Archive for February, 2009

Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Eleanor

by David Auerbach on February 28, 2009 in New Products with No comments

MIT’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team unveiled their latest design for the 10th World Solar Challenge.  They have fittingly named their creation “Eleanor”. At first I wasn’t sure why that name sounded familiar for a car, but after a short google session I figured it out.  A certain movie with Nick Cage and Angelina Jolie called “Gone in 60 Seconds” where Nicolas Cage’s absolutely stunning 1973 Ford Mustang is found romping throughout the streets and gutters of Los Angeles.  Anyway, to get to the point, this car is fast.  Really fast.  On paper, it can achieve a top speed of approximately 90MpH which is unheard-of for a car powered completely by the sun.  Of course, this speed could only be achieved with the genius work of the M.I.T. students and professors who achieved a drag coefficient of only .11, which basically means that it can flow through air with about as much resistance as a perfect sphere. That, in addition to advanced control systems for braking energy recapture, and battery management skillz that outdo even the new Unibody Aluminum MacBook Pro 17.

While none of the team have actually pushed the pedal to the metal, their calculations (and this is M.I.T.) put it at 90MpH. They say, though, that anyone with balls enough to take it to that speed would have to be basically nuts, because with the stiff suspension and super-lightweight structure which spans greater area than a Cadillac Escalade but without all the weight to hold it down, driving at those speeds would be akin to strapping a few hundred Class E model rocket engines to an Indian rickshaw and driving through the broken streets of Bushwick. Not recommended.

via Wired Blog

Happy Up Here

by Amelia on February 27, 2009 in Inspirations, Music with 1 Comment

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Röyksopp, the Norwegian electro duo that’s currently blowing up all over again on the music scene, is doing an amazing job of accumulating more and more new fans every day.   The hype surrounding their upcoming album, Junior, is intense.  The album’s set for a March 23rd release, but they just released a music video for the song “Happy Up Here” – their first single from Junior.  Gotta love ‘em.  Enjoy.


Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

The Mix Tape, 2009

by Amelia on February 27, 2009 in Daily Grind, Music with No comments

Guess what’s currently featured on one of my top fave blogs, Josh Spear?  The Mix Tape USB by SuckUK – it was a really hot gift item over the holidays and Valentine’s Day.  Since CDs are becoming rarer and rarer, we’ve retroverted to the cassette tape on the outside, but with an mp3-friendly twist.  And it hold 64MB of music, so that’s a good hour of song dedication.

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Buy it, make a mix for a special someone, and be loved in return.

Cut & Paste

by Amelia on February 27, 2009 in Cool Ideas, Inspirations with 2 Comments

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If you’re a frequenter of the New York city subway, particularly in Brooklyn and the East Village, you may have noticed a poster here and there that’s been artistically modified.  He tends to ride the G train a lot, which is my local subway line, so sometimes a poster that I’d pass and roll my eyes at on my way to work would be completely transformed on my way back home, except this time it makes me smile.  The ingenious “vandalartist” behind this is Poster Boy, who started a nouvelle vague of cutting out pieces of posters and sticking them onto other ones, thus manipulating mainstream advertisements to convey clever, profound, culturally relevant, and just plain awesome-looking statements.  His sole utensil?  A razor.

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I first started noticing Poster Boy’s art sometime around September last year, but recently, he’s been causing a stir in the “real” art world – when MoMA recently gave the Atlantic/Pacific Avenue subway station a nice makeover.  There’s a rumor that MoMA commissioned Poster Boy and his cohort, Aakash Nihalani, to remix their freshly installed posters of iconic works.  But in the eyes of the law, Poster Boy is, unfortunately, classed as a vandal, so MoMA recently publicly denied any collaboration with him.

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Ah well.  I would’ve denied it to avoid the legal brouhaha that would have ensued, too.  If I were MoMA, I toootally would’ve agreed to be vandalized by Poster Boy.  And I would’ve loved every second of it.  And I hope that that’s what actually happened.

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Gear Coasters!

by Amelia on February 26, 2009 in New Products with No comments

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You don’t have to be a gearhead to see how cool these coasters are.  Designed by Scott Sullivan, who’d been fascinated by mechanics from a young age, these are actually crafted using spare transmission parts.  It’s only $55 for a set of 4, packaged in a sleek wooden box that you can reuse for countless things.

Available for purchase here! Father’s day gifts, anyone?

