Vikings Select HKS Inc.

The Minnesota Vikings selected Dallas architecture firm HKS Inc. to design their new $975 billion stadium scheduled to break ground the summer of 2013 and open in 2016.

HKS Inc., who will be paid $34 million for this job, designed Cowboys Stadium and the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium. (both have retractable roofs)

HKS Inc.'s winning bid came with these sketches and preliminary schematics; however, they are not the finished designs. The build design won't be decided or revealed until the beginning of 2013. It's yet to be seen if there will be a retractable roof.

StarTribune - "Choice of designer opens window on Vikings stadium"
MinnPost - "Vikes stadium to be designed by architects for Dallas, Indianapolis football homes"
Vikings.com - "MSFA, Vikings Jointly Select HKS Sports & Entertainment Group to Design New Stadium"

Looper

"Intelligent science-fiction sometimes seems an endangered species - too much physics and there's a risk of creating something cold and remote, too many explosions and get lost in the multiplex. Looper isn't perfect, but it pulls off the full Wizard Of Oz: it has a brain, courage and a heart." - Empire Magazine

From Rian Johnson, the writer/director of Brick.

ESPN's Top 100 Players of the NBA

100. Nick Collison, PF, Thunder
99. Omer Asik, C, Rockets
98. Darren Collison, PG, Mavericks
97. Brandon Bass, PF, Celtics
96. Jose Calderon, PG, Raptors
95. Kawhi Leonard, SF, Spurs
94. Andre Miller, PG, Nuggets
93. Wilson Chandler, SF, Nuggets
92. Shawn Marion, SF, Mavericks
91. Thaddeus Young, F, 76ers
90. O.J. Mayo, SG, Mavericks
89. Derrick Favors, F-C, Jazz
88. Lou Williams, PG, Hawks
87. George Hill, SG, Pacers
86. DeAndre Jordan, C, Clippers
85. Elton Brand, PF, Mavericks
84. Kris Humphries, PF, Brooklyn
83. Goran Dragic, PG, Suns
82. Taj Gibson, F, Bulls
81. Jason Terry, SG, Celtics
80. Aaron Afflalo, SG, Magic
79. Andre Kirilenko, SF, Timberwolves
78. Jeremy Lin, PG, Rockets
77. JaVale McGee, C, Nuggets
76. Kevin Martin, SG, Rockets
75. Paul George, SG, Pacers
74. Anderson Varejao, PG, Cavaliers
73. Jrue Holiday, PG, 76ers
72. Ersan Ilyasova, PF, Bucks
71. Kenneth Faried, F, Nuggets
70. Gerald Wallace, SF, Brooklyn
69. Tyreke Evans, G, Kings
68. Luis Scola, PF, Sunns
67. Carlos Boozer, PF, Bulls
66. Tony Allen, SG, Grizzlies
65. Mike Conley, PG, Grizzlies
64. Ray Allen, SG, Heat
63. Nicolas Batum, SF, Trail Blazers
62. Anthony Davis, PF, Hornets
61. Brandon Jennings, PG, Bucks
60. Brook Lopez, C, Brooklyn
59. David Lee, PF, Warriors
58. Andrea Bargnani, C, Raptors
57. Marcin Gortat, C, Suns
56. David West, PF, Pacers
55. John Wall, PG, Wizards
54. Danilo Gallinari, SF, Nuggets
53. Paul Millsap, PF, Jazz
52. Nene, C, Wizards
51. Kyle Lowry, PG, Raptors
50. Ryan Anderson, PF, Hornets
49. Greg Monroe, C, Pistons
48. Ty Lawson, PG, Nuggets
47. Ricky Rubio, PG, Timberwolves
46. Monta Ellis, SG, Bucks
45. Andrew Bogut, C, Warriors
44. Al Jefferson, C, Jazz
43. Amare Stoudemire, PF, Knicks
42. DeMarcus Cousins, C, Kings
41. Serge Ibaka, PF, Thunder
40. Stephen Curry, PG, Warriors
39. Danny Granger, SF, Pacers
38. Eric Gordon, SG, Hornets
37. Luol Deng, SF, Bulls
36. Joakim Noah, C, Bulls
35. Roy Hibbert, C, Pacers
34. Zach Randolph, PF, Grizzlies
33. Joe Johnson, SG, Brooklyn
32. Rudy Gay, SF, Grizzlies
31. Josh Smith, PF, Hawks
30. Al Horford, C, Hawks
29. Paul Pierce, SF, Celtics
28. Andre Iguodala, SF, Nuggets
27. Tim Duncan, C, Spurs
26. James Harden, G, Thunder
25. Manu Ginobili, SG, Spurs
24. Marc Gasol, C, Grizzlies
23. Tyson Chandler, C, Knicks
22. Kyrie Irving, PG, Cavaliers
21. Kevin Garnett, PF, Celtics
20. LaMarcus Aldridge, PF, Trail Blazers
19. Steve Nash, PG, Lakers
18. Chris Bosh, PF, Heat
17. Carmelo Anthony, SF, Knicks
16. Tony Parker, PG, Spurs
15. Pau Gasol, PF, Lakers
14. Blake Griffin, PF, Clippers
13. Andrew Bynum, C, 76ers
12. Rajon Rondo, PG, Celtics
11. Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Mavericks
10. Deron Williams, PG, Brooklyn
9. Russell Westbrook, PG, Thunder
8. Dwyane Wade, SG, Heat
7. Kevin Love, PF, Timberwolves
6. Kobe Bryant, SG, Lakers

