I think the decorations are cute: a poster for kids showing the basic fruits & vegetables in written Arabic, a faux-antique plate, and a mandala dish. I don’t know where any of them are from or how they got to where they are at, but I am enjoying the random juxtaposition.
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4/24/2008 || 11:00 pm
The Athan Drum & Bass Mashup via YouTube Doubler
The other day I wrote about Brian Kane’s YouTube Doubler. Continuing on the same style of taking a beat track and adding a new element, today’s mash-up is similar to one that I made before using dub reggae back in December of 2004. Unlike the last version, which was created before YouTube even existed, this mashup features the Muslim call to prayer, known as the Athan, combined with a very techy drum & bass mix.
First and foremost, if you are reading this and are offended by my use of the Athan, I apologize. It is not my intent to debase or make fun of the Athan in any way, rather this mashup was designed to expose others to different ways of hearing the Muslim call to prayer. One of the fundamental tenets of Islam is tolerance and I hope you are able to tolerate this mashup. Drum & bass is very abrasive form of electronic music and the Athan is normally sung without any instrumentation, so I feel it’s an interesting sonic juxtaposition.
What I like most about the Athan video is that it features mosques from around the world. So not only do you get to hear the beauty of the call to prayer, you are shown the beauty of Islamic architecture as well. If you are interested in seeing/hearing a different Athan, check out the call to prayer being sung inside of a al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca. It’s the holiest site in all of Islam.
Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: profiled by Iconoculture
7/20/2007 || 2:35 pm
random banners now greet you - continued
In March of this year I created 15 banners that are displayed randomly each time the website loads. Earlier this week a friend of mine in Shanghai, China sent me my name in Simplified Chinese. She also sent me some useful words I plan on adding to some future maps. I’ve decided to make another batch of banners using this text. There are now a total of 34 different banners.
View the new banners after the fold…
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: my internets are down
5/14/2007 || 9:20 am
Quadrant Map of DC - Translated into Latin - “Novus Columbus Quadrans”
Legend:
• New Columbia - Novus Columbus
• North West - Septentrio Occidens
• North East - Septentrio Oriens
• South West - Merides Occidens
• South East - Merides Oriens
• Anno Domino MMVII - Year of Our Lord 2007
• Signature written in Arabic
This is my first draft of this map. I’ll probably make another with a different color scheme. I feel that there is a lot to be added to this map, but not sure where to start. It’s my first time using Latin as a main focus of a map. I got the idea after looking through the old maps yesterday that it would be funny to label the quadrants of DC in Latin (and future maps with historic samplings). Being that some feel Washington is the modern day Rome, I felt this lexical motif works well. It’s partly educational, partly humorous, and it crosses a few lingusitic barriers that I’ve never approached. Moreover, I am well aware that the water in the area of DC I live in has lead in the water, just like the Romans!
The choice of New Columbia as the title is a reference to the name that DC residents chose to-be for the state of the District of Columbia. I’ve honestly never liked the name “New Columbia” for the state’s name, it’s too old. There is nothing New about naming another state New. Plus, as for abbreviations, NC is already used by North Carolina! So after DC becomes a state, would it be called New Columbia in name but still go by DC or Washington? Or all three?
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3/3/2007 || 9:38 pm
random banners now greet you
In an effort to make my website a bit more Internet Explorer friendly, I decided to remove the eponymous flash animation that used to sit on the left side of the screen (It never really showed up properly on IE anyways). The banner has now been replaced with a php script that randomly picks a file in a folder on my website. I made 15 banners that all feature my second generation digital signature in the southwest corner. Each time you visit a new page you will get a new banner displayed (some exceptions). View the entire lot after the fold…
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Catholic University Quilt
1/27/2007 || 2:00 am
Worst march route ever…
The national park & u.s. capitol police really screwed UFPJ…
official march route:
what is should be:
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9/27/2006 || 8:34 am
I know you are, but what am I?
Say it with me: “I am not a terrorist”
coincidental background…
I met the person who is responsible for the impetus of this slogan / shirt / anti-logo last Thursday in front of the White House when I was doing sound for the Declaration of Peace press conference.
When he was introduced to me I was like, “You look familiar….” and after a few minutes of side talk, “Were you in the GNN movie Battle Ground?” and he smiled. I then quoted him from the end of the movie where he mentions giving the Kabob a chance. He laughed and said, “You have a good memory” and I smiled and thanked him for showing me the aftermath of Depleted Uranium.
Two weeks ago Megan wore this shirt to ESL and while I had never heard of the story behind it, I got a royal hoot out of the social commentary. She sent me the link, and I bought it last Thursday morning hours before meeting him! It arrived yesterday just in time for the start of some cartographic event.
The only other arabic text at North, South, East, Westminster was my name.
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6/29/2006 || 1:32 am
Cathedral Quilt - Signed
File this map under cartographic calligraphy. This is probably my favorite map yet.
While working at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, I had a colleague write my name in Arabic, I recently scanned her text and created a tile that has two attached signatures. The result is a reflection of my signature that can be read in different directions.
I chose to use this map for the DCCAH’s Young Emerging Artist Grant and printed 3 copies. One was framed and currently hangs in my house and another one was donated to the Library of Congress’ Geography & Mapping Division.
View the Google Map of the Washington National Cathedral
#UPDATE#
This map was submitted to the 2007 Web Biennel as an Interactive Map.
View Rendering Details:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: the entire universe!, Bike Stolen!
6/22/2006 || 10:07 am
Nikolas Schiller in Arabic
The perks of cultural exchanges 
The script is a scan from a former colleague at Georgetown University’s Center for Centemporary Arab Studies.
I am going to incorporate this signature in some of my upcoming maps. I think it will add a very interesting design element. I’ve been looking at Arabic calligraphy recently and I see an interesting fusion here.
Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Baltimore Mandala Animated, How many Greens are there in the EU Parliament?
2/5/2005 || 7:08 pm
price of liberation
So last time I went to this penthouse party on Halloween, and I got this money from someone who was dressed as a soldier. He said he had just gotten back from Iraq, but it was Halloween so I had my suspicions. Tonight should be fun…
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The Daily Render: A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, & Future
