(or – “What I have really been doing these past few years”)

a brand new virtual world
Production over the past 2 years, by two guys and a gal, weathered 4 production babies, the financial crisis and empty pockets – and still, our steely determination has finally brought our project – Tinkatolli – to a bit of fruition. It’s nearly ready for beta testing.

At Nordic Game we’ll be meeting and greeting industry folks, handing out our colourful business cards and shouting out about our TinkaMaker and social media linkups: TinkAbout It (our Tinkatolli blog), Twitter and Facebook, as a bit of a preview.

Let me tell you a bit about why this is so cool.

Creative tinkering – for real
Personally, I have the pleasure of doodling, thinking up, drawing, animating and inventing the world online, on my computer; and then I turn to my sketchbook, my box of household junk – break out the scissors, tape and string, and start actually making stuff. Out of junk.
This is very liberating. No worries about wasting expensive (or mildly expensive) materials on a project you aren’t totally sure of – it’s already waste! Just go for it.

For the whole of my career only a handful of people (outside of my industry) have actually understood what I do for a living. Folks know I draw, and that it has to do with computers, but the understanding drops off from that point. This project unites my creative production online, as it has been the past decade and a half, with real-life production – offline. I can now actually hold something in my hands that I have made for “work”. I don’t have to be connected to the internets to show my Granny what I have done. The “thing” I make gets documented with photos and videos, and then eventually drawn into the world and made into an instructional PDF. This project, on a whole, brings into play all the areas I got into the business for in the first place. Finally I get to really work with real multimedia. And that, for me, makes it so I can’t really get bored. There’s always something to design, draw, write about, photograph and video, and if there happens to be a lull, that means it’s time to think up something new.
I love it.

Sustainability in a virtual world
It’s recycling. Pretty simple. Tinkatolli uses the junk you have thrown away to make toys, games and fun with. This is something I get excited about. Being a young divorced dad with two energetic boys and living in the city, we’d almost always have to plan a trip to Toys’R'Us every week, for something to do, and for them to at least drool over the latest doodad their friends at daycare had (Pokemon was big, Dragonball, some goofy bean thingys that actually had cool characters printed on them – so much stuff). Just GOING there seemed to appease the little rugrats, in itself. I was pretty strict about not buying every piece of crap plastic they saw, and usually cracked out the pencils, paper or LEGO instead. But the pressure was there to provide a steady flow of doodads and fun -and that could cost a bundle, or a load of energy.
Admittedly I didn’t have the energy all the time. During our apartment moves, I’d always have to go through the old toys, and see what would have to go the way of the bin this time, since the boys had outgrown them, and we didn’t have room to store them. All that broken down, tangeld mess of plastic that was so important to have in the moment, shoved into a box and forgotten the next moment. Why? Because those little guys had nothing invested in the toys. They hadn’t bought them, they hadn’t had to care for them, and they certainly couldn’t have made them themselves.
Making things turns that cycle on its head.

Kids make their own fun, and learn how to think creatively.
Once a kid makes a thing – it’s theirs. They might forget about the thing in the long run, but they won’t forget the experience of making, nor the feeling of accomplishment having made something cool and fun. Creativity has long been pidgeonholed as being something creative people are born with, not a skill. I think it IS a skill, one that you get better at – by doing – by trying and failing, and trying again. Doing the action over and over again, demystifies the creative ability, and turns it into a skill, like any other.

I never learned how to dance- but I do it. I look funny doing it, I annoy and embarrass friends when I do it- but I do it a lot. Some folks even think I’m pretty good. I wouldn’t enter a competition or anything, but I have been known to take the floor. I do enjoy a party dance. On TInkatolli we give kids the chance to make their mark in the world they are a part of. They can invent, make, and document their offline creations, upload it to the game – and show off their creations for all the other kids to see and vote on. The best ideas get made on Tinkatolli and turned into activities for all the kids to make. It’s like a school dance – they can take over the dancefloor, without feeling they are entering a judged competition… it’s just their pals looking on, and cheering. It’s not about being the best, necessarily – but having a go at it. Show and tell.

Tinkatolli is a labour of love, and a passionate subject for me. It embodies a lot of good stuff I think kids should be exposed to – creativity, environmental awareness, fun and games, doodling and creativity, funny quirky characters, motion, science and health and it empowers them to shape their own fun time.

Sounds good, eh? I could go on about how instilling creative thinking and innovation, environmental awareness, good eating habits, daily exercise, and social skills are beneficial to your child, and help shape them into well rounded individuals – but I’ll suffice to say; “It ROCKS!”

