I’ve been hearing a lot about this guy who left his design position at Ralph Lauren, bought a Vanagon, and started living the life that a lot of people talk about. This week the awesome Need Supply blog features a great interview with that guy. His name is Foster Huntington; you may know him as the creator of The Burning House. I like how he has taken his fixation on the “just the essentials” idea and put his money where his mouth is, living in his van, keeping only what he needs, and telling the story on his blog A Restless Transplant.

Read the interview here.

“We’re making new, useful items that people want to keep for a long time”.

One more great piece from the creator of some of our other favorites.

A new one from Andrew David Watson, a feel-good piece with some great time lapse footage, dedicated to everyone who’s freezing right now.

Europeans and Australians get lots of cool things that we don’t get in the US, and here are two more things to add to that list: A Bluetec Diesel version of the G-Wagen, and cool car brands aligning themselves with BMX.

Go to NotCot to view this very highly produced video featuring Danny Campbell riding “Wave Rock” in the Australian outback.

Smiling in the front, business in the rear. Those of you who enjoyed Harrison’s Singer post last year might be interested in watching my favorite auto journalist Chris Harris having a talk (and a drive) with the people behind Singer. It’s always awesome to get inside the minds of people who have a heartfelt obsession with something and will stop at nothing to get it absolutely right.

These guys celebrate the fact that the beauty of the 911 isn’t just its beauty, it’s also its toughness. I find that the coolest 911s are the old ones that are daily driven, and Singer takes that idea one step further by giving them modern day power, some sound deadening, and an incredible bespoke interior without losing the rawness that was originally intended.

ArchDaily has taken note of the fact that in older movies, only villains lived in cool houses (the American Psycho, Jackie Treehorn, and the bad guy from North by Northwest). Nowadays, thanks to Tony Stark and some others, the good guys get to have good taste too.

ArchDaily article here, including some great photos of legendary modern houses.

Originally seen at YouMightFindYourself. Above pic from MidCenturia.

URBAN OUTLAW – THE MOVIE from Tamir Moscovici on Vimeo.

This is quite a bit late, so if you like cool stuff and have internet access, you’ve probably already seen this and I apologize for the redundancy. If not, here’s a 40 minute short film about a guy who collects and customizes (and most importantly, drives) vintage Porsches. Even if cars aren’t your thing, it’s also a good story about how Magnus Walker emigrated to Los Angeles with nothing and built a pretty cool little situation for himself, involving industrial loft spaces, movie shoots, rock and roll, apparel design, real estate, and leather.

If you don’t have 40 minutes, the trailer is here.

Growing up in Michigan, Dan Closser was the youngest kid in our crew. He rode a TNT bike and ordered all his parts from Dan’s Comp, so we called him “Dan’s” Closser. He hated that.

Now he’s one of the shreddingest trails riders out there, all grown up with a job, a wife, a friendly attitude and a positive outlook. Tyler Deschaine has created a video for S&M Bikes, showing Dan doing his thing one last time before his home trails in the Seattle area were plowed. Above photo by Teddy Van Orman.

Click here for video.

Click here to check out the new Quintin look book featuring team riders Raul Ruiz and Ben Lewis.

In related news, here’s a killer edit featuring Australian Quintin rider Chris Finnigan.