The Genius of Design, Part 2

Since the 1920s, Our lives have been curiously shaped by design movements that would help us adapt to new social trends.  After the First World War, the growth of industrialization influenced our surroundings, as well as our relationship with tools.

An incubator of this idea was Bauhaus, a movement wherein designers closely examined objects and their functions, taking examples from mass production, using raw materials with no ornamentation, providing their clients with ergonomic objects and spaces whose efficiency and ease of use made life easier.

An example of this reimagination of efficient space at Bauhaus was the Frankfurt kitchen, where the floor plan was organized for efficiency, allowing the cook to easily access either the condiments or the pots, wherever she stood within that space.

Other rooms of houses saw similar redesigns. It was a radical idea for those days when most buildings were  highly ornamented, thanks to the influence of Art Nouveau. The influence of Bauhaus would give us more control of our spaces, allowing us to divide them and make them multifunctional.
 
The age of heavily ornamented living spaces was fading. Antiques would still complement homes with more modern floor plans and furnishings. New York, the mecca of art and innovation, was on forefront of this movement of twofold elegance and simplicity, from the design of the Bauhaus era and beyond.

A major influence of the genius of design occurs when the designer has the best interests of the buyer and the producer at heart. Times change, and when our lifestyles reflect that, the adept designer is quick to spot the new trend, providing us with ways to negotiate with our new surroundings. It's been happening since after the First World War, with the growth of industrialization: our evolving relationship with our living (and working) spaces.

The Bauhaus movement encouraged us to consider the implications of industry for lifestyle. In our homes, we might want to think about how we might make basic home chores more efficient.  Is it any wonder that our most basic household appliances--keeping the modern family in mind--issue the greatest good for the greatest number?

The Frankfurt Kitchen, an early project of the Bauhaus movement, was all about the measurement  of space, posing the question: how can we most easily route the kitchen user to both the condiments or pots, the dishes and the silverware, from any vantage point in the room?

This concept would influence how we would repurpose the remainder of our living space. If it was to be a flexible house, like Bauhus said, then we should have control of our space, to be able to divide it into as many areas as was needed to improve its multifunctionality. 

All this pushing away of the old style! But did this mean that devotees to the Bauhaus effect would throw out their furniture? Existing furniture had a place in the democratic movement that was Bauhaus, making one's household investment ornamental to the times. A showcase for this evolution was New York, and that did little to prevent the new floor plans and furnishings from finding their way into homes across the the US.

Innovation, possibilities, designers and all the details that are involved in the creation of objects have become iconic and indispensable nowadays. But what do we mean by the genius of design?



A great design makes a product useful, and it has to communicate visually with its owner. It can reflect the zeitgeist, taking it's cues from economics, capitalism, industrialization, new materials, technology, environmentalism, etc. In this sense, design chronicles our innovations, 'writing' history with visual language.



Before the industrial revolution the expression of each product was unique because it was made by hand, one by one, But automation of production gave us more products for less money, though some of the old handcrafted methods are still in use today.



The discovery of of new material and metals opened new ways of construction and, with them, mass production, manufacturing and processing. This is a key feature of the beginning of industrialization.
But design is not just about saving money; it also allows us a closer relationship with our devices.



Japanese design, for example, would have us see beauty in the function of the product, creating harmony between its design and purpose, through the use of almost poetic visual cues. We've asked our design to be both visually appealing and functionally sound--and at a price we can afford--and our wish has been granted.

Look at a typical department store. It is so filled with the blessings of this genius that the upcoming generations will not be imagine a world without the smartphone, the microwave, the personal computer, and many other things that were newfangled for their predecessors (but indispensible for them).

Light box functionality added to blog

I was messing around with some Javascript this morning, and I found a way to expand images, projecting them onto a transparent window above the original window. Click on the uploaded image above to see what I mean.

It was a difficult week for coming up with lesson plans, but I wanted to do at least something that would enhance the blog, since I had spent a lot of the week focusing on front end development, learning more that I could apply to my own sites.

This week we will forge ahead with the exercises in the Clear Speech book, by Judy Gilbert. As far as I know, my other learner has reserved a copy of this, but I will try to bring my scanner with me today. That way, I might be able to send you PDF files of the more important exercises--c

Pebbles

Original image: Everest Chiropractic

Everybody loves long weekends. Some lie on the couch, while others do the chores that have been piling up. My own weekend was a bit different this time.

