Since I brought up comic book artists, I definitely have to mention Detroit's favorite inker [and neighbor to several conspirators] Glenn Barr. An interview here and nice galleries here and here. Also see Detroit Contemporary.

Ashley Wood's new online store, ashleywoodarts dot com opened yesterday. Pictured above is Tony Saracino [Burnlab conspirator and co-owner of Brooklyn's hottest new bar] with an original HellSpawn ink board by Ash hanging above the register. In a rather unflattering way, the characters are eerily reminiscent of Tony and myself... perhaps in 20 years... maybe 5.

Here is a photo from the final installment of Cross Currents at the Cooper-Hewitt on Tuesday night. The guy in the yellow boxers was rocking out like nobody's business all night long.

speaking of resevoir dogs, 12" dolls
of the cast of characters are now on sale, with a disturbing eye for detail. Mr. Blonde's accessory items include a gun, smokes, duct tape, and a severed ear.

Building upon Michael's post about his lust for impractical cars, I completly understand and share the obsession. However, as a Vespa and Lambretta owner and former caretaker of a long legacy of repair-addicted automobiles including a 1968 Saab 96, I can't imagine devoting the time, energy and seemingly bottomless pit of money it takes to keep these beasts on the road. What I lust for is a day where conversion of these classic designs to efficient and reliable electric power is practical and affordable as depicted in the movie Gattaca. If you remember, they drove our beloved Citroens, vintage Rovers and other classic designs equipped with eerily quiet power plants. Neat.


And since we're sharing, the mean streets of SF, formerly prowled by the mighty Saab 9-3 Viggen have been handed down to the not-quite-as-mighty, but very capable VW Beetle Turbo S. Vroom.

Burnlab and Engram Design support Textfield Magazine�: an "open form" magazine in greyscale, featuring some pretty amazing work. Click here to preview our sponsorship ad, and visit Textfield.org to view the progress and order your very own copy.

I guess this is officially 'fantasy motor week' at Burnlab. Jaron Rothkop just informed me that he's the proud adopted father of a beautiful '62 Vespa. I fully expect Israel to chirp in with a link about the latest GTi, and Olivia to share her Karmann-Ghia adventures on eBay.

Of interest, here is a discussion on architects' cars from our good friends at Archinect.
This is pretty interesting as well.

Happy motoring.

The ADD must be kicking in, as I've spent much of the weekend dreaming about owning impractical cars and designing a loft where I can park them. This somehow started while thinking about NYC Vespa gangs and Jon O's brilliant response of starting a Spree gang (complete with Kraftwerk inspired uniforms... not to be out-geeked by Camper wearin' indie-rockers!) Anyway, somehow the daydreaming went form Sprees to Messerschmitts to Citroens. That's where my head is at now.

ISO a 1972 DS21, black with red leather, excellent mechanical condition.

More geek news:
More details have surfaced about the new professional Apple G4 models slated for an August launch. Many of us in the design community have been waiting a long time for an all new enclosure which shares a closer design vocabulary with Apple's recent award winning designs, such as the titanium/carbon fiber PowerBook, the iPod and the gorgeous Xserve. If these spy photos are any indication, we're in for just another revision of the 'Smurf' tower introduced nearly four years ago. Hmm. The guts are pretty impressive though.

Dave Pinter told me NOT to look at his new site, OFFWHITE until he fine tunes the text aliasing and such, but it's looking pretty darn good so far. Great photos from the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and MoMA QNS opening you won't see anywhere else. Consider this an exclusive and unauthorized preview for Burnlab readers.

Here is Dave's set list from the Cooper-Hewitt party as well, where Karim Rashid unknowingly prevented Cathryn Davis from beating the hell out of some Armani-clad letch.
I love New York :)

Radiohead fans-
The band just opened their show in Lisbon with NINE new songs.
The recording quality is terrible, but it is stil worth checking out.
here

Fully Awake is a documentary in progress about Black Mountain College, directed by Cathryn Davis. Little known but extremely influential, BMC was a democratic, multidisciplinary institution which has been home to the likes of John Cage, Buckminster Fuller, Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg and Allen Ginsberg. Bucky built his first dome there in 1948, and Cage began exploring 'found-sounds' in the early 1950s at BMC. More info on Black Mountain College at American Masters.

