Cool Hunting
| 10 August 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Back to the Future Hoverboard...Almost
by Tim Yu
Like every kid who saw the movie, I've been looking for the "Back to the Future II" floating skateboard ever since 1989. Unfortunately, I haven't come across anything as capable as Marty McFly's version, however I did find the Hoverboard and Airboard. Oversized, clunky and loud, you can't kick flip these models and they sort of look like lawn mowers, but at least it's a start. Hopefully Mattel, whose logo appeared on the hoverboard in the movie, will release the Back to the Future edition sometime soon. Until then we have the following:
This gas powered hovercraft by Future Horizons is capable of toting a 250+ lb person at around 20mph. Riding three inches above the ground on a skirt of air, the craft hovers over flat surfaces including shallow water. A wired hand controller directs speed and rudder position of the fiberglass unit, turning the board left and right. You can purchase it for $9,000 here.
The Airboard is more scooter than board but still uses Hovercraft air cushion technology to glide above the ground. Like a hovercraft, it uses a fan to propel it forward but you can increase speed by leaning your body weight towards the back of the board. Starting, stopping and steering is also done through weight transfer, like a skate or snowboard so some elementary tricks like a 360 can be nailed. Check out a video of the Airboard in action here. More info at International Robotics. For purchasing details contact Alura Intelligent Products at alura75413 [at] aol [dot] com.
Also on Cool Hunting: Sneaker Activism: Back to the Future Nike
Mike Brodie
by Jonah Samson
I love Polaroids. And everyone out there who believes that you need a lot of fancy equipment to take great photographs needs to look at the wonderful Polaroid pictures of Mike Brodie, aka The Polaroid Kidd.
Brodie left home at 18 to travel the rails across America, and found himself spending three years photographing the friends and companions he encountered with a Polaroid SX-70 camera.
"Photography has made me what I am. It pulls me in all directions. It gives and takes friends, and pushes me to move miles and miles. My desire to photograph these people in the beginning is what led me to develop such great relationships with them; some being relationships that will last clear on 'til the day I die. I'm really lucky 'cause I never used to be this social."
Brodie’s pictures are authentic and show the beauty of some of America's most overlooked people. These are images captured by a member of the tribe and through a sympathetic lens.
You can see more of his pictures and see a list of upcoming exhibitions on his website.
Aaron McConomy: A Common Crayon
by Mike Giles
Aaron McConomy was born in the fragrant pine forests of Alberta, Canada. Disillusioned after a strict conceptualist education at British Columbia's Simon Fraser University, he was on the brink of giving up art for chess until a chance meeting lead to the formation of the art gang known as the YPF.
Since the founding of the YPF, he has shown extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. His current obsessions include zeppelins, fixed gear bicycles and girls with cute ears. His very first solo show will be at the Garage Gallery in L.A., launching 18 August 2007 for one night only. The show is unofficially officially called "A Common Crayon," which is actually an anagram of Aaron's name and a pretty fine one at that! See more images and a flyer for the show here.
A Common Crayon
18 August 2007, 8pm-midnight
Garage Gallery
4341 Kingswell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027 map
Freakstyle
by Phuong-Cac Nguyen
Freakstyle, a street fashion blog to record the looks of São Paulo's most hip and hot, is the brainchild of three professionals working in the São Paulo fashion world, visual merchandiser Paula Reboredo, journalist Maira Goldschmidt and photo consultant Gilberto Franca. Naturally tapped into the type of circles where peeping their fellow Brazilians' style makes parties a lot more entertaining, the project aims to nail the South American city onto the worldwide street fashion map like Fruits and Street Peeper have done. Showing an international audience what they personally consider is a fabulous style sensibility mixed with the right amount of attitude, the trio on a daily basis navigate the streets and scenes of São Paulo, from club to amusement parks and street fairs, documenting their finds and making new friends. They unabashedly star in some of the photos themselves, because they, after all, are as much a part of the street fashion that inspires them and their blog.
Sean Morris
by Lost At E Minor
The illustration and animation work of Perth based artist Sean Morris is infused with a sense of child-like wonder, offset at times with a slightly gritty and subtle discourse that sits warily just below the surface.
