To celebrate 50 Years of MINI, miniusa.com is taking a glimpse into the future of personal travel. Users can submit renderings of what the next 50 years of transportation could look like. I'm totally diggin' on these two concepts of personal commuter flyers. I love seeing rims on this flying mini-pod and it's pretty rad to see a fully rendered sky-cycle straight outta some anime flick.
We finally framed and hung our killer Swell Season screen print poster that we scored from the wonderful Signed & Numbered for last year's show at The Depot. We love looking at this thing in our dining room. For those of you who are unsure of who the Swell Season actually are, they're basically the dood and chick from the hit indy flick Once. Here's a little refresher from none other than Upto12.
So three weeks ago, while on our weekly Sunday family walk, I saw this sweet knock-off of a classic Schwinn Collegiate called a Huffy Sportsman. It was sitting precariously against some old furniture in front of a neighbor’s house. Now this stuff was not that close to the curb, but it kinda sorta looked like it might be headed there so I full-on swiped the bike.
Once I was home for a bit, the guilt kicked in and I went back and left a note on the neighbor’s door. I let ‘em know that if they weren’t planning to toss the thing, I’d be happy to bring it back. Well it’s been three weeks—I think I’m home free. My goal is to get it ride-able, perhaps with a little help from this guy.
So, I took the liberty of creating a custom wallpaper of these paintings. It's optimized for a 15-in Macbook Pro, but there's plenty of resolution for a larger screen as well. I set the artist's URL in a mid-century modern typeface namely, House Industries' Neutraface, crafted after architect Richard Neutra's own architectural font. You can download the wallpaper by clicking here or on the picture below:
Threadless.com's No More Nudes biz model of user-submitted tee designs and community-voted production has interestingly enough been more or less replicated within the fledgling private auto industry. Local Motors is a new site/auto manufacturer that collects industrial designers' user-submitted concept cars and then actually produces the car that the community has voted on.
There are certain moments in life when most dads are ultra proud of their sons. You know, like when he slides into home plate or something like that. Well, that moment happened to me this week in my own Kyality-sort-of-way. Mrs. Kyality randomly asked Kyality Kid No. 2, let’s call him Pants, what was his favorite Star Wars movie. Fully expecting Pants, who is not even 4 years old yet, to say something lame like Episode I or the Clone Wars cartoons—he instantly replied: “Enstrybacks.”
When I got home from work she told me to ask Pants the same question. The answer again came immediately: “Entstrybacks. You know, the one with the snow bear.” A father couldn’t have been more proud. Apparently my very discerning 3- almost 4-year-old is able to catch the drama, the nuance and the wit of The Empire Strikes Back! Amazing! Granted he hasn’t yet seen Episodes II or III to taint his vision. But at the same time he hasn’t been tempted by the likes of Jar Jar Binks or the Ewoks, because as Hurley says, "Face it, Ewoks suck, dude."
I was 4 when Empire was in theaters—I remember seeing it with my dad, Normality. And at that time it was my favorite movie too and here’s the proof:
That’s a 6-year-old Kyality and yes, that’s a young JessInTheCity. But then Return of the Jedi came out just as I turned 7 and it took me until high school to realize what everyone knows: Enstrybacks IS without a doubt the best Star Wars flick. Well done, my son. Well done.
Yes, this is a reality. No, it's not a Cooper, apparently it's just a Coupe. Check out the full gallery here! Now imagine this thing as a body-style option for the MINI E, their electric car that's being test now!
For all you fans of (500) Days—we’ve already seen it twice and we’re about ready for our third viewing—here’s a great little interview with first-time director Marc Webb and editor Alan Bell post on the Pro section of Apple’s site. The filmmakers go into some detail about working with the perfect everyman protagonist Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the stunning starlet of a siren Zooey Deschanel. They also breakdown the theoretical and technical concept of the flick, which is pretty cool, but let’s just say they throw around the term postmodern far too cavalierly.
