Cool Hunting
| 14 August 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Maoz
by Seth Brau
Maoz, a vegetarian falafel chain that originated in Europe, has finally made its way to New York. With green geometrically patterned walls, bright lights and a clean, simple menu, walking into Maoz is like entering a healthy middle eastern wonderland. Serving fresh falafal balls and juices, the centerpiece of the spot is a beautifully-laid out salad bar like no other.
When one thinks salad bar, picked over, day-old lettuce and shredded carrots come to mind, but Maoz serves none of that. More like everything from perfectly grilled and seasoned broccoli to two different variations of fresh cabbage and amazing pickles—it's all delicious at Maoz. To top it all off, their selection of sauces (my personal favorite part) includes yogurt, garlic, and Tahini. They offer a few different options, some including grilled eggplant and hummus and also Belgian french fries, which were pretty good even though they had that healthy french fry kind of feel.
Supposedly you can take as much as you want from the salad bar but on my fifth trip back I started getting some weird looks from employees. I only wish they had bigger bowls.
Go here to see all their locations worldwide.
Off the Grid
by Jacob Resneck
A two-year project, " Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa" is a 64-minute documentary that looks at a small, hardscrabble community in the New Mexico desert of denizens who have chosen a life of independence outside the normal conformities and boundaries of modern society.
It's a study of the runaways, vets and voluntary outcasts who live there and what happens when a community removes itself from mainstream civilization. Rather than becoming uncivilized, instead it enforces its own sense of law and order, right and wrong. When confronted with a thief in their midst, the well-armed and opinionated citizenry must grapple with instilling ad-hoc law and order in which justice is served while humanity is preserved.
"Off the Grid" premiered at the Slamdance FIlm Festival in January and has been touring the festival circuit since. Shooting began in 2005 and is principally the creation of filmmakers Eric Juhola and Randy and Jeremy Stulberg. A DVD should be available soon. In the meantime, watch the 2:24 trailer or catch the NY premiere at Lincoln Center this Thursday, 16 August 2006, or next week as part of Slamdance's run of docs at the IFC on 21 August 2007.
FILE
by Phuong-Cac Nguyen
Now in its eighth year, the annual Electronic Language International Festival (FILE) is one of the biggest international events in São Paulo, bringing together recent techniques in art and technology and giving them a more studied view. This year's FILE, always free to the public, presents a diverse roster of disciplines related to new media, i.e. interactive films, video works, robots, A.I., games and more.
But it's not just a nerd event. A performance piece stars an umbrella called Amagatana that when swung sounds like a swashbuckling sword fight. (Pictured below left.) Amagatana is also MP3-connectible so you can presumably sing in the rain while slashing with the beat.
In the installations category, Karolina Sobecka's animated tiger (pictured above right), projected from a car, appears to run along walls, disappearing and reappearing as the image moves over surfaces. In addition, 30 lectures and roundtables make up the symposium schedule for academics to discuss theory and new media issues.
From the ReacTable, bizarre sound board that starred in Bjork's recent Coachella show, to Ernesto Klar's dust particle visualizations, FILE is like a world's fair of art and technology with an abundance of novelties vying for attendees' attention. The event runs until 9 September 2007.
Nike Considered: Long Ball Lace
by Tim Yu
We've never had a problem getting behind Nike Considered's eco-consciousness, but there have only been a few styles that we'd actually, er, consider wearing. Following suit, new to the Considered family and taking a page from the Footscape series, Nike introduces the Long Ball Lace. With the looks of a deconstructed baseball, it's not really for me. But it's environmental cred is even more impressive than before. Entirely woven, it's made without any glues or chemicals and replaces the rubber footbed with cork, making it completely biodegradable and fully sustainable—100% of it can be recycled. Available here for ¥14,170.
More images, including the slip-on version, here.
Also on Cool Hunting: Nike Considered Blazer
Chris Dent
by Lost At E Minor
The intricate pen-based work of U.K. illustrator Chris Dent captures the density and intrigue of some of the world's most interesting cities.
