America is Weird.

One of my favorite parts of living in Philadelphia is the odd mash-up of bougie-international-nerdy-hipster-eccentric characters that you can find in one place, at any given moment.

I was reminded of this particular urban charm on Sunday, when a few of us decided to bike up to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Fairmount Park.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride, a picnic—and everything else that ensued. Among the attractions:

1. Japanese tea gardens, and group demonstrations of traditional Japanese weaponry.

2. Kimonos, Gothic Lolitas, kites, face paint, platform shoes and adorable children holding paper parasols.

3. Feathered nunchucks (no kidding!)

4. Cherry blossoms, and a series of cat-embroidered flags.

5. A Japanese punk rock/rap group that kept the jams pumping (whether this was a good or bad thing is debatable)

6. A “Pretty in Pink” dog costume competition. Soukie took home the prize, with Pickles in a close second.

7. A quick zip by the Plateau, known to pop-culture enthusiasts as the place where The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff have their fly picnic in the Summertime music video.

Needless to say, it was an awesome day. Check out the photos below, (courtesy of Ro & Kelly). Feel free to go Sartorialist on this blog and comment on your favorite look. I suggest you listen to this song while perusing the photos.

THE SCENE

this flag can be purchased at shepelavy.com:

THE LOLITAS

Gothic Lolitas checking out the Sweet Lolita picnic:

Sweet Lolita picnic:

the girl in the sunglasses is awesome:

Michael Jackson-inspired menswear:

THE YOUNG’NS

THE CULTURE

THE RANDOS

The Mad Hatter:

Look close. It’s a goat! In a tutu!:

I call her Socks:

For all the Philadelphians out there who are sad they missed the spectacle, have no fear. You still have this to look forward to.

Whole Lotta Love

We’ve been getting a lot of love from some of our favorite pubs of late. Print Mag recently released its New Visual Artists Issue. Mikey Burton, 160over90 designer extraordinaire, was recognized and among the work they highlighted was spreads from the Loyola Viewbook. Jonathan Calugi, who we partnered with for the De’Longhi Artista Series was also included in this select group as was his laser-etched espresso machine.

The agency was also recognized in the 2010 HOW International Design Annual. In the 3D objects category we received a Merit award for the Optimism Script Chair created for Design Within Reach, Philadelphia. We also received a Merit award for Use Your You Viewbook we developed for Wheeling Jesuit University.

Thanks for the love the Print and HOW.

Whiz-bang!

I have a theory that books find you when they’re supposed to—even if you’re a little behind the curve of, say, society as a whole. I guess this is what happened to me a few months ago when I first picked up Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, an epic story that tells the story of two cousins who take the 1940s comic book world by storm. It may have been published a good nine years ago, but I first read Chapter One just this past Christmas, during a snowy afternoon spent in downtown Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore. Chabon’s one of those novelists who writes in a way that makes you imagine characters living in an augmented, Technicolor reality. The one that we all secretly wish we lived in.

I didn’t get the book that day (big mistake), and consequently spent the next few weeks mulling over the imagery burned into my mind by that initial 20 pages. So after finally buying and consuming Kav & Clay in a flurried week of midnight oil, I proceeded to do what I always do with a favorite new writer: binge on everything he or she has ever written.

Next on my list was Maps and Legends, a book of essays (and easily the most beautiful book jacket I’ve ever seen—thanks McSweeney’s) in which Chabon defends the idea that literature should actually be entertaining.  Strange as it may sound, Chabon’s decidedly comic book-inspired style is something of an anomaly in the literary world, where writers are often bogged down by self-importance, or lack the kind of imaginative freewheeling that makes Chabon so exhilarating to read. He proves that pop-culture and literary clout can coexist.

Particularly interesting is Chabon’s belief in the roles that risk-taking and magic-seeking should play in writing:

“Literature, like magic, has always been about the handling of secrets, about the pain, the destruction, and the marvelous liberation that can result when they are revealed… If a writer doesn’t give away secrets, his own or those of the people he loves; if she doesn’t court disapproval, reproach, and general wrath, whether of friends, family, or party apparatchiks; if the writer submits his work to an internal censor long before anyone else can get their hands on it, the result is pallid, inanimate, a lump of earth.”

In a sense, he simply articulates what it is that gives words—just an assortment of letters on a blank page—any sort of power over human emotions.

This week I finished The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and Wonder Boys is next. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Drunk History

April 7th is Repeal Day, the annual celebration of our freedom to go out and get Mel Gibsoned anytime we want. On this day in 1933, after a long, dry, violent 14 years, Prohibition was repealed and alcohol was officially back on the market for legal sale, proving that the world is in fact a better place with booze. And I don’t just mean that in the obvious way. You see, in 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party pretty much built their whole campaign on the promise to repeal the prudish 18th Amendment outlawing alcohol. And that he did, within his first few months in office. He then proceeded to pull America out of The Great Depression, create several million jobs, get elected to an unprecedented four terms and help the Allies win WWII. All thanks to a belief that everyone should be allowed to walk into a bar and order their alcoholic drink of choice. So go ahead. Get out there and exercise your right to get drunk. However, if your drink of choice happens to be an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, you may be in for a surprise. More to come on that story.

Ludacrisps

Do you believe in buried treasure? I didn’t either. Then yesterday on my walk home from work something on the ground caught my eye. A diamond? No. A shiny quarter? Nope. This item was a combination of two amazing forces – too good to be true. In fact, when I picked it up I expected to be on the receiving end of an April Fool’s joke. But after examining this item, and realizing that my hand was not in fact covered in dog feces, I found that I was in possession of something miraculous.

This item was a bag of Rap Snacks. A .875oz., 25-cent bag of ‘Bar-b-quin with my Honey’ Flavored Chips. Rap Snacks combines the image of hip-hop artists with the salty deliciousness (the BBQ have 200 mg of sodium per serving) of a variety of potato chip flavors. But the most amazing thing about Rap Snacks is the seemingly incongruous relationship between the artist endorsing the snack, the name of the chip and the messaging that appears on the bag. For example:

Murphy Lee
Pimp Education
Red Hot Riplets

Dirt McGirt
Think Responsibly
Sour Cream & Onion

Stat Quo
Pursue Your College Degree
Sour Cream & Cheddar

Baby
Stay Away From Guns
Bar-B-Quin’ with my Honey

Pretty Willie
Love Your Neighbor
Salsa Cheese

I would have loved to have been part of the discussion where they came up with these groupings. I wonder which groupings didn’t make the cut? Or could you imagine being on the conference call where they contacted Murphy Lee and asked “How do yo feel about Red Hot Riplets?”

Rap Snacks – you are my wildest marketing dream.

Puma – The Games We Play

Admittedly I am late on these by a couple months but I saw this series directed by Jared Eberhardt yesterday and had to get them in front of those of you that haven’t seen them yet . The set design is awesome. The styling and mix of props is crazy fun. Plus, that person in the monster suit appears in every video. Enjoy.