30 September 2008

ModeShift

Vintage duo



Originally uploaded by fabsternation.

Love the red storage units, the kid's clothing and of course their amusing synchronised pose

26 September 2008

Nikon D90

Nikon recently announced a new camera to hit the streets later this fall, the Nikon D90 digital SLR (a professional style camera with interchangable lenses). For the $1000 price tag you get about what you’d expect: 12 Megapixels, 4.5 pictures per second in burst mode, and good low light performance.

What puts this SLR in a league of its own is the ability to shoot HD video. No other SLR offers this feature. There are some limitations. There’s a five minute footage limit and manual focusing only. The amazing thing is that you can shoot video footage using standard Nikon lenses. Macro shots and great depth of field can now be shot on the cheap.

To give some perspective, another video camera with interchangeable lenses would easily set you back ten times as much. To make things worse, you’d spend $5,000-$10,000 per lens. Our hat is off to Nikon for bringing this kind of control over video to the masses.

Via NeuBlack

25 September 2008

[1958] the Atomium


[1958] the Atomium
Originally uploaded by Frédéric Frognier.

Everything is illuminated


Everything is illuminated
Originally uploaded by [-db-].

Trip to the woods


"On a recent trip to the woods I discovered that consuming a certain type of mushroom profoundly enhances one's hunting instinct!" — K.Demuynck

21 September 2008

Uniformfreak



763 different stewardess uniforms from 334 airlines, Uniformfreak.com

"Sometime in 1980 I was given my first uniform by one of my mother's friends. I was so excited and I wanted to have more uniforms. In 1982 I heard that two charter airlines were introducing new uniforms. I wasted no time, I called these airlines and as a result I was invited to pick up a set of old uniforms. Between 1982 and 1993 I didn't do much to obtain any more uniforms, something I really regret now as I could have had many many more! Most of my uniforms were obtained between 1993 and today. At the moment my collection contains more than 700 different uniforms from various airlines worldwide.

When I was a small boy, I wanted to become a flight attendant. That was my big dream and my big dream came true! I started my career at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines when I was 21 and aside from a stint at Passenger Services for three years, I still hold that position, but now as a purser! As I travel the world, it gives me the opportunity to visit local airline offices and I meet people who can maybe help me to obtain new uniforms for my collection. One day, I hope to have my own museum. Another dream that will come true? Who knows?" — Cliff Muskiet

NewYork_036.JPG


NewYork_036.JPG
Originally uploaded by grapplica.

All about the citytrip to the Big Apple over at Flickr!

sweet 16


@
Originally uploaded by Lucic.

18 September 2008

Internet is mine



Become the owner of the internet
The internet belongs to everyone. That includes you. Click here and claim the internet. Good luck!

Claiming the internet as yours is simple:
1) You log in or register
2) You click the button that says "Become the owner of the internet"
3) As long as no-one else clicks, you are the owner of the internet, the clock runs. Total time of ownership is tracked by a timer.

But beware, you only get 10 clicks a day!
Invite your friends and increase your chances. For each friend that registers you get one extra click to play.

Each owner is entitled to his certificate of ownership.

Your hour of glory
Have you been the owner of the internet the longest during one hour?
Then you get your name and picture put up in our live banners all over the internet

You can check the hourly stats — live updated — to see when best to click, the daily stats to see which day is busiest. There's a gallery to see who were the previous owners, who are the internet bigwigs and check out your personal ranking.

Additionally there's a series of viral tools. You can find owners of the internet all around on Facebook-fanpages or groups and on Netlog.

Have a nice click!

16 September 2008

USA Today: Have you dated this woman?



As always I was checking out lots of street-art and streetvertising stuff while wandering around in New York's borroughs and villages. At a moment there were lots and lots of copy-printed A4 posters out there messaging a missing NYU teacher. Lil' later I saw these posters out and for a moment thought that they might be connected — because the black'n'white poisture looked very much alike, a teasing... Anyway they weren't linked I think because there's nothing further to be found on the missing woman. Additionally it's a pitty that the poster message — of the "have you dated this woman" isn't been teased a little longer online...

