Unless you’re out there chasing tornados, braving hurricanes, or watching your garage get pelted with golfball sized pieces of hail, weather is pretty boring. Pin Up Weather is trying to change that for iPhone users. They’ve got the concept down — the $2 application teases users with videos of an attractive woman and then delivers the forecast. But if they want to us to consider their photos pinup, they have to work harder. We recommend checking out Olivia and Vargas for direction.
It’s amazing to watch the exponential growth of SXSW festival, both in the sheer number of attendees but also in the new and emerging facets of popular culture it’s touching. We’ve already seen iPhone 3.0 OS predictions and the Dell Adamo surfacing. In the ultimate trifecta of things you thought you’d never see together, sneaker manufacturer Supra has teamed up with Spin and Austin’s very own Stubb’s BBQ to produce the Stubb’s Skytop SXSW Edition. With some of the most original packaging I’ve seen, the hi-tops come in only one colorway (BBQ, what else) and is paired with a bottle of the famous sauce and a black tee with the crisp white logo. All of which are placed in a custom wooden box and hand numbered. Those of you lucky enough to be at the festival can swing by Stubb’s this Friday, March 20, between 10 and 11 a.m. and try to score a pair.
There are a couple reasons why the name Peter Gregson should be stuck on your mind. First and foremost he is the brilliant classical cellist that we’ve raved about a number of times. Second, he is reinventing the way audiences interact with performers. Remember when he set up a Twitter wall concert? This time he’s taking his relationship with Twitter to the next level — as in straight to their home base. Peter will preform a live microconcert from Twitter HQ in San Fransisco. This isn’t just a treat for the employees, it’s also being broadcast in HD for all of us. Even the program notes are 140 characters.
Prelude Suite#1 (Bach), Spiegel im Spiegel (Part), Appalachian Waltz (O’Connor), Corpus Christi Carol (Britten), Song of the Birds (Beamish)
The show begins at 1:30 p.m. PST from Peter’s site or here. It will be available for HD streaming on demand if you miss it. Follow @petergregson or @coffeeloop for any updates. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the midday musical stream from one of the best cello performers we know.
We posted about the Firewinder last year — a decorative outdoor light powered by the wind. Well, these breezy Brits just won the 2008 Green Dot Award for creating an invention that aims to show people just how breathtaking clean renewable energy can be. They’re so excited they want to give two readers their own Firewinder to try out. Just post a comment below about what kind of wind-swept place of honor you’ll put it in and we’ll pick a winner next week.
This is going to sound like a sin, but I think Photoshop is cheating. Yes, yes, I’ve heard the business about what professional photographers used to do back in the darkroom, but I’m still not convinced. Then I stumbled onto Clark Little’s work, and rumor has it he doesn’t use Photoshop. This surfer turned photographer captures the devestating power of the ocean through shots of waves crashing into the shore. Inspired by his wife’s request to have a photograph in their home, Little creates these portraits by sitting in the water and holding his fisheye lens until the time is right. Then, with his camera set at nine framers per second, he snaps his shot. The waves hover just before their moment of impact and what you get are remarkable images of water that resembles colored glass set against the eye-popping background of Hawaii.
Sao Paulo street artist extraordinaire Titi Freak tells stories with his work, but now they’ll actually be in print. His first book, released in sponsorship by Nike Sportswear, is the 200-page Freak. It traces the Japanese-Brazilian’s art trajectory from his start as a fresh-faced comics newbie whose parents let him leave school to apprentice under a nationally known artist, to the murals, objects and installations that mark his work today. Titi Freak’s hollow-jowled characters are seen everywhere in Sao Paulo, as well as internationally. With his rapidly rising stardom — and a catchy name like that — it’s likely this guy will have even more stories to tell soon. Hit up the ever-prolific Choque Cultural if you want in on one of the 1,000 copies.
BlackOink was the recent resin diversion from Singapore’s Simon Kang. His company BlackOinkDesign has a pig mascot that Simon brought to life with an incredibly slick, ultra-limited-edition set of 12 BlackOink figures. The figures came in four colorways, with handmade packaging and extras like decals and keychains. They were released amidst great buzz from the growing resin toy community late last month and are probably all gone. Simon’s blog, however, shows some Star Wars B09 customs in the work. So if you missed out, looks like there’s more cool pigs in the pipeline.
