Personalized Pageflakes

My Pageflakes is organized into three columns to be functional to my needs. The first column contains my most favorite sites, the second is the technical and more career/field related sites and the third column is my resource and academic column. It also includes my personal flakes such as horoscopes, weather, etc. because I plan on using this site after the end of this class.

My RSS Feeds

Overall, I have twelve RSS Feeds on my Pageflakes and they are organized on my left and center column. On the Left is: Notcot, Coolhunting, It’s Nice That, and GorillavsBear to have a variety of artistic sites (Graphic Design, Music, Product Design, etc.) In my Center Column is KitsuneNoir, Joshspear.com, MocoLoco, I Believe in Advertising and a Fashion section.

The reason why I placed Notcot and KitsuneNoir on top of each column are because they are my favorite sites and one of the few RSS feeds that could show multiple thumbnails. I’m a very visual person so thumbnails and some text are my ideal browsing methods. It is easy for me to track back what I clicked on by the thumbnails I see.

The next best site I check is Coolhunting. I formatted this with the same technique as Notcot because I find both the sites similar and complimentary to each other. Both of these sites are the core of my blog clickings because of the vast amount of relevant links they have on their page. My practices of checking this flake is similar to Notcot’s.

With all my other feeds, I have the simple default image for the most recent updated article included with the text for the feeds because they do not post as much as Coolhunting or Notcot. I find it more convenient and tidy if I visually set these flakes to a minimal. However, for the Sartorialist and other fashion blogs I visually displayed them as a 4×3 grid for me to easily scroll and click through their posts. I took advantage of this Pageflake feature since these blogs rarely have any text written. It’s also aesthetically pleasing to see and easy to grab considering their positions as last in the Center column. These fashion sites also do not update as frequently as my most prized sites because they are centralized on one topic and/or they only have one other, whereas sites like Coolhunting have various writers.

My Active Searches

My active searches are located in the third column where it is labeled “Resource Tools”. They are both Universal searches for Blog and News. I have no problem finding information and blogs for my topics and it is very convenient for me to find material to work with. After several attempts with different keywords, I settled with “Art Design” as my Universal Search words. At times I switch it to “Creative Design” or “Art Advertising”. I see results of a lot of similar brand names like Ksubi or blogs about design. I have not found the Universal News flake personally useful, but it still yields similar results like my Universal Blog keywords.

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Nike x Steve Nash = Eco-Friendly Shoe

Nike might have a problem controlling their sweatshop free production, but one thing they’re trying to do in good service is creating the first ever eco-friendly performance shoe. The idea was emerged by Steve Nash, the professional basketball guard for the Phoenix Suns. This is a great innovation as Nike is now tapping into the green audience and gearing their attention on creating more eco-friendly products. This is a definite change in direction for this company, considering the billions of products they produce yearly.

Just like the new Jordan’s both shoes reach a state of eco-conscious production, but Steve Nash topped Jordan by creating a full on recycled shoe. Here are the specs:

* The upper is pieced together from leather and synthetic leather waste from the factory floor using zig-zag stitching.
* The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory production
* The outsole uses environmentally-preferred rubber that reduces toxics and incorporates Nike Grind* material from footwear outsole manufacturing waste.
* The Phoenix Suns’ colorways will have shoe laces and sockliners which use environmentally-preferred materials and will be packaged in a fully recycled cardboard shoe box.

Of course, the new trend of collaborating brands and celebrities makes this product a limited edition shoe. There will be three different color ways aside from the Phoenix Sun themed colors shown above.

This is the beginning of Nike’s effort to create all their footwear products to meet “baseline or exceed all their baseline standards to set in their sustainability index” by 2011. By 2015, they will include this attempt with their apparel, and by 2020, all their equipment.
It’s nice to see major companies setting high standards for themselves let alone have programs like Nike Grind that focuses solely on recycling their shoes for reproduction or creating eco-friendly turfs for sports.

X’s over O’s

B

Radiohead x Amplive

Ever since stumbling on this free download, my ears will not relinquish my headphones. This amazing sample from Amplive mixes mellow beats, funk and bass intertwined with the eerie voice of Thom Yorke. Although this mix wasn’t officially allowed by Radiohead, it did embrace their trend-setting example of providing it free for hip hop and Radiohead enthusiasts everywhere.

The best part of these tracks are that you could still hear the melodies and Radiohead’s distinctive, electronic sound mixed with Amplive’s style. I must admit, I think I’ve listened to this album more times in the past week than I did with the original Radiohead In Rainbows CD. Rappers such as Del the Funky Homosapien, Too $hort and MC Zumbi also add the edge to this sampler, making tracks thump so vibrantly in my ears, I feel no reason to take it my earphones off.

This man has amazing talent and a wide range of appreciation for all music. He even samples Bjork! Seeing the collaboration of different genre’s and artists creates a great excitement in me because it shows how people are now becoming more open minded to new music.

Since I’m such an avid music hunter, seeing artists from all spectrums collide is the most pleasant surprise to my ear lobes. What is revolutionary about this release is that Amplive used his Myspace and Youtube to create buzz about his sample. This was the same for DJ Danger Mouse when he sampled the Beatles White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album, creating the infamous Grey Album. This is a definite shift from non-signed artists creating a name for themselves and providing phenomenal free music. This is definitely a trend I’d love to see more.

