carbon based design technologies

I just cleaned the badboy, so he doesnt look very… elegant all upended like that. Upholstery is sort of a dark purple / eggplanty color. Cant wait to figure out what kind of base to use!

another nice ‘hand made’ video, although this one predates the one from like two posts ago and also in unrelated (production company wise). i really like this one, and on multiple levels; not only is it tastefully shot / edited / produced, but the subject matter (and the guy’s backstory) really add a nice personal texture to the whole thing. as a foodie, a builder and a person with friends in brooklyn, i can totally see how perfectly appropriate this guys (self-acknowledged) presence is at the cross-roads of the DIY / hand-made scene and resurgence of local-food culture.

Made by Hand / No 2 The Knife Maker from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

as you may or may not know, i do like me a good knife – and these are nothing short of gorgeous – but i also really appreciate the drive to do something that comes from within, something almost feral; so root to ones self, the drive to execute the need is almost as base as eating. for me, this is creating with my hands. and thats why i enjoy these videos so much.

another one of those awesome hand made videos… when i can find the links to all of the ones i like, ill update this post… but for now, heres the newest.

Bench Making from Björn Rust on Vimeo.

and at vimeo

not sure if this is a FOR REAL FOR SURE kinda thing, but it looks definitely like what has been released so far. interestingly, its VERY similar in design ethos to apple… wonder how much it will cost?

-photos from here.

i cant stop freakin out about this guy. hes like a pro-illustrator version of me from chi-town. well, in that, at least, we share many similar interests. take, for example the works below. i love all of it. now think about the cultural cross section it demonstrates, and let that stew a bit. pretty good stuff, i say.

BUY THIS MANS STUFF!!!! digital here, analog here.

a thing of pure beauty. when first introduced, there was only a hardtop (which looks sort of proto-porsche) and a cabriolet-style convertible that was similar to the speedster, but still a bit off. legend tells that the sole american distributor for porsche told them a “lower-cost, open-top version could sell well in the American market. With its low, raked windshield (which could be removed for weekend racing), bucket seats and minimal folding top, the Speedster was an instant hit, especially in Southern California.” (via wikipedia)

humina humina

compressed plastic bags and milk jugs, on a floaty thing, on a made made lake, in upstate new york, enjoying the pleasant day. could not be worse.

a few nice looking minimal bikes ive seen around

its called the fubar 30″ forcible entry tool, its made by stanley, and its “designed by responders for vehicle extraction and demolition work”.

i kind of want one simply to hang on a will, and look at all the time.

from stanley

too bad they were a) rediculous expensive and are b) sold out. not only is this level of geekery super right up my spigot, but its like a veritable treasure trove of typo-answers!

ie, the negative bit in an 0,b, or any other confining shaped letter or number is called a counter. so, ive always asked, whats the dot above and i or a j called? according to this poster, its called a tittle.

learn more here.

the kitchen needs new linoleum.

it has old linoleum.

in fact, it has two layer of old lino. maybe more!

we need modern and fun. heres some photos ive found!

i think i like the middle one the best, or at least the concept of it. big color blocks.

EDITED!!!! just added the one below

and

via core 77

christine o’donnell, you done goofed.

from bb

no idea who designed this baby, but ive always had a fascination with it – despite the fact that its a Dell-branded object (almost surely re-branded from a blank 3rd part manufacturer).

i just love the fact that its foot print is almost exactly the same as its keys (barely any border / trim), but its indicator lights (num / caps / scroll lock) and space bar angle away from the standard rectangle seen – making it more akin to a Masamune future object, then the normal bog-standard keyboard that ships with every normal computer they sell.

So, im on a bit of a mouse hunt.

Thats because i dont have a mouse.

Well… i guess i actually do have a mouse – shoot, i might even have two.

But the one that i directly own is in a bag. In England.

And i used to own another, a wicked one, that i loaned to my dad but he threw it away because it didnt dependably work with his computer. Not every computer, his computer.

So, anyways, back to square one, i have no mice. Well, here, that is.

And the two mice were not just mice – they were awesome mice!

And, knowing how ridiculously picky i am about buying anything, these things take time and research – cant just buy any mouse, that’d be silly! So, with these two factoids combined (their awesomeness and my pickyness) i pretty much set my self an indescribably high standard – and thus totally energizing challenge – of getting just the right mouse. But first, lets get to know the incumbents.