Digital Masters: online




I also designed the according platform where students have to play to get the know the online intergalaxy of cyberspace — woooauw :)

Created and based on the NING-framework we've build Digital Masters. NING is an online service to create, customize, and share a social network.

Students are competing each other in a competition in which they have to show off with their digital knowledge. Having to use online platforms the students are obligated to dig deeper into new online applications, pushing them to learn new digital stuff and get the hang of how things work that they don't know — accordingly, hopefully, they will get attracted to digital orientated work and/or jobs. The whole idea is to communicate with last graders of high-schools and pass along the message that IT and the so called nerdy jobs are "cool" and that it might be just the thing for them to do and dive into.

So we say and believe that:
Nerdy, is the new cool!

Digital Masters: offline



Typefondry and design-agency Underware had struck my attention from the first encounter I had with their work back in Typo Berlin 2006. Some very fresh typeface designs and additionally very funny applications of graphics that promoted the branding and promo of these typefaces.

Sauna became an instant favorite of my font-collection and now finally I had the chance to put this fontface into practice for a project. I branded the Digital Masters campaign of Agoria, a campaign that pushes image-building of IT-jobs. The campaign isn't live yet but will be very soon, and I really couldn't resist giving you a sneakpeak on the artwork I created since I've received this supersweet booklet that comes along with the purchase of the Sauna font with which I designed the logo and housing style of the Digital Masters.








14 September 2008

USA Today: Broadway show

Yesterday I went to one of those memorial Broadway-shows, not really my kind of entertainment but still impressive and relaxing while enjoying the excitement of the show.

Broadway theatre
Commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Broadway theatre is the best known form of professional theatre to the general public in the United States and the most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The shows that reach Broadway and thrive there have historically been perceived as generally mainstream and less likely to be cutting edge than some produced Off- and Off-Off-Broadway or in regional non-profit theatres.

The Broadway theatre district is a key tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sell over one and a half billion dollars worth of tickets annually.



The Neil Simon Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 250 West 52nd Street in midtown-Manhattan.

Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, the theatre was built by producers Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley, who combined their first names to christen it the Alvin Theatre. It opened on November 22, 1927 with George and Ira Gershwin's Funny Face starring Fred and Adele Astaire.

Due to the Great Depression, Aarons and Freedley lost control of their venue in 1932. For a period of time it was used as a radio studio by CBS.

In 1977, the building was purchased by the Nederlander Organization, and was renamed in honor of American playwright Simon in 1983 with the opening of Brighton Beach Memoirs.

The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1985. At present it has a seating capacity of approximately 1400.



Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters movie Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues. In 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to racially integrate the show. ‘’Hairspray’’ is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s.

The musical's original Broadway production opened in 2002 and won eight Tony Awards out of thirteen nominations. As of April 2008, it has played for over 2,300 performances. Hairspray has also enjoyed U.S. national tours and numerous foreign productions and was adapted for a 2007 musical film. The London West End production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards, winning for Best New Musical and in three other categories.

12 September 2008

USA Today: Fashion week


It's Fashion Week in New York, so to my happy surprise The City is flooded with slim-long-legged young models and crazy dressed Japanese fashion-victims. There's a parallel event in Miami and during Miami Fashion Week, Nivea was in South Beach once again to promote its Good-Bye Cellulite product. To celebrate swimwear designer Shay Todd’s new collection, Nivea fashioned exclusive Good-Bye Cellulite sofas for the event. You could call it a product demonstration carried out when our target thinks about cellulite the most. Never one to take a backseat even to bikini models, the Nivea sofas were bona fide conversation pieces during the soiree.

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, USA.

USA Today: First Year in NYC

Newcomers suddenly realize either that the city is not working for them or that they are inexorably becoming part of it, or both. They find themselves walking and talking faster.

“Any time I want to see someone and catch up with someone, everyone takes out their BlackBerrys and says, ‘This weekend isn’t good; how about three weeks from now?’ “ said Ms. Sirkin, who moved to New York from Milan in June 2007. “How can you form really good and solid relationships with people if you see them once a month?”

