What's All This Then?
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What's All This Then?
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Friday Edition
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From The Ground Meat Cookbook.
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Inside Insides, magnetic resonance imaging of food. Via VSL.
Wish I could be in Manchester right about now. Bet it'll be a great party. Happy 10th Anniversary to Bren and all our co-conspirators at magneticNorth.
Like with any overnight success, there are bound to be companies that spring up to try to steal away business. As such, I Want to Draw a Cat for You now has to compete with May I Please Draw an Owl for You? and I'll Draw Any Animal You Want.
The new Rupee symbol.
One with sweet. Pete Straz's Greasefreak gets a name-check in a New Yorker food review this week. (Without a link, of course, Sheesh.)
Web 1.0 graveyard: 15 sites that were before their time.
A Continuous Lean visits Brimfield, the world's largest outdoor junk market.
Tokyo after everything. Yowza.
The San Francisco band Stripmall Architecture has launched their iPhone 4 Trade-In Program, allowing you to trade in your new phone in exchange for "a pristine, fully-functional copy" of their latest album.
Our pal Nick Campbell's amazing CrossProcess and ShakeItPhoto iPhone apps have a new home. Introducing Banana Camera Company. Yay.
If this hadn't turned out to be a scam, I would be buying cases of the stuff: Candwich, the sandwich in a can.
Sound Not As Memory But Experience. Geoff Manaugh on Take a Closer Listen, a book on found sounds by Roger Zuydervelt.
Best crop circle ever, at Cley Hill, nr Warminster, Wiltshire UK. Reported 9th July. Via Michael Paukner.
For BB: the octopus foretold it. All kneel before the soothsaying cephalopod mollusk.
Sad news from Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum that's saved from being too depressing by a link to a previous story.
I'm sorry, were you saying something? I didn't hear you because I had on my TV Hat.
Double Rainbow! Whooo!
It's not quite up to the level of Unhappy Hipsters, but it has its moments, Catalog Living. Via Andrew Sullivan.
As we head into a weekend of overeating, overdrinking and blowing digits off with illegal explosives, a thoughtful reflection on what freedom really entails: information being free.
Garage Sale Report June 26, 2010.
Well, there are plenty of people who think Paul Graham walks on water.
Dear blank, please blank. Via @rands.
Ben on wearing the right shoe brand when you work in advertising.
This guy seems like the Japanese equivalent of our country's Len Cella.
"News of a nuclear reactor in the neighborhood got a mixed reception."
Local note. The Reader's Best of Chicago 2010 is up, with cover art by Ray Noland.
A well designed church bulletin in motion instead of print, displayed on monitors in the chapel. Via Doobybrain.
Not the sort of thing we link very often, a very hot pin-up calendar. Definitely rated X.
All proceeds from the sale of peliCAN will be donated to the Gulf Restoration Network.
For SD, the Bat Boy action figure.
100 Years of Scoreboard Watching, by Scott Allen.
Jeremiah Moss is tracking down Hopper's "Nighthawks." Via Mefi.
"118: Down a blind alley." Typical American Expressions. 547 audio examples with explanations from WFMU. This should be boring, and is, in a hypnotic sort of way. "413: Point, there is no."
As Ronnie del Carmen says, "This does kinda sums it up nicely."
Firefly is an interactive lighting installation that reacts to human behavior "like a swarm of glowing insects." More from c77.
For Heidi, how come we have never heard of Acquired Taste Magazine until just now? Bookmarked. Via @wejetset.
I'd like to think you might see this ad while flipping though a magazine in your Egg Chair and then look up to the tv and see this spot.
"If you have a strong, loyal community, you can do anything." Startup Quote.
Buy something from us today and we'll tweet about how great thou art.
Guys, if we all band together we can get Charles Clinton, Hockey Announcer on NBC tonight, reporting on the Hawks/Flyers game. Wouldn't that be great, guys? More Charles here.
For BB: a report from Toronto's recent Poutine Eating Championship. Not recommended for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
Posted without comment: Your Daily Sales Affirmation.
"The installation uses multiple highend LED projectors, each mapping a different set of animations and projecting onto various surface depths." Trippy projection mapping for Alcatel-Lucent by Superbien.
Yum, Nutella stuffed bananas.
Highlights from Steve Jobs appearance at D8 yesterday.
Related to the last. What's with that photo caption?
50 Tokyo taxi tops. Via SE.
Who knew there was a "best illusion" awarded every year? The runners-up are great too.
Spectacular photos from the The Third Moscow Zombie Parade, a flashmob, gathered on May 15th.
In answer to Zulkey's post today on buying running supplies, here's one of the best scenes from Modern Romance.
