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I made an executive decision and let another form of artistic expression filter through this site’s many fishnets and road blocks and onto the blog’s front page (just this once of course). A choice not taken lightly, but made much easier only after these whimsical pieces from Austrian-based Erwin Wurm turned up. For one area of his art, Wurm takes otherwise conventional automobiles and mutates them into bulbous, inflated versions of the originals. Using polyurethane foam and styrofoam topped with lacquer, Wurm smothers the car until it looks like it’s suffered multiple bee stings, then paints the altered edition to look like the real thing. The result? Funny four-wheeled pieces that look straight out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit or the jalopy version of grandpa’s bloated drinker nose or Marisa after she done left The O.C. for feature-length films. Jump down for a few more pics (a couple more cars as well as some of Wurm’s other wacky art). Read More…

Is it me, or is the music industry and all its related releases somewhat non-existent in the days between Christmas and New Years? Perfectly predictable I suppose as everyone, be it musicians or otherwise, is probably too busy rubbing bloated bellies or toweling off the holiday meat sweats to even consider playing the game. Read More…

I’ve come to really enjoy bulky designs that always arrive with fairly new technology. Apple had some doozies, as did IBM. Remember the Palm Pilot? Bi-color screen with only one real function (paperweight). Then there were early model cellphones, both large and in charge. I mean, Zack Morris used to run Bayside High by talking into what basically resembled a grey brick. Shit was hideous, but it sure made Kelly’s knees weak.

Vintage Technology has accumulated a nice collection of what some enthusiasts would call vintage calculator porn. Over 550 number-crunchers from the ‘70s are on display, most of which laid groundwork for the hi-tech mind-f*cks that are the Texas Instruments of today. Quite boxy with limited functions, many are brightly colored and still come with on/off switches. Batteries be damned, this is prior to the “solar powered” crap they shelled out in the ‘90s. Each calculator comes with a photo and an extremely detailed reference page. The one above is a Serd Bonn from 1975. Simple and cold. Although I added the “BOOB” to spice the pic up a bit. Makes me laugh. Always has, always will. Jump down for a few more calculators from 1970′s nerd-dom. Read More…

As I returned to the city from a day spent in the great green North, radio on windows down, NPR was broadcasting an hour-long segment on various fonts/texts, and the transition from scribe to press to digital. So on, so forth. Also included was dialogue between host and Matthew Carter, creator of the popular internet font, Verdana. Made me think. Much to the pleasure of a number of my “new media” cohorts, the world is becoming more and more digitized. For every new gadget and Kindle reboot, it becomes increasingly more difficult to get one’s paws on tangible reads and other works of print. Did you know public schools are now opting for “keyboarding” classes over those teaching cursive? I know. And I was a second-grade standout thanks to my capital letter S. I made ‘em swoop.

By coincidence, I stumbled across an article and video centered on a young guy attempting to keep a dying art alive. Call it relevant. Nick Sambrato is an Italian dude who runs an old school print shop. Letterpress and the trade it goes hand in hand with, has been on its last breath since the dawn of digital. Mama’s Sauce, the print shop Sambrato own’s and operates in sunny Orlando, is doing its damndest to keep lungs pumping. Read More…

Apparently being an American Dad in a third-rate Sunday night cartoon series lands you your own line of tennies. Huh? Oh, right. THAT Stan Smith. Got it. Bravo ADIDAS. Different is the perforated three stripe branding, replaced by a whole shit load of holes. Mesh-like, but still fairly clean cut. Plenty good for lookin’ sharp or knocking a few balls ’round.

Not those kind of balls. [via]

Today’s high-def renderings of proposed architecture can easily trick the naked eye. With incredibly detailed depictions people tend to think, “Wow, shit’s unbelievable.” Only to find out later, it is. Here’s an actual edifice that straddles the blended line of reality/fantasy. Taking a little over six months to build, it’s an Austrian observation tower completed in 2009. Designed by architects Klaus K. Loenhart and Christoph Mayr, the aluminum-clad structure overlooks the River Mur and looks like a cut and paste job straight out of Battlestar Galactica. Jump down for additional stills.

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Unlike those sloppily written in sharpie, the buzzer I rang was easy to identify. Like a diamond in the rough, the intercom’s label is stylized and clean. Well thought-out with intent to stand apart. An identity it shares with whichever tenant took the time to create such a forthright doorbell.

Pesky static crowding in, I exchange formalities through the intercom. I tell the detached voice who I am and why I’m here. Jason Teegarden, one half of Chicago-based design firm Delicious Design League, says he’ll be right down.

Rounded out by Teegarden’s partner Billy Baumann, Delicious Design League has matured quickly and efficiently in the short five years since their inception. From a damp DIY basement cut and copy poster operation to a full fledge design firm. And despite having multiple clients on the Fortune 500 list, they’ve yet to turn their back on the gig poster community; DDL’s bread and butter for so many years. Read More…

That’s all.

Nothing’s better on a sticky summer night than a cold fridge stocked full with High Life. Backlight showing through, illuminating the vessels of good time, it’s an instant parched mouth. The branding hasn’t changed much (if any) since its debut and I like that. It’s always carried a real classic look. Clear glass, no neck. Sure it does’t hold a ton of flavor. It doesn’t need to. Feel like I can grow an instant 5 o’clock shadow whenever I drink it. Just like Grandpa in the north woods, manly. Read More…

Pony recently previewed the newest line in their Archive Collection. Debuting October 1st, the Top Star sneaker takes on a more stylized, classic approach; as opposed to last season’s performance inspired design. Catering to the colder months, Fall/Winter will see the sneakers designed to follow a minimalist look, focusing on timeless Americana as the basis for this original 1980s design. Clean and simple. Welcome back Pony, it’s been too long.

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