Top Chef Season 5

nup_133554_1319_jpg_595x1000_q85

Any one watch?  Im not going to spoil it for any one, But any one happy about the winner?

David Rager: music, language, thought event poster

–> excavation by spoonfulls

New York Fashion Week Fills The Shows’ Front Rows With Plenty Of Famous Faces!

Among the fashion elite who are actually granted access to the highly-exclusive Bryant Park tents are some of Hollywood’s most noted celebrities — after all, what kind of star would you be if you weren’t dressed by the best of the best in designer royalty? Some famous fashionistas like Kellie Pickler and Jessica Stroup couldn’t stay away from the glamour of the runway and were spotted warming up the front row seats of several designers’ shows, including Badgley Mischka, Pamella Roland, and Lela Rose; meanwhile, other more low-key VIPs saved their appearances for just their favorite style mavens, like Mickey Rourke for Domenico Vacca. While New York Fashion Week is ultimately about the clothing, many stylish starlets’ presences in the front row are inevitably photographed even more frequently than the designer threads themselves (oh, the price of fame), but most celeb attendees made sure they shared the spotlight and showed their support by arriving in their favorite pieces from the headlining label, like Brittany Snow in her gorgeous beaded Diane von Furstenberg dress. I know being famous must be exhausting, but I really can’t think of anything I wouldn’t give to switch places with one of those front-row ticket holders just for a day (preferably Herve Leger day, please), even if I had to be Paris Hilton. Check out the slideshow for more pictures of stylish superstars, both in the audience and backstage at some of New York Fashion Week’s hottest shows!

Photo Credit: Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

slideshow (5826)

Kit Hinrichs Retrospective Opens at Art Center College of Design

hinrichs art center.jpgWorld-renowed graphic designer. AIGA Medalist. Consummate collector. Flag maven. Friend to Boy Scouts. Pentagram partner Kit Hinrichs is many things, and now he’s the subject of a retrospective opening today at his alma mater, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. On view through May 3 at the Art Center’s Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, “Telling Stories Through Design” includes more than 200 examples of Hinrichs’ work, from magazines and catalogs (now wonder we’re powerless in the face of glossy materials from Design Within Reach and Restoration Hardware) to exhibitions (the Experience Music Project in Seattle, for one) and identity programs for such diverse entities as Muzak, The California Academy of Sciences, and Napa Style. Designer Sean Adams describes the exhibit as “a tribute to Kit’s refined ability to convey a strong narrative message through design. There’s always a fine line between the thinking and the making, and Kit’s seamless ability to meld the craft and the aesthetics with the message makes his work absolutely sublime. He is a real master.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

Staton Uberstand Laptop Stand

uber-stand.jpg

Thanks in part to laptop stands like this two-tiered one by Staton, the days of lugging around crates of vinyl are slowly fading as DJs trade their decks in for laptop setups. Although we’re the first to argue that nothing quite compares to a record, advancements in programs like Serato and the ease of carrying thousands of mp3 tracks have made going digital more palatable to audiophiles.

The Uberstand solves the issue of what to do with your laptop when you get
there. After several precarious situations, I upgraded to Staton’s Uberstand Laptop Stand. Unlike most stands on the market, it’s made of aircraft grade lightweight aluminum and quickly folds flat into a 12″ zippered bag. An included shelf
makes a good spot for amps or external hard-drives, minimizing the entire
footprint of the setup and allowing for cramming into small spaces. While it suffers a bit from stability issues, it is by far the best option we’ve seen for the traveling DJ.

The Stanton UberStand Laptop Stand is available for $80 from the Guitar
Center
.