Local note. We Are Family, our pals at The Post Family are having a show in collaboration with the AIGA that opens this Friday. They've invited "nine voices from the far reaches of Chicago's graphic design community to the Family Room Gallery."
MIL-C-44072C Brownies.
"Everyone thinks they know L.A., even if they've never been west of St. Louis. Nobody walks in L.A., right? There's that Missing Persons song, or that line from Steve Martin's L.A. Story: '...it's not like New York, where you can meet someone walking down the street. In L.A. you practically have to hit someone with your car. In fact, I know girls who speed just to meet cops. But the truth is people do walk in L.A. And bike. Fully 12 percent of all trips in Los Angeles are by bicycle or on foot–that's more than Austin or Portland." GOOD's Walking in L.A. series.
"We went, with some friends, into the woods. A few days later we left the woods. Our memory of the time we spent in the woods is a bit fuzzy; fortunately, someone thought to make an audio recording of it." The Magic Number, new from You Look Nice Today.
An absolute necessity for my next birthday: the Cakewich Cake Pan. Via bblinks.
A pure CSS Coke can.
The Big Caption, wonderfully offensive/funny captions added to the Boston Globe's popular Big Picture photos. Via Doobybrain.
"Messages containing hundreds of variations on words such as argh, meh, grrrr, oooo, ewww, and hmph, are printed as an endless waterfall of text accumulating in tangled piles below." Christopher Baker's Murmur Study.
The ads you allow on your site are part of your brand. Amen. Via DF.
From the TMN Galleries, "In Lists, manuscript archivist Liza Kirwin has raked together an exhaustive pile of historically significant notes, grocery lists, and romantic ephemera from some of the 20th century's greatest artists..."
How spiders spend a typical day: 72% resting, 18% building a spider web, 9.9% preparing/eating food, 0.1% telling farmers how "terrific" pigs are. More animals here.
"Don Julian Santana devoted his life to honoring this lost soul in a particularly unique, fascinating and for some, unnerving way: he collected and hung up dolls by the hundreds. Eventually Don Julian had transformed the entire island into a kind of bizarre, and to some, horrifying doll infested wonderland." La Isla de la Munecas.
Think of this little jar as a reminder of how terrible your trip back home was, or how long you had to sleep on the airport floor.
Mmm, pancakes. Via A Whole.
Badaude makes predictions for the UK's general election based on hair.
Everything is Terrible helps you learn How to be Street Safe against attackers or if you get in a fight with Bob Log III.
If we had any reason to hire an actor right now, you can bet it would be Fabrice Yahyaoui. So you know, he can also act in French films.
"... and that was how we lost Brutus. Needless to say, we went shoe shopping an hour later." Wait, What?
Candy Spelling's 17,000 sq. ft of storage, likely holding the largest archive of Love Boat and Fantasy Island materials in all the world.
How does your collection compare MS? The Shaker Project, via Swiss Miss.
"But every cloud has a silver lining. In this case it's a brand new vending machine, chock full of snacks the likes of which I've only hithertofore heard tell of in rumors and legends. Behold!" Mathhew Baldwin's Vending Spree.
Cary Grant in Star Wars via Hitchcock. Via @Lileks.
I am not an artist. Via Drawn.
John Gruber's analysis of Gizmodo and the "lost" prototype iPhone. If you're only going to read one thing about this...
The new $100 bill.
PSFK asks what would happen if Europe became plane-free.
Related. Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux is still crossing his fingers for ToL.
LED LEGO.
Related to the last, the video of our panel isn't up yet but The Ze Frank Conversation is. It is one of my favorite sessions from this or any year's conference.
A quiz that tells us agency branding has jumped the shark: Ad Agency or Indie Band?
A tax form for the marginally employed. We're partial to the deductions for "Indispensable pajamas" and "Obamamania."
Eating off the People's Princess. Yep.
Dan's The Pipeline podcast gets the Page One treatment at the iTunes store today.
Group seeks restraining order against KFC's new sandwich. I'd probably be running marathons today if this kind of thing happened more when I was growing up.
Cleveland's own author/chef/national treasure Michael Ruhlman shares his essential kitchen tools. Must-haves for any foodie.
Wolfpack Hustle crashed the LA Marathon by hosting an underground bike race on the closed marathon course at 4 am. So cool. Via A Whole.
"Even the strictest ethicist should feel comfortable eating them by the boatload." Why it's okay for vegans to enjoy oysters.
An Assortment of Underachieving AT-ATs by Tobias Lunchbreath. Via Laughing Squid.
Visual aesthetics in early computing (1950-80). An awesome scroll.
