 |  | | Point Break Live
Been hearing a lot of good things about Point Break Live. Friends who have seen it say they haven't laughed so hard in years.
Point Break LIVE! is the "absurdist stage adaptation on the 1992 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze extreme-sports blockbuster that tells the story of former College football star, Johnny Utah, in pursuit of the surfing, bank robbing, skydiving, bare-hand-fighting adrenaline-junkie-cum-Zen-master Bodhi Sattva."
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| |  | | | Build for Pritt
A cool French television ad for Pritt correction rollers showcasing the illustrative talents of Build's Michael C. Place. Accompanied with a soundtrack by The Midnight Juggernauts, this should get your correction tape juices flowing.
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| |  | | | Robotic Dog
This hilarious yet eerie robot called "Big Dog", developed by Boston Dynamics, claims to be "the most advanced quadruped robot on earth." That claim has to be true, just watch the video. The best part is where it walks on ice.
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Hosted on Shorpy, the 100-year-old photo blog, hosts amazingly hi rez photos the National Photo Gallery. The amazing detail and clarity of these mostly unpopulated images makes it seem as though you've stepped back in time. I especially like the retail spaces like the drug store, and market.
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| |  | | | Van Goghgurt
"Just like kids need to have good nutrition on a daily basis, kids need to have their daily serving of the arts."
The latest television spots for the "The Arts. Ask For More" PSA campaign for Americans for the Arts are fantastic and campy. I especially like the Brahms Breakfast.
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| |  | | | Now you see it...
Now you don't....
The next time I arrive at my car parked parallel and find that some other driver parked too close to me.... I'm going to wish I had this–the disappearing car door!
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 | | | Burning Man Radio
This time of year, The City sees a mass exodus of cars loaded up with furry bikes and "barter-ables" heading over the Bay Bridge on their way to the Burning Man Festival.
Christy, one of our own here at Tolleson, is one that makes the annual trek to Black Rock City. Her husband TradeMark runs ShoutingFire internet radio station along with his partners all year. They will be broadcasting live from Burning Man on Burning Man's radio station BMIR. Stream it if you want to listen in to what is happening on the Playa.
TradeMark will have a daily show from 3-5pm. Christy will be guest co-hosting so if you listen, you just may hear her on air!
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| |  | | | The Tunnel
Leake Street, London SE1 7NN, also known as The Tunnel is a place where UK street artists are encouraged to apply their trades. Here are some more pics of the event. Sponsored by Blank Expression.
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| |  | | | Pelican Paperbacks
Ace Jet 170's blog is filled with design candy with such things as chickens, maps and television. But, the best thing I found, from bouncing to their flickr set of Pelican paperbacks. Upon further diving, I also discovered an assortment of other collections they feel compelled to share.
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Another awesome series of books from Penguin titled Great Books For Boys offers up six adventure stories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each book features an awesome graphic cover that lends to the mystery inside. For only $10 a pop, they're a steal.
Buchan, John. The Thirty-Nine Steps
Chesterton, G.K. The Man Who Was Thursday
Childers, Erskine. The Riddle of the Sands
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Lost World
Haggard, H. Rider. She
Hope, Anthony. The Prisoner of Zenda
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| |  | | | Samplingplong
Jörg Niehage's Samplingplong is a sound-installation that "abuses technology by integrating interactive computer-technolgy, cheap plastic-trashlike-toy-instruments and parts of obsolete electric and pneumatic equipments. The installation is a sample of accoustic components - improvised garbage-style instruments: it consists of clicking relais, magnetic valves, breathing plastic bags, beer bottles, animated by electricity or compressed air, connected to a computer by an USB-interface.
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| |  | | | Bubble Calendar
Start 2009 off with a bang. Or at least a pop. Handmade in Brooklyn the Bubble Calendar is as beautiful as it is fun. Nice and big at 48"x18", and typeset in Helvetica Neue. Now just try to keep yourself from popping your way through the year on January 1st.
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 | | | Advanced Beauty
If you haven't already done so, you need to subscribe to the Advanced Beauty video podcast on iTunes right now. We've been enjoying the weekly entries by various contributors the last month - 12 more to go. The latest one by Robert Hodgin is fantastic.
Here's a little about the podcast:
"Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound, an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, musicians, animators and architects."
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| |  | | | Tukaani Eating Device
Designer Lincoln Kayiwa, a graduate from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki , creates inspiring and functional everyday objects, from wine glasses for picnics to new-and-improved chopsticks.
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| |  | | | Writing Spoon
London based artist Julia Mariscal has designed a spoon that may find comfort next to that eccentric silver spork in your drawer. It's a spoon with a tip that resembles that of a fountain pen. Just dip it in coffee, chocolate, or sauce, and use it for writing.
