We first came across Tangeez—colorful, interactive, light-up building blocks—at this year’s Maker Faire. A long-anticipated reinvention of the classic toy, these mesmerizing, palm-sized objects change color as they’re stacked….
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Pharrell Williams can easily be called a modern-day renaissance man. Already known as a gifted musician, producer, skateboarder and fashion designer, in his new video series Artst Tlk Williams subtly reveals himself as a highly capable conversationalist, asking some of contemporary culture’s finest minds a bevy of curious questions…
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From Open Air Publishing—the group behind the swine-focused “Better Bacon Book”—comes “Wine Simplified,” an iOS-based user’s guide to wine. The multimedia book includes 13 chapters with information from reading labels to the role of climate in viticulture. The book is written by sommelier and wine educator Marnie Old alongside…
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Shopping and machining combine in Story’s latest concept store
In yet another stellar iteration of Story, Rachel Shechtman presents “Making Things,” a temporary concept store focused on the act of creation. Part retail experience, part educational series, Story partnered with GE to debut “GE Garages,” a community venture that hopes to provide professionals and novices alike with education…
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Mark Gravel presents a playful guide to radical beanmaking
Mark Gravel is a boss of beans, a leader of legumes, a pioneer of plant-based eating. His new book, “Kill the Recipe: A Cookbook & Visual Guidebook on the Basics of Radical Beanmaking & Plant-based Eating,” introduces beans to at-home chefs while championing the benefits of the food group….
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Our crafternoon with stencil-guru Ed Roth and his new style-focused book
Drawn to stenciling years ago as affordable form of art, stencil artist Ed Roth is now an industry wizard, applying his chosen medium to everything from postcards to rugs. Roth, a talented artist and natural teacher, recently stopped by CH HQ for a fulfilled crafternoon using the stencils from…
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Illustrator Christine Berrie gives the classic game the Audubon treatment
London’s Magma Books gives new meaning to bird calling with a handsomely illustrated bingo set featuring 64 of the world’s most exotic feathered friends. Tapping RCA grad Christine Berrie to bring Bird Bingo to life, Magma’s take on the classic game is as easy on the eyes as it…
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Lessons in racing with Ford’s resurrected model
Ford invited me to spend the day at their Ford Racing High Performance Driving School at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. The “Boss Track Attack” was the featured program—an opportunity to push the new Mustang Boss 302 on a professional raceway was something hard to pass up.
Reintroduced in 2012, the Mustang Boss 302 is the company’s second fastest production Mustang (behind the lust-worthy Shelby GT500). Its namesake is an upgraded model produced in 1969 and 1970 to compete with the Camaro that featured a new engine dubbed the “Boss” along with a spoilers, window treatments and a rear deck. Likewise, today’s Boss 302 features performance-based upgrades including a Hi-Po 302 Ti-VCT V8 engine, a 6-speed manual transmission, Brembo front rotors and calipers, adjustable shocks, a roll cage and Safecraft 6-point belts as well as cosmetic upgrades.
The full day course—free to owners of the Boss 302—starts with some classroom time focusing on proper technique, theory and vehicle dynamics. A visit to the skid pad in a car that sits in a wheeled frame that partially lifts the body to simulate slip conditions provides instruction in how to control the car during an unintentional corner taken too fast. Properly schooled, we headed out to the course with a driving instructor to hone our skills. My group of four cars did lead and follow exercises with our instructor, followed by a ride with the instructor (individual track time with an instructor is typically included as well, though we ran out of time).
Miller Motorsports Park’s 4.5-mile, 24-turn circuit is the longest in North America, with a 3,500-foot straightaway on which the beastliest of engines can reach speeds of 200 MPH. It’s a blast to drive, and the views of a pristine stretch of the Rocky Mountains on the horizon add a scenic touch.
The Boss 302 also includes TracKey, an alternate key that enables track performance by adjusting 200 parameters for optimal performance. Using the TracKey all day we reaped the benefit of enhanced cam timing, engine braking, fuel control and a second set of power train control modules.
We also had the chance to drive the Boss 302 Laguna Seca edition, a further souped-up version with racing seats, Torsen limited-slip rear differential and a rigid cross-car x-brace among other features.
The Ford Racing High Performance Driving School offers a number of courses for Ford owners and enthusiasts, and is a great way to get to know your wheels. Visiting the track also gives one an excuse to fawn over the Larry Miller’s personal vintage racecar collection at the Larry H. Miller Total Performance Auto Museum.