Go on – give it a try;)
Tinkatolli

It’s embarrassing, yes, but I’m not the first, nor last, to have done it; Monday night – I dropped my iPodTouch into the sink.

The sink was full of water, I was washing my face, the iPod slipped out of my pocket, and plop; it sunk. Horrified and shocked I stared in disbelief, as it seemed to look fine, grabbed it out and dried it off as quick and as best I could, but alas, the poor thing gave signals I did not understand: a black screen, then a faint apple logo, then a black screen with faint apple logo and many thin lines flickering, then a clear black, then, like an S.O.S.; two last bursts of a very bright white light – and it was gone.

The shame of it all. Just before bed, too.
I twisted and turned all night, thinking what I could do to help it back to life – before bed I heated it on the radiator, plugged it into my MacBookPro to charge and try to mount it, but nothing helped. Finally I set it aside, and went to sleep.

Tuesday
In the morning I had to confess my mishap to my fellow UOVOite, Kevin. After a kneeslapping laughter fit, he got around to helping me track down some solutions on the internets.

First thing I found out was that if, at the bottom of your earphone jack, it appears pink – you are screwed. That means water damage, and your warranty won’t cover it. You can plop a piece of tissue down there, if you feel brave/dumb enough to fool your local apple shop into giving you a new one. Otherwise, there isn’t much to do except try to dry it out.

Putting it in an oven seemed to be the most widely proposed idea – 100 degrees for a few minutes. I tried the radiator, as I said… but it didn’t seem to help. It was pretty hot though.

Then Kevin came across a bit of advice that sounded familiar – from watching BBC FOOD – not some computer support thing; pack it in RICE, in a sealed container, let it sit like that for at least 24 hours. The rice absorbs the moisture in the container (thus also from within the interior of the iPod).

I did just that, and still I felt little hope. I snuck a peek at it last night, tried to turn it on – no luck. Back in the container.

Wednesday 11:10
Then this morning I checked again – nothing. Then I decided one last time- I’d plug it in to the computer. Boom.

it’s back. Well… at least it seems to be charging. As I write this, iTunes just started up and asked if I wanted to download and install the newest software for the iPod, and I can see it there in the sidebar, all mounted – but with a very empty battery icon.

11.37
Actually I may have spoken too soon. I just clicked the iPod icon, and it disappeared. Hopefully that was just a coincidence and it had something to do with the update. Please.

(As a sidenote; that is the look of a man on the edge: father of a 17 month old with chaotic sleeping patterns, business owner with constant workload, and habitually forgettful self-haircutterer – and… oh yeah, I’ve been up since 4 am)

9 months later…
Nope. It’s dead. The iPod won’t get past the charging past 1% stage, gets hot, won’t show up in iTunes, and is by all accounts dead. Even the repair shop I took it to said “Forget it. Buy a new one”. They wouldn’t even buy it off me – for parts!

Damn.

The other day I got a complaint that this blog, my facebook account and my twitter account had a few too many crossover posts.
I can see that. I never really have taken the time to figure out what to post where, and where it goes after posting. I have tried several plugins on the blog to post to twitter automatically, and another on facebook to bring in tweets, and blog posts, and the blog takes in my tweets. It’s a bit of a mess. Handy for me – but apparently overload for those who follow me on all three sites. Personally, I think there are way too many super-styled tweets within this blog – but they are so darned pretty, and were such a hassle to get in here, that I am hesitant to just deactivate that function;)

The idea was to connect the three different groups of pals on all three sites. I have no idea how many folks follow me cross-platform, and this was the first complaint I’d heard. Do you find it an overload?

Chime in! Comment here and tell me where you follow me, and if it bugs you that I pipe posts from one site to the other.

Can’t get enough of Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach.
I want to see this as a movie, or to be able to visit the actual model.

I have a sneaking feeling I might find myself trying to fashion my own Plastic Beach on the kitchen table, out of mashed potatoes, kids crying…

After cleaning up double blog posts, that appeared after I had made the blog disappear by trying to turn a plugin or two off and on, and then uploading a backup of posts in an attempt to fix my mistake, I realized I’ve been at this for five years now. Five? How’d that happen?

I’ve been totally neglecting this blog for some time now. Before the summer I think the posts dwindled down to barely anything, and now I have 5 posts in draft stages. Who know’s when I’ll have them ready.

