Kidrobot QR Scavenger Hunt

Why vinyl is at the cutting edge of technology, or how to scan your way around Manhattan.

Since 2002, designer Paul Budnitz has been pushing the boundaries of what art toys can be in his iconic brand of super-premium vinyl toys, Kidrobot. Now, he is pushing the boundaries of what technology can do. As Android and other mobile platforms make QR codes an increasingly prevalent data tag format, why not have some fun with it? That’s exactly what Kidrobot is doing in Dunny Hunt 09 — a QR-based scavenger hunt around Manhattan, promoting Kidrobot’s Dunny Series 2009, from strategic creative studio WeArePlus.

The five-day hunt kicked off yesterday, offering Kidrobot fans daily clues leading to a promotional displays — posters, stickers, postcards, t-shirts — hidden all around the city. Kidrobot also provides links to free smartphone apps which, once installed, can be used to scan the QR codes embedded in the promotional displays. (Although their choice of iPhone app is BeeTagg Reader, we’d recommend UpCode instead.)

Victorious hunters can collect the day’s Virtual Dunny Collection image, with a chance to win various prizes, including limited-edition Dunny toys. The first person to scan the QR Code from the day’s hidden item wins a special reward. The grand prize is no less than a full set of the Dunny Series 2009 designer toys.

Dunny Series 2009 drops on September 10. Artists behind the collection include Amanda Visell, Mori Chack, Brandt Peters, Gary Taxali, Amy Ruppel, Travis Cain, Thomas Han, and more.

Film Spotlight: BALIBO

The bleeding edge of journalism, or what 30 years of silence look like under the bright lights.

In 1975, as Indonesia prepares to invade the small nation of East Timor, five Australian journalists go missing. Four weeks later, a foreign correspondent by the name of Roger East arrives in the small country to investigate what happened. As political tensions intensify, he forms an unlikely friendship with the man who will soon be President, who grants him full access to the country in order to tell its story. But, for thirty years, the crimes remain covered and the story untold.

This summer, BALIBO, an ambitious political thriller from director Robert Connolly, starring Anthony LaPaglia and Oscar Isaac, brings the truth to light.

In this compelling Q&A on Australia’s ABC network, lead actor and executive producer Anthony LaPaglia delves into the deeper political context of the film and the relationship between fact and fiction in historical films.

BALIBO is based on Cover-up, a 2002 investigative novel by Jill Jolliffe who, working as a freelance correspondent for Reuters in 1975, witnessed the first incursions of Indonesian troops and reported the deaths of her five colleagues.

Thanks, Sarah

The Typophile Film Festival

The traveling type, or why Helvetica vacations in Portland.

We love typography. We love indie film festivals. So we’re head-over-heels with the fifth annual Typophile Film Fest, which opens in Portland tomorrow and will be traveling to select cities later this year.

With a curated selection of typographic short films from Europe, North and South America and Asia, the festival spans the full spectrum of subject and style — from dynamic typographic animation to short stories to mockumentaries to interviews.

So if you’re in the Portland area tomorrow, get yourself a ticket. If elsewhere, keep an eye out for tour dates.

Meanwhile, tease your typographic palate with the delightful opening credits from years past.

Thanks, Kirstin.