CH Tag Cloud

by Josh Rubin

If you frequent sites like Flickr or Delicious you're most likely familiar with tag clouds—lists of key words (tags) used on the site where the size of the word indicates how many items are associated with it. About a month ago we went through all the posts on CH from the last 3 years and tagged them up; you'll see linked tags at the end of each post and can follow them to find more items with the same tag. Today we made a tag cloud of our own. We let the thing go a little wild with words overlapping and such because it's a fascinating glimpse at the breadth of content we cover. You can check out our tag cloud here and it will always be reachable by clicking on the 'TAGS' label that precedes the tag list for each post.

A+R

by Josh Rubin

A+R is a newly opened design shop by Andy Griffith, a former film editor and partner Rose Apodaca, previously the L.A. bureau chief of WWD. While searching for a restaurant space in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles they stumbled upon a vacant storefront—too small for an actual restaurant, they decided instead to open an "international lifestyle design" store. The raw space let the pair design to their taste, including custom fixtures.

Andy and Rose (A+R) have scoured the globe for all things odd, useful and decorative creating a well edited, modern eccentric shop. Many of the products are locally exclusive (some are even U.S. exclusives). The work of young artists mingles with that of fledgling designers, including everything from molded ceramics and one of a kind stuffed toys to resin belt buckles and author-signed books.

More pics and details after the jump.

Andy Warhol "Giant" Size

by Josh Rubin

As the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death approaches, the king of pop art is being honored with a spectacular king sized visual biography. Taking inspiration from Warhol's over the top nature, Andy Warhol "Giant" Size depicts the major events, people, and works in the artist's life with a chronological examination of formerly private photographs, letters, film stills, notes, celebrity head shots and even ticket stubs. The book also includes a picture of Warhol's birth certificate and the magazine tear sheet showing the first article he illustrated for Glamour when he arrived in NYC in 1949. Weighing in at 15 pounds and packed with more than 2,000 images on 624 pages, Andy Warhol "Giant" Size is a perfect center piece for any sturdy coffee table—or could even function as the table itself.

Available from Phaidon Press in April. Available for pre-order at Amazon for $79.00.

SXSW 4: Music Highlights

by m ss ng p eces

In the final SXSW episode we highlight four eclectic musicians that tickled our ears amongst the hundreds of acts that played for five days in Austin. We channel 'Talkdemonic', who’s been named Band of the Year by Portland's 'The Village'. We hear from Gecko Turner, a spaniard with a passion for reggae, funk, afro and blues music. We also speak with David Vogt of 'Real Ones', a Norwegian collective of friends that have been playing together for 11 years. Finally we hear from Eliott Lipp who’s sophomore album has recently been gaining momentum.

Cool Hunting Video - SXSW 4: Music Highlights

by Josh Rubin

Cool Hunting and Missing Pieces SXSW 3: Music In the final SXSW episode we highlight four eclectic musicians that tickled our ears amongst the hundreds of acts that played for five days in Austin. We channel 'Talkdemonic', who’s been named Band of the Year by Portland's 'The Village'. We hear from Gecko Turner, a spaniard with a passion for reggae, funk, afro and blues music. We also speak with David Vogt of 'Real Ones', a Norwegian collective of friends that have been playing together for 11 years. Finally we hear from Eliott Lipp who’s sophomore album has recently been gaining momentum. Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:55:00 EST http://homepage.mac.com/josh.rubin/.Public/video/mp026.m4v 4:14

Time Flies: Shuttlemax

by Wendy Dembo

In 1999 SWISHNYC had a bestselling t-shirt: the "ShuttleMax" by Bill McMullen, a co-owner and the main designer of the store. As in so much of his art, McMullen had combined two aspects of popular culture for this: the space shuttle and his favorite running shoe.

Seven years later, the newest version of the ShuttleMax is being released. This time it's a limited edition vinyl 3D toy from Kidrobot, which comes in three different colors: lime, red and yellow. Basically, it looks as if the people at NASA were sneaker freaks and turned the space shuttle into a fine running shoe. Note the attention to detail, the bottom has a really great tread design.

Also, you can get a little space shuttle commander/astronaut (available separately). He's super cute! Sadly, there is no room for him to ride in the ShuttleMax.

There is a signing and release party at Kidrobot NYC today, 30 March 2006 from 6-8pm. 126 Prince Street (btw Wooster and Greene). See you there.

White Walls Shepard Fairey Show

by Carol T Chung

Just a heads up. The White Walls Gallery in SF will be showing new work by Shepard Fairey for the month of April. Even if you're not sure of his work, chances are you've seen it.

When and Where:
Opening Reception Saturday April 1st 7pm to 11pm
Runs till April 29th

White Walls
835 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
415 931 1500