Hair Dialogue: Hong Kong Museum of Art

Last week, despite the really shitty chinese rapper performing on a stage near the entrance, I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art and checked out the Hair Dialogue installation art exhibit. I was pulled between the awe and fascination of the medium, and feeling like I was going to throw up. Artists Gu Wenda and Leung Mee-ping created everything from tiny dutch clogs and a room draped in texts from all over the world, from human hair. In the room of words, which included english, kanji, chinese, hebrew, arabic, and a few others, it looked as if the hair was matted down and held together by a dried, mucus substance, like they just cut the hair from a hippie's head and molded it into shape. They really didn't need to install the "Don't Touch" signs on this exhibit, at least for me. Fascinating nonetheless, and all for $10HKD (a little over a buck).

Crank Brothers

My new favorite bike component company, Crank Brothers, has some of the tightest design language around. Their basic form-equals-function mentality permeates throughout their industrial design, online marketing, merchandise, and even their industry order forms (thank you, pro-deal). Gotta love their inspiration page.

Mix Master Mike Video

Here's that crappy phone video I promised... (Quicktime 713k)

Nike6.0 spitball fights with itself.

Brilliant. Create a sports-centric, competitive culture that dominates the world athletic market for decades, and when the alternative sports counter-culture naturally arises to rebel against it, create a prefectly matched campaign that reels in dollars from them, too. I have to say, their Jocks Suck apparel is pretty catchy.

Got' Damn that DJ Make my Day.

Not only did I go surfing in California for the first time last Saturday (finally), I saw Mix Master Mike (of Beastie Boys fame) cut a ridiculous set at Mighty. Surprisingly, at least to me, even Mix Master Mike has given up crate digging between tracks for scrolling on the touchpad of an Apple MacBook Pro, which fed mp3's directly to his hybrid turntables, brand unknown.

Phone video clip coming soon...

CleanButt.com

I first came across a similar contraption in my hotel bathroom in Tokyo last year (and my curiosity got me squirted in the face), but what this company has actually decided to call their product had me rolling on the ground. There are some interfaces I would rather not, um, tackle.

Oh, and in case you were interested: 866-460-BUTT (2888)

Googlicious

Thanks for the Google lunch yesterday, Joe. Seared sturgeon and pheasant definitely beats pho and tacos for the 100th day in a row.

Naked and Angry

I was forwarded the link to the Naked and Angry website by a co-worker today, showcasing a collection of hip pattern designs.

7-11 with Style

I got to check out the new Famima!! upscale convenience store on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood last weekend. It's a japanese chain that's making it's way stateside with a very design concious layout, graphic identity, and product selection. It's reminiscient of some of the convenience stores I've seen in Tokyo, down to the large japanese product selection and red bean buns at the counter. One of the details I liked was the selection of stylish japanese pen and paper items, a nice departure from the Meads and Bics of the world.

More Imagery from Europe

Fashion "ride" at Bread & Butter

ISPO party, Munich

Wall at the empty Nike booth at Bread & Butter

Stencil graffiti in Berlin

More graffiti in Berlin

Berlin manhole cover

Das ist so Gile!

Translation: "That is so cool!"

Our European design inspiration trip was all I expected and more; from accidentally stumbling onto (and into) 1.2 million ravers at Love Parade in Berlin, to viewing the French Alps from an impossible summit house, to "surfing" a moving carpet at ISPO, to finding some products I designed in a shop in Milan, it was the trip of trips (I am leaving out the daily meetings and 4am airport shuttles to our 9 planes in 10 days, but it's hard to complain). Oh, and never forget: Eingang und se Ausgang! Pics, in reverse order:

Bregenz, Austria
(European OutDoor Show)

Milan

Nuremburg

Chamonix, Mont Blanc (French Alps)

Munich
(ISPO)

Berlin
(Bread & Butter, Premium)

Chamonix

The last two days have been spent shopping in Chamonix, an outdoor-sports town at the base of the Mont Blanc in the French Alps. For a small town, there is a surprisingly large amount of retail shopping, due to the large tourist population. The many sports stores are geared towards the ski, hiking, and climbing crowd, as there were many climbers taking the Chamonix tram up with us. The cable tram to the top of Aguille du Midi afforded an amazing (ridiculously amazing) view of the mountaing and the town below, and I'll try to upload my own pictures when I can later on.

Bread & Butter, Berlin

This is my first international posting from the internet cafe at Bread & Butter, a fashion convention in Berlin. The show is seperated into different sections with names such as denim, streetwear, kids, milk n' honey, etc., and most brands that you can think of in the fashion, sportswear, and denim industry are represented. Mavi, Puma, G-Star, and J-Fold had interesting booths, from what we could see, anyway. And as far as Berlin goes, there are definitely alot of beautiful people here.