The Writing Spoon is now a part of chef Ferran Adria's "Faces" collection of kitchen tools and tableware for molecular gastronomists.
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This is a clever Virgin American in-flight safety video done by Wildbrain in SF. I paid attention to the whole thing. Not only are the illustrations great but the revised script and voiceover are such refreshing updates to the age-old boilerplate blah we've been forced to tune out for years.
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| |  | | | I Want You To Want Me
A beautiful data visualization piece titled I Want You To Want Me by Johnathan Harris and Sep Kamvar. It was exhibited at the MOMA NY from February to May, 2008. The piece uses data gathered from online dating services and compiles it into beautiful visuals using balloons as a symbol for those seeking companionship. There's also a website.
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| |  | | | BMW Concept Car
BMW recently revealed the GINA light visionary model concept car, an innovative new exploration in car design. Instead of the traditional steel and plastic body shell, the GINA concept uses a textile fabric starches over a wire frame. this unique idea allows the car’s skin to change shape, stretching to match the position and curve of the wire frame. this idea is demonstrated in the ‘blinking’; headlights and the flexibility of the car doors as they open. The project began by questioning the purpose of a car’s body and exploring new possibilities. chris bangle, director of design for BMW, discuses the project in this video. the car is currently on show at the BMW museum in munich, germany.
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|
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Branislav Kropilak is a young solakia-born, belgium-raised photographer that has primarily worked for the world’s leading ad agencies. while, his work may focus on things we see all the time like garages, trains, lobbies and billboards, his photography shows them in a new light.
‘The main theme of my work is investigating the way in which modern technology has shaped the human environment and our lives.‘
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| |  | | | Visual Newsreader
I was doing some reasearch on data visualization and infographics when I stumbled upon this amazing newsreader. Offered by msnbc, the Spectra visual newsreader does what it says – "Spectra merges the news spectrum and the color spectrum into an expansive news viewing experience." Wow.
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| |  | | | 1st Ping-Pong Lesson With Lucha Lib
A short film by artist and filmaker Pash*, also known as Lost Post Service. The low-tech video effects and odd story make for some entertaining content.
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|
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Born in Bowling Green Ohio, Ryan Fowler attended Rhode Island School of Design. He currently resides in Vermont, but it is his images of Iceland that made me stop and wish I had enough frequent flyer miles for an extended vacation.
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| |  | | | Cool Clouds
Found on the Cool Things website, a site that never fails to entertain my six year old son. This is a list of the top 10 most rarest cloud formations (in no particular order) that for those lucky enough to see them, were caught on camera.
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| |  | | | Decor for Your iPhone
While we wait for our second generation iPhones to come to an apple store near us, we can use the time to think about how we will decorate our newest electronic friends.
Poolga is a collection of free wallpapers for the iPhone and iPod Touch created from a group of international illustrators.
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The video Lost Generation was the second place winner in an AARP U@50 video contest and I liked the simplicity of the concept and message.
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| | | |  | | | Little Factory
The Little Factory is a small commerce site based out of Hong Kong that sells these awesome typographic scarves made out of ultrasuede. They come in upper- or lower-case and numeric versions. They also make some cool graphic print blankets.
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|
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Born in St. Petersburg in 1962, Alexey Titarenko now splits his time between beloved native city and New York.
A graduate of the Department of Cinematic and Photographic Art at the Leningrad Academy of Culture, Alexey is now a member of the Russian Union of Artists.
I am especially enamored with his City of Shadows collection that was shot in St. Petersburg between 1992 - 1994.
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| |  | | | While Shopping in SF
I think most people have come to expect these kind of shenanigans to happen in San Francisco, but this one is extra special.
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| |  | | | Monstrous Diabolicos
Since Monstrous Diabolicos is in Spanish, and I don't speak Spanish, I deduced that it's a blog by Rafa Toro who's been posting finds from a sticker collection from the "80". The simple color palettes and rough screen printing of the "creatures" is fantastic.
CORRECTION Armin from Brooklyn shed a little light on this entry for me. He said the illustrations were done (rather than found) by Rafa Toro. The first entry: “Hola a todos, este es el gato unicornio, el primero de una colección de cromos q casi completé a finales de los 80.”
Is:
“Hi everyone, this is the unicorn cat, the first in a collection of drawings I almost finished in the late 80s.”
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|
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German artist Johan Lorbeer has taken his work to the streets. In his “Still-Life” performances, Lorbeer elevates himself as sculpture in apparently impossible positions, unhinging the laws of gravity. His corporeal installations such as "Tarzan" and "Proletarian Mural" have given the artist much attention in Germany. Perhaps we'll soon see him here in the states.
View his latest public performances here and here, or check out his website.
