001. See/Saw: Connections Between Japanese Art Then and Now

“See/Saw offers a provocative new look at the origins of Japanese pop art. Often defined by its references to manga or anime, contemporary Japanese art in fact has much broader roots. By drawing parallels between the art of Japan past and present, this compelling volume reveals how current artists rework the traditional forms and techniques of Japanese art history. Modern takes on time-honored conventions are illustrated by the work of a star-studded roster of contemporary artists including Tabaimo, Makoto Aida, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, and Yayoi Kusama. Aficionados of both contemporary and traditional Japan are sure to appreciate this fresh perspective on art and the power of visual culture.”

002. Race Tracks of the World

“The challenge was choosing the tracks. These are truly works of art. Made from high quality Baltic birch plywood and matte black Formica®. The laminated pieces are cut by a CNC machine creating a precise design. The edges are smooth and we supply an easy way to mount them without nails or hooks. Select from almost every track around the world. Hang them individually or create a wall of track art. The average size is 36″ square depending upon the track shape. Each track is custom made for you so expect an additional 5 days to normal shipping for delivery. These make a unique and wonderful gift for that hard-to-buy-for enthusiast on your list.”

003. Bermuda Triangle of Creativity

“I drew this one day after two unrelated friends complained about how they get sucked into certain websites instead of doing work, which is exactly what I do. I think….this maybe, possibly, maybe happens to some other people as well.”

001. bloggers, by Gabriela Herman

“On paper, it sounds like one of the worst ideas for a photo project: Portraits of bloggers? At their computers? But Gabriela Herman’s photos of exactly that are surprisingly thoughtful, deep and compelling. They bring out the hidden drama in an extremely passive-looking activity.” (via Wired)

002. Sneaker Customization Kit

“Tired of your kicks? Paint those puppies with the JGoods Sneaker Customization Kit. Includes everything you need to prep and paint leather sneaks – 20 preparation wipes; .5 oz. each of white, black, red, yellow and blue waterproof leather paint; empty mixing jar; paintbrush; instruction booklet and a logo-printed canvas carrying case.”

003. Harinezumi forest, by Superheadz

“In a world where remixes and loops, samplings and downloads, Google, Amazon, and Youtube became our necessity, people have stopped watching television, and going to record shops and book stores. However, to experience Harinezumi no Mori, you just have to get out; and come experience the moment.”

004. Pop’Africana

“Pop’Africana is a bi-annual fashion and art publication dedicated to delivering a rejuvenated image of Africans. We are based in New York City. Our aim throughout popafricana.com is to foster interactive (critical and fun) dialogue with our readers on a more frequent basis and in the process introduce them to the beautiful, the stylish and the new. Here, you will find how diverse Pop’Africana is in its presentation and sources of inspiration. popafricana.com is our opportunity to share the inclusive vision we have for Africa and Africans wherever they may be — a vision that we hope will continue to engage and inspire.”

001. Draught Dry Goods

“The working philosophy at Draught is to balance efficiency and effectiveness, while emphasizing sustainable practices and quality craftsmanship. We are passionate about sewing and leather working, and hope that there is evidence of this in each stitch and rivet. Most importantly, we intend to make smart, beautiful things, with materials procured in a socially responsible manner. We draw inspiration from our surrounding landscape, local tack shops, and Caesy’s late grandfather’s barn & workshop.”

002. Wood & Faulk

“Greetings readers, my name is Matt. I’ve been a builder, designer and tinkerer for some time now, and I figure it’s about time I start a record of some of my projects. This way, I can share some ideas, maybe get some ideas from you, and we can discuss building things and projects and stuff we all (hopefully you) like. Wood&Faulk is my chosen moniker, and it comes from Woodrow and Faulkner – two streets that I lived on during my later time in Kansas. Back then, I learned so much about working on old houses, building furniture, plumbing, electrical, working on cars, wood projects, metal projects and more. I felt like I should honor those earlier years. Nowadays, I’m living in Portland, Or and still continually tinkering. I have a tiny 103-year-old house and will have lots of projects to share with you.”

003. Inside the American

“As with my first feature, CONTROL, where I put the photographs I had taken during the making of the film into a book (‘In Control’), I also put the images I took on the set into a book: INSIDE THE AMERICAN. It consists of more than 100 photographs plus my handwritten notes and some drawings indicating camera positions at certain scenes. It is just too difficult to leave my stills camera at home and although there are days that I have absolutely no time to take a single picture on set, there are other days that I take a couple of pictures. Either of a scene or of something off set. Whatever catches my eye and wherever I have a few spare seconds. Making a film is so incredibly time and emotion consuming that I find it very therapeutic to catalogue this period in my life. And that is why I made this book, for myself. As a visual memory to a deep and new experience.”

