http://thinktopia.com Better thoughts through thinking™ Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:13:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Minneapolis is a bike town. Portland is a bike town. Venice Beach is a bike town. http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/29/hey-what%e2%80%99s-with-all-the-bikes/ Further proof that people are being blindsided until they’re bleary-eyed by the steady downstream of change (and they don’t know what the f*ck is going on) is that fortune-tellers are sprouting up faster than tattoo shops. Not the world’s oldest profession, we’re just going to claim that crystal balls, tea ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/28/tarot-card-entrepreneurs/ This brand has caught our eye from Bleeker Street to Santa Barbara. Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream are two lines of luxury clothing established by Pharrell of The Neptunes and Nigo, founder of BAPE. The lines consist of T-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, knits, denim, suits and shirts; outerwear in ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/27/billionaire-boys-club/ One of the most interesting things about retailer Cotton On, located on the Santa Monica Promenade, is that it’s from Australia—a nation known for its wool. (In fact, a gross amount of Australia’s gross national product has historically been wool.) The first impression walking in, is that Cotton On is ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/26/cotton-on-au-2/ One of the most interesting things about retailer Cotton On, located on the Santa Monica Promenade, is that it’s from Australia—a nation known for its wool. (In fact, a gross amount of Australia’s gross national product has historically been wool.) The first impression walking in, is that Cotton On is ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/26/cotton-on-au/ We have spotted this shop on State Street during prior trips and it continues to amaze. Despite the distraction of a Mardis Gras-esque summer solstice parade festival happening outside their doors (and World Cup soccer playing in all the bars), we found a killtacular collection of men’s clothing. Never seen ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/22/k-frank-in-santa-barbara-ca-unloads-huge-amount-of-splendid/ I am on the Danish peninsula, a green land dotted with milk cows, hedgerows and housewives pedaling black bicycles steadily into the wind. The airstream blows incessantly off the Atlantic, which is why it is unremarkable yet surreal to find a giant ten-story high white propeller slowly rotating in the ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/21/high-wind-powered-and-lonesome/ Remarks former P&G executive John Lilly (also former ceo of Pillsbury), “You could take out 1% of the cleaning ingredients in Tide every year and no one would know the difference. Until they go out of business.” http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/20/branding-lesson-from-tide/ Spotted a billboard for a camera in Los Angeles that read, IF IT HAS A RINGTONE, IT’S NOT A CAMERA. This reads as a desperate attempt to hold back the tide of digital apps that are supplanting everything from maps to restaurant guides to newspapers. We are at an inflexion ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/19/what-century-is-this-anyway/ A couple of years ago, we were led through the deserted offices of the formerly hot hot hot Polaroid Corporation. Set in rolling hills amidst a pine forest west of Boston, the Polaroid headquarters was a mix of buildings rendered in 1950s modern architecture that you guess was probably at ... http://thinktopia.com/2010/07/15/goodbye-polaroid-hello-polaroid/