Flavorpill's Planetarium Party Ticket Giveaway

by Tim Yu

Flavorpill's One Step Beyond Party is taking over the American Museum of Natural History once again this upcoming Friday, 14 September 2007, this time with Bonde Do Role, Plastic Little and King Britt. After a short summer hiatus, the party comes back bigger than ever with some Brazilian baile funk and quick-witted raps. We're not sure the Hall of the Universe will be able to contain it. If it gets too hot and sweaty for you, wander around the museum or put your feet up and take in a show at the Planetarium. It's a family friendly place so there's something for everyone, however the party is 21+.

Tickets are $20 here and a pass to the museum for future use is included. Luckily Cool Hunting has a few tickets to giveaway. Follow the contact link at the bottom of the page, select "One Step Beyond" from the pull-down menu and tell us your favorite constellation before Thursday, 13 September 2007, 11:59pm EST. We'll chose a winner at random from the entries.

American Natural History Museum
Rose Center for Earth and Space
81st Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West
New York, NY 10024 map
tel. +1 212 769 5200

Drum Pants

by Josh Rubin

Wearing these pants turns you into a musician and instrument. Tyler Freeman, aka Odbal, inserted touch sensitive patches into the pants which allows wearers to tap out all sorts of beats on themselves. Hooked up to a computer and amp, the pants are capable of producing a multitude of sounds. Check out the video above to see them in action.

More videos at Fresh Creation.

Rewrite Notebooks

by Jacob Resneck

Here's an environmentally friendly offering just in time for the autumn back-to-school season. Crafted entirely of recycled materials, Rewrite is a 40-page college-ruled notebook printed with soy-based inks on standard 8"x10" sheets. Using Grays Harbor Paper's Harbor 100, a high quality printing and writing paper, it contains absolutely zero virgin fiber material.

Rewrite comes from Sustainable Group, a Seattle-based company committed to reducing America's environmental footprint through high-quality products (from binders to printer labels) made entirely from recycled fibers. Though you have to order in bulk (also a boon for the environment), you can purchase items online—a case of 20 Rewrite notebooks is $60 from Rewrite.

Latinbeat Film Festival 2007

by Ami Kealoha

From the crossover successes of Mexican power trio Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu Mamá También), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros), and Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), to the first film produced in Paraguay in 30 years receiving a top prize at Cannes, there's been something undeniably urgent and exciting about Latin American cinema in recent years.

Since 1997, the curators of Latinbeat have scoured the Romance language speaking countries of the Americas, procuring copies of the region's best new works, and organizing them into an annual festival presented by New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center.

This year's selections are especially diverse, running the gamut from more conventional comedies and thrillers, to austere arthouse dramas and contemplative personal essay films, offering an accurate picture of the wide variety of works produced in these Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Here are some highlights of the festival, running through 18 September 2007:

Paraguyan Hammock
It was the commissioning by the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna that allowed the production of this first Paraguayan feature since the 1970s, a contemplative glimpse into the lives of an aging couple made up of beautifully small moments. (Pictured above right.)

Whisky
The second feature by the leading figures of a burgeoning Uruguyan cinema, this film set in an around a rundown sock factory in Montevideo displays a mastery of deadpan humor on par with the best work by Jim Jarmusch.

Pinta the Bird and Temporal
These two shorts, both revolving around pairs of children in tiny remote villages, are the first two Central American films (from El Salvador and Costa Rica, respectively) to be included in the festival; a rare chance to glimpse works from a nascent but promising region.

Four Breakthroughs from Mexicos New Cinema
This year's sidebar program revisits a handful of groundbreaking works that helped define the recent Mexican New Wave: the violently intersecting lives of Amores Perros, the adolescent malaise of Duck Season, the unsettling landscapes of Japón, and the tragic true story of Violet Perfume.

For more info on these films and others in the program, and to purchase tickets, visit the Film Society of Lincoln Center website.

by Michael Talbott

Keiichi Tanaami: DayDream

by Fiona Killackey

Shibuya's Nanzuka Underground Gallery presents one of Japan's (and the world's) masters of experimental film, graphic design and illustration, Keiichi Tanaami. His new exhibition, "DayDream," opens this October. (Click images for detail.)

Tanaami has been delivering eclectic, quirky and above all, original work since his inception into the art world in the 1960s. Psychedelic, avant-garde, alluring and outrageous elements permeate Tanaami's pieces, many of which have been the source of acclaim in films, art books, album covers and posters. It's a must-see exhibition by one of the most influential Japanese artists of our time.

DayDream
27 October-23 December 2007
Nanzuka Underground Gallery
Shibuya Ibis Building
B1F 2-17-3
Shibuya Tokyo
Japan
tel. +03-3400-0075

Slow and Steady Pop Up Store

by Tim Yu

Mary Ping's Slow and Steady Wins the Race has garnered quite the cult following. In celebration of five years of abstract exploration, Ping brought her entire oeuvre of limited-edition pieces to the Lower East Side's Sol Moscot Optical Shop. Opened this past Saturday, 8 September 2007, for one week, the store will be selling its reservoir of wares for $100 a pop, including these sunglasses that channel a Weird Science intellect but still manage to score screen star glamour. Read more...

8-13 September 2007, 11am-7pm daily

Slow and Steady Pop Up Store (at Sol Moscot Eyewear)
118 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002 map

by Loryn Hatch