14.4.09

Seen and Heard


Color your dress


I was one of those kids who loved color by number drawings. The more complicated, the better. If it had 10 different shades of green and I had to differentiate between moss, sage or hunter for example, the more it thrilled me. I was always good at following directions and best of all was to see an image shift itself out of a seeming nothing kind of background. Eventually though, I grew bored with the restrictiveness of following someone else's pattern. Not enough of a challenge once I got to a certain age but, I think the dress below could reignite that erstwhile love of mine. Pretty sensational don't you think?




Textile design by Michiel Schuurman, dress by Berber Soepboer.


Everything you need to be a hero


This next seen and heard is one those places that prompts the phrase only in the US, and that is because only here can such whimsy be taken so seriously and serve a good purpose. For all those who ever dreamed of saving the world, check out the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

"Featuring: Fully serviced capery, informative maps, knowledgeable staff, a variety of S.I.K.s and R+D facilities. Galactic Shipping provided."




"Exclusive dealers of finest quality superhero equipment."


"We can help you with your nemesis problem."


"Truth serum- $11.25, mind control $9.99, intuition $9.99, antidote $9.99, reflex $9.99, justice $10.99."


"In store, you can buy all sorts of superhero supplies such as; grappling hooks, bottles of chaos and gravity, capes, invisibility paint, jars of anti-matter, secret identity kits, deflector braclets and more. The design of the store features tongue-in-cheek signs set in elegant, clean, bold typography. I love how the staff treat the products as real superhero supplies and customers as real superheros. They even get you to quote a superhero oath at checkout!


"This concept store is the brainchild of literary
Dave Eggers and like all of our favourite comic book heroes - it has a dual identity. In reality, the store is a clever front for the non-profit (youth orientated) creative writing and tutoring centre, 826NYC. To enter 826NYC, you actually have to go through a swinging bookcase in the BBS store. Proceeds from the BBS store fund 826NYC directly to help young people with their creative writing skills. Amazing. Marc Jacobs and Kenneth Cole have both designed crime-fighting outfits for fundraising events here."
text and images via a tribecallednext


Let's say you've gone back in time...

If we could travel into the past, it's mind-boggling what would be possible. For one thing, history would become an experimental science, which it certainly isn't today. The possible insights into our own past and nature and origins would be dazzling. For another, we would be facing the deep paradoxes of interfering with the scheme of causality that has led to our own time and ourselves. I have no idea whether it's possible, but it's certainly worth exploring.

CARL SAGAN, NOVA interview, Oct. 12, 1999

Well, if and when, you shouldn't forget to take one of these posters with you. It might come in handy.


Excerpt:

Nice one. Okay, we're going to assume that you're on Earth and you can read English. So far, so good. But how can you build all the amenities of tomorrow when you're stuck in the past? DON'T WORRY, YOUR POSTER HAS THIS ONE COVERED. First we need some units, but no biggie. The exact speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second. Good to know. A meter is defined in terms of light, but if you can't measure it accurately, the length of a pendulum that takes one second to swing from end-to-end will do the trick. Pendulums tend to take the same amount of time to swing regardless of how high you start them off, so do n't worry about that. Pretty neat, right? Galileo discovered that but whatever, take the credit. If you shouldn't have a watch, a second is about how long it takes you to say 'One Mississippi'. And a gram is pretty much the weight of one centimeter cubed of water.

The rest of this indispensable and informative poster can be found at Topatoco.com. Make sure you get yours before you begin the travel.