THE FRONTAL LOBE

Numbers

2011-03-17T00:33:00.002-04:00

Chips Ahoy

2011-03-02T20:11:00.003-05:00

About a week ago, a new shop opened at Orchard and Rivington called Shi. The store graphics and window display items were late to arrive to the store, so it was an unmarked storefront, which intrigued me to go in. Turns out, they sell specialty British and Malaysian snacks, and I try some new stuff every day. A standout has definitely been these Walkers Roast Chicken chips. It looks like a knockoff Lays logo, but the chips are on point! Exactly like a rotisserie chicken. Reminds me of old days with Kenny Rogers Rotisserie chicken in Edison...

DJ AM

2011-02-18T18:36:00.006-05:00

I didn't know much about DJ AM when he passed away. But I recently found a website that quickly introduced me and got me hooked on his mixes, especially when running. Check it out

Cabs Are Here

2011-02-18T13:05:00.012-05:00

Sry for the Jersey Shore title! I wanted to blog about the redesign of NY cabs. The frontrunner in this contest is by Karsan, and for good reason. The panoramic sunroof, wheelchair accessibility, and seat setup (all 4 passengers now face one another) are all great and well-designed.

But, there was something about this whole thing that bothered me, and I've realized what it was: the new cabs are yet another sign of a changing NY.

But more than just any change, NY is getting de-clawed. As a kid, I always regarded a New Yorker as a fast-talking clever hardass. NY was populated by immigrants hustling to survive. Fights and hookers were in the streets. Starving artists created revolutionary movements. Now? Tourists are clogging streets, luxury buildings and doggie spas are sprouting up, police have very little crime to worry about.

Patti Smith expressed her concern well:

"I feel the Bloomberg administration has reinvented the city as the new hip suburbia. It’s a tourist city. It’s really safe for tourists. I guess I liked it when it was a little less safe. Or I liked it when it was safer for artists. Now it’s unsafe for artists. I’m not saying this for myself. I’m saying this for the future of creative communities. Because, one day, all the people who have driven out the artists and have only these fancy condos left are going to turn around and say, “Why do I live here? There’s nothing happening!”

Granted, there is a lot to concede. I'm too young to know what NY was really like in the 60s through 80s. I'm skipping over the obvious hazards of the high crime levels back then. In short, I'm glorifying a past that I only know through books I've read and movies I've watched.

Back to the new cabs. It used to be somewhat amusing to watch tourists whistle and wave at cabs without their top lights on, but I guess that's gone:

From the specifications: the new cabs include "floor level 'London Style' additional luggage space," too. London Style? Fuck London, I want New York!

The slightly menacing face of the Ford Crown Victoria used to welcome me back to NY in droves, but the new face looks expressionless. It's sleek, ok, I'll give you that. But overall, it still feels like it's a shuttle bus about to pull into a retirement home driveway.

Living in NY came with some unwritten rules that you learned through experience. That was part of the pride of being a New Yorker. The unique experience inspired songs by Billy Joel, Sinatra, and many more you didn't know about. No other city inspires such strong feelings. (A Houston state of mind, anyone?) Start spreading the news/ I'm leaving today/ I wanna be a part of it/ Saint Louis, Missouriiiii

I'm ambivalent about NY's shifting character. There's no sense in condemning changes for the sake of nostalgia and preserving just for memories. But at the same time, have the changes been tasteful and respectful of NY's vibrant past? Will the changes leave NY soulless and dull? It's worth mentioning that people have complained of NY's demise and decline for almost a century now. Only one thing is certain: everyone hates tourists...

Avoid Toxic People

2011-02-09T11:05:00.002-05:00

"Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life."

Milton Glaser

To John

2011-02-08T12:03:00.004-05:00

Fromage

2011-02-05T16:38:00.002-05:00

This morning, I woke up with a hankering to see a movie. Lucky for me, Home, a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand was playing for free in E. Village. The movie was composed entirely of aerial shots, and the images were astonishing, as you could probably imagine. Since I had just woken up, my mind was still in a sleepy state and the movie was a nice visual continuation of the dreams I had before.

Afterwards, I went to buy groceries and got this awesome lemon-infused cheese from the one and only East Village Cheese. (English White Stilton with Lemon, if you care). How I got a lb. of it for $3 in New York while it sells for $21/lb. online makes no sense, and is exactly why you should hit this place up.

