The Brilliance!

Been trying to write a clever quip about Mondays for like 5 minutes but nothing's working so let's just cut the bullshit and get to the post lol.
↝ First and foremost, you can follow THE BRILLIANCE! on Instagram now. It's this new website we just heard about so we have an account now. We couldn't get the name 'thebrilliance' and we didn't want to do like, theREALbrilliance OFFICIALTheBRILLIANCE or whatever so it's @httpwwwthebrilliancedotcom. Was shocked it was available. We're posting a bunch of 'archive' stuff from the 2005-2014~ era in black/white and everything from 'now' in color. Go enjoy the trip down internet memory lane.
↝ While not fans of Drudge Report's politics, did you know the site had a big influence on the design of this site when we built it originally in 2005? Drudge, Google, and Jakob Nielsen's UseIt.com back then were so different than everything else, so intensely pragmatic and information-first, style (if any) second, and it played right into what we wanted for THE BRILLIANCE. Today it seems everyone refers to this in the zeitgeist as brutalist, which leads me to...
↝ Read our interview on BrutalistWebsites.com - Thanks to Pascal from BrutalistWebsites.com for interviewing us about this whole topic. It was a fun interview and you should check it out :)
↝ Everyone is talking about the new Tyler, The Creator album, which is great, but I just want to give some love to the artist who did the cover, Eric White. His work is so good, check it out.
↝ Nike is releasing 20 new colorways of the Air Max 97 between now and the end of the year. That's...a lot... but I do love the 97 and it's fun to dig through everything they have cooking. The gray/white/volt ones are good.
↝ Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' really is my favorite way these days to find new music. Every Monday night or whenever it is that it updates I always look forward to checking it out. Some weeks it's really hit or miss but I find myself +'ing songs to my collection more often than not.
↝ Chicago's restaurant scene is SO good right now...if you're from here you already know, and if you're not, come visit. A few of my favorites right now: Ema, Monteverde, Giant, Honey's, Gather, Bienmesabe, Cafe Marie Jeanne.

OK.

Some days this site basically writes itself. The Bollinger's electric truck...it's effectively perfect. It being electric, having a decent range and top speed, fairly decent price, and the design....man...THIS is what is missing right now. How, how did Land Rover not ship one of these first??? Honestly? I understand car manufacturing isn't easy and Land Rover has a brand to maintain, etc, etc...but some 16 year-old current version of me is on Japlonik right now and the Land Rover vs Bollinger argument isn't even a question in his mind. The deep-seated brand attachment is already setting in. Undoubtedly in Bollinger's favor. Coming from a guy (me) who's owned two Land Rovers and deeply loves them...does the Defender look a bit cooler and have more heritage? Sure, maybe...but you can't get that car anymore, and haven't been able to in the states since 1997, so it really doesn't matter. Land Rover has forgotten its own "romance" - and didn't even give it a sub brand like Mercedes has with AMG - and catered to its highest spending consumers. Literally, and figuratively, rounding off all the hard edges that made it an incredibly compelling company. :( Point of the post is: the future is electric and the playing field is WIDE open for companies like Bollinger to unseat the classics like Land Rover, etc. Please, please someone tackle the 911. I can't wait.

*I could do a whole post about screens in cars. Can't stand them. They ship to the consumer with out of date software before they've even hit the lot. We all have super computers in our pockets...do something create with those.

*Also still need to get used to grill-less cars–taking me a bit.

I swear I look forward to Jean Touitou interviews like sports fan look forward to playoffs. They're so good. Every one of them. I love how APC is more of "concept" than it is a fashion label...a 30+ year old company, 100% independent (though there was a PE firm involved at one point), with one of the least "fashion guys" in the fashion business as its founder, owner, and creative voice. Jean Touitou is the kind of guy I really wish was my uncle, etc. Can you imagine the family gatherings?! Anyway, he just did, yet another, perfect interview with New York Times...but it reminded me to go back and check his old ones and pull a handful perfect quotes from him:

"Maybe it’s too difficult to make them look great, or maybe I’m just lazy on this subject. But sweatpants sort of show disrespect for the people around you."

"Without that, I wouldn’t be have been able to keep being arrogant with bankers, which is my little pleasure in life. I have to say I have this weakness." – on owning the building APC's HQ is in.

"A guy that looks too fashionable is not sexy for even one quarter of a second. All girls will tell you this, and all gay men will tell you the same."

"If you think my work is French...I don't see why you'd think its French. ...Well, its true its not Italian."

"Its difficult to make a living out of doing garments...stylish garments that is. I mean, its easy to make to make a shit load of money with ugly garments."

"I do not belong to celebrity culture. If people only knew what actresses are paid to sit in the front row at the shows in Milan or Paris, they would want to kill somebody."