The kooky bunch of Austrian shutterbugs otherwise known as Lomographers have just released a complete compendium of their official works containing over 378 pages of over 2000 Lomographs. Looks like it could be worthy.

New and improved Cranbrook Design dot com: all about Crannies past, present and future.

For all you Neil Gaiman fans, Neil's latest children's book 'Coraline' with illustrations by Dave McKean is in stores now. Now that Shel Silverstein has passed way, someone has to carry the 'subtle warping of junior's mind' torch.

24 Hour Party People
The story of Factory Records, from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays

Grrrrrr! Somebody finally makes a comedy about Factory Records and the closest theater it is playing at is 7 hours away in Madison, WI. (???) Ah well. At least all you New York people can see it. The preview looks awesome.

Gorgeous portfolio site of this 19 year old designer: Wrecked/Wreckage. Damn! Makes me want to put on Sixteen Horsepower and build some evil machines for some reason. So nicely done, I'll forgive the fact that the portfolio navigation reminds me a lot of Jennifer Sterling. [Hey, maybe it's the other way around.]
Link from to our friends at Computerlove.

Israel will be happy to know I finally went to see Donnie Darko at a midnight showing in Manhattan last night. Wow! Like Lynch does Sixteen Candles... and it all makes sense... sort of...

Three words for you: KAIJU BIG BATTLE. Who doesn't want to see grown men in foam rubber monster suits wrestling... live! "Danger can happen." Thanks to Geek-boy.

New plugs for old favorites:
Kid Demo has released version 3 of his site. Lots of new work. Very nice.
Illustrator Ashley Wood continues to pump out outstanding work. Check Ash's site frequently and buy stuff!

event reminder: ZIP from Berlin joins our good friend Magda at [*]PENAIR this Friday.

<< The C0NSPIRAT0RS department is back, with fresh blood.

Reminder: Dave Pinter DJs at the Cooper-Hewitt garden party this Tuesday 7/23, courtesy of "DJ Kreemy". Click here for info.
See you there!

Happy 5th anniversary to ARCHINECT today!

Paul P. is taking a much deserved rest, but do go check out the extensive archive of covers and features, including the work of Tom Muller, the "brilliant" *cough*;) competition winners and Israel's MOA Home. In-depth case study on Archinect at Domus Web here.

Brian Kritzman and myself will be presenting current projects, talking about design theory and the mechanics of operating a modular, decentralized design firm at the next Core77 Offsite in October. There will also be site specific multimedia installations and music provided by Magda. Oh, and free drinks! Exact date and location to be announced soon. This Offsite is part of an ongoing education series and exploration of experience design presented by ENGRAM.

Before Time Out lets the rest of the world know next week, get down to Brooklyn's best new bar: Buttermilk at 5th Avenue and 16th Street in South Slope. Buttertmilk is owned by Burnlab editor and Detroit expat Tony Saracino, along with the fine folks who brought us the hip Brooklyn watering holes Great Lakes, Roxy and Boat. Already gaining a loyal following, Buttermilk sported a line around the corner after a Yo La Tengo show at Prospect Park last week, inspiring the comment "What is this... an indie-rock trash compactor?" True there is no shortage of shaggy kids in glasses and Vans, but the superb jukebox features enough post-punk and electro gems to keep me more than happy. Look for a new Burnlab mix CD in the near future with many of the Mute artists mentioned here the past few days.

Submitted for perusal: music and sound design by Cypher Audio from Toronto.

Speaking of sound and design, I had the great pleasure of visiting EAR Studio last week. Ben Rubin is a frequent collaborator with the likes of Diller+Scofidio, Mark Hansen and Laurie Anderson. It's a damn shame the budget for Blur at the Swiss National Expo was cut by a staggering US$10 million. D+S's beautiful cloud was built, but the "Brain Coats" and Ben's other multimedia installations remain on the shelf for now. More info about Blur here and the upcoming D+S book here.

Speaking of Mute Records, Andrew Fletcher, member of veteran Mute records recording artists Depeche Mode has started his own record label in the UK. His first signed artist is Client which has two singles (Client no. 1 and Client no. 2) posted for download on their site. "Client no. 2" reminds sounds a lot like 80's band Visage's "Fade to Gray". Good stuff, check it out.

Not only are Mac users godless, but are smarter and make more money than PC users. This is news?