I Pity the Heirs and Heiresses of Huge Fortunes

2009-05-20T15:57:00.003-04:00

After all,

what does someone,

who doesn't have to do anything

do?

I thought Kal Penn just died...

2009-04-07T20:59:00.001-04:00

Miracle.

2009-02-24T11:19:00.002-05:00

Realiza Tu Sueno

2009-02-02T01:14:00.005-05:00

I went to James De La Vega's store today in St. Mark's because I've always wanted to check out his work. Little did I know I'd get to meet him! I talked to him about how he got started (didn't know he was a Cornell grad) and about graffiti. Dude even blessed me with a free t shirt. Always been a huge fan of his words of inspiration:

http://www.delavegainternational.com/

NYU, please hire this guy

2008-11-24T19:00:00.003-05:00

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Overexcited by New Products #1

2008-11-11T20:43:00.007-05:00

I like Honey Bunches of Oats, but everyone knows that the only really good part is the oats. It's like putting in hours of work at the office (eating the shitty flakes) and then BINGO getting the big fat paycheck of the OAT BUNCH. Well now there's JUST BUNCHES, a cereal filled with paychecks and no work!! YES!!

Elbe Philharmonic

2008-11-09T14:40:00.009-05:00

Neat building from the folks at Herzog & de Meuron that brought you the Beijing Olympic stadium:

From (current) dirty shitty warehouse:

To (future) dirty shitty warehouse with really nice glass/ice effect on top:

Profile: Karl Lagerfeld

2008-11-06T17:08:00.006-05:00

I've always liked reading autobiographies. You might argue that the famous figures hired someone else to write it for them, but at the end of the day, true or not, lives are interesting. No matter your story, it's a story filled with problems and events that are more incredible than anything fiction writers can think up.

So every so often, I'm going to write about some figures with especially interesting stories. First up, Karl Lagerfeld.

Usually, I have a problem with superficiality. But Karl embodies the superficiality so completely that he makes being superficial seem, in fact, dignified. It is an integral part of him, and it seems so natural for him, that you accept it, regardless of how peculiar it sounds. (At age 4, he demanded a valet because he changed his clothes several times a day and his mother used to say, “Children with glasses are the ugliest thing in the world.” and refused him glasses although he was short sighted.)

One interesting facet of Karl is the weight he's lost. He lost 92 pounds in 13 months. “My only ambition in life is to wear size 28 jeans," he says.

From this:

To this:

The most striking thing about Karl is that he is so polar, opinionated, completely set about everything. He is obsessive and loves some things, while he despises others with an equal passion. This is a small sample of his quotations to understand what I mean:

“I do not like funerals, and I do not want anyone to come to mine,” he says. “Do what you want with the ashes. Send them down the garbage chute.”

“I have no problem with journalists – many are friends,” he says. “Only if they are really stupid, or if they’ve got bad breath, or if they smell. Yesterday I had a problem. I said, ‘I’m sorry, you’ve got to tell this woman that she needs to be taken away. Her smell is not possible.’ ”

"I didn’t like to play with children. I only wanted to read, sketch, write, and to learn languages.”

"I never make serious conversation. It bores me to death. I hate that. I love knowledge for myself, but I don’t care what other people think. "

Another aspect of Karl is his blend of the old and the new. While I'm not a fashion expert, and can't speak for his clothing, his signature look defines this juxtaposition. Old - Powdered hair, high collar. New - Ponytail, leather pants (and not just any leather pants. His are Agatha leather pants and at $2500, they are the most expensive in the world). His youthful exuberance and controversial/perverted comments liven up his 71 years of age. “I get along with everyone except for men my age, who are bourgeois or retired or boring.”

All in all, Karl strikes me as a strong-willed individual that has certain obsessions that has cleared any noise in his life, and made room for clear opinions about everything. He owns 300,000 books, yet has read Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking" three times in one month. He has peculiar tendencies, and perhaps that is what has led to his courageous work in the face of criticism.

*From what I've read about most "famous" or "successful" people, it seems that all of them dwell in the extremes. Only by being extreme in some sense, does one differentiate one's self and rise above the crowd. Of course, that takes courage, too and does not come without risks. But like everything else in life, those that risk nothing, stand to gain nothing. *

One-Liners

2008-09-12T17:29:00.002-04:00

http://www.onesentence.org/stories/popular/all/

Entertainment compacted into one sentence.