"At dinner, I like to drink two cocktails and a glass of water. I smoke when I feel like smoking. I never buy cigarettes; I just pinch other people’s. It’s too good not to do it, and I’m lucky not to be addicted."

"The rock star who uses a personal stylist to dress him should go to jail. If you’re doing rock and roll, you should know how to dress. You shouldn’t need to hire anybody."

The more interviews you read, the more of an APC "nerd", to use his words, you become...the funnier these quotes get. Anyway, check the latest interview with him below.

I've amassed a pretty big collection of graphic t-shirts. I didn't mean to. I can't say it's happened by accident of course, I consciously purchase them, ha...but one day while doing laundry recently it hit me like...hmm, I...have...a lot of shirts. Probably too many. Some I don't even wear because they don't fit me that great (huge neck, too short and wide, other awkward feature, etc) but the graphic is so good I can't bring myself to part ways with it for some silly emotional attachment reason. Some of these tees I just end up sleeping in and walking the dog in, throw on a Saturday around the house or whatever to justify not tossing it in a bag and dropping it off at Goodwill. T-shirts have become such an easy buy. $30 and I can use PayPal? Done. It's virtually impossible to find a notable person/group/band/company/etc that doesn't produce tees these days and it's a cheap (generally speaking), simple way to show love to these people/entities we're fans of. This purchasing vice used to be art and prints for me, but as I've run out of wall space in my house and office, t-shirts have kind of taken their place, slowly but surely. Anyways, I basically want to use the rest of this post to list a few of my favorite places to get t-shirts right now. Some you might know, others a bit more under the radar, but all worth spending some money on.

• Boot Boyz — Top of my list right now. Based here in Chicago, Boot Boyz is a self-described 'bootleg t-shirt initiative that creates original and appropriated designs referencing a wide range of phenomena'. They're most recent Chicago collection (sold out now) was the best collection of Chicago-inspired merch I've probably ever seen, for my tastes. Well-researched, super smart, and pristinely packaged, BB are setting the bar.

• All In Merch — All In Merch exclusively carries merch from hardcore bands & record labels. Some (most?) of the best t-shirt graphics in history are rooted in punk rock and hardcore: Black Flag, The Ramones, Judge, Youth of Today tees etc. have stood the test of time and inspired countless others because of their simple, bold iconography. All In Merch has a huge, amazing selection of SUPER cheap ($16 avg) band tees. I don't advocate for wearing shirts of bands you don't listen to, but if you dig a tee you find here, and you will, maybe you'll become a fan of the music too as a result.

• DES / Jeremy Dean — The truth is this whole post was inspired by reading interviews with Jeremy Dean. Jeremy, formerly of House Industries and House 33 fame (I still have some of those old House 33 green drip Bic lighters), is a revered designer and somewhat of a historian of graphic tees. His Grateful Dead/Wonders of Black Flag tees have become sought after and beloved for their perfect and mysterious juxtaposing of wildly different subcultures (hippie+hardcore), collaborations with John Mayer and tour merch for the Rolling Stones...always cool stuff from JD

• Know Wave — Longtime friend of THE BRILLIANCE! Aaron Bondaroff, t-shirt legend and former Supreme shop employee turned founder of cultural staples aNYthing, OHWOW, Know Wave, and Moran Bondaroff, Aaron knows the art of graphic tees as much as anyone. Know Wave consistently puts out good t-shirts. You probably already own one.

• Lost & Found Bootlegs — Pretty much exactly what the title says, Lost & Found makes bootleg punk rock/hardcore merch (tees, pins, hats, etc) riffing on everything from Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Void, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, and so on. The Family Guy twist on Black Flag's 'Family Man' album cover tee is particularly incredible.

• POWERS — One of my favorite illustrators/graphic designers Eric Elms new POWERS brand is so good. One of the best presentations/merch websites you will ever see. Make sure to roll over all the graphics on the page...painstaking amount of work to do all those animations, sheesh!

BONUS! THE BRILLIANCE! t-shirt is restocked and available at Notre :)

Really doesn't matter if I never purchase one of these or even sit in one...I'm just super happy it exists. An electric boat...and, and! well designed! Tasteful even! Even with it being entirely electric...it doesn't need to have a massive neon blue trim piece down the side, or a horrible bright green accents, or look like the like a meek rodent. Incredible, ha. It just looks like...a really well designed boat. No unneeded attention-attracting features, etc. Funny thing, I'm really not that into boats...I have friends that are really into them but I've always thought they seem like so much work – they're so "fiddly" – and I actually get fairly motion sick on them. But, despite all that, I have been thinking about purchasing one over the past few years...especially so now living in Chicago. I can walk to the marina in like 5 minutes. It's quite nice. Anyway...almost anything that was previously internal combustion that is now electric is grabbing my attention. Partially for the obvious reasons about moving off of non-renewable resources and all the benefits that come from it...but honestly, sometimes more so because I think its just more elegant. It's super quiet, there are less moving pieces, its smoother, etc, etc. Boating to me is about relaxing...thats why they call them "pleasure crafts" right? Ha. With this Hinckley Dasher – what a name, ha – it's the perfect "charcuterie boat" as I call them. Beautiful, classic, perfect for a 2 hour cruise around the shore while you snack on thinly sliced Creminelli, chilled salted radishes, a simple white wine, etc, etc, etc...or whatever Jean Toutiou does when he is out and about in the Med. Anyway...I love this thing. Yeah the range sucks, but as we've seen with any other tech over the past 20 years...its get better quite quickly. Dramamine on deck – pun intended too.

