It’s incredible to see a blog grow into something that comes to change pop culture. The blog reports on it, but in the process, inevitably becomes a part of that pop culture as well. One of our smart classmates who’s been running in parallel alongside us all these years, adamantly pushing its cause, is Slamxhype.com, which started off as a simple street apparel-update blog but has recently made its foray into the print world—an interesting move considering media companies usually do it the other way around. The New Order is a heavy tome of a magazine that comes out quarterly and merges the right now of fashion, art, film and relevant topics affecting our generation. The second issue has just debuted and features a double cover with KAWS and Takashi Murakami, two significant icons of pop culture who consistently challenge ideas and keep them relevant. Each issue runs $25, but if you make it to the launch party tomorrow in L.A. at Carmichael Gallery, you’ll score a free copy that includes a special KAWS poster. Those who can’t make it can get a preview of the issue in a video on Slamxhype.com.

Okay, easy questions: Do you like Absolut Vodka? What about masquerade balls? Well you are going to love this. Absolut is throwing one of their amazing parties for their new Masquerade product in London and we have a couple priority passes to give out for each day. As you can imagine, the demand for these first come first serve nights are high, but we’ve managed to scored some. The event is in East London October 24th through 27th (that’s Friday through Monday) and we can give away two pairs of passes (2 x 2) for each day.

In order to get your hands on the passes, we are going to make this simple. First one to comment the day they want to go (i.e. “Friday”) gets the passes for that day. Note, the party takes place in London, so if you aren’t in London this weekend don’t bother. The winner receives two passes to the event, no expenses. Details will be emailed to the winner. If you don’t win you can still get in, just show up early.

The House of Masquerade
68-72 Redchurch Street
Shoreditch, London E2 7DP
5-11pm, October 24th through 27th

Over the past few days a colossal architectural framework has slowly been erected at Pier 3 under the promenade in Brooklyn Heights. While we have to admit, our curiosity had been piqued we have yet to explore the reasons for the sudden appearance of this behemoth structure.

Luckily, for us the folks at mcbrooklyn allowed their curiosity to get the better of them and thus have blown
the lid off of a huge event. It seems that Diesel is setting the stage for one of the all time blowouts to take place on the Kings County border as they’ll be hosting a large dose of rock and roll madness and mayhem on October 11th.

The brand will invite 5,000 of their besties along with some of the top trendsetters (ooh…me…me!) to witness some serious theatrics and kick ass tunes for the grand finale of an 18 city international party known as the Diesel xXx “Rock and Roll Circus”. The gala will feature everything from fire eaters, trapeze artists, sword swallowing, cabaret, and even female roller derby squads to go along with performances from musical heavyweights N.E.R.D., M.I.A., and Hot Chip (and more). It’s the kind of lineup that looks to redefine the phrase “good time.” As long as there are no clowns.

Sure you’re a social superstar. You’ve mastered the art of small talk and can really lay on the charm. But no matter how skilled you are in pleasant conversation there’s one party skill that eludes you: chowing on hors d’oeuvres while holding a glass. That’s all about to change thanks to designer Ken Goldman’s Fingerfood, the somewhat hokey but nonetheless innovative little plates with rings. Now you can grasp your goblet and get a forkful of fried calamari at the same time.

If a party at a car wash sounds like the perfect method to cool down during the West Coast’s forecasted heat wave, check out Sam Spiegel’s (a.k.a. hot music producer Squeak E. Clean, a.k.a. half of the NASA DJ duo) big throwdown called SUDS rolling through various Southland car washes starting this Friday at the Hollywood Car Wash before it heads up to San Fran. While there won’t be any wet T-shirt contests going on (I can hear the collective sigh right now), a mysterious “car wash ride” is promised. Spiegel will man the wheels of steel, while Girl Skateboards pro team members put on a demo and people get their hair done for free by an on-site göt2b hair salon. Aaron Rose, curator extraordinaire of Beautiful Losers, will participate with art installations as well. And there’s talk of go-go dancers in body paint. Sounds like this event is meant to make you sweat, so bringing a water balloon or 20 is probably a good idea. Hit the site to RSVP for this free party.

