9/30/07

Conspiracy In The Streets

I'm not one to always go out and look for a book to read so whenever I feel the urge to go to the bookstore, I don't know much about the "must read" authors so I usually just go by how attractive and well put together the cover design is from one book to the next..I came across a book called Conspiracy In the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight . Put together in collaboration with the respected history professor and magazine editor Jon Wiener, political activist Tom Hayden, and cartoonist Jules Feiffer who's illustrations complement the book so well.



The book takes you through the 1969 trial that brought together the well known figures from the antiwar protests, yippie demographic, and Black Panther party to face conspiracy charges. Both the book's writing and trial are very humorous and entertaining..recommended read for anyone wanting to learn more about how the US government handled those who felt the need for a serious change that could greatly effect their own agendas. The unbiased writing leaves the reader making their own opinions and gives a little history of what was 'really' happening during those confusing times.


-The cover photo features the men that were tried in the case with the exception of Bobby Seale (who was being held in jail).. the cover photo and design is what really made me pick the book up. A very nice find.

Conspiracy In The Streets

Academy of Art University: Monocle Design Feature



While looking through the Design section of Monocle's September issue I spotted a small artical about my school Acadmey of Art University in San Francisco. Ironicly the artical focuses on the industrial design department along with the departments at Hochschule in Pforzheim, Germany and London's Royal College of Art.

More specificly the artical is focused on the automotive design division. Which I feel is the main attraction to anyone wanting to go to the Acadmey for industrial design..rather than my major, product design. Monocle interviews Tom Moatano executive director of industrial design for the artical.

Monocle

9/29/07

Feast of Love



Think KRAMER VS. KRAMER meets Love Actually.

Feast of Love

9/17/07

Takeshi Masada "New Paintings"



Osaka born contemporary artist Takeshi Masada is currently showing a solo exhibition simply titled "New Paintings". I discovered him while looking at Jean Touitou's blog on Honeyee. I'm really taken by the affects he uses with oil and water based paints. Takeshi Masada's new works are currently being displayed at Wako Works of Art located in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

9/9/07

The Ego Has Landed


One of the first photo blogs I've been completely impressed by. Witty and beautiful, Jason Nocito's photograph blog titled "The Ego Has Landed" is a wonderful collection of photographs from his life put together in sets of two, with play-on-word names. The Ego Has Landed

-Evan

9/6/07

Mobile Review: The Future of Apple

My favorite and the most brutally honest mobile electronic review site out of Kremlin is Mobile Review. They decided to write an article on their predictions on Apple's future plans. The article discusses how the Internet is the fastest growing market in the world of "information technology". Which would make sense because if our hardware (now including the iPod) was without the Internet we would be left with the same information we had when we first powered up the device.
The article also depicts Apple's future strategy by looking at their past, discussing how the web browser and software which works hand in hand for Apple will expand functionality on the iPhone and the new generation of iPods.



What I've begun to see in Apple is that their true source of success is the fact they have an extremely tight integration with marketing, management/strategy, design, and engineering. Having a strong point in only of those departments will bring failure in the long run. On the other hand, history shows that kind of integration, success, and know how doesn't seem to have room for more than one in a over saturated market.

Mobile Review

9/4/07

Cory Kennedy+KAWS?



Maybe it’s the fact that I just woke up and did so on the wrong side of the bed but when I got on my computer I came across this cover of Jalouse mag and got annoyed. Apparently the cover photo is of the L.A. socialite Cory Kennedy photoshopped with a KAWS bendy character and his signature gloves. I find the image annoying basically because of a personal strive I have with how something totally irrelevant like Cory Kennedy has been associated with 'street culture'.

-In the past year I’ve noticed how the dominant forces in youth street culture have become the Urban or Hipster/Electro scenes. It kind of makes me wonder if the culture has seperated within itself. Has it lost its true meaning or just clinging on to it?

9/3/07

Sun An

Sun An (hello/bye) is a prolific producer/artist from LA. After searching for a while on the web, I still can't find much information on him. Supposedly, his design firm's name Hello/Bye exists solely because his name Sun An is unable to be google'd. I was pleasantly suprised by the music he makes (find it on his homepage). Part ambience, part lo-fi, Sun An's music exists peacefully under the radar. Coming soon are his films, art, and design projects, I can't wait. From what I gather, the mainstream is well aware of his talents due to his work with big names such as MTV, Tokion, and Arkitip. Peep his site for a good chunk of time spent absorbing quality movies and music.

-Evan

9/2/07

Apprectiation: visvim



Looking at Beinghunted's vol. III of updates for this year I came across a short piece Jörg Haas wrote about Visvim and how he believes they are going through a new period of evolution as a brand. The article focuses mainly on Visvim's F/W 07 bags describing how they demonstrate the art of good design giving the customer a piece that balances functionality and comfort with added subtle design elements. Jörg also points out the differences in the design between the American line and the upscale F.I.L experience.

I couldn't agree more with this quote and feel that if a fashion label gives this feeling to its customers they have achieved what wearing clothes is all about-

"With your eyes closed you could pick one piece from any category - footwear, denim, tops, jackets, bags, accessories - combine it all and look your best without 'overdoing' it."

Beinghunted vol.III

Hiroki Nakamura