Vancouver based collective The Publics’ reports on the latest and greatest from Colors Magazine. “The latest issue, which opens with the sentence “Money is an illusion, a psychological relationship between an object and a value that has been given to it”, is an impressive achievement in content & design semblance that makes your average periodical look grotesquely unsophisticated in comparison…The theme of the issue is as follows: Benetton analyzed paper money in one of their laboratories and found traces of certain substances, the most common being: cocaine, oil, blood, soil, sweat, feces and so on. They then conducted a bit of research and documented different locations/cultures where these substances are being used as a subsitute for monetary currency. For example: in Colombia you can pay your medical bills with cocaine, while in Iraq there exists a thriving black market for blood.”

Good to see Andrei Arlovski clawing his way back to the top of the MMA fight game, spotted his mug on the cover of TapOut Magazine last month.

The Devil’s spawn gets his own sneakers! Adidas Originals has partnered with Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Comics to mark the upcoming release of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army with a pair of limited edition sneakers. The shoes, a Stan Smith Mid and Forum Mid, feature colors and design touches inspired by the film and comic series. The kicks are reportedly due out in small quantity sometime in July.

Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture, edited by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky. Sound Unbound is a fascinating read about the remix–how music, art, and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create. Mix CD that accompanies this book is quite cool and features Nam Jun Paik, the Dada Movement, John Cage, Sonic Youth, and many other examples of topics discussed in book. Great deal as the whole package comes in at around 20.00 some odd dollars. Ambitious collection while uneven as a reviewer points out, it’s still quite a wonderful read.

Shot from the Wasps vs Bath match at Adams Park, when screen captured goes all virtual on your ass.

Add some super ruggedness to your iPhone with a this new case from Oakley. Made from Unobtainium rubber, the Oakley iPhone Case ($30) features an open face for the screen, access to all controls and ports, and can sit on its side to act as a stand for watching extended videos.

Denny’s the 24 hour food chain, has started an “Adopt-a-Band” program, a sponsorship that results in free meals for touring bands in exchange for mentioning Denny’s on their blogs. Oddly enough they have 4 high profile acts that will get to create their own menu items.

Last.FM the social music site has apparently been redesigned with a few new features including The Library, Real Time Charts, Improved Music Player, Activity Feeds and More. Still in Beta, official roll out soon; my account if you want to see a playlist.

London based design studio El Ultimo Grito presented a number of pieces at the recent DMY Berlin. They showcased their amazing custom lounger for Bombay Sapphire made from patch-worked material assembled into a long snake like-seating piece. Also in Berlin, the studio displayed a selection of new works at Appel Design gallery. titled, Berlin Year One featuring an array of quirky tables, vases, seating and wall art.

The Marvel website reports; “Going green is very much in vogue nowadays and what better way to do it than with the Jade Giant himself?! “The Incredible Hulk” debuts in theaters everywhere Friday, June 13 but right here and right now we offer True Believers the world over a brand new movie trailer and tons of new photos from the film!

Just a quick note on that painting by Lucian Freud that was auctioned at Christie’s making him the most expensive living artist. The subject of the $33.6m “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” is Sue Tilley. Ms Tilley, nicknamed “Big Sue”, was introduced to the painter, now 85, by the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery. She wrote the definitive autobiography on Bowery titled “Leigh Bowery The Life and Times of an Icon”.

My friend Ray used to call this look, cum splattered seventies, I say what the fuck, there’s no way in hell you could art direct something to look like this now. It takes some attitude to wear hot pants, a head band and a beard. Click for the full size version.

The changing face of American politics, this could be our next first family! US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) takes the stage with his wife Michelle and daughters, Malia (2nd L) and Sasha (2nd R) at his Oregon and Kentucky primary election night rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

City of Obama Japan dancing with Glee. Housewives hold banners to introduce their group of hula “Obama Girls” during a rally to support US Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama in the Japanese city of Obama, in Fukui prefecture, on May 21, 2008 after Obama declared he was “within reach” of the nomination in the Democratic White House race. The ancient fishing village of 32,000 people has been rooting for the senator to beat out rival Hillary Clinton, hoping that if he becomes the president, he will put Obama firmly on the tourist map.

The Art Newspaper revealed that the London-based Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is the mystery buyer of Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, which sold at Sotheby’s New York this week for $86.3m as well as Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, at Christie’s for $33.6m. History making indeed: the Bacon made the highest auction price ever for a post-war work of art, while Lucian Freud became the most expensive living artist snatching the title from Jeff Koons.

New LA Poster Available Now From eBoy. Click to view full size, buy it now at the eBoy shop. EbOY is Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr. They create re-usable pixel objects and take them to build complex and extensible artwork as well as toys.

I’ve had this theory of sorts that gay consumers esp. those that are tech savvy do not want products that are directly marketed to the gay consumer. Not sure if German company TBWA was going for the gay gaming market or just pimping out a high gay camp sensibility with their video for the Medion Erazer gaming PC. If only such games or experiences existed on the market! Not that the parody is anything unique, looks like TBWA stole a page from the Mortal Kombat playbook, remember last years Dance and Fight, which I sort of felt was a bit more successful and worked to sell the product a bit more effectively with viral marketing. Spotted at Ads of the World and Towleroad is the strange Playstation 3 Poster. A chiseled physique in repose displays a small childlike thumb in place of a, ummm errr a unit. Your thumb will rule your world is the message, of course and erectile dysfunction will now be classified as carpal tunnel?