I have been thinking about redesigning, changing focus, and rethinking this blog (I doubt that will ever stop), in light of what you can do on flickr, twitter and facebook – where a little effort actually gets some nearly immediate reward.
But, then again, I actually enjoy working at my own pace on the blog. I can’t tweet fast enough for the twittosphere, don’t gossip enough for facebookers, and once I get going I don’t like to be limited by a maximum number of characters in which I have to say something.

As the end of the year approaches there will be a few new things to tend to, and I suspect these might be the impetus to do more blabbing about stuff I find interesting. If there is time;)

Year Six should be interesting.

three oldies finally get professional help – being framed at a local framemaker’s.

This first one has a brown tint to the black frame, with an accent of red on the very edge. It brings out the browns and pinks quite well.

This has a white/blue grey sort of feel – bringing out the cold blue in the picture.

The last one has a darker frame – near black, also with a red edge, to bring ot the black and pinks.

The funny thing is we went in there thinking we’d get all threee framed exactly the same – in simple profiled oak. As we talked with the framester, we came to realise we could just as well do each painting justice and frame them individually, and have them still belong to the same “family”.

It was unexpected, and exciting feeling this world open up to us. Suddenly I felt a little grown-up, that maybe we had graduated from the IKEA frame section, to the world of custom framing. Suddenly I understood why folks who actually collect art have different frames for each piece. It wasn’t because the frames just came with the paintings when they were purchased – they belonged with them.

Interesting.

Now I don’t cringe seeing the unframed paintings on the wall. The look finished. I can keep my hands off them, and stop thinking what I could have done differently. Now – it’s too late.

Nice.

I came across “The Making of The Dunhill Double Document Case” this morning, on Selecticism, and was immediately struck by the tactile nature of this production. The sounds, in particular, are very good.

I know leather work is tactile, and cozy. My father’s friend, Flemming, still pounds out leather bags and belts – as far as I know. I remember getting one of his belts as a kid, and being happily struck by the smells in his cool, woody shop. They stayed in the belt. Decades later, while handing it down to my son, it still smelled like that first summer I had with it.

Watching this makes me want to pick up a similiar trade. Something tactile. Something where I’d need a workshop to do it. Something I could do that wouldn’t sound like “tappity-tap-tap-tap”, and more like “glonk, swish and woosh”.

That might not be why Dunhill made the film. I’m sure they want me to buy the bag, rather than yearn for my own workshop.

You win some, and you lose some=)

JC, from Poolga, asked if I would like to participate and send in some designs for their fantastic iPhone + iPod Touch wallpaper site – and I agreed super quick. It took me a while to actually get around to making them, and send them in – but now they’re up (and downloadable)!

Poolga
Poolga on Twitter
Poolga on Flickr

Recession Design is a collection of objects created using everyday DIY products that are processed and assembled using common utensils and accessories. Featuring a design that is clean but not banal, essential but not meager, the objects show how a good project can result in high-level design, even with the use of readily available materials and utensils

Sounds good to me. Check out those clothes hooks! And a desk:

recession design

This year I brought the Treearoo up from the basement, thinking it would be nice to get Tilja (15 months old) used to it now, and see how she reacts/interacts with it.

I’ve heard how parents worry about their kids mauling the xmas tree, and although I have seen how kids can be interested in the actual ornaments, I’ve never experienced a tree disaster myself.

This year I put the treearoo, and Tilja, to the test.

It was a very quick test.

I started off letting her help me screw the trunk into the base. That was fine, she enjoys a little work. As soon as I lifted it upright, the little monkey jumped on the base, grabbed the trunk with both hands, and began flaying it back and forth.

Now it looks like “Treearoo – the Charlie Brown edition”. “The Leaning Treearoo of Pisa”. Basically; it looks like it’s had it.

I dismantled it in a huff, Tilja got upset, and I figured that was it – no tree this time around.

After Tilja was put to bed for the night, I gave it another try, just to see how bad the damage was. It did indeed lean, but a few oversized washers could fix that. I decided to assemble the poor thing, and see how the little girl would react to it in the morning.

The next day, she looked at it, carefully touched the painted tips of some branches, and generally left it alone. It’s been there a few days now.

We’ve had her around two other trees over the holidays. Both were bigger than ours – the latest one was emourmous – and aside from an interest in a few select ornaments, she has treated the trees with respect. It’s not really even our doing. We say she should be careful – at the outset – but aside from that, she has been on her own interacting with them.

On the whole; trees + kids = ok

Treearoo Tip: assemble the thing yourself, while the kids are otherwise occupied.

the Treearoo page