#5-1 will be announced tomorrow.

34 Days Until the Start of the NBA Season

"Usually I don't do this but, uh go on and break em off with the preview of the remix". twitter.com/S_C_/status/25…
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) September 26, 2012

Vikings Stadium Architect to be Chosen Friday

The Minnesota Vikings will announce Friday morning the architecture firm who will design the Minneapolis $975 billion stadium scheduled to be finished/open for the 2016 NFL season.

StarTribune - "Vikings' stadium architect to be announced Friday"

The five architectural firm finalists include:

• "HKS Inc. of Dallas, which designed NFL stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts."

• "Ewing Cole, a Philadelphia-based firm that drew plans for the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Jets and Giants."

• "HNTB Corp. of Kansas City, architect for the $1.2 billion stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., being built for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers."

• "AECOM, a Los Angeles firm that designed a 67,000-seat home for the Seattle Seahawks."

• "Populous, a Kansas-City based architect that designed the Twins' Target Field, Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota football team."

Directors and their Typefaces

Sofia Coppola and Kabel.

Stanley Kubrick and Futura.

Flavorwire - "10 Auteurs and the Typefaces They Love"

Who is J.R. Smith?

Grantland - "The Miseducation of J.R. Smith"
Jonathan Abrams

"How did a once-coachable kid with a supportive family become such a hassle for NBA coaches? Was this simply teenage rebellion writ large? Richardson wonders if these last few years, right down to the tattoos, represent Smith "making up for lost time," emerging as "expressions of certain freedoms." Holmes agrees, pointing out that Smith wasn't permitted much of a social life by his parents. "He never went to a prom or anything, rightfully so," he said. "That was part of his liberation, expressing himself, getting out of that mode.""

Aladdin and Titanic the Same Movie?

Buzzfeed - "19 Things That Prove “Aladdin” And “Titanic” Are Basically The Same Movie"

Where did James Cameron find his inspiration?

The Craftsmanship and Care of Ichiro Suzuki's Bats

"The case, which looks like a mini trunk, not only protects the bats from jostling and banging during transports, it also serves as a dehumidifier, drawing moisture out of the bats during the hot, humid American summers."

New York Times - "For Suzuki, Respect for Bats Is Key to Hitting"

"During a game for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan in 1999, Ichiro Suzuki struck out and returned to the dugout unusually frustrated. In a fit of anger, he destroyed his black Mizuno bat. Embarrassed, Suzuki wrote a letter of apology to the craftsman who had made his bats by hand from Tamo wood, grown on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Such was the respect that Suzuki felt for the process that created the bats, which he wielded with such skill."

Paris vs. New York

The True Story of John Clayton

USA Today
Huffington Post
Deadspin

Excerpt from a Book

"My housefly theory is related to my theory about why time seems to go faster as you get older."

Why's that?" the girl asked.

"It's proportional," Leonard explained. "When you're five, you've only been alive a couple thousand days. But by the time you're fifty, you've lived around twenty thousand days. So a day when you're five seems longer because it's a greater percentage of the whole."

Jeffrey Eugenides
The Marriage Plot, paperback pg. 41

The Republican National Convention

Lincoln Trailer

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln
Directed by Steven Spielberg
November 9, 2012.

New Business Story

Danish Architect Bjarke Ingels recently won a pitch to build the new addition to the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah.

Story of the pitch was included in last week's New Yorker profile on Ingels, "High Rise."


"[Bjarke] Ingels, in a black suit and a white shirt, launched himself at the jury with funny, calibrated messages about his respect for the town and it history, illustrated with two hundred and forty images, starting with shots of BIG employees snow-tubing--"testing some recent technology in movement," he said, dryly. He linked the town's mining past to the Kimball's occupation of a garage, setting up a theme of repurposed infrastructure. Park City was a place where "the plumes of the smokestacks became the plumes of the snow cannons."

