Thursday, February 28, 2008

OZO Life



From the folks behind OZO car, (NY's swanky all hybrid car service) comes OZO life, a grand green lifestyle site.

Check out the left-to-right scrolling action! The pink links! The little cyclist animation that plays when you load a new page!



Right now they've got up a green detergent comparison chart:



Seems good ol' Seventh Gen comes out on top. Interesting stuff, no?

Check out OZO life!

And if you need a hybrid to the airport, try out OZO car. Every hybrid has wireless internet and a powerstrip so you can charge your laptop. Smart!

Exciting Times!

Hello All,

Environmentally speaking, things seem to be going very well.
Winter is coming to a close, Spring is just around the corner, and there is an unmistakable buzz in the air.

Everywhere I look, I see things that encourage and excite me:

Wind Power in Texas.

(great article here: nytimes.com)

Green skyscrapers and carbon neutral cities popping up around the globe.




(images via inhabitat)

Inhabitat and Treehugger constantly awash with a wealth of inspiring intel.

(image via inhabitat)


(image via treehugger)

Swissmiss and her seemingly endless supply of inspiring design and imagery:





Wonderful times, these.

Love to all,

SFNYC

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Green Batteries


(image via inhabitat.com)

For anyone who has looked sadly at all the used batteries laying in the streets or on the subway lines, help is on the way.
Battery standardization, recycling centers, power on the go, all in one convenient vending machine.

One by one, the loose ends get routed back into the system, and waste loses another battle.

Yay!

Great article from Inhabitat

Silkscreening with Zach Klein

(via swissmiss)

I love watching makers make.


Silkscreening with Zach Klein from Mareen Fischinger on Vimeo.

Neil Gershenfeld @ TED





Personal Fabrication = What you want, when and where you want it.

An amazing TED talk about the present of technology from Neil Gershenfeld.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Space Kimchee!


(image via nytimes)

There's a great piece in the NY Times about South Korea’s first astronaut, Ko San, who will be bringing with him a cache of his beloved national dish: Kimchee.

You'd think: Simple, put it in a little squeezy bag and off you go.
Nope.
Millions of dollars and months of research were spent preparing Space Kimchee, a still delicious, but less pungent smelling and bacteria free version, specially designed not to offend his fellow space travellers.

Great read: Space Kimchee

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Papiroflexia



This is a beautiful piece by Joaquin Baldwin.

Here's his site: Pixel Nitrate

And his demo reel, courtesy of youtube:



Enjoy.

Malcom Gladwell @ TED



Two quotes immediately stuck with me:

"If you're a worm in horseradish, then the whole world is horseradish."

AND

"By embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find a surer way to true happiness."

Truer words I've yet to hear this day.

Great mind in Mr. Gladwell's skull. I'd love to meet him.

Check out his books: Gladwell.com

Great Book: "All the Way to the Ocean"



Hello All,

A friend of SFNYC's just hipped us to a really great children's book.
It's called: "All the Way to the Ocean"- by Joel Harper.
It's about two boys who learn about how anything thrown into the street or the gutter eventually makes its way to the ocean.
After learning this, they enlist the help of their classmates and work together to clean up the streets and gutters. Great message.





And here's something really nice: By teaming up with Living Tree Paper Company and printing the book on recycled paper, the author was able to save:

Over 9000 gallons of water.
22 trees.
Nearly 1000 pounds of solid waste.
1,900 pounds of greenhouse gasses.
4,443.5 kilowatt hours of electricity.

And, they printed the book with soy ink!

Nice!

Well done, Joel Harper!
(why do you not have a wiki page?)

Love,

- Jackson

Din-ink Cutlery




(via inhabitat)

This is great.

Neat little tips you can put on your pen and have a little lunch with.

"If you associate the affordable and ubiquitous ‘Bic pen’ with disposable, throw away office culture - think again, as Zo-loft design has added a whole new dimension to desktop utility. Their “Din-ink” series of Bic pen style tops allows you to instantly convert your writing tools into ready made cutlery. With one easy step that trusty chewed-up pen of yours can become a sleek spoon, fork, or knife for that classic dining ‘al desko’ experience.

Din-ink designers, Andrea Cingoli, Paolo Emilio Bellisario, Francesca Fontana, and Cristian Cellini, went the extra measure to insure that the set of tops were 100% biodegradable, non toxic, and hygienic. They are cleverly made out of renewable resources like natural starch and fiber (GM free corn and potato) and come in compostable and heat-sealable packaging, too. Din-ink tops are also heat resistant to 105 degrees C. That’s hot! (Even cooler, they used vegetable-based ink for all of their product printing)."

Sustainable is tasty.

Here's the original post: Din-ink on inhabitat.

Michael Bay is Awesome.

I'm semi-ashamed to admit it, but this made my morning.



(Update: I'm no longer ashamed. I've watched this spot five times now, which is five times more than I would usually watch a Verizon commercial. This is a brilliant ad.)

Love to all,

J

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Phun!