Would you vote for a person with terrible taste?

2008-08-27T21:59:00.005-04:00

Took this from Paul Mittleman:

John McCain's Furnishings

That's pretty ugly...

A Sad Day for LL Cool J's PR Team

2008-08-22T22:59:00.002-04:00

Scar Tissue

2008-08-22T01:09:00.003-04:00

Excerpt from one of my favorite books:

I took the mike and belted out, "Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now."

That line had come from a series of conversations I'd had years earlier with Nina Hagen. Nina was a wise soul, and she realized how young and inexperienced I was then, so she was always passing on gems to me, not in a preachy way, just by seizing on opportunities. I was going through her closet one day, looking at all her crazy clothes, when I came upon a valuable exotic jacket. "This is really cool," I said.
"Take it. You can have it," she said.
"Whoa, I can't take this. This is the nicest jacket you have in there," I said.
"That's why I gave it to you," she explained. "It's always important to give things away; it creates good energy. If you have a closet full of clothes, and you try to keep them all, your life will get very small. But if you have a full closet and someone sees something they like, if you give it to them, the world is a better place."
I had come from such a school of hard knocks that my philosophy was you don't give things away, you take whatever you want. It was such an epiphany that someone would want to give me her favorite thing. That stuck with me forever. Every time I'd be thinking, "I have to keep," I'd remember, "No you gotta give away instead." When I started going regularly to meetings, one of the principles I learned was that they way to maintain your own sobriety is to give it to another suffering alcoholic. Every time you empty your vessel of energy, fresh new energy comes flooding in.

Another excerpt:

I was stone-cold sober and lying on my back and she was giving me head and there was so much love being exchanged, and she was pouring so much of her heart into that physical expression, that i started to leave my body and was able to look down and see myself lying on a bed with this girl, with her flowing chestnut locks and her beautiful white skin, making love to me. I just watched for a while and I had the realization that that was the single most beautiful sexual moment of my life to date.

XKCD

2008-05-10T14:22:00.006-04:00

Really love this comic.

Find more at xkcd.com

Random Things

2008-05-10T13:58:00.007-04:00

David Letterman: "Hillary Clinton barely won my home state of Indiana. And she lost in the State of North Carolina. But here is the good news. She has a substantial lead in the state of denial... I’m no pundit but it occurred to me that Hillary Clinton has one thing in common with President Bush. Neither of them has an exit strategy."

"If you don’t bring back my mothafuckin money
or my mothafuckin dope
you can forget about Christmas niggaa
cause you ain’t gon’ even see New Years."

-Master P, obviously an expert in the chronology of holidays

Every Asian person I know has taken those pictures where you jump in the air and click the camera. But these pictures take it to another level. None of these pictures are enhanced, by the way:

MONOCLE

2008-04-14T18:16:00.002-04:00

One of the best magazines out there...
http://www.monoclemagazine.com/

Nike PreCool Vest

2008-04-14T18:12:00.002-04:00

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Minidresses and Medical Equipment

A 1960s mini dress and medical packaging were the inspiration when it came to redesigning Nike's original PreCool Vest. First introduced in Athens, Nike wanted to make it lighter, more flexible, better fitting and refillable a tall order for a piece of equipment athletes have been praising since Athens.

The vest is designed to cool the body’s core temperature. Since 25% of our body's total energy goes into moving muscle and 75% into regulating heat, reducing an athlete’s core temperature before the marathon or a field hockey match means more energy for the competition itself. Indeed, with core cooling, athletes can often last 21% longer. Given Beijing’s hot and humid conditions, the PreCool Vest is a key piece of equipment that can help provide the advantage an athlete needs.

In improving the vest, Eddy Harber and Irena Ilcheva of Nike’s AIT or Advanced Innovation Team focused on apparel development turned to high fashion, specifically a dress made of tiny metal discs. Like chain mail, it clings to its wearer. It was thought the geometry—smaller discs to hug the body’s curves and larger discs over flatter planes like the back and stomach—would work for the vest. A grid of triangles was used, smaller on the shoulders and larger down the spine, to maximize skin contact. The closer the fit, the less ice needed to cool the body, and the lighter the vest became.

