Cool Stuff Friday

[Photo: Kirk Morales via Unsplash. Illustrations: NYC MTA/ tovovan via Shutterstock]

[Photo: Kirk Morales via Unsplash. Illustrations: NYC MTA/ tovovan via Shutterstock]

Sick of the Subway? One of those people happy grouching over the Subway? Welcome to Brand New Subway, a game where you get to design a subway.

New Yorkers frustrated by the high fares, cramped commutes, and long walking distances to the nearest stop have long loved indulging in the city-wide pastime of playing armchair design critic to the MTA. But is it possible to design a more efficient New York subway system? Like SimCity for subways, Brand New Subway is a new web game that lets you give it a shot—and it just might give you a newfound appreciation for the efficiency of the MTA.

Based upon an accurate map of New York City, the goal of Brand New Subway is to design your own subway line. You do so by putting icons representing existing MTA lines onto the map, with the computer automatically connecting stations into lines by calculating the optimal path between them. Crossovers can also be manually assigned, so that multiple lines form a citywide network.

Where things get interesting is that when you drop a station on the map, Brand New Subway automatically pulls in local data from a variety of sources, including information about population, jobs, transportation demand, taxes, and so on. It then calculates how successful your subway is based on a couple of metrics: how many people it can move on an average weekday, and the cost of a single-ride MetroCard for the network.

You can read more about the game here. Brand New Subway.

Furenexo wants to make assistive tech.

Would you purchase a basic digital camera connected to a 22″ LCD monitor for $3,000?

How about a GPS unit to announce your location for $800?

Unfortunately, a hugely overlooked segment of the population has no choice but to pay these prices for outdated technology – namely, people with disabilities.

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We at Furenexo believe it’s time for Makers to become advocates, and recently launched our Kickstarter campaign to develop low-cost, highly accessible assistive technology using open source hardware and software. We see an amazing opportunity to empower Makers to become “enableists”, and make better things — and things better — for our world.

Why Make Assistive Devices?

– Because advances like Arduino, 3D printing, and object/face/voice recognition are making concepts that were only pipe dreams a few years ago possible.
– Because the challenges faced by people with disabilities have been ignored for so long and any progress could have a deep impact.
– Because nobody needs an “Uber for dry-cleaning” or yet another disco light set-up for Burning Man.
– Because engaging with disability at any level could be a personal challenge outside your comfort zone.
– Because around 49 million Americans (3.8 million of whom are veterans) are affected by some physical or sensory impairment. The economic impact of even slightly reducing some of these challenges people with disabilities face could be profound.
– Because just making something to help a neighbor could earn you a smile and thank you to light up your day, and every day.

There’s much more at Make Magazine. Furenexo’s website.

On fuck ups and flexibility.

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Best laid plans and all that. The large section of background I’m currently working on, I had planned doing in light cocoa, and ultra light mocha. In a stroke of brilliant idiocy, I somehow managed to completely forget about the light cocoa thread when I stocked up on the colours needed for this bit of the tree quilt. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, I’d just get to Joann’s and get more, but I am dire broke, and will be that way for two weeks. Yes, I could work on another bit for two weeks, but I am motivated, right now, to get this section done. I have to go with these motivated moments, because if I stop working this section, it will just turn into a massive chore of tedium, and I’ll find reasons to put it off.

So, a change of plan. I had just enough light cocoa to tie it into the bottom section of light cocoa. As I have 7 skeins of medium cocoa, medium it is. It always pays to be flexible in the face of fuck-ups.

Ornitographies: Xavi Bou.

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Using the 150 year old technique of chronophotography, Spanish photographer Xavi Bou has figured out a way to take pictures of migrating birds while retaining the fluid sense of motion that gives them all their mystery, poetry, and grace.

You can see much more at The Project: Xavi Bou, (horizontal scroll) and read about Ornitographies here. Via Colossal.

Crayola Awesome!

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Herb Williams works in crayon, and his pieces are stunning, pure awesomeness.