I walked down the stairs the other day, looked around and saw four pairs of slides by the door. Five if you count my wife’s Birkenstocks and six if you count her mules. But that’s OK for a lot of reasons, but especially when you consider that there are (at least) four different categories of slides:

•Standard slides (cool varietal) - this is like your sporty kind of slide that you would throw on with a pair of sweatpants to go grab takeout or maybe even to the store on a low key grocery run

•Standard slides (rugged varietal) - this slide has a beefier sole that’s perfect for taking your dog to a dog park that has that really tough bark-like mulch, the Platonic ideal for which is a Birkenstock Arizona

•Pool slides - mostly rubber slides that you can wear around a pool/spa and not have them get destroyed via water overload

•House slides - this is a strictly indoors/outdoor living space category of slides that serve as a way to keep a little barrier on your foot while also making it so that you don’t drag your foot mess all over your house, maybe like a adilette or Benassi.

Growing up in the Midwest, it was commonplace to keep your shoes on indoors. A few years in Toronto was enough to change my mind on that. And once you reach that “no shoes in the house” mindframe, you’re going to need slides. (Slides are technically shoes but only in the way that a square is also technically a rectangle.)
Now it’s life shoes off when I hit the door, then maybe a house slide when I’m cruising around the house, depending on general foot health. Then, whenever I need to take the dog or garbage out, it’s rugged standards. If it’s c-ball season, pool slides are in order. And if I need to make moves in the city, and the weather permits, lemme holler at those cool standards.

I do feel a bit like Monica having all these categories of slides. Don’t even get me started on sweatshirt taxonomy.

The human eye is sensitive enough to register a single photon, but picking out that photon’s color can be a challenge; trying to recreate and render whole swaths of color in a photograph is even harder. To start, people don’t perceive the color spectrum in a uniform way. There’s an old thought experiment where a race of people are born with weird eyes that invert their color experience. They see the exact opposite of what normal people see: orange for blue, green for red, etc. Still, they’re able to go through life without a problem, and even talk to us, regular-eyed people about blue skies, green apples and red fire hydrants. That’s because our color experiences are private ones. The visual spectrum being what it is, there’s a lot of room for interpretation within concepts like ‘pink’, ‘orange’, or ‘cyan’. As the story goes, it would be pretty difficult to pick out these people from the rest of us, or even decide whether or not you yourself are one of these monsters.

Maybe there’s a touch of that going on as we segregate into camps of camera brand loyalty. Choosing between a Canon and a Nikon boils down to a choice between two different sensors or chips. A digital Camera’s chip takes the place of photosensitive film. In the case of a film camera, there is a chemical reaction that occurs when light hits the filmstrip. The chip in a digital camera triggers an electrical charge. Film interprets and records colors based on the wavelength of the light hitting the photosensitive cell. The digital chip is a discrete set of photosites (one per pixel). Color is interpreted and recorded from light that triggers a tiny electrical charge in each photosite.

Using different film, or using a different chip, is like having a particular set of eyes. Mechanically speaking, chips function in the same way. What the camera does with the electrical information just is how the colors are interpreted. This interpretation is proprietary in the way that our color experiences are private. There is a set of unique algorithms built into each chip that maps the electrical information from the photosites onto locations in color space (colors in the visual spectrum).

The Nikon mapping is different than the Canon mapping; they offer unique color spaces with some overlap and with some disjointedness. You might think of a color space or gamut as a kind of painter’s palate, but with millions of discrete colors. The visual spectrum is the largest color space, with the whole spectrum as its proper part. All other color spaces are proper subsets of the visual spectrum, some with more colors and some with less. Adobe RGB is a big color space with millions of colors. Within this space are familiar, smaller color spaces like CMYK or the Pantone gamut. Nikon and Canon’s respective chips have a gamut that’s within AdobeRGB, and contain smaller spaces like CMYK and other safe print gamuts.

