Lamp Life

I recently graduated from graduate school in Valencia, California, north of Los Angeles. There is a Fedex Kinko’s location in Stevenson Ranch that I go to for anything I can’t print myself. As a designer I regularly print things oversize and they have a great oversized laser printer. Usually I walk in, I hand them a flash drive and in 10 minutes I’m out the door with everything.

So recently I went to a portfolio review in New York. Instead of carrying all of the large prints i needed rolled up I decided that there were plenty of Fedex Kinko’s there I’d pop in and get them done there. I also needed large printed photos and found a service called PE Photo which would print them and deliver them to any number of NYC locations.

The week before I left I ordered the photos. I ordered them to be sent to Pro Image Photo on Amsterdam at 73rd. It was a shop I knew and was close to a 24hr Fedex Kinko’s that I had used before. I called the shop to determine their hours and called PE Photo to verify my order and all seemed right. The day before I left though I called the shop to see if my order had been delivered. They told me that they were no longer affiliated with PE Photo. I called PE Photo and a surly woman barked at be that they had been delivered to a place called A&B discount down the street. The driver for PE Photo just decided to drop them at the nearest other location. I tried to call A&B discount and they never picked up. The only thing i could find on line was about it being a good place to get cigarettes. Having lived nearby by I worried, because (A) I had never heard of the place, (B) I couldn’t get in touch with them, (C) it wasn’t a photo place.

I arrived in New York late on Saturday, whcih was fine except I got stuck in a smoking room after requesting a non-smoking room . But, that wasn’t that bad. I left early on sunday to go to the shop to pick up my photos and get my prints made at Fedex Kinko’s. I got to A&B discount and they had no idea where my photos were. I asked them to check again, nothing. I figured since I had to come back I’d take care of my printing latter as well.

My epic printing journey began.

I helped some friends get something together that day. My hands were tied. I had dinner with a friend of mine after a show and got a call that the people I was traveling with were going to head to Fedex Kinko’s at 72nd and amsterdam to do some last minute printing. So at 11pm on a Sunday night I went to the 24hr Fedex Kinko’s at 72nd and amsterdam. I asked them to print my files (17 pages 36″x48″) and they told me because of this mountain of books Architecture Students at Columbia had ordered in the last hour it wouldn’t be ready until noon. Since I was supposed to start putting up my presentation at 10 I ask for the next closest location. A friend of mine and I then walked down to the location in Columbus Circle.

When we got there is was vacant. So I went to the counter and asked them to print. No problem. 2 sheets in and the printer ran out of paper. They appologized and said that they didn’t know when they’d have more paper. We offered to bring a roll down from 72nd st, but we weren’t allowed and they didn’t, but did call to find out the 72nd st location could do it for noon. They then called a few other locations and told us that the location at 56th and Lexington could do it for us. So we walked over there.

We got there and it was vacant. I went to the counter asked for the files to be printed and Mike, the guy there, put the flash drive into a commuter and walked away. Walked away for about 10 minutes. The other guy working the late shift left to get them food. Mike was working on something. He asked me to come over to explain the files. He grouped them together into one file and set up an order in the computer (I don’t know why he didn’t just push print) which took maybe 30 minutes walking to do other things. He finally sent it and it spit out 2 pages and the machine stopped being able to spool paper. He reloaded the paper and left. It choked again. He asked about it and I said it wasn’t printing, and kept giving the same error. He reloaded the paper and told me that someone had told him earlier that the machine wasn’t working. Why he decided to remember this after the 59th (Columbus Circle) St. location had called to ask if he could do this job and trying to print for an hour+ I can’t tell you.

He did apologize though and called around. He called 59th st and was told they were out of paper (which is why they called him right?) And then called 52nd and Madison. He told us then that he would send them the files and they’d be ready by noon. I had until 6pm the next day to set up this presentation and it was now 3:30 so I knew I wasn’t going to worry about 10am anymore. I walked back to my hotel at 57th and 9th and went to knocked on my hotel door (since the key wasn’t working) and my wife let me in at 4am.