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| |  | | | Laser Decks
Seven is an exhibition of lasered skateboard art which allows artists to explore the idea of lasering away at the seven layers of ply to make their mark on the board.
"A select group of artists globally have contributed their works to explore this new technology. Only 50 will be produced per artist. The aim of the show is to have a series of unique decks that collectors may choose to ride or display."
There's more photos on Flickr too.
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| |  | | | Walkman Mashup
Sony's produced an ad under its like.no.other campaign promoting its Walkman. The simple concept? People sharing music. The twist? A song wherein each note is played by one person. The result? An amazing execution, kinda like watching thousands of dominos coming down in sequence without a hitch.
Then the genius of viral marketing takes hold. The Walkman Project is launched which serves as a community and rudimentary sampler where users are invited to submit video clips of themselves playing a piece of the music. Users can then assemble clips together to make their own version of the song. Here's my mix.
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 | | | Fusion Man
Yves Rossy, otherwise known as "Fusion Man" was the first man to achieve flight under a single jet-powered wing. On May 14th, he leapt from a plane at 8000 feet, deployed his 'wing' and began his first exhibition flight over the Swiss Chablais and neighboring mountains.
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| | | |  | | | Visioneers
The film Visioneers premiers today at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film marks the first outing for brothers Brandon and Jared Drake. And hey, any film starring Zach Galifianakis has to be pretty funny. You might also remember him as The Snuggler.
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| |  | | | El Chorro Cliff Trail
If you easily get vertigo, you may want to pass on this. Watching it in full-screen mode is sure to give you butterflies. Video
The path is is called Caminito del Rey which traverses a limestone gorge, El Chorro, in Andalusia in southern Spain. Officially closed in 2000, and you'll see why when you watch the video, it offers access to some of the best rock climbing in Europe.
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| |  | | | Advanced Beauty
In the advance of the long-awaited Advanced Beauty DVD, born from an ongoing exploration of digital artworks influenced by sound and curated by Universal Everything and Freeform, one of the standout artists, Maxim Zhestkov, from Ulyanovsk, Russia, has been producing some incredible visual/sound material.
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BBDO New York created this amazing campaign for BBC World which uses wire sculpture to illustrate the idea that the BBC brings events into your home – literally. "Connecting People with the World" is the slogan. It's great when good ideas and good execution come together to produce something truly memorable.
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| | | |  | | | Chonto
Chonto is an animated short by Carson Mell from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival which follows last year's Bobby Bird: The Devil in Denim.
The film is a bizarre and endearing story told by 70s rock star, Bobby Bird, about his fond relationship with a South American chimpanzee name Chonto.
This year, 45 of the 83 short films in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival are available at iTunes, Netflix and Xbox.com.
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|
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You've seen the effect. What looks like advanced motion graphics can be simply achieved with the low-tech and somewhat risky technique of tossing your camera. That's right, tossing it.
Invented by Ryan Gallagher, an entirely new genre of photography has erupted in the last few years—from camera tossing workshops to museum exhibitions to flickr pools. You too can learn how. What are you waiting for? Toss your camera!
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| |  | | | Evil Bee
Director/animator Stefan Nadelman, who won a short filmmaking award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival for directing Terminal Bar, created this visually stunning Evil Bee video. Music by Menomena.
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| |  | | | All By Himself
Sure, it's easy to be a one-man electronic band these days. But perhaps none is more ambitious or persistent as McRorie.
Taking on the true tradition of “one-man band” with a classic repertoire, his corporeal ensemble includes drum-sensor footwear, a chest full of drum pads, shoulder tilt sensors, and my favorite: “Armband G-Force Sensors.” Top that off with a kilt and you have a legend.
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Here's a table that will make you and your dinner guests finish up quickly to make way for an all night drum session. Artist Tor Clausen has developed the Musical Rumba Series which are hand built tables where you can specify your desired table size and percussive components. Simply start playing playing and unleash your inner raga - like Chatur Lal.
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| |  | | | Art from Code
Generator.x is a platform exploring the use of generative strategies and software processes in digital art, architecture and design. It focuses on a new generation of artists and designers who embrace code as a way of producing new forms of creative expression.
Learn more about generative aesthetics like the above image here or check out Generator.x's flickr pool.
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| |  | | | March Madness
On my bike ride in to work today, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to share this awareness test with as many people as possible. How many passes does the team in white make?
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A show entitled Pricked: Extreme Embroidery at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York showcases 48 artists who use embroidery to "explore into how centuries-old handcraft traditions are rejuvenated in the mainstream of contemporary art and design."
Neat stuff. The phrenology heads are my favorites.
