Inventionland

How organized/clean/personalized is your workspace? I prefer clean, simple and minimalist but unfortunately that's rarely the reality. No matter how cool you think your little trash can basketball set-up is, get ready to be owned.

Inventionland is America's largest invention (product design) company. ***BEWARE: Clicking the company link will take you to the homepage which plays terrifying music*** It turns out 2,000-2,400 inventions each year and has also been called the world's most creative workplace, according to its website. It's located in Pittsburg.

Employees, who they refer to as "creationeers," work in 16 themed sets, such as a shipwrecked pirate ship, a faux cave, a giant robot and a castle complete with turrets and drawbridge. If that's not enough, there are three running waterfalls, life-like trees and butterflies and chirping birds. I bet this is where bad elves go to hell. But don't take my word for it--take a look for yourself.

If you feel like perusing the interiors of other workspaces, check out the blog This Ain't No Disco.

Caroline

Jeff Staple's 50 Favorite Sneakers

For over a decade, Jeff Staple has influenced the way our culture operates. From his consulting and design gigs with brands that range from Nike to Apple to Burton, to the retail experience he crafted through the Reed Space stores, there are few people globally to have such influence on all things early adoptable and consumable.

Staple has been collecting sneakers for a long time. His passion and graphic design experience allows him to speak intelligently about what makes a great pair of kicks. Highly recommended if you're a sneakerhead, aspiring sneakerhead, or ever had a pair of sneakers cause you to do a double-take.

Jeff Staple's 50 Favorite Sneakers

Caroline

The Duel

Dancing Pigeons - Ritalin from Blink on Vimeo.

The music video is based on Diesel's theme for their new collection - Fire & Water. Even if it is an advert, watching people play with flame throwers is always cool.

Music by Dancing Pigeons, song "Ritalin." Shot by Tomas Mankovsky on a Phantom at 1000fps.

"It was difficult to know how this shootout would look like in superslowmo. We did some tests with a gas-flamethrower but the flame was only 2-3 meters and it looked quite bad in slowmo, so the special effects guys had to build a new flamethrower from scratch. They made one with liquid fuel, and that one was much better, firing out 10-15 meter flames. But the first time we saw how the flamethrower and fire extinguisher looked and behaved in slowmo was on the day of the shoot." Mankovsky.

Caroline

The Big Caption

From thebigcaption.com, where jokes and statements are made using typography. I laugh every time I see this.

Caroline

The Future of the Book

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

Global design consultants IDEO have created three different book interfaces that would work with a tablet computer. The experimental concepts explore how technology can influence the way we interact with books through discussion, social networking and constructing a community around the content.

I find these solutions to be intriguing to say the least. If technology can find a way to get people (myself included) into reading longer form writings, I'm all for it. I also see this as a plausible precursor to the e-newspaper of the future.

Caroline

National Punctuation Day

Today is National Punctuation Day. When I was in uni studying journalism, I was required to take a copy editing class. Even though my professor was amazing, I dreaded every second. I just don't have the attention span and attention to detail that is necessary to make a good copy editor. I tried my best and would study a lot, but I always bombed the tests.

That said, if I had had this informative and witty grammar poster, maybe the outcome would have been different.

Designed by The Oatmeal, this is one in a series of four grammar posters. They are all as informative and random as this one.

Caroline

Everything is a remix

Everything is a Remix is the first in a four part series by Kirby Ferguson. It investigates the history of sampling, stealing and transforming and how that spills out of the context of music into a wider mindset, where everything is a remix of something before.


Everything is a Remix from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Caroline

Photobooth

In the past two years, I'd say I've really become interested in photography as well as made an amateur foray into the medium myself. My favorite camera is my Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim. Here is a link to an excellent review with picture examples. After my first roll was developed, I became hooked on film for life. The colors and the depth were so striking, I felt like I had just discovered what a photograph was and could be. Sadly, these cameras are toy cameras and thus were cheaply made (they have long been discontinued). The only place you can find them now is on eBay, selling for way more than the $2 of plastic from which they are made. I've gone through two already (they break easily), but I'm stubborn. Would you leave your true love or abandon a friend in need? No!! That's how I feel about my Viv.

I'm not often proud of things I create, but I'm so happy about how these particular photos came out and I just wanted to share them. This post is to collect my favorite photographs in one place--hopefully it will always be updated.

Caroline

Happy autumn everyone!

Today marks the first day of autumn, or to be technical about it, the autumnal equinox. It is when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator, giving us equal parts day and night. After that, it's all downhill until May. But I digress. I'd never seen such beautiful autumns until I came to Chicago. The leaves appear as if they are on fire, the colors are so vibrant. In fact, when the leaves on trees begin to change, I secretly refer to them as rainbow trees, as they start at the top a pale green, ease into a bright yellow, ripen to a bold orange and then dive into a royal red. Set against the vibrant blue sky, almost all colors of the rainbow are represented. It was in Chicago where I discovered Honeycrisp apples, as well. That alone is enough to make me excited for the season each year.

In honor of the start to what I hope will be a lovely fall (and mild winter), I've created an autumn list of things I hope to do, see, eat, experience and acquire.

--Eat a honeycrisp apple every day
--Go apple picking
--Go pumpkin picking
--Carve a pumpkin
--Make one full course meal that includes pumpkin in every course
--On second thought, host a potluck where everyone has to bring a dish (no repeats!) that incorporates pumpkin somehow
--Chicago Diner's annual Thanksgiving dinner
--Find the perfect knit cardi-jacket
--Find the perfect leather boots, brogues
--Get involved in the community (maybe this)
--Practice yoga at least twice a week
--Go for a morning walk at least twice a week
--Chicago Film Festival
--World Music Festival (going on now!)
--Northalsted Halloween Parade
--Expand my library, starting with this and this
--Practice Espanol

Caroline

NOTE: Picture on left by MAV; picture on right by Stephanie Congdon Barnes. Check out their book, A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart (it's already in my library!).

