All posts in: Cool Material

Design
14 Apr 2021

Spotify’s Car Thing

Well, it’s certainly one way to name a new product. In Spotify’s latest release, “Car Thing” is a smart player that mounts to your dash easily allowing you to play your music while driving. I personally already have a set up that allows me to do just that with my phone attaching to the dash as well. The biggest difference here though is that the smart player is voice activated and can hear your commands leaving you fully hands-free, or rather, hands off of the phone. That’s one thing that my set up can’t solve for at the moment. Spotify Car Thing will likely retail for $80, but right now if you’re selected by Spotify to try out the product, you’ll get it for free not including the $7 shipping/handling fee. Add your name to the list [here].

[Source]

Culture
17 Jan 2021

Blog Roundup

  • The Kamala Harris Vogue Cover Has Issues [Refinery29]
  • The Grammy Awards Have Been Postponed [Nylon]
  • The Unlikely Connection Between Wellness Influencers and Pro-Trump Rioters [Cosmopolitan]
  • A Reservation for Insurrection [Intelligencer]
  • 10 Things You Never Knew About IKEA [Cool Material]
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
  • The Best Sandwich in Every State [Food & Wine]
  • Governor’s Ball 2021 Announced For September [The Fader] honestly how
  • Why Do I Spend Weeks Avoiding Tasks That Will Take Me 10 Minutes To Do? [VICE]
  • You Know Awkwafina, But Have You Met Nora Lum? [Harper’s Bazaar]
  • How Instant Ramen Became An Instant Success [Business Insider]
  • How TikTok’s ‘For You’ Algorithm Works [Wired]
  • Netflix Promises At Least One New Movie Every Week in 2021 [The Verge]
  • Yelp Will Display How Well A Restaurant Is Observing COVID-19 Guidelines [Eater]
  • Ariel Pink Goes On Tucker Carlson [The Fader] And no, we don’t feel bad for the guy at all.

Culture
19 Sep 2020

A Fresh Rental

Airbnb is pulling out all the stops on pop culture reference rentals lately! First, it was securing the last Blockbusters in the country and now, you can rent the home from Fresh Prince. They were the family that won over our hearts with their quick wit, but will their home live up to everything we’ve seen? We’ve seen the “inside” of the home plenty, which was likely just a set, but I’m so curious as to what the interiors of this will actually look like. To commemorate the sitcom’s 30th anniversary, you can spend just $30 a night to stay over the Bel Air mansion.

The stay will include access to Will’s bedroom (minus Will, of course), a full bathroom, pool and outdoor lounge, and the dining room. All meals will be served on silver platters (no kitchen access due to COVID-19). Major perks also include a pair of Air Jordan sneakers for each guest, the loan of fancy outfits during the stay, and access to DJ Jazzy Jeff’s turntables. In what’s easily the best perk, Will and Jazzy Jeff will include guests in Smith’s Instagram Sunday via celebrity selfie with the pair.

Bookings for the home will begin September 29th for reservations to take place on October 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14. Only L.A. County residents who can prove a current living situation in the same household are eligible.

[Source]

Design
04 Aug 2020

Blog Roundup

  • Michelle Obama Is Hosting A Brand-New Relationship Podcast [Vogue]
  • A Typing Test For You Because… Why Not? [Source] I’m at 94 WPM!
  • Mask Wars? New Yorkers Will Sit This One Out. We’ve Already Seen Enough Death. [Vogue]
  • The Definite 50 Worst Teen Drama Couples of All Time [Buzzfeed]
  • Actually, Mark Zuckerberg Is Wearing the Correct Amount of Sunscreen [Mel Magazine]
  • People Share 30 Reasons Why Group Projects Are the Worst [deMilked]
  • How NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Became The Unexpected Launchpad for Musicans of Color [Hypebeast]
  • Can’t Fall Asleep? 17 Ways to Make You Feel Tired AF [Greatist]
  • How Dating My Reality Show Director Opened Me Up to a Real Relationship [Refinery29]
  • Who Influences the Influencers? [High Snobiety]
  • Every Decision is a Risk. Every Risk is a Decision. [FiveThirtyEight]
  • Nirvana Performing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” In A Music Store A Week Before Its Release [Kottke]
  • How Black & White Photography Became A Complicated Symbol of Female Empowerment [Refinery29]
  • The 20 Best Reality Show of All Time [Esquire]
  • The Best Instant Noodles [Wire Cutter | New York Times]
  • Padma Lakshmi Wants Us to Eat More Adventurously [New York Times]
  • Designer Creates $3,900 Wetsuit That Looks Like A Real Suit [deMilked]
  • Take A Look Inside Numbering’s Safe Deposit-Themed Flagship Store in Seoul [Hypebae]
  • J. Cole Is Training to Be in the NBA – Can He Actually Do It? [High Snobiety]
  • Soup Base Ramen Noodle Wrapper [Cool Material]

Design
22 Jul 2020

A Floating Cinema in Paris

It’s going to be some time before life returns to normal. However, I’m loving how other cities and countries are taking this opportunity to be especially creative. Instead of your standard drive-in movie theater, Paris is upping the game by doing a floating cinema where movie goers watch films from boats. This is just a digital rendition of what this could look like, but you get the idea! From now until August 30th, you can experience this new movie viewing format. If interested, individuals can enter to be in a drawing to be selected for a boat or a deck chair socially distanced.