One funny quote was this one by Marc Webb concerning Zooey’s prep time: “Zooey prepares in a more private way. She's extremely thoughtful, but her greatest gift is her intuition. She flows in this magical way, reacting to the life in the moment. You can sense she's feeling everything that Summer is feeling.”
So basically what you’re telling us there Mr. Director is that Zooey did her best to basically play herself in this one. Nice. Be sure to check out these killer production photos that came along with this article. No matter what Kakie says about Joe’s wardrobe… Zooey’s is pretty amazing as well. But it doesn’t really matter what she wears, cuz let’s face it, all you’re really looking at are those eyes.
Now is it just me or is Marc Webb sporting some serious Kyality-style here or what?
I've been checking out cool camper designs ever since I spotted this one. Industrial designer Robert Millington posted a pretty rad camper concept to this Coroflot portfolio. I'd tow it. Notice the super aerodynamic teardrop shape...
...the sweet whitewall tires...
...and of course don't forget the skipping stone-shaped pillows.
Wonder if it'll come in Pepper White?
I guess it's becoming a habit for me to post the cool Kyality-style gifts I score for various holidays. Well, my birthday was yesterday and once again the fam came through with some sa-weet goods. Mrs. Kyality got me ISO50's 1976 Heather Grey t-shirt (the year I was born... perfect b-day hook-up) and a rad new book called Helvetica forever: Story of a Typeface. 
The thoughtful designers at People Will Always Need Plates have developed an awesome system of creating custom posters of all the cars you've ever owned. Obviously, it really helps if you've owned a whole bunch of really cool cars. Maybe one day my poster will look as cool as this one.
Like my color coordinated post?
This week Mrs. Kyality and I celebrated 10 incredible years of marriage. With a fun/busy career and three cute/crazy Kyality Kids, it was time for a break. We booked three nights at our honeymoon suite at a B&B in Northern California near Mendocino. And of course, one of the first things I thought when we planned this 9 months ago was… what car should we rent? Yes, I have a disease… apparently a contagious one, thanks for nuthin’ Normality!
After a few hours behind the wheel of the beast, a couple things were pretty obvious. This rod is a head-turner for sure. Industrial Designer J. Saxton via Upto12 said it best; GM knows how to design a killer Hot Wheels car. The other thing that was obvious was I had gone and pulled out a driver to use on a putting green. Whenever there was a straightaway, I’d romp on the gas and have some fun, but for the tight, technical turning I’d have traded muscle for MINI in a heartbeat.
It was NOT happening and I even slimmed up a bit for the ten-year festivities! Sheesh.
Okay, I’ll admit it… growing up, I never had a Nintendo. And no, I didn’t have a Sega either. I had an Intellevision II, which was like a knock-off of a ColecoVision, which was more or less a knock-off of an Atari. But the good news about this was one game and one game only: Tron Deadly Discs. This game was rad and not only did I master the double disintegration disc throw, I could also perform the complicated disc block—shattering opponents discs into pieces. I was radical.
Crashing at the aLoft Dulles North for the rest of the week... pretty rad. Too bad I've gotta room with freaking Upto12, sheesh. Check out more pics of the joint here. And yes, that is an Eames Aluminum Management Chair there in the background.
Definitely take the time to check out this sweet little featurette on Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic. Let the wild rumpus start!
Looks like Aston Martin may be making its first foray into the micro-car market. Sorry guys. Not awesome. I mean seriously, you’ve got cars called the Vanquish and the Vantage. What’s this little guy gonna be called… the Vermin? Know your strengths and stick to ‘em… for all of our sakes.
I grew up in a cycling family. And during those years my dad, Normality rode a sweet 12 speed Bianchi Special. Recently, my little bro, Snizzle stole my idea and turned my dad’s old-school ride into a sweet fixie and in the process he scored his Bicycling Merit Badge to boot. Here’s what Snizzle did to it in his own words:
"I totally rebuilt the rear wheel. Taking off the back gears from the old bike was crazy. I totally mangled the hub trying to save the spokes but the new hub I got had a higher 'flange' so I had to get new spokes anyway. I trued it myself (with some help from Randy Raichart). I got a new chain and shortened it, but when it was fully tensioned, the wheel didn’t sit all the way back in the dropouts, but it’s fixed now. I like it a lot. It’s super nice. Yeah. I think that’s it. Here are the pictures man!"