(via the incomparable swissmiss)



Check this out.
Phun is an incredible program that very quickly allows you to model and animate simple 2-d designs. This is an incredible tool for engineers or creators who are trying to better visualize what they are doing.

And it can be yours!

You can download Phun phor phree phrom this here link: Phun Game!

I learned about Phun via swissmiss, which I check multiple times a day, because of its greatness.

Papercraft Round-up!



I just found a link to an incredible blog: snuffykin's journal.

This wonderful blogger has scoured the Truth Box and found some amazing sites dedicated to papercraft. Most of the site have free pdf's that you can print out and assemble yourself. What a great way to be creative, recycle paper, and play with your kids!

Check it out: Snuffykins' Papercraft Round-up.



New Museum NYC



(photo via airoots.org)

Cripes!

Have I been asleep, in a cave, with my head under a rock?

How did I not notice this?! How did I not notice this ravishing, thrillingly wonderful building? And the fact that this incredible building is an art museum?!

I'm slipping.

This is the New Museum on Bowery. Easily one of the tastiest buildings in Manhattan.

"On December 1, 2007, the New Museum opens its first freestanding, dedicated building. Conceived as a sculptural stack of rectilinear boxes dynamically shifted off-axis around a central steel core, this innovative structure has a variety of open, fluid, and light-filled spaces, with skylights created by the setbacks between floors. The exterior is clad in a seamless, anodized aluminum mesh, which emphasizes the volumes of the boxes while dressing the whole building in a delicate, softly shimmering skin. The elegantly rough structure suits both the New Museum’s character as well as its neighborhood. The edifice appears as a shimmering beacon, visually mutable and dynamic, animated by the changing light of the day—a perfect metaphor for the ever-changing nature of contemporary art. Inaugural exhibitions include “Unmonumental,” an international group show in four parts, as well as exhibitions and special projects by YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Ugo Rondinone, Jeffrey Inaba, and Sharon Hayes."

You'll notice in the first picture the rainbow neon sign on the front?
This building screams "Hell Yes!", and I wanna scream "Hell Yes!" right back.

Here's their intel: New Museum Site

Look at their mission statement, it's four words!:


I love it!

iBand



A very interesting demonstration of how wonderfully flexible the iPhone is.

I call mine the "content machine."
It allows me to constantly document and create.

I've even got a little song I sing, to the tune of the Spiderman theme song from the old cartoon:

"Content machine! Content machine!
It's the best toy that's ever been!
I can make.. videos, everywhere that I goes!
Look out! Here comes the content machine!"

I am a huge dork, also.

-J

SFNYC Assignment 2: Update



Good Morning All,

Alright, here is me turning in Assignment 2.

This is an image I created called "War and Peace."

I made it by taking two pictures:




Then, in Photoshop, I combined them and traced over them.
That's right, I straight up traced.
Do whatever you got to to make your dreams come true, baby.

I was really inspired by the forms of the two hands, and I let them take me on a little journey.









And all of those led up to this:


"War and Peace."

Create something, or snap a pic of something you've already created, and share it with us! Please.

And if you like these images, please use them. In fact, if you'd like the .psd files with the separate layers for each hand, email: superforestnyc@gmail.com, and I'll send 'em on over.


Love to all.

Be excellent to each other.

-Jackson

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

SuperForest Assignment 2

Hello All!

Okay, perhaps we were overreaching on SF Assignment 1, (create an ad for a fictional solar company), so to atone, we present Assignment 2!

Ready for this?

Make something. Anything.

Take a picture of it.

Send it to: SuperForestNYC@gmail.com with a brief explanation of how it was made.

That's it!


Love to all,

SFNYC

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Michael Pollan @ TED



Michael Pollan. Soooo awesome. Look at him awesomely steeple his fingers!

Have you read "The Omnivore's Dilemma"? It's an incredible read.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

+E (Positive Energy) Baby T-Shirts!


Hi Everyone!

I promise not to only blog about baby stuff, but I'm in baby world right now, what can I say?
There are so many great organic baby clothing companies out there. A mother and daughter team, both graphic designers, started a company called +E, meaning Positive Energy! I love their baby T-shirts. We were given them as a present when our munchkin was born. We received ones that say “Wet”, “Feed” and “Dirty”. I love that, at first glance, people just think they mean that he needs to be fed or have his diaper changed!

Their goal is to communicate messages that help us get through life. It's awesome that not only to they make us aware of the issues, but they also give solutions.

For example, on the shirt that says “Feed”, the BACK of the shirt says:

“WORLD HUNGER

More than 800 million people in the world are starving. In developing countries hunger-related causes kill 6 million children each year. One in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

WHAT WE CAN DO

Understand that the challenge we face is not production of food and wealth, but getting it to the people who need it most • Help spread the word against political climates that restrict emergency relief efforts as well as systematically starve their people because of failed economic policies • Empower people to find ways to improve their lives by providing opportunities for training and awareness.”


On their website, it says they are also working on a line of children’s books which teaches how our positive actions and kindness towards others has a ripple effect. I can’t wait to read these to my kid!

