Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Google’s data center, Unknown Pleasures, Steve Jobs in Hell and more in our weekly look at the web
1. Relax Shacks
Just outside Boston, self-titled “carpenter, tinkerer and micro-architecturer” Derek Diedrickson builds DIY micro shelters mostly from materials found on the side of the road. Dubbed “Relax Shacks,” these transportable refuges cost less than $100 and can house the homeless or just serve as a comfy space to chill outside.
2. Google Data Center
For the first time ever, Google opened the doors to its data center and created a YouTube video tour so everyone can have a peek. Between their own Street View-style video and Wired’s Steven Levy—who was lucky enough to get a personal tour of the facilities—we learn about disk crushers, cords, earplugs and more.
3. Pool Table
In a cheeky take on the classic Pool Table, Freshwest Design turns a coffee table into a swimming pool. The playful piece’s opaque blue acrylic top and miniature diving board certainly turn it into a talking point in any room.
4. First We Feast
Complex Media recently debuted food and drink website First We Feast, setting out to investigate food as “an illuminating lens into pop culture, music, travel and more.” Chris Schonberger heads up the editorial team for the unconventional foodie journal, which acts as a sanctuary for the gastronomically obsessed.
5. Istanbul Design Biennial
The inaugural edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial has been met with praise from the global design community since opening last week. Running through 12 December 2012, the biennial’s theme is imperfection, with a focus on hackers, artisans, activists and amateurs.
6. New Jerusalem
After showing at Rotterdam and SXSW, “New Jerusalem” from director Rick Alverson will be released across the US following a premiere at Videology theater in Brooklyn on 30 November 2012. The film stars Will Oldham and Colm O’Leary with music by Robert Donne and CH friend Champ Bennett. Watch the trailer on Vimeo, and look for the film on iTunes and Amazon starting at the end of November.
7. Newsweek Goes Digital
After nearly 80 years of circulation, the esteemed weekly print publication Newsweek announced it will move to an all-digital format in the new year, forcing its 1.4 million subscribers to move online or over to its fiercest competitor, Time.
8. Unknown Pleasures Explained
Former Factory Records graphic designer Peter Saville speaks on the generally unknown story behind the iconic album art of Joy Division’s 1979 release Unknown Pleasures. In the short documentary style clip Saville discusses the mysterious pulsar signal—taken from a page in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy—its significance and the endless iterations spurred in years since.
9. Maria Pergay: Retrospective
Known for her unique, minimal designs, celebrated furniture designer Maria Pergay will soon be the focal point of a retrospective in Paris celebrating her 55 years in the industry. In a video discussing her passion for metalwork, Pergay explains, “the problem with metal is that either you shape it or it shapes you.”
10. Is Steve Jobs in Hell?
Brooklyn-based writer Sean Yeaton curiously broaches the subject surrounding Steve Jobs’ afterlife with the help of psychic medium, Reverend Betsy Cohen, who is as informative about as she is frightened of the Apple man and his notorious black turtleneck.
11. Dior’s Gold Tattoos
For a high-style, zero-commitment accessory this season look no further than Dior’s Grand Bal Golden Tattoos. The brainchild of jewelry designer Camille Miceli, the temporary adornments feature 24-carat gold leafing and sell in limited supply for $120.
12. The World’s Most Expensive Cocktail
Salvatore’s bar at the Playboy Club in London boasts the world’s most expensive cocktail. Made with a combination of bitters and liquors from the turn of the 20th century, each cocktail represents about 700 years making it the oldest as well as the priciest at $8,837 a glass.