Word of Mouth's Shooter's Sandwich recipe sounds great. Bookmarked for Millennium Park summer concerts. Via Mefi.
Horizont, Installation, 2010, Plasma display, rotating gear and dvd player. By Stas Chepurnov.
Sometimes you find yourself edging ever closer toward the meaning of life through the internet. And sometimes you end up on Men With Meat Names. No biggie. We're partial to T Bone Burnett.
A math teacher's shadow trick. Via Waxy.
Star.
Irresistible headline, Man Arrested at Large Hadron Collider Claims He's From the Future.
King of cool.
I've finally found the lead singer for my Smiths cover band. Meat Murder is Murder.
Karen Huang writes to show us "a compilation of links on non-Newtonian liquids, which shows how a simple solution made of cornstarch and water behaves like a slimey monster when placed on a speaker."
"The truths of the world, the reality, is not defined by the spoken word. In fact, it's not even speakable." Alan Rabinowitz, wildlife conservation expert and true inspiration, on The Moth radio broadcast ("Man and Beast," fifth link down). Gripping, off-the-cuff storytelling and the absolute best about humanity.
"If you send me a cake, I post a link to your work on the internet. You will be judged solely on your cake rather than your work, which makes this an equal opportunity link site." The Internet Sends Me Cake, served fresh by the amazing Jessica Hische.
We're big fans of the TED conferences. Here are two inspiring talks from Danielle DeBoe and Terry Schwarz, both at the recent TEDxCLE event.
"We can't use this design at all. The background clashes with the trousers I'm wearing today." Perhaps it's time to revisit Clients From Hell. Via Debbie Millman.
I'd expect that these will get old soon, but for right now, good times: Michael Buble Being Stalked by a Velociraptor.
Snopes debunks the elementary school production of Scarface.
The Life & Death of a Gobstopper. Via J-Walk.
Altered antique plates.
You may know Carlos Segura as a distinguished and respected designer, but did you know him as a member of Clockwork? Awesome.
Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop. Layer Tennis players under 15 minute deadlines are going to dig this.
Regarding Kottke's post on Supersizing The Last Supper, here's what was on the menu, according to John Varriano for Gastonomica, pdf.
Dan Benjamin's weekly podcast, The Pipeline features a chat with Jason Kottke this week.
"In many ways it is showboating, of course. I'm the circus performer in the cape and the shiny crash helmet, being lowered feet-first into the cannon. Let's see how far I can go this time." As noted last week, North2 is under way as Ben Saunders attempts to set a World Record in a solo expedition to the North Pole. Yay!
A day in the life of designer Andrew Hoffman. Via Curved White.
I'm with Jason and Paul.
Wow, that Gina Trapani seems really cool, and she has a killer sense of style too.
Dan chats with Merlin Mann on this week's The Pipeline.
Bigassmessage.com.
I am very sorry I didn't link this earlier. Please forgive me.
Putting the "Mmm" in McCain, the politician rebrands with bacon.
Here's what was going on in Italy in 1979: Stefania Rotolo Goldrake Live Appearance.
For those heading to Austin for SXSW, Sarah Hepola took an extensive breakfast-taco tour.
Relink. "70 workers are building a wooden 4 x 12 m 'digital' time display in real time: a work that involves 1611 changes within 24 hour period. Seamlessly documented and shot on HD video, a 24 hours movie or clock is now available." Standard Time by Mark Formanek.
Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment. How about that?
For your next Star Wars party.
John Struan of Super Punch writes, "I spotted ads at Ads of the World that looked suspiciously like Thomas Allen's photographs and contacted him about them. He's pretty angry. The ad company thinks they're fair use." The ad company is dead wrong.
Are these the ingredients of the perfect crime? You could dress up as a cow and shoot your rich Uncle Oswald, then stand there and chew your cud as the police searched for clues. Hunting blinds, 1897-1991.
Message-in-a-Cookie cutters.
"This weekend I thought it would be fun to add some color to my block! So I went outside and traced my footsteps with chalk down the sidewalk. As I was doing this, a grumpy old man came up to me and yelled at me to stop. I actually thought about stopping until a boy came up to me with a giant smile and said "make more.'" –Katie Sokoler. Via KN.
I chatted with Dan Benjamin for the fourth episode of his interview show, The Pipeline. I'm in good company too.
Make a deposit by taking a photo of a check.
TOMY toy cars carrying sushi and Chinese food models.