I love what the mother and daughter team over at +E are doing! Check them out and spread the word! We all can use a little more Positive Energy!

Have a wonderful day!

Niki

Taylor's Viddys!

Hello All,

My friend Taylor from Texas has gotten in touch with SuperForest with a wonderful selection of inspirational videos. Here they are:



















Thank you, Taylor for curating this tasty selection!

Taylor Vieger, you are today's Good Person! Good on you, sunshine!




Be excellent to each other.

Love,

J

Stephen Wiltshire - Human Camera



Ah, the incredible capabilities of the human mind.

Pure inspiration.

Here's Stephen's wiki entry.
And, here is his site.

Turn a Candle Into a Radiator!



Are you cold? Great little link here that shows you how to turn an ordinary candle and flowerpot into a very energy efficient space heater.

SuperSmart!

Check out heatstick.com

They've got three cool projects up: a candle heater (that could also be powered by a 60 watt halogen bulb,) a year-round insulated greenhouse, and a passive solar water heater.

Looky here:











All of these items are for sale on the site, but the D.I.Y. spirit is plainly visible, and the pictures practically beg you to make your own versions.

Love to all,

-J

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Plasti-Fab Projects! (slice, loop, & roll)

Hello Hello Hello!

It's been a busy couple days!

Apologies for not posting more strenuously, but I've been calf-deep in new projects and ideas. Like coffee, projects and ideas need time to percolate, (preferably unjostled), and that's what we've been doing: percolating!

So, to recap:

On Friday of last week, I asked my fellow SuperForesters to please bring in all of their unused plastic bags. As I'm sure you can imagine, they were only too happy to comply, and by mid morning I was happily sitting on a couch, converting plastic bags into plastic loops, and plastic loops into plastic yarn.

Here's how:

1.) Get a bunch of plastic bags.
2.) Cut the top handles off, as well as the bottom seal. Then you've got a plastic tube.
3.) Slice the tube into as many 2 inch loops as you can. Each bag will yield approximately 6 loops.
4.) Tie each loop together by simply looping one end through the previous loop and pulling it tight. Now you should have a long line of strung together loops. This is your plastic yarn.
5.) Roll your yarn into a ball.

Still confused? Peruse!


Congratulations! You've got a big ball of plastic yarn! What next?

Make more yarn.

That's what I did for the first part of the day: slice, loop, and roll. I wanted a lot of yarn.

It took some time, as I was still trying to work smoothly and efficiently, and I've never really, er... woven.

Which is what I did next: I wove.

For my first attempt, I took a two foot length of yarn and taped both sides to a cardboard tube. Then I made 32 more 2 foot strips and looped each one around the first length. This sounds confusing... I'll do another drawing. Hold on.

Looky here!:


Here's my first attempt. You can see how I started off weaving pretty loose, but then got tighter and tighter as I went along. I used a big stack of Gristedes and Whole Foods bags. It felt very satisfying.



The main problem I had with the first attempt is that all the Whole Foods bags look identical as they hang down and it was easy to get lost, drop a piece here and there, and generally make a mess of things. No matter, that's what practice is all about.

On to my second attempt:








Here you can see that my technique is improving, still not perfect, but far better than the first. For this piece I laid the top cross piece down on a table and then attached the "hangy bits" laying flat. I also wove while the piece was flat like this, whereas the first one I wove while it was hanging off of the back of a chair.

Weaving is much easier job when things are neat and orderly. What also really helped was that for attempt #2, I used yarn that was multi-colored, which made it easier to keep track of where I was and which piece came next. So multi-colored and textured bag are a big plus here.

This all leads up to a big question: Why?

What could one do with several big chunks of woven plastic fabric?

Oh ho ho! Sooo much!

Firstly, let me extol the amazing physical properties of plasti-fabrics.

1.) Strong as the dickens.
2.) Lasts forever. (Alright, not forever, but for as long as you'll be alive, that's for sure. Plastic is incredibly hardy stuff.)
3.) Looks cool. (Like part of a tribal costume, or samurai armour, or a fishnet. Woven plasti-fabric has an otherworldly quality too it. Like it's so obviously man-made, but machined at the same time. Hard to describe, but believe me when I say it is a joy to look at and feel.)

So, you've got some cool, strong, ultra-long-lasting fabric, that you made with your own two hands out of something that otherwise would've either gone into a trash pile or gone out to sea to choke a dolphin, or whatever.

What to do with it? Another drawing, please!



You can do anything with it!
You're limited solely by your imagination.

Ponchos! Punchin' Bags! Picture frames! Perambulators! Purses! That's just the P's!

And to think, they just give bags away for free! An incredible and long lasting resource, yours for the taking. Just think of the wonderful things you can create!

Enjoy it while it lasts.

So, look around you, see if there's anything you've got a lot of, that otherwise would get trash piled, and see if you can think up something rad to do with it.

If you do think up something rad, tell us about it! Email: superforestnyc@gmail.com


Love to all.

Be excellent to each other.


-Jackson