brand

plastic balloon

Odd: Sonic Boiling, boiling water through sound!
Sculpture: a whistling sculpture. very mysterious.
Neat: hermit crab in a glass shell
Design: the egg chair comes in chocolate!!!
Neat: world class packer for art. very interesting!
Art: Obey Giant makes awesome Obama Poster!
Cool: museum makes solar plastic bag float(above)
BUY: TED ticket on ebay!!(it’s legit, sponsored by TED, and proceeds go to charity. Bids are up to 34k, and auctions ends Monday)
Art: Troika cloud sculpture.
Fashion: a very bizarre fashion show in paris
Funny video: Improv Everywhere pulls off a frozen in time stunt in Grand Central!
Brand: Generation of Why-ers!(gen “Why”)

Weekend Links Frost designverb
Cool image above here.
Weekend thought: Why do corporations seem to work slower than smaller firms. More people= more help, or more people= more hassle?

– Fun: Wall closet: Throw your cloths on a wall of hooks!
– Fun video: Another great home made Daft Punk video.
– Odd: a man’s skin turns Blue!
– Video Hack: Unlock a car door with a tennis ball.
– Site: iKlimt, A great site dedicated to one of my artist, Gustav Klimt.
– Apple: the very blogged about Apple Air notebook. I’m kind of disappointed, but very impressed with the risk taken. Gizmodo discussions.

china bans plastic bags

Wowzers… awesome!

“It started with San Francisco, Hong Kong, then Melbourne and other cities, and now, beginning in July, all plastic shopping bags in the entire country of China will no longer be free. As part of China’s attempts to reduce their extreme pollution problem, the policy will call for a small charge for plastic bags in China that must be shown clearly in all supermarket receipts.

Furthermore, ultra-thin plastic bags are now banned from being produced at all. As part of this effort, the government is encouraging the use of reusable bags and cloth sacks, and increasing efforts to recycle all plastic bags still in use.”

Via Inhabitat (Source IHT)
Australia does the same via Treehugger.

I’ve have a few reusable bags, but always forget to bring them to the store. Until it’s law, I’m going to forget, and besides, I use my paper bags as trash cans which has been handy.

FYI: statically and visually according to Chris Jordan, we use “60,000 plastic bags every 5 seconds in the USA alone!” (1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags are used in the USA every hour.)

I guess it’s time to go pick up one of those cool reusable bags:
Porter Grocery Tote (paper like plastic bag)
– Muji portable Bag, (I can’t find online, but it’s in the nyc soho store)
Flip and Tumble (A bag that turns into a puck)
AMT Shopper Bag (Louis Vuitton like print bags)

update: I was just at Wholefoods and they said they were starting to ban usage of plastic bags this week/month! Ah, heres an article.

ted 2008 th big questions

The 2008 TED Conference schedule of speakers has just been announced! This years event will take place in sunny Monterey CA as well as a new simulcast lounge in snowy Aspen CO for some lucky individuals!(major party!)

Lots of big questions, unknown exciting speakers, and ideas to numb your brain!…this should be good!

If you have not heard of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference, catch up to their videos on TEDtalks , my 2007 TED recap, or some of my favorites.

barack obama

I’m not one to dive into the political world too often but this years round of familiar candidates has really captured my attention in that it is one of the most diverse round ups buzzing in all media formats traditional and modern on and off-line.

One particular politician that has captured my attention since 2004 is Barack Obama. His poetic speeches are powerful, his personality embraces leadership, his background is diverse, and his beliefs and actions are well supported by reason while embracing listeners to inspire, seek change, believe, and take action.

Besides the fact that this is probably the first time I’ve been excited about a presidential election, Obama is pretty geeky cool in the way that he’s all over the net, on MySpace, Facebook, has his own YouTube Channel, a blog, and even a Twitter feed. An extra highlight being a designer are some sweet icons www.008TheMovement.org has created which I received over the holidays!(thanks Bim)

No matter what the results are for Obama I praise him for being an incredible inspiration, a motivator for change, and a disruptor for the better! Obama just won the Iowa Caucuses and follows up with an amazing speech. Rock on Obama!

