Link About It: This Week’s Picks
GPS shoes, the cure for greed, a Bad Trip and more in our look at the web this week
This Week’s LAB is Sponsored by Dos Equis
1. 1000 Years of War in Five Minutes
Set to the tune of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” an animated short neatly sums up 1,000 years of war in five minutes. Significant battles are signaled with low resolution flame spurts, with casualties reflected by the size of explosions. A bit lengthy, the video is worth watching if only for the massive conflagration that occurs all across Europe in the 1930’s.
2. The Cure for Greed
Amsterdam-based conceptual (and presumably independently wealthy) artist and inventor Diddo offers an antidote to the Deadly Sin with a 5mL vial of stabilized pure dollar ink mechanically and chemically recovered from approximately $10,000 in US currency. Those in need of more, more, more can shoot up with the set’s 24-karat-gold-plated syringe.
3. LunaHelm
Safety and luminescent swagger join forces in a new helmet for cyclists and skateboarders. The LunaHelm was developed at the Exertion Games Lab of Australia’s RMIT University and uses 104 LED lights to enhance rider visibility and signal turns without leaving the handlebars.
4. No Place Like Home
Dominic Wilcox has come up with a curious way to engage both technology and style. Tapped by the Global Footprint commission in Northamptionshire, the British shoe designer created “No Place Like Home” shoes. The shoes have an embedded GPS system that allows the right foot to communicate wirelessly with the left foot, giving the wearer a sense of direction and proximity to the desired destination.
5. Fred Butler S/S 2013
London’s rising accessories designer Fred Butler presents her S/S 2013 collection through a music video in collaboration with Red Bull Catwalk Studios. With a unique track produced in part by Two Inch Punch, the video showcases Butler’s colorful and intricate pieces on a Hip Hop Honey Bee dancing in a cocoon of gold and red piñatas—an escapist’s dream come true.
6. 1982 Mercedes-Benz S Type Sport Tourer
Discovered in a garage, an untouched 1982 Mercedes-Benz S Type Sport Tourer finds a home at auction for £2.8m. Arguably the crowning piece at their Goodwood Revival Sale, Bonhams sold the unprecedented car to an anonymous bidder.
7. Bad Trip
A haunting new video game lets the user explore its creator’s most intimate memories. The game, entitled Bad Tripwas designed by Alan Kwan, who populated the game’s landscape with memories he recorded over the course of a year. Set in a dark and mountainous terrain, users are invited to seek out Kwan’s most intimate memories.
8. Proenza Schouler S/S 2013
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have graduated from wunderkind status to enduring innovators in fashion, and for S/S 2013 the pair’s Tumblr-based inspiration proved their knack for blazing the trail. The randomness of images culled from the Internet has become a pervasive element to our culture, but only the talent behind Proenza Schouler could translate that feeling into a beautiful, leather-based collection.
9. Personal Pyramids
Escape to your triangular oasis with artist Corey Smith’s Personal Pyramids. A part of his exhibition at LA’s Ar4t Gallery, Smith’s Personal Pyramids claim to have healing powers for anyone willing to stick their head inside and give these meditative triangles a try.
10. Gap and GQ
Culling talent from GQ’s annual “Best New Menswear Designers in America” list, Gap has unveiled a promising collection in partnership with BLK DNM, Ian Velardi, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam, Ovadia & Sons, Saturdays NYC and Todd Snyder. Set to drop online on 27 September 2012, the line can be previewed through photos of the campaign and a behind-the-scenes video featuring interviews with the designers.
11. Bowmore 1957
When the oldest distillery on Islay releases the oldest Single Malt of all time, you pay attention. Bowmore announced their released of the Bowmore 1957, bottled from a barrel held after the initial batch in 1995. This special reserve was bottled in 2011, 54 years after it was produced. Complemented with a hand blown glass bottle you can expect to pay upwards of £100,000 for one of the 12 produced.
12. ioSafe N2
In a world of clouds, data junkies might want something a bit more tangible to store their precious files. The ioSafe N2 syncs cloud storage with a hard drive for double protection—encasing two drives in a practically indestructible package. The box can be set on fire and drowned to no effect, and the encrypted data is also padlocked for protection against theft. Currently an Indiegogo campaign, the company hopes to start up with an ambitions $150,000 in support.
13. The Mast Brothers Set Sail
Williamsburg-based chocolatiers and brothers Michael and Rick Mast personally transported over 400 bags of cocoa from the Dominican Republic to the shores of Brooklyn, in a successful attempt to make their chocolate more sustainable.
14. The Largest Hand-Drawn Maze
After completing the world’s largest hand-drawn maze, designer, Joe Wos is struggling to find someone who wants to complete it. 35ft long and 4ft wide, the puzzle is a Guinness World Record holder. By reaching out to his community and through the press, Wos hopes to find someone up to the challenge.
15. Warp Drive
No need to book any tickets quite yet, but traveling faster than the speed of light may not be as far fetched as some would think. Playing around with the idea of a warp drive, a few scientist at NASA are experimenting with the boundaries of physics in order to manipulate speed.
16. Lexar 256GB SDXC Card
While its £670.99 price tag may be a little hefty for most, Lexar’s new 256GB SDXC card is extremely enticing. While most of us have piles of SD cards that max out around 32GB, the prospect of super high density SD storage could be very handy for photographers and videographers alike.
