.
Subject 2 – Blue Cap
Male, mid-sixties.
He wears a blue baseball cap with a logo I can’t decipher. He’s seems to be waiting for someone, though he’s two thirds finished with his food. He is also people watching. We meet eyes. His are pale, blue. They are dull spoons. Something about their gaze said that he was unimpressed with life, or at least his day. Unabashedly, he picks his teeth with his thick fingers. He looks back at me as he fishes through his molars so nonchalantly. His lack of shame suggests that he’s not married. I look down to answer my own question. Nope. No wedding band. His fingers are wide, rather square at the tips. Probably worked with his hands. They have the look of used sandpaper. He shakes his right leg when he’s deep in thought. It pauses when he’s purveying the scene.
His phone rings. It takes about three rings before he notices. Another two before he answers. The ring is set on the default Nokia ring. I’m sure he doesn’t know how to change it. I wonder if he can check his voicemail. I wonder if he still has an answering machine that records to tape.
Subject 3 & 4
Two Females, twenties.
I wasn’t paying much attention to them, as they’re sitting behind me and to my right. I only glanced over, as I settled at my two-person table. The dirty blonde faced my direction and wore a loose-fit orange Patagonia-like pullover. The brunette was in fitted clothing, showing off her tone physique. I instantly wrote them off as outdoorsy types, by the pullover. As they went to empty their trays, noticed the spoken Russian. I guess there was a noticeable shift in my attention because the blonde caught my nosing in immediately. As they walked back to grab their jackets their personalities diverged. The blonde was cautious and protective, almost analyzing my intentions. The brunette, who was used to attention, displayed a cocky-stride that was only interrupted in my turning down to my notes.
Subject 5
Female, late thirties – early forties.
Another lady sits down at the table beside mine. With her, she has a small container of soup, I think it’s the corn chowder. She drinks her Nantucket Nectar with a straw. Each time she takes a sip, she has to retrieve the straw from inside the bottle. Seems cumbersome to me. If she’s a germaphobe, it’s rather contradictory that she’s using her dirty finger fetch the mouthpiece. She is also unwed. She’s somewhat tomboyish. The way she rocks her head back and forth as an affirmation. She probably has older brothers or a dominant father. Her hair is styled in the “bob,” but it’s not flattering her face. Neither are her frameless glasses on her long nose. She’s giving off the science teacher vibe. Very schoolboy-ish in all of her gestures. She loads two pieces of pink Orbits and she demonstrates the phrase “chewing like a cow” flawlessly. Her bottom jaw skews to the right as it opens, allowing percussive sounds to escape.
She reads from pamphlet in tiny, 6pt font, and horizontal orientation. Either she’s far-sighted and this is her answer, or it’s her environmentally conscious rationale at work here.
Subject 6
Female, late twenties.
My eyes are drawn to her because she operates at a completely different rhythm than that of the rest in the room. There is patience in her poise. She slowly climbs the staircase in her ¾ length jacket, its hood serving as a faux-fur-lining to her aura. Her disposition breathes tranquility, while she examines the room, as a new world presenting itself. It’s as if she’s taking in the room as a whole. Not separating its constituents, but surmising one single vision. As she glides over to the café, her short brown locks curl toward the heavens, more buoyant with each step. She reviews the barista’s chalkboard. Unconvinced of the selection, she swims past the biscotti case. She came to see the room, the café to fill the lack of purpose.
Subject 7 & 8
Female & Male, teenagers.
The girl is rather pudgy and has terrible posture. She has the look of a girl who grew up in a house of music. Total Aretha resemblance. You can also tell by the way she holds herself that she lacks discipline. Most likely this is due to very passive parental figures. Her frumpy clothing suggests a lack of self-esteem that’s common for the age. The style of her backpack also corroborates her being in high school.
The boy plays with his scarf in a funny way. If sexual orientation were poker, it would be one of his tells. He has very good posture, like that of a dancer. Although he isn’t as physically developed as the ballet kids, but maybe he’s less ambitious. There’s obedience in the posture that seems learned.
Subject 9
Female, eighteen to twenty
Her appeal is in her smiles. She travels with admirers. Her eyes bounce around the room as she speaks to her two friends, who sit, backs toward me. This could denote a short attention span, but I’m inclined to say she’s somewhat bored with the conversation, or her content is being retold.
(Hmm, I look around while conversing. I don’t know if I’m aurally centered or if I have to feel especially engaged).
Subjects 10-12
Male, Female, thirties.
Male, late fifties.
The two in their thirties seem like a performing duo. Almost as if they just walked out of the park. The woman looks like a Nubian gypsy. She rocks a sparkling ‘do-rag, while the man has a large, traffic-cone-orange beanie. He may have dreads inside the beanie, but I cannot tell. He seems like the business mind and she, the act, the large personality.
They converse with an older, man with a lax posture. He has short, grey curls atop his head, inspiration on his brow and a lofty laugh that one can hear well across the mess hall. He is reminiscent of a George Lucas, a definite math and sciences mind. You can tell he’s a regular since he’s on a friendly basis with the staff that hovers around. Or maybe he’s that friendly.
The gypsy is either a tranny or has a hormone imbalance. The build is too muscular and broad. I’m leaning toward the cross-gender area, since there is a level of intentional privacy kept. She holds her coat closed the entire time, and her head is down when her sunglasses are off.
