This astonishing example of retail architecture in Sao Paolo, Brazil — designed by local architect Isay Weinfeld — is probably the most visually stunning commercial space I’ve ever seen, and certainly the most impressive book selling environment. If it’s real, that is. The pictures make it seem ingenious, futuristic and ideal, which makes me wonder how (and whether) it really works in practice as a bookstore. Still, there’s no denying: the pictures are beautiful.

The author, radio host and cultural curator turns in an ambitious essay on the evolution of pop culture and how it made Barack Obama’s presidency possible.

A short film collaboration between animator Run Wrake and type vendor and stock art house Veer, made entirely of imagery from the CSA Images stock library. Recently awarded Best Short Film at the Fantasia Film Festival.

“This slide deck is our current best thinking about maximizing our likelihood of continued success.” A massive, ambitious and remarkably thoughtful corporate manifesto on the culture and business that Netflix is building. At one-hundred and twenty-eight slides, its main fault is perhaps that it’s too long to consume easily, but every slide seems worthwhile. This, to me, is further evidence that Netflix is quietly building one of the best brands of the next decade, and that it will soon become as readily referenced as Apple on lists of most admired businesses. Raise your hand if you wish your company would adopt these same principles. Via TechCrunch

A timeline comparing Pepsi-Cola versus Coca-Cola logotypes. The contrast speaks volumes about the wisdom — or lack thereof — of change for change’s sake, and reflects my general position on branding. Via Swiss Miss.

Transcript of Merlin Mann’s excellent talk about the barriers to getting started on adventurous projects, and learning to turn away from fears and distractions.

A startlingly rich array of visualizations of baseball data from Craig Robinson. “A love of baseball plus a love of infographics…Essentially, this site is what I’d have been doing when I was twelve years old had the Internet and Photoshop been available to me.” Via Capn Design.

Machined from solid aluminum, brass or titanium stock, these striking cases give your iPhone that 70s sci-fi television show look. Via Thrillist.

Not actually a resource for typographic grids in New York City, but rather “a photo blog dedicated to exploring and discovering the City of New York block by block and corner by corner. Updated every weekday, each post covers a new block with a focus on the mundane and ephemeral.” I got a little nostalgic looking at today’s pictures for 7th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue, where I lived for several years. Sniff.

Excellent and thoughtful look by writer Mark Lamster at the experiences offered at New York’s two new cathedrals of baseball. “Both buildings ply the kind of nostalgic aesthetics that reinforce fans’ bonds with their chosen team… In each case, the feel-good design is the lipstick on the pig of a massive commercial project, financed in large measure by the public and unabashedly aimed at liberating fans from the contents of their wallets.”

I haven’t yet been to the Mets’ Citi Field, but I’ve watched one game at the new Yankee Stadium (Yankees beat the Tigers, 5 to 4). It’s certainly a pleasant upgrade from the creaky grandeur of its predecessor, and I could hardly complain when I saw that lots of problems from the old ballpark had been corrected (having lines of sight from the concessions to the field is fantastic). But in its museum-like — almost mausoleum-like — devotion to nostalgia, the new architecture and the experience it provides just feels to me like a huge missed opportunity. It could have been something new and marvelous created specifically for 21st Century baseball fans; instead, it preoccupies itself and its fans with thinking about the last century. That’s a waste.