"Jetman" Yves Rossy: Now With More Loops

In the culmination of the best part of my childhood dreams (that didn't involve a spacecraft equipped with a hyperdrive), Yves Rossy, alias Jetman, has just released this video of him performing outrageous aerial feats with a bit of carbon fiber and two model jet engines strapped to his back.  That's not even a cursory explanation, that's literally what it is (okay that's not strictly true, but it is more or less an accurate description for those of us who aren't jet propulsion and/or aeronautical experts).

Having already demonstrated his prowess with the Grand Canyon as the backdrop for a previous YouTube sensation, this newest video takes things higher, to the Alps in his native Switzerland.  The video above isn't his first flight among Europe's tallest peaks, but if you take the time to browse the video of his previous flights, you can see his repertoire of maneuvers and skill at handling his invention are only getting better.

The specs for this incarnation of the wing have it weighing in at 55 kg fully fueled with a 2 meter span.  The power comes from four Jet-Cat P200 engines putting out 22 kg of thrust.  All of this combines to fire Yves through the air at an average speed of 200 km/h, and up to 300 km/h on descent.  

The controls?  Well, according to his site, the Jetman flies with "nothing but his body and feelings."  In effect, he uses the Force with a parachute and some rocket fuel strapped to his back.  Remarkable, amazing, and long may he continue unmaimed.

via Colossal

Rivendell Mountain Works

Whilst browsing the internet in the midst of my morning bout of incapacitating, insomniac anxiety, I came across a post on one of my old standbys (Cool Hunting) about a collaboration pack from some man and Rivendell Mountain Works.  I was immensely pleased, and I'll tell you why:

Rivendell, for anyone who hasn't seen a film in the last ten years, is a mountain refuge of the elves in JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, of Lord of the Rings fame.  It is, I am not ashamed to say, a book I've read many many, many many many times.  Expecting, therefore, some young bucks who were fresh out of college and inspired by Peter Jackson's truncated, abridged, and otherwise inadequate trilogy, I was surprised to learn that this cottage business had its roots in the early 1970s.

The packs are "vintage remakes" of designs from a time before Gore-Tex and aluminum alloy frames were commonplace, let alone widely available, and therefore evoke some of the romance not only of a simpler time in this world, but of the fantastic adventures of Elves and Men in the mind of Tolkien.

And THAT, good people, is enough nerdish wistfulness for one morning's work.

The website, by the designer's own admission, is a bit crude, but full-sized packs appear to run around $175, and being a small operation, you can have a unique input into how yours is made.  Available in "Kheled-Zaram" Blue, "Dragon-Fire" Orange, "Shire" Clay, and "Emyn Muil" Brown.  Shop and learn more about the community here.

C215 Stencils in Barcelona

Stencil artwork by C215 of Paris.  I'll tell you a secret: C215 probably stands for Cris.  L337speak veteran up in this.

via juxtapoz

M.I.A. Bad Girls

I was fairly dismayed when I saw the peerless Maya Arulpragasam selling out on Super Bowl Sunday with that old lady who has sold lots of records, but then I saw this video and it made me feel much better. After her unanimously panned 2010 album MAYA, this British Tamil sounds like she's back to her best.

 The video is by Romain Gavras and is exceptional in that it combines the desert, dirty rap, and German automobiles on two wheels. Four minutes well spent.

Y-3 Honja Low

Here's a look at the new Honja Low sneaker from the collaboration brand by Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto, Y-3. I'm of the school of thought that denim is really only fit to be worn on the legs (unless there's a dire emergency, like having four legs and no appropriate attire for the two that are located where your arms should be), but these beauties have been done up tastefully (and well they should for $250, because you could buy two pairs of designer jeans or a denim tent for that price).

Like: the stylish bronze finish on the leather. Bosh, as they say in certain parts of the white world.
Dislike: giant Y-3 logo on the heel and tongue (click on the P & B link below to see better pics, it's all Flash and I'm lazy so the one up top is all you get).

Available at Park & Bond for the aforementioned exorbitant price of $250.

via hypebeast

Hokusai Manga

For the art lover, Japanophile or shameless hipster in your life, consider this ponderous 970 page tome containing the 15 separate sketchbooks, or manga, of Edo-period illustrator Katsushika Hokusai.

Best known for his masterpiece The Great Wave of Kanagawa, which is my favorite work of art bar none, Hokusai painted and made woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style. His great inspiration was Fuji-san, or Mt. Fuji. His collection of prints titled Thirty-Six Views of Fuji-san--of which The Great Wave is a part--is the most famous series of prints in the genre.

The book itself is a collection of his sketches and drawings, which start with a demonstration of his style of geometrical construction, which is basically exactly what it sounds like: building a drawing based on geometric shapes.

The rest of the pages are filled with his playful and seemingly effortless sketches and prints.

This is a real bargain over at Amazon for $43.

via CoolHunting

People People Speaker

So I was going to write a big HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2011 in all capital letters and make it like six pages long with a bunch of cool stuff in it. I didn't end up doing that. Instead, I'm going to make a bunch of separate posts, because my SEO consultant told me that keeping one's blog updated is important for the current Google search metrics, which in turn are important to boost traffic. To be honest I don't really know why I care about that given that I don't make a red cent off this space, but everybody likes to be noticed I guess.

Anyway, the People People Speaker will be my next audio purchase if it is reasonably priced. Actually, it has to be reasonably priced AND the box has to be able to open up so I can clean it, which I totally could because the speaker is assembled at home "IKEA style."

Also, my friend Glenn said that he could see a cat ending up in there at some point, which is probably true. I've included a picture of my cat at the bottom of this post for your review.

The speaker operates via a wifi connector and is designed to "blend in to any living room out there." Oh, and they practice sustainable shipping, so, hey hey!

Anyway, as you could infer from the above, price is TBA. The website for the project is located beyond this hyperlink.



via uncrate

AVICII

Minneapolis! You must see this man on the decks. January 6 at Epic. Tickets here. I'm just a fan, not a schlepp. This is good music. I wouldn't even tell you about it but it just so happens I have my tickets already, so we're good. You're welcome.

Art Deco Superheroes by Grégoire Guillemin

I'm a pretty big nerd. When I was a kid, it was all about Star Wars, video games, and comics. I'm also a bit of a designophile, particularly illustration and architecture. If you've looked at even the first page of this blog you probably picked up on that, rendering the above a statement of the most redundant variety, but words are necessary to take some of the pressure off of the images and video, and to prove that I'm not an entirely lazy creature.

Anyway, illustrator Grégoire Guillemin re-imagines some recent stars of the big screen in some beautiful illustrations. I'll just plop my favorites down here and you can have a gander. Available for purchase at the artist's website.



via io9

Landscapes by Dustin Farrell

Wow. Two out of the three parts of Dustin Farrell's photo/video/whatever project titled Landscapes. Made with a Canon 5D2 DSLR, "every clip is a RAW image sequence (5616 x 3744) that I rendered out as a 1080P 23.976fps Quick Time movie. The motion control is achieved using servo motors," according to the artist.

The shots were mostly taken in Goblin Valley State Park in Arizona. You'll probably notice some other prominent natural monuments in the two sequences as well though.

Wow.

via highsnobiety