Matt Hoyle

Matt Hoyle, photographer extraordinaire, has some really great portraits on his online porfolio.

Shadyside Steeler

I was flipping through old issues of Dwell when I stumbled upon this article about a house in Shadyside Pittsburgh which is minutes away from me. Anyone feel like doing some stalking?

Paula Scher

This is a project she was commisioned for in Pittsburgh. She was asked to revamp the Northside and make a logo that represents the area. Scher thought this to be silly and responded by suggesting these installations throughout Northside beneath these underpasses- like many art installations that act as a charm bracelet uniting the area.
level 5 at Bloomberg Headquarters

Scher's branding of Lincoln Center

I recently saw a lecture on Paula Scher where she emphasized "serious play" in design and have since seen much of her work about. The iconic citibank symbol that she developed is just one of the things I keep on passing as well as a few things within Pittsburgh of all places. Scher seems to have quite a few projects based in Pittsburgh so I thought I'd give her a shout out here. I admire her work and find it interesting how she relates graphic design to architecture. You can find her firm(Pentagram) and work here.


The Charm Bracelet

Lara Stone by Steven Klein

Droolworthy pics via Stacey from February's French Vogue.

The Fucking Weather

Props to Dan for this. For when you want to know how the weather IS.

Sounds Like My Kind of Game

Women tear off the clothes of men as they play huranga in Dauji temple near the northern Indian town of Mathura March 12, 2009. Huranga is a game played between men and women a day after the Holi festival during which men drench women with liquid colors and women tear off the clothes of the men. (REUTERS/K.K. Arora)


via The Globe's Big Picture

link

Puma Campaign/ DROGA5

MUST watch this video til the end. WOW! Puma's new commercial for their "light" shoes. Again I'm no billboard, but this was neato.

*update

I did a little more research and Droga5, the agency who made this ad is also the one that did the Tap Project ad that I liked so much. Also I read their mission statement on their "about" page and they have some simple and honorable things to say.

some more info on their campaign

Synthesized Happiness

This goes on the list of one of my fave tedtalks of all time. Dan Gilbert, "the expert of happiness" talks about how there is no difference between regular happiness and synthesized happiness. One of the first examples he gives is that a person who has a limb amputated and one who has won the lottery have equal amounts of happiness in one year's time. People who have tragic things happen to them or miss out on great opportunities often say that it was for the best or they're happy it happened to them when logically it doesn't seem possible. I guess I can only explain so much of the lecture and the rest you really just have to see but he made me think a lot I suppose about how much of my happiness is real is how much is just synthesized (though the entire point of his lecture was about how one is not superior over the other).

Harder Better Faster Stronger (remix 10,000)

You can remix you own version... I stayed here way longer than I should have.

Diirty Jerz

Camden is exactly what I don't what people to think of when they think of Jersey BUT I thought this was cool. This photographer Vergaga looks at buildings in Camden that are joined under a single roof but have one side that has been abandoned and another that continues to be inhabitated. Read the site for more info. Super eerie.

Very Leggy

Mullins modeling "cheetah legs"

the best picture I could find of the Alexander McQueen hand carved solid ash wood legs with the integrated boots on the far right... DIVINE!

I can go on forever about Alexander McQueen he makes the most insane clothes and I should probably dedicate an entire post altogether to him, but this post is really about Aimee Mullins. Mullins had both her legs amputated at age one because of a rare disorder and went on to study at Georgetown living her normal life when she decided she wanted to start track and field. In her first race she beat the existing record (using prosthetics) against able-bodied competitors.

Sure I've heard many many Oprah stories of all these great people that overcome disabilities and this wouldn't have prompted me to post an entry if it weren't for her interesting thoughts on prosthetics. She has 12 pairs from flesh tone silicon to clear plastic-based ones. She likes to change her height from 5'8" to 6'1" and is now a "motivational speaker" (i hate those). Anyway she thinks of prosthetics not as something that hinders her daily life but something that gives her endless options. If nothing else man those legs are gorgeous!

Dent May & Magnificent Ukulele

Shout out to Annie who just sent me an article from the Boston Globe about this new talent: Dent May- yes... he plays the ukulele. Yes, he sympathizes with me.

"I do think the ukulele deserves to be taken more seriously," he says. "It's misunderstood, but that's one of the reasons I wanted to play it in the first place."

And he gets super props b.c. he's signed up the same record company as Animal Collective.

Summation: Ukulele rocks. Dent May rocks. Boston Globe... rocks.

Sarah... she's beautiful on the inside

www.sarahjessicaparkerlookslikeahorse.com

I think Sarah looks like a doll I really do.... but according to Max and the mastermind of this site I'm wrong. Not gonna lie though... this site is genius

Love in the 1st Person

I stumbled upon Matt Eich whilst surfing MediaStorm (multimedia publications of narratives click, click). I was pleasantly surprised to learn his alma mater is Ohio University.

Did a little more digging into his personal business and found more dirt. Eich was featured in a PopPhoto article as an emerging artist in 2007, won College Photographer of the Year in 2006, and he most recently won SportsShooter.com's Student Photographer of the Year in February. He has shot for Fader, HotShoe and you can check out his website here. 

Big thangs, big thangs. 

New Museum

Yesterday before I saw the great one, I went to the New Museum with the sis. I was quite excited because I had seen it before in some architecture publication. The exhibits themselves thougha were lacking. Not only are only three of the floors for art, the pieces they chose weren't so thought-provoking or impressive. What I liked the most about the New Museum I suppose was the building itself. The stairs were on the outer edges of the buildings and were these long dramatic spaces with calculated spots of illumination. Here are some pics:

I guess it's pretty tricky to capture what it was like to be in that space but believe me it was cool.

This was one one of the views from the sky room aka the 7th floor.
Here's another


And that's Michel or the clearest pic I could find from yesterday. Bummer but I'll have him in my heart always :D

MICHEL GONDRY IN THE FLESH

I saw the man himself in a New York screening of Tokyo! Pics/video are to come soon but so in daze that I needed to blog it. He came, introduced the film, and answered a few questions and yes I could hardly contain myself. He was just as I suspected- very dry biting humor and ooo that irresistible french accent. Michel made fun of the whole question asking blah blah itself and at one point compared Americans to pieces of poop. He talked... I swooned... it was great.

And if you're wondering Tokyo! was brilliant. All stories were so truly captivating and bizzare. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but from a woman who can turn into a chair.... to a green pantsuit wearing leprachaun-esque sewer monster ...unforgettable.

Penned Madness

These guys are based in Florida and have this blog that releases new of songs mostly mixes or beats that are absolutley FREE! Pretty decent. Here.

Marry ME: Barry Schwartz

This is guy was my favorite TED lecturer to date. He talks a lot about the "right thing"... how logic and morality are connected. Here is one of his lectures (though the one I saw was a podcast). Maybe it's just something I'm particularly interested in but loved it.