Hey, Yale, give me back my Great-Grandpa’s skull that you stole, please. Mmk, thanks.

by Amelia on February 19, 2009 in Events, In the Pipeline with 5 Comments

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Harlyn Geronimo, a direct descendant of, legendary Apache medicine man Geronimo, has sued Skull and Bones, the super-secret society at Yale University.  Allegedly, in 1918, Skull and Bones member Prescott Bush (George W.’s dear grandpa) and his fellow buddies of the society took a little trip to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and removed Geronimo’s head (they removed the hair and flesh using acid, of course) and several bones from his grave.  They also stole a silver bridle that had been buried with him.  With these new acquisitions, the Yalies decorated their “Tomb” – a building owned by the secret society.  

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In 2000, Apache leaders finally got a chance to meet with the Skull and Bones, under the agreement that Geronimo’s remains would be rightfully returned, in exchange for incriminating photos of their “Tomb.”  But oh wait, never mind – the Skull and Bones gave them the skull of an Indian child instead, hoping to deceive the Apaches.  

Those boys just won’t learn to behave.  

So now, after years and years of being pushed around by the Skull and Bones, Harlyn Geronimo and his family have decided to sue the secret society (who still refuses to acknowledge its own existence).   Owned!

Via [HuffPost]

Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store

by David Auerbach on February 19, 2009 in Random Finds with No comments

I love interesting and seemingly pointless store concepts.  How they pay the rent is their problem, but I’d have no problem patronizing them for the sheer novelty of having a bottle of “Anti-Robot Fluid”, available at Time Travel Mart in L.A.; nor would I mind having a big paint-bucket of Gravity available at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store.  

Similarly, if you’ve ever walked around on the Lower East Side around, at say, 139 Norfolk, you may have noticed a store that keeps changing to new and random concept stores with no business plan whatsoever behind them.  This one’s called “Grand Opening” and their entire function is to reopen the store every couple months with a new idea.  They’ve been everything from a Ping Pong Center to a Drive-in Movie, and are currently operating a (legal) poker club.

Anyway, check out Brooklyn Superhero Supply store if you happen to be in Park Slope anytime soon.  Let me know how it is, because I probably won’t be in the area anytime soon…

Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store « theclickclickpress

“Dammit, I’m Mad” (A 224-Word Palindromic Poem)

by Amelia on February 19, 2009 in Inspirations, Random Finds with No comments

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The latest œuvre from the current It-Boy comedian, Demetri Martin.  He got his break when he began writing for Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2003.  Then in 2005, he began appearing occsionally as a ‘Senior Youth Correspondent’ on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, when the public learned, hey, he’s got a pretty face, too!  He’s got a new show on Comedy Central now, all by himself, called Important Things.  To top it all off, he graced the cover of New York Magazine a week ago.  

An excerpt from Demetri's scrapbook

An excerpt from Demetri's scrapbook

I’ve realized today, that I should believe the hype.  This kid’s got wit.  

 

Dammit I’m Mad

by Demetri Martin

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp, 
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.

 

Via [Slate]

Tom Hanks to Be Responsible for the Big Bang

by Amelia on February 18, 2009 in Events, Thoughts and Rants with No comments

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Yes, Tom Hanks has been chosen by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) to be present to restart the Large Hadron Collider in September 2009.

I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.  

It’s completely true, though.  Okay, so for those of you that don’t remember back in September 2008, the guys at CERN got the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) going, and we were all very excited, but then a few days later, there was a faulty electrical connection between two superconducting bending magnets (oops..!) so they had to shut the project down for some $28 million repairs.  

Okay guys, so I had this problem where I don’t understand complicated scientific information unless it’s explained to me in rap form.  But you know what?  That’s okay, because there’s this instructional rap video about the LHC, produced by CERN staff, just for people like me: 


 

So, why Tom Hanks?  Due to the success of the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, the prequel, Angels & Demons, is now heading for the big screen.  Starring, of course, Tom Hanks.  Angels & Demons involves Hanks’ character, the Vatican, and some antimatter stolen from CERN.  

 

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Via [Gizmodo] via [The Telegraph]

Restocked! : Gakken SX-150 Analog Synthesizer Kit

by Amelia on February 18, 2009 in Daily Grind, Music, New Products with No comments

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Fresh from Japan, and back by popular demand, we just got more of these bad-ass analog synth kits from Otona no Kagaku (“Science for Grownups” – cute, right?)  

It really takes no longer than 5 minutes to assemble – all you need is a little philips head screwdriver, 4 AA batteries, and an appreciation for retro music gear.  Et voilà, you have yourself a super-ill beat-making machine!  And for the producers/DJs out there, it has a line out and an external source in.  That’s right.  Say hello to the newest addition to your set-up!!!  

Here’s a video, just to tease you:

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