WE'RE SUPPORTING

Design company BrandImage has just come out with their line of paper water bottles made out of renewable resources. The bottles themselves are recyclable, and while not as reusable as a plastic bottle, can still be reused a few times. These are cool designs, even if they still pander to our on-the-go, single-serving, throw-away culture. Their environmental friendliness is also dubious, considering most people will still choose to throw these things in the trash rather than taking the time to find a recycling bin.

WE'RE WEARING

Japanese designers Keiichi Muramatsu and Noriko Seki founded the Tokyo-based fashion label, Everlasting Sprout, in 2005, based on their mutual interest in knit design. Each intricate creation in their Spring/Summer 2009 range took up to a week for them to construct. Read more

WE'RE READING

This one-stop shop for all things eco-friendly is proof that protecting the environment is becoming a popular pastime. Almost every material category that comprises our society, from design to celebrity to transport, is looked at through a green lens. They’re ranked number twenty-two on Technorati’s list of 75,000,000 blogs, and even Daryl Hannah is singing their praises. Why? Its writers, they claim, ‘have the ability to take topics that most of us snoozed our way through in school, and make them the addictive juicy, green bits that they are’.

WE'RE THINKING

Silence. In this world of near constant noise and motion, it really has become a sadly neglected and undervalued commodity. Yet, as I sit, looking down on a bustling metropolis of speeding cars, people, and minds, I can’t help but wonder what impact this sensory overload will have on not just our generation, but on all those to follow. Read more

Lasse Gjertsen is the future of cut and paste music. He’s just arrived ten years too early and with a really bad haircut.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

While Flushing is still the place to go for the best Chinese food in New York City, those for whom the hour-long subway ride on the 7 is simply out of the question on most nights can now get their mapo tofu fix right in Manhattan. While the masses queue out the door at Joe’s Shanghai across the street, Famous Sichuan offers real-deal Sichuanese food such as cold sliced beef tendon in chili sauce, braised fish fillet with napa cabbage and roasted chili, and the most delicious cumin lamb this side of the East River. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Chicago’s Cheer Accident started as a post-no-wave weirdo band typical of the Skin Graft roster, but of late, they’ve been doing some unrestrained pop and rock. They even have harmonized vocals and an occasional horn. This isn’t to say they’re commercializing – their songs are just as complex as ever, and there’s still a hint of discordance beneath the shimmering new sound.

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