As a brand, New Balance doesn’t strike the same chord as a Nike or Adidas in the streetwear world, but I grew up with the shoe as a hardcore kid and its appeal runs deep. Before the Nike Dunk/Air Max crossover from the hip-hop world hit the scene, it was either Sauconys or NB for the straight edge crowd and nothing else. As the first sneaker I actively sought out, the 574 holds a special place in my heart. Click over to 574clips.com to catch a glimpse of some other NB love as part of a limited-edition run of the classic model. Via Valet Mag.

This just opened yesterday and I’m wishing I was on the opposite coast. If you’re in the area, you can check it out at Mollusk Surf Shop through the end of November.

For a quick primer on the NY-based, Oahu-raised artist/designer, check out some of the stuff from his portfolio both at his personal page and at the site of his Brooklyn design/illustration/animation/production studio HunterGatherer.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glDNxDGo0EY 540]

If you’d like a soundtrack while you browse, try this — Vega (Alan of Neon Indian) set to clips of the Cali-based skate film Thrashin’, featuring a young Josh Brolin. I don’t know…it just seems to fit.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWroI785ghU&fmt=18 540]

Does that sound like a new Pixar flick about a superhero family? The point is, let’s make today ‘unofficial music videos’ day. The first is a fan-made video created for Brooklyn-slash-Austin rising stars Neon Indian, whom Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear just included as a ‘recent favorite’ on the playlist he compiled for designer Jeremy Laing runway show. The video pulls together some decidedly lo-fi footage, a fitting accompaniment for Neon Indian’s decidedly lo-fi pop approach, to create the perfect audio/visual soundtrack to the end of summer.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cZfzch8vDo 540]

Speaking of Grizzly Bear, here’s the other video, done with their single ‘Two Weeks,’ which is some truly inspired work from a guy named Gabe Askew. This is fully unofficial, but apparently endorsed by the band (Ed’s tweeted about it). Anyway, how could you NOT like this? And, as a postscript, it’s also tough not to love the following interview with the guys, excerpted below:

• Chris B: I got a Nintendo DS a week ago.
• Interviewer: How you likin’ that?
• Chris B: I think it’s pretty fun. It’s very kid-y, but I like it.
• Interviewer: well, that’s just like, Nintendo in general, right? I’m always like, well I gotta buy that, or the PSP and I’m nah, well I’m just not gonna get either.
• Ed: I think none of us were feeling our video game spirits until we went on the road and we had a LOT of time to kill–and then suddenly, I made everyone pull over to Wal Mart and I was like, “I MUST buy Zelda and a Gameboy.” ‘Cause I was just like going crazy in the back of the car, just sitting there, for like, 10 hours across North Dakota–
• Daniel: –well if you’d just talk to me…
• All: [snickering]
• Daniel: I’m HERE for you… I’ll have a conversation…
• Chris T: Find out what’s inside of Dan!
• Ed: There’s nothing to learn from you. [scoffs] Just kidding. You have a lot of inner beauty.
• Daniel: …I CARE for you…
• Interview: Portable gaming devices are taking away from the band as a family.
• Daniel: How are we going to DEVELOP as a FAMILY?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGrIsYUm4c&fmt=18 540]

I love Google Maps Street View, but how do they do it? Here’s one theory that seems, you know…pretty plausible. Via Theme Blog.

Milton Glaser is one of those designers you just know, whether or not you recognize the name. The “I (heart) New York” design may be one of the most lasting and iconic images ever created. Yep, that was Glaser. Not only that, but he’s never collected a thin dime for it, having contributed his services pro-bono to the 1977 marketing campaign for the state of New York.

Glaser also put forth one of the first lifestyle magazines as co-founder and designer of New York Magazine. You can get the bigger picture of the man through a recent documentary titled “Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight” which closed its run in June this year but should be available for purchase through Arthouse Films.

Head over to his site to take a look at his work through the years, recently made available for purchase as posters & prints. Bonus: the guy who runs The Full Clip, one of my regular visits on the music blog circuit, works for the guy. Click over to get the good word.

An excerpt from a 2005 Sports Illustrated piece on artist Brian Jungen:

Eight years ago, while visiting Manhattan, Jungen stumbled upon the Nike store. “I was overwhelmed by its magnitude,” he recalls. “The corporate propaganda in the store displays explained the history of Nike shoes and the global role of Nike products. I felt like I was in an anthropology museum.”

I was recently reminded of this great series Vancouver artist Jungen had exhibited in 2006 featuring Nike Air Jordans taken apart and pieced together into traditional native masks.

Titled ‘Prototype for New Understanding,’ it’s really cool to see how Jungen takes these two worlds, each with their own loaded histories, and plays them both with and against each other in order to comment on consumerism, mysticism and myth. From a purely technical view, too, think about the work put into making the AJ colors, stitching, curves and forms fit those of aboriginal headwear this well.

I’d mentioned the book, but this’ll be worth seeing large-scale. At Deitch Projects in NYC, you can now take in Kehinde Wiley‘s digital, light-manipulated photographs the rest of this month. Dubbed ‘Black Light,’ don’t miss out — this’ll be a good one.