For the most part, their color spaces overlap, but there are colors that are unique to both, and this is what makes the essential difference between being a Canon person or a Nikon person. Canon seems to have a wider range of colors (more latitude) in darker shades (what’s called the toe). Nikon generally has more latitude with lighter tones. Canon has a color gamut that incudes more dark blues, greys, and purples, where Nikon has a wider range of light greens, oranges, and light blues. This results in a less saturated, moodier look for Canon that does well to resemble certain film, and a more vibrant, true-to-life look in Nikon.
We see this born out in the lens kits available for each respective brand, as well as the photographers who use them. Nikon’s lens are usually crystal clear, sharp, and built to apprehend the environment without adulteration. While each different photograph demands This makes Nikon a choice brand for journalistic projects (see Lyndsey Addario) or photographing nature (see Jim Richardson). Canons lenses allow for more tints in any given lens. Studio photographers interested in light painting in a studio tend to favor the Canon setup for certain projects (see Timothy Saccenti).

Lighting, filters, context, subject matter, the final medium… all complicate matters, but at the bottom, this is what you’re making a choice between when it comes to digital SLRs: the color space your photograph will find itself in.

I'm not sure if I qualify as an "art person"...I buy art, I own originals, etc. But I've never felt that I "get it" as much as my friends who are properly into art...ha, you all know who you are. Jeff Koons' is one of the those polarizing art guys, yeah? Like...he's "easy" to like for the general public. And that tends to get the "real" art people all spun up, etc. I love that...making the gate-keepers uncomfortable is perhaps one of the best reactions an artist can get...for me at least. Do I like his work? Sure...its truly mind-bending in-person. I've even been lucky to be at Gagosian in LA when his stuff was getting delivered setup-up, etc. I was obsessed with the hidden hooks and fasteners in the pieces that were used to hoist them into position. Anyway, sure, his stuff is wild...completely modern in every sense and succinct/consistent. But far and away my favorite work he creates is the interviews he does... I remember watching my first one. His bizarre demeanor that's both super flat but also a combo of maybe how your dentist or optician might talk to you and then like an overly caring parent might explain to you that the family dog died...ha. How he explains his art...so weird and perfect. It's all so odd. I love it. Check this new one I just landed at on Vice. The studio visit with the stencils!?!? Unreal.

Kind of surprised I never made a post about this company in the past. It's 100% "the brilliance" in its perfect contrast of classic, absurd, and painful attention to detail. The quick hot-take: They take an older Porsche 911, specific focus on the 964 air-cooled years, and restore and re-tailor it with an almost comical attention to detail. Thats the hot-take...but the reality is that they've effectively re-engineered, re-designed, and completely rebuilt you a brand new 911 by the time you've finished PayPaling the $500-800K it costs to have them do one for you. Best thing is the level of taste they do all this with. Usually a modified car with a price tag as such is incredibly corny and obnoxious...contrast, these somehow magically blend the old with the very new without any unneeded nostalgia. They look like they've always existed. The updated carbon fiber body, the trim on the lights, the paint jobs, the perfectly referenced wheels, the interiors (!!!), the subtle use of matte carbon fiber, etc...everything, everything. This quote from their founder, Rob Dickinson, maybe best sums its up:

"...as we build a brand synonymous with understanding, re-evaluating and re-presenting iconic industrial design to a new audience."

Funny thing is...for me, I don't really aspire to own one, its not my style. I'm more just happy they exist...that the founder is able to indulge into the minutia at that level and find a consumer for it. I've even heard him joke that he can't afford his own cars. All said, google around, check them out, etc...but this short video with Chris Harris probably best shows the story, etc. ****Actually, if they could do a 2012 911 GTS conversion to electric...hmmm, maybe, ha.

The new Kacey Musgraves album, Golden Hour, is getting showered with praise from every major press outlet. I have listened to it countless times since it came out last week and it seems to be the rare case of an album that deserves the hype. It’s the perfect marriage of pop and country. Two genres that have flirted with each other for years, with the results usually feeling forced or plain corny, and at their worst a hokey cash grab for a major label. Golden Hour is being called "space country" or "galactic country" - both describe it well. Musgraves uses a banjo, a talk-box, pedal steel, and synth pads. The experimentation works because she does it without abandoning her roots. It's fuzzy and at times can even border on psychedelic without every truly losing its Nashville twang. Musgraves got married, listened to the Bee Gees, did LSD, discovered disco and re-discovered Sade. The 13 songs sparkle and shimmer at just the right times. It is a total body of work, even with standouts (“Space Cowboy,” “Butterflies”) the album is best digested as a whole. Golden Hour is graceful, sweeping, cheeky, and complete. A young woman is making the music she wants to make and saying what she wants to say. There is no unnecessary sheen, no pretense. It drips with soul, determination, and assertiveness. Musgraves says she went through a “metamorphosis” since her last album, if that is indeed the case, then her new skin fits well. But most importantly the songs and Musgraves herself are authentic. Something we desperately need today.