Christine's talk @ CHI
Originally uploaded by dbdbrobot.

here i am, presenting at my first conference! sure, i've worked the mic on a runway and can chatter with friends until dawn, but that doesnt mean i wasnt shaking in my boots (on quivering tiptoes, since the microphone was just a smidgen out of reach) addressing a good part of the CHI community that was interested in everyday use of mobiles.

thanks to francis who put up with my nervous performance-anxiety quibbles and who took some documentation of the talk. because, honestly, i have no recollection of the entire experience. blur, baby, blur.

let's go time-traveling and pretend that i'm back on track with the chi fashion report, shall we?

who's shakin' on tuesday.

i have to admit, i was feeling a wee bit challenged seeking out well-dressed conference attendees on the second day of festivities. perhaps everyone had already vested their best on the first day? was this really the sad truth? i scoured the field, staring quite intensely (though may have appeared strangely) down hallways and up escalators, through the rose-coloured lenses (and fuschia-tinged windows) of the palais. my eyes blurred through the endless parade of nondescript apparel.

so, for these lucky few, thank you for making the day that much brighter.

up first (and cinching my max quota for one medialabber per day)...



amanda parkes: tangible media group, mit media lab

anyone who has ever seen amanda knows full well her fashion intellectualism and outrageously unique style. her shirt above comes from (one of my favourite labels) cop.copine, of french design. amanda confessed that about half of her wardrobe is furnished by skunkfunk, a spanish company, that she scoops up happily whenever she has opportunity to faire du shopping in europe. amanda was a tad ambivalent about favourable shop ops in boston, though she recommends scoping the hayes valley district in san francisco (her old digs), and attends to the usual haunts of nolita and williamsburg when traveling to new york. her favourite place in the world to go, though, is germany. 'i'd just go to east berlin... it's awesome!' if there were any method to her clothing madness, amanda remarks that it's quite an organic process, starting from a single object like an accessory or a shoe and adding layers up from there. her enthusiasm for shoes run deep, and some of her personal picks include united nude, a footwear-meets-architecture company started by rem koolhaas; and muxart, a sporty yet spunky shoe label from barcelona. after surveying the chi masses, she would advise: 'please... no khakis, no button-downs. learn from the europeans!'

spoken like a true american. :)

tuesday evening was a job fair in the big central 'common' complex. read: lots of cheap swag and free xxl white tshirts. *shudder* however, among all the ritual of shiny card-swapping and corporate soul-stealing, i spotted this gal after espying her tie-back ribbons and to-die-for shoes:



maryam tohidi, of university of toronto + microsoft research, cambridge, UK

finally, a sliver of hope in the midst of the circus. relief washed over me and curled expectantly at my toes.

speaking of toes, her gorgeous shoes warranted a story. and what a story! maryam does research in cambridge, UK, but takes occasional visits to bath (bahth!) 180 miles away. she found these awesome shoes at the office in bath, and lurved them, but wavered and figured she could get them back at another location in cambridge. well, she went back to cambridge, and soon discovers the office there had the same style, but not the same colour (brown crocodile) as the ones she fell for. honestly, sometimes you really cannot settle for less! so she went back to bath just to fetch the shoes, the original and best. together at last! i love happy endings.

in her university surroundings in toronto, maryam likes the funky and local designs at queen street. her fashion fetishes are jewelry, where she confessed to having a 'ton in her collection', and handbags. shoes, bags, chic metals... what more would a girl want? maryjam fights for originality! continue your noble campaign, dahling!

mmmm, let's show those luscious shoes again, now shall we?



seeing these make me instantly happy. sigh.

and presenting the last fashion plate of the evening...



jamie zigelbaum, of tufts university

jamie, take two:



if you can't tell, there are gold rolex watches silk-screened on the inside of the black sweatshirt. jamie demonstrates flinging the bling. he got this brilliant garment at one of my favourite stores, proletariat in harvard square. (i knew them back when they were down in the dingy lower level on jfk street! hardcore, you garage-monging punk wannabes... heehee.) the owner of the vintage clothing shop, kerry simon, also handscreeens a bunch of original designs. so rockin', right? anyway, jamie describes his personal style philosophy of pastiche, stealing a bit from here and there, remixing bits and pieces, and basically following a trajectory of organic evolution. true darwanism at work here, folks. one of his fav clothing meccas is karmaloop on newbury street in boston, where they have an 'awesome array of shoes' including the kisaragi koyomi by reebok and special series puma kicks.

jamie concludes with this gem of wisdom: 'be a nonconformist. wear what you like, not what anyone else says.'


