I haven't written about bikes in a while so today is your lucky day. Let me introduce the Derringer Cycles, a line of hybrid bikes that were modeled after 1920's racing motorcycles. These stylish bikes are a throwback to the classic that your grandparents might have had. They even feature the Brooks leather saddles and polished copper rivets and the design is reimagined for the modern world. The Derringer cycle allows the rider to either use his own bike pedaling powers or use the Honda overhead valve 4-stroke engine. This little bad boy can get you speeding along the road at a cruise speed of 35 MPH. It also has a 1.8 gallon tank that gives you enough power to go up to 300 miles on one tank of gas.
So I take it by this point in the post your asking yourself I want one but how much does it cost? Well since these are custom made and it's a vintage item that will standout on its own. Your looking to spend somewhere around 3,500 for one of these to go around town and brag about your sweet vintage throwback bike.
Formodesign a Polish architect firm shared their project with Arch Daily called the Doublesingle Storey House. It is located in Grabowa, Poland. This home is currently still under construction and will not be completed till 2011. I do however want to mention that I like the idea of this home. It was shaped and formed to follow the sun's path and site's panorama to deliver a clear interior view opening on the forest, meadows and the stream. It was also the idea of creating a doublesingle storey layout to enable the resident to enter and exit the home no matter where they were. The land which it was built on gives this house style with its sloped hills and view of the nature around it. It also blends nicely with natural looking material used to build this home.
When it comes to going to an event we sometimes are a little cautious on bringing our nice camera for fear of damage or it's just to big and bulky. Well Samsung has come up with the Samsung NX100. It's the latest addition to the NX series of mirrorless compact system cameras and it comes with some innovative new features.
It features a 14.6Mp sensor, a 3.0" AMOLED screen, an ISO range of 100 to 3200, 720p movie recording (H.264) and SD / SDHC card slot. Its new i-Function button on the lens that allows users to to cycle manual through settings like white-balance, ISO, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation. It is however lacking in the built-in flash department but it does have an option to add a hot shoe mounted flash gun. It also has a GPS unit and EVF that slots into the back of the camera. It was also advised that this camera will offer a wide variety of lenses to complete your NX100 series.
The NX100 price well that is (TBA) as well as the release date but I do know that it will include the 20-50mm lens and will be available in black, white and brown.
I recently got my hands on a copy of the New Teen Dream album by the Baltimore-based duo Beach House. This is the third album by Beach House and it's packed full of dreamy sounding rhymes and vocals. Scally and Legrand have created a well arranged and constructed sound of droning melodies and waverly vocals to carry you through each song. This album is full of sounds that can be seen as dreamy like the use of vintage organs and the arpeggiating piano.
This album was produced by Chris Coady, who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blonde Redhead, and was recorded in a converted church in upstate New York — appropriately named Dreamland. So I have a feeling that maybe the name Dream in the album title had some influences from the sound of the album and the location of where it was recorded. Either way this is a must have album.
If you like the album or want to check them out. Then if you live in Florida your in luck. They will be playing two shows in Florida with Vampire Weekend. One in Orlando on Oct 11th at the Hard Rock Cafe and then Oct 12th at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg.
Debbie Carlos who is a photographer from Chicago has an interesting collections of animals. In this collection which she calls "Human Nature". She took pictures of animals that were on display at Chicago's Field Museum. She wanted to capture the natural environment where the animals, long dead, are themselves placed and positioned in scenes that recreate their habitat. These images she captured of the life-like death of the creatures has a murky quality of lighting and has dark desaturated tones that gives these images a very dark vintage feel. I like her point of view on the reasoning why she took these photo's. She states that the images convey a sensuality and romanticism at odds with the sense of stagnant death that lingers in the cracked skin of 100-year-old taxidermied animals and birds strung up as though in flight with fishing line. Inside the museum, nature is labeled, classified, and static, turned into an object of knowledge. These photos attempt to capture the mystery and romance of this very pursuit—the sincerity of the scientific endeavor, the pathos of its visible failure, and the beauty of the attempt to engage with nature. If you have time check out her site and also her blog.
We as a society sometimes forget that on a daily basis we are being watched. Whether were walking around the city or sitting in our cars at a red light. We are being watched. So Thomas voor 't Hekke and Bas van Oerle started the project called "panoptICONS" which addresses the fact that you are constantly being watched by surveillance cameras in the city. Their are so many cameras that most times we never think anything about it. We become unaware and that is where this projects concept came into play. To represent this, camera birds - city birds with cameras instead of heads were placed throughout the city to make us aware of their presence. In addition, a camera bird in captivity was displayed to show the feeding process and to make the everyday breach of our privacy more personal and tangible.
panoptICONS is a project by Thomas voor 't Hekke and Bas van Oerle who work together by the name of 'Helden'. Music: Amon Tobin - Easy Muffin
Marek Rytych Architekt is the one who designed the “Open Air Sculpture” house in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland. This home is full of different elements that pull all together to make a unique modern home yet with a loft living kind of feel. The designers from looking at their site are specialized in industrial design and you can tell from the materials and textures used throughout the home.
The exterior of the home is an eye catcher for sure with its geometrical shapes apparently abundant on this home. The use of different elevations on the porches and stepping stones gives the home more depth and character. The interior of the home is open with only miniumal separations from other rooms in the home. It's structured on the inside to feel like your in an industrial type loft with a modern look. There are so many pictures of this amazing house so if you want to see more pictures check out Marek Rytych Architekt site.
Alex Varanese, who is from the San Francisco area caught my attention with his stylish design and typography use. Plus, I'm sucker for vintage urban cultural design. Alex also has a knack for designing custom typography which you can actually see in most of his works. I'd have to say, I'm impressed with the color palette choices and each one of his designs pops out with their own unique style. It's also quite amusing to read some of his thoughts on his designs. So below are some of his works and if you're interested he also has some iphone wallpapers that you can download for FREE to give your iphone style. If you want to keep up with his work then follow him on twitter.
In the world of art and design a big demand and merge of sustainable design has come into play. Many artists are now being cautious on materials they use for environmental purposes. One of these eco-conscious artists is Kiel Johnson who is a famous American-based painter and sculptor. In one of his collections he uses cardboard to create a range of camera that includes SLRs, Polaroid cameras, point and shoot cameras, twin lens cameras and the retro 8mm camera. After viewing these piece of art I can see why Kiel has been recognized on a lot of his works which have been showcased in public and private collections. I can only image the detail and time it took for him to just create one of these cameras and the fact that he is being eco-conscious gives him two thumbs up. If you want to check out more photo's of the cameras check out his site.