A nice article about moving to NewYork can be found at NYTimes.com

Day 37: Four Yellows


Day 37: Four Yellows
Originally uploaded by xrodgers.

11 September 2008

USA Today: NY Mag



You want all inside details to city activity when you are in NYC, right? I can only recommend you one spot for doing so — successfully — and that is NY Mag. Although it is still a very crammed and busy — American style — portal, there's a very crisp and nicely tweaked design with attention in every detail of the typesetting and decorative pieces of the site. Content-wise it is thoroughly filled and updated with very useful information about The City's nightlife, bars, restaurants, fashion and other events. If you're planning to take a trip to NY don't forget to visit NYMag.com

Vogue Hommes Japan / Louis Vuitton


Vogue Hommes Japan / Louis Vuitton
Originally uploaded by Rizon Parein.

3D Art Direction/ Design: Rizon Parein
Photography: Daniel Sannwald
Art direction : Gary Card and Daniel Sannwald
Stylist: Shun Watanabe
Photo assistant: Assan J. Numan and Brendan Freeman
Styling Assistant: Nobuko Tannawa
Model: Brett Lloyd
Retouch: Osewa Adojutelegan
Production by Murray Arthur

Release 10 September 2008
www.voguehommes.jp

USA Today: MOMA bookstore



The MOMA bookstore is one of the few bookstores where I always find something too buy, damn I wish I could've bought the whole design-section of the store — instead I bought some and noted the rest for later ;)




USA Today: Abercrombie & Fitch



Abercrombie & Fitch is an American lifestyle brand and company that markets youth apparel. It encompasses five brands: the namesake flagship brand Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister Co., RUEHL No.925, and Gilly Hicks. Products bear the moose logo, and are only available in A&F stores, located in the United States, Canada, and London, England, and its website. Competitor brands include Gap, American Eagle Outfitters, Aéropostale, Buckle, Urban Outfitters, and Rugby Ralph Lauren.



Founded in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie, A&F had been an outfitter of sporting and excursion goods. It struggled financially from the late 1960s until it was purchased by The Limited in 1988 and repositioned, under the management of Michael S. Jeffries (current Chairman & CEO), as the "Casual Luxury" lifestyle brand in present day.

Mike Jeffries says that today Abercrombie & Fitch is "all about sex," something the "United States is cynical about".



The company was originally established as Abercrombie Co. by David T. Abercrombie on June 4, 1892, as a small waterfront shop at No.36 South Street in downtown Manhattan, New York. Wealthy New York lawyer Ezra Fitch was one of his regular customers. In 1900, Fitch left his law practice and bought a major share into the growing company, thus becoming co-founder. Afterwards, Abercrombie Co. moved into larger quarters at 314 Broadway, and Fitch began to implement experimental ideas to renovate the store. In 1904, Fitch's surname was incorporated and so the official name was changed to Abercrombie & Fitch Co.. Partnership between the founders did not end well. The two men, envisioning different ideas for the future of A&F, quarreled frequently while the company continued to grow. Fitch wished to expand the company's appeal to the general public, whereas Abercrombie wanted to continue selling professional gear to professional outdoorsmen. As a result, Abercrombie sold his share in the company to Fitch in 1907 and returned to manufacturing outdoor goods. Fitch continued the business with other partners and was able to direct the company as he pleased for the first time.

Entering into the 21st century, Abercrombie & Fitch was rated as the sixth most popular brand (in front of Nintendo and Levis) by teenagers in a survey held by Teenage Researchers Unlimited and reported about in Time. The company introduced its third brand, Hollister Co., in July 2000. The third concept was based on Southern California surf lifestyle, and was targeted towards high-schoolers. Hollister had a cannibalizing affect on the A&F brand, and so the company brought forth the high-end Ezra Fitch collection, and began producing A&F clothing with higher-grade materials, thus increasing the prices.



In November 2005, the company completed construction of the first Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store on Fifth Avenue.