001. Earth from Below

“A very nice series of photographer Stephen Alvarez, recognized since 1995 for his work with National Geographic magazine. The project “Earth from Below” is an exploration of territories and invisible landscapes on the planet, as the deepest cave in the world.”

002. Drift Deck

“The Drift Deck, produced in 2008 by Julian Bleecker and Dawn Lozzi, is “an algorithmic puzzle game used to navigate city streets,” offering “instructions that guide you as you drift about the city.”

003. QR Cinema, or: Machines Making Films for Machines

“More specifically, in an age of tablet computers and all-you-can-watch DVDs, we asked how architects could influence or even explicitly re-design the social future of the movie-going experience. If cinemas, for instance, like libraries, face an uncertain social and economic future, what lies beyond the multiplex and the iPad, on the other side of IMAX and at-home on-demand? What spaces or scenarios can architects imagine that might transform—and re-inspire public interest in—going out to watch movies in public? Further, how might these spaces influence and interact with the design of the city itself—and possibly even how films are produced?”

004. Erik Holmberg Presents Sorry We’re Closed

“Around 2008 I packed up my car and traveled across the entire United States, partially to see the country I’m from, but also to document it with my camera. I always want to bring a fresh idea to photography or progress the art. A couple ways I thought to do this was to take some self portraits of myself lying with my back to the ground. The other was to take pictures of retail and commercial buildings after hours. This project revolves around the latter idea. Art, as I’m sure you’re well aware of, is very subjective, so I guess my hope is that looking at these photos slows people down… teaches them to look at ordinary things, or familiar things, in a different light.”

001. Planet Monocle

“Tyler Brûlé ushered in a design revolution with Wallpaper magazine. His new global media strategy is equally rarefied, and only occasionally ridiculous. Listen to him for a while, and the world seems positively aglow with possibility.”

002. The Path of a Doer

“The Path of a Doer’ is a pocket guide to helping you to achieve more. To help you understand the ebb and flow of making something happen. After building up a much admired active clothing company and then selling it, David Hieatt co-founded The Do Lectures. His insights from simply listening to the ‘World’s Doers’ tell their inspiring stories, helped him find a path that seemed common to all. Should you set yourself an impossible deadline? When are you most likely to fail? Why day dreaming can help you succeed? The answers seem simplistic, almost naïve, but they contain golden truths that will help you to go from ‘talker’ to ‘doer’. No matter if you are a student or a CEO, this book is an indispensable read for everyone who wants to make stuff happen.”

003. People Are Always Asking Me If I Know Tyler Durden

“When I sit down to watch a movie, one of the most reliable predictors that I won’t enjoy it is the use of voiceover narration. Even novelists, not working in a visual medium, are urged to ‘show, not tell’ when it comes to writing fiction, and with good reason. Hearing about events that have, are or will take place is far less interesting than seeing those events unfold before the viewer’s eyes…For much of the history of videogames, action and action adventure titles have tended towards interstitial storytelling – text, images and cutscenes that convey exposition between gameplay sequences rather than within them. One could see it as an oddity, reminiscent of the title cards in silent film. But it likely has more to do with game creators’ entirely reasonable belief that it’s hard for players to absorb and retain exposition during action sequences.”

004. Victoria’s Secret’s Secret

“Over the past 28 years, by making sexy lingerie affordable, accessible, and acceptable, Columbus, Ohio-based Victoria’s Secret has created a middle ground in intimate apparel. The company woke up a sleepy category, one that took in $10.75 billion in 2009, double what it was when Wexner started. Retail experts say Victoria’s Secret has made department stores more aggressive and fashion-forward. Additionally, it has opened the doors wider for smaller brands like Hanky Panky and Josie Natori, and allowed bigger brands like American Eagle Outfitters, Chico’s, and Abercrombie & Fitch to carry their own lingerie lines. Even practical panties are sexier and more relevant. Jockey and Hanes now both sell thongs.”

005. What’s in Store for Augmented Reality in 2011?

“Augmented reality only seems like an overnight sensation. But much like that Broadway star turn that transforms careers, AR has been quietly evolving before our eyes – and in 2010, the technology reached maturity. Adhering faithfully to Moore’s Law, computing power and computer graphics capability have grown exponentially, fueling the commercial AR revolution.“

001. The Blast Shack

“The Wikileaks Cablegate scandal is the most exciting and interesting hacker scandal ever. I rather commonly write about such things, and I’m surrounded by online acquaintances who take a burning interest in every little jot and tittle of this ongoing saga. So it’s going to take me a while to explain why this highly newsworthy event fills me with such a chilly, deadening sense of Edgar Allen Poe melancholia. But it sure does. Part of this dull, icy feeling, I think, must be the agonizing slowness with which this has happened. At last — at long last — the homemade nitroglycerin in the old cypherpunks blast shack has gone off. Those “cypherpunks,” of all people.” (via Webstock)