Each triangle is made of two layers to keep it cool. The inner one is filled with water, which is frozen, while the outer layer insulates like a thermos. Coated with aluminum, the triangles also reflect radiant heat working like the coating on mirrored sunglasses. That coating and insulated layer also mean less ice. Even more weight was reduced by making the PreCool Vest refillable. Instead of having to travel with a seven-pound vest pre-filled with liquid, the design team created sealed compartments that athletes fill and freeze before competition. The product inspiration came from medical packaging used to transport blood and other fluids. Medical products have strict compliance issues—they must be absolutely leak proof. “As we were thinking ‘How do we make this?’” Harber explains, “We looked to the medical packaging and how it’s made with one big weld. That was a perfect solution.”

Nike partnered with a medical supply company to make the actual vest. Each one will be individually tested, and though the engineering that goes into the vests is high tech, they’re being made from sustainable materials. Perhaps the most interesting fact is all th ematerials used are 'Considered', with the PreCool Vest made of recycled Nike Air soles and the felt carry case, which helps keep the vest cold, comes from recycled men’s suits.

Evolution

2008-04-14T17:00:00.004-04:00

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Gotta love this.

Facial Follicles Font

2008-04-08T11:02:00.003-04:00

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A fun font. All 26 letters here:

Peter Jackson's other movies

2008-04-06T16:20:00.003-04:00

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Most people who know of Peter Jackson, know him as the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a movie built on a great story and beautiful images. In fact LOTR Fellowship of the Ring won Oscars in 2002 for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction, cementing its place as one of the greatest, visually pleasing movies made.

But.

Not many know of Peter Jackson's early work. In 1992, Jackson's movie, Braindead debuted and its content was far from beautiful. In fact, I think my eyes got straight up assaulted after watching clips of this. So, enjoy!

NBA Merchandise

2008-04-06T15:32:00.004-04:00

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Top 20 Ugliest Items in the NBA Store

I personally like the Orlando Magic dragon hat.

Junior Lucky Bastard

2008-04-01T21:35:00.005-04:00

http://jlb.55dsl.com/ Looking for a job this summer? Though Stern kids cream their pants over internships at Goldman and Lehman, this job trumps them all.

February 26th, 2008

Yes, YOUR JOB SUCKS but now there is an opportunity for you to make all your dreams come true! No, you cannot be an astronaut or a famous pop star, but we can have you started by adopting you as our JUNIOR LUCKY BASTARD! We’ll be sending you to the most exotic destinations for free, where you’ll be attending some of the best parties and hanging out with the coolest crews! We‘ll take care of all the costs but we’re leaving the having fun part all up to you; although we have been known to encourage people off planes.

Everyone can apply through www.55DSL.com starting from March 2008, sending a Video Application of 1:55 seconds and not a flat CV. We repeat no CV’s. We are looking for creative video executions that show the applicants’ creative ability to deal with everyday life and how they would live “live 55 seconds per day.” The deadline for submissions is May 1st 2008; after applicants will be selected accordingly to how they respond to a real Junior Lucky Bastard profile. A short period of training to prepare the selected will precede the real travel: two months around the world, from July till September 2008.

So stop making excuses for yourself and start living at least 55 seconds per day!

Hide a Pod

2008-03-27T01:08:00.002-04:00

This is old, but always a classic:

http://hideapod.com/

The Thing That's Been Bothering Me All Day...

2008-03-27T00:40:00.001-04:00

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Advice.

2008-03-22T15:36:00.004-04:00

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"To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly."
-Ben Franklin

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Custom Curry Dunk Hi

2008-03-11T18:58:00.003-04:00

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Hm... inspiration.

1 in 4 US Teens has a STD

2008-03-11T17:34:00.002-04:00

Yep, according to a new study: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_he_me/teen_stds

But that's not the interesting part. This is:

"She said there are a lot of myths out there, too — many sexually active teens think the withdrawal method will protect them, or that douching with Coca-Cola will kill STD germs."

Coca-Cola? I mean really... shame on you, all you health teachers

Ray Gun

2008-03-03T15:41:00.003-05:00

Somehow, I thought a ray gun would be a little more powerful than this...

What happened to bright beams of light and zapping people into little dust piles? Bush's $490 billion in military spending is making ray guns that make 60 year old news reporters (gasp!) a little uncomfortable. At least until they move 6 inches to the left. Somewhere, Osama is chuckling...

Ignorance.

2008-03-01T15:08:00.004-05:00

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"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."

True words.

Interesting Note: I'm fairly certain this is a photo of NYU Bobst library. Ironic.