"Indeed, drawing endless pictures of Kurt Cobain, taking deep puffs from a contraband bong (often my only confidant in these late hours), eating tonnes of Goldfish snacks - this was my ritual, my communion, my glimmer of hope in an awful, awful childhood." From the journals of Samuel Van Hoogstraten, painter of the unparalleled Still Life with Ziplock Bag of Weed, Tom Petty Cassette, c. 1666-1668.
In the manner of previously featured Chinese artist Lii Bolin, Alexander Thieme demonstrates how not to be seen in this video of him painting himself to match his surroundings. Via Today and Tomorrow. Of course, as we all know, there are other ways to not be seen.
Laptop Reflections. Via DesignNotes.
"Hominids I know insist that fire is a good thing for us. I'm more inclined to consider such statements as fiction, unsupported by facts." And Now a Few Minutes With Andy Rooney's Homo Erectus Ancestor.
Perhaps the greatest typo of all time.
"Through this mechanical process researchers anticipate that
the robot will have its own drawing style. The current prototype is seen here using a camera to view the
subject and an articulated arm to draw their face."
KG reminds us that regarding Johanna's Art Inspired by Stevie Nicks, "the very best works are the result of people commissioning portraits of themselves with Stevie, preferably on a tambourine." True that.
Here's why Gilbert Gottfried doesn't get hired very often for commercial voice over work.
Nice webcast... webcast... webcast... webcast.
A good, quick response to yesterday's collection of abysmal, absurdly-expensive Super Bowl spots: Have You Ever Wondered Why So Many Ads Are So Bad?
Happy birthday bubble wrap! Love, Bags of Air.
There's a law firm in San Francisco called Morrison Foerster. Guess how they're repositioning themselves through a new site design? Thanks Jake.
The flash mob has officially died: Dr. Pepper's 'Be A Pepper' at the NY Stock Exchange. This almost warrants another Unsolicited Response.
How to suck at Facebook. Infantile but funny.
The Twitter feed of Jürgen Habermas. Via Marginal Revolution.
Known to iPhone users, and probably coming soon to the iPad -- and now a kind of protest T-shirt. (Thx Tom.)
He's our partner In Field Notes and a co-conspirator in many other plots. Today Aaron Draplin gets Humble Pied.
Posted without comment: The Chevy Volt Dancers. Via Peachfuzz.
The DDC's Junkin' Report, January 2010. 41 views in full color.
Fed Up, a blog by an elementary school teacher who is "eating school lunch, just like the kids, every day in 2010." Via Design Info.
Milking 'Got Milk?', "a photo essay of the ad campaign that won't go away." Via the handsomely redesigned Denver Egotist.
An exploration of 14 of the largest, strongest, and in some cases, strangest, creatures that have called our planet home.
Argument that the design world "aspires to replace depth psychology as the universal panacea."
For Grace and Isabelle (and myself), Lady Gaga cookies.
For MS, Rainshakers. Via Swiss Miss.
Kate MccGwire's "Insular." Fifty layers of paper, burnt. Via Vera Pilpoul.
Posted without comment: Crying Girl DVD.
The Thunder Generator: lethal at ten meters.
Crap Hound #4: Clowns, Devils & Bait! Kick in via Kickstarter.
BBC Radio series, History of the World In 100 Objects, is off to a great start.
Gene Simmons on the Mike Douglas show, 1974, includes leaden performance of "Firehouse."
Pantone tins. Via artatheart
Triangular Nose Magnet.
Good offers tips on how to spend the whole day in bed.
Recycle your old cell phone to help Haiti quake victims. Via Unconsumption.
Flickr pool & blog of images from boulevards, streets, drives, avenues, etc., named for MLK. It's open-source photojournalism; join in.
Peter Schuyff's elaborately carved pencils. Via Junkculture.
The outdoor printing plant, steamroller included. Via SimpleBits.
Scrabble cake.
Recordings made in a call center in a New Delhi suburb reworked into "a half hour of sound that flirts with narrative, but also manages to transform the everyday into something sonically complex."
Photos from the recent performance in Los Angeles of Star Wars Burlesque.
So you know: Laundry Guide to Common Care Symbols. Via J-Walk.
A thousand magazines hanging in a gallery. Via It's Nice That.
What girlfriends and boyfriends Google: Dan Ariely investigates.
"Robots will take over the world. They will have lasers." Visions of the next ten years from today's youth.
Soft circuit finger-puppet battle.
Guy has a jaguar-shaped motorcycle.
Sushi etiquette. Via Swiss Miss.
"The squonk weeps continually at its own ugliness, and when surprised dissolves entirely into tears." Unlikely creatures from American folklore.
Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium turned into a winter theme park. Via Archinect.
Science Cookie Round-Up.