'unless, of course, that person is your girlfriend. then it's probably in your best interest to wear what you're told.'

---

so those were tuesday's muses. thanks everyone, you all look smashing! readers, stay tuned for more chi fashion reports! (virtually) live from montréal! ;)

finalement!

i uploaded all my montréal photos to flickr.



there's about 160 of the suckers, taken over five days.

photo editing and uploading! the toil! the sweat! but i imagine way less work than actual (quelle horreur!) scrapbooking! i do know the hardships of physical photographs; it can take me hours to even settle on selection, much less layout, orientation, annotation, and colour-coordination.

enjoy! :D

hier soir, je suis arrivée!

boston welcomed with sunny, yet unbelievably chilly, arms; upon getting home i was never the happier to shower in my own apartment after very tiring and exhilarating trip. i rushed straightaway to my fridge, where i stashed some contraband cheeses (avec lait cru!) and meats (québecois charcuterie!) that had been hidden and whisked through security. customs security and search must be awfully random, because all i have to do is blink my eyes and say, 'no, i am not bringing any food through! not even chocolate! or oranges!' and i just get issued through. i seriously could have poisonous seeds or a very patient small canadian animal in my luggage. who would ever be the wiser?



on the left we have fromage à pâte molle sainte martine (which apparently was a finalist at some canadian cheese championship, ascertained from judges who "observed, touched, smelled, and tasted 189 cheeses"), lait cru de vache pâte molle fromage de terroir des îles-de-la-madeleine from fromagerie de pied de-vent, and fromage affiné à pâte molle le petit sorcier (scroll down) from fromagerie chaput pour les dépendances du manoir.

whew.

on the right we have rosette de lyon and saucisson cacciatore calabrese fort, both from charcuterie gastronomique, la charcuterie du pére antoine. both are spicy! i'm a little confused as to how to store and serve these sausages. the rosette says "keep dry" and the expiration date is nov 2006. after searching online i see that 'rosette de lyon' is an 'exquisite cured saucisson, a classic dry, french sausage', and to 'serve as an appetizer with cornichons and pickled onions'. that sounds yummy, though seems like i just cut and serve it straightaway. however, i'm sticking it in the fridge anyway - think that's ok? it's vacuum-packed. the other saucisson cacciatore label says to keep refrigerated. i found this wikipedia entry on saucisson en francais, but i'm a little confused. if anyone can advise on how to store and serve these things (i.e. i dont want to eat something raw or heat up something i'm not, that'd be helpful).

anyway, maybe one of these upcoming nights i should have a french wine, cheese, and sausage party! i am looking forward to the cornichons. :)

and i havent even started telling you all about the chocolate i smuggled in. oh là! for another day, perhaps...

mit's spring weekend commenced last night with a live concert by the one-and-only cake. you must understand, i have been a cake fanatic (interpret that as you wish) since my salad days as a sardonic, dark-lipstick-wearing, music-obsessed highschooler. i got first hooked by the mariachi + touch-tone deadpan of never there, and was soon seduced by john mccrea's ridiculously uncool cowboy hat and heartstabbingly witty lyrics. i was lucky to see them in concert (6/11/99!) at the 9:30 club in d.c. (with the old 97s opening), and it was the perfect little dark venue to get lost in. anyway, last night i was feeling very nostalgic and a self-admitted oldskooler who 'knew them back when.' i bought will-call tickets when i heard the news; however, i found it irritating how the tech mentions that cake was the fifth choice of the student committee; can we publicly label you nth-string losers, too?.

anyway, so nick and i ambled to the athletic center, fetched our tickets, turned around and quickly took in the madness.

