Hasta La Ideas

Amidst the fruitless efforts of a nine-member entity known only as “R. Deer LLC” to swap out Santa‘s rickety old sleigh with a Tesla Model S, engineers at GE have taken it upon themselves to reimagine the jolly old elf’s ride. The souped-up sleigh draws upon a range of technologies to offer a greener, faster, and more efficient Christmas Eve journey. Among the new features are a thin cooling solution that can improve jet engine aerodynamics, air traffic management technology to help Santa and the reindeer steer clear of planes, 3-D-printed sleigh blades for greater lift and maneuverability, and a rugged new battery that can function under extreme conditions.

The sleigh frame, sprayed with water- and ice-repellant coatings, has been upgraded with GE’s high-temperature ceramic composites–enabling flight into outer space and back. Santa is on board with the extraterrestrial upgrade. “I am looking forward to flying into outer space,” he said in a statement issued by GE. “This will really save time by helping me get to destinations in different parts of the world much faster.” And the reindeer couldn’t be more pleased with the redesign, which features an electric traction motor that can take over when Dasher, Dancer, and the gang need a breather. Noted Rudolph, “Covering the entire globe can be pretty exhausting, and having the opportunity to rest along the way will help us remain in peak condition.”
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This week a team of sharp-eyed astrophysicists announced their discovery of a new planet: a young, cold, and roguish type that refuses to orbit any star. They’ve named the sunless planet…CFBDSIR2149. While this is an improvement over “Uranus,” it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. An astronomy- and space-focused startup is seeking to end this squandering of planet-naming opportunities with its first commercial project. Uwingu–”sky” in Swahili–is challenging the people of Earth to create a “baby book of planet names” for the 160 billion or more planets astronomers now estimate inhabit our galaxy, the Milky Way (cut to image of delicious candy bars).

“You can nominate planet names for your favorite town, state, or country, your favorite sports team, music artist, or hero, your favorite author or book, your school, your company, for your loved ones and friends, or even for yourself,” suggests Uwingu founder and CEO Alan Stern, an aerospace consultant and researcher who formerly directed all science program and missions at NASA. Each nomination costs 99 cents, with proceeds going to create a private sector fund for space projects. Names can be up to 50 characters (latin letters only), from any language or culture, and “can be anything the average grandmother would be proud to hear her grandchild say.” A contest will determine the 1,000 most popular planet names in the database, which will be communicated to planet-hunting astronomers for consideration. Voting is now open (votes also cost 99 cents each). Among the early leaders are “Pale Blue Dot,” “Heinlein,” and “Ron Paul.”

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With precious little summertime left and that daunting stack of books still awaiting your “summer reading” attention, we’ve compiled this list of ten quick yet delightful online reads that will keep you busy while we spend the holiday weekend in Fashion Week prep mode (i.e., napping, binge-watching obscure documentaries, and multiple visits to the Reed Krakoff store). Until Tuesday, design fans!

♦ Whimsically grim storylines? Check. Dour yet dancerly protagonists? Yup. Eve Bowen examines “A Treasure Trove of Edward Gorey” and lives to tell about it. (New York Review of Books)

♦ Galliera, the Paris Museum of Fashion, is closed for renovation until the fall of 2013. That didn’t stop Lynn Yaeger from paying a visit. (T: The New York Times Style Magazine)

♦ LACMA’s plan to open a show featuring Robert Mapplethorpe’s gay sadomasochistic photographs two weeks before Election Day proves we’ve come a long way—maybe, writes Robin Cembalest. (ARTnews)

♦ Meanwhile, LA cops have declared war on street artists. (LA Weekly)

♦ With his first solo exhibition in 12 years opening next week, Futura gets reflective. (Interview)

♦ Whatever happened to digital art? Claire Bishop discerns the “subterranean presence” of the digital in the analog-loving art world. (Artforum)

♦ “I prefer buying things and figuring out where to put them later than regretting not buying them,” says designer Christian Louboutin. Peek inside his barn-cum-shoe archive, which houses 8,000 pairs and counting. (WSJ. Magazine)
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Three cheers for 22 vintage megaphones, which go on the block tomorrow at Wright in Chicago.

You don’t hear much about megaphone collecting. A cruel irony at a time when the world needs a bit of the old-fashioned boosterism that comes from holding a large cone to one’s mouth and yelling “Go Team!” Those that grimace at the sight of foam fingers (vulgar, shoddily made, soundless) won’t want to miss the rare opportunity to acquire an instant collection of megaphones that goes on the block tomorrow at Chicago’s Wright auction house as part of its Living Contemporary sale. Estimated to sell for between $3,000 and $5,000, the lot of 22 vintage bullhorns includes several handsome models designed to cheer on various mid-century squads of Spiders, Indians, and Macon Whoopies (“Georgia’s Finest”). The names of their original owners—Diane, Susan, Joan, Nancy, Lucy—are preserved in an interesting range of typefaces, while a wee brown one reads “Die Schnitzel Bunk Jug Band.” Set for speaking-trumpets? Cheer yourself with a few of the other offerings from tomorrow’s sale: Paco Rabanne space curtains, a delightful dozen of Dorothy Draper chairs, or a set of “Inflammatory Essays” by Jenny Holzer, who we suspect enjoys a good megaphone.

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(Photo: Wright)

“They communicate fast. And with style and wit,” noted the circa-1965 promotional copy for Howard Miller’s Pronto Posters, designed by the George Nelson & Associates team of Bill Cannan, Lance Wyman, and Irving Harper. Screenprinted onto sturdy masonite(“treated so as to stay new-looking and be used and re-used for years”), the set of 24 placards tackled a range of freshly minted workplace safety regulations and best practices, from the strategically bandaged figures of “Wear Your Helmet” and “Use Your Safety Guards” to pseudocharred “Flammable” and “Think,” in which our magenta man has forgotten his pants. An original trio of Pronto Posters (pictured) is among a stellar line-up of Nelsonian lots—don’t even get us started on the 1954-55 Carousel Weather Vane (so Crying of Lot 49!)—that will go on the block at Wright’s Modern Design sale on March 29. “They add flair and humor to the surroundings, improve morale, reduce accidents, and aid efficiency,” promised Miller. At an estimated price of $1,500 to $2,000 for the set of three, how you can afford not to buy them?

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