One of my favorite (fashion) photographers started a Tumblr account.

Check it out: TerrysDiary

Blink 182 are now selling an exclusive Haiti t-shirt with all proceeds going to The Red Cross. The shirts are $15 and available on the bands site: http://www.blink182merch.com

Just wanted to do a follow up post for the one Chris did last night on Jay Reatard.  It was kind of weird finding out about something first on our site.  Last year at ASR tradeshow, Larry, myself and my friend Rusty went to see Jay Reatard play live.  I absolutely hate going to shows but this show was amazing.  It was a real small venue with a ton of energy.  I couldn’t find any youtube videos from that show which sucks but I posted this one instead. We have been talking about doing something with Jay for quiet a while and were putting it off until issue #3 but sadly that will never happen.  I was just reading an interview with him that I wanted to share.

RIP Jay Reatard

So I read today that after two times in Bankruptcy Polaroid is making a big comeback!  Lady GaGa is slated to be the creative director.  Oddly I think this is actually a good pair and you will most likely be sure to see licensed Lady GaGa polaroid cameras as well.  I am very curious to see the creative direction we will see in the future from Lady GaGa and the design team.

“Speaking of Polaroid’s iconic instant camera, the brand plans to bring it back with similar styling and with its classic instant film. The cameras will retail for around $100 and be released in 2010″ by Brand Channel

Just got back from my trip to California. It was my first time there and for a New York City girl like myself, I couldn’t have been more out of my element. Aside from the obvious differences – like the lack of black clothing, the warm weather, and an overabundance of happy people- the societal and cultural norms are enough to drive a New Yorker crazy. Wherever we went we were warned to not jaywalk, which is unheard of in New York; we’d never wait for the walk signal to cross the street. And we don’t always cross at the crosswalk; the middle of the street is just fine enough for us to dart in front of a speeding taxi.

We do what we want, when we want and we are outspoken about it. That’s what I love about being a New Yorker- we have no filter, we always say what’s on our mind. Unlike Californians, New Yorkers are used to a fast-paced way of living. We hop off crowded subways onto jam-packed sidewalks while talking on our iPhone’s, e-mailing on our Blackberry’s and telling tourists how to get to Times Square.

I think I could definitely live in California for a while though. The beaches are amazing, the sidewalks are clean (for the most part), the people are friendly, and the atmosphere is laid-back, something I’m not used to here. Plus, In-N-Out itself is enough for me to stay for years.

“Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., the Memphis musician better known by his punk-rock stage name Jay Reatard, has died, his record label Goner Records said on Wednesday. In a statement posted at goner-records.com, the label said: “It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public.” by Davie Itzkoff for New York Times

Photo: Deitch Projects

Photo: Monica Almeida / NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/arts/design/12moca.html?ref=arts

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/arts/design/12muse.html?ref=design

Man this is some fucked up shit.  The justice system can be so messed up.

For all you product and package designers, tired of waiting for samples from vendors.  Check this out from wired.com report at the CES.

I just found this video clip by accident.  It is such a good piece with Mike Vallely talking about his experience at the Brooklyn banks.  Knowing that the future of the Banks is somewhat up in the air, he came back to get some last photos of himself skating there.  “It was the best skatepark in the world because it wasn’t supposed to be a skate park” Check it out.

I have no comments for this just watch it….

Photo: NPR: All Songs Considered

Danger Mouse and the singer/songwriter of the Shins James Mercer collaborated under the name Broken Bells.  I only heard the opening track “The High Road” on NPR: All Songs Considered and I am super psyched!  Check it out!

Bill Moggridge, one of the founders of the design firm IDEO has been appointed the new Director of the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

He was recently interviewed for the documentary OBJECTIFIED and also well known for designing the first look of the commercial laptop.

Check out the article in the NYTIMES.

For anyone who missed this last night check it out.  He has been promoting his new book  LA Woman,  you can find out more at Estevan’s blog.

Not a big fan of comcast cable, but I did notice they now provide Ovation TV!  Check it out if you haven’t already.