Barack Obama’s website

john maeda president risd 2008

Just before the holiday break RISD announced that in June of 2008 John Maeda would be RISD’s 16th president taking over RISD’s longest-serving president (15 yrs) Roger Mandle. This is HUGE news. Watch the introduction of Maeda here.

Being a RISD alum (2002) and having some experience at the MIT MediaLab I’ve mixed feeling about this decision. Maeda is a really well known person coming from the prestigious MIT MediaLab. He’s very smart and inspirational, has an incredible history, probably has some great insights for RISD’s future, BUT I’m just not sure if he is the right fit..only time will tell. It’s a bit tough to follow Mandle.

A few thoughts:
– RISD is a very traditional hands on school and this is their strong point. Hands on is one of those things you can’t just read about or type…you just have to experience it. How does one manage an education system without experiencing it themselves and all the other disciplines? i.e drawing nude people all day all year, knowing materials, understanding students of a different nature, inhaling charcoal, the freshmen experience, doing 3 all nighters a week for 4 yrs, cross pollinating disciplines, sustainability, etc.

– John comes from a very modern digital world. His thoughts on creativity are very statistical which is not bad, but just very different than how most RISD kids think. I’m still not sure why Maeda is that famous besides his mathematical art pieces and his “simplicity” route, but it’ll be interesting to see how Maeda adopts to the physical design world. RISD does lack digitally, but keep in mind RISD is a school of tradition and physicality.

– Maeda comes from a very corporate background, getting projects, funding, lots of media attention, etc. Does RISD want this? RISD is good at leaving students alone in such a way that they have to discover themselves and be unique to the rest of the world. Many schools prep students for what the world wants but RISD’s culture almost forces you to discover yourself over manipulating you into what’s already out there. This can be good or bad. Think of it like an indie band signing onto a label or a street fashion that makes the shelves of wal-mart or corporate life compared to a small firms culture.

– Who adopts to who…does Maeda Adopt to the RISD culture, or will RISD have to adopt to Maeda’s culture?

Watch the two videos of Maeda vs Mandle. It’s pretty obvious who understands the RISD culture more, but Maeda definitely sounds like he’s ready to dive in and learn a ton and become a RISDoid; Ball, Nad, Sack (the RISD sports teams). I do wish the best for Maeda+RISD but as an alum I naturally question changes for the future. Hopefully Maeda launches his own RISD blog as he has for his simplicity forum here. He’s also created a few pretty cool open discussion groups in Facebook asking the RISD community to feed him info on whats good, bad, and ugly.

Any thoughts, please comment! All the best to RISD+Maeda’s future!

I mentioned a bunch of incredible speakers during my safari over to Pop!Tech2007 …and now a few of those lectures are available for watching at Pop!Casts here.

Above is the lecture by Van Jones who is an activist in urban poverty and environmental peril…a must watch!. He’s incredibly talented, smart, funny, and great at speaking that all should learn from!

A few other videos released:
John Legend: his music and his campaign on global poverty.
Jessica Flannery: Kiva.org, a must do Micro Funding site.
Chris Jordan: Photographer on consumerism
Christian Nold:Bio Mapping/ Information Visualization
Steven Pinker: The thinking behind conversation and language.
Louann Brizendine: The emotional behavior of the brain, men and women.
Daniel Pink: Insights on business and how Artists rule the future!!! (awesome for us creatives 😉 !)
Caleb Chung: Pleo, Furby, and otehr fun inventions!

I’ll post the videos after the jump!
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This past year I’ve been incredibly fascinated and inspired by Adam Kalkin’s disruptive, poetic, rustic, and rather playful spacial creations redefining what things could and perhaps should be. His projects show exploration, curiosity, and an incredible sense to imagine like a kid again while being stuck in an adults body which I love.