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Crayons are a gateway drug. To most adults, the sight and smell of crayons produce specific memories of childhood. The twist in the road to nostalgia is the creation of a new object, from a medium in which it was not intended. This element of unexpected interaction and play had me at hello.

I am one of the only individual wholesalers of crayons in the world. Because I am in pursuit of larger ideas, the playful aspect of my medium is integral to the works of art I’m creating. I can subversively insert a concept that may bloom well after the initial recognition of the form as a familiar children’s implement. To create my work I need to produce sculpture on a grand scale (which takes thousands and thousands of crayons), so I order each color individually packed (3000 to a case) and cut the sticks down to the length I need. I then bond the paper—not the wax—to a form I have carved or cast, completely enveloping the form.

I am interested in identifying iconic objects that society perceives to fit one role and then reintroducing them in different subtexts. Intriguing questions arise when an object associated with childhood, such as a crayon, is used to address issues dealing with more adult matters, such as sexuality, religion, and social hierarchy. The sculptures are childlike in their curious approach to the object as icon, but beguiling and satisfying to me in the use of pure color as form. Larger room installations also add the element of playing to the olfactory sense, as the scent of the wax completely saturates the environment. My intent is to continue to seriously create art that looks at itself unseriously.

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Spend some looking around his galleries, you won’t be disappointed! One of Mr. Williams’s projects was also featured on Colossal.

Traditional With A Twist.

Billing his work as contemporary Navajo pottery, sculptor and graphic artist Gerald A. Pinto is expanding the boundaries of traditional sculpting. Courtesy of the artist.

Billing his work as contemporary Navajo pottery, sculptor and graphic artist Gerald A. Pinto is expanding the boundaries of traditional sculpting. Courtesy of the artist.

Billing his work as contemporary Navajo pottery, sculptor and graphic artist Gerald A. Pinto is expanding the boundaries of traditional sculpting by mixing media such as copper, turquoise and even battery-power into his work in innovative ways.

“I always tell people it blends the past with the present,” says Pinto. “Even though I call it contemporary, I showcase some of the more traditional designs, too.”

Gerald Pinto's Elemental gourd and seed pots. (Courtesy)

Gerald Pinto’s Elemental gourd and seed pots. (Courtesy)

Pinto has been doing pottery for around 28 years, but committed to it full-time after leaving his job with Amtrak in 2003. He credits his family with being his biggest artistic influences and inspirations. “My mom is a weaver and my dad was a silversmith; they taught me a lot about Navajo designs.” His cousin, Dennis Charlie, who is known for his carved pots, encouraged him to pursue the art. “For a while, I was doing pieces similar to his, but over the years, I moved towards my own style.

“I developed it over the years … the copper and the turquoise is how people recognize my work.” Brown pots, that were pit-fired with copper and turquoise, are part of the Elemental Series.

The full article is at ICTMN. Gerald A. Pinto on Facebook.

Marvel: World of Wakanda.

Zenzi, in green, a revolutionary in Wakanda, the home of the Black Panther. Credit Marvel Entertainment

Zenzi, in green, a revolutionary in Wakanda, the home of the Black Panther. Credit Marvel Entertainment.

The world of the Black Panther, the Marvel Comics hero who hails from the fictional African country of Wakanda, is about to get bigger. Marvel announced on Friday a companion series, World of Wakanda, which is to premiere in November.

And just like the current Black Panther series, which is written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author and a national correspondent for The Atlantic, the new comic will be written by newcomers to the industry: the feminist writer Roxane Gay and the poet Yona Harvey.

“My agent was not thrilled that I was taking on another project,” Ms. Gay said. But learning to write comics exercised different creative muscles, which she said she found exciting.

“It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done, and I mean that in the best possible way,” she said.

Her story, written with Mr. Coates, will follow Ayo and Aneka, two lovers who are former members of the Dora Milaje, the Black Panther’s female security force. “The opportunity to write black women and queer black women into the Marvel universe, there’s no saying no to that,” she said.