The next day I woke and called PE Photo (they weren’t open on sunday). They told me they delivered the photos to Pro Image Photo. I explained they weren’t affiliated, but they insisted. I called Pro Image and they said they weren’t affiliated AND checked to see just in case something had been delivered. Of course there hadn’t been. I called PE Photo. They told me they were delivered to Pro Image. I told them I just spoke to them, you aren’t affiliated with them, and they don’t have them. Where are the photos? I was put on hold. They said A&B Discount. I told them I went there yesterday and they didn’t have them. I was put on Hold. A different person came on and asked when I would liek to pick them up. I said by noon. They said they would be there. I, though suspicious, hung up.

I set up the 4 prints that had come out before the first machine had run out of paper and the second had broken. I told everyone I was offe to get the others. So my wife and I set off from 60th and 9th to 52nd and Madison. We got there at 12:30 and asked for the prints, saying that Mike at 56th and lexington had sent them over via email the night before. No one knew what I was talking about, and no one could find anything. I asked how long it would take for them to do it. They said they could have it ready by 4pm. I was in a panic by now and asked to have the order setup. I was turned over to a girl who has no business handling larger orders.

Let me explain. I normally keep one folder on the flash drive labeled PRINT. In here I have folders labeled with the sizes of the documents inside (11×17, 24×36 and so on). I do this so that the printer knows whats there without needing me to explain it much. Any printer should recognize these as standard sizes.

Our fine friend did not. In fact she didn’t even recognize them as folders. She gave us a qoute for four prints. I explained that there are documents within those folders. She asked how many. I told her I’m not sure exactly, but check the drive. This took 10 minutes of her trying to remember as she jumped from folder to folder. I told her, I’m sorry to make it more complicated by one of those files is 10 pages long. She went to talk to her manager, to whom she explained there are folders with files and some files are multiple pages, what should she do.

She took the drive and moved to another computer. To continue to set up the order. after 15 minutes she wasn’t done and my wife called the 72nd st location to see if they could do it. We still had to go up there to get the photos. They told her if got there right away, they could do it within the next 2 hours.

I canceled the order, requested my drive, we got in a cab, and went.

We arrived and went to the counter. We spoke to Stephen, who took the drive, popped it in their computer and took a look at the files. All seemed to be going well until he said:

“It will be ready at 8pm”

This was unacceptable. I asked why. He said because other orders were ahead of us. I asked why that prevented him from pushing print right now. He said because there were other orders that had to be done…
“But all you need to do is hit print and it will be done.”
“I can’t do that. ”
“Why?”
“We do things first come first served, and we have to do other jobs before this one.”
“We just spoke to solly on the phone who said it could be done right away.”
“I’m sorry there are other jobs, and it’s an issue of labor.”
“What Labor? You press print and send it to that idle printer over there (pointing to the printer)”
“But there are other orders.”
“So there are orders in front of us for the larger printer?”
“No.”
“So whats the issue? Can I pay to rush it.”
“Kinko’s doesn’t offer rush, it’s all first come first served.”

We related our epic journey to get this printer. He apologized by said his hands were tied. We stopped arguing. We could be done and watching the prints come off the printer, but that wasn’t going to happen. We asked him to set up the order and get a manager. He left to get a manager and came back to tell us he was on the phone. We told him we would wait, but still put the order in.

After 5 minutes or so the manager came. We explained the situation. My wife started to cry (yes, these weren’t necessary, but more useful then you could imagine) . The manager asked about the files. i explain that it was 10 files with 17 pages that could all be printed the same size at this point and i”ll cut them done, forget the expense. He asked me if I could put the files into a single 17 page file. I told him to show me a computer with Adobe Acrobat Professional. I took 3 minutes, brought him the file. He printed one sheet to test, but it came out scaled to fit. I asked to fiddle with the print preferences, I told it not to scale, sent it to print and off it went.

It took a good 30 minutes for everything to print, but it did and I cut it down.

We left to find my photos. Went across the street to A&B discount. It was lotto day so there was a bit of a crowd. I asked for the photos. They said they didn’t have them. I called PE Photo. They said they were delivered. I told them “I’m standing in front of the store, I just asked them, they said they don’t have them.” The rep at PE Photo said that they would call the store and call me back. I was outside so I heard the phone inside ring and within 10 minutes got a call back.

“They have them.” The rep told me.

Not really expecting it be true I went BACK inside, asked for the photos and my tube was plopped on the counter. I took them, the prints from Fedex Kinko’s and went back to 60th and 9th to set up the presentation at 3:30pm.

