Graham, sounds great. unfortunately the timing is terrible for me. hope you'll post the minutes. or at the very least ridicule me for not going.

".5" ... does that make it semi-serious?

smart-ass

oh - poo - going to be out of town!! Definately up for the next one.... I was IN NY maybe I could work it out...but I need to be able to plan a trip in!! Eventually could someone do a "plan-ahead" kind of thing?

Here's the deal, everyone hosting a series needs an iView with broadband access so we can all log in from home. ;o)

Actually Darrell, aside from Armin's stated technophobia... that's a brilliant idea to webcast this.

and incriminating!

>Eventually could someone do a "plan-ahead" kind of thing?

Sarah, you are absolutely right. "Planning ahead" will be the norm on these events. Unfortunately, Tomato are foreigners, and have small windows to be all together in the same place — even smaller for that place to be the US. So, I would highly encourage anybody in NY to go to this, their workshops are legendary and this should not be any different. If I had those 2 million dollars Kiran was asking about in his 28 questions my ass would be on a plane to NY right now, well, maybe on thursday.

I do apologize for the short-notice. But the event will probably make up for it.

damn foreigners....JUST KIDDING! I want to copy notes from all of those who can go...please!!

Thanks Senor Vit!

I just sent my RSVP email. My fingers are crossed. Armin, you da man.

>aside from Armin's stated technophobia...

Huh? You being a smart-ass again?

Only three people have signed up. Come and get it while it's hot.

"nor a microphone and will actually be kicked out of the room if s/he dares bring a PowerPoint presentation"

Oh. That. It's PowerPointphobia. I'm all for widgets and whatnot.

well, then ... how 'bout archiving these things on the web or webcasting them, chief? too much too quick?

oh, that's too much too quick dude.

As for archiving, if someone has a DV-Camcorder, there's really nothing to it.

So far we have 9 people signed up.

Wish I wasn't 3 hours away and too broke for a hotel :(

So, um, what is everyone bringing for "one thing you love" and "a bottle?" I'm assuming "bottle" means "booze"? Or am I just an alcoholic?

No, but if you bring a bottle of booze as the one thing you love, then you'd be an alcoholic.

Haven't decided.

There are only a couple of spots left.

So once you have a complete list of attendees, will you post it here or email it to the attendees, preferably with URLs if applicable? I would love to know who else is coming and research them a bit...

I have too much stuff to do (and I'm a bit lazy today) to link everybody up, so I'll just list the people going and type in their url if applicable.

1. Mary Jane, www.mjbroadbent.com

2. Tarah Kennedy

3. Terry Berkowitz

4. Anna-Kari Lejon

5. Jeseka Djurkovic (USA Weekend magazine)

6. David Cushman + 1 http://www.formsubstance.com

7. Frank Bonomo + 3 www.core77.com

8. Patrick Durgin-Bruce www.ultravirgo.com

I think I'm missing one or two people, can't find the e-mails.

Have fun!

Hey Armin, thanks so much for hooking up this gig. It was good fun and a real shot in the philosophical arm on a dreary NYC weather day. Big thanks to Tomato for giving us their time and talent!

MJ

Yes, thanks to Tomato and Armin. It was a great experience. I can't believe more people didn't jump at the opportunity. I left feeling inspired, introspective -- and slightly dizzy from the amazing visuals, the blur of British accents and the clouds of secondhand smoke.

Hey New Yorkers,

Would you be so curteous as to indulge us in what went on at the Tomato headquartes this past weekend?

Everybody is for sure eager to know.

YEs yes...please tell!

Okay, I'll tell. Sorry it took so long, I've been crazy busy and trying to fit a few final summer vacation weekends in. I'm surprised no one spoke up.

Let's see what I can remember. It was a small, informal gathering - 4 tomatoes and about 8-10 of us plebes. First observation: Graham is quite nice, and smokes like a chimney - in their office, no less. In fact, all the UK folk do. Good thing they don't live here in our smoke-free (at least from cigarettes) city.

Anyway, they went through a rundown of their work for an hour and a half or so. As someone who previously had only a passing knowledge of what they do, it was great for me to see the variety, and more interestingly, to hear them talk about it. To me, the concepts and ideas behind the projects were more impressive than the execution. It's refreshing to see a design group take such an artistic and conceptual approach to their work. They don't just think outside the box, I don't think they know where the box is, or really care. Though I often found the level of impact in the final pieces a bit lacking: not quite living up to the high promise of their concepts. But hearing each of them describe their ideas for a broad range of topics, I gained a great appreciation for what these guys do.

Then we had a little round table discussion over our open bottles (wine, J.D., coke). One of the bigger topics that kept coming up was the education of designers, and approaches to teaching - how does one really teach not only the technique of design, but how to *think* conceptually and insightfully? Along the way, we each spent a minute or two discussing the things we brought that we love, which included a ruby-sequined slipper destined for an art installation, a beautiful Japanese(?) children's book with tipped-in acetate records, ee cummings poetry books, a matchbox and a letter of critique(?!?) written by one of the tomato guys years ago.

But the highlight, for me, was the final piece Graham showed us: a video for Underworld he had recently finished. It also happened to include something he loved, being shot in Tortilla Flats here in NYC. Let me tell you, it's a beautiful, touching little scene of a guy (the bar owner) hula hooping as if it's the only thing that mattered in life, set to a beautiful Underworld track ("Born Slippy", if I recall). I'm not sure where/when it can be seen, but I highly recommend it.

Anyway, that's what happened. It was a nice informal gathering that helped us forget the rainy weather. Sorry this doesn't include more insight or detail, it was a couple of weeks ago now.