ever since my last trip to london, and my visit to the Cans Festival, i have been a huge Banksy fan. apparently he has a new thing going on in New York: The Village Pet Store.

this store appears to be a complete departure from his street art, but it doesn’t surprise me after reading Wall and Piece. he’s done plenty of things that fall well outside the realm of street art, including "vandalizing" art museums by placing variations of known pieces on the walls and waiting to see how long they stayed up before anyone noticed (check out the films portion of his site, then click ‘Museum’).

what i like so much about Banksy is his unique combination of artistic ability and caustic social commentary. he seems to see the world in a way that many don’t, and can express his vision in unusual, creative, and often surprising ways. some might consider him an artistic terrorist because of his non-traditional approach, but i think it’s just a way for him to amplify and strengthen his message. if he wanted to put traditional art in galleries, he’s clearly got the talent to do so, but that wouldn’t serve his purposes. he wants as many people as possible, not just art-museum denizens, to see his work, to let it sink into their conscious and subconscious minds and either work its magic or wreak havoc.

the best way to appreciate Banksy is up close and personal, but for those who haven’t had the opportunity, here are a few pieces and links to related information:

• One Banksy at the Cans Festival
• Banksy on Wikipedia
• Banksy images from Google
• Banksy group on Flickr

i’ve noticed there is a certain class of people out there who love Apple, and are willing to accept (and defend) just about any product Apple releases, without question. if Steve Jobs released a machine without a CPU, saying that he didn’t want to bog people down with the whole central processing thing, the Apple apologists would say, "yeah, i guess i could just use it as a beautiful paperweight; who needs a CPU?"

this has come up several times in the last week, specifically in relation to the iPod shuffle. it’s a really neat piece of industrial design, and has a lot over the competition, but it’s got no display. it seems that in reviews i read, and with people i talk to, there is some measure of acceptance regarding screen omission: "i really want a screen on my portable music player, and can’t really imagine not having one, but this is Apple, people…it must be fine without it. let’s get on with the shuffle!"

if someone else released a music player without a (coupled) user interface, i suspect it would languish on the shelves and then wind up being sold as a portable disk drive instead. but with Apple, there seems to be some sort of tacit belief that they know best when it comes to industrial and user–centered design. maybe they do, but i don’t think i’ll be shuffling anytime soon.

ps: just in case there was confusion, i really love most apple products. i’m a believer, just not an apologist.

"these coasters are defective!!! why did i buy these damn things?"
buyer’s remorse takes many forms, but one that’s common for me is the form-function problem. i buy something that has great form and a supposed function, only to find that function forgot to show up.
or did it?

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as i was walking home from the corner store this morning, what should i see rolling down the street, but a Segway.

i was beginning to think these things were a massive hoax perpetrated by Amazon and dean kamen, but it turns out that my conspiracy theory had a flat tire. yes, folks, for the small price of $4950, you too can buy your piece of transportation history.

or is it just a bunch of marketing hype?

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