2010 James Beard Nominees announced!

Hey all foodie friends,

The 2010 James Beard Foundation awards nominees were just announced about an hour ago.  This just reminds me that I'm now living in a culinary paradise, and I need to get off my butt and eat at some of the world's best restaurants, located in the Bay Area.  Here's a list of just the Bay Area nominees:

• Best New Restaurant: Flour + Water, Frances and RN74, all of San Francisco.
• Outstanding Chef: Gary Danko of Restaurant Gary Danko and Charles Phan of The Slanted Door, both of San Francisco.
• Outstanding Pastry Chef: Nicole Plue of Redd in Yountville
• Outstanding Restaurant: Boulevard in San Francisco
• Best Chef, Pacific: Jeremy Fox, formerly of Ubuntu in Napa; Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco
• Outstanding Restaurateur: Pat Kuleto of Boulevard, Epic, Farallon, Jardiniere and Waterbar in San Francisco; Martini House in St. Helena and Nick’s Cove & Cottages in Marshall
• Outstanding Service: Michael Mina of San Francisco
• Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Merry Edwards of Merry Edwards Wines in Sebastopol; John Shafer and Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards in Napa
• Outstanding Wine Service: A16 and Restaurant Gary Danko, both of San Francisco
• Rising Star Chef of the Year: Timothy Hollingsworth of the French Laundry in Yountville

The full list of nominees: http://www.jbfawards.com/nominees.html

who needs pants?

I apologize in advance, for this post has nothing to do with papercraft or robots, but is just me ranting about something I've noticed on some online clothing retailers' websites that's been driving me CRAZY!  I've noticed that some online stores, such as Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, like to post pictures of their clothing on partially nude models.  For instance, American Apparel likes to post pictures of pants on models who are completely topless.  First of all, I find this very unhelpful as I normally wear tops with my pants (when I'm going outisde anyway), and it would really serve me better if I could see what the pants look like on a normal, fully-clothed person.  I get the whole young, sexy marketing thing, but really?  I have no problem with nudity on the internet, but does it have to be mixed in with my online shopping?

This is one of my favorites, a blouse from Urban Outfitters on a model wearing knee-high socks, Wellington boots, and guess what else....not pants!
blouse with no pants

paper.robot.2

Shin Tanaka is one of my most favorite paper artists, and this "4-in-1" robot was really fun to make.  This design was created as part of the "Papershapers" art exhibit presented by Scion and curated by Giant Robot Magazine.  I got the templates for this paper robot from issues No. 56 & 57 of Giant Robot. 

If you look closely, you can see the 4 different sets of robot faces.  I found the template still available for download here: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/make-your-own-paper-robot-shin

Definitely check out Shin Tanaka's other work here: http://shin.co.nr/