Tarantastic

If Quentin Tarantino had spent 20 years trapped in branding hell, his first film might have looked something like Logorama. The full version is a 16 minutes long, complete with car chases, a hostage crisis and an apocalyptic Los Angeles—check it out at the official website.

By Matt Cooney, March 2, 2010 at 11:11 am Via Permalink

How neat

I'm not sure if this is art or obsessive compulsive disorder but I like it …

By Cassie Doherty, February 11, 2010 at 9:48 am Permalink

8-bit Thriller

Saitone takes Michael Jackson back to 8-bit

By Su Yin Khoo, December 1, 2009 at 11:57 am Permalink

Some percentage pure

Well, this was only a matter of time: Guardian columnist takes a quick look at our green credentials and doesn’t like what he sees. “My prize for the most shameless two fingers to the global community goes to New Zealand, a country that sells itself round the world as ‘clean and green’.”

This is hardly news to us here in Godzone, but will certainly be a revelation to some of our customers.

It’s not too late to give some meaning to our national brand, but it will be infinitely harder to do under international consumer pressure than it would be to treat the issue with the importance it deserves and to do it ourselves—quickly and properly.

There’s an active thread on the topic at interest.co.nz.

By Matt Cooney, November 13, 2009 at 9:57 am Via Permalink

Saved by sulphur

The Atlantic reports that some sicentists are considering “radical—and possibly extremely dangerous—schemes for reengineering the climate by brute force”. One plan suggests tethered zeppelins spraying sulphur into the atmosphere, giving that authentic Blade Runner effect. There’s an interesting set of other drawbacks, too …

By Matt Cooney, June 30, 2009 at 10:18 am Permalink

Green above ground

I'm really enjoying the daily updates from Urban Logic, an online magazine (some would call it a blog) about creative ideas in “the built environment”—architecture, urban design and planning, landscapes, public art and so on. If you like the awesome BLDGBLOG, definitely take a look at Urban Logic. It’s searching out some of the most interesting building trends around the planet—such as the green areas being created in Singapore rooftops—and it’s all being done from Auckland, New Zealand. Perhaps it’ll help inspire some of our local developers and planners.

By Matt Cooney, May 5, 2009 at 10:38 am Permalink

Art for a dollar

Scott Campbell's laser-cut etchings of stacks of dollar bills.

By Su Yin Khoo, April 23, 2009 at 10:49 am Permalink

When robots need a hand

Kacie Kinzer created the world’s cutest robots, then abandoned them in New York with instructions to get to a certain point.

Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.

Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. Because I built them with minimal technology, I had no way of tracking the Tweenbot’s progress, and so I set out on the first test with a video camera hidden in my purse. I placed the Tweenbot down on the sidewalk, and walked far enough away that I would not be observed as the Tweenbot—a smiling 10-inch tall cardboard missionary—bumped along towards his inevitable fate.

The results were unexpected.

By Matt Cooney, April 14, 2009 at 1:39 pm Via Permalink