Third awesome driving movie in three days:

Behold Isuzu Gemini Ultra Driving Technique!

[thanks Chuck Carlson]

Huge thanks to Javier at Archinect for posting about the 1976 short C'etait un rendez-vous, in which a Ferrari 275 GTB is driven through the streets of Paris at 140 mph with a camera attached to its front bumper.

QuickTime here!

I haven't seen this film in years. So good.
Make sure the sound is all the way up and hold on to something.

A few things I'm looking forward to:

There has been an empty place in my heart since one fateful walk down Wooster Street last year, to discover that Helmut Lang had closed up shop. However, word has it that the man who practically has a trademark on the color black is gearing up to relaunch, post-Prada:

"We are not ready to announce it yet," Lang said at a gallery opening recently, "but we do something, maybe this year - me and my office."

In completely unrelated, but equally encouraging news, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's stunning 1991 feature debut Delicatessen will be released on DVD for the first time May 2nd.

The Proposition, a dark, contemplative, blood and dirt soaked 'Australian Western' written by none other than Nick Cave, comes to US screens this spring. The soundtrack, scored by Cave and Warren Ellis, will be released on Mute February 21st.

"The bad guys have better costumes."



Interview with Cloak founder/designer Alexandre Plokhov.

AC: Do you take issue with the whole "neo-Goth," "neo-Victorian" thing?
AP: No. I mean, I like Goth-tinged rock music. That's not a negative. But it's not like, you know, high school, black makeup, chunky heels, and a coffin lunch box, it's not that. It's a slightly pessimistic view of the world, music in a minor key, it's a certain point of view.
AC: The point of view of an outsider.
AP: Yes. And I have no problem with that! It's interesting to me. When I first heard Southern Death Cult or early Sisters of Mercy, I mean, come on, that's like a call to arms in a way. It's like, give me a banner, I will lead the parade!
AC: What do you feel close to?
AP: A tribal romanticism... of the downtrodden or misunderstood... some crap like that.
AC: It's not crap. It's actually quite powerful.
AP: Yeah, I think so, too.

Wow. Talk about someone who "gets it." (Make sure to read the whole interview - the Hunger reference is priceless.) I think I have a new favorite designer I can't afford...

[pictured above: the new Cloak boutique in NYC, and our friend Kurt wearing "multiple layers of gothness" from the fall 2004 Viennese Decadence Collection.]

Cranbrook 2D design artist in residence Elliott Earls performs his new multimedia work Bull and Wonded Horse this Saturday at the Music Hall in Detroit, with DJs Team Dorkwave and Kosta Stratigos a.k.a. The Goose Commander.





Robotic Drums and Guitar, Interactive digital video, and electronics comingle in a melange of pop songs, spoken word poetry and acoustic music. Elliott will be performing with his new acoustic ensemble "The Venemous Sons of Jonah," creating a strange brew of robotic and completely organic music.

Produced in Association with Cranbrook Academy of Art, the 2006 Capacitor Festival is an evening of performance and installation that focuses on the intersection of visual art, technology and music. Featuring performers and artists at the vanguard of this intersection, the evening explores what happens when the visual arts collide with music.

Saturday, January 28th 2006
The Music Hall
350 Madison Ave., Detroit
8pm | all ages | $12 / $5 for students & teachers with valid ID
+ FREE eats and drinks!

See the feature story on Elliott in the Metro Times this week.

could it be that ELMO has finally had just about enough of being tickled?

CuteCircuit is an interaction design and product development lab specialized in the development of wearable interfaces for telecommunication, as well as interactive environments and art installations. Unlike many technology based garments, CuteCircuit's work is viable and integrates technology in a uniquely organic way.

Kinetic Dress is a Victorian inspired evening gown reactive to the wearer's activities and mood. It is sewn of an elastic textile embedded with sensors that follows closely the body of the wearer. The sensors are able to capture the wearer's movements and interaction with others and display this data through the electroluminescent embroidery that covers the external skirt section of the dress.

Skirteleon is a skirt changes color and pattern according to the wearer's activities and mood. It is manufactured with a context aware laminated textile that changes color on-demand, upon user interaction or alternatively during the course of a predefined time period. The Skirteleon primary color state is blue, but upon user interaction could present diverse colors and patterns.

Accessory Nerve is a Bluetooth mono-sleeve accessory for mobile phones that changes pattern (creating pleats on the fabric) when a user receives phone calls. The wearer recognizes the sender from the pattern the pleats create when receiving an incoming call. If the user is in a meeting or busy can simply flatten the pleats back into the original position, automatically the caller will receive a text message saying "I'll call you back later". The Accessory Nerve allows users to exchange information and greetings in a subtle and intimate way.