–
ELECOM MAPP Mouse by Masamune Shirow
Some Manga fans prostrate to this demigod, whose real fame comes from creating the Ghost in the Shell & Appleseed franchises. How Elecom got him to do a mouse is anyones guess, but there is another – just one other – in the series, which i assume to be from an individual of similar class (rumored to be from the Gundam franchise). Either way, it was a thoughtful thing that he did, blessing our reality with some of his “virtual” design taste. Why his mice are not wireless / bluetooth / actually fancy is anyones wonder (considering that it really only has two buttons and a clickable wheel, while Elecom has many other wireless mice and could simply have speced different guts), but these wired designs are just as swell. For a few years i actually contemplated surgically frankensteining mine to be wireless (using the guts from a similar button-ed / sized bluetooth mouse), but never got around to it… hrmm.

Of the 2 mice in this line originally released by Elecom, this was the other model, which never really grabbed my fancy, but was still cool if not simply for the individualist form factor.

–
IBM 19K2002 Mouse
Not the stunning-future-mouse, but still a well sized, well button-positioned optical mouse, that apparently had lots of driver issues – this is the one my dad threw away. Sadly, this model is discontinued, and can only be found in the deepest darkest depths of online-warehouses world wide. Its probably worth it to note that my parents household actually had two of them – the one i got for myself and, because i loved it so much, the one i got for my dad. Now, i have no idea which one he threw away (probly my, use-worn specimen) but one is still working and dependably so.

–
NOW. I had initially intended to simply re-find ye olde Intre-National Business Machine Mouse (which is truly rarified), then i thought to maybe hunt down the best designer-specific mouse (which, it turns out, seem to all be suffering from the same, high-button-count-inducing std), and then i thought to find out what them ol’ japanese import sites had going (where i ordered my MAPP mouse from). Boy was in in for a shock.

(Why does Cheap Stereo = Many Buttons, but Expensive Stereo= 4 Buttons?)

Basically, i discovered a few things; first, that IBM released a slightly newer version of the 19k2002 (but with a 70′s-style-selector thingy instead of a wheel) called the ScrollPoint 31p8700. And then they released it in “i might be inspired by shirow masamune” white. Still sexy in my book – and findable!

–
Shirow V Elecom, Round 2 – Plight of the Fanboy.

And then i discovered these bad boys.

Like their predecessors, they come in three color ways, and (now) two models – wired and wireless. Essentially an evolution of Shirows original theme, these bad boys look even badder (and even boyer…?). Retailing for 80 us bucks wired and 140 for less wires (ouch!), they sure are lookers. They are, also, supposed to feature pen-like usability with a semi-penlike holding position, slightly relocated optics, and a “laser” (instead of, what, the LED of yesteryear?) that is supposed to be like “really good” or something. I dont buy any of it – otherwise its innovations would be sweeping the industry and we would know about it (instead, we get Logitech and Kensington coming out with these 85-button mega-mouses, and no real improvement).

I do, however, agree with its design language. An opportunity to design something that addresses its necessary requirements (hand sized, fairly comfortable, has main buttons + clickable wheel) while transcending traditional guidelines (as long as it works, it doesnt have to look like every other model) is always refreshing.

Generally, i am a big fan of that kind of mentality, but it never really takes much more than a bit of whimsy; heres a few usb sticks that caught my eye today…

–
For purely comparative purposes, here are a few top-of-the-line mice which are, mostly, designed for gamers and (im guessing here) the Maxim crowd.

This ones got a tattoo.
And this one has exhaust ports!

–
Moral: Although i have no idea where in mouse-land im headed, at least i know there are a fare number of options to choose from.

Happy Mousing.

well, seems wolverine is a flop. and i still want need to see it.

“Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch and Will.i.am show up and do what they can, but prove hopelessly unable to compensate for the absence of, say, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin or Ian McKellen. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” will most likely manage to cash in on the popularity of the earlier episodes, but it is the latest evidence that the superhero movie is suffering from serious imaginative fatigue.”

- nytimes review here.