they have #$*@ing metal detectors, with search teams and security and everything. uh, what? you dont nearly see such an elaborate scene at the airport, much less at live music venues such as the banknorth garden or the orpheum. we were incredulous. i just had my handbag, which i slid on the table and walked through the metal detector. i *never* set off airport detectors (hello, i was just in a two intense airport securities this week with no probs), but of course the thing beeped, and i was unnecessarily frisked. in the meantime, some lady was going through my bag and OPENING EVERYTHING. i have lots of little change purses the size of 3"x5" as an organization system, and she was unzipping everything. i was so shocked i couldnt say anything. then i said, 'excuse me, are you looking for something?' and she responded, 'weapons, that kind of thing.' um. this was COMPLETELY intrusive, and she was laying everything out: gloves, postcards, all the junk in my bag. she finally got to the bottom, and reached out and dangled my digital camera out like a dead rat. 'you cant bring this in. can you go put it in your car (what car, lady?!) or somewhere, you cant bring it in.' i was furious and asked why i couldnt; i promised not to take pictures (really.) and it's absurd that everyone can bring in their cellphones and treos and stupid intrusive devices that ring but also have camera capabilities. not only was this entire thing completely stupid (and possibly unconstitutional) but, honestly, why did i have to walk all the way back across campus and everything, wasting an indignant half hour of my life? anyway, it was just ridiculous, and we spoke to both the security manager (who was unbudging) and the student organizers. i understand that no one wants to be sued, etc, but i'm sure CAKE would never want this sort of militia-esque front gate for one of their shows. it throws trust and commonsense right out of the window. i was tempted just to stick my camera down my waistband, walk through, and force them to strip search me. insane, right? what can they do? i secretly kind of wanted to get arrested over a camera, just to illustrate how absurd their system was. but of course, being the diplomatics, we just went back to the lab and dropped off the camera and came back. very much an annoying start to the evening.

the place was packed, and being short (4'11.5") i was near the front but had a face full of SHIRTBACK of the tall person in front of me. if i went on tippytippy toes and cocked my head a bit, i could make out the face of john mccrea. who was awesome! he had the random uniform of jeans, tshirt, zip overshirt, and a trucker hat. still bearded, still plump, still hilariously deadpan. i cant remember all of the set, but they started off with frank sinatra, and then comfort eagle, love you madly, wheels, no phone ('this is a song about communication technology'), stickshifts and safety belts, the guitar man ('i thought this song was sad, even before i became a musician, but now i think it even more so'), shadow stabbing, sheep go to heaven, never there. also in this set was a dedication to buck owens, a country artist who recently passed away: 'hope you guys dont mind that we play a country song.' john interjected between songs of the set with that lovely dose of irony that secretly makes fun of everyone in the room. as people yelled out song requests, he's like 'one of the advantages of our non-preset song lineup is that we, cake, can happily be your kind of push-button jukebox.' and after a big audience-participation battle-of-the-sexes no-phone chorus back-and-forth ('sing, men, you misunderstood vikings!'), john remarks, 'yes, mit! look at that, you can sing together! now you can do *any*thing!' it was great, haha. as an encore set, they started off with arco arena, which is their only (as far as i know) instrumental piece. i find it impressive enough that a 'rock' band issues an instrumental piece, but also to start off the encore with it? it was reassuringly devil-make-care. john then went into an amusing lament of 3/4 time in popmusic and mtv, and slid into their waltz-time ballad of mexico (my favourite!!), and then swept up the crowd with (of course) the distance.

i was squished and hot and increasingly annoyed by some of the obnoxious undergrads, who obviously did not know how to behave at a concert (really! i'm not just being ornery! ok, maybe i am... but still...). but i was very impressed with cake's set (i love the counterpoint in instrumental lines [following the bass line is a dizzying thrill], and the characteristic whizzing rattle) and was happy to hear that they're going through independent distribution again.

i would happily have another slice of cake. thickly sliced and à la mode, s'il te plaît.

my tummy is full of moules + frites. this week has been completely exhausting, and squelching all plans of effervescent blogging. i will promptly nestle into this hotel-linen'd bed, but just future promise that i will bare all (+ more CHI fashion profiles!) when i get back to boston.

but for now, bonne nuit!



i'll leave you with a pic from last night (w/ francis and a whole bunch of medialabbers++) at joey berzowska's gorgeous vintage flat overlooking parc la fontaine. le sigh. so incredibly jealous. :)

here. food. to whet the bloggy appetite.

for today, a takeaway lunch from the very convenient IGA supermarché au complex desjardins. veal cacciatore (tomato-tinged 'baby moo!') atop rotini, and some 'baos de longévité' that were adorable from afar, but absolutely throat-parching at first bite. imagine a plump, pink bun filled with lotus paste...



