FastCompany Reading Material

I have been awful about keeping up with my newsfeeds. This, I would like to think, due to pressing creative opportunities and generally spending less time on the computer. One other obvious result is a scarcity of posting herein. If you are interested in the business of my days, I am interested in sparking up more penpals, so write me a letter! I would be happy to write back. Late last week, I also sent Miss Lauren Fulner a role-play letter, for which I eagerly await a response. I have already written on that sort of endeavor and want to call on more correspondents if anyone is interested.

But, back to newsfeeds, I have been spending this afternoon whizzing through the last month or so of articles posted on Grist and FastCompany. You can expect a Grist reading list shortly, but at the moment I am having difficulties accessing their website so that I might post the originals. In the meanwhile, if you need some intriguing distractions, check out some of these links. Normally, I post pretty frequently onto the tumblr, but I dislike spreading all of these out since it will basically happen all at once. Besides, this blog posts automatically to the tumblr. It is also a fine means for posting interesting photos, videos, and quotes from books I'm reading.

If you don't know about FastCompany, it is a design-based magazine with a rather vibrant cast of bloggers and journalists. They keep their ears to the ground for green innovations, sustainable design, interactive media, community art, social networking, and tech stuff. Often, it feeds the (I like to think) renaissance geek in me better than Wired, which can be a little too squee-intensive for me--though I try to follow Wired as well. So, enjoy!

Update on the successes of Denver's B-Cycle program - This program has really set me smiling. It has incorporated fantastic design elements, a simple and noble goal, and has apparently been joyously received. Community bikeshares can so easily become mired in the ins and outs of popularity and budgeting, that seeing some of the hype and news about B-Cycle is just inspiring.

The question internal environments of LEED certified buildings - I have become exceedingly skeptical and increasingly disconcerted by LEED certification and its shortfalls. A truly innovative green building certification organization, to my mind, would emphasize simplicity and integration to the gewgaws and pomp that LEED seems to entail. Now, all that new, inexperienced technology has the added deficit of negatively impacting occupant health? That makes the whole program that much more difficult to swallow.

Infographic of the Day: BP's Safety History - For many people, this will not be news; but, until recently, it was significant news to me. FastCompany's infographics range from quirky and funny to thoroughly disparaging. At what point does the government kick in and take the reins of such an atrociously managed company? Even if BP was so wildly successful at greening its brand--if not its actual company--that makes no space for a true failure to maintain safe working conditions for its employees and its surroundings.

A few words of lo-fi design - A playful article with images and video about the rising tide of lo-fi design. Simple and often childish interpretations of menus and the like come with such a delicious glee, I am glad to see it coming. Not only that, but I can't help but connect to the upswing in 8bit aesthetics or the indubitably enjoyable AT&T commercial featuring the song from Willy Wonka.

Augmented Reality game (ARG) senior thesis project with excellent video - Sooner or later, I will directly post the video on tumblr, but since that tag is causing me some grief, I'll post the link. This is a student's senior thesis at Parsons: A light-based, projected environment in which figures collect light to warm their houses, which attracts birds; meanwhile trees pop up around the light. It is an elegant sort of audiovisual tune well worth watching.



A sensually adorned room, replete with surrealist furniture and lighting - I had to post the picture, it is so excellent. Can you imagine the awkward moments of smalltalk on lip-shaped sofas? What about the fantastic innuendo of cocktail banter?

A New York City community art exploration project: Keys to the City - If you're in New York this summer, grab a key to the city and get exploring! This is a fantastically organized community art project in which the "audience" follows clues to various sites where your key to the city works. It also recalls urban exploration, a hiking-esque hobby of unearthing old avenues, tunnels, and under-appreciated sites within abandoned cities.