Last week, we fell in love with the latest installment of Sony’s commercial series for BRAVIA, which features hundreds of play-doh bunnies bounding throught the streets of New York, backed by a Rolling Stones soundtrack. Today, we were able to go behind the scenes to see exactly how the teams at Passion Pictures and Fallon pulled off this massive, inspired task. You can head over to the BRAVIA website and watch for yourself — just be ready to pick your jaw up off the ground (and then watch it twice more).

We are saddened, however, to learn of the allegations that the original idea was pinched from kozyndan, who apparently sent in an eerily similar concept sketch to Passion over two years ago. Sony denies any plagiarism is involved, but upon seeing the artwork in question, it’s pretty dang obvious. What are your thoughts on this?

Via Behind the Buzz

Patagonia has been mother nature’s biggest fan since before she was famous. It comes as no surprise, then, that the company has recently made another forward-thinking move in the form of The Footprint Chronicles, a design-through-delivery breakdown of the complete environmental impact of some of their products. For instance, instead of only mentioning the use of a recycled fiber in the Synchilla Vest, the Footprint Chronicles tracks the fiber from its original source to its final use. By tracking the movements of the future vest, Patagonia can document the overall environmental impact of the product (or in other words, its footprint). I love Patagonia for doing this, because it’s becoming evident that just by assigning a trendy term like “organic” or “earth friendly” to a product, less-informed consumers are inclined to take the product at face value. This holistic approach reveals the potentially damaging production methods that are often swept under the rug after the manufacturing process, meaning Patagonia should once again be recognized for giving our planet (all) the respect it deserves.

I don’t surf. I don’t know the first thing about surfing, beyond whatever I’ve garnered from TV and movies. So how I ended up on the mailing list for Swell is beyond me. But I’m glad I did! The catalog is beautifully shot and immediately eye-catching — my first thought was that it was a Patagonia catalog — and it’s full of interesting, laid-back styles. No surprise there, given the clientele. The catalog is also fully integrated with their website. The bottom of every page, whether it’s a photo spread of a couple of models or a line-up of shirt, has a keyword that reveals more of the same type of item on their website.

Now, I know the swells out here on the East coast don’t get so big, but I’ve definitely seen a few people wandering toward the subways with a surf board. And if Brooklyn can support its own surf shop, then someone round here must be interested in Swell (not to mention, those of you in Cali and beyond who hog all the nice beaches). Take a look, even if it’s just to have a gander at their slick photography. They’ve also got a serious line-up of surf inspired tees. Makes the death of summer just that little more bittersweet, no?

Via Thrillist, the lazy dude’s incredibly well-informed, bicoastal best friend (that’s right, it’s in LA and SF now, so if you live in either of those locales, sign the hell up already), we get word of a new way to get things we want for free (and we like that). The website is called SwitchPlanet, and it works like your favorite file-sharing application might work if instead of downloading files and letting others upload your files, you were mailing actual books and movies and receiving physical packages from others.

You sign up for an account on SwitchPlanet and list all the stuff (movies, books, CDs and video games) you have that you’re willing to give away. For instance, let’s say you used to dig the Black Keys but then you got a girlfriend and now you’re willing to give your copy of Thickfreakness away. You post it, and “blueslover19″ on SwitchPlanet “buys” it from you with his “switchbucks” (a purely theoretical currency, but you’ve got to keep track somehow), which he earned from people “buying” his stuff. You don’t get any money from “blueslover19″ — in fact, you have to pay to ship the CD to him — but you earn switchbucks, which you can then use to “buy” stuff you want from others. Basically SwitchPlanet is a fun and efficient way to recycle media. Meanwhile, if anyone is looking for a copy of Frailty, the stunning directorial debut of Bill Paxton, they can contact me directly.

Superspace is a two year-old design studio based in Copenhagen; the fact that it’s two years old makes sense, because right now Superspace devotes a lot of its energy towards designing for children. Take their (pictured) Honeycubes product: fuzzy little hexagons with detachable centers that kids can stack, piece together like honeycomb, sit in, sit on, or just play and be silly with. Superspace says that the “dynamic shape” of the Honeycubes, “is designed specifically to support children’s development from the early age of 2.” Then there’s the Sorø Mini Tracks, which are like little interior design building blocks for kids. Now, Superspace has some sweet adult-oriented products too — I don’t mean to short-change them — but we here believe that design sensibility should start as early as possible, and their children’s products are a way to give your kid a head-start on developing exquisite taste. And that’s a great thing, because kindergärtners love a snob.

As someone who has been traveling a lot recently, I can honestly say that I find little appeal in the idea of dropping exorbitant amounts of cash on a hotel room for a few nights alone in a city you would rather not call home. Even though certain people here whose names rhyme with “Gosh” and “Feather” love fancy-pants hotels, the only appeal to me is the free soap, shampoo, lotion and a variety of adult entertainment choices on spectravision that no one, save for the front desk, will ever know you ordered. If you could trade all that for stimulating conversation with a few like-minded folks, a slightly less comfortable bed, wireless internet and a place to cook breakfast at a considerably cheaper price, would you? The folks at Airbed and Breakfast are banking on the fact that you are. During a casual conversation about the upcoming 2007 IDSA conference Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, two independent entrepreneurs with product design backgrounds, had the idea to rent out extra space in their apartment to conference attendees. They then launched a website so that other San Franciscans could list their own apartments as convenient crashpads for conference-goers. The best part is that the terms of your stay are up to you. “Designers can choose which designers to meet, stay with, and at what price…” Think of it as Craigslist meets Hotels.com, but a lot less creepy.