with all the softness and moisture obliterated with an utter, painful death. i think i need a refund on the promise on longévité. however, i forgive because of the cute. don't we all?

at the end of a long and exhausting day, voilà dinner, via vincent via leo, at le café du nouveau monde (here's a a review in english). the restaurant was jam-packed while we waited for a table for over half an hour, but at precisely 8pm the place became a ghost town. all the bustling clientele left for the performance in the adjacent théâtre du nouveau monde (i saw a lot of stylish french women complete with their skirts, boots, scarves, and doe-eyes). i enjoyed the warm goat cheese with sun-roasted tomatoes and fresh basil (über-gooey and delish!), and the salmon with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, and a soy + lime marinade, with liberal sprinkles of sesame seeds. fantastique asian fusion, and yumyum to the flavourful salty fishy.




ah, bon.

maintenant, je dois dormir! autrement, je mourrai. c'est triste. c'est vraiment triste. *ronfles*

stupid inconsistent internet connection / stupid blogger thingy that wont let me upload photos! (and i've had almost zilch luck with flickr uploads since i've been up in canadia.) these chi people are really soaking up the bandwidth. wah.

food and fashion report in all its montréalesque grandeur tomorrow, in the pockets of time that i'm not sleeping, sipping, or presenting. *zonk* i'll be so happy and relieved when it's over! also, i definitely want to post the most original or interesting presentation from each day. monday's was most certainly a shoo-in. more on that later.

goodnight to all and see you at an eye-opening 8am tomorrow for chi madness. and madness it shall be!

so, understandably, i came to montréal for chi. in the midst of the first day, i (with desperate passion) knew my mission here was to imbue this massive congregation of interaction technologists with a little bit of style. i mean, what else to do? and thus i present:

the first annual CHI fashion report

a live and downright improvisational adventure through the minds and wardrobes of the international bestest and brightest. each day of the conference i will scope out some of the more strikingly dressed, and plaster them here for their fine stylistic due.

i warmed up with a favourite...



vincent leclerc, mit media lab.

i caught him this morning in a fetching, if not downright eye-scorching, hothot pink shirt from haight-ashbury, layered over an american apparel *neon* yellow tshirt. (apparently he also picked up matching neon underwear. i took his word.) the ensemble was prompted by an unexpected loss of luggage by air canada yesterday, en route from boston to montréal. quelle horreur! vincent, an alum of local concordia university, prefers to shop at the local designer wares at les cours mont-royal. what fuels his look? lots of colours, unadulteratedly saturated. yow!

up next, a well-clad duo, waiting in anticipation for the opening ceremonies, i.e. an enormous lot of mass-produced free, salty, sweet food...



on the left we have galen scorer, manager of the habitat new media lab at the canadian film centre in toronto; on the right is faisal anwar, a recent former grad at habitat.

together, chatting, clad in neat jeans and fitted tops, i knew there was something simmering under the surface. galen confessed that he frequently shops his style at the discount rack at guess, and also scours the digs on ever-hip queen street. faisal, not to be outdone, plunks his hard-earned cash at french connection, queen street, and at sheido. faisal admits he takes a very, very long time to deliberate on clothing choice ("it takes me even longer than my wife"), and he approaches a 'thoughtful' fashion philosophy by investing in a few clothing pieces of utmost quality that he wears constantly. galen likens his wardrobe to "conservative... with a twist!", and realises that he probably is in some sort of urban cowboy, post brokeback mountain kind of aesthetic. when asked to comment on the CHI fashion scene, galen responds, "oh, hey, at least it's better than siggraph". well said, boys. well said.

onto the reception in the big circus tent...

who is this beauty all in black?



why, it's christine satchell of university of melbourne!

she recently completed her ph.d. (w00t!) and not only looks great in a belted black dress (her "generic black conference" dress, she laments), but also works on technologically enhanced koalas (aw) and the swarm project with sony CSL. perhaps we crossed paths at last year's siggraph fashion show! in melbourne, she lurves shopping at shag and other vintage stores, and is dying to peruse the shops up and down la rue de st. denis here in montréal. what's her look? definitely eclectic. shine on, christine!

peeking through the crowd appears a pretty pair of coloured blossoms.