All Aboard For 100 Minutes Of Havana

Regular readers of CR may recall we showcased a selection of art pieces created for the 100 Pieces of Havana project curated by design studio Intercity (co-founded by ex-CR art director, Nathan Gale) in our August issue last year. Now Intercity has worked again with rum brand Havana Club on the next iteration of the project: 100 Minutes of Havana – a live, one-off art battle set to take place next Wednesday 4 March at East London’s railway arch venue, Village Underground. A selection of the artists due to take part in the art-off next week met up at the venue earlier this week to have a practice session, customising one of the four underground train carriages that sit atop the venue…

Shown in these photos are artists Austin from NEW, Ian Stevenson, Andrew Rae, ALFA, Teck 1, Jimi Crayon, Mr K, Teck 1 and Stika – all practicing their various styles…

Whilst a whole range of pens, paints and spray cans were used here, the rules of the forthcoming battle state that the artists will only be able to use coloured acrylics and Edding pens on the 16ft high, 40ft wide white battle wall. The freestyle masterpieces created in battle will be created without the aid of sketches or pencils…

Going head to head in battle are two teams, one selected by Intercity from the artists that took part in last years 100 Pieces of Havana, the other put together by Monorex who organise the regular Secret Wars battle events. On the Intercity side of things are Ian Stevenson, Andrew Rae, Robbie Wilkinson, Andy Forshaw and Austin from NEW. And on the Monorex-selected team are the considerably more street sounding ALFA, Teck 1, Jimi Crayon, Mr K and Stika. The two teams will have 100 minutes to do their art thing – the work will then be judged by a Havana Club and Monorex representative as well as an all-important crowd vote, which will be decided using a decibel reader.


A cleverly animated projection of Intercity’s 100 Minutes of Havana logo (above)will serve as a clock as Intercity’s Nathan Gale explains: “The original 100 Pieces logo was made from circles, representing 100 bottles – so for the 100 Minutes event we turned the circles into timers, each representing one minute. This also gives the logo a stencil-like aesthetic, making it perfect for the event. The art battle will be timed and a projection of the logo will animate the 100 minute countdown.”

100 Minutes of Havana, curated by Intercity and Monorex will be open to the public from 5-8 March at Village Underground, Shoreditch, London EC1.

The live art battle will take place on Wednesday 4 March. For more information and to get on the guest list for the event, please contact Emma Buxton on havana@balancepr.com

Brooklyn’s New Culinary Movement

bcm

The New York Times has a great article on Brooklyn’s New Culinary Movement. Defiantly worth a read.

Microwave with a built in pizza oven.

Why didn’t anyone think of this before? This übersmart microwave and pizza oven comes from Kenmore, but as far as we have been able to figure out the company has no rep in Sweden. What a pity, we really wanted one of these, recession or no recession. But on the other hand, heres an opportunity for Electrolux, Miele, Siemens an all the rest to get working and bring something like this to market before Kenmore gets wise. The thing is USD 270:- if you get it from Amazon.brbr

Dufala Brothers: Trophy

SMlong_runner.jpg

I’d never heard of Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala, two brothers producing art together under the moniker Dufala Brothers, until yesterday when Amy Adams, director of Fleisher/Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia, sent me a couple of jaw-dropping images of their recent work. Now I’m contemplating a day trip to Philly just to see their installation.

“Long Runner” (below) and “Special Air Mission 28000” (right), are both to be included in the brothers’ new exhibition, “Trophy,” which opens today. Since I haven’t had the chance to see the remainder of the work yet, I can only hope it will be on equal footing with these jocular Nike sculptures.

dufa_007-lr.jpg
“Trophy”
27 February-28 March, 2009
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery

1616 Walnut, Suite 100

Philadelphia, PA 19103 map
tel. +1 215 545 7562

A Look Inside Droogs Newly Opened Retail Space

0212droog.jpg

As we reported earlier this month, Droog, the famous Dutch design collective, had announced that it would soon be opening the doors to its first retail spot in New York, in SoHo. Well, those doors did indeed swing open just yesterday and our friends at PSFK were able to pop in, take a whole slew of photos, and put together a great little write-up about their experience in what is perhaps the city’s most unique shop. If you get the chance, and you will after seeing the photos, make sure you make the trip over as soon as you can. We know we will be, if just for this:

The store interior was planned by Dutch designer Jurgen Bey who also contributed the feature item for sale. Known as the ‘house of blue,’ Jurgen and his studio created a sectional blue house inside the store. The house serves as a backdrop for Droog products and a decor experience visitors can walk through. Instead of being a static interior, all the parts of the house can be detached and bought separately as if they were pieces of furniture.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media