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| |  | | | Polish Expo 2010 Exposition Pavilion
Resembling a giant paper folklore cut-out, this building is the winning entry for the Polish Pavilion in Shanghai's 2010 Expo. If this structure is actually built, one of the most stunning views would be at night, when the exterior is backlit with different colors.
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| |  | | | Nothin' Like a Little Visual Thinking
Brain blockage? Got your noggin in a rut?
Can't think straight? Open your mind and let
the experts at Sesame Street help you out.
Here, here, and here. Visualize baby!
By the way, the second one is the grooviest.
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The Dutch company HEMA who opened their first store in Amsterdam in 1926 has figured out the perfect way to promote and sell products on their shopping site. Why hadn't other online retailers figured out how to do this sooner?
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| |  | | | Meet the Matteses
They call themselves 'hactivists' and the word 'subversive' shows up an awful lot when they're talking about their art.
The work of Eva and Franco Mattes, aka 0100101110101101.ORG, pivots around the idea of identity in a world gone plastic and electronic.
I love the gallery titled 13 Most Beautiful Avatars, followed closely by Annoying Japanese Child Dinosaur.
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| |  | | | Magnificent Hearst Castle
Having gone to university on the Central Coast of California, I have taken several visitors to San Simeon to tour Hearst Castle. On my recent weekend trip, I still find myself amazed by the absurd architectural detail exemplified by the Roman Pool, and it's 1-inch square, hand-placed mosaic tiles. Gaudy as the castle's styling is, there is no way to discount it's significance. William Randolph Hearst had an eccentric vision and famed San Francisco Architect Julia Morgan had the talent and temperament to bring his dreams to fruition.
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 | | | Reanimation Library
The Reanimation Library, in Brooklyn NY, is a repository of misfit and castoff books culled from thrift stores, stoop sales, and throw-away bin across the country. Their online image archive illustrates some of the high points of the collection.
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| |  | | | Frozen Grand Central
A couple of hundred people, indistinguishable from the 500,000 commuters who pass through Grand Central Station each day, suddenly freeze for 5 full minutes. They simply stop right in the middle of wherever they are and during whatever they happen to be doing -- to the consternation of the myriad passersby.
Other memorable stagings by the spontaneous theatrical group, Improv Everywhere, include the annual No Pants! Subway Ride, Home Depot shopping in slo-mo and synchronized swimming in public fountains. See these and more here.
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| |  | | | Time-Lapse Demolition
There's nothing like a good time-lapse video of a house getting destroyed to keep you glued to your computer for five minutes. Enjoy.
If you've got 20 minutes to spare, here's a slower version.
... 30 minutes?, check this one out.
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Adidas Originals in Australia teamed up with Vice Magazine to launch an online game for Australian users to create and promote the Adidas Original Festival with virtual a budget of $100,000.
They select the venue, design promo posters, and select bands from a list of 200, then "promote" their virtual festivals through social networks and email. The festival that gets the highest virtual attendance wins a trip to a music festival in Berlin.
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| |  | | | Low Budget D-Day
The limitless world of CGI. Here's a great example of how a small production budget can net pretty amazing results. Here's what can be accomplished in 4 days with 3 graphic designers, a station wagon, soldier uniforms, a rope, 2 rifles, and a digital video camera.
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| |  | | | Paper Cut
Some of you may or may not have received an email about a paper art contest exhibit at the Hirshhorn Gallery in DC. Well, I did. Upon further investigation, I came to learn this exhibit never existed and that the paper art is the collected work of Danish artist Peter Callesen. So, if you want to spread the word about his art, do so from here. And if you get that e-mail, you might want to send the sender there too.
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Some amazing photos taken by Richard Ehrlich of the crumbling town Kolmanskop in southern Namibia.
A little about the town: It developed after the discovery of diamonds in the area in 1908, to provide shelter for workers from the harsh environment of the Namib Desert. The village was built like a German town, with a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, theater, casino, and ice factory. The town declined after World War I as diamond prices crashed, and was abandoned in 1956.
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| |  | | | iGuitar
PocketGuitar is a virtual guitar for iPhone and iPod touch. You can even have guitar sessions with the songs in your iPod.
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| |  | | | Simply IKEA
Working around art, information technology, and daily life, Chicago based artist Jason Salavon has created a full-size, 374-page reproduction of the entire 2007 IKEA catalogue, reduced & abstracted to only averaged color & lay-out structure.
With an estimated 175 million copies distributed in 2006, the IKEA catalogue is thought to have surpassed the Bible as the most published print-work in the world.
Using software processes of his own design, Jason Salavon generates and reconfigures masses of communal material to present new perspectives on the familiar. Reflecting a natural attraction to popular culture and the day-to-day, his work regularly incorporates the use of common references and source material. The final compositions are exhibited as art objects, such as photographic prints and video installations, while others exist in a real-time software context.
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