Only in San Francisco would a filmmaker bring together a leading mid-career architect, an ex-hippie junk collector and the city’s building code inspector to complete a month-long project creating a beautiful, architecturally sound home made entirely of scrap from the salvage yards. Only in San Francisco would that building stand on the lawn in front of City Hall as a monument to the abilities of a community committed to exploring alternative design methods in unconventional settings. And only in San Francisco would such innovative architecture find so much support that a year later the film documenting the project would be screening as part of a month-long tribute to architecture in the city.

“ScrapHouse” was the pet project of Rachel Weidinger, a filmmaker dedicated to doing work which contributes to the world around her. She had the idea to film the process of a design team coming together with a construction team to complete the creation of an environment-conscious building constructed entirely of junk. There was a time when she was certain that the project was not going to come to fruition. There was no funding, there was no organizational plan, and there was no concrete group of people to complete the project.
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If the thriving, ubiquitous presence of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks locations around the USA is any indication, Americans sure do love their coffee. According to the Dunkin Donuts website, it is estimated that more than 100 million Americans drink a total of 350 million cups of coffee a day. That’s a lot of caffeine (and decaf) consumption going on from coast to coast. So how does that translate into profits for the country’s two most recognizable coffee purveyors? How well does each company’s brand capture their share of this sizeable market?

To any casual observer, the stark differences between Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, and their respective demographic, is relatively easy to identify. While many Americans prefer the pleasant, flavorful blend of DD’s 100% Arabica coffee, there are countless others who crave the decidedly stronger, darker strains of high-quality, whole bean brews and Italian-style espresso beverages offered by Starbucks. The former, with its trademark hot-pink and orange logo and limited seating (at least in most locations) tends to draw in a “hit and run” type of crowd, looking for their morning shot on the way to the office. Starbucks, on the other hand, with its wireless connections, comfy chairs, contemporary fixtures and up-to-date musical ambiance, offers the perfect “gathering place” atmosphere, whether you’re an entrepreneur conducting business, a college student surfing the internet, or a hip guy or gal, looking for a “third home” to hang out and read the paper.
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Ever wonder where those cheap looking oil reproductions of Starry Night come from? Well, where else but the land of mass-producing of everything, China. In the southern city of Dafen, 60% of the worlds oil reproductions are produced by ‘companies’ or ’sweat shops’ to use the more accurate terminology. Art dealers from all over the world travel to this city of mass art production every year to swallow up paintings in quantities that equal millions of dollars. One company alone ships over 300,000 paintings a year overseas. Even more compelling is how efficient some of these artists have become. Many can churn out 20 -30 classic masterpiece reproductions a day.

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This French Noir thriller is true black and white. While watching the trailer may remind you of Sin City, this flick uses no grey tones - just good ol’ on/off pixels.

The filmmakers originally produced a 4-minute short film using the technique and shopped it around with investors. The money poured in and allowed them to hire on architects and urban planners as visual consultants.

Set in 2054 Paris, the story revolves around the kidnapping of a young and brilliant researcher. US distributor Miramax opted against sub-titles (lazy Americans) and is having the film dubbed in English. Hopefully those mouths match up better than Pokemon cartoons.

Renaissance opens in the U.S. on Sept. 22.

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Have a few minutes to kill or just simply bored? Check out this Flash-based sketching site, (one of the best we’ve seen.) Doodle your own masterpiece or browse the tour de force of hundreds of wanna-be artistes.

Go Sketch!