We’ve had the distinct pleasure of spending some serious quality time with the guys over at Section in the past few months. I had known that Trent and Troy Bush were pioneers in the snowboard outerwear world — they’ve been involved with that industry for 20 years, so suffice to say they know what they’re talking about — but man-alive, their new gear is fresh! Section hasn’t been around for too long (the Bush’s past projects included starting the original Twist Clothing Company and many years at Burton/Analog), but it has hit the industry like an asteroid, as more and more people are realizing that they really are on the cutting edge of outerwear fashion and function. Section’s goal: to morph the snowboard outerwear experience from a static and difficult chore into an easy-to-operate automated delight. The anchor of the Section brand has to be fabric quality and the Section Progression Systems. These SPS’s are features that the guys have dreamed up that will make your life easier on the mountain– more functionality, more comfort, and more performance than other brands’ features. Some of the many SPS’s: Auto Cuff, Glove Holster, Progressive Suspension, Dimensional Venting, Disappear Wrist Gasket, and the Recoil Pass Pocket (my favorite– so simple, it took Trent 20 years to figure out.). Pictured here (from left): Black Label MFM Signature Jacket, Division Mark Frank Montoya Jacket, and the Women’s Division Entrourage Jacket. One thing: revamp your website guys! What are you waiting for?

Well, I’m impressed. The Diem Chau Carved Crayons were pretty amazing, but they didn’t deploy nearly the caliber of craftsmanship found in Pete Golust’s work. Check out Pete’s portfolio, he features 10 of his latest creations (on second look, they all actually appear to be about 5 or 6 years old, but amazing nonetheless).

Words can’t really do the latest Ikepod (Marc Newson’s wristwatch line) any justice, so thank god for photos. The Horizon watch, pictured above features a hexagonal honeycomb dial creating an optical illusion that it’s convex. The “Horizon” name makes reference to “Event Horizon” in astrophysics, literally meaning the edge of a black hole. Check out these watches– The Hemipode an Megapode equally as attractive, in fact, I think they’re absolutely gorgeous.

When I was a wee lad, I played with Legos. To me, Legos were those little plastic blocks that came in different colors and sizes; the sky (or dinner bell in my case) was the limit on what you could build. Well, it appears as though Lego’s have become a little more advanced in the past 15 years. Case and point: the new Mindstorms NXT Robot Kit ($350). The kit allows you to build fully-functional robots– the heart of the concept is the USB friendly computer-controlled ‘brick,’ ‘featuring a 32-bit microprocessor, LCD display, sensor ports, motor ports, a loudspeaker and control panel, this ultra-sophisticated motion/light-sensitive block brings your creations to life and offers countless design/functionality permutations.’ Reportedly, it can even ‘go back in time and destroy the mums of people you don’t like very much.’ Warning to parents out there: be careful– if you buy this ‘toy’ for your kids, they may surpass your intelligence level in less than a week.

A few weeks ago, I told you about Mauro Gatti, Italian artist/animator extraordinaire. I gave you the ‘heads up’ for Mauro to go big in the near future. With that said, I wanted to share his new Nike commercial with you all. It is has a great Italian ‘futbol’ vibe to it, and even more notably, it showcases Mauro’s remarkable animation skills (he worked with people like director Giullano Garonzi, and 3D gurus Paolo Valletti, Paulo Ubiali, and Jonas Arturo Santana among others) and rolled it out in just 3 weeks. The inspiration for the commerical was an illustration Mauro drew to celebrate Italy’s World Cup victory. You can check out some of his other animation projects by going to the brainbox and clicking on the ‘motion’ section. Nice job Mauro! Buona Sera!