Since then I’ve had to give the same presentation in LA. Luckily I kept the photos so I didn’t have to deal with printing them again. But, I went to the FedexKinko’s in Stevenson Ranch this time. I walked up to the counter they took my drive, sent it to the printer, even neatly pulled it off the printer for me. I trimmed them and was out the door in 30 minutes.

As my friend Sydney says, in New York everything is available to you, just not easily accessible.

I have an iPhone. I have a MacBook. I have used Apple handware for the great majority of things since about 1994. I can use PCs, I used to have a second tower PC for database and AutoCAD. I don’t anymore because my MacBook runs XP at the same time as OS X. 

I do this because I am a sucker for a good GUI. Ease of use is high on my list of features. And I would say that this applies to most designers, but especially ones that used to be architects. User Interface is king when every other feature seems like it’s pretty equitable across the board. 

So, if my iPhone can get email wirelessly, tell me the date of time of any city, collect weather, connect me to facebook, make phone calls, be an iPod, do that flipping turning thing and costs $499 why can’t my $40,000 light board have an approachable, intuitive UI?

I’m not even asking for email or texting. The Grand MA has space invaders on it for some reason, but is one of the least intuitive combinations of hardware and software I’ve ever seen. As much as I begrudge him, MS Office has that paper clip guy that wants to be so very helpful. Who told the lighting board makers that a proper help file ON the board was unnecessary? They extoll that their running XP embedded, so this shouldn’t be hard.  

So what do we pay $40,000 for? 

DMX control? If I can daisy chain 127 USB devices off of a single hub, and my $100 usb scanner, $50 Printer, $15 optical mouse, digital camera, bluetooth receiver, Ipod cable and so on could all be working off my $2000 computer without an issue, why doesn’t it take 30 minutes to set up a moving light to properly pan and tilt? Not only that but the scanner tells me it’s warning up, the printer tells me the toner level, the ipod charges and syncs, the bluetooth mouse tells me the battery level. 

Maybe Infotrace is the Answer or the RDM protocol, or whatever. Folks, I expect a bluetooth transmitter in a $10,000 light that will allow me get a laptop near the device and run diagnostics. Or maybe wifi so it will email me when a lamp goes out, and it could format that email for SMS texting… I can dream

Maybe it’s the Touch Screens? A $300 GPS has a better touch screen AND connects to satellites floating through space to tell me where I am. My iPhone is sharper and brighter and more responsive. Even if you covered the same area as the GrandMA’s touch screen with iPhones, it could still only be $10,000 and you’d have PLENTY of processing power.

Dedicated buttons? I can make whatever hot keys I want on either mac or pc. strange enough I’ve been able to remember that command-C is copy.

How about the ability to drag and drop cues? how about a logical interface for setting up windows? Maybe some drop down menus? Maybe an internet connection for direct downloads and automatic updates? 

It’s the stability in the show environment, right? Don’t make me laugh.  

Honestly, If you can get a car that syncs to you phone, DRIVES, has a computer to control cruise, an auto-dimming mirror, automatic headlamps and wipers, chips to figure out range and mileage, a navigation system, entertainment system and so on for less than a board that ultimately is sending one type of code to similar devices then something is widely screwed up. 

You know what, I propose an open-source board.  I want a board that rests on my laptop and can be carried around in a shoulder bag. Not this road case business. Why should I spend so much money to lug around an outdated piece of giant hardware. I want wireless notification of device status. I want tricorder like PDA or iphone diagnostics. I want logic in user interface. I want features to be apparent. I could care less about visualization, I want things to work, work right, work the first time, and not have to call someone’s buddy with more experience to spent 20 minutes having him walk through the inane menus. 

 Please? 

Dear Theater Communities. You do not live in isolation. You and those with whom you went to theater school with are not benefitting anyone by closing off your community to others (individual or communities). Theater is not a race, though a little friendly competition should drive you to try and up the stakes. But, stop being so defensive. No one is saying you have bad ideas, unless the idea is not to listen to other ideas. We’re not saving babies. Don’t be so serious. Chill out, and have some fun.  everyone thanks you .