Table drumming

Table drumming is the new air guitar.



Performance by Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding. Music by Yolanda Be Cool, song "We Speak No Americano"

Caroline

The sky is falling

Yum Yum is a design/animation/illustration studio made up of Beth Algieri and Jonny Plummer. Their work really resonates with my cute, twisted, off-beat side. I want them to be my adoptive aunt and uncle. They created a short clip that made my day--I laugh every time I see it. I hope it puts a smile on your face, too.


Parallel Parking from Yum Yum London on Vimeo.

On a different note, designer toys never really made much sense to me, but I absolutely want all of their figurines.

Caroline

History remixed

If historical events had Facebook statuses. Found via coolmaterial.com.

Caroline

Apricot

APRICOT — A Short Film by Ben Briand from Moonwalk Films on Vimeo.

Ben Briand's short film Apricot, is the most cinematographically beautiful film I can remember seeing in a while.

Briand evokes a nostalgic and ethereal atmosphere, drawing on light, texture, colours, tastes and sounds.

The film, which is about recalling the memory of a first love, was submitted to the 2010 Vimeo Awards which will take place in New York City early next month. I'll be rooting for it. Seriously, it's well worth the 10 minutes to watch.

Caroline

Life is colourful

Have you ever wished Mother Nature was more color-coordinated? Leave it to the sartorially inclined Brits to find a way.

BBC Earth revamped their Natural History Unit with an interactive site full of images and videos called "Life Is."

Created by The Brooklyn Brothers and Fantasy Interactive, the content centers around monthly themes, this month being "Colourful." ***Note: You know how I am about showcasing amazing creative agencies. I spent just as much time combing through the work of The Brooklyn Brothers as I did this site.***

Users can browse through the interactive photo gallery by filtering photos with sliders to select climate, "fast" or "slow" for speeds, "sky" or "sea" for habitats and of course colour.

Starfish :)

Burning Man is a trip!

Another mini story from a fellow burner to tide you over until I complete my own tales of adventure and debauchery.

One night I was bouncing back and forth between two big party camps when a fellow literally stopped me in my tracks and said, "Hi. I have to meet you." I responded, "Okay!" and what followed was a lovely little hang out session where I learned he had studied Spanish at the Univ. of Michigan and had lived and worked abroad in India for a bit. Clearly it was fate that we met and furthers my belief that people come into (and out) of your life for a reason. He also happened to be tripping on acid. Since I had no context of what he was going through, I realize my trying to have in-depth conversations with him probably blew his mind. But whatever! I had a lovely time chatting with him and when it was time for DJ Aphrodite to perform, we respectfully parted ways so I could go dance (he said the lights and music and people were too much).

A couple of days after I returned home, I received a letter from him. What follows is a perfect example of the fantastical sights and experiences present at BM. The fact he is tripping on acid is secondary.

September 10, 2010

Burning Man -> Wed night @ Nexus -> you joining me for my LSD trip --> crazy and supportive SynchroConnection

This is David aka Khan from Burning Man. Great to have met you Starfish. I had quite the trip that night which I think was quite amazing in the end, though crazy at times. You were so cool and positive that night, I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated it. After our interaction, Ra and I jumped around, ended up at Hookah Dome where I was totally memorized by the firedancers, danced some, chilled inside the dome, had a "good" conversation which worked because I asked questions instead of having to talk much (which as you remember was a bit difficult), then chilled around a wood burning tree sculpture and met a really smart gal who chatted with me through the amazing sunrise, walked to the temple, met my friend Xavier, his gal pal Tuana, and her friend who was spiritually into the dirt and urinating on herself, then participated in an amazing singing/musical session with the Jimmy, the soulful singer, and others like the Om-ing yogi, while a naked man in a turban cried his eyes out and i smiled and then broke out in ecstatic, joyful laughter. Then i went to an art car that was playing awesome low tempo house with a girl i met at the temple, and then finally went home, etc etc etc. Amazing experience all around. I felt you should know what happened!

My contact info is below, and please reach out whenever. I'm in SF, so let me know if and when you are coming out here.

Hope you had an amazing experience this year Caroline, and that it continues throughout the year and beyond.

Namaste,

David aka Khan

The Power of Music

Hello again! It's been a while since my last post as it has taken me longer than expected to return to the "default" world as burners call it. I promise pictures and stories of Burning Man to come (there are several half-finished posts sitting in blog purgatory now).


For now, I want to share a video I came across. It's a lovely narrative and it reminds me of a story I heard from Burning Man.


The video:

The Power of Music. A 90-year-old man recounts a remarkable experience he had in WWII.

The BM story, told by a fellow burner I met in the airport:

One of my favorite parts about BM was the pervasive equality. There was no class distinction, there was no status, there was no race. You could be brushing shoulders with a millionaire and not know it. Money was not used (except at Center Camp for iced lattes--yum). Everyone was open and friendly. I met this guy in the Reno airport after the burn and he related to me one of his favorite memories. One day he saw a man in full Islamic attire riding on a bicycle down the road. Walking on the road was another man dressed in a U.S. military uniform. As the men's paths were about to cross, they stopped and looked at each other, the man in Islamic attire descended his bicycle, and they embraced.


Caroline