fun

Inside Out Bears: Kent Rogowski

Posted by _tango! on July 11, 2007
Posted in: art, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, thoughts, wacky. 2 comments
Kent Rogowski bears inside out book

“Think of your favorite teddy bear. Now imagine it’s been ripped open, gutted, and turned inside-out. That’s what Kent Rogowski’s Bears series has done to the iconic stuffed animals of our childhoods. In his recently published book and show at Foley Gallery, Rogowski mangles our memories and, at the same time, makes them all the more real.”

Pretty cool project ..and Kent’s a RISD alum whooohoooo! His bears reminds me how doing a total 180 makes things better!.(Pro E to Solidworks story, or making ugly dolls which have sold like hot cakes!!!)

via Boing Boing
Morning News Q&A interview
Foley Gallery in New York
BearsTheBook.com
Amazon Book purchase
Version by William Wilson via DesignBoom

Several pictures after the jump…
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Weekend Bites

Posted by _tango! on July 8, 2007
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, fun, information, inspiration, me, misc, style, tech. 1 comment

I’ve had little time to post anything this past week since my sisters Seattle wedding took up all of my time (whoohooo, she’s married!) but here are a few things that have been sitting in my bookmarks:

– Kick butt crazy Jet Kayak w/video!
– Awesome Train Coaster commercial.
– “Flip” your words around. (yet another fun useless web app)( ddɐ qǝʍ unÉŸ ssǝlǝsn ɹǝɥʇouɐ ʇǝʎ )
– Wine Ratchet Magnum!via notcot
– GotVoice.com (free service to convert voice mail messages to email)(I’m using, and it works)
– 22 Confessions of a former Dell Sales manager (good stuff via consumerist.com)
– Why I hate cops that abuse their power…
– Sweet collection of fake branded products.(There’s a reason the fakes are better)
– Hilarious Japanese Treadmill Challenge.
– Insane Human Billboard dance!(must watch)
– Very Strange fashion show by John Galiano via hemmy

Uniqlo Mixplay!

Posted by _tango! on June 24, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, information, materials, style, tech, thoughts. 4 comments

uniqlo japan mixplay

WOW! Uniqlo Japan has a stunning video for their lineup of color parkas and a pretty sweet mixplay website to to browse through.

Watch their awesome mixplay video (have sound on)(gets really nice after 2:00) of 4 dancers bustin out some sweet robotica moves, mixed along with matrix-like slow motion moves, mashed up with great beats, locks, and freezes. Some may think the films been edited, but my guess is it’s real time and purely mad skillz! They held a live version during the holidays in one of their stores in Japan and someone made a remix of their original with a more upbeat tempo here.

I’ll post all 3 videos after the jump. (Have your sound on)

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Sharp Shooter

Posted by _tango! on June 23, 2007
Posted in: fun, wacky. 2 comments

Perhaps I’m a HEROES fan, but if I were to experience what’s shown in this video (click on picture), I’d be be stuck standing still thinking, woa! Check out this video with this kid and his mad skillz, and decide if he’s a geek, super-hero, then back to geek again. ( notice he reaches for more money at the end as if he didn’t beat the high score, even though the 3 digit score box looped around after 999)

Microsoft Multi-Touch Laptop

Posted by _tango! on June 21, 2007
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, style, tech, thoughts, wacky. Leave a Comment

First came Jef Hans Multi-Touch screen a few years back, then came the over-marketed super hyped iPhone, followed by Jef’s bigger brother wall, then Microsoft launches a huge table sized Surface Computing idea, followed along with a hilarious parody of their surface table, and now this early developmental video of a multi-touch laptop which also has the same IR sensor as the super fun Nintendo Wii, that you can make at home. I wonder whats next.

I’m not a huge fan of touch sensors/screens when it comes to function…for the cool factor, yes I like it, and for the community multi-user reasons I love it, but when it comes down to one person using a touchscreen via a capacitor (the electronic component that detects touch) I’ve never fell in love with it. First off, if you have ever used a touch screen before on a remote or even on a laptop to turn up/down the volume, you’ll know instantly that there is no user feedback which us humans need. We can live without it, but it just isn’t as good, though there are some developments into piezo-electronic screens that vibrate once your finger does something.(The Wii vibrates when you hover over objects which is nice in the remote) Then there’s GelForce,a must watch (video demo) which is pretty fascinating technology because of the simple implementation and the scalability.(It’s incredible to play with)

I’ll post all the videos of each technology after the jump.
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Drivers of Change cards

Posted by _tango! on June 13, 2007
Posted in: brand, design, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, tech, thoughts. 3 comments
drivers of change book cards

“What will our world be like in 2050? This set of cards identifies some of the leading drivers of change that affect our future.

