Get stickers, green businesses: the idea behind sustainability and consumer-focused company Viv is a simple and free one that could also be the best way to make your credit card look better (short of getting a black AMEX). After customers place a small sticker on the front of their debit or credit cards and show it at the time of purchase, participating retailers pledge to make energy efficiency and other green improvements to their businesses if enough stickers come through their doors and patronize. Grocery stores, bars, “eco-gourmet restaurants,” and liquor and convenience stores are all taking part, and their progress on their commitments to make their businesses more eco-friendly can be tracked by the community. San Francisco-based founder Arul Velan started the company after Stanford Business School and a stint at Facebook with the help of Dinesh Thirupuvanam, and the pair and their team have been seen recently at street fests and athletic events distributing their green stickers. A little good, a lil' green.

Keen, a company that started with the question, “can a sandal protect the toes?”, has gone on to expanding their product line well beyond just active sandals. Admittedly, I have not checked out their site since I was shopping for my trip to Kauai a few years ago, but a few weeks ago I pointed Firefox their way and was impressed with what I saw. Their Harvest Collection of bags is particularly noteworthy.

One model, the Cornell, is a unisex messenger bag made of 100% reclaimed rice paper. For those of you who have ever bought large sacks of rice from an Asian market, you know exactly what that is. The design and graphics on each bag are completely unique, the bottom is made of 100% recycled rubber (from tires), and there is a lushly padded 17.4″ notebook sleeve built in. I will not say it’s perfect, however. The front zipper on mine gets stuck, and repeated pulls are slowly ripping the pouch from the bag. My only other complaint is a small one – occasionally the strap folds up onto itself within the metal loops. Other than these small quibbles, the Cornell gets my vote if you are looking for a comfortable, unique, and green bag.

Kahlil Almustafa is from Queens, a place he describes as being located between New York City and Nowhere. “[It's] now overpopulated with Crown Fried Chickens, Popeye’s Chickens, Chester’s Chickens and take-out Chinese food stores that sell chicken wings and French fries as if it were the national dish of China. Queens, the home of bootleg DVD collections, 99-cent stores, birds chirping, sirens blazing, subprime mortgage crisis, suburban schizophrenia.”

If you didn’t notice, Almustafa has a way with words. His book Growing Up Hip Hop has been in a stack of books I’ve been meaning to check out for a long time– and I’m damn glad I pulled it aside this evening and dug right in.

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Kehinde Wiley’s relatively short career has been largely marked by his ability to take contemporary urban subjects and paint their portraits as if they were the noblemen of King Henry VIII. Obviously, there is a decent amount of political-historical finger pointing going on, but on pure surface value his works are stunning. If you have seen on in person, the size and craft Kehinde has will blow you away. The bad news about large-scale paintings is that we can’t all take them home. The good news: he’s got a book. In his first monograph book, Black Light, he collects his portrait work and attempts to shrink them down to a portable size. The book is currently available to pre-order from his publisher, Power House Books for $75, but I found that Amazon has it for $47.

We’ve grown accustomed to the graphic awesomeness from MWM. The Portland-based designer doesn’t disappoint with two new books. Both volumes are the result of a self-described “mega groove” he found himself in the fall of ‘08, though the products are vastly different. MWM B/W B:5 is a profoundly, mysterious black and white gaze into the artist’s personality, whereas MWM Alphaphont 3.0 is the third in a series of vibrant, colorful hullabaloos in tribute to the alphabet

Converse is an interesting shoe company. It’s definitely one of the originals, and while it’s the go to shoe for every hipster minimalist out there, it also appears to sneakerheads with their play on materials, colorways, and collaborations (Varvatos, anyone?). Always one to extend the party, Converse continues it’s 100th year with the announcement of the “Shoes Inside Books” pack. At first glance, the Chuck Taylor Hi’s look like your run of the mill Converse, but the packaging is what sets shoes apart.  The company — now a subsidiary of Nike — has created a limited edition of 1000 books, each of which contain a pair of shoes inside. The book details the history of the brand and features 100 interviews with a veritable who’s who of today’s biggest stars. There’s no word on a drop date, but there will be three colors (white, black, red) and two sizes (24 and 27cm). Keep your eye out for this unique packaging idea.

via Designboom

Roku Netflix Player: Read JS Review | Buy It ($100)
If waiting two days for the next film in your queue to arrive by snail mail is unacceptable, now you can take a deep breath and stream Waiting To Exhale without ever opening an envelope.

Secret Book Camera: Read JS Review | Buy It ($55)
For that ex-spy in your life who misses explosive chewing gum. It’s a book! No, it’s a camera. It’s a camera, indeed.

Blackbird, Fly TLR Camera: Read JS Review | Buy It (About $126)
Anyone who doesn’t need to resort to secrecy to snap photos and enjoys the medium of film should take to this wonder of lomography.

Peanut Butter Machine: Read JS Review | Buy It ($50)
Really you haven’t lived until you’ve made your own peanut butter … cashew butter … and walnut butter. Anything we’re leaving out?

Magneat: Read JS Review | Buy It ($10)
Even if you’re not overly clumsy, chances are your flailing arms send your iPod headphones flying out of your ears every once in awhile. Well, not on Magneat’s watch.

LED Rainbow Keyboard: Read JS Review | Buy It ($35 – $200)
There are so many colors in the rainbow and oh so many keys on your keyboard.  Why shouldn’t there be some sort of decorative correlation?  For good measure you can film yourself making a finger version of Michael Jackson’s famous “Billie Jean” video.

Vizio Java HDTV: Read JS Review | Buy It ($730)
While Green, Red, and Blue are most certainly the most festive holiday colors the Java-hue of this sleek piece of equipment is certainly the sexiest.

The Sanctuary: Read JS Review | Buy It ($130)
There’s no need to fumble around making sure you’ve got all the right power cords on hand anymore.  This electronics organizer contains a variety of chargers that are compatible with over 1500 devices.

Ardica PDA Warmers: Read JS Review | Buy It ($145)
Ardica PDA Warmers make sure trekkers don’t get left out in the cold when they’re out for days in frosty conditions. While it’s a plus that it keeps bodies warm, it’s really the ability to hold 11 cell phone charges and 20 iPod charges, as well as keep a precious GPS or PDA working, that puts this as a must-have on our holiday list.

Nappak Sleeping Cube: Read JS Review | Buy It
If you like taking naps anywhere you please but don’t think air mattresses afford you enough privacy, the Nappak allows you to avoid at least one side of the room. For total privacy, wedge it against the wall!

The first time I met Ray Young Chu he talked a lot of shit about my eyebrows.

This threw me initially, but once the topic of conversation turned to ice cream, then back to eyebrows (a friend's this time), then to PBR, I figured that Chu wasn't really talking shit, he was just full of shit — the really, really weird kind that helps people make amazing art.

It's been just over a year since Ray slammed my facial features, but in that short time he's made some serious headway. Read on as Ray slows down long enough for us to catch up.

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Given the increase in Kindles, new Blackberries, and 3G iPhones, it’s nice to see a black item that keeps notes the old fashioned way. Doane Paper utility notebooks are mobile in their own way at less than four by six inches and only 48 pages — ideal for bite-size musings.  Portland print show Pinball Publishing uses soy-based inks and recycled paper to create the grid+lines notebook line. Perfect for pockets.

Our pal Stinger, the Netherlands-based designer behind Zeptonn Labs, has finally dropped his latest book project, Black & White Freedrawings. So named thanks to the no restrictions given, no holds barred approach to the 160 drawings held inside, the book offers over 132 eco-friendly pages of collab-y art between Stinger and house favorites like Jesse Hora, Undoboy, and Shin Tanaka.

If you were wise enough to get your hands on a copy of Stingermania, you already know that Stinger’s books are more fun than a water slide in the summertime. However, unlike his other publications, there are only 450 copies of the first edition of Black & White Freedrawings, and the heavy beast is unbearably pricey to ship internationally (75 bucksies). In fact, unless you do happen to live in Europe, your chances of ever touching this book are slim to none– which is a crappy thought, especially for those of us who are about to give away one of the only copies of the book to ever touch American soil (that happens to come with some very nice giclee prints as well)… Sigh.

Yes, we’ve got one. For you, from Zeptonn. And you can have it if you are the first person to correctly answer the following question: what philosopher initially inspired Stinger to get his Master’s degree in Philosophy? Leave your answer in a comment to this post, yo.

Jan Willem Wennekes, also known as Stinger, crafts a killer monster. Well, “killer” in its most docile, endearing sense — because the creatures of this Netherlands-based designer have always had more success drawing aww's than arghh's!

As founder of Zeptonn Lab, Stinger cranks out his unique style of design for clients like PlayStation, Popcling, and Threadless, as well as a solid variety of art, design, and online publications. In between those projects, this eco-conscious designer spends his time creating some of the best books you've ever laid claws on, including one of our all-time favorites, Stingermania.

Just in time for the release of his newest book, Black & White Freedrawings (site coming soon), we chatted with Stinger about his work, his education, and how he's using both to make his world a pretty wonderful place.

