(Video link here.) When we’re introduced to a venture, our first impulse is always to ask: what’s the story behind it? What were the seeds of the idea that grew into a fully realized project? It’s the stories that win us over, which is why we’re are so taken with Jam in the Van.
Based in Venice, CA, Jam in the Van is the project of music fans looking for an uncommercialized, authentic music experience. Armed with an old Winnebago that they’ve turned into a state-of-the-art recording studio, these guys invite musicians to perform, film the unique performances, and put much of it online for free (scroll down for the current list of musicians). Music fans get to discover new artists or check out fantastic live-versions of their favorite tracks, and small independent artists get amazing free publicity. It’s such a rare and beautiful thing to see a project come together sheerly out of passion and drive. read more…
We discovered RydeSafe Reflective Bike Decals via Better Living Through Design and quickly pledged to the RydeSafe Kickstarter project. These great-looking decals were designed by Tonky, an artist from Brooklyn who was hit by car and set out to make something that would keep him and other bikers safe while riding at night. The stickers are made from a film that reflects light (called conspicuity film), and are made to fit bike rims and frames, as well as helmets and accessories. The effect is quite striking, and makes you impossible to miss.
We love the mix of design and safety, but also think that these would make a great gifts for kids. We’re imagining walls and toys and clothes read more…
Ever since we learned to drive, we wondered why sideview mirrors couldn’t be adjusted to avoid the blind spot that causes so many accidents, and kept us awkwardly looking over our shoulder to see if any cars were hiding in it. We never actually tried seeing if we could adjust the mirror, testing out possible solutions; we just went with the accepted wisdom. Until recently, when we read the about Society of Automotive Engineers’ simple solution to the blind spot issue, published in Car and Driver, that flies in the face of what has been considered gospel truth for ever:
“The paper advocates adjusting the mirrors so far outward that the viewing angle of the side mirrors just overlaps that of the cabin’s rearview mirror. This can be disorienting for drivers used to seeing the flanks of their own car in the side mirrors. But when correctly positioned, the mirrors negate a car’s blind spots. This obviates the need to glance over your shoulder to safely change lanes as well as the need for an expensive blind-spot warning system.”
The diagram above shows the simple shift.
Our big takeaway is that the experts – and accepted wisdom – ARE NOT always right. We question a lot (making our kitchen cabinets way deeper than the usual, making a “built-in tub” a modernist free-standing one after we saw that it had feet) and that questioning is one of the themes of ‘the improvised life’. We love this spectacular example.
(Video link here.) The weekend is here. Time to take a road trip cross country with this little desk toy, using a toy car and Google Maps Street View. A little beauty of homemade animation by Tom Jenkins.
One of our favorite things to do is walk around the the city checking out the ingenious anonymous improvisations that appear randomly in our sight lines. Lately, we’ve been seeing some great makeshift bike carriers, like these refrigerator shelves that have been affixed to the backs of bikes which appear to be meant for food delivery. We also love these photos Ellen Silverman sent us, of a rather frou-frou bike with a Cousin Itt-meets-Cyndi Lauper vibe…. read more…
We thought we’d post this beautiful Yann Gross photo we stumbled on a while ago as an inspiring image unto itself, to ‘Practice Flying’. Then we decided to look into the story behind it.
We discovered that it is from a series of photographs Gross made about a hand-built skateboard park in Uganda. So smitten were the penniless kids of Kitintale with skateboarding that they figured out a way to build a rudimentary park themselves. Their passion for skateboarding has transformed their rough lives. Now the skateboard park is in need of repair so Gross made this video, telling the story and hoping to raise money (which you can do here).
It has many lovely moments, a lot of joy, great music and a huge amount of resourcefulness and inspiration. read more…
Holton Rower, whose Tall Painting got over 2,000,000 hits on YouTube (so far), sent us this photo of a car he spotted on the road. It is painted with strong, heart-felt messages that go WAY beyond the bumper sticker…easy enough to do, though it takes a kind of out-there courage. (It somehow reminds us of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote scrawled on a bathroom wall and our guerilla poetry post.)
Matt Sumell* emailed us his swell car bumper improvisation and the story behind it:
…back in my college days I drove a Hyundai hatchback with a home-made wooden rear bumper. I graduated with an English and Environmental Science Degree, which prepared me for nothing at the time, so I took a job in the local Home Depot garden department. It was there that I got the idea for the window-box addition to my wooden bumper.
…at first I went with my favorites, Gerber Daisies. Then I planted wildflower seeds. I’d drive around, occasionally being ridiculed for my eccentric car. But every now and then, someone would pull up next to me on the highway, beep the horn and mouth “thank you.” It was pretty great.
It’s a take on guerilla gardening we hadn’t though of, with just the right combo of gift and surprise.
*Matt Sumell is a writer whose short stories have been published in Electric Literature, Noon, and elsewhere. Thanks Matt!
We love artist Thomas Jeppe‘s wonderfully taped bike, via The Selby. The tape is not just a cool visual, it adds cushioning to the handlebars. We went looking for this snazzy handlebar tape at found a trove of close matches – Splash Ribbon – made by Cinelli, whose tapes get very high ratings. Possibilities include vivid stripes, neon and leather. Our favorite: this zebra print one: read more…
Our friend Charlie Allenson had a big birthday a few days ago, and we had big plans to give him a shout out that day and find ourselves, THE DAY AFTER, having been swept away by..everything. Damn. Charlie’s at the jazz festival in New Orleans so we thought we’d publish some of the very cool photos he sent us when he was in Vietnam recently. They are right up our alley of totally, seriously, charmingly improvised LIFE that seems to happen everywhere there, like the floating villages of Ha Long Bay. This house, above, appears to be floating on oil drums and styrefoam block. There is no supermarket; a market boat makes regultrips to each floating house.
We recommend turning off the sound and playing both videos at the same time. We came upon them when we were reading blogs the other morning, and were blown away by this kismet-ish reminder of simultaneity.
This stunning video is well worth the riveting 9 minutes it takes to watch it, even (or especially) in the midst of a busy day. Part of Sundance’s short film program, it is a moving, beautifully filmed documentary about Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first co-educational skateboarding school, created by Oliver Percovich to help kids dealing with a life of war, poverty and destruction, “to build kids’ confidence…and give them a voice.”
Says Fazilla, a 12-year-old girl living in Kabul:
I work in the street and sell chewing gum. Life is hard for me personally because my family is poor, sometimes we can’t afford enough eat. At Skateistan, I dont feel that my surroundings are ruined, I feel as though I’m in a nice place.
Skateboarding totally changes the view. Such a simple brilliant idea.