Dethlab is on a roll...



Bethany and I are extremely pleased to present Vitalic's first ever live show in Detroit on Saturday, March 18th.

I've seriously been working on booking this show for the past six months, because Vitalic is our favorite artist... and as the story goes, we've been knocking ideas around with Mr. Arbez since he and Mini Robot landed in Berlin some years ago.

What? Proof?

Here's a still from our video shoot for My Friend Dario in Paris last year:



Full size flyer here.

Even the indie kids love him: READ

("Techno" on Pitchfork's top 15?! You better believe it.)

Zombie Mob at the Superbowl Stupidbowl!

AudioMulch just released 1.0rc2 .
AudioMulch is one of the coolest audio programs out right now.
AudioMulch makes music and noise better then most programs.

Get AudioMulch

!!!

Sneak preview of Jimmy Edgar's new LP, due out on Warp next month.

Crickey, so it's not going to be for the wishy-washy faint-hearted then. Plundering the provinces of France, the revolution and the world of the Marquis de Sade, there was a new libertine on the loose - grab hold of your crucifixes and chastity belts and get ready for the ride...



Ohmygawth, it's John Galliano for Dior!

It's not often you get to see a good old rock'n'roll film on the big screen in booming Dolby Sound. So take a break and check out the Coachella film. Screenings are around the country, but limited, so plan accordingly.

This is your random reminder that Cowboy Mark and DJ Unknown are on East Villiage Radio right now, and every Monday from 4-6pm.

More of my favorite things: Survival Research Labs opened a brand new gallery show at Fringe Exhibitions in Los Angeles this past weekend.

SRL engages new vocabularies by integrating machines, theatrical sets and props, with dramatic, visual metaphors bringing to life, large-scale mechanical performances for audiences that rival other popular culture events. By taking things to extreme ends, SRL attempts to create new levels of sensory and emotional intensity. Using diverse disciplines such as performance, literature, and engineering, in concert with artistic expression, ideas are transformed into visceral experiences. Employing technology to the fullest and breaking new ground by trying to build collaboration between art and electronic culture, the creative work of SRL is constantly evolving as advances in new technologies are being developed. We are just beginning to scratch the surface on understanding the potential of technology and its relationship to contemporary art. With the assimilation of machine to technology, cultural transformations take place. The evolution of electronic culture is a change in the dynamics of society, representation and experience.

Fringe Exhibitions is a new exhibition space dedicated to showing cutting edge and experimental art projects that focus on installation, video, new media art, and art that engages with technology.

Exhibition Dates: January 21 - February 25, 2006
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12 - 6
Location: 504 Chung King Court, Los Angeles, CA 90012

George W. Bush just a few minutes ago:
"... number one priority is the security of the people."
BBBZZZTTTT!!! Wrong answer.
The number one priority is the liberty of the people.

Someone wasn't paying attention in American History 101.

I'm also quite over the "in a state of war" excuse, especially when the war in question is one of choice and unending. 1984 was supposed to be a warning, not a textbook on government policy.

A few of my favorite things: new video for Vitalic by Pleix.

Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick is so determined to show Super Bowl visitors a new face for his beleaguered city that he is willing to sacrifice its Motown roots.

This week, wrecking crews began taking down the long-abandoned office building that was home to Motown Records from 1968 to 1972.

The destruction upset Francis Grunow, executive director of Preservation Wayne, a group that has tried for decades to save some of the city's more significant buildings.

"It seems very sad that all it's worth is 50 parking spots for the Super Bowl," Mr. Grunow said.

- New York Times

Smooth one, Kwame.

Photos from SNWEB.

tonight in Detroit:

Our dear friends [and you know we only consort with the best and brightest freaks and weirdos,] Chicago pop sensation Office at Lager House
+
Coitus Interruptus presents the best breeder-friendly gay night since the Paradise Garage days, Sass at Oslo

My better half's blog has been rated 5th most evil in Detroit.

(Really though, how eeevil can someone who bakes such pretty cupcakes be?)

Sorry we've been away since Halloween. We're making up big time. (And this is only the start...)

Cool name for a car parts company/dumb name for a band: Electrobat. Also, is anyone out there not subconsciously filling in the "m" here? (A penchant for juvenile word plays + sleep deprivation + maybe one too many pints at the local design nerd get together last night = endless amusement with old car factories.) This had us giggling for a good five minutes...

