There can be few greater draughtsmen than Matthew Cook. He first came to my attention when I saw him give a talk about his work as the Times’ war artist in Iraq – stunning drawings and amazing stories. He also does some rather fine illustrated maps.

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I consider myself a very lucky person to get to draw pictures for a living. I find inspiration in many things, including the culture that I live in, the art I look at, the food I eat, the people I interact with, and the music I listen to.

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As our civil liberties come under increasing attack, it’s rather timely that the New York Times has posted this nice piece detailing the evolution of police riot gear.

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It was the old school vintage labels and cool, dark beer bottles with Grolsch-style flip caps that first caught my attention. Then I cracked open a bottle of La Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes – or BFM, for short – and was immediately hooked on the taste.

The creation of Swiss native and one-time enology student, Jérôme Rebetez, BFM has gone from an experiment in a home kitchen to a pioneer in Swiss artisan brewing. To achieve such cult status, Rebetez dreams up atypical beers combining unique ingredients, such as pepper, ginger, sage, and other spices, with his knowledge of wine making to create brews that are pushing the boundaries of traditional beer making in Switzerland and abroad.

Take La Cuvee Alex Le Rouge, for example. This legendary BFM beer boasts hints of licorice, vanilla, and pepper rounded out with a subtle tart finish that pairs perfectly with chocolate (of course). BFM’s L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien – which matures for 12 months in oak barrels — was named the best barley wine in the world by the New York Times. Not too shabby for a Swiss beer from the Jura. Think I’ll flip the top off another to celebrate. [Photos via nicknamemiket on Flickr]

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Powering a TV with energy from a stationary bike was a good enough idea, but it’s gotten way, way, way better than that. Sustainable Dance Club is producing ‘piezoelectric’ dancefloors that generate energy from the action happening on top of them.

The New York Times just profiled a club in Rotterdam using a dancefloor to power its light show, and it’s turned up in London, too. While the inventors are still improving the tech and say that currently the “average” dancer powers half a lightbulb, we’re sure we could power an entire club all by ourselves.

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Olly Moss is a British illustrator who has created works for such noticable clients as the New York Times, Computer Arts Magazine and Urban Outfitters. His latest hit is a clever series of Star Wars posters.

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Hipster City Cycle is an 8-bit bike race adventure set in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Although, the game has not been released yet, it’s been getting a lot of buzz from the media. Even the hipster-haters, such as the upper-echelon New Yorkers, are getting a kick out of the idea of the game, posted in the New York Times: ‘If this is not happening already, someone should create a Hipster City Cycle for New York’.

Artsy Philadelphians get to be the first to test out the game. Hipster City Cycle has announced that they’ll be sharing their iPhones at the Part Time Studio’s One Year Anniversary art show on December 3. The game is scheduled for release sometime in early winter and it will be available in the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

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With his Newspaper Blackout pieces, writer and artist Austin Kleon uses a marker to black out all but a few select words printed in the New York Times, carving out little poems from the articles of the newspaper.

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Chemically inconvenienced, distinguished, at peace with the floor, every single ‘-faced’ prefix, all phrases amongst the 2,964 synonyms for being totally wasted. DRUNK, The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary by Paul Dickson, has been illustrated by former New York Times Art Director, recent GOOD Magazine Guest Art Director and current temporary Stockholm resident, Brian Rea. His hilarious and whimsical pieces are hanging right now in Brooklyn’s own Melville House. Stop in for a look, check the book and exit immediately to the nearest glass of whiskey. Being drunk never has been so explicable.

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British illustrator Mr. Bingo’s drawings usually involve some kind of gag — check out the Complaint drawing on his website — and though there’s a light-hearted whimsy about his style, the professionalism with which he renders his images reflects his seriousness about conveying clear ideas and messages through his work. The Mighty Boosh, WIRED magazine, Esquire, and the New York Times are among his many clients.

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More often than not, internet-only hip hop mix tapes are released by wannabe rappers whose lyrics and delivery are derivative and uninspired, and who’ll never get enough weight behind them for a full length release. 24 year-old Washington MC Wale Folarin is different. Mixed by one of New York’s best hip hop DJs, Nick Catchdubs, and produced by 9th Wonder and Mark Ronson (who signed Wale in 2007 to his Allido label), his latest offering Back To The Feature solidifies Wale as a confident, engaging lyricist with a true talent for cross-genre appropriations.

A third of the way through ‘Back To…’, Wale recalls the hype surrounding his previous release, saying he never intended to make what critics named “the mix tape of the year … the monumental mix tape of the moment”, but just wanted to release his raps. By borrowing other musician’s tunes and making them his own, Wale’s post-modern approach celebrates the wonderful immediacy of online mix tape culture, being the best method for fans to access their favourite artists’ music as quickly as possible without costing anyone a cent.

After collaborations with Jean Grae and Lady Ga Ga, sponsorship deals with Nike, Stussy and 10 Deep, and praise from everyone Rolling Stone Magazine to The New York Times, Wale is one of the shining stars of contemporary independent hip hop whose talent and crossover appeal is sure to rocket him to superstardom.

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The New York Times has just run an interesting article about artist Jorge Colombo, who created this week’s cover for The New Yorker magazine exclusively using the iPhone application Brushes: ‘Absolutely nobody can tell I am drawing’. Colombo told the Times. ‘In fact, once I was doing the drawing at some place, and my wife was around, and they asked her why did I have to work so hard? I seemed to be always on my iPhone sending messages’.

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I am really into Hong Kong action flicks from the 1980s and 90s. When I first moved to New York, there were a handful of curious friends who were also interested in watching movies such as City on Fire by Ringo Lam, which Reservoir Dogs was based on. How did they find videos like thus? At the legendary Kim’s Video in New York City. These days, City on Fire can be find online, and Kim’s is history. But all the videos that entertained the film geeks of this city for more than twenty years have found a new home in, wait for it, Salemi, Sicily. Yes, the southern island of Italy. Kim has recently relocated there, as this sad but heartwarming story about him in yesterday’s New York Times reveals.

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Berlin-based conceptual illustrator Christoph Niemann’s recent LEGO post on the New York Times blog is fantastic. He recently moved back to Germany after eleven years in New York, and apparently, he misses the city a lot.

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