Nike Concept

2008-02-27T20:46:00.005-05:00

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Beauty.

Easier to Play Than Your Mom

2008-02-27T00:38:00.005-05:00

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(Click to Enlarge)

Second Life

2008-02-26T16:07:00.005-05:00

Maybe I've just been unaware, but when did Second Life become ridiculous?!

Some observations

1. Second Life's Economy:

Second Life economy posts solid growth in Q4

Economic Growth. Many of our economic metrics showed much slower growth from Q2 to Q3 as can be seen in the charts below. We believe the slower growth was primarily due to the impact of stricter security on credit card processing, shutting down gambling in July and beginning to charge VAT September. With those things behind us in the fourth quarter, the Second Life economy demonstrated its resiliency. The LindeX - the purest measure of economic activity in Second Life - grew 13.2% to nearly $7.6 million USD for December and $22 million USD for the full quarter.

It's unbelievable how close Second Life is mirroring Real Life, complete with economic indicators. By the way, the economic data was available in Excel format, too (feel sorry for the poor guy who had to spend time organizing FAKE data).

2. People make money playing. A lot of money.

Virtual worlds are now producing real millionaires. Example: Ailin Graef announced that her avatar inside Second Life had amassed virtual-property holdings worth $1 million in U.S. funds.

3. There is a Reuters section devoted JUST to Second Life.

3. Even the IRS is paying attention to the incomes being made, and they are seriously looking into taxing the proceeds of Second Life and other virtual worlds. via http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2006/12/72317

4. College professors are conducting entire classes in Second Life. And these aren't bullshit University of Phoenix Online College professors. I'm talking about Harvard, Princeton, and my favorite school, New York University.

5. There is a lot of sex going on. The funny thing is, you don't even start out with a penis. You have to buy one. Theres a gold penis with flames selling for 150 Linden $ (the currency of Second Life) but unfortunately this is a little problematic for public situations as the penis never becomes flaccid...

6. Bands have become popular through Second Life by playing in tours and shows in Second Life. They stream their content and have people rock out.

A parody of Second Life is probably the best part, though. With taglines like "Go outside, Membership is free!", "Find out where you actually live!" and "Fornicate with your actual genitals!", the website "Get a First Life" is pretty funny.

Edumacation

2008-02-25T01:09:00.003-05:00

One of the best speeches I have ever heard.

"But what we do know is that if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original... And by the time they get to become adults, most children have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way, we stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is, we are educating people out of their creative capacities."

Sir Ken Robinson on why the education system fails to recognize brilliance

It's 20 minutes, and yeah if you're in Stern that's like time you could be reading useless shit in the WSJ or checking the Bloomberg or mingling with recruiters and professionals that won't ever get you a job or do shit for you...

but for me, this was a brilliant speech and made me think -- something that Stern doesn't do very often for me.

Chanel Choco Phone

2008-02-20T15:20:00.006-05:00

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The screen images are projected between two pieces of glass for a holographic look, and to reduce weight.

via:
http://www.tuvie.com/chanel-choco-phone-by-fred-de-garilhe

Harajuku

2008-02-20T02:03:00.003-05:00

Interview with Tiffany Godoy, author of Style Deficit Disorder

http://www.highsnobiety.com/Interview-Godoy/index.html

N Blox

2008-02-20T00:50:00.004-05:00

3857. This is the number of games of N Blox I have played on Facebook. Assuming that each game was 2 minutes, I have spent 7714 minutes playing N blox. That's 128.5 hours. Assuming that a work day is 8 hours, that's about 16 straight days of work playing N Blox. Broken into work weeks, this is about 3 weeks and one day of playing N blox from 9 am - 5 pm straight.

Let's take a look inside the National Institute of Health's description of crack cocaine for a friendly comparison...

"Physical effects of cocaine use include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure."

Sounds like a game of N Blox.

" Some users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. "

Check.

"Can result in a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality"

3 weeks of full time work equivalent to my playing time? I definitely broke up with reality.

So, folks at Stern: Stop playing N Blox. You can go outside and enjoy the sunny world, it's really much better than multicolored blocks and extreme anguish! I am hereby retiring from N Blox, and I couldn't be happier. You can do it too!

P.S.

"Attempts to stop using the drugs can fail simply because the resulting depression can be overwhelming"

Will update on my condition as the weeks pass...

2008-02-19T02:01:00.001-05:00