Has the task of folding a paper map ever driven you to the point of near-insanity? If you plan on some travel or road tripping this summer, may I suggest the Crumpled City map, a "soft city map for [the] urban jungle."  Super light, waterproof, crinkle friendly, the maps come with an attached stash bag and can help you find your way in a good selection of cities from Amsterdam to Zurich.  While I'm a big fan of these, the ad copy on their site explaining that the map's "SoulSights…are filled with intense emotions [and] are brought to life by the people passing through or stopping off in them. Visit these places and you will feel like an artist, a poet, a photographer, a director, a lover and a dreamer" annoys me almost as much as folding a paper map.  Almost.  

Speaking of waterproof, these SWIMS loafers have you covered on the boat or at the beach.  Gills around the sole provide drainage and air flow.  They're lined with anti-bacterial mesh to keep the funk down.  Check them out at SWIMS shoes.

One song I will forever associate with summer is ODB's song, Shimmy Shimmy Ya.  I was stoked this week to find a lil remix of this classic by Lone Moon Complex.  He's got two free EP's up on his Bandcamp page: a sci-fi inflected beat heavy album here and a more eclectic, electronic EP here.  They're free so you have no excuse not to pick these up.

Hear the Shimmy Shimmy mix, here.

Switching gears.  If you took a time machine 100,000 year into the future do you think you'd be able to communicate with the people you met (if there were any there at all)? I recently watched a fascinating documentary called Into Eternity which examines the technical and philisophical challenges of safely storing nuclear waste that will be deadly for hundreds of thousands of years to come. Consider that the civilization of Ancient Egypt existed a "mere" 5000 year ago and then imagine what it would be like to communicate with beings 100,000 years from now.  We certainly didn't listen to any of the quaint warnings, curses, or symbols the Egyptians placed on their sealed pyramids.  These concepts are elucidated in the film through interviews and imaginative and at times haunting shots of nuclear waste burial sites and storage facilities.  Highly recommended.  

For a little more light hearted cinematographic goodness, check out this YouTube compilation of beautiful slow-mo shots of extreme sports.  Surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking, and wing suit flying are just some of the insane activities captured on high speed camera.  Check it: