New York City Polaroid Project

The NYCPP is a nice collection of photos via Kent State graduate, Andrew Faris, taken back in 2003 before the recent surge/saturation of look vintage camera look. It’s a compilation of everyday snapshots seen through the eye of a curious transplant, ranging the gamut from graffiti covered streets to a lone pair of rubber boots. It artfully conveys the excitement of a first timer in NYC. I love how a good Polaroid can transport any subject straight back to the ’70s.

Urban light interventions

Luzinterruptus, is an anonymous art group carrying out urban interventions in public spaces using light as a raw material and dark as canvas. Aside from the amazing visual, these extremely temporary installations do what all successful art does.. it makes you think. All of their projects start with a simple idea, shine light on a social issue that is going unnoticed. The most recent execution is Jardín para un futuro, no muy lejano (Garden for a not too distant future) which is a “criticism, of a humorous tone, at the lack of green spaces in large contemporary cities.” I first noticed their work when photos of Batalla ganada al tráfico (The battle has been won against the traffic) started circulating. The visuals are so striking that you can’t not stop and think about it’s purpose. Especially if you happen to encounter it in it’s physical space. It’s mission worthy of undertaking and I’m looking forward to future urban interventions.

Puppy Love: Lo-fi animated Japanese dating game

I stumbled across this video from Justin Walls over at the Kitsune Noir blog and was struck by his challenge to watch it all the way through because it was ‘weird.’ That was enough reason for me to click it. I’ve watched it 4 times this morning.

The graphics are so lo-fi they take you straight back to the days of your first animated gif clusterfuck of a GeoCities page, all artfully tinted through a vintage 70′s lens. The soundtrack is a perfectly orchestrated trip through the 8bit laced ’90s, which I’ve managed to dig up at 8bitcollective. Don’t let the fact that it’s lo-fi fool you either, there’s a lot of attention to detail, including what would be code hiccups in the game system and subtle syncs with the soundtrack. You can tell a lot of work/time was poured into this simply for the love it, which I appreciate.

If you like his style, he has a handful of prints and, oddly enough – yet appropriate, sticker sets available on his site MILKBBI. After spending a couple minutes clicking around you’ll realize that his GameBoy was a close companion growing up. It makes me wonder if game designers in the 90′s were consciously aware of the influence they would have on a generation.