The Friday Listicle: Stuff We Liked From Across the Internetz
Feel amazed, scared and happy with the links in this week’s listicle.
- And you thought you mastered Excel.
Tatsuo Horiuchi | the 73-year old Excel spreadsheet artist - One word: nightmares.
Why No One Should Mess With The Ocean - Learn something new everyday.
Things You May Not Know About 10 Foreign Languages - Genius.
Are you taking a video?
Scratch Loves: Ponyride
Innovation, like invention, is often born of necessity. Spawned from the foreclosure crisis, Ponyride – an organization housed within a 30,000 square-foot warehouse – set out to become home to socially-conscious artists and entrepreneurs. They provide inexpensive space for up-and-comers to do their work, while also encouraging the sharing of knowledge and resources.
Phillip Cooley, an executive officer at Ponyride, describes the vision that has seen a derelict warehouse transformed into a vibrant community, “We believe that Detroit will save itself and that no one person can save Detroit – just by giving someone access to participate, Detroiters will do incredible things. That’s what we are seeing at Ponyride. I’m inspired everyday by Detroiters, how they have been able to stretch resources and be so innovative with few resources. That’s what has driven this project.”
Ponyride is home to an amazing collection of people and businesses. Eric Yelsma’s Detroit Denim produces hand-made denim jeans and bags that are sure to stand the test of time. Stukenborg Press creates hand-pressed print works and offers monthly classes on printmaking to the community. Woodworker Paul Karas makes beautifully crafted furniture, sculptures, pipes, boxes and guitars. Meanwhile, non-profit The Empowerment Plan serves the homeless community by hiring homeless women to become full time seamstresses, teaching them to manufacture a coat that transforms into a sleeping bag. After these coats are made, they’re given out on the street to the homeless, free of cost.
Most recently, Ponyride was home to pop-up restaurant Guns+Butter. Craig Lieckfelt, a chef from NYC, created an mouth-watering menu inside a temporary space that he’s moved from India, through New York, to pause in Detroit before moving on…though after his time spent there, Craig may be looking to establish a permanent home in Detroit.
As Phillip Cooley says, “Just get out of people’s way so they can be innovative.”
The Friday Listicle: Stuff We Liked From Across the Internetz
Things are heating up and so are these links. Hot to the touch:
- Learn how to be the best hipster dad possible.
Hipster dad magazine Kindling Quarterly explores modern fatherhood - Epic is accurate.
26 Epic Works Of Art Made With Sand - If all 22 happened at once: best. day. ever.
22 Little Surprises That Make Any Day Better - Last minute summer bod meals.
Three Fast, Easy, High-Protein Meals On the Go
Scratch Chat: Rap Genius
Rap Genius, a site that started out as a place where visitors could annotate the meaning behind rap lyrics, has become a repository of insights into any written document. Want a contextual take on the Bible, or clarity about that Apple terms of service agreement? Maybe you’re looking for deeper meaning within The Great Gatsby? You can get “the know” on Rap Genius. We sat down with founders, Mahbod Moghadam, Ilan Zechory and Tom Lehman. Here’s what they had to say:
What inspired you to create Rap Genius?
Jesus inspired it. We want to combine all of human knowledge on lyrics, the torah, the news – everything. But on a more literal level, it was Tom’s thirst of knowledge for Cam’ron.
THE RAP LYRIC THAT INSPIRED RAP GENIUS.
What event helped pick up the momentum?
MBDTF was a huge meme so the explanations on it were bomb – my favorite rap of all time is this (very bien expliquée…).
I would say it is arguably Kanye’s finest work.
What were you doing before Rap Genius?
I was a corporate lawyer! Hah! (Ilan worked at Google and Tom worked at a hedge fund – evil!)
Is this where you always saw yourself? What would be doing?
I always thought that someday I would rap. I am still waiting for that to happen. Check out one of my best freeestyles.
Did you expect Rap Genius to be a success?
I never even expected Rap Genius (then Rap *Exegesis*) to be a meme – I just thought it was a fun thing we were doing, like blogs.
Did you receive any awards or big press?