August 1945, he took a business trip to Hiroshima; survived atomic bomb; went home to...Nagasaki. Became "only official survivor" of two atomic bomb blasts. Lived to age 93.
Nick Thune shares his picks for top ten years of the last decade.
BB, if your 2010 resolution was to try more bacon-related foodstuffs, here's your first stop of the year: Bacon Flavored Popcorn.
Lots of technical gibberish, but interesting none the less if you've always wanted the details on how the Times Square ball drop gets beamed around the world: Satellite/Fiber Feeds for New Years Eve.
Apple Vanity Plates.
Two fun holiday greetings: Xplane's Business Cliché Find-It Poster and Square America's Art of the Photo Christmas Card.
From Regretsy: Attack of the Clonestamp.
An unexpected third party in one of the wedding announcements in today's NY Times.
"This year, we've decided to give you control over the climate in the Torchbox office. Just push the button and see a flurry of snow fall on your favourite member of Torchbox."
Mmmm. Pi.
How I like to imagine BB's marriage proposal went.
Local note for those in NY: tomorrow morning, Mark Malkoff is going to attempt to crowd-surf across Manhattan, all of 13.75 miles of it. "Individuals can carry me two feet or two blocks. I'll take anything. Luckily I only weigh 130 pounds." Via PSFK.
Creativity's collection of ad agency holiday cards.
Emotionally Traumatic Christmas Toys.
Sand castle explosions, backwards. Nuff said.
Bacon ornaments.
Local note: the Dairyland dog track is closing at the end of the month, leaving 600 greyhounds without homes. Info here on adoption and donation. People like myself, Jay Ryan, and Neko Case can all vouch that they're great dogs very deserving of any help you can give.
"In a normal environment, a carcass gets cold in 8 to 36 hours losing an average rate of 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit per hour. However, the ice world of Hoth is not an average environment." How Long Could Luke Survive in a Tauntaun? Via Cynical-C.
USC, University of Santa Claus.
From today's NY Times, maybe one of the most fun obituaries ever: "Giorgio Carbone, Elected Prince of Seborga, Dies at 73."
Posted without comment: a preview of Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis.
Two bookmarks for you, one mostly visual, one mostly text. Both with excellent titles. My Love For You is a Stampede of Horses from Meighan O'Toole and Steamboats Are Ruining Everything from Caleb Crain.
Tkng th vwls frm pplr brnds.
"If it's good enough for Molly Ringwald..." The Pretty in Pink Christmas Tree. Here's what it looks like in the wild.
In Indonesia, setting a world record for the largest amount of sky lanterns ever launched (10,000+). Somewhere there's a group of Sony ad execs kicking themselves for not making this the next Bravia ad.
Turn your iPhone into a nesting box alarm clock.
You'd better watch out. Sketchy Santas.
The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board's Cheese & Burger Society, featuring dangerous things to look at this close to lunchtime. Some nice use of Patrick Warburton, too. Via Torrez.
An answer to a question raised at lunch the other day: Are Salvation Army Bell-Ringers Paid Employees?
Dork the Halls with these nerdy Christmas tree ornaments. Via Peachfuzz.
Notcot goes behind the scenes at ISO50, the home of designer, musician, Layer Tennis competitor and member of Deck Network, Scott Hansen.
The winners have been announced for The Tracy Awards for this year's worst advertising.
I predict The Pancake Project will have a book/sitcom/movie deal in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Happened yet? Via Cynical-C.
When news breaks, FotA Ben Greenman is there to set it to song: Fragments from Tiger! The Musical: A Fantasy.
Wire & Twine's holiday gift ideas.
Mirrors and Art by Daniel Rozin. "Using a warm and natural material such as wood to portray the abstract notion of digital pixels." Wooden Mirror -1999.
Another Science Fiction, an intersection of art and technology in the early space race. Collected and annotated by Megan Prelinger for Berg
"Beginning as a formal exercise in direct observation, these paintings of paperclips have evolved to accommodate not only the lyrical possibilities of a manipulated paper clip but the distinct personality of the person doing the manipulating." Via Drawn.
"Usually when I find CD-rs out in the world, they've been tossed out of car windows or left on the counters of stupid hipster coffeeshops. The last place I ever expected to find an unlabeled CD-r filled with music would be in the middle of the f***ing desert."
For BB: Mmmvelopes, bacon flavored envelopes. Via Beer or Kid.
Meep!
Bread, grilled eel with orange slices, wine. The Last Supper menu. "History's Table" (pdf) by John Varriano.
Christoph Niemann leaves nothing to the imagination. Via Kottke.
"'People tell you that you need all this stuff for a baby,' says Kelly Breslin. 'All you really need is diapers, a place to change him and boobs.'" Living in 380 sq ft.