Here’s a sample of my favorite track off the Rainydayz album:Amplive – Nudez (ft. Too $hort & MC Zumbi)

X’s over O’

B.

Social bookmarker — jungshih

Never could I imagine I would find such a fine person that can relate, empathize and understand my passionate urges for art, culture and design. If only social book marking could be somehow presented when meeting a person for the first time, then I wouldn’t have such a problem finding a significant other. As for now, I must settle for ‘jungshih’, which I may add, doesn’t mean settling for less.

I always found it helpful when I find blogs that are internationally acclaimed or if they are produced outside of the U.S. It is somewhat known that art and culture are more defined in countries like London, Japan or Hong Kong. However, the most prominent country for art and commerce is America.

Jungshih’s bookmarks provide me with this type of diversity I need for this blogsite. Her bookmarks range from Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Holland, Japan and much more. I found jungshih browsing through the people that added kitsunenoir to their bookmarks because it is a small and independent website that I find much credibility for. I felt that kitsunenoir represented the areas of my interest precisely, therefore it was the number one option in using to find my soul mate. Since it is a small site, it was easier to filter out individuals and find the perfect social bookmarker that will make my heart content.

From what it seems, she/he is a graphic designer looking for inspiration for her work. Amongst the bookmarks, are various sites of product designers, illustrators, photography, graphic designers and blog websites. Jungshih has roughly 157 bookmarks and from observation, he/she bookmarks fairly frequently. The most recent bookmark was about 14 hours ago and even before that was 18. This is useful for me because I can check back as frequently as I do with blog sites to see if there are any new bookmarks I should consider clicking. The bookmarking practices that are helpful is that jungshih makes notes and tags simple, with the medium, the country, and an adjective to describe the website. In her early practices, he/she didn’t leave any tags or descriptions, but then after a couple of bookmarks, jungshih realized how much more convenient it was to have description considering the rate of bookmarks he/she does in a month.

Seeing the majority of the websites that are bookmarked, they are great references for potential stories that I could make. Although jungshih may only have a few blogsites that are frequently updated, he/she provides me with countless amounts of artist sites where I could find updates and inspirations for my entries. Pages like +designastrator+ , Corey Arnold, or Hektor are the type of sites jungshih tends to bookmark. As you can see, they’re sites from around the world and all mediums of design/photography/fashion. This is a much better way for me to find stories to write rather than choosing posts from other bloggers websites. Since it is such a wide range of art mediums there is endless amounts of material I could browse. With this advantage, I have an opportunity to create my own persona, taste, character and voice.

One great gem I found was I Believe in Advertising. In many senses, art is used for commercial advertisements such as Zoo York, Audi, Beer, Water etc. This site frequently updates with advertisements that show certain collaborations, humor and celebrity endorsements. This is especially important in my field because it is good to know what celebrity is doing what or what brands are merging with certain artists. The site also gives references of what agencies made the advertisements, illustrators, art directors that are a great asset for future research and topics. There is also a ‘context’ section for most of the posts for an understanding why a company chose the certain concept for their advertisements. This site is the perfect reference for my future work.

Jungshih sure shined a light and expanded my network of knowledge. Even though I believe there are many fishes in the sea, jungshih won my heart through the social bookmarking practices and exquisite taste for design, art and culture. If this doesn’t work out, I might just have to start fishing again.

Viscious del.icio.us

The del.icio.us social bookmarking site sure satisfied my appetite for art, culture and design. The system delivered to me the perfect results to help with my blog, with the most simplistic format for browsing. When I typed in the keywords: art design culture, the results were exactly what I was looking for. The most useful tool was the small description under the blog title:

The words that were easier to browse than tags. Since my three keywords were generic, the other sites like Simpy or Digg picked up tags that were too broad. These descriptions were more refined for me to pick and choose which link to click on.

What I found ironic about my search was that in the first page of results, there were blog sites that were familiar to me. I wasn’t so fond of the idea of using social bookmarking for my blog because the daily blogs I read have links to blogs synonymous to their own. However, I was able to find results that had more personal blogs with a lot of credibility rather than the more bigger blogs I frequently visit. It was exciting to find more blogs to add to my daily visit because it helps broaden my range of knowledge and material to write about.

One site I didn’t like was CiteULike. The site had a bad format that looked more like advertisements than legitimate results and aimed at more scholarly and academic links. I did not find this useful because I need blog sites that update more frequently to be on top of news.

My second choice aside from del.icio.us would have been Netvouz because it gave me similar results. The only part I disliked was the format of the results compared to the more simple results of del.icio.us. Overall, my best bet for most up-to-date sites would be the magnificent del.cio.us that not only gives me the desired results but also cuts back the time I need to browse.