“With a mission to “Make Life Creative,” Ovation TV is a multiplatform network focused on entertaining, inspiring and engaging the artist in all of us by offering original and acquired programming focused on art, culture and personal creativity. The network is distributed via cable, satellite and telco, and is complemented with its popular broadband website (www.OvationTV.com). Ovation TV premiered in 1997 and was re-launched on June 20, 2007 to a national audience with its additional carriage on DIRECTV. Since then, the network has added carriage on DISH Network and on major cable systems across the country en route to becoming one of the fastest-growing television networks, with a subscriber base approaching 30 million.” by http://ovationtv.com/

http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

“Stephen Wiltshire is an artist who draws and paints detailed cityscapes. He has a particular talent for drawing lifelike, accurate representations of cities, sometimes after having only observed them briefly. He was awarded an MBE for services to the art world in 2006. He studied Fine Art at City & Guilds Art College. His work is popular all over the world, and is held in a number of important collections.” by stephenwiltshire.co.uk

“Teresa Monachino’s latest book, Around The World with the Bodoni Family, got a mention in our current issue in our profile on The Society of Revisionist Typographers (SORT). However, at the time of going to print with the January issue the book – which has been letterpress printed by SORT in an edition of just 40 – wasn’t ready to be photographed. Now it is ready and has indeed been shot – so here are some images and a bit more info about the project…” by Creative Review

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/january/around-the-world-with-the-bodoni-family

“The book, limited to just 40 hand numbered editions, has been lovingly letterpressed by SORT on GF Smith Colorplan Mist 175gsm, and case bound in Dubletta red bookcloth by Robert Warren of the Fleuron Bindery – a professional neighbour of SORT in London’s Cockpit Arts studios.

Around The World with the Bodoni Family features an introduction signed by Monachino and a foreword written and signed by Dan Cruickshank – who readers may recall presented Around The World in 80 Treasures on the BBC back in 2005. It is now available direct from Studio Monachino (enquiries to info@studiomonachino.co.uk) and also from the London Design Museum Shop priced at £95.” by Creative Review

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilevermiroslawbalka/explore/

13 October 2009 – 5 April 2010

“The latest commission in The Unilever Series How It Is by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka is a giant grey steel structure with a vast dark chamber, which in construction reflects the surrounding architecture – almost as if the interior space of the Turbine Hall has been turned inside out. Hovering somewhere between sculpture and architecture, on 2 metre stilts, it stands 13 metres high and 30 metres long. Visitors can walk underneath it, listening to the echoing sound of footsteps on steel, or enter via a ramp into a pitch black interior, creating a sense of unease.

Underlying this chamber is a number of allusions to recent Polish history – the ramp at the entrance to the Ghetto in Warsaw, or the trucks which took Jews away to the camps of Treblinka or Auschwitz, for example. By entering the dark space, visitors place considerable trust in the organisation, something that could also be seen in relation to the recent risks often taken by immigrants travelling. Balka intends to provide an experience for visitors which is both personal and collective, creating a range of sensory and emotional experiences through sound, contrasting light and shade, individual experience and awareness of others, perhaps provoking feelings of apprehension, excitement or intrigue.” http://www.tate.org.uk/

I was basically into metal when I was a kid because of my older brother, but in the beginning of 7th grade I got into some different music because of skating and staying up and watching 120 minutes.  I started listening to some bands like LUSH, Fretblanket, Quicksand, HUM, etc. Here are some old favorites…

Take one part infomercial and mix it with one part old school electro and serve up the Slap Chop Rap by DJ Steve Porter. This may be the best track of 2009.

The Art of Storytelling is based in New Jersey.  The founder Joe Crisafi and I have been raised in Jersey since our childhood.  Since JERSEY SHORE premiered on MTV I feel I have defended my state and also our Italian heritage against this debacle of a show.  I will admit I can’t help but watch the show because it is just so rediculous.  In the NY TIMES today there was a great article that basically sums up my view on the JERSEY SHORE….http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/arts/television/04shore.html?hp

“In the United States even the most unrepentant, obviously guilty serial killer or multimillion-dollar defrauder is entitled to a defense. It is in that spirit that this writer, an actual resident of New Jersey, steps forward to defend “Jersey Shore,” which seems likely to be the consensus choice for most appalling show of 2009.

The series, which arrived a month ago on MTV, seemed on paper as if it would be just another make-strangers-share-a-house reality show: eight young people of dubious intelligence and accomplishment were thrown together in a lavishly appointed residence in Seaside Heights, about an 80-mile drive from Manhattan, for a hormonally charged, alcohol-fueled summer.

