A Continuous Lean‘s Michael Williams was in Europe for meetings recently and was able to spend a bit of time and a few days in the South of France. He was kind enough to take some photos with a Fujifilm X100 and a bit of post tweaking.
In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.
The film’s central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride.
Yesterday Death Cab for Cutie performed the first ever one-take, scripted, LIVE music video for their new single ‘You Are A Tourist’. As fans and listeners, we able to tune in to www.youareatourist.com/ at 4pm PST / 7pm EST to watch them perform live on a stage with dancers, lights, and some great visuals. So awesome. This is exactly the reason they are my favorite band of all time, and have remained as such for 10 years.
Admittedly I’m not a watch guy. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be. But I generally spend upwards of $300 when I buy a watch and usually only wear them for a couple months before they disappear into my drawer (see. Watch Graveyard). I told myself if I was to get another watch, it would have to be somewhat timeless, masculine and pretty simple/elegant. This recent re-launch of the Seagull 1963 is that kind of watch I think.
In 1961 the Tianjin Watch Factory was assigned to manufacture the first Chinese aviation watch (chronograph) for the Air Force of the People’s Liberation Army. The code of the assignment was “304.” The factory pre-manufactured three batches of the aviation watch by October 1962. In the end of the year 38 leaders and experts (industrial ministry, air command, and naval equipment supervisors) came together for the appraisal of the watch. After the meeting the Tianjin Watch Factory received permission to begin the mass production of the watch. In 1963 the factory completed and delivered 1400 aviation watches to the Chinese Air Force.
The chrono has an automatic movement with a 40 hour power reserve, is made in China and retails for a cool $339. Find out more here.
It’s a great story, inspired by an 8-bitted Dribbble post by UK artist and designer Harry Harrison, San Francisco interactive designers Addison Kowalski, Amadeus Demarzi and Courtney Guertin took the idea to the next level by 8 bit-ing their Twitter avatars, which inevitably went viral among the tech set, finally consuming MG Siegler and myself in a blaze of pixelated glory about a day ago.
On December 16th, 1960 a Trans World Airlines Lockheed Super Constellation collided midair over Brooklyn with a United Airlines Douglas DC-8. The T.W.A. flight — a slow moving propeller plane — was heading from Columbus, Ohio en route to LaGuardia. The other plane, a much more advanced jetliner, was destined for Idlewild airport (JFK) with 77 passengers from Chicago. All together, the crash killed 134 people, being one of the worst air disasters at the time. It is a fascinating story that was highlighted extremely well on the NY Times City Room blog.
The coverage included additional information about T.W.A. co-pilot Dean Bowen that, as well as being a skilled aviator, he was also a talented photographer. Through his travels he used Kodachrome to document life as he saw it. One commenter even pointed readers to a Flickr set of Bowen’s images.
(via A Continuous Lean)
I feel like these sorts of videos will be the metaphor for my generation one day. For remix culture, the group of folks addicted to music, art, design, film and of course re tooling something already existing into something new, these videos stand as a perfect snapshot of the zeitgeist being created today.
Take an up-close look on how Moleskine notebooks are customized. This decorating procedure is used to create Moleskine custom edition.
Facebook recently announced that they’re adding full HTTPS support for the site, to keep you protected from attacks like Firesheep. The feature’s finally rolling out, and you should probably do yourself a favor by watching this video and even giving this article a quick read.
I am in love with Cut Copy. I have been for some time, halfway between their 2004 debut album Bright Like Neon Love and their 2008 follow up In Ghost Colours I came across them and have never looked back. For example, when I started writing this post, I had no music on, but now I do and it’s Cut Copy. It’s like magic!
Today my email informed me there were some limited pre-sale packages available so like a big nerd I had to nab one package #2 with a Vinyl and signed lithograph (hand numbered and limited to 500 prints, hot damn). If you’re unfamiliar with Cut Copy, I used them last summer in one of our ‘vacation videos’ featuring their then just-released track Where I’m Going. You can find it on Oh, Canada! (How’s it Goin’?).
