Czech Painter Jeremiah Palecek has caught our attention on two previous occasions with his knack for turning familiar images from the Web into physical manifestations with just a few fancy brushstrokes. In keeping with that theme, Palecek’s latest project turns away from chiefly Web-based subjects as he lends his deft stroke to revamping previously submitted works from the Creative Commons, adding or altering elements to public domain paintings, and then resubmitting them back from whence they came. It’s like the painter’s version of the remix and it’s ever so eye-catching. The one featured (left) is an oil on canvas work called Cowboy Portal. The one next to it? You guessed it: Obama Riding a Mastodon.

  

I recently caught wind of this unique collaboration between Invisible DJ (Santigold, Chester French, Kid Sister, etc) and clothing line LnA called The Music Tee. The front of the shirts have a visual designed by Ian Markell while the back has a full track listing of the 14 featured artists. The coolest part? The hang tag sports a unique code used to download the album which is a compilation mix of said musicians. I quickly spotted some of my favorites – Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Theresa Andersson, and Passenger. While the premier shirt is a mix of multiple artists, there are already plans for shirts which focus on one artist or band. Look for those in the future.

Twitter is a great way for fostering discussion amongst your friends, telling strangers how your doctor’s appointment went, or staying up-to-date on Shaq. But sometimes you just need Twitter’s important opinions on one particular topic. Thanks to OneRiot’s new Twitter search engine, you can get all the tweets you need and none that you don’t. Find out what people really think of last night’s Gossip Girl, or something more important like the fate of our world at the G20 summit (pictured above).

Maybe you got outbid on yesterday’s DEVO art bike and you’d like to use your current bike to make your own art. For that you need the Contrail, a tool that attaches to your bike’s seat tube and leaves a colorful chalk line behind you as you ride. Brooklyn’s Studio Gelardi says they created it to build biker community. The Contrail holds 200 grams of chalk — enough for about 20 miles of riding — all the while leaving a faint line that reminds fellow cyclists where it’s safe to ride. As bikers follow, the chalk lines grow brighter “reclaiming the crucial shared space.” The Contrail was a finalist in Design 21’s Pedal To The Medal competition and is not in yet in production.

A common element of most bicycles is that familiar diamond frame that gives them structure and support. A new bike design by Romanian Industrial designer Ionut Predescu has thrown that conventional configuration out the window in favor of some nifty wire work. Rather than rely on a solid frame, Predescu utilizes two carbon-fiber tubes that work in concert with tension on the Kevlar wiring. It turns this cycle creation into an remarkably light vehicle. But how does it ride? It’s only a prototype, so we’ll have to wait for that answer. Cyclers, you can stop your drooling … for now.

Via Yanko Design

It’s true — music videos have been getting ridiculous lately. Some time around when Michael Jackson’s Black or White budget rivaled that of major motion pictures, and the good old live concert video went out of style, people forgot that the video shouldn’t overshadow the song. 99 Dollar Music Videos challenges independent bands and directors to make a solid video using just under a hundred bucks. So far, La Strada has theirs up, and the product is simple and effective, like videos used to be. Lined up for future experiments are Via Audio, Plushgun, Lowry, and many more.

The name cliKball sounds like a fun new mouse game — and in a way it is. Coming across like a Twitter for link sharing, the plug-in co-created by Jesse Andrews of Userscripts.org fame and three other principles formerly of Flock, allows users to easily alert their fellow URL hounds to their favorite sites at the click of a little red ball in their browser. Aside from sharing with all your followers in one felled swoop, cliKball users can privately spread  links to specific groups or persons, and even spread the love on Twitter and Friend Feed.

Displaying your favorite pics on your wall is an undertaking that requires great care. Fotoflōt aims to keep your images in immaculate condition by removing the element of glass from the equation. Instead it utilizes a magnetic mounting system that allows for easy access should you want ever switch photos, and eliminates glare and reflection as your photos subtly float off the platform. You can even order a fotoflōt while browsing your own images online at sites such as Kodak Gallery, Picasa, SmugMug and Zenfolio. How convenient.