But these insufferable eight were billed as Italian-Americans (though who really knows?), and their display of debauchery and self-absorption was so over the top that it quickly drew complaints of ethnic stereotyping. The cast’s numbingly frequent use of a term for Italian-Americans that many consider offensive hasn’t helped. Just before Christmas the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus called for the show’s cancellation.

But surely “Jersey Shore,” which is broadcast on Thursday nights, must have some redeeming value, mustn’t it? Yes, it must. Herewith, five reasons to like “Jersey Shore”:

1. THE ACTUAL JERSEY SHORE HASN’T BEEN THIS INTERESTING IN YEARS. Sorry to be blunt, but no one has found summer on the New Jersey coast exciting since the shark attacks of 1916.

On the boardwalks you can buy fried dough and fried Oreos, as well as taffy that will undo any dental work you’ve had done in the last 40 years. You can buy overpriced tickets for amusement park rides so timid they’d be laughed out of the kiddie area of a Six Flags. And that’s about it.

You can also venture onto the actual beach, though you might not want to after reading the reports from Clean Ocean Action’s annual New Jersey beach cleanups, in which volunteers collect and catalog trash. Figures from 2008 included 17,957 straws and stirrers, 3,319 tampon applicators, 656 condoms and 165 syringes.

Not that Seaside Heights doesn’t try to do something about the litter problem: the summer before the “Jersey Shore” eight showed up, one of the high points, as trumpeted in a YouTube video by the town’s public relations department, was the purchase of a new beach-cleaning machine, a lime-green Barber Surf Rake. The news has not exactly set the world on fire: in the almost two years since its posting, the video has had only about 650 views. MTV’s “Jersey Shore” YouTube promo, in contrast, has had more than 733,000.

So though Seaside Heights has issued a statement distancing itself from the show, and a state tourism official has expressed concern, everyone involved knows there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Will there be billboards on the highways next summer reading, “If you’re coming here because of ‘Jersey Shore,’ please turn around and take your tourist dollars to some other state”? No, there won’t.

2. MAYBE ‘JERSEY SHORE’ WILL FINALLY KILL OFF THE KARDASHIANS.

Anyone truly interested in identifying the most irritating reality show of 2009 need look no further than “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” on E!, now inexplicably in its fourth season.

Maybe people are still watching this show, about a vapid family that has done nothing to earn its fame, because they have been numbed into a sort of trance that creates the illusion of being entertained. “Jersey Shore” should slap them out of that; its brash, bawdy inhabitants make the indolent, overprivileged Kardashians look as exciting as an old “Father Knows Best” episode.

3. YOUNG PEOPLE NEED BAD EXAMPLES.

Too many children today are reaching their teenage years armed only with a Disney definition of “bad person”: it’s someone who talks cattily about your wardrobe behind your back, maybe copies a few answers off your math quiz.

They have no idea how much ignorance, narcissism, predatory sexism and hair-gel abuse lurk out there in the real world. Unless they watch “Jersey Shore.” From that perspective the show is a sort of public service.

4. THE ENABLERS CAN NOW BE UNMASKED.

Vileness and incompetence love the darkness; the light of day exposes them for what they are. Putting the spotlight on the “Jersey Shore” eight gives us the opportunity to root out all the influences that formed them.

The schools, if any, where they were educated can now be located and shut down. The teachers who so abysmally failed to impart to them the rudiments of civilized life can be fired. The gyms and style salons that seduced them with the lie that physical appearance is more important than personality can be picketed and boycotted. With vigilance we can ensure that no more of our young people turn out the way these ones did.

5. UM, LET’S SEE, THERE’S,

well … All right, so maybe “five reasons to like ‘Jersey Shore’ ” was setting the bar too high. In truth it was hard enough coming up with four. And anyway “Jersey Shore” is already on the verge of becoming old news: MTV has a casting call up for “people who appear to be between the ages of 18-25” and have had bad experiences as a result of “sexting” nude pictures of themselves on their cellphones. Something to look forward to in 2010.”

If you’ve yet to come up with a New Years Resolution let this automatic generator do it for you

Guess I’m going to be more patient… ugh.