After taking care of my own chores, I had time to do some walking. My feet led me to I the back of a building, close to the train tracks, where the foliage was starting to lose color, bringing those oranges and reds that sometimes make our minds wander.

The sun, breaking through the trees, shining on the train rails, created a perfect travel poster-like view. Then, I heard the noise of the heavy wheels approaching, hypnotically repeating, one after another, making my mind wander and my eyes close.

gee-gling-gee-gling-gee-gling-gee-gling-gee-gling...

After a long breath, I could feel how the breeze was lifting me. Slowly, I open my eyes, and I could see myself as a 7 year-old, playing on the train tracks, throwing pebbles onto the train tracks, making sounds and imitating a gun shot. My grandfather would be laughing, talking with his friends, all of whom were wearing suits and hats, holding their jackets on one arm. How long ago was it that I felt this way: worry-free, enjoying every moment, happy just to be grabbing as many pebbles as I could fit into my hand?

The whistle of the train awoke me from my trance and, in a few seconds, I went back in time, feeling, hearing and noticing that particular smell of metal, wood and oil. It reminds me how simple life can be and how life is not just about rushing. Sometimes we just need to sit awhile and enjoy the simple moments also.

New Learning Tool: The Kazoo

I will talk about this later in class, but this is a very effective way to improve stress and intonation in English. I may be able to bring some kazoos from the store so that we may practice this technique.

Judy Gilbert is an internationally respected authority on teaching English pronunciation, and I will try to find you some of her written resources the next time you come to class.

Judy, borrowing a quote from Shakespeare, argues that "each language has its music, and it matters".

And now my tongue's use to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or harp,
Or like a cunning instrument case up,
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony

(Richard II, Acr 1, Scene 3)

Shakespeare is writing about someone who has been exiled to a foreign land. Our goal in this class will be to tune that harmony that is mentioned above.

Elocution and Pronunciation
in
Marlon Brando's Superman Speech

For next week, read through the script below, paying attention to Jennifer Lebedev's advice on pronunciation in the Youtube videos we watched in class.

Try recording your speech with the mp3 software we downloaded earlier. Blogger should allow you to insert a sound file into a post in the blog; otherwise, post the link to your public folder on Dropbox.


Lois Lane: Any more at home like you?

Clark Kent: Uh, not really, no.

Lex Luthor: This is Lex Luthor. Only one thing alive with less than four legs can hear this frequency, Superman, and that's you.

Lex Luthor: It's kryptonite, Superman. Little souvenir from the old home town. I spared no expense to make you feel right at home.

Lex Luthor: [swimming in the pool, listening to news broadcasts about Superman] Miss Teschmacher! Turn it off.

Miss Teschmacher: [lying by the sunlamps] Lex, what's the story on this guy? Do you think it's the genuine article?

Lex Luthor: If he is, he's not from this world.
Miss Teschmacher: Why?

Lex Luthor: Because, if any human being were going to perpetrate such a fantastic hoax, it would have been me! Otis! My robe!

Otis: Right away, Mr. Luthor!

Lex Luthor: It all fits somehow, his coming here to Metropolis. And at this particular time. There's a kind of cruel justice about it. I mean, to commit the crime of the century, a man naturally wants to face the challenge of the century.

Otis: Listen, Mr. Luthor, maybe this guy that flies is just sort of passing through, you know?

Lex Luthor: [Lex gets out of the pool, and stops at the top step. Otis starts helping Lex on with the robe as the bottom of it proceeds to get soaked] Passing through? Not on your life. Which I would gladly sacrifice, by the way, for the opportunity of destroying everything that he represents. And, Otis, by the way, next time put my robe on *after* I'm out of the pool.

Otis: Oooohhhh!

Miss Teschmacher: [after learning that there is a missile heading toward Hackensack] Lex, my mother lives in Hackensack.
[Luthor checks his watch and shakes his head]

Lex Luthor: [in Luthor's underground hideout] Miss Teschmacher, how many girls do you know who have a Park Avenue address like this one?

Miss Teschmacher: [sarcastically] Park Avenue address? Two hundred feet *below*?

