Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia permanently pranked his citizens with a tongue-in-cheek e-lane for those texting or e-reading on the go! We like this cheeky solution to the city of Philadelphia’s (and the world at large’s) real frustration with distracted pedestrians (when we aren’t them ourselves).

Filed Under: Dear LA Do This Tonight! 

Are you looking for something to do tonight? Well, drive on down to Echo Park’s Pinata gallery and check out sylist Aaron Brown’s photographs of famous people’s backs. You’ll get a peak at Stephen Shore, Twista, and the guys from Neon Indian. 

pinata-la:

Piñata presents HELLHOUNDS- A solo photography exhibition by Filmmaker/photographer Aaron Brown (Focus Creeps).

March 15th, 2012

7-9pm

(Source: )

You might have heard of the 100-mile diet or the locavores movement—those discerning eaters who try to only eat foods that come from a 100-mile radius. (But if you’re not living in California that can mean living like a Russian peasant on nuts and dried fruits.) Now there is a new local movement, the 100-Mile House, where all the materials to build the house come from (you guessed it) 100-mile radius of the property. The site wants people to register and share the creative ways they build a home so others can learn from the experience, hoping to promote the open sourced home. We’re excited to see the submissions and really hope this trend takes off. 

Lately here at Trendera we have been talking and writing about a new trend we’ve been noticing that we’re calling Buying (Into) Optimism. It seems like after years of being cheerfully optimistic, Gen Ys’ ‘half full’ point-of-view is being tested and they’re looking for ways to bolster that optimism and positivity! These “I Will Never Forget That I Am Awesome” ribbons from The Small Object are a perfect example. 

Filed Under: Rep Your Set

Rap is coming back in a big way right now for Gen Y influencers, with some big changes in rap culture brewing with new up and comers like Tyler the Creator, A$AP Rocky and the Weirdo rap movement. One big step in a different direction for rap is what Fat Joe had to say in a recent interview, “It’s 2011 going on 2012. I think if you’re gay rep your set.” With this single interview, some are saying that it’s now safe to come out in the rap community- a huge movement forward and a perhaps a harbinger of the diversity that Gen Y rappers could be bringing to the table. 

Continuing on the wave of anti-hipster propaganda, Hipster or Homeless is the most overt in their hipster hate when compared to other anti-hipster blogs like Halloween or Williamsburg which Wilson told you about earlier. You can actually drag the image of the hipster in question onto a bike or into a dumpster to cast your vote for which group they truly belong in. Totally un-PC, but all the same, an interesting cultural study on what has become of the hipster in the eyes of the internet.

Occupy Wall Street? by Aaron Thong is a series of in-your-face tech coverings that let you know which side of the percentage pool the carrier is on. What’s more, is this iPhone covering represents a small (but loud) sentiment among Ys that consider their ambitions to be aligned with those of the 1%, who mock the Occupy demonstrations in spite of their growing importance for Ys. Such as the memorable crystal champagne- chugging guy. While it is still a small sentiment, its implications that some Ys still see themselves on a boundary-less trajectory towards wealth and success is very interesting on the cultural landscape of how Ys see their future.

We at Trendera don’t like hearing that something is going on without heading over and seeing what’s what, which is why we headed over to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations  last week to interview a Boomer, a Gen X, and a few Ys on just exactly why they are there. The results? A glimpse into the earnest frustration of Ys looking towards a future with even less of a safety net. 

Filed Under: Oakland Policeman Throws Tear Gas at Crowd

Warning: The above video is deeply upsetting, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. Occupied Wall Street is an ever-growing movement among young people actively expressing their angry against a system that perpetuates wealth for the 1% and ignores the growing hardships for the average individual. Will this moment spark Gen Y’s equivalent to anti-Vietnam protests? It’s hard to say so soon, but one thing is for sure this generation is feeling more angry and rebellious than they have ever before. 

Martha Marcy May Marlene directed by Sean Durkin opened over the weekend, and is the first film I have ever seen that draws a clear line that connects favorite Gen Y collectivist pass times (sustainable farming, recessionist co-op living and resource-pooling, and even urban escape to upstate New York) to what steadily and surely becomes cult single mindedness. How weird are we? 

Also an incredible debut for Elizabeth Olsen, this Rolling Stone review called her “an actress of uncommon subtlety and feeling”; perfectly put. Could this become the catalyst film of a future cult entertainment trend? Y’s are primed for cult stories regardless, thanks to their Share Ware mentality!

We’ve written about Dear Photograph in the past, but it continues to grow in popularity and poignancy. For those who haven’t seen it, Dear Photograph is an incredibly touching blog where users submit photographs of photographs held over the place they were taken, decades before, along with messages written  to people in the picture (sometimes the long-gone subject, sometimes a childhood version of their children, or of themselves). One particularly moving example of this blog’s gravitas are the submission for the September 11th ten year anniversary (below).

I am left wishing we could do this digitally, by holding up our smartphones. Reinserting place, and history, into the continuously placeless, globalized world seems to be an emerging preoccupation for Ys. 

When I heard CEO Jay Finch pitch SocStock (short for Social Stock) by Common Equity at Applied Brilliance’s 2011 event, I thought two things- first that I had never heard such a Gen Y-meets-finance proposal, and second that Brooklyn is about to face total take over. Never have I heard of such a timely tech launch.

So how does SocStock work? Say a local business that you love- perhaps a sandwich shop that makes things that taste like heaven- is hypothetically trying to expand and needs a new oven to keep up with demand of their immaculate sandwich The Singing Angels. Instead of applying for a small business loan that they might not get, The Sandwich Shop would ask their loyal patrons to invest something like $100 each of SocStock to be able to buy a new oven and keep up with demand. I, the loyal customer, would go to SocStock’s website, buy $100 worth of SocStock via my PayPal account, and would be reimbursed over the coming months with what could be behind the scenes tours, sandwich-making classes, or even discounted or store-credited Singing Angels sandwiches. 

As an alternative for small businesses applying for small business loans that are virtually impossible to come by these days as banks continue to constrict, it’s simply Brilliant.