For business I have two computers. i have an apple notebook which is my primary computer that I take all over the place and I have an emachines tower that doesn’t go anywhere but runs the PC only programs I use (AutoCAD, Access). Recently, mainly for the PC, I purchased a new flat panel monitor. Up until now I had been using my brothers 20″ View Sonic CRT which replaced my Apple Display 20″ CRT (nearly identical) which I found next to somebody’s garbage can one night when driving around with Sandra. The main reason I replaced was not because it was old or didn’t work, but had to do with the fact that while setting up a display of my work I used the tower at my booth to showcase my web and DB work and it’s tremendously heavy. It wasn’t the first time I was required to move it, I remember it being heavy when I moved into my current apartment about a year ago. It is heavy and it is BIG. Very Big. It’s small for a television, but huge for a monitor, and took up a lot of room on my desk.

So I went to Fry’s, where I already had to have my car alarm fixed, and I bought a next flat panel monitor. It is a budget one, Otiquest from View Sonic (which I always thought was a a more budget brand anyway), the q19wb… fancy right? It is widescreen and 19”, which I thought would be nice because the width allows me to have a skinny window with info open next to a window with a project instead of on top. I also got a kvm switch so I can us it as a second monitor for my laptop, a habit I picked up in undergrad (it’s nice in the adobe programs or an drafting program to have the project clear and open with the tools on a second screen).

And then the issues began. Not with any piece of hardware, but with one of those reminders that while I float between machines for work and typically have no problem using Mac or PC, that PCs are just more retard in their design and logic. I mean, let’s not get into an aesthetic question, I feel that most PCs industrial design are contract workers that fit in as an afterthought… PC box design is not an ergonomic pursuit. But the issue was with making the display useful.

So I got it all connected to everything and the switch was ready (which was already annoying because the KVM switch I got doesn’t deal with USB so I’ll have to convert that to ADB or whatever the PC’s call the Apple Desktop Bus port after Apple went all USB and they stopped having serial ports on their mice and keyboards.) and I turned on both machines. The emachine started up. The monitor did a little self test and was nice enough and stretched a little and It got to the login screen and said: Please change to 1440 x 900 resolution for best viewing.

Okay, easy enough. I got the control panels, open the monitors panel and click on the display performance and… It’s maxed. It’s maxed at the maximum for the old CRT display… 1440 x 900 isn’t an option… why? We’ll get into that in a moment.

So I switch to my laptop. I pull down the display menu, select detect displays, and select 1440 x 900 from the menu which has recognized the make and model and appropriate settings for the new monitor.

Sigh

So what is the problem with the PC? I try to find solutions on the CD with the Monitor… is there a driver I’m missing? No. Okay, Windows troubleshooting… nothing. So the internet becomes my choice. I find, in a forum somewhere that someone is having a similar issue and to solve it that he needs to update his BIOS on his motherboard. At least they provide a link to BIOS updates. I click, it downloads something, and it sits there. So I look up how to update that on my own. Windows can’t help and directs me to the manufacture. I go to emachine’s website and go through a few menus trying to figure out the configuration of the tower and it finally tells what i already suspected, that my video card doesn’t support that resolution.

So I got searching for a video card that will. And, I want it to be cheap. I’m not gaming, I just want to run office at the right resolution, which is a lot to ask of course. So I find a bunch of recommendations and warnings. And I search for pricing and I search for something declaratively saying the proper resolution is supported. I didn’t quite get that, but I did get that for the card I got, there is a driver for Windows ME to allow it to support that resolution, because the packaged driver doesn’t because ME didn’t come out when 1440 x 900 was an option. I figure that if there is a driver for the card that you can update to from a previous OS, that for XP it will be included. That’s as solid as it gets.

In the end I bought a monitor, a new video card and some RAM for good measure. I’m still worried about the power supply and just wait till I need a new one of those because the new card requires too much, or the RAM puts it right over. And all I ultimately want is to be able to use the monitor properly.

But let’s recap, cause this post is about the subtle differences in the PC and the MAC worlds. To use the new monitor with my laptop as an external second display took two clicks on a drop down menu. To use the new monitor with my PC desktop (which is 8 months newer than the laptop mind you) I have to buy a new video card after a couple hours trying to find a solution online because the help that comes with the computer and the display don’t have anything about it. I don’t want to return the monitor. It’s nice and light and bright and takes up a lot less room… the reasons i got it to begin with… but the hidden surprises that come with PC ownership make me glad that I do have the alternative machine.