Source: IMDB.com

Sustainable Architecture

For the past couple of lessons we have talked about how architects need to be mindful about not only about aesthetics; they need to care about making our homes more energy-efficient and sustainable. For the next lesson I would encourage you to consider this .PDF file on sustainable architecture.

Jennifer ESL on Stressing Syllables in English

I am recommending this documentary because it extends your thought that our happiness is influenced by architecture.

The perfect home is something we all think about every moment of our lives. Since the moment of our birth we organize the space around us, moving furniture and placing ornaments on the walls. we call this "our space".

Not everybody will agree, but one thing is clear: we all try to compensate for what we lack, escaping from the monotonous and industrial feeling of a city, deciding to live in a house that on the exterior has the look of one or two centuries ago.

Maria Antonietta made the same exodus, but from her point of view. Escaping from the palaces of Versailles, she built a rustic village, known as the Queen's Hamlet. But it was an unreasonable facsimile of the peasant villages she thought she understood. The one thing she could not escape is that she liked living large. But no peasant could afford the large windows of her neo-vernacular estate. The expression, let them eat cake clearly belongs to this woman, as oblivious as she was.

We follow her steps nowadays, trying to hold on to something that is no longer around us, yet we still insist upon having our self-indulgent bells and whistles. We should learn from our past mistakes and start living more mindfully building homes that more efficient in materials and energy.

There are some around the world trying to make this change but as long we don't put aside our selfishness and indulgences we'll continue making the same mistakes.

Gaudi's Sand Bag Modelsby Tito Ballesteros

The image and its vertically flipped counterpart showing how Gaudi used the weight of small sand bags to help shape the columns and arches of La Sagrada Familia

Original image by Julia Meyer

Antonio Gaudi: a well-known name if you study architecture or if you just love art.
Born of Catalan origin in Spain during the mid 1800s, Gaudi was an architectural visionary whose buildings were more than plain cubes. These structures were inspired by the architectures of nature, following function with form, allowing for both aesthetic beauty and sound construction.

An architectural renegade, Gaudi took this inspiration and mimicked its shapes and curves, developing a different way to model his buildings. He would hang strings from the celing, tying small sandbags to them, and tying the strings to each other, creating the stronger columns and letting gravity make the arch shapes. This creates a solid structure, and one that is dramatic and breathtaking.

The wide openings at the bottom of the structure gradually narrow as your eyes move upward, drawing an "ah" from your mouth. The shapes, the colors, the use of natural materials and the ironwork all work together to give us a view that is calm and inspiring, both inside and out.

Nowadays, the purpose of a building is to show wealth and power. But where are the buildings that inspire us? if a healthy human brain gets stimulated by its surroundings, what kind of stimulation are we getting from modern buildings that we'd rather escape? Gaudi didn't intend for us to buy more, make more, consume more, be like this and not like that? The result of his careful planning and execution was not the escapism we see today. It was something far more sublime.

The Em Dash

Last week, in reviewing the course writings about Home: a Documentary, I saw the em dash, or "--", In a couple of places in the text of these postings. This sort of punctuation is meant to set off an abrupt change of thought. Please do check out this grammar page to get a more complete explanation on the use of the em dash. It is to be used sparingly, not every time you wish to set aside a phrase that can be handled by either parentheses or commas. And we have used these dashes sparingly; we just need to use them as effectively as we can.

Cheers. Here's hoping your week is going well

Since  the stone age we have been changing our surroundings, adapting to them and learning along the way. The population has grown along with the demand for food, water and land.

Nowadays our machinery allows us to produce food for commercial use, but in the old days, food was produced only for our sustenance. Since the agricultural revolution, we have produced more than we have been able to consume. The balance between pastures and cattle has changed radically, and what looks more  like a concentration camp is the main source of our daily meal. 

How can we have food to waste  with so many starving people in the world? Modernization may well be both a curse and a blessing. While the richest parts of the world have managed to change the desert to a  modern paradise, other parts of the world are suffering. People there live like our ancestors use to live--with just the basics--and care for of their most important assets, their children, whose extra helping hands are a blessing.

Now we shape the land as though we were performing a sacrificial rite, taking its life so that we can survive.

Petroleum is an aspect of this, allowing a few to become richer and cities to become larger; so large that is getting  difficult to  sustain or way our life. Our addiction to oil is not unlike a drug addiction. We need more of this drug to preserve our illusion of prosperity.