Two excellent and challenging exhibitions open Friday, February 3 at Cranbrook Art Museum.


CROSSING FLATLAND: NEW DESIGNS BY SCOTT KLINKER

Scott Klinker, Designer-in-Residence and Head of the 3D Design Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, explores the potentials of digital customization as the industrial world moves from mass production toward niche production. The exhibition includes a new collection of furniture and lighting as well as the Spaceframe Builder's Kit, which was chosen by Fortune magazine as one of the top 25 products of 2004 and currently is a featured product in the Design Within Reach launch of the new JAX catalog devoted to products for children.


SHOOT THE FAMILY
Contemporary Photography and Video Exploring the Undercurrents of Domestic Life

Exploring the undercurrents of contemporary domestic life, Shoot the Family, an exhibition of contemporary photography and video exploring the undercurrents of domestic life, focuses on artists' portrayals of their own families. The artists represented in this exhibition have created photographs and video works of relatives and partners that can be harrowingly intimate, questioning any pretense of objectivity between image-maker and subject. Made during the last ten years by artists active in North America, Europe, and Asia, the works on view show the influences of traditional family snapshots and documentary and staged photography, as well as conceptual and performance art. Shoot the Family is a traveling exhibition, organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (iCI), New York and curated by Ralph Rugoff.

i am in lovely barcelona for a couple weeks before i officially change country of residence to the land of the twisters (one of the choicest bits of cockney rhyming slang i´ve heard: twisters=twist and shout=kraut). anyway, not sure if this has been done before but me and two friends came up with a great new(?) shot: the "drive-by": vodka and tabasco. as one of us remarked, "it´s like a bloody mary without all the girly bits". we even came up with the first ad: a bar full of people passed out on the floor with the caption "this is the scene of a drive-by".

I've flickred the Generator.x exhibition in Stavanger, it finally looked the way I had wanted it to all along. See the full set for more.

The 50 music videos of 2005 by music blog Docopenhagen

(check out the Animal Collective video)!

Ohmygawth! Two more days to see Elizabeth McGrath's solo exhibit at Billy Shire Fine Arts in LA.

"Influenced by a Roman Catholic upbringing, punk rock, Erte and Edward Gorey, Hollywood native Elizabeth Mcgrath is one of her generations more unique and prolific artists. She creates in a number of mediums and materials with undeniable artistry and imagination. Her paintings are haunted whispers of color, depicting subtly dangerous creatures that creep toward the edge of the canvas. Her stitched and bandaged dolls and toys are a united army of soft strangeness, and her mixed media dioramas are isolated freak shows displaying rotting, subhuman figures luxuriously dressed for your pleasure or contempt."

[via MoCo Loco]

on the matter of being old: although my birthday is actually this Sunday, it's being celebrated Friday - because it's Friday the 13th, a full moon, We Are Wolves are playing at Magic Stick, and most importantly, no Sambuca on school nights.

Visionaire #47: TASTE

The latest creation form the innovative art/style/publishing project, TASTE is a book you can... er, exactly what it says:

"Visionaire 47 TASTE uses taste-film technology (developed by Biotec Films) to bring completely unprecedented flavors to the mouth. Each taste, such as Orgasm, Guilty, and Mother is accompanied by an image interpreting the concept. Some tastes are easy to identify, while others are highly conceptual."

Finally! glowing pigs.

[thanks Matt]

Alba is still cuter.

Play With Daft Punk in Your House. I vote for Dorkwave action figures next.

Introducing the classic 5-door SAUNAAB. Now that is a makeout car... Thanks Kendra!

A Selection From George W. Bush's Eavesdropping Tapes: Matthew Barney and Bjork place an Ikea phone order.

[via Archinect]

Our friends at Transmaterial introduce their definitive Catalog of Materials that Redefine Our Physical Environment from the Princeton Architectural Press. This volume contains the latest and most innovative materials from the Transmaterial electronic newsletter and beyond.

"These days, whether you're designing a building or a toaster, a savvy knowledge of materials is increasingly critical. And keeping up with the constant flow of new materials, let alone their applications, properties, and sources, is an increasingly difficult and time-consuming task. Blaine Erickson Brownell, author of Transmaterial, known to thousands of web users for his "product of the week" email service alerting designers to new materials that are reshaping our world, has created this handy and affordable reference to the most interesting and most useful new materials now available. Transmaterial is indexed in multiple ways for the sake of maximum convenience, and utilizes the new CSI Master-Format 2004 product categorization system. With nearly 200 materials, organized by category, described, pictured, and annotated with technical and sourcing information, this catalog is an essential tool for any architect or designer interested in keeping up with the rapid developments in the field of materials, looking for a source of inspiration for their designs, or just eager to get their hands on real materials in an effort to understand the incredibly innovative palette now available to us."

Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland. More pictures here.

Ghostly International is seeking to expand its stable of designers, and has put a call out for the brightest and most passionate of visual minds:

ARTISTS WANTED: So what is art anyway? Picasso's dead and he's not talking. Does making art for Ghostly/Spectral sound like fun? Visual artists of all types are encouraged to send four examples of their works to art@ghostly.com for consideration (total email must be less than 4 megs). Musicians who can, should. Send name, address and phone number with your work. Tell all of your talented friends. All submissions will be reviewed. We'll contact you.

This is a fantastic opportunity to possibly do some amazing work with some amazing people.

Tara Donovan's sculptures are stunning topologies created from everyday objects such as styrofoam cups, plastic straws, no. 2 pencils and toothpicks, all obsessively assembled and often held together only by gravity and friction. See more of her work at Ace Gallery, via Generator.x.

Also from Generator.x (this one is for Phoenix,) obsessive hobbies #1.

The North American International Auto Show opened to the press yesterday, beginning Detroit's annual week in the global spotlight under unusually sunny skies for this time of year.

Check The New York Times, AutoWeek and Car Design News for the latest concept and production car introductions.

Team o2 designed and produced the launch event for Lexus' new LS yesterday, which features technologies such as an eight-speed automatic transmission, an audio system with 19 speakers and 4,000 song capacity hard drive, rear seats with built-in massage system and ottoman, and a new 4.6L V8 that will propel this beast to 60mph in under 5.5 seconds. A hybrid V8 will be introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in two months. We're also helping launch the new Toyota Camry this afternoon. Come check it out if you're at the show.

Of course the highlight of the week for most of us is Camilo Pardo's annual Designers' Night party at Detroit By Design tonight. (It's usually on Tuesday, so take note that it is tonight.) Designers' Night is open exclusively to design professionals, and is the "place to be". Admission is free, but business card or some sort of designer credentials required. Detroit By Design is located in the Bankle Building, 2944 Woodward Ave., Detroit MI.

Circuit melting is the new circuit bending.

If there was any question, Richard Devine is still one crazy motherfucker. Watch him set his sytnth on fire at a recent show here, via ATLectro.

Guns of Latvia

Banksy make book.
"All artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to darw?"

heh.

"A full-out guitar/drum/synth attack, We Are Wolves' staggering blasts are like Les Georges Leningrad's off-kilter electro tweaks crossed with Lightning Bolt's distorted vocal shouts and Suicide's guitar insanity. "

Friday 1.13.06
Montrealers and Dorkwave faves We Are Wolves
with Detroit's own A Thousand Times Yes, Zoos of Berlin and Marie and Francis.
Magic Stick
8pm | 18+ | $8

Continuing on in my lego themed posts, here's lego's new product, Mindstorms.Mindstorms are basically robotic legos with sensors and a programmable "brick" for a brain being marketing towards (guess who) geeks like us. They look promising, being both Mac and PC. If they run Java and allow for web based control as well as integration with processing, or c and Max I will get really excited and start to twitch. The head of MIT's robotics department is picking 100 lucky beta testers to push these new toys around.... Ms. Toybreaker are you reading?

So I says to myself, "self, when is the next time you're going to be in Estonia. Video coming soon.

Saturday, January 28th

See The Apollo Program and the recently updated Dorkwave [dot com] for more info.

Muir Beach Overlook

Monsoon conditions and all, this past weekend in northern California was nothing short of amazing. The Pacific coastline in Marin County was a treat to all the senses, from stunning views and the most entertaining driving conditions I've ever experienced, to the aroma of eucalyptus groves and thousand year old redwood forests. Needless to say I'm not too excited about being back in cold, gloomy Detroit, but the residual effects of the weekend will hopefully carry right through the auto show madness at work this week.


Muir Woods

We didn't get to explore the interior of the brand new de Young museum due to holiday hours, but the building's stamped and perforated copper skin is breathtaking, let alone its torqued tower and excellent landscape design. I'm anxious to see how it oxidizes and blends into its Golden Gate Park setting over the next few years. [PhotoShop retouching below for 'art sake']


de Young Museum detail

My partner in crime has quite thorough documentation and more photos from the weekend's adventures on her blog: part one and part two