On my way to NYC Resistor this afternoon I ran into Brooklyn Mobile, an internet video booth often found moving around downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Mobile is part of the Broadcaster Project, which seeks “to develop an easily duplicable open platform internet video upload appliance.” All their videos of people rapping, ranting, and saying hello are in the public domain. Check ’em out and mash ’em up.
On Saturday, January 9th, we’ve got a great workshop called “CMOS Music : 1-Bit Chiptunes” taught by Phillip Stearns a.k.a Pixel Form. You’ll make a simple music synthesizer using a combination of analog and digital electronics. No programming here, just wiring and learning about musical waveforms.
The next Saturday, the 16th, we have NYC Resistor’s own Ranjit Bhatnagar, a staple of Handmade Music night, helping people make electric guitars out of household items in a class we like to call “Junk Guitar Workshop”. You bring your own wood for the guitar neck, we supply the rest.
More classes will be posted soon… the Winter is cold, so come down to NYC Resistor for some hot classes!
So, the end of the year is fast approaching. It’s time to look back and take stock of your life. And for me, NYC Resistor has been a big part of my life, though not as big as I’d like for it to be at times. This will be our second full year as a space coming to an end. We’ll be celebrating our third anniversary early next year. I’ve been a member for most of that time. The reason we look back at this time of the year is because it’s hard not to be a funk. With the weather worsening, the sun shining less, and the cabin fever setting in as we begin an all too familiar rotation of our winter haunts; we’re faced with the apparition of our own failure. Goals unmet, aspirations unrealized, and battle damage from another long year of economic woe and misery. But in a few short days, we start anew. We take all this nasty funk we burn it and set out on a journey into the next year, fresh and ready to be simply better. From the ashes of that funk comes resolve. That’s what new years resolutions are all about.
Photo by Will Sherman/ANIMAL
Two or three of your friendly neighborhood hackers helped beautify New York this morning with the opening of the second annual “Holiday Gift to NYC Show” curated by Mat Benote and Jordan Seiler. Among the pieces not to be missed were Jessica Jade Jacob’s “Mr. Mustache”.
Read all about it and see more of Will Sherman’s terrific photos on ANIMAL
Holiday time again. NYC Resistor will be suspending the regular Craft Night on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve so we all can spend time hacking interesting things with our families. We’ll resume regular Thursday night open sessions on January 7th. Have a great holiday and we’ll see you next year.
Many thanks to those who came to the paper engineering class today, it was tons of fun! I was especially impressed by how everyone took the principles they were learning and jumped off into their own experiments. Check out some of the gorgeous results below! (Thanks to Ranjit for the photos)
If you can’t tell from the photos, all of these structures can collapse and pop-up again.
Great work everyone, we’ll definitely have to do this again in the future!
Wednesday is over. It’s early morning Thursday, and we’re still at the bench. Here’s a picture of us cracking our fingers at the keyboard. Also, check out DIYbio NYC to see our last workshop here at NYC Resistor.
Thanks again, guys, for having us.
If you’ve not been closely watching our calendar, you might have missed Shelby’s DIY Paper Engineering class that’s this Saturday, December 5th. Shelby is a new member of the group and a frequent Craft Night attendee. Her day job is designing pop-up books and cards, and this class will be a two-hour introduction to making your own pop-up things.
You can get all of the details and sign up for the class at http://paperengineering.eventbrite.com/.
Yesterday Star Simpson, Billy Gordon, and Josh Gordonson (from MIT & Brooklyn Poly) came by to visit NYC Resistor. They told me of their crazy schemes and brilliant plans, and helped me eat a giant slice of strawberry cheesecake.
When I showed them my toy piano and the new sound-processing code I was messing around with, they immediately asked why I hadn’t plugged in a microphone. I swear I would’ve gotten around to it myself… someday.
singing and laughing with the toy piano from ranjit on Vimeo.
Thanks for visiting, guys – you’re welcome any time!
p.s. thanks to Isaac Schankler for help with the piano code; and we were both inspired by Peter Ablinger’s speaking piano.
Devon pulled out his amazing, hand-made chainmail dice bag Tuesday at NYCR and everyone immediately swarmed to check it out. Much like the mythical Turducken packs three meats in one, this amazing bag pulls together three geeky memes, D&D, DIY, and Ren faire chic, into what may be the greatest dice bag ever made.
Music: Arpanauts – Resistor Anthems – Eric Skiff download