Ha! Plattencover Kollagen, calling these "record cover collages" does not do justice to their awesomeness.
Agency Cossette West turns a GAP store upside down in Vancouver. Via Denver Egotist.
So you know, The History of the Internet in a Nutshell.
The first ten minutes of the recent record breaking Domino Day 2009 in the Netherlands. Via Design Info.
Newmoticons.
Beautiful Cassette, a gallery curated by Splorp.
"We used to learn our alphabets by reading those classroom banners that associated each letter with an animal or object... I thought it was about time to adapt an old method to a new medium." Christopher Monro DeLorenzo's keyboard sticker set. Sweet. B is for Bowie. Via It's Nice That.
Seven ways to kill an idea, illustrated.
Kalashnikov is a person? Apparently so, and he just turned 90. Always thought it meant "machine gun" in Russian, or something to that effect.
A Garden Jawa to keep your pink flamingo company.
Expo '70, Osaka Japan as photographed by Larry Burrows.
Skeptical if this is real or not, but regardless, it's funny: George Hutchins for U.S. Congress. The site is registered to someone named Paul Beach, which leads to more "Is this real?" questions.
What if...
For MS: you can avoid catching the swine flu with the Touch Stick.
Been much better lately, but maybe Richard Branson can completely alleviate my fear of flying with this new iPhone app.
For BB: 6 Reasons Bacon is Better Than True Love.
Weezer's brilliant infomercial campaign, in collaboration with the Snuggie.
39 gold chromolux cardboards folded by Martin Pfeifle.
The world is a tough, ugly place sometimes. So why try and candy coat everything when teaching your children new vocabulary? My First Dictionary.
If you need to see what the weather's going be be like, but only in the context of an illustrated version of our president, Obama Weather has you covered.
Several times a year, the Atlantic sends a tidal wave up the Amazon. It's loud, violent, and full of debris, and it can be up to 13 feet high. So, naturally, people surf it.
Ideo took a bite out of an Apple. Really. Via Cult of Mac.
It's strange to begin with, but take this instructional video for non-English speakers out of context and it becomes a great piece of absurd comedy. Via Cynical-C.
Congrats to friends and Andrews Huff and Mason for making this year's Crain's 40 Under 40 list.
"No major incidents reported in West Tennessee this morning." The skeptic in me says that we can only infer that something truly horrible is happening in West Tennessee this morning. Via J-Walk.
So you know: how to make a charred corpse and a brain cake. Via J-Walk.
Ghosts aren't just scary, they're apparently a big civic nuisance as well: Britian's most haunted village cancels Halloween.
Grafik Magazine online. Finally.
Infinite Solutions with Mark Erickson is still filled with a dangerous mix of very bad, yet very subtle advice.
A compilation video of Zimoun's Sound Sculptures & Installations. Awesome. More here. Via Today and Tomorrow.
Local note for MS: On November 6th you can meet your boyfriend for just $75.
"Why would you buy an iPhone Dummy We have no idea, but you know you want one." Via J-Walk.
Time-lapse video of Kiel Johnson making a sculpture of a twin lens reflex camera from cardboard, hot glue, and tape. More of Johnson's awesome work here. Via Surfstation.
That was quick. The Balloon Boy tee.
Vidafine on Philips Design Probe-biosphere farming, a "far-future" concept.
"The soundwaves are actual objects, each is 6 metres high, reminiscent of the height of a tree, despite looking like digital intervention. I recorded them when the forest was still there."
Soundstills by Tviga. Via TMN.
Notebook.
Local note. Randy Zweiban's Province is the bomb.
The next best thing to being at this week's An Event Apart in our fair city.
"In the late 60's I worked for Bell Labs for a few years managing a data center and developing an ultra high speed information retrieval system... One day I took a camera to work and shot the pictures." Sweet. Via Plep.
With Halloween just around the corner, you'll need to get started in the next day or so if you want to carve Star Wars character pumpkins this detailed. Via Transbuddha.
Determining the best and worst mustards.
"Can we get more people to choose the stairs by making it fun to do?" Absolutely. So great.
If you read DW's post below and asked yourself, "Why is NASA going to bomb the moon?!" There's a very simple answer: it's because "you don't mess around with God's America."
Cats that look like Hitler.
In Defense of Food's Michael Pollan asked readers for rules about eating and collected his top 20 favorite replies, like "Don't eat egg salad from a vending machine." Dietary Dos and Don'ts.
R.I.P. Edgar Allan Poe. Again.