Check out this great video summary of Adams work and personality via Dwell Daily Blog. For a peek at some of his other whimsical creations:

12 Container House
– Push Button House, NY Times or TheCoolHunter.
Bunny Lane House via ApartmentTherapy
QuickHouse via inhabitat

Adams work reminds me of one of my other favorite sustainable architectural firms: Lot-ek (video, Recycled Airplane Library)

EG Conference Entertainment Gathering

Being a bit bummed I couldn’t make it over to this years wonderful EG conference gathering (the Entertainment Gathering) which started last night, I’m glad to see that their (matt) live blogging it. It’s very textual and less visual but hey, it gives the scoop on the awesome line up of speakers and hopefully they’ll release some kind of video archive if they jump on the bandwagon of conferences alike. I think Matt’s going to add pictures and videos since he’s live blogging like a mad man with spell checks then fixing it all up in the later hours enhancing his posts with images etc.

If your at EG, send me some updates, otherwise, I’ll be reading up on the live blog and searching for any incredible stories for the next 2 nights!

Changing the present.org

Tis the season to be buying and buying and buying for family and friends surrounding us all. Over time we consume hundreds if not thousands of gifts we cherish, use, and dispose of eventually. Over this same time our obsession with consuming becomes apparent and finding something special is hard to come by if not tiring.

Have you ever wondered if your gift ever got used? These are natural questions; “Did I give something useful, did they watch those DVD’s, did they eat those cookies, did they wear that sweater, did they use that tool set, is my gift buried in their closet or hidden in their garage somewhere?

I’ll admit I have several gifts buried in no mans land, so to level up a gift to be consumed, buy a gift “to give!” A gift to make change, to give hope, create jobs, save lives, to change behavior, and a story to follow.

“In the next few weeks, we’ll all be spending $100 BILLION on gifts. Unfortunately, some of that money will be wasted on things like unwanted fruit cakes and slippers. . .

Now, there’s an exciting alternative! Please check out our new look.

At ChangingThePresent.org you can give donation gifts, which help make the world a better place. It’s amazing what your gifts can accomplish: preserve an acre of the wilderness; fund an hour of life-saving cancer research; or even provide a child with her first book, so she can learn how to read.

With over 1,000 gifts, from $2 to $5,000, from hundreds of leading nonprofits, it’s easy to find an inspiring gift for everyone on your list. You can even send a personalized greeting card, with a picture and description of your gift, right from the site.

Just imagine the impact we can make together as this new kind of giving catches on! Please help by sharing this email with your friends.”

Scroll through their list of wonderful gifts ideas here.(thanks Robert)

bmw mini cooper clubman 2008

I’ve been craving a new car for some time, waiting on the Nissan Cube to hit the states (2008) while hopping on the hybrid fuel Toyata Prius bandwagon, as everyone should, but the soon to be released Mini Clubman (stretched mini) has really caught my attention, being small, a bit boxy, and oddly cute like the other cars that I’ve pondered over such as the Scion Xb, Honda Element, and the o so small Smart Car. Of the bunch only the regular mini, xb, and Element are out. I think I can wait as the Mini Clubman (spring 2008) seriously rocks, but I’ve heard rumors that the Nissan Cube (late 2008) is suppose to be a hybrid, as it’s also a 4 door which I like… but the Clubman has this odd 3rd door on the passenger side, much like a secret VIP door to the back seat and some cool barn yard like back doors.

So what does it come down to for me and my next ride?…hmm, fuel economy, cool-oddness, space, fun, comfortable, and some sweet unusual extras.(yes, I know I’m kinda into this boxy pixel thing) Anyhoots, I thought I’d just share my thoughts with ya’ll, perhaps getting some input on what to do or any other thoughts on oddball sweet rides… ooo..Regular mini, Mini Clubman, xB, Cube3, Element, Smart, or I could always just settle with the square “Modular Car“!

Some pictures and links after the jump!
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