Each card depicts a single driver. A factoid and rhetorical question are on one face, backed up by a brief indication of the breadth and depth of the content on the other face. The set was devised by the Foresight & Innovation team at Arup, a group tasked with exploring emerging trends and how they impact upon business of Arup and its clients. The publication serves not only as a vibrant visual record of research, but also as a tool for discussion groups, personal prompts, for workshop events or as a ‘thought for the week’.”

I’ve had these cards for a few months (thanks TED) and they rock! Very inspirational, educational, great coffee table item, easy to read, and an amazing conversation starter for big topics in technology, our environment, economics, political culture, and social awareness in a globally changing sustainable future.

Drivers of Change website.
Drivers of Change Blog
Buy Cards here.

Creative Workspaces

Posted by _tango! on June 10, 2007
Posted in: art, brand, design, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, me, style, thoughts. 5 comments

my.studio.space
NowNow.com.au has a great post “desktop-desktop” documenting an ongoing series of desktops both physical and digital of creatives around the world. The collection includes French Designer Jean Sebastian from the playful design team Atypyk, guru graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, and several others. After scanning through this series I felt inclined to snap a shot of my current studio space pictured above, though it changes constantly.(after the jump: close-up of my toys and desktop screen)

Otherwise, I’ve always questioned the impact of creative workspaces; minimal, cluttered, comfy, colorful, industrial, modern, goofy, cubicles, etc. I have my own preferences, but for a diverse visual list check out “10 seeeeeriously cool workplaces” from the Chief of Happiness. Also take a look at Guy Kawasakis recent trip photos to Threadless.com and their kick-butt space! If you have a nifty workspace ya’ll want to share, take a picture, send it my way, and if I get enough, I’ll post them here.
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TuneGlue: MusicMap

Posted by _tango! on June 3, 2007
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, music, style, tech, thoughts. 2 comments
TuneGlue visual musicmap

Here’s another pretty sweet interactive visual music map suggester(TuneGlue). You type in a band name, expand to see “like-bands”, delete a few, lock down the primaries, and after a few clicks you have a dozen more bands to check out.

The interface is simple, the branching is nice, and the suggestions are pretty good. It would be cool if a “listen” button was incorporated into the pod options rather than seeking a sound sample on your own. Be awesome if you could use this software for your own desktop mp3 collection as well..fun times at parties if ya ha a big touch screen for guests.(Microsoft Surface Table, or Jef Hans multi-touch wall)

Pong Watch

Posted by _tango! on May 18, 2007
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, style, tech, wacky. 2 comments



pong watch John Maushammer

This is way too geeky cool! I want one! In fact, I’d really like a Pong Belt Buckle as well! Creator John Maushammer has a documentry of his homemade creation on his site here. I don’t think he has any current plans to mass manufacture this watch yet, but when it does, I’m sure it’ll be a hit at gatherings.

Watch the video above or YouTube video here.

Clay Grass Tennis!

Posted by _tango! on May 3, 2007
Posted in: design, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, thoughts, wacky. 4 comments

federer nadal tennis court grass clay
How bizarre! First came the breathtaking mile high tennis court with Andre Agassi, and now tennis star Roger Federer dukes it out with French Open champion Rafael Nadal on an experimental exhibition part clay part grass tennis court costing $1.63 million to set up(damn…give me $5000, and I’ll make that happen and pocket the rest). I’ve always been a fan of half&half pizza, drinks, hybrid cars, tools, payments, etc, but I never thought I’d see this happen. It would be interesting to see this again with the split happening horizontally (each player with both floors). Maybe a dangerous oncrete, clay, grass court is next.

Read the rest of the story with more pictures after the jump.
via Slam Sports and ESPN.

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VoicePrints

Posted by _tango! on April 29, 2007
Posted in: art, design, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, tech. Leave a Comment
voiceprints

“Voiceprints is an experiment in the translation of audio information to visual imagery. Artist Pierre Proske records a person’s voice into a microphone, analyzes the audio file for frequency content, loops the sample, and then generates a variety of textile patterns arranged according to the individual’s vocal frequency imprint.The basic acoustic unit in human speech is called a phoneme. The visual equivalent is called a “viseme,” a basic speech unit in the visual domain. Interested in the audio to visual translation, Proske developed software that describes sound using basic visual units to represent recorded frequencies.

Proske reminds us that the use of computing in textile design is nothing new. Woven textiles actually form part of computing history, through Joseph Marie Jacquard’s automated patterned textile weaving machine in 1804 which led to the use of punch cards in computing devices.”
via TransStudio