If your government agency is having trouble keeping its secrets and you want to put a stop to it, best to come up with a top secret 'how to stop leaks' document. Just make sure that it doesn't get leaked, because that would be pretty embarrassing.
BibliOdyssey on "The Leonardo of Wermsdorf." Fanciful, technical illustrations by Karl Hans (Joachim) Janke who "was committed to a psychiatric institution in 1950 with a diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia." Tons more at Deutsche Fotothek
What happens when you skimp on your CGI budget.
"I think it's made from uranium, plutonium, fertiliser, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid and ammonia, with a splash of mace. I do not believe it's a foodstuff. It's a weapon." Jeremy Clarkson tries a bottle of hot sauce. (Via Mrs. BB)
Whoever's in charge of "defunct discount retail chains" on Wikipedia is on the ball: Gold Circle, Ames, Richway,, Venture, Hills, Zayre, and Turn Style. Bonus: Did you know Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward are back in web form? Can you tell it's Friday afternoon?
"Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet." Regretsy, the dregs of online crafts.
For the MS salt & pepper shaker collection, Hoodies Bones.
Cabel visits the Kashiwa Mystery Cafe. So cool.
Bacon as a Bookmark.
"Are the readers of Cosmo really that simple that they can't tell the difference between a 'contemptuous' versus a 'polite' face?" Claire wants to know and SD helps figure it out.
Lenin As He Is Today. "Here we have some screenshots from Russian TV channel where the operation of regular service on Lenin's mummy was shown." Via J-Walk.
So you know: the latest odds for who will land the 2016 Olympics.
An interview with Ira Glass about deciding to not bringing This American Life back to television anytime soon.
Cooking with Christopher Walken, which is also exactly what it sounds like.
TromHula. "Just like it sounds: half trombone, half hula hoop."
A montage of available bachelors from the video dating service Video Mate, circa 1983.
Computers: Those Amazing Machines. Fab, via Spacesick.
Very Important Pixels.
Proceed with caution through Sept. 29th, Mercury is in Retrograde! "Since Mercury rules communication, it's said that everything goes haywire in that area -- emails get deleted or bounced back, mail is returned, calls go out into the ethers, etc."
What it looked like in the Threadless warehouse during their 9/9/09/$9 sale.
"Kathy Jacobs created the decor for the wedding ceremony and reception entirely from store inventory, including a gown made entirely from items found at 99 Cents Only stores." On the scene at this week's series of dollar store weddings.
The Tracy Awards, like the Golden Raspberry Awards given to terrible movies, but these are for advertising embarrassments.
Anders Nyberg's wooden things.
"Take my word for it: no client will turn down this offer, since the one thing these kind of people like more than arguing about logo sizes is looking at lots of options." -Michael Bierut.
Shalene Valenzuela paints on things.
It's a well-established fact that MS doesn't like spiders in the slightest. But surely she should be able to develop some positive feelings about the newly discovered Heteropoda davidbowie, right?
So you know: How to Beat Up Anything.
In response to Taco Bell's little-too-similar toy giveaway, Kidrobot has kicked off a Death to False Vinyl Rally, starting in just a few minutes in NYC.
Testing the familiar old warning of "Any rebroadcast, retransmission, or account of this game, without the express written consent of Major League Baseball, is prohibited." Via J-Walk.
That feel-good story being passed around all last week about rapper Roxanne Shante having her PhD paid for by her record label due to a contract loophole? It was a hoax.
For next to BB's desk: Scooter Wall Decor. Though, for that price, why don't you just buy an old, motor-less, real scooter?
"Who is checking these?" The answer was "I am." Testing the validity of clearance warnings attached to underpasses. Via J-Walk.
There, I Fixed It, an ongoing collection of temporary solutions. Reminds me of Vladimir Arkhipov's excellent book Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts.
Posted without comment: Ed Hardy Hand Sanitizer.
For MS, forget the hot fudge sundae, today is banana split day.
Didn't we learn anything as a society after that Agency.com Subway debacle from a few years back? Our pals at the Denver Egotist profile a few more truly terrible ad agency videos.
Visualizing Gordon Bell's bits.
The winner and runners-up for best joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. Via J-Walk.
The World Athletics Championship in Berlin have rolled out their new motto: "Have a Good Time!" Okay, BB, let's see you defend this one like you did with the 2012 Olympics logo. Via Murketing.
Who really loves Bing? Iowa really loves Bing. Via Peachfuzz.
How to cook tortellini and bake muffins in a hotel room using only available materials in the room.
"I love these things."
The Pharaoh of Pop. Michael Jackson, circa 1550 BC.
Yay Adrian and crew. EveryBlock gets bought by MSNBC.