Few marketing emails begin with the salutation, “hello friend of disposable film.” Welcome San Francisco’s recently founded Disposable Film Festival highlighting work captured on one-time use digital video cameras, webcams, point and shoot digital cameras, cell phones, screen capture software, and the like. The weekend-long  festival, art directed by interactive visual designer extraordinaire Rebecca Bortman, will include selections from the hundreds of submissions shot with non-professional video capturing equipment and will end with a panel about this new filmmaking phenomenon. In case you can’t make it to the screening of the New York film collective Red Bucket Films‘ feature “Buttons” on Friday (the trailer will have you tapping your toes until then), the competitive shorts program showcasing “the cream of the disposable-media crop” at the Roxie Theater is not to be missed.

If you’re interested in the future of architecture, you want to check out Vision 2020, an online conference of noted architects, critics, and students where they paint a picture of the built environment and its relevance in the foreseeable future. The site features literature reflecting perspectives from all sides on the influence of technology, the natural environment, and the needs of the public. The Vision 2020 project serves as an open forum, and succeeds in bringing forth some compelling ideas. Feel like getting involved. You can submit a video to their YouTube page, or just post it here. But that’s not very forward-thinking of you.

The new Friendly Fires tune “Skeleton Boy” is one that’s upbeat enough to be on repeat for the next week (it’s already on its fourth playback in the duration of the writing of this post). But the real beauty is in the simple, visually arresting video directed by Clemens Habicht. The three band members were outfitted in black suits covered with double-sided sticky tape that caught bean bag balls to form the outline of skeletons on their bodies. If it sounds complicated, it’s actually a wonderful way to highlight the singers’ movements—so much so that your furniture could become a casualty as you dance along.

This summer film fans and critics alike went ga ga over Pixar’s adorable refuse rounder upper known as Wall-E. Upon first glance it may appear as though conjuring up such a character was as simple as shrinking Short Circuit’s Johnny 5 and giving him a trash compactor for a stomach, but for Jay Schuster the word “simple” never entered the equation. The Pixar designer, educated at the at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, was well aware that in order to achieve a great look for his mechanized wonder he would first have to treat it as though he were designing an actual product. As a result, Schuster didn’t just slap on eyes and a grin to birth a film legend. He created an astonishing exploded view diagram with painstaking detail to break down Wall-E piece by piece to help put him back together again. The result was a well-oiled character creation that came to life on the big screen.

Via Core77

I’ve never been much of a morning person. My snooze button and I have had a love/hate relationship for years. Sure, I get a few minutes of extra sleep, but I’ve often abused the snooze and ended up being late. The Minute Glass has an ingenious solution for all you snooze abusers. It’s powered by magnetic induction which occurs when you shake the clock, requiring no batteries or external electricity source in order to function. When the alarm goes off, you have to shake it and generate enough electricity for the device to function for another full day before the alarm will turn off. All that shakin’ is sure to wake you up. Plus, the clock also has a built in LED flashlight for all your lighting needs.

Via Unplugged

It’s that time of year again — and we don’t mean time for ol’ fatty to come sliding down your chimney. This is a time for a fresh dose of innovative, eco-friendly ideas; time for Core77’s annual Greener Gadgets Design Contest. The competition asks everyone from design students to established firms to create products that speak to pressing environmental issues by working to decrease our carbon footprint, use energy more efficiently, or improve upon social or educational development. If you think you’ve got a concept that you’re confident will impress, just read the How To Enter details and get it in before January 15, 2009. All of the best entries will be posted online for public voting and the finalists will be judged live at this years Greener Gadgets Conference on February 27th in New York. The first place winner takes home a $3000 prize and the two runners up take home a nice $1000 bounty. Last year’s winner was EnerJar, a DIY device that “measures the power draw of electrical appliances.” So that’s taken.

As long as urban centers exist and people remain exercise and eco-conscious, bicycles will always be a preferred mode of transportation. But riding a bike with accompanying cargo can prove difficult. Lane Kagay, a former SF bike messenger was tired of not having a convenient way to transport large boxes, so he made one. The result is CETMAracks — his line of rigid, virtually indestructible front mounted steel bike racks handmade from his home in Eugene, Oregon. Built and designed by bike messengers, these babies are a marked improvement over rear mounted racks or handlebar baskets, causing absolutely no impediment to your steering mechanism and living up to the highest of standards for protecting precious materials en route to their destination.