Embrace the Flux

Pointer Footwear: Fall Collection

// August 20th, 2011 // No Comments » // Fashion

The autumn 2011 collection from Pointer Footwear proffers you footwear fanatics some fantastic looking shoes for the old feet. What makes the collection particularly unique, as it seems to me, is its large variety of different styles. In terms of color variety there are some exquisite shades of brown and dark blue, a mid-top boot reminiscent of the golf shoe. Dipping into the clearly fluxy comfort factor are the more robust-seeming designs, furry on the inside. And then there is that industrial quality illustrated by those small boots with the hardly flimsy canvas fabric. No doubt, this is a solid collection of shoes with some interesting conceptual takes.

You know those times when you really wish you had boots to get yourself from, say, the front door to the mailbox? Do your socks a favor and click here to treat yourself to a pair.

Jay-Z and Kanye West: Watch the Throne

// August 13th, 2011 // No Comments » // Music

There’s something familiar about the latest co-album, “Watch the Throne,” by Kanye West and Jay-Z. It’s as though I’ve already heard this style of rap, this tone of voice, before; but never arranged in that sort of way. The first song off it comes out the gate running, though not bucking. It’s the combination of a heady bass riff with a trumpet-like synth which makes it original. Both retro and crisp, the song’s movement is like something you would hear in a movie – a car driving off into a sunset.

To be sure, most of those moments of ingenuity suspended over the album are captured in the lyrics of “No Church in the Wild.” Like a crystal shining under moonlight the song exhibits a kind of sympathy, a vibrant display, at first; its mechanization notwithstanding. And yet the rapper returns with a bleak reminder, a provocative blending of nostalgia with irony, that where desire rules, God is irrelevant; and the sympathy quickly flutters away. Hence, there is no church in the wild.

What’s a mob to a king?
What’s a king to a God?
What’s a God to a non-believer
Who don’t believe in anything?

Certainly the notion of being in the wild could relate to the way human beings are thought to desire. But can it explain the force of a desire of the non-believer? The answer becomes clear, I think, should we take that force to vary with the rungs of a ladder. To be a non-believer is, simply, to sit atop a ladder. Neither fighting dragons, defending Gods, nor enticing women; but protecting oneself, impiously, with an air of indifference – the anti-warrior à la Nasir Jones. Are Kanye West and Jay-Z ushering in a new style to the hip-hop scene? Check out the song “Who Gon Stop Me” and tell us what you think.

Red Bull: The Art of FLIGHT

// August 8th, 2011 // No Comments » // Movies

Ever see that Red Bull commercial where the rally car launches off a ramp at ninety miles per hour only to soar over a river and land, with ease, three-hundred feet away on the other side of a pier, to which the camera, slowly zooming in, reveals the driver, Travis Pastrama, who casually welcomes the viewer to the world of cars flying over rivers? The video you are about to watch is just like that.

As it turns out, the guys over at Red Bull have taken it upon themselves – all that leftover juice has to go somewhere – to bring Travis Pastrama’s world to the snowy mountaintop. This short preview of the film The Art of FLIGHT, a documentary made possible by Red Bull, boasts images of snowboarders jumping out of helicopters onto avalanche-ridden mountaintops, images through which death-defying twists and turns are captured in mind-bending sublimity, the elements of an all-around fearlessness, however unfamiliar to the eye. As a matter of fact, it is claimed in the video that “snowboarding will change forever.” You must see for yourself.

The Art of FLIGHT is due to hit theatres September 7th. For more information, click here.

i-Series

// August 4th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Technology

A short time ago, Flux Welles became strangely disposed to a form of behavior peculiar to his kind – acts of prolonged meditation. From dusk till dawn he would chin-scratch in wonder, silently musing over the thousand dollar question, which was the origin of his space, if only imaginary. In time, his mind’s eye was shuffling and stumbling the night away. This message was recently found behind a veil of flux.

Gone is the space of airways, imaginary, blurred by evanescent streams of neon. To that city in the clouds, abstracted away from naïve experience of logical fallacy, I say so long. What remains is but the semblance of machine and light.

For my long felt misconception I hasten to blame the actual bird, the origin of the concept of a machine which defies gravity. And yet, in the absence of the actual bird, the Flux moves me to find whatever might tread wind at the space. Could believing-true the possibility that cars can fly itself be the origin? Alas, to stop the natural flow of thought, to stop the desire to make actual, with flight and feather, that imaginary space, the understanding must prove resilient.

Fluxiom: If a car derives from a representation of the imagination, then it shall abstract away from the migrating bird, whose destination cannot be imagined unless first believed-true.

If you find the message hyperbolic, give it another go. It does seem to capture quite nicely the idea behind the new BMW i-Series. Among other things, with the unveiling of the new i sub-brand, BMW will introduce revolutionary next generation infotainment and telematics functionality, intermodal route planning complete with a parking assistant and a traffic jam assistant, a trio of large, customizable displays, and a liquid-cooled electric motor.

From what Flux Welles has gathered, the BMW i3 and i8 are two machines which believe-true more than ever the possibilities – hence the abstraction from a migrating bird. But Flux Welles wants to know what you think. Do you think BMW’s new i-Series derives from a representation of, say, Kevin Flynn’s imagination? Would any such derivation explain the city in the clouds?

Stussy Summer 2011: Vegas Day Trip

// August 1st, 2011 // No Comments » // Fashion

Stussy Clothing takes the summer by storm with their newest collection, “Vegas Day Trip.” Hailing from Laguna Beach, founder Shawn Stussy has a knack for pushing fashion limits – the company’s unique selection of apparel ranging from sneakers and shades to umbrellas and swim tubes. This year’s summer collection features pattern-rich button downs, wife beaters and bathing suits, underscored in design by a laid-back surfer style, and topped off with some sophisticated, yet youthful color schemes. Should you be wary of rattlesnakes, the cool and comfortable clothing of Stussy’s 2011 Summer Collection, now available at Stussy.com, is bound to make your day trip to Sin City a little bit classier.