We've talked about the lomography; the ultra low-tech return to photography, but the great thing about lomography is the community of users. People come together and make amazingly creative projects with these little plastic cameras. The Staple Design group has proven to be the pinnacle in the collective with their latest project.

Following the guidelines of Chakra, Staple Design sent out a mission statement of color codes to the lomography community and commissioned a few stand out photographers. After collecting thousands of images, the Reed Space is hosting an exhibition and the launch of the book “Colorsplash Chakra” for the photographs from the project. But it doesn't stop there, they’re also releasing a special Chakra Edition Colorsplash Camera. To kick it all off, there is a party tonight at the Reed Space. If you are in New York send an email RVSP to lomo [at] stapledesign.com — and hurry, space is limited. We would not recommend bringing your fancy digital SLR to document the event, instead try a pinhole camera; it'll get you street cred.

At the end of their careers, Musicians usually get a best-of record; artists get some wall space in a museum. Well Blaize Simon isn't going out like that– he has organized an entire section of street in London to display his works, which span the last ten years. Calvert Avenue, near Old Street station is where it’s all going on– Blaize will be displaying his artwork in the storefronts of shops along the road. Any and all passersby will be treated to an open-air gallery of his work. The exhibit is kicking off with a private viewing (i.e. party) this Wednesday, June 18th (from 5-10 p.m.) that’s expected to transform into a proper street party. Head over to haiti73 for an RSVP, but like any good street party, surely they won't turn people away on the day-of, will they? For those who can’t make the opening party, you can have a ‘walk by’ between June 19th and July 18th.

Full flyer after the jump… READ MORE…

For those who find themselves filling awkward silences with off-time table tapping, an effortless creative outlet now exists. Tor Clausen creates modular coffee tables that can house four, eight, nine, and 16 percussive components including tambourine, snare, cowbell and three levels of bongo. Aside from being an amazingly fun toy for musicians, Musical Furnishings make for an awesome party game. Sit around with your friends and tap out patterns to come up with cooperative drum sequences, or simply make your living room much more interesting to sit around in.

Ben Kaufman wants you to work for him. And you. And you. And all those people in that building next to you. We told you about his ever morphing business of crowdsourced product development called Kluster. Now it has landed on something new: Knewsroom, a user powered daily news feed. Of course, Kaufman doesn’t expect you to power his enterprise for nothing. That’s why every day, if you’ve submitted or bet correctly on the winning stories, you get cash. It’s kind of like a headline horse race, and you’re the one feeding the pony anabolic steroids. No, wait. It’s kind of like CNN meets American Idol. Well, it’s not quite that either. Here, Ben can explain it better. Oh, and he’s also throwing a party with Mashable at Webster Hall on Friday. Just tell him we sent you. When that doesn’t work, pay for a ticket.

One of my new favorite places to go out in London is certainly The Groucho Club, a members-only club with three bars, a brasserie and a formal dining room. The best part, really, are the people — everyone invited or involved in the club has a deep history in publishing, arts, media or creative fields. Unlike most clubs in London, everyone was actually very nice; they knew if you were in there, you were probably doing something interesting. The space also has a constantly evolving and fantastic art selection (when I was there, Banksy and Damien Hirst were on the dining room walls). In addition to all the open space for some good partying, the club has 19 bedrooms for members coming in from out of town that need a place to call home. The name was naturally inspired by one of Groucho Marx’s famous quips; “I don’t want to join a club that will accept me as a member,” which I absolutely love. Find someone respected in creative arts or media who knows the London scene and they’re likely a member — this place is worth a visit on a Saturday night.

It’s all too overwhelming. Carmel posted about blik and Threadless yesterday, and we already have more to tell you about these re-stickably amazing decals. And what news! Today we actually have a reason to celebrate blik other than just liking what they do — it’s their fifth anniversary, and they’re celebrating by throwing a party in Venice, California. The main event of the party, which you’re invited to, is a live art installation from Undoboy.