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Thirty years ago, when graffiti was withheld the respect of the subtitle “Art Form,” a twelve year-old Vulcan hit the subway cars of New York with his collection of wildly colored paintcans. Over thirty years — and countless walls, trains, and buses — later, the now San Francisco-based graffiti legend has made a smooth transition from street to START SOMA, where the artist-in-residence uses his decades of experience to continue doing what he's done all along — create some of the most significant works of art, both street and otherwise, this side of 1973.

We chatted with Vulcan about his graffiti past and his gallery present, and came out the other side in agreement with the artist: Corporate or communal, gallery or ‘getting up'; art is art, and making it is what truly matters.

Joshspear.com: As one of the earlier writers, what graffiti represents to you is probably somewhat different than what it represents to today’s newest artists. Has any important meaning been lost over the years?

Vulcan: When I was 12 years old in Harlem, I wanted to CREATE. But options were pretty limited – scavenged paint cans and public surfaces were pretty much my only options. Throughout my teens, I painted wherever and whatever I could – buses, subway trains, city walls. I painted my name. I painted giant robots. I planned ‘masterpieces’ in my notebooks at school, and horded paint cans until I had literally hundreds of colors. But I didn’t call what I was doing ‘graffiti’. I was just painting. As I honed my technical skills and found my voice, at some point I was making ART – but it was never a conscious progression. READ MORE…

Matt W. Moore knows the remedy to day job doldrums. An ex-agency man turned big-time web designer, Matt has never renounced his personal creative pursuits for his job – a sacrifice that today's creative types find themselves depressingly prone to.

From his early days in advertising to his current responsibilities (keeping the Burton website sparkly fresh), Matt has been filling his downtime with personal side projects that feed his soul as much as his bank account. His versatile career experiences — as gallery artist, pre-press designer, editorial illustrator, art director, and curator, to name a few — have given him the experience he needs for side projects like Wallspankers, a sticky extension of Matt's graffiti past, and the B/W Bangers, Matt's very own saving grace.

So what is the remedy? It's one part introspection; one part creativity; one part confidence –- and a little dose of self–publishing.

Joshspear.com: For a period you lived the increasingly common double life of an ad man by day/artist by night. What finally inspired you to start MWM Graphics?

Matt W. Moore: I actually started MWM Graphics while I was in college. I would side hustle logos, concert posters, editorial illustrations, anything that I thought would be exciting and help me grow as a designer. I caught an awesome break during my last year of school and started to work at an agency in Portland, Maine called The VIA Group. I later moved into an Art Director position there and worked on some fun accounts, all the while doing personal work and freelance in my free time. Now I work as a web designer at Burton Snowboards, and stay busy with all sorts of personal projects. The “double life” has been my style all along. I hope to one day break away and devote all of my time and energy towards my studio and making art. READ MORE…

Most people think pirates went the way of Blackbeard a long time ago, resurrected only for Broadway musicals and blockbuster movies starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. While some still sail the high seas with more modern weaponry and less swashbuckling, it's a modern form of cultural piracy that is the subject of Matt Mason's new book, The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism. The frequent VICE magazine contributor “charts the rise of various youth movements — from pirate radio to remix culture — and tracks their ripple effect throughout larger society” for what amounts to a fascinating read. If you're interested in having your eyes opened wide to how the counterculture has transformed society then we certainly suggest picking up this primer.

If you want one for free, well, you’re in luck. First five (polite!) commenters get their own, so…comment away!

My mind is jumping right now, and the culprits are South Korean internet art collective Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (aka, YHCHI).

Taking Flash animation to a totally visceral level, their breakneck text-based works move so fast they look strobe-lit. Swinging from styles as diverse as gumshoe spy stories to sex-induced political upheaval (one of their most interesting works is called Cunnilingus in North Korea), the text drives the narrative while the original soundtrack and wordplay bring every mood to life without a single colour, voice, or picture.

Exploring the trove of work on their site, the constant visual and sonic barrage creates an almost physically hypnotic sensation. The relentless black and white lettering takes you on it's own pace: sometimes you're given time to take it in and sometimes it almost subliminally, Clockwork Orange-style, just speed flashes it's meaning into your brain. Once stirred, it's up to your imagination to complete the visual — instead of reading a book, it's a lot like having one hurled into your face.

Their latest project, BLACK ON WHITE, GRAY ASCENDING, is a temporary installation in the lobby of the New Museum of Contemporary Art on New York City's Bowery. This time they've upped the game from their regular one-screen format to a sensory-assaulting seven. Each separate story weaves together to tell different accounts of one violent abduction and assassination.

Like any worthwhile film noir, these are all best viewed alone in a dark room. But be forewarned, their site's as addictive as whatever pill you'll need to get to sleep once the thought-inducing onslaught is over.