For the Fourth this year, we hit up Moab with some camping and hiking in both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. And it just so happens that I stumbled upon a Bimmer in disguise. Sitting in the parking lot of the Arches Visitor Center was what appears to be test mule for the rumored 5 Series Gran Turismo. This car was heavily taped and was flanked by two 335i's and a 135i all with California plates. Obviously, they were road tripping this thing National Park style. My dad, Normality, is always bragging about how he sees BMW mules all the time out in Jersey—so it's fun finally being the guy to spot the unreleased Barvaian Burner.
Just for you're reference, here's a pic of the official concept vehicle that the above production test mule is based on:
It's a big car in person, hopefully its as sleek looking as the concept.
On Saturday Mrs. Kyality and I went on a double date with the older two Kyality Kids… dinner and a movie. After we snagged some pork barbacoa and kid’s quesadillas at the Rio, we rolled in the Clubman—sunroof open—over to the District to see Pixar’s tenth full-length feature: Up. The District is rad because you can pre-purchase your actual seat so I snagged four front and center seats for a Digital 3D screening and we got there just as the previews began, which are apparently also shown in 3D. Did not know that.
So in the quest for the perfect bike for Mrs. Kyality, which is looking more and more like an Electra Townie, I've stumbled upon a slew of beyond hip retro bicycles. The two that have stood out the most are both from European companies: Retrovelo (above) from Germany and Pashley (below) based in the UK.
I'm not really sure what it is, but these bikes are totally inspiring to me. I dunno if it's their retro-modernism, their pure, classy simplicity or maybe it's just that they're ultra photogenic. It's prolly just good design. What I do know is that if money was no object, the Mrs. and I would surely be rolling on these bikes and we'd prolly need a full-time nanny for the kids so we could ride them and we'd obviously have flats in both London and Munich by little markets—we'd need to ride them somewhere, right? Oh, and we'd need a Learjet so we could go back and forth between continents with our Euro-hipster-velos... again, if money was no object : )
Mrs. Kyality and the Kyality Kids outdid themselves for Father's Day this year. Check out the goods they delivered. I was fully covered with everything from duds to reading material from music to a movie... another holiday in true Kyality style. They scored me the handy dandy How Tie™, which I can't wait to wear (instructions included). As for reading material, I got Frank Miller's classic graphic novel: Batman: Year One, the prequel to his legendary take on the Caped Crusader. And finally, I scored the rockumentary: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which obviously counts as both music and a movie. This amazing black and white doc, directed by Sam Jones and produced by Helvetica and Objectified director Gary Hustwit, chronicles the beyond-eventful creation of Wilco's amazing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album. It is a must-see for any music or doc junkie. Click here to see them up close.
So, will somebody please help me convince Mrs. Kyality that she should get this bike? We've been investigating ladies bikes for a few months now and we've hit a bit of a brick wall. Growing up in a bike family, you kind of know that a decent bike is definitely gonna be in the $400+ range. Otherwise, you’re relegated to a big box solution at the Targets of the world. But when searching out a stylish women’s bike for a gal/mamma who hasn’t ridden for a long time and isn’t so sure if a new bike would even be ridden for more than a few times a month, a $400 - $700 price tag can be a definite barrier of entry. I just think this Electra Townie Euro 8D in Cadet Blue would be a rad rod for the Mrs. to cruise on despite it being bucks deluxe.
MINI just released this Limited Edition JCW celebrating 50 years of the Cooper Company winning the F1 Championship. I'm totally digging this true British racing green and blacked-out rims. I could rock this car for sure and... man, do I miss my bi-xenons.