One photograph showed both the old Kimball Garage, and, a few blocks behind it, an eighty-foot wooden tower, a former mining building, that was the town's tallest structure until it burned down, in the nineteen-eighties. With that conjunction now in his audience's mind, Ingels started showing photographs of various blue foam shapes. BIG's search for the right form had "turned into this odyssey," Ingels said, as the slides sped up--a spike, a stack, a blob--then sped up further, to laughter from the audience, until the effect was of cartoon characters in the dusty blur of a fistfight. We saw a hundred models in about twenty seconds.

Robin Marrouche, the Kimball's director, later told me, "They tried it every which way on that space. That was really impressive. They'd thought this through." But there was some showmanship here; the BIG office did make those models, and doubtless considered every option, but Ingels later acknowledged that the process was unusually quick, telling me, "We basically hit this one after a week."

Quote of the Night

"I'm sorry I could not have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time."

-Abraham Lincoln

NYC Soda Ban

Filmmaker Casey Neistat explains the Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed New York City soda (portion size) ban in an video op-doc for the New York Times.

Mountain Dew, below, is commissioning art for their sugary drink business.

The xx - Coexist

Album stream
Wikipedia page

Rihanna's New Tattoo

James Taylor - "Romney & Bain"

Who is Megan Ellison?

Megan Ellison, The 26-year-old daughter of Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, and the production house she created, Annapurna Pictures, has been financing independent films of auteurs that aren't getting investments from major studios: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Jonze, Harmony Korine.

Los Angeles Times - "Megan Ellison is energizing indie film world" 
New York Times - "Silicon Valley Scion Tackles Hollywood"

Actor Observation

Director P.T. Anderson on working with Actor Joaquin Phoenix for The Master.

NYT - "A Star Swerves a Bit; He’s Fine With That"

"Mr. Anderson said that for much of the shoot, Mr. Phoenix stayed in character. Mr. Phoenix, for his part, dislikes the actorly pretensions of the phrase — “I just hate hearing ‘staying in character,’ ” he said — but he acknowledged the importance of sustaining tension in this case. “Freddie was so extreme,” he said. “I couldn’t physically release and let my body relax, then go back into it.”

His reliance on instinct meant that the first takes were often the most electrifying. “He’s pretty bad at faking it,” Mr. Anderson said. “If a moment gets lost, it’s pretty hard for him to come back to shore. It became clear to me that you better get your lighting right the first time.”"

Atoms for Peace - "Default"

Atoms for Peace, the group made up of Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea, and a few others, released their first single "Default" on Thursday, 9/6.

Kanye West, Jay-Z and Big Sean - "Clique"

Off the upcoming GOOD Music label album out September 18.

Clique
Produced by Hit-Boy (of "in Paris" fame).

Houses of Westeros

Nike designer Darrin Crescenzi, who has done notable work for the USA Olympic basketball team, Nike FuelBand, Lebron James and Livestrong, made this original Game of Thrones poster out of his love for the books.

Click here to see a larger version of the poster.

Kotaku
Core77

History of NY in 50 Objects

New York Times - "A History of New York in 50 Objects"

Absolut Unique

Absolut Vodka is creating 4 million unique bottles that will be sold in 80 markets worldwide including the U.S.

"Described as "carefully orchestrated randomness," the process involved setting up splash guns and color-generating machines programmed with complex coating, pattern and placement algorithms to ensure that -- like snowflakes -- no two bottles are alike."

Cruel Summer Tracklist

Kanye West's label GOOD Music's debut album Cruel Summer is coming out September 18th.

1. To The World feat. Kanye West & R. Kelly
2. Clique feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Big Sean
3. Mercy feat. Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz
4. New God Flow feat. Kanye West, Pusha T & Ghostface Killah
5. The Morning feat. Raekwon, Pusha T, Common, 2 Chainz, CyHi Da Prynce, Kid Cudi & D’Banj
6. Cold feat. DJ Khaled
7. Higher feat. The-Dream, Pusha T & Ma$e
8. Sin City feat. John Legend, Travi$ Scott, Teyana Taylor, CyHi Da Prynce & Malik Yusef
9. The One feat. Kanye West, Big Sean, 2 Chainz & Marsha Ambrosius
10. Creepers feat. Kid Cudi
11. Bliss feat. John Legend & Teyana Taylor
12. Don’t Like. Feat. Kanye West, Chief Keef, Pusha T, Big Sean & Jadakiss