James Jean x Prada

Whoever thinks that fashion is purely superficial, here is my chance to convince you otherwise. Taking fashion to another level, James Jean collaborates with Prada for their Spring/Summer 2008 campaign. His fable-like, illustrious designs inspire the dynamic looks of such a prominent fashion mogul.James Jean’s art work displays romantic imagery of an imagining world we all wish to live in. In his collaboration with Prada, he takes his style and embodies it with the feminine mystique. His elaborate curves, patterns, and characters personify Prada’s Spring/Summer 2008 line.

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(1) Kitsunenoir.com — Bobby S.

The term “kitsune” comes from the Japanese language referring to a fox that possess a wealth in knowledge and wisdom. As for “noir” it always possess an artistic connotation. Put these two together, the title “Kitsunenoir” personifies the character of this blog. Bobby S.’s blog contains a nice layout, simple and clean format, personalize yet professional writing, and no obnoxious advertisements. His posts are detailed and simple to follow for anyone who stumbles on his page. Bobby makes clear and concise posts about his subjects and explains his subjects thoroughly so anyone could understand– not just any art and culture enthusiast. Most of his posts pertain to visual design by well-known and unknown artists but are not limited to product design and entertainment.

Like Andrew Sullivan, Bobby S. has short entries in which you could sense his style and brevity. The short posts show his very casual personality and art enthusiasm but also keeping his writing professional. He also adds humor occasionally to display his interest in a certain product release or art piece. An example of this is through his USB-stylist Friends with You post.

In the beginning of the post, he introduces the collaboration of Mimobots with Friends With You! and then expresses how he thinks how this might not be useful to him. However, I like how he is sarcastic with his diction and phrases because it provides his blog with a personal voice,

“Sure they’re cute, but personally I don’t need to carry around a tiny action figure friend to keep my files on…But I’ve been in love with Friends With You forever it feels like, so I’d be much more inclined to buy one.”

He interrupts his sentences with “personally” and “feels like” to really personalize his posts.
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Shepard Fairey x Obama

If you’re questioning who Shepard Fairey is, you could sense that his design and style are very familiar to your eyes. Fairey is known to do the designs for Obey Giant and is a very socially awared artist for this generation. Through the elections, it has been evident that he supports Obama and expresses this by releasing these limited edition posters. The posters were on sale yesterday, but sold out in minutes. All the proceeds went to a large statewide poster campaign that he will be creating.

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(2) Wendy Lam’s Nitrolicious.com

Don’t be fooled by the playful name, nitrolicious.com is a site filled with the most up-to-date and sophisticated articles about fashion, culture, art, and entertainment. The writer for this blog, Wendy Lam, has been noted in Paris Vogue and Monday Magazine in Hong Kong. During Fall, Spring, or Summer RTW (Ready-to-Wear) or Fashion week, her postings are explosive including the months of January when companies begin to announce their campaign launches. Like many art and culture enthusiasts, Wendy Lam, aka retrogurl, lives in New York and bases her post around the New York/Manhattan area. However, her posts are not limited to the New York scene, but include metropolitan cities also. Her best posts are usually her thorough explanations of Target and their emergence with other higher end brands. One example is her Converse x Target collaboration:

Converse for Target

Iconic eyelet grommets and half-moon details adorn pieces in the collection, calling attention to the brand’s signature style and vintage vibe. Varsity jackets, knit jersey tanks and fitted Henleys cater to the easygoing tomboy while A-line tunics and lace-trim camisoles in flirty fabrics and subdued shades appeal to the style-conscious woman. For summer, mixing the shine of silk with matte jersey fabrics on everyday pieces creates exciting ways to dress up a weary wardrobe.

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(3) Hello to the art world and beyond!

Motorola crosses with the Academy Awards, H&M merges with Cavalli, Vans with Varvatos, Fossil watches with Gehry. Welcome to the world of “x”–the world of crossing effects in art and commerce. In this blog, I will be talking about how brand names are now collaborating with artists and/or other brands to be able to gain more revenue for their company. There is also the emergence of high-end and street fashion that has been popping up in daily conversations. This trend has becoming very popular with major companies and I’m here to inform and talk about the latest scoop. The purpose is to update as frequently as possible (as the trends may die) and to find what’s new and what everyone is talking about let alone contextualize how it might effect the  political, social and most importantly, economic climate.

One major sneaker company Vans, has collaborations with artists like Iron Maiden and Converse with John Varvatos, etc. Others merge with electronics like the iPhone with AT&T. However, there are often times other brands don’t collaborate solely for revenue, but to gain a certain status as a company. LG with Prada and D&G with Motorola exemplifies how a necessary object becomes a superficial object. There will be much mentioning on clothing brands, architecture, graphic artists, photographers and many other art mediums that I consider art (music, film, etc.) Many of my sources will be coming from a wide array of sites:

Hypebeast
This site usually has updates about the urban and streetwear culture.

Kitsunenoir
One of my favorite sites about art, design, and culture with a more sophisticated splash.

Notcot
This site has more updates on electronic collaboration and higher end fashion.

Nitro:licious
Fashion for the female eye.

My blog will be discussing why a certain company chose a particular artist to represent them and how it may be effecting culture and/or other competitors. I hope you all enjoy the following posts and consider the moving effects of a companies’ emergence into the art world.

X’s over O’s

B.N.