Images by Evan Orensten and Jeremy Henrie
A new initiative for creating and sharing educational lessons reaches the traditional classroom and beyond
For years TED has fulfilled their mission of spreading ideas and inspiration through conferences, media and research fellowships. Taking this a step further and in the direction of generations to come, today TED launches a new TED-Ed initiative to assist educators and students worldwide. Understanding the evolutionary role of video in the modern classroom (and beyond), the new TED-Ed site offers a structured avenue for repurposing content by allowing teachers to “flip” any video on YouTube—including but not limited to TED-Ed videos—into a sharable lesson ripe with quizzes, informational copy and attention keeping animations.
Directing the initiative is Logan Smalley, a former TED Fellow with a background in documentary work. After starting in January 2011 and working on the TED Prize, Smalley sparked the TED-Ed program to rethink the traditional notion of teacher and student. To address this the new initiative aims to share educational lessons and inspiration with anyone willing to learn or teach, both inside and outside the physical classroom.
Open to anyone, the thematically organized lessons can be taken without a login, although one is required to assign or track lessons. This proves valuable for both students and teachers as one can share and subsequently track participation and total student interactions with a specific lesson. With the customization platform teachers can adjust lessons and quizzes to meet their individual needs. This means adding, removing or changing quiz questions and informational copy. Once edited the lesson is given a unique URL to be shared freely.
As the initiative is in its beta stage the majority of lessons offered at this point have been originally created by TED, but as it grows lessons created and adjusted by outside educators will eventually be uploaded for sharing. One can “flip” a TED-Ed video to customize the quiz questions and copy, or “flip” any video from YouTube to create an all new lesson. All lessons uploaded will first be cleared by a TED review board to ensure only the most effective, informational lessons reach the final audience.
As participation grows TED-Ed online will as well, adding subcategories to their subjects and expanding upon the traditional taxonomies presented. And in keeping with the spirit of TED, signing up is free, allowing anyone and everyone to be a part of the evolution and education process. For more information or to experience the beautifully designed site yourself head over to TED-Ed online.
Illustrator Antonio Ladrillo talks about his colorful new children’s book
by Perrin Drumm
Illustrator Antonio Ladrillo maintains a humble profile. “I live in Barcelona,” he says, “and I spend most of my time creating creatures, designing banners and flyers for night clubs, printing t-shirts and painting big black spots on pictures. I have made graffiti, painting, design and illustration.”
The deceptively simple summary doesn’t address the pervasive sense of cheer he creates with his primary color characters. When you visit his website, you’re greeted by two happy “big black spots creatures” and the message “Today is a good day :)”, and pieces like the “Robin Hood” pamphlet will certainly incite a smile. Building on his sunny repertoire, Ladrillo’s new publication “¡Oh! ¡Un zig-zag!” introduces a new, limited-edition series of jovial illustrations and enthusiastic expressions. We caught up with Ladrillo this week to find out more about him and the new project.
I studied for some years in design school. In those days I used to be a little bit unruly and instead of finishing school I decided to start up my own studio and keep on my way.
I’ve always spent my time drawing. All the jobs I remember have been related to shapes and color, so I think I’ve been lucky to be able to do what I like the most. There have been good and bad moments, but when you are doing what you really like everything is easier.
“¡Oh! ¡Un zig-zag!” has been going around and around in my head for some time. To talk about shape and color in a simple and direct way is something that is always present in my work, but I’ve never represented it in this way. So when Jorge Primo invited me to participate in his project “Paga Extra”, I saw the opportunity to do it. Once I started to work on it, the execution didn’t take more than a week. I usually work in a very intensive manner and I like that things develop spontaneously.
Oh! A zig-zag!
A square has four sides
And a triangle has three
We are lines
And we like to follow one another
We are curves!
One, two, three, four and five
Five circles!
Balancing!
We love corners
We are always parallel
We are tangled up
Wave!
Nowadays I’m working with some Belgian people on a project that will come to light very soon. Also, I have a couple of exhibitions projected for 2012. And I’m working on a new publication in the same line as “¡Oh! ¡Un zig-zag!”, something with quite a simple approach but with visual grip.
“¡Oh! ¡Un zig-zag!” is available through Ladrillo’s online shop for €5.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