hallo to cuties rikke dam of denmark and aviaja hansen of the interaction institute of sweden!

rikke, on the left, loves the affordably awesome style of vila, and definitely recommends strøget and the latin quarter in aarhus, 2nd largest city in denmark. aviaja, on the right, keeps her newly pregs self under wraps in a blossoming dress by inbuM, and goes to town in gothenberg, 2nd largest city in sweden. (coincidence?) these girls keep smiling, and laughingly agree that the style factor of CHI definitely has some room for improvement. (hear that, polo + khakis boy?)

and finally, le créme du jour:



everyone's favourite matching set of the day, nick bryan-kinns of department of computer science at queen mary, university of london and jennifer sheridan at the computing department of lancaster university.

blindingly fabulous in white suiting head-to-toe, with rakishly daring caps and dark ascots, nick and jennifer turned heads at every conference-clad corner. nick, who is hosting hci 2006, defines his style as "whatever's clean" and "better than wearing underwear", and acquires a stellar wardrobe from the dalston district of london. jennifer, hosting digital live art, prefers to get her goods at op-shops like the salvation army and other secondhand purveyors. as to what she defines her fashion philosophy as, she simply responds, "yes." i'm sure we'll be seeing more dramatic dressings of this dashing duo.

stay tuned for more exciting, hot-off-the-escalator fashion news, straight from the palais du congrès in montreal! your source of exclusive style and shopping tips from the HCI pros.

+ - + - + - + - +

dîner fantastique au le pistou, avec medialabbies au jus.




zut, alors! la mort par le chocolat.

a sleepy update...

where: the hyatt regency + palais du congrès, montréal
who: with my smg peeps
what: sigchi 2006
why: i'll be presenting my accepted CHInotes, bébé!
how: with all the energy i can muster

the wifi in the hotel is a bit spotty, and uploading to flickr is downright impossible. here are some pictures to appease.

yesterday i really worked the cupcakes. and it showed!


adapted from banana cake from better homes + gardens cookbook. using organic bananas from boston organics. completion process involved a cupcake casuality and massive chocolate consumption.

frostings: chocolatechocolate, and sweetmascarpone.

look at roomie, in cupcake bliss! ah.

so tonight, after landing and checking into the hotel and registering, we ambled out into the evening to find a good place to eat. we got off at a random métro stop and walked around til something caught our eye.



AREA restaurant, on the edge of the gay village. so posh and crisp and urban. there are so many dishes to list, but this is a place where the menus are hinged thin aluminum, the napkins are paperweighted by smooth sea stones, the glasses are filled via a mini steel watering pot, and the waiters are all male and casually clad in black. i started with a classique gin martini, followed by a complimentary amuse-bouche from the kitchen (razorclam froth, garlicky mayonnaise with mini alfalfa and thin toasts), and then an adventurous shared appetizer (oysters on the half-shell with slivers of green apple and yuzu, beef tartare (!) and a creamy pea potage), my entrée (half female duckling breast with ton of other side ingredients including a to-die-for mushroom ragout and a coriander salad with tiny pepper tempura), and a sweet finish (3-way sharing of a dark chocolate tart + hazelnut icecream).

it was very, very good. food in tiny increments over a course of two hours. however, the dreamy experience was a bit anti-climactic because it took absolutely forever to get the check. there was a party of 20 in the restaurant, which probably occupied most of the energy of the staff, but still. getting the check should be easy (especially when it's directly requested), and an easy way to insure a good tip!

now, trying not to think about getting up early tomorrow to catch the 8:30 keynote opening. *yawn* nightnight!

p.s. everything's all in french here! c'est trés plaisant!

in and out like a flash!

