Our pal Aaron Tang (aka Tango!) has a nice little DIY post about his signature paint chip card holders– a must have hand-made accessory for designers needing to show off their chosen profession, not to mention help them remember the difference between Feldspar and June Vision green (or whatever other sample color you choose to use). Good instructions for some rainy day project fun.

I posted Grizzly Bear last week because I really like their chill and spaced out music. In a sudden, unforeseen, and dastardly turn of events, the band has had to cancel it’s Europe tour this weekend. From the message that Grizzly Bear released via MySpace, it seems as though their van was broken into in Brussels, Belgium over the weekend. The criminal(s) made off with $30,000 in gear and $7,000 in cash. While the losses from the robbery could be considered merely financial in nature, the band is considering the robbery to be a sign that band member Daniel Rossen should come back to the U.S. and spend time with his father who’s fighting an uphill battle with cancer. If you want to offer your condolences, visit Grizzly Bear’s website or MySpace page and leave a comment.
Via Pitchfork

Although most of the pieces have already sold, I still wanted to point you all toward some of Tra Selhtrow’s new paintings. They are being featured at Seattle’s OKOK Gallery throughout November in Tra’s ‘Sincere Intentions’ exhibit, so you if you’re in the Seattle area, definitely go check them out. Tra works with graphite and oil to produce these impressive works. The two that I featured in the post, ‘Loosen Your Grip,’ and ‘A Moment of Rest,’ especially caught my eye.

The Ball of Whacks is made up of 30 magnetic ‘golden ratio’ rhombic pyramids– they can be taken apart and rearranged in endless ways. It’s billed as a ‘creative tool for innovators’ and a ‘creativity workshop in a ball’. It also comes with a 96-page illustrated book that provides exercises for brainstorming and problem solving. When put together it forms a perfect a (the crowd goes wild) 30-sided rhombic triacontahedron, which inventor Roger von Oech calls one of gemoetry’s most beautiful shapes. Still not convinced, take a peak at the video– how fun!

We’ve come to expect great t-shirt designs from our friends at I-Manifest, and their newest is living up to expectations. The Eclipse T comes in either black or army colors, and features front and back ‘painterly abstractions of an eclipse’ that make this shirt the canvas for a seriously unique screen printing application. You can buy the Eclipse online or look for it at one of the stores that carries I-Manifest. While you’re visiting the I-Manifest website, also check out their other t-shirt designs. Some of my favorites are the Day After and Identity T’s.

Lasse Gjersten is not a proficient drummer; nor is he a good pianist. This fact becomes apparent after he drops his drum sticks on the floor after only a few moments of playing. But after a little stop motion editing trickery, he sure sounds good. He named this clip Bateria, Piano y Stop Motion– impressively, all the audio is from the original video tape and Lasse made no other editing alterations besides the obvious stop-motion changes. I thought this was a super creative clip — from the simple fact that it confuses you into thinking that Lasse can play — despite the fact that he looks so uncomfortable on the instruments.

High-fives all around to our good friends and colleagues over at Cool Hunting for a stellar redesign! They’ve clearly made the migration away from simple categories, a big step we’ve been contemplating here as well. You need to go check out the mind-boggling tag cloud on their archive page, as well as the thumbnail views of posts. Tighter lines, more navigation into the depths and the same great content. Be sure to drop by and check out their new design. Congrats guys!

Nooka, one of our favorite alternative watch makers just announced a handful of stunning new time-pieces. The Nooka Zub’s as they’re called are the first ever rubber band Nooka watch. The Zot model, shown here, shows the progression of hours as 12 dots– in that signature Nooka style we’ve come to know and love! They’re available in black, white, red, orange, yellow and blue– and can be pre ordered now, just in time for the holidays for $125. If you’re feeling a little more exclusive, be sure to check out the Zing and the ZOO respectively– a limited edition series made of luscious materials like blingin-diamonds and crocodile skin bands.

Reminiscent of Hulger, uber-geek (and quite smart might we add) Simon Classenhacked up an old-school Ericsson phone with a mobile phone to create a wireless ‘cell-phone’ like device. The guts contain a used Sagem GSM-phone hooked up to the classic phones keypad and ringing bell. Very nice, check out his site for more photos. Via WMMNA