Fashion Report - Check out Red Threds by San Francisco designer Allison Nelson. Allison's creations employ dramatic detailing, asymmetrical hemlines, raw edges, layering and color stitching. Nice!

I'm sorry to report that after 6 years as Detroit best club, Motor Detroit will be closing its doors for good on August 30th. A failing economy, as well as a declining nationwide interest in electronic music, cause attendance numbers to drop to the point where it was simply impossible to turn a profit. It appears that the age of the post-rave warehouse club has pretty much come to an end. I will be seeking new employment ASAP. For those Detroit expates who wanna say good-bye to Motor, but aren't sure if its worth the trip, a reminder that Richie Hawtin's 'Control' party will also be taking place that same weekend. So it'd be fantastic if to party with everyone all weekend long.

Maybe the best program on television [not really that bold a statement], EGG delivers the best of contemporary art with great insight and perspective. The website offers further depth with interactive pieces such as Eva Sutton's Hybrids.

Since we were first to announce two of the coolest parties in New York last week (Magda at [*]PENAIR and Berlin-New York at the Urban Experience Museum), here's another to check out: Core 77 discussion board favorite Karim Rashid hosts CrossCurrents Tuesdays in July at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. DJ Kreemy's parties take place in the garden 6:00 - 9:00pm, including what should be a killer Detroit Techno set by Burnlab's own Dave Pinter on July 23rd. The Cooper-Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st Street at 5th Ave, NYC.

bienvenidos from barcelona...as burnlab's european editor (i think) my mission is to give an overview overhere. a good place to start is here (barcelona), and a perfect place to get an idea of barcelona's style, fashion, identity,etc is dresslab
which gives a synopsis of barcelona through its music festivals(check out: >SEE3< in the SEE option in the menu for sonar2001, or >SEE4< for benicassim2001), its fashion (epitomised by its bi-annual circuit fashion show:>PLAY<), and its role as european trendsetter in multimedia/graphics/fashion (r+b-meets-fashion-meets-las-vegas >SEE02<, or the more up-burnlab's-alley mix of graphics/fashion/advertising/charminglydepressingmusic >SEE01<), plus a recommendation for the shops most visit-worthy in the modern world (>SHOP<)....more soon

Although the site hasn't been updated in years, [+ISM] remains one of my favorite places on the web. Matius and Tsuyoshi are busy with paying design work for magazines such as ESPN, Details and Discover. They've collected a body of work for a new site and hope to find time to put it all together in the near future. Stay tuned.

Another old favorite with a dark sense of humor, Yohan has a archived the past four years of Evil Pupil. It's sites like this that remind me that Flash really can be a great tool [and not just an annoying gimmick] when in the hands of a great designer. EP says Cyberpunks are not dead!

Wow... what an enormous effort put into such a heinous design.

Governor Pataki has a very different view: read here.

On a lighter note, the fashion discussion at ARCHINECT is out of hand, and founder/director of propaganda Paul Petrunia emerges as a sex symbol for this post-911 age. God help us.

For your perusal New World Trade Center

Looking for a *real* old-school electronic music experience? Then make sure to head over to the Audium next time you're in San Francisco. Described by its proprietor and composer Stan Shaff as, �the only theatre of its kind in the world, pioneering the exploration of space in music�. Shaff and equipment designer Doug McEachern have performed electro-spatial music compositions in their custom-designed 169 speaker room for the public since 1975 - all in total darkness. The result? A unique sound-space continuum that evokes vivid dreams, memories, thoughts, and visions.

Our own Magda has joined the collection of Detroit area expatriates who now call Brooklyn home. She wastes no time making her presence in NYC known with a new DJ residency at [*]PENAIR every Friday night. Our friend ZIP from Berlin makes a special appearance on Friday, July 26th. [*]PENAIR is located at 121 St. Mark's Place (at Avenue A) in the East Village.

Meanwhile, back in Motown... Motor is sponsoring the Detroit Tastefest this year. The line-up at the Motor stage is:
Wednesday, 7/3, 8 - 10pm: Derrick May
Thursday, 7/4, 8 - 10pm: John Acquaviva
Friday, 7/5, 8 - 10pm: Carl Craig
Saturday, 7/6, 5 - 7pm: Kenneth Thomas, 7 - 9pm: Terrence Parker

*tech note: Blogger is having issues with the 'posted by' function everywhere. They hope to have it resolved soon.
-Michael