I haven’t written in a while, mainly because of what I want to write about today. A play called Silver Circus. It is by Alana Libertad and directed by Matthew Wilder. I’ve been producing. It’s been a lot of work and I wonder where it looks like it paid off and where it didn’t. It is definitely big and it is definitely long, but I don’t know if I can say thats it is good.

Anything but a single payer system is not sustainable.

The Lion King is a show about a cyc. Insofar as lighting is concerned it is. I went on Tuesday night to a performance of the Lion King at the Pantages. Don Holder, who heads the lighting program at CalArts had gotten a group of us complimentary tickets, which is something you can do when you win a tony and your show has been touring for nearly a decade. The show is neat. It’s not so different from the movie and the costumes are clever. I’m not breaking any new ground there. It’s entertaining, a hybrid of commercial family entertainment with some high art artists at the wheel so that it is clever. That’s the formula.

What was the most interesting thing to me was the addressing of a question I’ve had stewing in my head for a while. That is: What is a light? Is it its technology? Is it the source, or is it the light it emits? Is a fluorescent, fluorescent without the sources being visible? Or is it the color temperature and spectrum of the light it emits? In one scene the Cyc has this low dusty glow to it, something shadowy (to go with the song Shawdowlands) and I thought to myself at those fluorescents? No one else really noticed, but in that moment it looked like the lighting conditions of Fluorescents. So when we were talking to the lighting supervisor for the show afterwards and saw a long row of dimmable fluorescent tubes I felt pretty good about calling that.

But I wonder, how I could tell? Was it the emotional response to the lighting condition? Was I able to relate to the color temperature and coloring rendering to understand that this light was a fluorescent fixture? Did it have more to do with the way the light hits the cyc, with the 360-degree spill creating a bright band and tapering, and then meeting with the bounce off the bounce drop behind it? Was it because the light interacted with the items around it the way fluorescents do or because the light was that particular type or both?

I want to think that Don’s choice of using the fluorescent was because he could not accomplish that look without it. It wasn’t about putting the right color in an MR-16 strip light, which would have taken up as much or less room (considering the ballasts being remote). It was about the color, and the way the light looked and the temperature and all of that, because that’s what makes the choice.

So I wonder if it is possible to recreate that appearance in a believable way without the actual light. Or, because this use was not a visible source, does it matter what someone believes is fluorescent as opposed to what it is? Can you put a fluorescent on stage without the untrained eye knowing it’s fluorescent? And can you create what the untrained sees as fluorescent without a fluorescent fixture, just as the cultural assumption of what that color and tone would be. Can I use Gel to make a room appear fluorescent?

As a side note, there were a number of Arc sources in the moving lights, and you could always tell when the movers were on, as opposed to conventions, with the color of the light. This bothered me. I found it jarring to see the juxtaposition, and to see what was suddenly a greenish blue light after I had white balanced to the tungsten. It is all a part of that idea of source’s relationship to the phenomenology of the light.

I saw The Light in the Piazza this last weekend. I went with Justine and some of her work friends. I sat far away, as per usual for me when at the Ahmanson. It was pretty, certainly. There was a scene in the first act which had a very clever use of light and movement in the set. The second act was a little less together, a little less designed, a little less into the plot. This seems contrary to what I usually see, with the character development keeping anything really interesting from happening first. 

Now, Justine is fluent in Italian. So the third of the play that was in Italian was translated and apparently it’s just the dude telling his love how hot she is. That’s good enough of a reason for love at first sight. But beyond this we also learn that this girl may be mentally and emotionally retarded due to being kicked in the head by a horse. So the moral of the story is that simply Lust and a Language Barrier will overcome a language barrier… errr… I mean I don’t look to large Broadway musicals for extreme depth, but I do expect a fairly standard moral of some variety. 

So there you have it. 

I’m sorry, but i still don’t understand why this musical exists. From the moment I saw it was coming I didn’t get it. Having now seen a preview of it I’m even more baffled. Not only is it in no way unique as a story, but the talent is less and they decided to set it in the 1970s’ disco days. Why? The only useful purpose that held was to add some musical numbers of comic relief that had little or nothing to do with the main plot… The goons seducing nuns? The goons dressing ridiculous… why? Isn’t the story about faith and turning a new leaf? So you waste my time with cliché and shtick silliness that is irrelevant to that story?

