Secret Still

I bought a small bag of Cheez-its from a vending machine today with a quarter from 1965, and in the time it took  me to walk from my desk to the vending machine, I thought about the small artifacts we ignore. That quarter, which has now become part of a pile of quarters, was minted the year my parents were married. That was the first real year of their lives; just graduated from high school and starting college,  fresh off an elopement and honeymoon to Mexico, loving each other more than could believe, living in a crappy apartment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with almost no money to their name, and just being so happy about it. It’s possible that my dad put gas in his 1956 Olds Special with the quarter that I held in my hands today. He could’ve driven my mom to the woods and walked down some old dirt road while holding her hand, because of that quarter. And that quarter continued to make the same small things possible in people’s lives for the last 45 years.

The point is that, regardless of its given worth based on public opinion, an artifact itself can be worth more than the sum of its parts. So to speak. An artifact can have meaning instead of just worth, it represents everything that everyone has ever believed about it, and everything that has resulted because of its existence. All day today I’ve been listening to music at Left is Rain, and it’s all great, and there is so much of it, but I miss the artifacts. I’m definitely not the kind of person who hates digital music, very far from it. I just can’t help but remember how amazing it was when I found my parents stash of old, forgotten records, and played them for myself on our turntable. And those records must have meant so many things to my parents, too. Maybe they listened to Blood, Sweat, and Tears while they were sitting around their little trailer on the lake in Alabama, the sun was out,  it was Saturday, and everything was gonna be fine. The music is the most important part, but we also can’t forget that the record itself comes to represent those memories, and even more, that whole period of their lives.

The point of all of this was originally that you should go to Left is Rain and just let it play through all 700 -some-odd songs, and have yourself a fine time doing it. But that stupid quarter got me wistful, and a little sad that the digital age doesn’t offer much in the way of artifacts. Even these words are going to just vanish into nothing someday, because they were never really here. It makes things seem not only less permanent, but less meaningful. But hey, I’ve got a woman I love and my parent’s old Blood, Sweat and Tears record at home; I can make memories of my own.

Left as Rain

For the first time maybe ever in my life, I find myself wanting to be in Atlanta. Not to stay, hell no, but for just long enough to attend the Living Walls events that are going down August 13-15. The whole idea of the Living Walls conference is kind of a free form, fly by the seat of your pants event that brings Street Artists from all over the world together to do what it is they do best: make some art on the streets. There are lectures and whatnot, but the real draw is the legal walls to mess around with, and, of course, the not legal walls that will also get used. You can’t put that many street artists together in one place and not expect something amazing to happen. If I could afford it, I’d hop a plane to Atlanta, and join in the fun. Instead the ATL and I will remain, as always, quiet enemies.

Living Walls

Closing out design week (I’m off tomorrow) is what might be one of the finest pieces of design thinking I’ve ever witnessed. This time we dip into the world of Industrial Design with power designers Mike and Maaike who are behind some of the best designed products you use, including The Girl’s G1 Android phone. Core77 has a wonderful post detailing M&M’s process and ideas behind their Autonomobile project, which literally and completely redesigns not only the task of driving, but the idea. It’s not often that we get to see this kind of innovation so thoughtfully explained, and in a manner that is wholly feasible within the next 5 years. If I were a billionaire you can bet your sweet ass this would be what I would sink my billions into. As it stands, I’m poor, and I don’t think I would even qualify for an internship with Mike and Maaike. I’m gonna let them do the talking about this project, as they understand and explain it better than I ever could. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna cross the Bay and sit outside the M&M offices with a sad puppy look on my face and hope they let me just hang out with their ideas for a while.

Core77: The End of Driving

Mike and Maaike

There is an amazing article up on Design Observer about how underground movements are co-opted by mainstream marketing. That is some damn insightful writing, right there. I always appreciate Heller’s writing, but this piece just had more oomph behind it, like a 3am frenzy essay, written hunched over and wild-eyed. Me likey.

Underground Mainstream

Exactitudes is a nice project from a Rotterdam duo chronicling the standard fashions that sub-cultures wear to separate themselves from other groups. I remember seeing some of the earlier images from this project four or so years ago, but it’s gotten much bigger since. I’m really just partial to the aesthetic of the site and the photo groupings. I’ve also realized that there are too many clothes in the world. Let 2008 be the year of the nude!

Exactitudes rememberd via Josh Spear

On April 26th Kid Robot released a series of toys in collabo with the design collective DOMA. The toys, called Acid Sweeties are the most original and colorful toys that I’ve seen so far from the ever expanding vinyl figure market that populates a part of modern street culture. I like toys that I can play with so I’ve never even considered spending $100 on a limited edition artist designed vinyl whatever, but these little guys are $8 per and I can definitely come up with some great scenarios in which they fight my toy motorcycles in the bathtub. Seriously I do that. And just to make things more interesting there is a massive scavenger hunt to go along with the toy release. You can win $1000 shopping spree at Kid Robot and the full set of Acid Sweeties and some other shit. Of course finding all the stuff and then shipping it will probably cost you about $1000 so you might just want to buy the toys and leave it at that.

Kid Robot
DOMA

In recent years there have been a plethora of films about graffiti released to slake the street art thirst of the burgeoning culture of cool surrounding the hypeworld. Of course everything started way back when with Style Wars, and most of the more recent films have fallen short of that high water mark. Enter Bomb It!, a film that explores the greater ideas involved in the street art movement, ideas like free space and personal expression and community. But even more than high-minded concepts like those the film just wants to explain why street art speaks to so many people. I’m looking forward to the release, and since I live nowhere near NYC I’ll be missing the premiere along with most of the country. I’ll cop it on DVD when it drops. You’d be wise to do the same.