Sure! We were on the cover of the Yale Alumni Mag how baller?!
How will Rap Genius evolve? Where will it be in the next 5 years?
It will be the biggest website in the world. Bible Genius will be 5x bigger than Rap Genius 5 years from now…and Rap Genius alone is already bigger than Gawker…….
Do you have any role models?
Jesus because I love every man. Larry Lessig because he taught me that the Internet is central to human knowledge. Ben Horowitz because he is a pimp and pushes Alpina BMW limited edition.
What advice can you give other young entrepreneurs?
Go to the gym every single day! Drink a lot of water. Don’t try to be an entrepreneur, just do a corporate job or consulting or something – it will happen when it happens!
Millennial Entrepreneur: Phillip Cooley
Photo courtesy of Phillip Cooley
The Millennial Entrepreneur series highlights Millennials who have taken their passion and turned it into a full-time career through innovation, creativity and perseverance.
You can’t really appreciate the Detroit Renaissance without getting to know Phillip Cooley.
The face of a new Detroit grew up in a small rural town, went to film school at Columbia College in Chicago, then took to international waters as a model walking the runway in fashion shows for brands like Louis Vuitton, Kenzo and Costume National.
Before long Phillip wanted a new challenge, and found himself enraptured by the artwork of Tyree Guyton, “a painter and sculptor, who has also been described as an urban environmental artist. Tyree has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit’s East Side, transforming his neighborhood into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery.”
Tyree’s work drew Phillip to Detroit. When he arrived, he took the advice he learned from Dave Hickey’s book, Air Guitar. Phillip explains, “What stuck with me was the passage that talked about moving to the city, going to the bars and meeting like minded people, and starting a movement. I took that literally and went to the bars a lot at first and met a ton of wonderful people.”
From those first interactions with the people making and sharing new things in Detroit, Phillip developed partnerships that resulted in his opening Slows Bar-B-Q. He wanted to create a modern fine dining experience, didn’t want only one demographic – he wanted everyone to come to his restaurant. He realized that, “The new communication gathering point tends to be restaurants. BBQ is affordable and something that everybody loves. It’s approachable and has the ability to bring people together.”
Turns out he was right. “[The customers] respond to quality. Our chefs are really talented, our food is good and our staff is awesome. So, I think that it’s a combination of the social give back, the environmental awareness and the quality.” Slows’ sandwich, Yardbird gathered national attention on the TV show, “Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America” as one of the top three best sandwiches in the US.
Outside Slows, you can find Phillip helping small businesses get started with his space, Ponyride. “It provides a cheap space for socially conscious artists and entrepreneurs to work and share knowledge, resources and networks.” Phillip believes, “Detroit will save itself and that no one can save Detroit. And so just by giving someone access to participate, Detroiters will do incredible things. That’s what we are seeing at Ponyride.” You can find everything from tech companies to woodworking companies making use of this shared space.
What’s the best advice Phillip can give other young entrepreneurs? “Don’t be afraid of partnerships; make sure you collaborate, and understand that you have to know what you don’t know. Find partners that can you can stand being around, and if you’re not friends with them then it’s not worth it. Also know that you can’t just put all your friends in the same room and expect to be a successful business. It’s a combination of loving what you do and putting together a balanced team.” He also believes, “Any business that is not a triple-bottom-line business that is fiscally, financially and socially sound is a waste of time. We know as a society that you can’t exploit people and you can’t exploit the environment. You need to be respectful.”
Sound advice.
The Friday Listicle: Stuff We Liked From Across the Internetz
Finally the unofficial start of summer will commence this weekend. While you’re partying and basking in the sun, here are few links to help you enjoy the weekend to the fullest.
- Feed your Bluth addiction.
An Arrested Development Tasting Menu – Hot ham water and Mayoneggs are now real, and kinda fancy - Get your jam on.
22 Top-Down Jams You Should Blast This Summer - This. Looks. Amazing.
How To Make Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots - Don’t look if hungry.