Coincidentally, our first day in town happened to be the same day as Love Parade, an outdoor roving rave party, with different floats manned by a superstar dj and dancing entourage. There were more than one millions people in attendance and it goes along a circuit between Alexanderplatz and ??? I've always wanted to go, and I'm glad I was able to experience it, and I don't think I've had a better time people-watching.

PNC Park Architecture

I attended MLB All-Star weekend in Pittsburgh, held at PNC Park, which I'm sure most of my overdraft fees helped finance. It's been billed as the "Best Ballpark in America" by most sportswriters, and I'd have to agree. Spectaular views of the rivers, downtown, and bridges, bringing the city skyline seemingly within arm's reach of the fans. Architect Christopher R. Haupt, AIA, used curved blue steel I-beams and trusses, mimicking the form of the nearby bridges, and clad them with a tan limestone fascade, a departure from the usual red brick. And it's great seeing people swim to fight for a homer hit into the Allegheny river. The traffic layout and information design is also well thought out, or at least it's better than most parks, allowing lumbering Pirate fans to mope their way out of the stadium in a civilized manner

District B13

I just went down to the Little Roxie to watch District B13, a French action movie that's got some of the most amazing stunts I've seen since Jackie Chan's SuperCop. B13 was choreagraphed in the same vain as Ong Bak, with no special rigging (think Matrix without the wires), and an equal disregard to inserting any type of plot, but then that would only get in the way. The stars of the movie are premier LeParkour athletes Cyrill Rafaelli and David Belle. LeParkour being an extreme (I hate that word) "urban gymnastics/climbing/jumping/running" sort of sport. Nike used a few Le Parkour athletes in their Nike Presto shoe campaign a few years ago. There's also this amazing video of some russian kids climbing around some lovely eastern bloc neighborhood.

clips from District B13

Graphics from the Graveyard

Just before I moved from Pittsburgh to San Francisco I had worked on an identity and exterior signage for Sartos, a clothing store on Walnut St. which has since closed. The original logo was of a yellow hummingbird with script lettering, but I had done this punk-style concept using the hummingbird theme which I thought was really cool and would be eye-catching on the street. Of course, with most clients it's hard to tear their own designs out of their heads, so this design was never used.

CrackBerry for Japan

The new Sharp smart phone, the W-ZERO3, has just been released in Japan.

Take it to the Bridge

Happy Fourth, everyone (which means all three people that read this blog). I spent the day huffin' it up to the Marin Headlands to admire Joseph B. Strauss' bridge design from a better angle. Photos of the bridge, and especially paintings, seem pretty cliche around here but it never gets tiring riding across it. Well, actually it does get tiring, the winds are a killer.

The Internet is made of tubes.

"(the internet) is a series of tubes"
Senator Ted Stevens (R) - Alaska

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing people like this are dictating the future of technology in America. (via: Wired)

New Painting

I finished the painting yesterday! Now I have to figure out how to get this 2'x4' canvas to the east coast.

Dance, Dance, Revolution.

I checked out the pilot show for the Move Tour last night, a sort of home grown Do You Think You Can Dance type gig over at Mezzanine. The production left alot to be desired, lots of dead time, dj flubs, and miscues, but hey, it was their first run. Fortunately the highlight of the night was the introduction of the celebrity judges, comprised of a representative from each dance genre. They included Richard "Crazy Legs" Colon, one of the originators of the b-boy movement (who still has it at 40), Junko Kudo the japanese dance hall queen, Ponytailz, a freestyle dancer and choreagrapher that appeard in a number of R&B videos, Miss Prissy who was featured in Rize, the David LaChapelle documentary film about the krumping movement, the Arkiteks from Oakland who originated the Hi-C dance style (ghost ride the whip) unique to the Bay Area, a dance choreagraph group from the bay called Mind over Matter (eh, so-so), Rayne, a choreagrapher who used to dance on tour for Michael Jackson, and a really tight capoeira troupe from Brazil. This made up for the dance competition which ranged from the good, the bad, to the ugly. I could've been a late entry and at least placed in this thing. Watch the judge's intros below in Quicktime (sorry for the crappy phone video quality):

• Crazy Legs
• Ponytailz
  
• Miss Prissy
• Capoeira guys 1, 2
  
• Arkiteks
• Mind over Matter
  

New Word of the Day: Flashpacking

Flashpacking clicks with great outdoors (via: CNN.com)

Flashpacking: When you go backpacking or camping and bring your cell phone, pda, laptop, gps, iPod, and digital camera with you.

