Speed Racer | courtesy of Warner Brothers
tuesday, may 13
Wrap
The Packaging Summit
Rosemont, Illinois
Coffee lids that change from crimson to mauve as the cup's contents cool. Sex-toy-filled tubes for hotel minibars. Pop-top plastic fruit containers to replace metal cans. Before innovations like these get to consumers, they're shown at the Packaging Summit, home to the Ameristar Awards (aka "the Oscars of packaging"). Highlights will include talks on sustainability and business (given by Hewlett-Packard) and global packaging (Wal-Mart ), and an exhibition hall bursting with all manner of foam, paperboard, lamination, and our perennial favorite -- who can resist the pop-pop-pop? -- bubble wrap. -- KR
tuesday, may 13
Read
Personal Days
By Ed Park
Personal Days feels like a lot of jobs do. It starts off a lighthearted adventure in white-collar living, then spirals into something more sober. This intricate, often witty tale of corporate America -- the first novel from Ed Park, cofounder of the literary magazine The Believer -- centers on the employees of an unnamed New York company that's undergoing a half-brained downsizing. Park's structure is at times too self-consciously clever -- the book's second section is in outline form. But his sardonic humor will ring true to cube monkeys everywhere, and he succeeds in creating an oddly haunting, ultimately entertaining portrait of office life and the tenuous yet powerful relationships we build with colleagues: "Week after week, you form these intense bonds without quite realizing it. All that time together adds up." -- Beth Adams
thursday, may 15
Build
American Institute of Architects Convention and Design Expo
Boston
Most conventions are about talk, but the American Institute of Architects wants to "Walk the Walk." That's the theme of the campaign recently launched by the AIA to promote sustainable design, and accordingly, the AIA has greened its convention, which this year is in Boston, home to modern landmarks such as Diller Scofidio's Institute of Contemporary Art. No more session handouts or (we're all for this one) sticky HELLO, MY NAME IS... name tags. Exhibitors are packing fewer samples. And leftover food is going to soup kitchens. The icing on this eco-friendly, design-rich cake: 75 architectural tours of "America's Walking City." -- KR
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