It is an amazing store. First it is always dark there thus creating a special atmosphere, lights on the clothes and all interior is finished in dark woods. amazing art direction and interior design totally setting up the perfect scenery. They people working there are carefully selected and mostly beautiful or profiled "hip/cool" — you need to have appealing looks — boys as well as girls. And there's a constant, relatively loud, playing funk-house tune present at all times...



Definitely my favorite Fifth-store. Thanks for the tip DP — I spend some $400 there - yihaa!

USA Today: Apple Computers



The apple store on Fifth is almost more something of tourist attraction rather than a retail or flagship-store. The floor is crowded with product-hyped consumers accompanied with store-ambassadors and even though the iPhone has long passed it's release it is still the talk of town. You can't imagine how many people that are walking around the city showing off with their fancy device. You are having a break on a midtown bench? Somebody is showcasing his iPhone. The architectural concept of the store on Fifth is an eyecatcher as well. In stead of having the store crammed on the first floor (that's how Americans call their ground level) of a fancy skyscraper they have this small glass box on an open spot housing a stairway one level down.



Apple opened its third New York City retail store on West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District on December 7, 2007. The Apple Store West 14th Street is Apple's first three-story store with two floors dedicated to products and a third dedicated to services, including a 46-foot Genius Bar and specially designed areas for workshops and personal training. The Apple Store West 14th Street also introduced Pro Labs where customers can receive free, in-depth training on Apples industry-leading pro applications including Final Cut Pro® — Pietel told me it's his favorite AppleStore ;)




And next to the iPhone there's now a new — less expensive — rocker in town. The iPod Nano-chromatic, which is basically a merely a new release of the existing iPod Nano but Apple always finds a way to give total re-birth to their existing products and they really pimped the Nano. 9 colors, A musical Genius, Find your music faster, Rock and roll over, Shake your groove thing, Let the games begin, Even your photos rock, World’s biggest small screen,... The games option seems to me the super-added value, going interactive on a Nano

10 September 2008

USA Today: Redefining coolness



What would New York be without it's army of trendsetters riding the waves of the attention economy — the proud little fellow shown in the picture spontaneously goes lying down whenever your are talking to him or addressing his boss — screaming for attention and a little pat on the back

USA Today: Louis Vuitton



I've seen some window displays by now alright, but the one from Vuitton this time — striking. the first 3 windows had just one purse displayed, a very targeted item (also literally) because it had a dozen flashy chrome cameras pointed directly at it. The window around the corner had the glass shell around it broken and some of the cameras damaged, the window around the corner is in a street and therefor always in the shade — that is also why there is, unfortunately, no picture of it — too dark.

USA Today: Pop burger



Looking for a sizzling steak, watering bun, luscious mouth watering burger, creamy shaker... hot and smokey interior but still very designerish and warm? Than Pop Burger is your place.

USA Today: Spore

A very playfull set of illustrative characters adverts the coming of new game taht incorporates the strenght and interactivity of worlds of warcraft combined with computer generated random and virtual organisms











Spore is your own personal universe in a box. In this universe you can create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations and even sculpt entire worlds. In Spore you have a variety of creation tools at your disposal that allow you to customize nearly every aspect of your universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even spaceships. While Spore is a single player game, your creations and other players' creations are automatically shared between your galaxy and theirs, providing a limitless number of worlds to explore and play.

The Spore universe is made up of five stages with different challenges and goals. You may choose to start with the cell phase and nurture one species from its humble aquatic origins to its evolution as a sentient species. Or you may decide to start building tribes or civilizations on multiple planets. What you do with your universe is up to you.

Key Features

* Sandbox Gameplay: Create our own personal universe where you can evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations and even sculpt entire worlds.
* Evolutionary Gameplay: Lead your species through stages of evolution from pond-scum to galactic god in Spore's campaign mode.
* World Creators: Easy-to-use editors allow you to make everything from creatures and buildings to vehicles and spaceships.
* Shared Content: Spore automatically shares your creations with other players through the Internet. And in your game, you'll explore and interact with a galaxy of content created by other players.