adicolor Podcast: Blue

by Josh Rubin

Our friends over at Psyop are on the adicolor Podcast roster and their turn is now up. Blue is a digital flip book and a refreshing change from the abstract (though very pleasing) White, Green and Pink. Set on the streets of New York's Lower East Side the sequence is all black and white except for the things that are blue. A catchy original soundtrack written by Steve Raymond, composed by Drazen Bosnjak at Q Department and sung by Scott Simons tells the story of how this blue isn't the blue that you thought you knew.

Phil Frost

by Wendy Dembo

For the past few months, I have had the rare opportunity to watch an artist at work in his studio while working with Phil Frost. It has really been a treat to see his process unfold. He has the most amazing focus and is always working. His studio is filled with papers, boxes, old suitcases, bits of things, feathers, wood, old cartoons and pieces of what some might consider trash. Somehow he manages to find just the right bit to put in his work. For his upcoming solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery; his first in NYC since 2001—Frost has been making three-dimensional paintings on canvases covered with old paper onto which he has drawn his distinctive portraits, sometimes adding bottles, feathers, or broken glass. One piece, a giant diptych, is covered in bottles that are then covered in buttons. Other found objects, like wood, baseball bats, and old suitcases, also become Frost's canvasses in this show. Be sure to check it out.

Phil Frost at Jack Shainman Gallery
Opening Thursday 20 April 2006, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
20 April-20 May 2006
513 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
map

Fotolog.book

by Ami Kealoha

An offline component to the world's largest photo blogging community, Fotolog.book is 1,000 of the millions of digital images posted to Fotolog in its four year history. Edited by former New Yorker photography critic Andrew Long, the hard bound anthology ranges widely in tone, subject, and style—from artsy black and white compositions to spontaneous quotidian moments—but the photos all share a unique straight-ahead point of view and comments left by users function as off-the-cuff captions. Sections include more straightforward themes like "Domestica", esoteric concepts such as "Dialog", and photographer-specific chapters. The opening series titled, "New York, New York", includes an uncredited Laurie Anderson quote that may describe the book and the digital photography phenomenon (and perhaps the entire modern era) most eloquently: "This is the time, and this is the record of the time."

$35 from Amazon

iPod Speakers, Part I

by Ami Kealoha

As iPod speaker systems become as ubiquitous as the iPod itself, we thought it would be a good time to take a closer look at a few of the systems that have been flooding the market recently. In this first installation of our two-part guide, we included smaller, portable systems that are perfect for the office, the beach, or general globe-trotting. What follows is one pro opera singer's first hand take on some select models.

Altec Lansing In Motion Series
All of the iM series include interchangeable multi-international AC adapters with the global traveler in mind, but each are geared to slightly different uses.

The iM3 (right) features a convenient fold-away dock and is the most compact of the Altec Lansing trio of speakers. With surprisingly good sound for a small system (albeit slightly treble-heavy, like most this size), it comes with a credit card-sized remote, additional docking station, and a protective carrying sheath—perfect for tucking into suitcases.

$180 from Altec Lansing

The black iM9, a larger portable system (left), comes with rubberized packaging (making it durable and shock-resistant) and a violet "crown chakra" power light on top. It has a rich sound with a well-balanced bass. Highly portable, it comes with a backpack and includes a unique retractable compartment that protects iPods while traveling. It's ideal for beach-goers and can rest on its side with its built-in prop or play directly on its back.

$200 from Altec Lansing

The 21st century answer to the ghetto blaster, the iM7 (below) is a sleek white tube featuring sub-woofers on the ends that pack the most powerful punch of the iM series. Like the iM9, it includes a convenient retractable compartment. The wafer-thin remote comes complete with bass and treble controls. For hitting the streets, it has a well-designed recessed handle, or you can buy the custom, tube shaped, iM7 shoulder bag.