002. A Coat to Help Detroit’s Homeless

“Detroit has counted over 18,000 homeless people in its population, a number that’s certain to grow as economic conditions worsen. After spending months talking to people on the city’s streets, design student Veronika Scott envisioned a way she could help, by designing a coat which could allow homeless people to stay warm, but also preserve their dignity. She designed what’s essentially a wearable sleeping bag, which she named the Elements S[urvival] coat. Scott, who is a student at the Center for Creative Studies, has chronicled her work at a blog called The Empowerment Plan, where she goes into great detail about the coat’s development. She shelled out $2,000 of her own money to construct several prototypes made from Tyvek, the insulating wrap you see gracing new construction.” (via GOOD)

003. The Secret History of Captain Hook

“The holidays typically lead one home. Then, quite often, to the memories of one’s childhood. And then onto the stories thereof. This year, I found myself digging into the notes and bits that surround my favorite Christmas story, Peter Pan, which was staged in London each December early in the 20th century. Amid the digital wandering, I made an unexpected discovery: Eton—the world’s most esteemed high school—is not only the alma mater of Prince William and Prince Harry; of Prime Minister David Cameron and 18 of his predecessors[1]; but also of Captain James Hook, commander of the Jolly Roger.” (via the Atlantic)

004. Convergence

“They say life is imperfect. For a long while now, I’ve disagreed. This convergence right here — me writing this hours (or days!) ago, and you reading it at this very moment — represents absolute perfection, at least to me. The craziest and most unlikely of events brought us here, to this itty-bitty place, together … a place that doesn’t even exist in any tangible, traditionally meaningful way. What remarkable lives we tiny needles have led, to meet here, in this strange little haystack. Open your mind to the billion-trillion ways our lives might not have intersected, and you just might weep from the humbling awe of it all. I have. Because instead of being in those theres, you’re here. It could’ve happened countless different ways — and perhaps should’ve — but didn’t. Our respective tempests intersected in this teapot, and make no mistake: it was a perfect storm that delivered us here. We’re right where we’re supposed to be.” (via J.C. Hutchins)

001. Playboy TRON

“To pay homage to the culture of TRON, we enlisted Playmates Irina Voronina and Sasckya Porto for a futuristic, neon-bathed photo shoot. Dressed for battle in TRON-inspired bodypainting – and nothing else – Irina and Sasckya bring alive the virtual world of light cycles and discs of TRON.”

002. Persona

“When he began taking photographs in November 2007 for his Persona diptych series, Jason Travis set out to catch up with old friends, learn more about new friends, and, most significantly, to capture a portion of their lives in terms of what each individual considered essential enough to carry around with them everyday. Viewers of the Persona diptychs take a voyeuristic delight in not only glimpsing the items usually tucked away in bags and pockets, but in identifying with strangers by relating to the tokens they carry with them. Alongside the meticulously arranged items that each person carries, Jason situates a portrait in which the subject always seems confident and at home, comfortable in their own skin. In these snapshots, each person appears as Jason sees them, which is always beautiful. Assembling the Persona diptychs has not only allowed Jason to combine his love of photography with his knowledge of the uniqueness and beauty in each of his subjects, but also has allowed him to share this knowledge with others.”

003. The Black List

“THE BLACK LIST was compiled from the suggestions of over 290 film executives, each of whom contributed the names of up to ten of their favorite scripts that were written in, or are somehow uniquely associated with, 2010 and will not be released in theaters during this calendar year. This year, scripts had to receive at least five mentions to be included on THE BLACK LIST. All reasonable effort has been made to confirm the information contained herein. THE BLACK LIST apologizes for all misspellings, misattributions, incorrect representation identification, and questionable 2010 affiliations. It has been said many times, but it’s worth repeating: THE BLACK LIST is not a “best of” list. It is, at best, a “most liked” list. Enjoy. All black everything.” (via Deadline)

001. This is NPR

“This is NPR is a chronicle of NPR history as told by the insiders who were there. Written by notable NPR personalities like Ari Shapiro, Noah Adams and more, this volume is a behind the scenes look at what has gone into the making of NPR over the past 40 years. Full of beautiful photographs, personal anecdotes and transcripts, This is NPR and its accompanying audio CD offers readers the first-ever glimpse into some of NPR’s favorite memories from the people who created them.”

002. FLUD (for the iPhone)

“FLUD is a modern, beautiful and personalized news ecosystem that empowers it’s users to engage and broadcast relevant content to their social networks. This is a first class app to customize content for your eyes only and “the FLUD” is a fresh way to be fed great content from the community on a minute-to-minute basis.”

