PROJECT OF THE DAY
Location, location, location. Continuing with the week's mapping theme, Stephen Williams wants to turn your city's aerial grid into an earrings design. For $50, the custom earrings are yours — plus a friendly phone call from the designers.
FILM
This project would send Yeasayer, the Polyphonic Spree, and a third, unnamed act to perform in Uganda in support of Invisible Children, an org that helps victims of the Ugandan conflict. The entire trip will be lovingly documented and shared with backers — if they can hit their goal as the clock ticks down!
TECHNOLOGY
Brett Camper built the popular Trees Near You iPhone app, and now he's making 8-Bit NYC, a map of the city rendered to look like something out of Zelda. He's offering postcards and posters of his chip-mapped creation to fund the mapping of more cities.
TECHNOLOGY
Famulus is a self-described open source hardware hacker who's decided to construct an open source version of the Bussard Fusion Reactor. Best of all, the rewards reflect the project beautifully: laser-engraved gaskets, clever stencils, and hacked jewelry.
FILM
We've fallen in love with Joel Schroeder's "cinematic exploration of Calvin & Hobbes." Not only will Bill Watterson's creations finally get their on-screen due, the story is being told from a fan's perspective, as Schroeder examines the impact Calvin & Hobbes have had on, well, everything. It's been a great project, and this week is your last chance to join in.
VIDEO
"Dragons" is a ridiculous TV show about two skaters and their quest for enlightenment. Or maybe it's just to party, skate, and have a good time. Either way, the clips in the project video are amazing, and the rewards look great. Hilarious stuff.
FILM
Geoff Edgars' documentary on the Kinks, "Do It Again," was one of Kickstarter's very first success stories. But the movie still needs help. To complete the film and prepare its release, he's launched a second project to share his quest to reunite the Kinks.
JOURNALISM
Ted Rall is a journalist, cartoonist, and writer who won awards for his coverage of the Afghanistan war in 2001 for the Nation and Washington Post. This project will send Rall to cover the new phase of the war, and he's bringing his readers with him via updates from the field.
VIDEO
"Superhero" is a web series about Superman by three NYU film students. Their goal is to create a live-action comic, and you can see the results of their clever approach in their project video. The entire series on DVD runs just $15.
ART
The Apology Line is a free phone-line allowing callers to leave anonymous apologies on an answering machine. Their project video -- a sampling of the project's apologies -- is a must-hear.
BOOK
We were quickly charmed by the video for "The Elbows," a new novel from William Burck, which involves a menagerie of people claiming authorship. That participatory flavor flows through the project: chapters have been posted as project updates and the rewards are excellent.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Thomas Haden is a former producer for Google Street View with a cool plan: to essentially street-map the Grand Canyon. To do it, Haden will take a white-water raft through the Canyon using a GigaPan camera, which produces stunning images.
GAME
Comic artist James Kochalka and neo-retro gamers Pixeljam are teaming up for a new game called "Glorkian Warrior," and they're funding the development through Kickstarter. They have great rewards (the game itself is just $10), and their video is one of the best we've seen yet. Great stuff!
ART
The basics for "1024 bits of you and me" couldn't be simpler: pledge $10, submit a word or phrase, and receive a painting by Pesi of the word. He's been posting tons of project updates with examples, and all have been terrific.