LTD Magazine

by Josh Rubin

After a two year hiatus LTD, the Limited Edition magazine about limited edition things, is back. Featuring products, people and fashion LTD focuses on stories about stuff that's typically too under the radar for other publications to pick up. We can identify with that so we dropped a couple pages in there about 1970s LED watches detailing six of our favorites.

Getting a copy of LTD isn't easy—there are never more than 10,000 made per issue and they are only distributed to people on the publisher's list. That list does include some shops and local hang-outs, though, so you'll find one if you look hard enough. I know it may sound a bit pretentious, but the magazine is worth the extra effort of finding it.

On Air

by Ami Kealoha

For over a quarter century, MTV's been mining up-and-coming talent to create what are often the smartest, funniest, and all-around most compelling bits on the station—or anywhere on TV for that matter. Those old enough will remember the early wacky, animated logos, but more recently MTV's channel ids and ads have taken the form of short films and are often where designers like Huntergatherer and Lobo often get their wings, and are one of the prime ways that MTV has used "soft branding" to stay relevant to their audience. A new book and companion DVD, both titled "On Air: The Visual Messages and Global Language of MTV", curates work that has aired in MTV's four different markets worldwide in recent years. Organized by region, the unique 70-minute DVD is filled with animation and live action that range from technical dazzlers, like Pistachios' cross-stitched photographs, to In Jaus' outrageous fantasies about MTV female janitors. The hardcover book profiles each of the 100 projects with stills, backstories, responses, and basic artist bios, and also includes essays on MTV and creativity. Though it regrettably skips production dates, the set is a must-have resource for creatives in nearly every field.

Pick it up from Die Gestalten or Amazon.

Gorillapod

by Ami Kealoha

Camera tripods are one of the albatross holdovers from the Paleolithic era of film. Allegedly, digital cameras have stabilization technology, but in both the professional and consumer market, this claim is just sales copy. So unless you're working on a Lars Von Trier version of college room mate Tricia’s wedding rehearsal, lugging the tripod remains essential.

Joby’s Gorrillapod, a miniature tripod with flexible legs that, thought it's not going to wow any serious lensmen, the way it's evolving the three-legged apparatus bears repeating . It looks like nothing more than a fanboy collector’s cute alien creature model from a B-movie. To the contrary, its functionality is stupendous.

It stands up better than traditional mini-tripods, many of which are lightweight but flimsy. Legs on the Gorillapod can be moved individually into an infinite number of finite positions, giving it more stability. The pod-like sheath around the bendable legs acts as a grip so surfaces need not present heavy traction.

Can you trust putting a handheld camcorder on the mount? The Sony DCR HC46 I attached stayed on right side up and upside down with the Gorrila Pod wrapped around a tree branch.

Digital photography lends itself to gleeful, compulsive behavior. You’ve always wanted to take a picture of your family from a giraffe's eye view. Now climb that lamppost and do it!

Starts at $22 from Joby.

—by Kristopher Irizarry

Jeff Koons Bunny Necklace

by Ami Kealoha

Known for the shiny hearts and other glittery baubles that have adorned such celebrity necks as Paris and Avril's, Steve Shein's bunny necklace bests standard pop-bling with a reference to the godfather of the genre himself, Jeff Koons. The famed inflatable bunny sculpture that Koons originally crafted from stainless steel is re-imagined here in laser-cut mirror-backed acrylic and comes on a 16" silver chain.

While Stella McCartney also made Koons' rabbit a motif in her recent spring collection, these charms are a mere $45 and available from the Whitney—and, for those who favor the darker side of pop, there's the Damien Hirst-referencing skull.

Ara Dymond: Base Material

by Evan Orensten

Ara Dymond’s latest show, Base Material is currently on view at Pablo's Birthday gallery in TriBeCa. His most painstaking project to date, Fortress of Solitude features 5-gallon paint buckets recast as figures. The smooth scoop gesture was achieved in an auto body shop upstate—we’re not sure how the plastic escaped melting under the high temps but we’re glad they did. His champagne cork wall piece Bang—which everyone seemed to want to touch at the opening—looks like a mini mushroom cloud. While a diptych comprised of two Hummer H3 passenger and driver side windows set into custom-made wood frames hang alongside a striking color image of smashed and reassembled Dom Perignon bottles. The dialogue between all of the work is one of historical consistencies, excess and the state of American culture, as evidenced by the last work in the show titled simply Lindsay Lohan.

The show runs through 20 April 2006 at
Pablo’s Birthday
84 Franklin Street
New York, NY
+1 212 219 7750

Refinery29: Two for the Road

by Josh Rubin

Two new stores have hit Manhattan in recent weeks and they're both poised to become instant favorites. After a fruitful 4-year stretch in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Castor & Pollux has relocated to a larger space in the West Village. Owner Kerrilyn Pamer drew inspiration from vintage department stores when it came to designing her own shop, and she's filled it with a mix of known and up-and-coming designers for women (both Chloe and Rodebjer are among the finds).

A little farther south, Rogan Gregory, the brains behind Rogan jeans and co-creator of Bono's socially-conscious Edun label, has opened his first store in TriBeCa, known simply as the R Store (pictured above). Heavy on collaborations, the store showcases Kate Young jewelry and Dustin Horowitz under-garments alongside Rogan's own line of suits A Litl Betr, the Rogan men's and women's collections, and Rogan Objects, handcrafted furniture that recalls relics from the early days of the Industrial Revolution.