Dexia Tower - The Quintessential Building

Walking around the corner from the Parisian inspired and cobblestone lined, martyred infested part of Brussels, we were bombarded with the visual of a dancing building. 

Never I my life have I ever seen something like this, let along comprehended that anything of this sort could or did ever exist. It was as if the Daft Punk Pyramid techs took things to the next level and made their next project a few scales larger. 

The 145m high Dexia Tower is comprised of 4200 windows that are each fitted with individually controlled LED bars. Basically, this turns the whole facade of the building into one large video screen. There is no was they retrofitted this, is there?!!?!

The 150, 000 multi-colored LED lights equal one rock star light show. Push play to some Datarock on your iPod, grab an cold Kwak beer, bundle up and your ready for a good 30 mins of entertainment. We were transfixed, this was without a doubt, almost unequivocally, one of the best and most unexpected parts of the trip.

Every LED fixture is controlled independently and every floor can control can be manipulated individually. Coming home from work you can view stock quotes and catch the current and next days weather.

 

As explained on the LAb[au]'s website: "the project displays tomorrow's temperature, cloudiness, precipitations, and wind, by using colors and geometrical patterns to visualize these data. A color-code corresponds to tomorrow temperature compared to the monthly average, liked to a scale of color-temperatures ranging from violet (-6 celcius or colder) all the way up to red (+6 celcius or warmer)." 

Besides being possibly the most awesome building I've ever seen, it also goes down as being the geekiest. 

This wonder of a building begs a few questions?

1. Can you get any work done from the inside with Daft Punk lights blasting all around your office

2. Do the other surrounding buildings have a major inferiority complex? 

3. What kind of astronomical electric bill do these people have?

4. How and when can we can of of these buildings over here in the States?

Check out the video and notice the awesome commentary, "das das bla bla das is so cool, das ist weeeeee!" No, thats not us mocking German tourists, we pulled this off the Internet as Luke accidently blanked his memory chip on the third day of the trip.

Hottest Party of the Year

I've been wanting to host an Oven Party since midway through college. Last weekend my dream finally became my reality.

We canvased our North Beach apartment entirely in aluminum foil. Walls ,ceiling, floors, and everything in between. We replaced everyday light bulbs with calescent red ones. We added a vaporous fog machine (which periodically triggered the smoke alarm and the line "the oven is overheating"). People freak out, then get the joke 5 minutes later. Throw in a strobe light for good measure and we're good to go - in a virtual Oven.

Wasteful: unfortunately quite. 100% Awesome: absolutely.

4,500 sq. ft ($200+ of foil), 500m of tape, 8 packs of putty, one keg, 300 bottles of beer and 8 people laboriously setting up for 8 hours and we're good to go.

This is the point in the post where I write about what people had to say about the event. Suffice to say, "Best House Party Ever," "Epic" and "You guys are out of your fucking minds," pretty much covers it.

Unfortunately, now the house party high bar is set at Olympic height and we're racking our brains for a way to equal or best the cooker carousing.

Theme recommendations are welcome and will be taken into consideration for our next hullabaloo in May.

Bunnies shooting bullets shaped like skulls smoking cigarettes...

While expanding our minds (after a blinder of a night) in the courtyard of his new apartment, Dub is snooping in the corner where he sees an open door.

"Dude, this guy has a human skull on his desk!"

This grabs my attention of course. As I peer through the cracked door, I hear footsteps. Fuck. I'm going to get caught looking into this person's house. The door swings open, and there stands Upper Playground artist Jeremy Fish (see Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass album art). Surprisingly - instead of telling us to fuck off, he invites us in.

I'm having a hard time not being a dip shit and telling him what a fan I am of his work as he introduces himself (thank fucking Christ I wasn't wearing any of his gear). Anyway - continues to chop it up with us for the next 45 minutes or so talking about the shows he has coming up, people watching around the neighborhood etc. Suffice to say, I was stoked.

One of the things he DIDN'T mention was that we was going to release his own line of threads. His new line features hoodies, New Era fitteds and graphic tees. All items can be purchased at his website, or at your local Upper Playground.

He's a cool dude, creates fucking awesome art (and clothing) and is a local San Franfishcoian. Pick up a piece next time you get a chance. You'll make a statement at the next party, and can use your pink bunny with a gun as a face on your shirt to impress the little hardbody in the corner.



Check J.Fish splashin some paint in Aesop Rock's video - Pigs...