The characters are also single dimensional, they have little to no arc, and by the time there is a hint of one it’s too late, I stopped caring. Not that I need arc to be happy with a character, but a conventional linear theater piece like this is dead in the water without it.

Oh, and the last song is called mirror ball and EVERY other line is about a mirror ball and THERE IS NO MIRROR BALL. I think that’s indicative. Sure everything else is shiny like a mirror ball… so what? Are we trying to subvert the audience’s expectations here? Cause nothing else does so there isn’t integrity to this assumption.

The set is crowded into the space and it always feels like the actors are about to fall off the stage. The choreography is sort of boring, but it’s hard to tell if this was anyone’s fault or that the actors were trying not to hit each other on the crowded stage.

Ultimately it needs work; there is something to the whole thing that works. The movie was good, not like a great cinematic effort, but funny and good and worth the money I remember spending on it (lest we forget the sequel). If they just did a staged version of that musical it would have been better… even with the changed up songbook with disco songs instead of oldies doo-wop style tunes. But the schlock factor kills it.

I’d say rent the movie for $1.50 and call it a night.

Culture Imperialism is alive and well at the Fowler. That seems a little harsh. It’s not evil or anything, just more of the same western focus on fetishized objects. I went to the opening of the new exhibit at the Fowler museum Saturday Night, The Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World. I just copied and pasted that title into this post and it is even more interesting in the presupposition that there is a consideration of the modern presence of the Tuareg.

The exhibit is in line with an issue of National Geographic. Pretty pictures of the Tuareg, the camel riding, blue turban-wearing semi-nomads of the Sahara, but the focus is on the arts and crafts of the people. It is interesting. I previously knew nothing about the Tuareg beyond the VW connection. They remind me of the Ilkhanids of the Asia continent. I assume that his has a lot to do with the nomadic life style and the cultural concentration of portable and useful tradable goods in the visual arts. Also they are a marginally Muslim culture, so there is that connection as well. But this isn’t at all explored and I think that’s the issue I have with it.

If the Fowler is a anthropological museum should there be a comparative analysis of any kind? I don’t know, I don’t work there and I’m not an anthropologist beyond my attachment to Art history. I felt like I was suppose to look at some nice leatherwork and think about how quaintly adorned these people must be. There was minimal focus on the idea of these Nomads in the modern world. One display contained the recreation of the workshop of a now stationary Nigerian Tuareg family and had video playing on a mid 1980s color TV (oh look, poverty) with rabbit ears showing the artisan at work. There were a couple of videos towards the exit too, which were arranged it what I presume to be something evoking the conventional seating of the Tuareg. For those of us used to the gallery set up of the United States and not sitting on the floor, the TVs were inconveniently out of place in opposition to the display of everything else. And with the blue haired crowd, I can’t imagine they were willing to get down there, like it was an empty gesture. The big connection to the modern world, and what I see as a connection to the patrons I saw, was the entry hallway into the exhibit that focused on the appropriation of Tuareg motifs into Hermes accessories and fashion. They went so far as to put up mirrors in this area, like I was supposed to see in my garments how my clothing was connected. Beyond not really having that connection, I didn’t understand why this was at the front of the exhibition before I’ve seen any items that I’m supposed to understand were appropriated.

Also it felt like it continued throughout the other two galleries. One had an exhibit called Intersections that was all about the thematic intersection of indigenous art and there was no representation, as far as I noticed, of European or American folk art beyond some contemporary Latin American work. The other had an exhibition of silver from the collection. So next to one another were equal sized exhibitions of decorative luxury Eurocentric goods next to the folk art of everywhere else.

Perhaps I am being hypercritical, as I think about the Menil collection and the Witness gallery with its collection of artifacts the responded to western culture and the personal collections of the western artists in the collection show an effort towards declaring reciprocal influence. They too have galleries of antiquities and culturally objects in a similar fashion, but there is a clear bridge between the collections, an idea that they are related, not separate things.

Anyway, the objects are interesting, but the set up does feel like its not for a contemporary audience, a world view, decentralized culture audience. It’s playing to the patrons. I’m sure that is a necessary evil, but it feels insensitive. And when those patrons are rude, rich people like the ones that seemed to very offended by my presence I am reluctant to participate.