Phil Ross - Chronic Revelator

Phil Ross was pushing time a little faster at Maker Faire as he subjected cameras from the recent past to a tumble in his time machine. Through the gentle abuse of tumbling in a mysterious abrasive medium, the cameras emerged as partially exposed skeletons with the satin polish of having tumbled down a gentle river.


Answers the question of what happens to cameras when drunkenly dropped overboard from cruise ships.


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Miniature Paintings by Kate Durkin

The sweet expressions of Kate Durkin's paintings charmed me at Maker Faire. This melancholy, knobby kneed elephant reminds me of my high school friends. Shoulda bought it when I had the chance, but I was in a state of Maker Faire overload at the time.


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Maria Mortati - Power of Prototype

Dinosaurs and Robots posting was rather light last week as Mark and I were at Maker Fair - busy napping under trees from Bakersfield to San Mateo.

It was my intent to 'live blog' from the fair but my duties were not insignificant and I selfishly used every free moment to experience the awesomeness. Maker Faire is certainly the geek paradise that is portrayed in the media, but that is a description that is too limiting to explain what is really going on.

Chris Luomanen's Origami-inspired Tessallating Wall Dividers

One of my favorite exhibits was The Power of Prototype by Maria Mortati. As a professional curator, her creation was a small scale museum exhibit on the importance of prototypes. A proletariat, mass consumer product like a Glade fragrance spritzing machine is not classically inspiring, but Mike Strasser's foam core prototype is completely captivating when you are able come face to face with the original idea. One wouldn't think there would be a celebrity quality to prototypes but, when you have the singular relic in your hand, it is easier to be awed by a fragrance dispenser than you would think.

Kal Spelletich's Compact Version of a 22' Fire Breathing Robot

As a curator, Maria selected a breadth of objects to make you realize that prototyping is a tool of the creative process and not a mere instrument of corporations refining manufacturing. Kal Spelletich's compact monster in a suitcase was a terrific example of the prototype as a finished product. Sure, I imagine the full size flame spitting beast was exhilarating to see, but the salesman sample version inspires an immediate narrative of a Music Man-type charlatan roaming the countryside with small town dreams of locals owning their own monster.

Why did Maria go to all the trouble to curate an exhibit - complete with a catalog - for Maker Faire's run of only two days? And what about it being drowned out by Tesla coils and the seemingly ever present chattering of R2D2? I imagine she created it for the same reason as everybody else at Maker Faire. She thought it needed to be done.

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Mister Jalopy on Discovery Channel Canada - April 8, 2008

Canadian readers, take note: I will be on Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet tomorrow to discuss the Urban Guerrilla Drive-In Movie House , the home brew movie projector I built. Hopefully, some enterprising ne'er-do-well will figure out how to put it on the internet, as the site/channel is not viewable from the rest of world.

Want to see the Urban Guerrilla Drive-In Movie House in person? Come to Maker Faire, the most inspiring weekend of the year.

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