003. Bayou

“The first book from the original webcomics imprint of DC Comics is here! South of the Mason-Dixon Line lies a strange land of gods and monsters; a world parallel to our own, born from centuries of slavery, civil war, and hate. Lee Wagstaff is the daughter of a black sharecropper in the Depression-era town of Charon, Mississippi. When Lily Westmoreland, her white playmate, is snatched by agents of an evil creature known as Bog, Lee’s father is accused of kidnapping. Lee’s only hope is to follow Lily’s trail into this fantastic and frightening alternate world. Along the way she enlists the help of a benevolent, blues-singing swamp monster called Bayou. Together, Lee and Bayou trek across a hauntingly familiar Southern Neverland, confronting creatures both benign and malevolent, in an effort to rescue Lily and save Lee’s father from being lynched.”

004. Yoko Ono: What I’ve Learned

“Thirty years after her husband’s death, the artist opens up on power, guilt, Jackie, conspiracy theories, strollers, and breaking up the Beatles”

001. Ben the Bodyguard.

“So, when John Gruber posted a nice link to Ben the Bodyguard’s website, we immediately knew it was something worth reposting. Ben the Bodyguard is an upcoming iOS application that will “protect your passwords, photos, contacts and other sensitive stuff.” Their promotional website has completely been built with HTML 5 and other web standards. Guess what? It’s animated, and it’s awesome.” (via Macgasm)

002. Intellectual Property Donor

“Why let all of your ideas die with you? Current Copyright law prevents anyone from building upon your creativity for 70 years after your death. Live on in collaboration with others. Make an intellectual property donation. By donating your IP into the public domain you will “promote the progress of science and useful arts” (U.S. Constitution). Ensure that your creativity will live on after you are gone, make a donation today.”

003. Storyville

“Storyville has been launched to change the way you engage and interact with the world of literature through your iPhone, iPad, and other mobile devices. We are managed by four partners who have a driving passion for, and considerable experience in, the rapidly changing technology and new media ecosystem. Storyville launches December 14th.”

004. 13 Ways of Looking at Liz Lemon

“…And, I mean: Liz Lemon was able to bang one out with James Franco, for fuck’s sake. James Franco and his lovely pillow bride. Do you really think a girl can get that under her belt and not realize she’s at least a little awesome? No. No, she can’t.”

005. Star Wars Movie Poster Series

“Since many Star Wars fans were saddened by the news of The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner passing away, what better time than now for some cool fan-created art inspired by everyone’s favorite space opera. This simple but brilliant collection of minimalist crossover posters featuring familiar characters and fonts takes some great movies from years past and gives them a new feel by relating them to the Star Wars universe. Designer Matthew Ranzetta only created five posters so far (hopefully more are on the way), but his take on movies like Rebel Without a Cause and Empire Records should bring a smile to your face.” (via FirstShowing)

001. 3DD

“The temptation was to write a long piece justifying our creation of 3DD. We could have thrown in some academic analysis on the prominent role of the nude in the history of art and elaborate on the ways that 3DD advances that canon. We might have pointed out that the beautiful images of natural breasts in all shapes and sizes are a wonderful celebration of real women in all their glory. Or we could have reveled in the universal truth that looking and talking about boobs is just a lot of fun. But that would be to complicate something that can be said in four words. Boobs in 3-D Enjoy.”

002. LEGO Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4

“Packing enough pieces (741) to build either the coupe or the Spyder in 1:17 scale, this kit is remarkably detailed. Outside you’ll find an opening trunk, doors and engine compartment, plus the Spyder’s roof actually folds away into the rear compartment for top-up or top-down motoring…provided you consider pushing it along the floor or table and making engine sounds with your mouth “motoring.” (Of course, we’d never do that at this age. No siree…) Exterior lights, badging and a few other details are represented by stickers, but the basic shape and things like the vents are close enough for most car nuts to figure out what it is.” (via sub5zero)

003. Mark Bradford at the ICA Boston

“Through his collaged paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations, Mark Bradford explores issues of class, race, and gender in American urban society. An archeologist of his own environment, Los Angeles, Bradford uses found materials—peeling movie posters, hand-lettered “FOR SALE” signs, endpapers used to perm black hair, salvaged plywood—which he layers, embellishes, erodes, and reconstitutes into abstract compositions.”

004. The Loneliest Astronauts

“Astronauts Dan and Steve are stuck in a distant alien solar system, the last survivors of a mission that went horribly wrong and left the rest of their ten-strong crew dead. They’re light years from home on an airless moon, living on carefully-rationed supplies, and unable to contact Earth. The worst part of all this? They hate each other’s guts.” (via Agreeable Comics)

005. senseFly

“At senseFly we make sensors mobile. Imagine that with only ONE sensor you could cover a wide area without any access problems, without requiring special logistics or infrastructure. We want this vision to come true. That’s why we developed intelligent flying sensors for a range of applications such as: image capture, air quality monitoring, atmospheric sampling and mapping.”