[what's new?]

on thursday, the esteemable yarn harlot came to town, courtesy of porter square books and mind's eye yarns. to relay a dirty secret, i actually don't read the yarn harlot's blog regularly! eep! so a lot of the draw in going was to just take in the spectacle of all the boston-based knitters in their regalia, knitty madness, estrogen, etc.




there she is, in her lime green (yay!) kiri shawl and cracking knitting jokes left and right. i loved her story of telling the people at the cool music publicist party that, yes, i write books about knitting humor. [beat.] it's a niche market. hee.

and looky here, the mit knitters are gosh-darn famous!

read about last night's excursion with andrea to the fab fashion event on decor8. props to holly!

and then, today, i did a lot of things including cooking an all-organic meal (courtesy of earth day and boston organics), and this:



ha!



these socks are süper comfy and claim an eye-scorching hue, but they sure are difficult to photograph on the back of your leg! thank goodness this junior prom glass in the kitchen came in handy. for now on i will no longer be known as the weird roommate who knits; i will be the weird roommate who puts socks on the communal glassware. tasty.

but anyway, weirdness aside. ta-da... my second pair of socks! [how i love th' worsted yarn.]

pattern: gemma, from socks for sandals and clogs, anna zilboorg

yarn: lorna's laces shepherd worsted, irving park colourway, from kpixie

needles: size 3 circulars to get 7 sts = 1" gauge

numbers: 48 stitches circumference

method to madnes: toe-up, using turkish cast-on, and short-row heel. i learned my lesson and did the russian bind-off, which worked stretchily perfectly!

the yarn is extremely soft, though a little loosely spun, so it's prone to splitting. however, they feel divine on. and the orange. the orange!

more pictures later. i'm lazy, but they do involve cupcakes. stay tuned.

tomorrow: montréal or bust! go canada. anyone know cool stuff to do while i'm up there?

so, if you havent already heard the news (like, omg), the bursting-from-the-womb offspring of katie holmes + tom cruise has finally emerged into the world of mere mortals. [via PITNB via people]

i was secretly amused to learn that they named their baby daughter Suri Xenu L. Ronnette Holmes-Cruise. not because it involves an X or about eighteen successive syllables. that's so habitual.

The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew meaning "princess," or in Persian meaning "red rose," the rep added.

you know what i think of when i hear suri?

here's my mental image:

+ =



for real. see what you're missing.

suri dream holmes-cruise.
suri lace holmes-cruise.
suri elegance holmes-cruise.

that girl is going to be the warmest and furriest baby ever.

p.s. hot tip! here's a time-saving recipe for placenta polenta courtesy of the amateur gourmet... and leave room for dessert!

i forgot to mention.... i got a very very special gift from the easter bunny...

^_^

as requested, it was adorably well-hidden, enough to make me turn the entire apartment upside-down, breathless. i even looked in my sock drawer. nope, not there. inside my bag? no! under my sheets? in the dishwasher?

i went bananas!

doigetahintwhereisitpleasepleasedonttellmeisithereorthereorwhereinthe?!

i am so easily amused.

must. blog. before falling. asleep.

[now that i'm exercising regularly my bedtime has magically moved earlier and earlier. are my late nights coming to an end? egads!]

tonight i felt like trying out a new recipe, something tasty to finally get rid of the chicken breasts from trader joe's that have been clogging up the back of the freezer for the last several months. the chicken, lonely never again.

found a reasonable dish in the four ingredient cookbook, and adapted it in regards to my own patience, and also the current inventory at whole foods.

the secret four aren't too difficult to spot out. chicken (you're on to something), lemon, pancetta (substituting for serrano ham), and butter (which i omitted). lots of fresh pepper to round it out. the presentation is so fancy! i got some of my leftover potatoes and the last bits of petite peas. [now that my food is almost completely depleted, i am waiting in mouth-watering and fridge-filling anticipation for my upcoming boston organics delivery!]



yay. the oozy fat from the pancetta moistens the meat and lavishes a tasty bit of pork to the poulet. click here to see slightly more lip-smacking, tissue-glistening, vegan-terrifying detail.

segue into a knitting update. i've been off-and-on these bright socks, and got a bit done this weekend between an afternoon at diesel café and a really bad lindsey-lohan-hosted SNL. bad.



boring, normal, everyday socks, you say?



aha! betcha didnt see that one coming.

i am all over the patterns in anna zilboorg's socks for sandals and clogs, especially since they're quirky and intricate in a never-will-you-see-in-stores kind of way. this one is called gemma.



i'm using lorna's laces shepherd worsted (handpainted superwash merino!) in a lovely colourway, irving park, that has these insane neon oranges flitting through the devil-may-care fuschia and spots of lavender. i have 48 stitches in circumference; i laugh at the prospect of scrawny 'sock' weight yarn. bulky sweaters for the feet, la la la...



my mullet socks. business in the front, but party in the back.