The Hundreds coffee table book

Somehow in 2020 I missed the announcement of this coffee table book from The Hundreds. I wonder what was going on then…

Anyway, the book chronicles the journey of one of streetwear’s most prominent brands from its founding in 2003 to about 2020. The brand is still around, but has recently closed their last physical store on Fairfax. I was very sad to see this store go as it was ground zero for a lot of my 20’s while I was living and traveling to Los Angeles.

The 2nd edition of this book is now out and available for $59. A nice little walk down memory lane for somebody like me, and a neat coffee table book for design nerds and streetwear aficionados.

The JVC RX-1001V

The displays on this device are just gorgeous!

Ciro DIT digiplate

Really intrigued by the number of new companies coming out with digiplates. Ciro is advertising heavily on social media (which can be a good or bad thing!) but their plate looks promising if it can stand up to the rigors of moving around on set. It has a ton of anti-twist connectors (great for arms and such) and its design might make it one of the lightest digiplates around.

I don’t need one, but I would love to see/test one!

The last Kodak DSLR

I have never used a Kodak DSLR, so this throwback “review” of this last DSLR that they produced is quite interesting. It’s mostly a Nikon body with Kodak’s CMOS sensor built-in.

Kick The Cheat plush toy

The Cheat from Homestarrunner can now be yours as a plush toy!

More on those VFD displays

I mentioned earlier that I’ve been a little obsessed with VFD displays. The “retro” technology reminds me of MiniDiscs and other ‘80s-’90s tech before color displays became the norm. They simultaneously look low-resolution and high-resolution with the refresh rate often being quite high it seems.

This video above explains how to buy one and program it while the video below shows how they still exist in a lot of appliances and cheap tech today.

MUTEMATH - Remain

I get really sad and emotional whenever I hear this song from MUTEMATH. If I remember correctly, I believe it was the song they released in conjunction with the announcement that they were going on permanent hiatus as a band.

The music video here was uploaded at the start of the pandemic lockdown.

MUTEMATH was my young adult years, the music that played in the background of many memories in my head. I went to their early concerts when they were filling small venues as opening acts and then later when they headlined tours for themselves. There’s something about this particular song that seems like a bookend not only to the band itself, but to a time and place in my own life when things seemed clearer and more sure. I’ve yet to quantify it in words, even for myself, but I think pandemic lockdown messed with my head. This song reminds me a little bit of the time before all that.

Driving through Malibu before the fires

This video here is one of the clearest artifacts from Malibu before the devastating fires that leveled the surrounding area earlier this year. This was a drive that I had done many times before and it saddens me that it hardly exists this way anymore.