$250 from Altec Lansing

Tivoli iSongbook
Modern, mid-century design, detachable stereo speakers, handy alarm clock and radio functions, credit-card sized remote, included carry bag, blue night light, and well-balanced, powerful sound for its size...need any more reasons why the iSongbook is a favorite among those we tested? (Pictured below.)

$330 from Tivoli

Oregon Scientific iBall
The speaker ball (right) is wireless, offers solid sound for a portable system, allows for adjustable bass and treble levels, has S-video input capability, and comes with a handy set of rechargeable batteries—all of which makes for versatile indoor and outdoor audio solutions. We only wish it came with a remote control and a more user-friendly control panel.

$250 from Oregon Scientific

Cyber Acoustics iRhythms
The iRhythm really impressed us with its clear sound and pronounced bass. It's aesthetic variation, a case finished in white acrylic in a shape reminiscent of a wainscot panel, sets it apart as well. It also comes with a small remote with limited play functions.

$140 from Amazon

Klipsch iGroove
For its size the iGroove (above) has ample sound and it comes with a convenient remote. Its industrial gray speakers framed by Hector Guimard-like winged corners are fun but might be difficult to position on a crowded desk or bookshelf.

$280 from Klipsch

Muji cardboard speakers
These streamlined, environmentally-friendly cubes (left) have limited sound due to their tiny size (most Macs' built-ins are better), but flatten to fit into your backpack or briefcase. The only question is how durable the cardboard case would remain after frequent assembly and reassembly.

$42 from the MoMA Design Store

Macally
This little tube (right) boasts battery-powered stereo speakers and weighs less than an ounce—a boon for sharing videos, but its clunky design is especially awkward with nanos.

$40 from Macally

Bose
By far the richest and most well-balanced sound of all of the smaller speaker systems we tested, the Soundock from Bose (above) is designed for those who put sound quality first. Aesthetically, it's a bit less exciting than some of the other options but its credit card-sized remote, impeccable sound, and small size make it a highly competitive system even though it was one of the first in the marketplace almost two years ago.

$300 from Bose

Contributed by Edwin Cahill

Ed Note: I decided to put the full story here without a jump because I don't think many of you use the jump links. What do you think about this? Should we put the entirety of our longer stories up on the main page, or continue to cut it off and provide a jump (continuation) link? Let us know

Montaigne Market

by Ami Kealoha

Montaigne Market in Paris blooms like a garden of fashion between the conservative, single-brand storefronts of Montaigne Avenue. As the first multi-marque in the city of lights, the store engineers a confluence of current and classic styles from Paris, London, California, and New York. The 4,000 square foot space encourages mixing and matching of designers in different price tiers, an increasingly popular strategy put to use by fixed-salary fashion devotes. Think of a girl wearing a burst-of-color Matthew Williamson blouse over faded True Religion Jeans. The store is also the exclusive carrier in France for labels like Behnaz Sarafpour and Alice Temperley. Instead of fixed mini-boutiques for each label, the integrated selection is ever changing.

The white wall, lacquer, and leather interior was designed by architect Johannes Zingerle. His design, mixed with the buying strategies of Liliane Jossua, inspires undulating colors and textures of the clothes to work like layered washes of oil paint on top of his minimalist but never austere interior.

More images and store info follows after the jump.

Jeremyville

by Lost At E Minor

Pulled together by Australian design team, Jeremyville, Sketchel is a customised art bag project with 500 original one-off and limited edition sketchels by around 250 international artists including Genevieve Gauckler, Miss Van, Gary Baseman, Marc Atlan, Tim Biskup, MCA Evil Design, Jeremyville, Saiman Chow, Bob Kronbauer, Jon Burgerman, Tado, Nathan Jurevicius, Fawn Gehweiler, Andrew Brandou, ESM Artificial, and Tim Tsuiamongst, many others. Stage two of the project is also now open for submissions and is being launched at the annual Semi-Permanent festival by Design is Kinky 7-8 July 2006 in Sydney.