The first issue of World of Wakanda will include a 10-page second story by Ms. Harvey about Zenzi, a female revolutionary who incited a riot in the first issue of the Black Panther series. Mr. Coates, who recruited both writers, said he thought it was important to have female voices help breathe life into these characters. “The women in Black Panther’s life are very, very important,” he said.

[…]

Having such a diverse group of creators, particularly women, comes at an important time. While superhero comics have been making great strides in the diversity of their characters, the same is not always true of their writers and artists. This disparity was part of the discussion when Marvel revealed that Riri Williams, a 15-year-old black genius, would don Iron Man’s armor. She was created by the writer Brian Michael Bendis, who is white, and the Brazilian artist Mike Deodato.

[…]

But both Mr. Alonso, who is Mexican-American, and Ms. Gay, who is black, understand where fans’ impatience comes from. “In general, people of color are underrepresented in most storytelling,” Ms. Gay said. There is also a frustration, at the onset of change, “when you get sort of a trickle, and you need a flood.”

Mr. Coates, a longtime fan, said he was aware of the arguments about gender and comic books. “We have to open the door,” he said. “It’s not, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there are more women writers, more women creators in comics?’ That would be nice, but in many ways, it is kind of an imperative.”

He recalled an editor at Marvel’s being asked why Captain Marvel, who once wore a revealing costume, switched to a more militaristic uniform. The editor said he wanted his daughter to be able to dress as the hero for Halloween. “The idea is that the world of comic books, the Marvel universe, should be as open to his daughter as it is to my son,” Mr. Coates said. “I think that’s so important.”

Full Story here. Seriously looking forward to this!

Cool Stuff Friday.

Furoshiki-bat

Hanging Animal Furoshiki! Eeeee, so cute!

A fun and adorable, contemporary twist on the furoshiki (風呂敷), a traditional wrapping cloth that’s been around in Japan since the 700s. With a few simple folds these unique furoshiki transform into a carrier that resembles hanging animals that will transport your stuff anywhere!

Literally meaning “bath spread,” furoshiki were used to bundle clothes while at public baths. But nowadays people use them to bundle or gift-wrap all sorts of things like lunches, accessories and bottles of wine or sake. Nothing to carry? You can use it around your neck as a scarf too!

They’re newly available in the Spoon & Tamago Shop for $35.

I must have the bat! Must have.

Now we have what might just be the best candle ever. I think protesters should be bulk ordering these.

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Living in New York, artist Nao Matsumoto had found himself relying on the middle finger gesture quite frequently. But when he nearly sliced off his middle finger while cutting wood in his studio it made him realize the severity of the potential loss – an accident, he says, that would have been equivalent to losing his voice.

So the Brooklyn-based Japanese artist created a series of middle finger candles. Each candle is hand-made by Matsumoto himself and comes from a mold made from his own hand. The candles were originally used to protest the use of nuclear energy in Japan on the anniversary of the March 2011 tsunami.You can read more about the protest Here.

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You can order your very own middle finger candle here.

Meet Chalice, Transgender Comic Hero.

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For the most part, comic books have always kept relatively quiet in a self-contained corner of the entertainment landscape. It’s one of the most inclusive forms of media, dating back to the original X-Men being one big allegory for minorities of all kinds, looked down upon by society and forced to live as second class citizens.

Now, living in the most socially progressive age to date, comic books have flourished, their ever-present trend of inclusion benefiting from the change in global tone regarding the LGBT community, people of color, and other historically underappreciated groups.

In Alters, the first-ever superhero book with a central transgender protagonist by a mainstream writer (Paul Jenkins), a young woman, while transitioning from male to female, discovers she has great power. Now, faced with the discrimination transgender people face on top of that those with mutant-like powers face, life becomes doubly complicated.

The diversity in Alters is also found off the pages, in the team behind creating its main character, Chalice. “It means a lot to me to see trans people represented, especially so prominently,” said Tamra Bonnvillain, a trans colorist for Alters. “So many times in the past we’ve been represented as throwaway characters, and even a lot of more recent positive trans characters are in minor roles.”

Alters #1 goes on sale September 7.

Via Out.