Now, undoubtedly blik’s tacky (no, not that kind of tacky) designs are one of our favorite things in the world, but of all of the blik decals that we love, we might just love Undoboy’s the bestest. The tireless Spear Collective member has done quite a variety of work for blik — some of his decals look like they come from the Candyland, while others look like rhinoceros poop. Rainbow-colored rhinoceros poop. The important thing is that all of his decals are colorful and innovative, so his performance today in Venice isn’t something you’ll want to miss.

By the way, the venue for blik’s party? Appropriately enough for a sticker company, it’s being held at Epoxy Box. Good sticking to you all.

If you’re going to be in NYC for Design Week (May 19-22), be sure to check out Core77’s incredibly comprehensive calendar of events. Covering the best on- and off-site exhibits and parties, they’ve cut right through the garbage to bring you the best of what New York Design Week has to offer. And that, in the words of Martha Stewart, is a good thing.

I’m heading to BKLYN Designs tomorrow and Sunday, and then next week I’ll be hitting ICFF, HauteGREEN and MePa Design Week. If you want to catch up, drop me an email, and if you’re not in town (or not into hoardes of design nerds like me), I’ll be posting the best-of right here, as it happens.

On May 11th, it’s going to be hopping at the FD Lofts in Detroit for Launch Volume 1: The Rise of the Creative Class. The Sarahs behind Motor City Sewing are bringing in a slew of regional designers like Wrath Arcane, Lara Miller, Juma, and Michel Delon to accompany them for their Spring 2007 Wound menswear launch. This group of fashionistas is leading the way toward the emergence of an exciting and viable fashion scene in the Midwest– there is a lot of creative potential in the region, and it’s just a matter of bringing together positive energy and bright minds– that’s what this event aims to do. There will be copious amounts of music, drink, and food (from 20 of Detroit’s ‘essential’ restaurants to be exact), and the ticket proceeds are going to the Children’s Hospital. You can buy tickets beforehand here, or if you want to risk it day of, they’ll also be available at the door for $25. A full flyer for the shindig awaits, after the jump…

READ MORE…

The times I want to be anywhere other than Boulder are few and far between, but this weekend there are a few events in far off places that I’m a little teary over missing. First up; the Pop Cling Vinyl Show at Munky King on Melrose Avenue, where huge custom installations, drinks, and a painfully perfect list of guests (including Zeptonn, Luke Feldman, and Jeremyville; oh, damn them) will undoubtedly make for a memorable night. The fun goes from 7-11 tomorrow (Thursday) night, and they’ll be selling plenty of lustable wall decorations– just remember to wait until you’ve sobered up to start sticking. On the other side of the U.S., Legends of Style will return to the Boston Center for the Arts for one night only in a showcase of over fifty national and international artists, including The Love Movement and Spear Collective’s own Jason Thielke. Big-deal DJ’s Kon and Amir will get the beat going at 7 this Friday night; advance tickets are $15, or $20 at the door. Have fun lucky readers– and don’t worry; I’ll quit hating you by Monday. Full flyers after the jump…

READ MORE…

Once upon a time, just a couple years ago, there was Niagara. A Swedish company had developed Niagara as an herbal love enhancement supplement for women– and it was huge! I remember it being all over the news. These bubbly blue bottles of love disappeared fast; all because a certain pharmaceutical company felt it threatened one of their big earners, the tiny blue pill for men known as Viagra. But blue isn't just for boys. We came across the men from Sweden bearing these blue bottles recently, and ta da! Niagara had been reborn– as Nexcite. Nexcite's label is more exciting than Niagara's with their very cute little love bunny in a better position and other subtle updates that really make a difference from a branding perspective. Nexcite comes not only in the traditional “split” size, but also in a Magnum bottle for those of you who like to party like rockstars. As far as I'm concerned, it's bubbly, controversial, and fun in the late night. So I’d say it's time to get excited about Nexcite's soft rebranding launch– it’ll be more fun than Red Bull.