32 Delicious Things To Eat On Memorial Day
Scratch Loves: Twivo
Despite religiously following your favorite show, you make plans with a friend to grab dinner and drinks. You set your DVR to record your show so you watch at a later date. All is good. But you forgot one thing: everyone will be Tweeting, posting, writing about the show on social media…you can’t possibly cut yourself off from your feeds, but spoilers run amuck! What’s to be done?
Those days are soon-to-be over thanks to 17-year-old developer, Jennie Lawrence. The only female in the Boston Hackathon. Jennie won the competition with her Google Chrome extension, Twivo, that eliminates specific words or phrases from your Twitter feed. Basically, you can block anything Tweeted about any TV show, sports event, news item – whatever it is you’re trying to avoid. Spoilers be gone!
You’re probably asking yourself, “What took so long?” Well, sometimes it takes just the right person, in this case a very special teen who took only 10 hours to compile her code. Thank you, Jennie, for this elegant solution to staying in touch with our social networks, without ruining the recorded surprises waiting for us at home.
The Friday Listicle: Stuff We Liked From Across the Internetz
Looking from some insanely amazing, quirky, fun beautiful links from the week? Here’s our round-up:
- Space without the travel.
This Is What The World Looks Like To An Astronaut On A Cloudless Day - Interesting how life takes its course.
Do These Identical Twins Look The Same To You? - SO FREAKY!
Watch Liquid Water Instantly Turn into Ice - Yuck. These combos…
10 Regrettable Retro Food Recipes - These will make you laugh.
16 Problems Only Models Face
Millennial Entrepreneur: Amy Kaherl
Born from a concept started in Chicago, Detroit SOUP is a monthly dinner that helps fund micro-grants for creative projects in Detroit. Originally created three years ago with the intention of supporting local artists, founders Kate Daughdrill and Jessica Hernandez have since handed over the reins to Amy Kaherl, who is now Executive Director.
Within six months of their first event, The New York Times wrote an article about art in Detroit, and included SOUP. This helped spark momentum for the initiative and educate the public about the program. But, the press didn’t stop there. Amy says, “We have been very lucky to have been on the ‘Making a Difference’ segment on NBC Nightly News. We also have been featured on NPR’s Tell Me More, O Magazine, Good, The New York Times, and Dwell. I was even named in DBusiness Magazine‘s “30 in Their Thirties” feature in 2012.”
Currently, the dinner hosts an average of 225 people with a permanent home in the Jam Handy Building on E. Grand Blvd, just north of Midtown, Detroit.
Did Amy always know that Detroit SOUP would be a success? She confesses, “We always wanted to make sure that people in the neighborhoods had access to the dinner. I am proud of how the dinner has connected to not only residents of Detroit but has been an access point for people who haven’t been in the city for a long time to come back and interact. I like that this art/community engagement project has brought people together and provided access and resources to help and reengage.”
And Detroit SOUP is only continuing to grow, with their move to a “neighborhood-based model.” Amy stresses, “We want to make sure that neighbors are helping neighbors with decision making and supporting the community. My goal is to have at least 10 dinners happening in our neighborhoods. Once they grow I just hope we can sustain the momentum and become a staple in these communities.” It’s an awesome plan with a clearly amazing future.
The best advice Amy can give fellow millennial entrepreneurs: fail. “Don’t avoid things that are painful,” she emphasizes. Why? Because “these are the moments that mold you into who you are.” With what she’s accomplished so far, it’s hard to disagree.
Scratch Goes to the New Museum – NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
New Museum: NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star from Scratch Vimeo on Vimeo.
’90s nostalgia has become a staple of Millennial culture, but it wasn’t so simple a time as we might remember. The New Museum has created an exhibit that encapsulates the cultural upheaval that began in the early ‘90s, and invited Scratch to come capture the experience.
“NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star,” showcases the history of a city when it was the center of the world: the changing face of New York, the commodification of cool, the AIDS crisis, the birth of the internet, and more. The dramatic shifts in politics, art, and media became the source material for a number of young artists who came to prominence in 1993.
Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, Gary Carrion-Murayari, Curator, Jenny Moore, Associate Curator, and Margot Norton, Assistant Curator, the exhibit focuses on New York artists from 20 years ago.
