Ever wonder what happens to those big vinyl street banners that are displayed at museums when an exhibit ends? BetterWall is a Colorado based company that is in the business of selling these unique and rare banners. All of BetterWall’s banners are the authentic museum originals, and part of the sales proceeds get funneled back to the museums (in New York, L.A., S.F., Denver, etc.). Plus, after selling the intact banners and recycling the torn ones, BetterWall keeps over ten tons of vinyl out of our nation’s landfills each year. BetterWall has come up with a creative, philanthropic, and eco-friendly business venture, and the product is an aesthetically pleasing (albeit expensive) way to fill your wall space.

The Ice Jacket is a nifty mold that fits around most liquor bottles– you can fill the mold water and then freeze it– the results, a bottle of booze encased in a jacket of ice. It’s as easy as placing the bottle into the base, slipping on the sleeve (jacket) and sealing the bottle in shut. You fill the whole assembly with warm water, plug the top and place it in your freezer. Take it out a few hours later and voila, your ice cold lquor will stay just that, ice cold. The site says in a 70 degrees Fahrenheit room the ice encasing will melt at about an ounce an hour. They also claim it fits ‘bottles of all sizes’, but something tells me it still wont fit my giant 1 liter bottle of Bong Vodka. Via BoingBoing

The Rocky Chair by Guy Arzi is a combo package of vibrant style, grandma’s comfy rocking chair, and a day at the movie theater. Made of reclaimed cinema seats, the Rocky Chair adheres to Guy Azri’s habit of resuscitating trashed items and making them into usable, stylish, and chic items. As seen at the [Re] Design 06 exhibition in London, the fresh-out-of-design-school Arzi has his admirers–the nostalgic, the design-perceptive, and the environmentally conscious alike. Via Inhabitat

Kixclusive recently opened their doors to the public; meaning all you online sneaker fanatics. They specialize in limited-edition shoes, sometimes only having a few sizes of each style. Right now they’re stocking some pretty bad-ass Air Jordans, Nike Dunks, and of course the elusive BAPE’s. They apparently have a great relationship with Busy Work Shop in Japan which allows them to get a few pairs of each Bape shoe (and other gear, t-shirts, hoodies, etc.) before they get sold out in Japan. Rumor is they have some rare and retro Air Jordan 5’s coming in soon. Ah yes, yet another site to fulfill our sneaker fantasies. Check them out!

Lago uses the talent of its designers Daniele Lago and Massimo Bonnetti to produce shelving systems and furniture that will make you want to hop on the next 747 to Italy . Their floating shelf systems are stylish, modern, versatile, and can be utilized in as many ways as your imagination will allow. Ever wonder what it would be like to sleep on a cloud? If yes, then definitely check out Lago’s “floating” Fluttua bed. Lago is what happens when sound design, imagination, simplicity and home furnishings all come together. Lago even has its own corporate blog if you can read Italian–but for you English-only speakers, check out the recent blog entry (in English) about how the design of the Fluttua bed allows it to float. There is a Lago distributor in Florida–but otherwise, this stuff is import-only to the U.S.

Saturday’s beautiful weather was not to be outdone, but the music continued on through the weekend with Sunday bringing more and more of what we had come to expect – amazing artist and passionate performances. The Shins were the first act we saw and even though we couldn’t see very well the music rang perfectly in everyone’s ears especially when they played “New Slang” for the masses to hum along to. Matisyahu really got the crowd going and exposed us to a lot of freestyles and new tunes, which we can’t wait to get our hands on. But not to be outdone was the one and only Oklahoma’s psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips. After seeing and meeting the oh so polite Wayne Coyne by his tour bus the Lips put on a show that, following the spirit of the dancing Santa’s, giant alien and astronaut, and the Jetson-esque dressed ladies on stage, turned into more of a musical party than a rock show. We saw Austin’s own, What Made Milwaukee Famous and Ghostland Observatory, and didn’t miss the soothing blues of Ray Lamontagne, but we must say that without a doubt the best performance of the weekend had to be the instrumental rock of Explosions in the Sky! Watching from back stage we saw the crowd growing and getting larger with every passing minute until finally the sun had set and you could no longer see where the people ended and the night began, all that remained was the continuously flashing cameras. Even calling it perfect wouldn’t do Mark, Michael, Munaf, and Chris’s performance justice, but surely the chanting crowd, desiring only “One – More – Song” can lend an idea to the amazing music of the instrumental quartet that is Explosions in the Sky. Thanks to Munaf for letting us join in the wonderful experience! More pictures courtesy of Pentax after the jump!
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There aren’t a lot of waterproof digital cameras among the point and click crowd, but the Pentax Optio W20, which boasts 7.0 megapixels, is sure to save you from puddles, tubs, and rain, because it is fully waterproof up to 5 feet. The slim, flat body design fits nicely in your hand above and underwater and can withstand being submerged for up to 30 minutes of continuous operation. It has everything you’ve come to expect in a digital including a new high ISO mode that selects ISO up to 1600 and 2.5 inch LCD which is easily visible underwater. Also, at about $300, it’s quite a good deal. Using ours at ACL really saved us from spilled beverages from our excited friends and unpredictable rainy weather. So while others put away their environment sensitive digital cameras, we snapped away without worry!

To some the coolest place on earth is the baseball hall of fame, the birthplace of Elvis or even the finish line of the Indy 500. But, to this Josh Spear contributor it is the store Jean Shop, nestled deep in the heart of the meat-packing district. Jean Shop: Every pair of jeans that Jean Shop produces are all salvage denim and raw, which means they are produced from top quality looms and are completely unfinished. When one walks into Jean Shop, it is just wall to wall of all different kinds of denim. Not only is Jean Shop renowned for its denim, but they also make some of the best leather products I have seen. Jeans run in the $240 range and belts cost around 150 dollars. For $700 they will even custom make you a pair of one-of-a-kind jeans. Jean Shop products were recently only available at there flagship store in NYC, but after some snooping it seems bluebeetleonline.com has started selling the products.