–

Blast from the Past: Bow Wow Wow

the original* coverers of the “were not a teen angst film unless we use it” song, ‘i want candy’, bow wow wow was – no joke here – a boy/girl band created by malcolm & vivienne to sell their ‘new romantic’ clothing line. not surprisingly, they sound strikingly similar to x-ray spex, which is apparently the only band to ever garner a compliment from the negativity prone (albeit now butter-advert staring) johnny rotten – better known as the front man to the late 70′s Sex Pistols – who, coincidentally enough, was also a product of mclaren and his business acumen. maybe its because they were both fronted by black women (the, uh, first two mentioned bands, not the sex pistols – mr.rotten is decidedly white. painfully white). or it could be the period. (both bands being within years of each other. and both london based too. and mclaren / westwood incited. and teenage. and full of angst.) (allegedly, the rumor went something like “your not that sucky” or something – even at his nicest, mr.rotten still could manage to be nasty.)

originally a 1965 hit by three whiteguys with strange drums, ‘i want candy’ was actually a throw back to times of yesteryear when a days high point could be simply – but effectively – achieved by repeating the line “i want candy” in a repetitive, “im not moving until i win” sort of way, when you and your mom are in the check out line and people are starting to look and there really is no other way out for her but to fold. or it could be a reference to those heavily laden with drug addiction. or it could be their favorite prostitute, who happened to be on her day off that one time. i actually have no idea.

with lines like “candy on the beach, theres nothing better / but I like candy when its wrapped in a sweater” and “my boyfriend’s back he’s gonna save my reputation / if i were you i’d take a permanent vacation” (from their other hit, “my boyfriends back”), these three wig-sporting, drum-wielding jews had a short career and went on to do very little else. (well, one of them actually did help get Blondie up and running, but thats about it.)

*note: technically, they were the second group to cover the song – the first being some guy from the UK or something, but he made like zero impact or something, so, in the land of opinion, does he really count?

–

In the Pantheon of Convenience

we all need one of these. they rock. and clip to things.

-via amazon.

kutiman, a highly skilled music and video editor and composer, released a series of seven song-videos that (perhaps finally) have cemented the age old act of sampling sounds, to the age old act of watching youtube, necessitating the visual with the audio, and vice versa. resulting in something reminiscent of venetian snares’ rossz csillag alatt született – a journey through romantic, classical and modern period music samples realigned and juxtaposed to a highly energized drum’n'bass / break track – thru you is entirely based on found youtube videos cut up, layered, re-ordered and glued back together to form entirely new, and probably entirely different tracks than any of the performers had ever expected to ever be part of. aka, wicked.

heres the first track…

-check it here.

So pen with pencil boring? Pen with light boring? Pen with girl with disappearing bikini boring? Pen with stabby end boring?

So tactical pens aren’t enough for you? Yeah, i agree, they aren’t really that applicable to the rigors of daily life – i mean, pokey stabby bits are useful for getting that first rip started in packing tape when your opening a box, but keys or even the actual pen nib it self usually suffices. SO! How about tactical carabiners, eh? I mean, every hipster who has ever played hipster bingo (with their own custom version, of course) knows that the only way to cary keys AND wear painted-on-jeans is with the tried and true carabiner. Now, not only did i have one during my london travails, but i had it attached by a semi-retractable loop of KMC chain so that i only took it off when i went to bed. Because i carried keys to my flat, keys to my bike lock and a keys to the work building, not having to unhook and hook every few hours / new location was a real boon.

Now that fixed culture is hitting seriously high gear ratio, every facet of the life and life style is being made custom, just for it. Todays (or last months, or something) most recent offer is the Multi-Purpose Carabiner! Yay!

House of Commons offer us their latest, replete with multi-purpose blade, bottle opener (because you dont already have two on your keychain and one in your bag), and two completely uselessly small phillips and flatheads!

However, not to be outdone there is (and probly the original inspiration) the Kersha Jeeva Carabiner Knife… however, it appears to only come in safety-yellow (not be confused with nu-rave yellow), and without any of the other useless features of the HoC offering.

Uh-oh. But whats this?

Has HoC simply found the original manufacturer and rebranded for the sake of profits? Nice…

-HoC Carabiner available at Chari & Co, and the Kershaws at Botach Technical.

Botach Technical is an online provider for all sorts of technical and tactical stuff intended to keep you out of trouble… or maybe get you into it. Anyways, some of it is quite cool, in its own wierd way. Heres their “writing instrument” submission – because, you know, a pen cant be just a pen… (the other end doubles as a stabby thing)

Which is not to be confused with the KZ Defense Pen, slim, and very similar.

from here.