My original idea was to record a time-elapse on the bus. I thought it make for a nice scene – the ebb and flow of urban life, viewed from the back seat of a New York City bus. Intervalometers cost about $200, but there is a cheap solution. Using a graphing calculator with a digital camera through the camera’s remote shutter jack (there’s an instructable), one can achieve comparable results. Unfortunately, I could not locate my TI-83, and the ’85 I borrowed used different syntax (missing the “send” function).
Ironically, the bus was rather empty. Probably because it was New Year’s Eve day. People scurried around, took care of last minute details before an endless night of city-wide debauchery were to commence. The subway was not calm like the buses. The locals seemed contemplative and tired – presumably due to an unspoken consensus of a most stressful holiday season. Not the tourists though; they smiled wide and laughed together in their foreign tongue or hometown accent, deciphering pocket guides against station placards.
I usually sit in the middle of the bus, by the rear doors, so as to leave the front seats for the elderly but still maintain a good view and ease of exit. I felt it most appropriate to sit in the back, to maintain view of both the bus occupants and the neighborhood. Maybe I was in a contemplative mood. Talking to the bus goers would have been better time invested. They were few, quiet as well. I’m pretty sure that public transport was a more socially engaged environment pre-Walkman era. Or maybe most of them wear their headphones at half volume also – melding overheard conversation with their chosen soundtrack to the anthropomorphic island. As the bus rumbled up Sixth Avenue, I took a swig of lukewarm latte, gazing upon the hustle and bustle of erratic shopping.
The bus route soon became a literal “memory lane.” The inactivity inside the bus drew my thoughts to the familiar streets of New York and my memories preserved within them. Instead of discourse on racial or class differences, I found that a New York City Tour of my most personal memories along the M5 Bus Route might make for a new discussion.
Houston & Broadway
Angelika Theatre – My parents used to bring me for art house, but my childhood bragging rights was seeing Ren & Stimpy’s “Fire Dogs” long before it was part of a televised series.
Houston & Laguardia
Silver Spurs – Where I picked up the brunch I shared with Eddie Kramer during a three day recording workshop. He’s responsible for most of the Hendrix and Zeppelin albums, but he has a way with the piano, wow. I have that picture on my old cell phone.
6th Ave & Bleeker
Red Square – This thimble of a park was location for my close friend Tara’s student film. It involved me and a robot with wanderlust.
6th Ave & 3rd
(No Longer) PSNY – Now replaced by adult novelty stores, PSNY was my favorite skate shop as a kid, and frankly my favorite place in the city for a few years.
6th Ave & 8th
Coconuts – my friend George and I decided to shoplift Christmas presents, starting at Urban Outfitters, but were soon caught due to RFID in the pocket. They took our polaroids and made him buy three copies of the CD.
This is also the intersection that my father recalls “was so happenin’ you had to walk in the street – Wednesday nights were the night over here.”
6th Ave & 10th
Jefferson Market Library – Another fatherly anecdote was attached to this library of how it used to be a women’s detention center.
6th Ave & 12
St. Vincent’s Hospital – Before I knew about quick result tests, I took my first HIV test at this hospital. I waited a week for the results, and I’ll never forget the commute felt like walking the green mile. It certainly scared me safe.
6th Ave & 14
Moscot Opticians – A warm memory of picking out my girlfriend’s frames with her. I liked the black and she liked the tortoise. She bought them both since the exchange rate was so good. Afterward Philip Seymour Hoffman made an appearance at the Starbucks across the street.
6th Ave & 18
Department Stores – Waiting for my freshman year roommates, some poor lady slipped and face-planted on the subway grate. They are bear-traps in the rain.
6th Ave & 21
Avalon – This church-turned-nightclub that used to be called “Limelight,” where DJ Keoki made a name. An acquaintance was part of that scene. He told me of after parties in the beautiful, white building across the street, apparently they owned a whole floor. I also heard since then that he was mauled by a dog and needed skin grafted to his face.
6th Ave & 27
Kung-Fu Supply – I had a date with a girl from Montclair. I just got off work, had about half an hour and no change of clothing. I bought the t-shirt at this shop and made it on time. Sitting on a balcony, we drank red wine with the setting sun, watching the city in transition from natural light to the twinkling of apartment lights flicking on. We kissed but never spoke again.
6th Ave & 29th
Art Directors Club – While passing by a design show, I tried to get in, but it was guest-list only. As I walk away, I hear someone call my name. My friend & colleague was tech directing the show. I ran into Tristan, who I’d met through craigslist, but this is where I first saw his Machine Drawings. There was also a giant sphere made of screens and correlating cameras on opposite sides the shape. This design show led me to ITP.
My memories continue up through the entire trip, the stories become less interesting passed 96th street, since the variety lacks. I also thought that ADC would be a nice place to change direction. In lieu of listing every pertinent memory, I’ve modified the M5 Bus Map to show the route and density of memories. I have also included data on where I’ve lived and studied, as well as some of the places I’ve freelanced.
Looking at the past through a bus window
I’ve also included a photograph of a new memory – when I reached the end of the line at the GW Bridge, it began to snow. I tried to decide on an interesting route to walk. Admiring the snow, I walked West, toward the arms of the bridge, and took the attached pictures to capture the solace I found in those moments.
Here’s the link. Thanks for all of the positive feedback everyone. I’ll write an update for the project in the next couple days, but finally there will be some sleep!