Shoes for Dorks.

Featured at SIGGRAPH 2006, these powered shoes with wheels allow a user to walk in any direction within a virtual scene, all while staying in the same place in the real world; bringing to life the dream of realistic walking to gamers everywhere ;)

(via Engadget)

Weapons of Ass Destruction

I never belonged to a frat in college (the Stout-ID crew was a gang in itself), but www.fratpaddle.com looks like a novel way for trust-fund babies to gear up and act out their homoerotic fantasies, er, I mean rush pledges. They sell anything online these days.

Superman: Men in Tights

I was a super nerd last night and biked over to AMC Van Ness to watch the 9:50 showing of Superman Returns. It was nice to see Byran Singer stay true to the styling of Donner's original '78 Superman, down to the original John Williams score and bringing Brando back from the dead as Jor-El, and the Boeing 777-Space Shuttle scene was great. Of course what I noticed is that Lex Luthor's henchmen are completely decked out in Lowe Alpine gear from head to toe when they explore the Fortress of Solitude. C'mon, everyone knows that evil henchmen and diabolical geniuses prefer JanSport and The North Face gear 2-to-1.

I was also chekin' out the new "S" logo on the chest, and they've added a very cool knurl pattern with a carbon fiber feel. It looks less plastic than in the past and the texture adds depth to the crest. The cape was allegedly GCI throughout the movie and it looked pretty good, and I like how they added sonic booms and re-entry flare-up for added realism when he flew around. His boots were pretty interesting, too, because they looked like a cross between cowboy boots and Adidas A3 Superstars. There were what looked like EVA pod cushions along the sides with ribbed toe protection (why does he need cushioning when he can stop a bullet with his eyeball?), and the signature split-front boot cuffs. They could've been Steve Maddens, actually.

Must be in the Front Row!

Woman Told to Stay Away from Brewers Games (via ESPN.com)

This isn't really related to art & design at all, but since I grew up in Milwaukee I find it hilarious that anyone, especially female, is stalking Bob Uecker.

Land of Lincoln

Wow. Lincoln is putting out some sweet-ass rides for 2007, most notably the MKS (G5-esque) and the MKX (Pacifica with better proportions). Ever since '02, the Lincon design team has been putting out some really dialed show car concepts, and it was only a matter of time before the styling crept into production models. Score one for U.S. auto makers.

Today's Devices of Tomorrow, Yesterday.

Communication Devices of the Future (via: Forbes)

...and a couple good articles featuring designers in The Onion:

Graphic Designer's Judgment Clouded By Desire To Use New Photoshop Plug-In

CNN Graphic Designer Asked To Combine Dollar Sign, Syringe, Fighter Jets, Panda

Laid Off Website Designer Designs Website about being Laid Off

New Solidworks Surfacing Tools

Surfacing in Solidworks was always a pain in the ass, I'd always have to make the sexy forms in Rhino then import it as an IGES, but apparently the next release has some pretty decent surfacing tools. Plus, everything stays parametric.

Pride Celebration, San Francisco

Last weekend I had to check out what was described to me as a "cultural experience" like no other, the Pride parade and celebration in San Francisco, billed as the largest one around. The feather boa factories must've been running three shifts leading up to this weekend. As an open-minded straight guy now living in San Francisco (and with a gay brother), what struck me was not the occasional, and really unsolicited, nudity or the crazy outfits, but the amount of support given from the regular breeder population such as myself. The main highlight for me was witnessing Esera Tuaolo perform, the former Green Bay Packer and Pro Bowler who is now out of the closet. The last time I saw him in person was years ago at Lambeau Field when he was on the d-line killing running backs. Sunday, he was belting out an R&B version of Lennon's Imagine in a traditional Hawaiian skirt-thing. Both were equally frightening.
Yahoo's blurb on the origin of the rainbow flag design.

Food Design

(tonight's dinner)

So, yeah, I like to cook. I definitely don't act like I always know what I'm doing, but there are flavors and ingredients that I like combining and I find that as long as I don't burn it, I'll usually end up with something that's palpable. I think what I like about cooking is that I can approach it like a design project: carefully choosing components, envisioning a final composition in my mind...and then ignoring all directions and planning, rushing through the process, and ending up with something I didn't want.

In the latest GQ (and also blogged to death on core) there's an article on how Chicago has the best restaurants in America (up for debate, but I don't disagree). They feature restaurants such as Moto and Avenues, whose chefs who also approach food like designers.