Sneakerology Press Update

I've always thought that one of the best things we ever did in building Sneakerology 101 was the amount of press we were able to attract really early on. I'll never forget the first piece of journalism that was published on Hypebeast.com

Since then we've had several features and interviews published on so many news sources that it's tiring to even recall. I mean, just last week Elliott was quoted in Adweek!

Well, it seems as though our efforts have won us some recognition. The Sneakerology 101 campaign that Elliott and I worked on alongside Carnegie Mellon's Media Relations won honorable mention in PR News' annual Nonprofit PR Awards. We were in the category "PR on a Shoestring Budget". We lost this year to The American Kennel Club's "A Dog for Obama" campaign. Needless to say, we faced some tough competition! And personally, losing to anything Obama related is OK by me




Sneakerology 101 is starting up again in January 2010, this time led by Eddie Wong and Destiny Ridguard. As always, look out for future news and updates!

Giant Robot Biennale

Custom SL-1210 Cabinet: Part 2

Last week, I continued painting, staining, and finishing the cabinet. Thanks to some advice from Mike, a Product Design student at Art Center, I got some tips on what paint to use. I've always hated painting projects because it never really turns out as well as you hope. Plus, paint you buy at Home Depot chips easily and doesn't dry smooth. Mike suggested that I go to Pep Boys and use auto spray paint. This paint is much stronger and sprays on evenly (no brush strokes). The downside is that it's a little costly and you need a ton of coats. I used all the cans you see below, each costing around $6-10.






Below is a pick after painting and clear coat, before I applied the wood stain. I ended up going with "Early American" which complemented the blue-grey quite nicely.






And finally, here's some pics of the vinyl cabinet set up in my room. All the equipment is hooked up and fits perfectly. I really love this cabinet and how organized I'm able to keep everything.








It's not 100% completed. That 3" space between the top surface and the record shelf will be covered with an aluminum panel.

In Part 3, I bring this thing to life with an Arduino. I haven't quite figured out all the components I'm adding, but expect a lot of analog meters, LEDs, and some handy RFID work!

Custom SL-1210 Cabinet: Part 1

Following up on my last post about listening to more vinyl (and perhaps prompted by Drew's beast of a setup), I thought that it was time I move my turntable into my bedroom and create a more convenient and functional sound system. The biggest obstacle was finding something that I could house all my existing equipment in while also having space to properly store my records. But now that the workshop is so organized and well equipped, I literally look for excuses to make things.

I first started drawing a diagram of all the electronic components I wanted to include. The actual configuration has since changed but it's not too far from this original sketch.



Then last Saturday, I whipped out Google's SketchUp and started planning a cabinet to house all the shit I drew up. Nowadays, I usually go straight to SketchUp because it gives me a real sense of how the physical object will look. This free app is super easy to use and allows you to keep manipulating measurements until you get something your happy with proportionally. Here's what I ended up with:



The same day, Jimmy and I started working on the base of the cabinet. I decided to use 3/4" MDF since its easy to work with and I don't plan on putting this thing outside so strength or durability wouldn't be too much of an issue. This is also the point when you realize things you model in 3D don't always translate like you imagined in the physical world. We had to figure how some parts were going to go together and decided not to try and finish the whole thing in a day.

Measure twice.









By midweek, I had constructed the cabinet, filled in all the holes/cracks with wood putty, applied a sealer on all the visible MDF, and glued/clamped the birch veneer (actually it's not veneer but really thin plywood but serves the same purpose)

I was hoping to finish the entire thing in a week, but it's looking like its going to take a little longer. Here's a sneak peak at Part 2 of this custom build, which I'll post once I'm done painting, staining, and clear coating the whole thing

And yea, you bet your ass I have the "Touch It" club mix, muthafuckas

Next Level Stuff

Most of you know I rarely post videos here- only because I usually just send them directly to people I think it'd interest. But this is too crazy...

"a tour de force of established projection mapping techniques and styles" - Create Digital Motion

Basically, this is a real building facade, a theatre in Barcelona I believe. There are HD projectors that utilize virtual lighting, augmentation and distortion, edge highlighting and surface painting to create a complex visual piece accompanied by some equally impressive sound design.



Daft Punk's Alive tour visuals were hands down the craziest display I had ever seen- it still is. But without a doubt, sooner or later when this tech is road ready you better bet your ass this is going to blow everyone's minds away.