Over the last few months, they’ve been releasing chapters of a 4 part series, documenting the making of their 3rd album, Zonoscope. Catch up now!
And here’s one more treat, their latest single Need You Now.
Podcast: Play in new window
The news of the day is—undeniably—the 40th anniversary of Starbucks and their latest update to their logo. I would like to go on record and say that I love it, I think it’s fantastic. The latest logo embraces the Swedish and Modernist ideals of minimalism we see enveloping design worldwide, removing the clutter, all the bells and whistles, and says what it’s about, the coffee. I’m very excited to see this more conservative (design-wise, anyway) look unveil as the years progress.
@gregsczebel shared this treat with me. He’s claimed Firecracker, I think I can pull off Honeysuckle. What colour are you? Read more after the jump…
I made up a Visa I would love to see… wood grain & gold lettering? Yes please.
An exciting sneak peak at the River Island menswear collection for Spring/Summer 2011. I love these clothes.
Having a case on your iPhone, for many, is a no-brainer. Keeping your phone protected is a full-time job for some (myself, mostly) and we’ve seen some pretty hideous options out there. Cases that are clunky, unreliable and unattractive. That being said, for every four-cornered tragedy, there arises something innovative and beautiful. I was recently turned onto this great cover that gives your new phone the classic look of an old Leica camera.
Or go one step further and replace getting a case with an entire customized iPhone for only $4,500. PS, this is on my wishlist this season and if you felt the urge to help a brother out, I wouldn’t say no to this under my tree.
A luxurious case made of 200-year-old African Blackwood. It is a rare, exclusive material of incredible strength and durability. Ornament of the case – branded Apple made of 18-karat gold on the back panel.
In only 12 or so hours, losing both Irvin Kershner (Director of The Empire Strikes Back) and Leslie Nielson (The great Canadian comedian) can be qualified a tragedy to both the world of film and art in general. Both men brilliant, this clip taken from 1998s Wrongfully Accused (where Nielson’s character is clobbered by a coffee table in a manner mimicing Han Solo when he’s frozen in carbonite) is a nod to Kershner’s Empire. It may explain things better to say that Wrongfully Accused is a spoof of 1993s The Fugitive, also starring Harrison Ford.
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Ever since I began making these Mixcasts, it was my eventual hope I would be able to co-host and co-curate some of these mixes. In some way, this small dream has come true with the Guest Mixtapes I've been able to share with you; but at the end of the day, it was still my voice. At least in the literal sense. All of that changes today as I'm joined by my friend Erik Jack (@erikstocrat). We sat down and picked some of the songs we haven't been able to get out of our heads in the past couple months, as ...
Well spring has sprung (if you ask me, and no, no one did) and you know how I feel about warmer weather. Instead of doing a two-parter spring Mixcast this year, I figured I'd just do a double length. I didn't put a lot of effort into narration for this one, so the good news you get to enjoy more music! Get in the mood with these fine musicians: Amor Fati by Washed Out Weekend by Class Actress Young Silence by Echo Lake Friendship Station by Le Tigre A Visit From Drum by Liars Ashamed by Deer Tick All We'll Ever Know by Parallels Triceratops (CFCF Rmx) by ...
Now this has been a long time coming. The last few months for me have been a ride, to say the very least. January, usually a slow time in my life was quickly filled with personal projects I had been putting off for a long time. I followed up with a lot of people I've wanted to collaborate with, under the assumption about 30%-50% of them would have the time to commit to a collab... imagine my surprise when just about everyone was into working together. Long story some-what short, I asked my friends in Sex with Strangers (@SWSmusic) to put ...
I tried something new last year when I gave you the ...By a Fire Mixtape, an alternative—although not entirely disparate—Holiday Mixtape. An hour long, commercial-free Holiday Mixtape where only 1/3 of the tracks are actual Christmas songs. To this day, I've considered producing another Mixtape in a similar fashion. I know it's nice to be able to put some music on and forget about it. I also hate the silence between tracks on regular Holiday albums so we kill two birds with one stone. Now, enjoy ...By a Fire: Volume 2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by ...
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