Link About It: This Week’s Picks
A kickball ice cream maker, drug-detecting nail polish, Miranda July’s “Somebody” app and more in our look at the web this week
1. Buick’s Dapper Derelict
When car restorer Jonathan Ward found a ’48 Buick in a Pennsylvania barn, it hadn’t been on the road since ’73. Instead of bringing the classic beauty back to its original condition on the exterior, the ICON founder chose to purposely keep all of its patina—rust and all—perfectly intact. A prime example of derelict design, the Buick now has power windows, navigation, a back-up camera and a new stereo system, striking an impeccable balance between meticulous modernity and natural transience.
2. MB&F for Hodinkee
The last two characters within the name of Max Büsser’s stellar horological company stand for “and friends.” And this time, Büsser has partnered with one of the best: Hodinkee. His MB&F Music Machine 2 Limited Edition in gunmetal is a hand-worked piece of wonder, playing six songs on three internal music box cylinders—and it’s Star Trek-inspired. The edition is limited to just five and they’re selling exclusively from HODINKEE for $23,500.
3. The Sound of the Future
Loop-based music may have revolutionized (and democratized) the production world, but for electronic musicians, it’s also resulted in pretty formulaic club tracks. Taking the less-traveled road, London-based experimental musician Lee Gamble sits down with RBMA Radio to explain his unique composition process, in which he views the computer as a potential instrument (such as recording the output of pieces of software crashing). The results are futuristic sonic hallucinations that feel as if you’re traveling through the inner-workings of a complex machine.
4. Tehran’s House of Rotating Rooms
Iran’s Next Office studio has conceived one of the most
creative approaches to residential architecture in a complex project that architect Alireza Taghaboni says went through 16 iterations. The surprising Tehran home features three pod-like rooms resting on motorized turntables that can be rotated 90 degrees, allowing them to become opened or closed to accommodate the region’s extreme weather.
5. A Breathtaking Burning Man Time-Lapse
This year’s Burning Man festival comes to a close today, celebrating its 28th year. From its humble beginnings on a beach outside San Francisco to today’s massive week-long gathering in the Nevada desert, the festivities feature elaborate sculptures, handmade costumes and expansive art pieces that are nothing short of epic—as we saw first-hand last year. With so much going on, capturing the festival’s grand beauty from daybreak to twilight is difficult, but Roy Two Thousand’s 2013 time-lapse video succeeds in this. A must-watch for fans of the festival, the seven-minute overview provides an unshakeable portrayal of the gathering and all the magic that has made it a global phenomenon.
6. Miranda July’s “Somebody” App
Created by film director, actor and artist Miranda July in partnership with fashion label Miu Miu, the new iOS app dubbed Somebody is a comment on how technology affects our most intimate relations. Send a text message through the app and it goes not to your friend, but a Somebody user close by (most likely a stranger) who then delivers the
message verbally, acting as your stand-in. July’s entertaining 10-minute film demonstrates the app in all its clever, cringe-worthy glory—think marriage proposals, break-ups and make-ups performed by whoever’s nearby.
7. Churn and Burn
Hammacher Schlemmer may have just created every kid—and adult’s—dream toy: the Kickball Ice Cream Maker. An inner chamber holds the necessary ice cream ingredients while another compartment houses rock salt and ice. Once you’ve got the essentials packed inside, it’s go time. The rubber outer keeps the inside safe from breakage so you can kick, throw and play to your heart’s content. After about 20 minutes, you’ll have a pint of fresh (and well-earned) ice cream.
8. Help Is On The Nails
There’s been a recent surge in new sexual assault prevention apps that focus on keeping users safe and their friends informed. Engineering students at North Carolina State University took it one step further, wanting to integrate technology into products that women often use, by developing a range of nail polish that detects date rape drugs. Dip a manicured finger into a drink, and a color change indicates it’s been tampered with. While there’s plenty of discussion regarding whether this shifts responsibility from perpetrators to victims, it’s a step toward raising more awareness surrounding rape culture.
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily on Twitter and published weekly every Saturday morning.