[Source]

Design
29 Jun 2020

Kellogg’s Mashups

As a kid, I didn’t want to be confined to having one kind of cereal for breakfast. In our household, we were regulars at mixing together all of our leftovers for one meal and cereal was no exception. Everyone else must have had the same idea because Kellogg is now creating these mashup boxes that combine two of your favorite cereals in one. For now, Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops is the only box available and is now in stores nationwide. Here’s hoping that this first box is the launch pad for other favorite combos!

[Source]

Style
14 Jun 2020

Blog Roundup

  • Stunning Hotel Pools From Around the World [Getaway]
  • Asian Snacks Are More Popular Than Ever in America. Here’s What That Says About Asian Americans [Refinery29]
  • 28 Black Films That Are Infinitely More Informative Than “The Help” [High Snobiety]
  • How to Do Thoughtful Work When You Just Can’t Focus [Fast Company]
  • America Is Giving Up on the Pandemic [The Atlantic]
  • I’m Supposedly An Adult. What Time Should I Go To Bed? [Mel Magazine]
  • A Socially Distanced Live Music Venue Will Open in London Later This Year [Hypebae]
  • What Luxury Brands Can Learn From Looting [GQ]
  • 5 Photographers Speak on Responsibly Capturing and Sharing Protest Images [Nylon]
  • Twitter Now Asks You To Read An Article Before Sharing It [Popular Mechanics]
  • Grammy Awards to Remove “Urban” Term From All Its Categories [Hypebae]
  • What’s Going On in CHAZ, the Seattle Autonomous Zone? [The Cut]
  • 50 Things Every Man Should Own [Cool Material]
  • Eddie Huang on the Oppressive Whiteness of the Food World [Grub Street]
Culture
09 May 2020

Blog Roundup

  • Banksy Honors Healthcare Workers With New Artwork [Hypebeast]
  • ESPN Moves Up Release Date of 3 Upcoming Films [Sports Illustrated]
  • 5 Ways to Keep Bacteria Out of Your Beauty Products [Byrdie]
  • How to Structure Your Days When Time is Fake and You Have Endless Chores [VICE]
  • 21 Times TV Shows Killed Off a Character and Ruined the Entire Series For People [BuzzFeed]
  • In Conversation: Hayley Williams [Vulture]
  • Asian Parents Are Starring in the Most Wholesome TikToks [Buzzfeed] I honestly wish I were in quarantine with my dad cause I know we’d make the best dancing TikToks
  • TV Marianne Is Too Hot and Normal [The Cut]
  • 10 Cooking Mistakes Most Home Cooks Make [Cool Material]
  • Cloth Masks to Shop Now [Vogue]
  • Spike Lee’s love letter to New York [Fader]
  • That Isn’t Actually Michael Jordan’s House in ‘The Last Dance’ [High Snobiety]
Culture
27 Mar 2020

Blog Roundup

  • The Women of Instagram [The Everygirl]
  • Scotland is the first country to make pads and tampons free [Today]
  • Netflix Introduces Daily Top 10 Lists [High Snobiety]
  • Here’s What Happens When Guy Fieri Visits A Restaurant [Thrillist]
  • Kanye, Out West [New York Times]
  • Sound and Vision: Paid Family Rocking [KEXP]
  • McDonald’s Introduces New Big Macs [Cool Material]
  • I Think About This A Lot: Jack and Meg White Pretending to be Brother and Sister [The Cut]
  • 7 Delicious, Creative Ways to Eat Eggs That Don’t Involve Scrambles [Well + Good]
  • How Coronavirus is Destroying the Livelihood of Music’s Behind-the-Scenes Workforce [Rolling Stone]
  • The 11 Rules Every Man Should Heed to Tidy Up His Closet [Inside Hook]
  • Why We Can’t Stop Looking at Photos of Empty Cities [Fast Company]
  • The No Equipment Home Workout [Valet Mag]
  • You Can Now Download Free Coloring Pages From Over 100 Museums and Libraries [Hypebeast]
  • These Famous Logos Have Been Remade for the Coronavirus Age [Ad Age]
  • What It’s Like to Self-Quarantine With a Michelin-Starred Chef [Grub Street]