Monday, November 2, 2009

An Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age...



 "I rest my case" or "arrest Mike Ace", which one?

Greetings, y'all! What a haphazard day today... a nice mix of work and play and errands and browsing, as seems to be my routine this year... I did make a good start last night on the Council of Six, writing a 2200-word version of the opening scene that was floating in my head. I already want to revise it, but I'm going to heed the advice of the NaNoWriMo website and save revisions for December. I'll just plow ahead as if I had good sense. Besides, by the time I finish the first draft and go to start revising, I'll probably revise it completely differently than I would have today...

Excitement Level: High.

Woke up really early today (as in 7... hey, that's early for me!) and contemplated writing some, but as I was contemplating, I fell asleep again... ah, well, Rome wasn't built in a day...

I got my copy of Borderlands in the mail today! Of course, I immediately ripped it open, installed it and took it for a spin. It feels great. I know I'm going to love it. Between that game and Torchlight, (and a splash of Left 4 Dead), I won't need a new game indefinitely. Well, maybe Dragon Age: Origins, which comes out Nov 3...

I got lost in the Dezeen website today, burrowing through the archives like a hog rooting for truffles... no end of wonderful things in there. For some reason, I'm particularly taken with examples of really cool designs of extremely small living quarters. Check out this flat in Tokyo...






Three stories tall, but only about 225 total square feet. Here is the article, with more pics. How cool would that be... like living in a 3 story walk-in closet. Well, space is limited and at a premium in Tokyo, from what I understand.

And here is another *exceptionally* cool design of a block of 8 apartments (also in Tokyo) for residents that drive motorcycles only...




It's built around a small, circular courtyard that has 8 little "garage doors" that the resident can get their bikes in and out of... the apartments aren't necessarily tiny, probably because of all the space they saved my making it inaccessible for autos. Here's a couple more cool pics of the site...


 
 
Go here to the article to see more pics, including interior shots, and to get more info on it. How fun would it be to live in a place like that...

And here's a tiny apartment in a converted attic (under 100 square feet) in the Netherlands (Hague) that is quite cool...



They somehow managed to cram all the necessary amenities in there, and seemed to make it work. Check out this link for more pics and info.

Again, thank you for your indulgence. For some reason, I'm taken by stuff like that, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean you all are, so I'll stop here, lest you think I'm going to turn my blog into (yet another) design site... I'm not, it's just what caught my fancy today... you know how random I am...

I better cater to the animal crowd before everyone bolts... quick, a "cute puppy" video! QUICK!!!1!!

                                                                                           
Ah, much better... I'd say they should get that puppy's eyes checked...

Yay! Eggnog Frappucinos are back at Starbucks starting Nov 3! Hooray! I'm kind of sick of Pumpkin Spice... ah, such are the trials and tribulations of the terminally sluggardly... actually, there are deeper things afoot, but I don't want to bore you and/or bum you out with that...

I think I'm done. Gonna finish up the Piranha newsletters, and get some writing done. Until tomorrow, remember, I think that R2 unit we bought may have been stolen...

9 comments:

Nachocheese said...

Glad you got your boderlands dave. Too bad we can't play on the same server, booo. It's so much fun, me and keno are playing co-opretively on my ps3. We're level 29s haha, we are not addicts, I promise. lol

FrootLoop said...

Hey dave...

Those weeny apartments are seriously fantastic! You would probabjy be able to put one in my living room. I must say, as a motorcyclist myself, I am quite particular of those little garage doors in the middle of the building. I do however think if I was to start parking just outside the bedroom the GoodWife would be serving bits of my anatomy to the dogs... Ouch!

Very cool post bud
Cheers

Bob said...

Keep it up, Dave.. the novel i mean! oh... and what's with the quote at the end?? you teasing me and Krista??? because if you are... she'll open a can of whoop-ass for ya... just like she mopped the floor with me in the movie quote contest.. i think, me being Emperor and all, that you should give her an honorary title as well :)

Bob out

Krista said...

Those apartments are really tiny...wow! Cool but tiny :)

Sounds like you're going places with that Novel! Good Job, Sir :)

logankstewart said...

You'll have to give a Borderlands review further on up the road. And, aye, Dragon Age looks awesome, too.

I always loved the way Obi-Wan tells Luke "An elegant weapon for a more civilize age." Alec Guiness was great.

Yes, I, too, am fighting the urge to go back and edit. It's tough. Good luck!

Crystal said...

Yay!! Eggnog at Starbucks!! But I'm a little shocked you would speak so ill of Pumpkin Spice. We only get to enjoy it for a short time...

I saw my bro play Dragon Age at PAX. Looks pretty sweet.

Sodi said...

YAY Dave!!! I can't wait for your novel!!!

Abbie said...

haha dave, those apartments and the tiny added apartment are amazing!! I love them! Thanks for sharing!

cray said...

Thanks for this nifty summary of interesting small apartments.

A nitpick, though: the Hague converted attic is closer to 300 square feet than "under 100." The linked article says "30 square meters," which converts to just over 300 square feet.