The Postman (In All His Glory)

1.

Monday came with the usual; lots of work waiting from the weekend. We have two days to rest but, usually, we end up helping someone. Or something else happens. As I came home from work on Monday, a friend sent me a link to watch a movie called “The Postman".

2.

The ordinary mailman becomes a hero in this movie. Imagine surviving a terrible cataclysm or epidemic in isolation. Food and nearby survivors may help keep you alive, but what is the consensus of the people? Since everything they knew is gone. including electricity and communications, they might realize what and who they take for granted. We are used to seeing the the mailman everyday, yet we might not realize the important social role that he plays.

3.

The plot is simple and it doesn’t occur to you until you experience for yourself the importance of basic necessities. That said, you might respond similarily to a simple instance of losing your internet connection as a tropical storm is brewing on the Eastern Seaboard.

You don't wish to be the man in the film, who wanders around what once was the United States of America,now mostly a wasteland after three years winter. Other nations have experienced similar effects of drastic global climate change.

4.

With none at his side but a mule--a funny mule, by the way--the wanderer finds a village and decides to  stay for a few hours, playing some part of Shakespeare for the entertainment of the people. A group of armed rebels suddenly enters the village and starts gathering the people, obliging them to join their cause (with restrictions of race and age). He tries to run away but is captured. With nothing to loose, he just accepts his destiny, waiting for the moment to escape. It happens. After surviving a free fall from a bridge he manages to get into a post office car, removing the dead postman's bag and clothes, wearing them to protect himself from the could night. 

5.

The bag will give our new postman a new livelihood, and his carrying it will take him where he never expects to go, converting him into a symbol of hope and freedom. This man with nothing to lose has nothing to fight

People need to communicate to one another. Whether through images, text, hieroglyphics or music, this transmission is fundamental to the development of any society.

 

Using Film To Understand American Subcultures

This book is available at the Newton Free Library, and I am enjoying it at the moment The library catalog number is

LIT
791.436
S95S


It would be a fine book for anyone wishing to learn more
about American culture, and I'm already learning something new.

Clichés of the Day

I will be going over the expressions above during the next class, defining them for you.
Meanwhile, please think about what these expressions mean:


Above board

The president of the company insists that everything is above board, but the state regulators are starting an investigation anyway.


A 180/a one hundred eighty-degree turn

The new director of security will reveal an enforcement agenda that
represents a 180 degree turn from the policy that has been in place for the
past ten years.

Ace in the hole

To encourage the beleaguered staff, management brought in a well-known
motivational speaker as their ace in the hole.

Acid test

The Human Resource Office along with the Office of Fiscal Management conducted an acid test to determine which employees were making effective business contributions.

Add insult to injury

After demoting Charles, the employer added insult to injury by taking his executive
bathroom keys

Home a 2009 Documentary

Home: a word that has deep emotional meaning in our hearts and minds. It is the place were we grew up, the place that hold our childhood memories. Every inch of our homes has a purpose and a story to tell. When we take care of this home, the next generation will benefit.

“Home: A Documentary” broadens our view, opening our eyes to the interconnectedness of all aspects of nature. Like a perfectly synchronized ballet dance, we might not understand it but is beautiful.

Our home is alive. Like the blood in our veins, water moves and erodes sediments, dispersing potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium, transporting and depositing them. This maintains the material balances of the solid, liquid and gaseous parts of the Earth. Other than profit motive, what drives multinational corporations to buy the land containing our natural water reservoirs? Water nurtures not only those who live near it; it nurtures all life here on earth. That said, is it any surprise that the space exploration agencies look to water as a sign of life on other planets?

Bacteria is also essential to life. It may thrive in extreme conditions, helping helping things grow, absorbing carbon dioxide and transforming it into something that promotes fertile soil. They also transform the sun's energy.

Algae, too, play an important role in regulating the ecosystem, supplying oxygen to our atmosphere. Yes, we depend on the rainforest vegetation to help convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, yet photosynthesis within both algae and trees helps maintain the the earth's natural balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water, sustaining life here on earth. A few organisms can survive without oxygen, but it is essential to land-based life forms.

Despite all we've learned, life is a miracle and a mystery. Everything is connected and follows the laws of nature, and for every action there is a reaction. Our home requires balanced ecosystems. No single connection within them laid to waste.

