I have been finding myself enjoying more and more the aesthetics of a bike and wanted to share some bikespiration. Bikespiration will be a monthly stream of wonderful bikes that I find inspiring and have that sexy bike appeal. If you guys out there want to help me find some sweet bikes you're always welcome to contact me and send me over some bikespiration. In the meantime, enjoy part one of The Collective Loop Bikespiration.

Someone is requesting you to play at their house party but you don't want to carry around all your equipment. Then the Numark DJ2Go ($60) will be your new little buddy.  This small sized DJ controller can be set up easily with one plug of a USB, letting you DJ an entire set using real controls. DJ2Go features two platters, a crossfader, pitch and levels, Deck A, Deck B, Master, and Headphone gain controls, and it's compatible with nearly any MIDI-complaint software.  It also comes with a special edition of Virtual DJ software, designed to mate perfectly with the capabilities of the controller. So no tweaking is needed but don't worry, if you wanted to tweak the controller you can.  This little guy is good for the price and for people who are starting out as a Virtual DJ.

 If anyone has one let me know what you think of it.

When you look at this house it looks very small, but don't let the outside sway your opinion till you see the inside. Mizuishi Architect Atelier has designed a house that was built on a triangle site which the river and the way were crossed and made to the acute angle.  The architect wanted to build the house with various relations to the river.

On the inside the level+1 floor is divided into small areas by structural narrow walls, which connected with the ridge line of the roof. So there are different open feelings that are still relative with the river. The dinning and kitchen area on the west side of the home have high ceiling to give it that larger feeling. The living area has low ceilings and has full-opening windows on both sides as a balcony and a bay window that spreads outward with a feeling of floating. The loft in the home has two skylights, one looking down at the river and the other looking up at the sky. This homes with it's spacious interior is clean, elegant and offers enough space for the whole family.  For the space and the way that it was built I find the house to be very functional and great space utilization.

You can see more pictures at Contemporist. Photos taken by Hiroshi Tanigawa

In the spirit of October and the ever approaching Halloween I wanted to share some of the works of Clifton Harvey, an Ohio based illustrator and digital artist. His Left Behind series is just mysterious and ominous and the details are just astonishing. Clifton takes normal photographs and then adds some anthropomorphic characters and effects and creates a whole new image to narrate a bit of abandoned history.

I’m fond of the delicate illustrations found in children’s picture books and the way artists visually describe narratives. I’m also drawn to the moralizing stories told in old fables and the harsh realities they depict. I used both of these deliberate narrative approaches as a foundation for my series Left Behind, in which drawn characters are integrated into photographic environments using the computer. The creatures depicted in this series exist as lingering manifestations of overindulgence and the festering shame of having one’s dignity stripped from them. Their temperaments range from passive and complacent to wretched and perverse. Once abandoned, they play out a narrative that echoes personal histories in skewed environments that mimic reality.

These digitally modified photographs are very detailed as you can see. They almost look like they have been hand drawn. What I like about these anthropomorphic characters is that it gives the images a more scary and empty feel to them that makes them dark and chilling. I would highly recommend checking out more of Clifton's work. If you're interested in buying some of his work, his store will be opening soon.

Nothing like a good mashup to get your morning going. Chris from Ithaca Audio has created this 24 video, live performance mashup as a follow up to their Don't Hold Back, Just Push Things Forward mashup. This project took about two months to create with countless hours searching through thousands of clips on YouTube. The performance was done on an AKAI APC 40 connect to Ableton Live. I have gone ahead added the track list below.


The Prodigy – Mindfields
Ludovico Einaudi – Nightbook
Haddaway – What is love
The Streets – Turn the page
4th Avenue Jones – Move on
Layo & Bushwaka – Love story
Adele – Rolling in the deep
The Killers – All these things that I’ve done
Death in Vegas – Aisha
Beyonce – Crazy in love
Felix Mendelssohn – A midsummer night’s dream
DJ Shadow – Organ donar
Destiny’s Child – Bug a boo
DJ Shadow – The number song (T La Rock – Breakdown / Don Covay – Bad Luck)
Daft Punk – Around the world
Queen/David Bowie – Under pressure
Aretha Franklin – Deeper love
Peter Carpenter – The theme from Magnum P.I
Klaxons – Gravitys rainbox (Soulwax remix)
Michael Jackson – Scream
The Verve – Bittersweet symphony
Run DMC/Aerosmith – Walk this way
Basement Jaxx – Do your thing
Faithless – Take the long way home

Designer Kristýna Pojerová has designed a glass domed lamp that has an inner gutter for growing small plants or herbs. It's currently on show at Praque Designblok 2011, the light was created to satisfy the desire to grow  fresh herbs within an urban kitchen. Their is a cylindrical opening in the base that permits quick access by hand to the lamp's interior, and allows additional light to exit below. If some of you are wondering if the light will burn the plants. You could always use a dimmer switch to regulate the light  This lamp basically uses a space in the home that was otherwise not being utilize and it's utilizing the otherwise useless waste of heat from the bulb. Go Green!

The lamp is for sale at Art Light and retails for about $1,900.



Source: Designboom

The Keaton Music Typewriter is a rare found. According to CBS News, "There are fewer than a dozen known to exist". This bad boy will make it easier for you to write your music, compared to writting it out by hand. Just think how much time you could save. Since they are rare a username jackredbarn on Etsy has one available for sale.  But don't expect it to be cheap.

A little short history from musicprintinghistory.org:

The Keaton Music Typewriter was first patented in 1936 (14 keys) by Robert H. Keaton from San Francisco, California. Another patent was taken out in 1953 (33 keys) which included improvements to the machine. The machine types on a sheet of paper lying flat under the typing mechanism. There are several Keaton music typewriters thought to be in existence in museums and private collections. It was marketed in the 1950s and sold for around $225. The typewriter made it easier for publishers, educators, and other musicians to produce music copies in quantity. Composers, however, preferred to write the music out by hand.

For more information: http://www.aquaporin4.com/etcetera/ETC.25.pdf

Gumby and the gang have arrived today on the Google home page. This interactive doodle takes five bouncing clay balls which quickly take the shape of Gumby and the gang. Gumby was a hit animated television series that aired back in the 50's.  Even though it was aired in the 50's it has been a classic for most that were born in the 80s and part of the 90's.



Source: thehindubusinessline

Over the weekend, a friend and I were talking about how it would be cool to have a solar powered charger for our phones.  You're out on a bike ride listening to music from your phone and all of a sudden it's dead. Now if you had the Mobius Solar case ($80) for your iPhone 4 you would still have power. The solar panel on this case generates about 20 additional minutes of charge with 1 hour of sunshine, or 5 hours of phone calls with a full day charge.  What's great though, if you don't want to leave your iPhone sitting out in the sun, you can also remove the pack and charge it up separately.  Now I just need to find a solar charger that is stylish for my Andriod phone. Any suggestions?


Source: Gadgewik