But in our short existence on this Planet we have changed that delicate balance. If I think of Earth as a single living organism and us humans as bacteria going berserk, then I'd imagine that we are sucking the life out of our host instead of keeping the balance and improving our lives.

Tentative Lesson Plan for Our Hour Sessions

For our lessons I will try a more structured approach from now on, partly following the guidelines of ProLiteracy America. So here is a breakdown of how we'll spend the hour:

10 min. Free conversation.

10 min. Review of previous lesson

20 min. Conversation skills

10 min. Reading

10 min. Free writing

If there is time left over after class, I would be happy to read your writing and suggest things you might need to change. If that's not possible, I will post corrections to the blog.

We All Make Mistakes

I found a useful chart of commonly mispronounced English words and their corrections. You may view it here

The People's Republic of Capitalism

Working with Chinese people is a great experience the difference between my culture and their is Big, but despise the language barriers we find a common ground on trying to speak English.
They talk usually talk about China and how thing have change so quickly and how the live is changing over there, the busyness, the buildings, the highways and the most important the growing of the cities.
The documentary "The People’s Republic of Capitalism" talk about this canges and how those changes can be feel here en USA. If is true all the benefits that modernitation brings it comes to with a big tag of consecuences especially if no consider the consecuences. For me the blame (is I cna say it like that) is on the Big Companies that looking for bigger profets and lower expences move to a country were the lavor is cheap, so the loyalty of those companies are only for the Money and they don't think how their decisions change lives along the way.

Working with Chinese people is a great experience. The difference between my culture and theirs is big, but despite the language barriers, we find common ground in trying to speak English.

Those interviewed in "The People's Republic of Capitalism" usually talk about how things have changed so quickly, how all this busy-ness is leading to taller buildings, more congested highways and other problems associated with the growth of cities.

The documentary also addresses how these changes can be felt here in the USA. If this is true, then all the benefits of a modernization may come with consequences that could have been avoided with more careful planning.

For me the blame is on the big companies. Looking for bigger profits and lower expenses, they will move their operations to a country where the labor is cheap. The big companies are loyal to Big Money, and they don't think about how their decisions change lives along the way

Video Bar Added to the blog

Just below the header of this page is a new feature that you might find useful. I installed a video bar for all YouTube videos tagged "ESL" and "English speaking", thinking that it might save some time in typing search queries.

The Secret of the Water

Watching the documentary "Secret of the water" it really open my eyes and help my understand why our surroundings have always influence on us, how a drink of water can bring me back to those places I've been.
From time to time I like to boil some water, cool it down and drink some laying on the sofa while i listen to some songs that bring memories and extrangely the water taste like in those memories.
In the documentary they talk about how the water has memory and is affect by emotions and its surroundings. The human being has 90% of water in his competition and it make sense how those emotions could be transfer or capture for a person.

Watching the documentay "Secret of the Water" really opened my eyes and helped me understand why our surroundings have always influenced us, how a drink of water can bring me back to those places I've been to.

From time to time, I like to boil some water, cool it down and drink it as I lie on the sofa, listening to some songs that bring memories. Strangely, the water tastes like it did in those moments.

According to the documentary, water has memory and is affected by surroundings and human emotions. Humans are composed of 90% water, after all, and it makes sense that emotions can be transferred from or captured by a person in this way.

Listen to how her speech changes when she reads someone else's writing.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

Watching planets of the apes previously on tv and knowing what's about increase my curiosity to what the new movie.
Totally different from the previous ones still carries that feeling of us humans under estimating animals and their ability to think and feel. I think we souldn't feel superior just because we have gadgets and we countroul or surrounding whitout thinking on the consecuenses for the future, we only think on the solution for now.
I'm sure one will feel sympathizing with the apes in the movie because their objective is just to be free, the mistreated and underestimated can always give us surprises.


I watched Planet of the Apes previously on TV and that increased my curiosity to watch the new movie. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was totally different from the previous films, but it still carries the feeling of us humans underestimating animals and their ability to think and feel.

I think we shouldn't feel superior just because we have gadgets and we control our surroundings. The film encourages us to think about the consequences of our actions, rather than our solutions for now.

I'm sure that the viewer will feel sympathetic to the apes in this movie because their objective is to be free. Those we mistreat and underestimate can always give us surprises.