The story of the UK's largest-ever jewelry heist earlier this week, complete with a duped professional makeup artist, a fake music video, and the getaway captured on video.
What will be haunting you tonight in your sleep: an artist's rendition of Britain's ideal pet based off a nationwide survey.
Some memories of working with John Hughes during his time as a copywriter here in Chicago in the 1970s.
Hey, you want to read an excerpt of a book I really like? Literary Tattoos.
Spy Numbers. "Extending beyond the phenomenon of number stations, the exhibition explores the themes of intrigue and conspiracy."
It's being mocked to death, but Investor's Business Daily asinine healthcare "editorial" deserves infinite scorn, especially from the man in question himself.
At lunch today, read in our favorite weekly trade magazine, Nation's Restaurant News, this article about branding which quickly builds into a wonderful, awe-inspiring pile of empty buzzwords and phrases, like suggesting you create a "brand touchpoint wheel" or develop an "integrated communications development process." This is why we love this magazine.
The alternate intro to Full House. Via Peachfuzz.
It's always time to scroll If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats.
Strange collection of actor's reels. Most of them are just monologues, but some like Harold Dennis' have clips from the films they've been in, just edited really oddly (wait for the scene at 0:56 in Dennis').
Can't pin down exactly what emotion I'm feeling about NBC's Los Angeles affiliate's user-generated mood reporting, where you can select how each news story makes you feel, but I think right now I'm leaning toward "Sad."
"Did you see how The Softy was doing on The Daq this afternoon? Almost made me spill my Bucks." Following yesterday's post about RadioShack turning into "The Shack," here are suggestions for 20 more companies whose brand names could be shortened.
Follow along as our partner Aaron Draplin and his band of junkers tackle the World's Longest Yard Sale from Gadsden, Alabama to West Unity, Ohio.
12:34:56 7/8/09 too.
RadioShack has decided to re-brand itself as 'The Shack', following a trend that started with Circuit City ('The City') and Pizza Hut ('The Hut'). Ugh.
Greatness. Steal Our Ideas. "Our entries will save you the time and energy it usually takes to think of stuff, while building the credit needed to chat yourself up at award shows." Via The Presurfer.
Posted without comment: "I take these fake cookies, this threat to the Girl Scouts by Wal-Mart, quite personally."
Musselsoppans Vänner: Don't Make Waves.
Local Note. On Thursday Public Works debuts their lecture series featuring Jay Ryan and Chris Kaskie.
Pruned on Thanet Earth and the crystal palaces of the coming salad crisis era.
"Antiquated printing technology meets eighties sci-fi aesthetic in this special Tron-niversary Edition of DIY Friday."
Relinking Jan von Holleben's Dreams of Flying just because. Via RB in the NYT.
Track asteroids and comets that could destroy Earth on Twitter.
"So you're thinking about becoming a designer? If I could tell you only one thing about going into the field, my advice would be _________ "
Local note. Cody Hudson, Justin Fines, Andy Mueller, and Chris Eichenseer in group show starting this weekend. Public Works at the Andrew Rafacz Gallery.
"Always wait until finishing your woodwork with the skillsaw prior to using your meth" and "Latex paint, despite being thick and creamy, does not coat your stomach and provide the same relief as Pepto Bismol" are among many Things I Learn From My Patients on the Student Doctor Network Forums. Via Cynical-C.
The Phrenology Bike Helmet, so as to protect the personality traits stored within your brain.
"Not sure what these are, they are too heavy to float, but they look like surf boards. They have legs under them like a very tall table. I think they are some sort of surf training tool. If you would like one or both of them, please let me know if you would like them." This and more gems at You Suck at Craigslist.
"Before the show, we did a paternity test and it turns out that you're not the father of post-structuralism." The Noam Chomsky Show by the Australian sketch show Chasers War on Everything.
Local note. The deadline for nominations for the Chicago Innovation Awards is approaching.
Wilhelm Staehle's Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre. Via Monoscope.
More info on Adam Barraclough, the 17 year old con artist in the UK who convinced a great number of people that he was the head of a multi-billion dollar company who was preparing to start an airline.
"I work at a used and rare bookstore, and I buy books from people everyday. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in those books."
There's not a single second of this that isn't incredibly awkward: Blackout Crew's Rumpa Pumpa. MS, when you get tired of Eurovision, you should start watching European club-music music vids. They're all weird.
Lengthy and complex series of instructions for a very short commercial. "The amount of thought and effort he put into this fifteen second spot is downright impressive."
For BB. Enjoyed last night and comes highly recommended: homemade vanilla ice cream mixed with crumbled up pieces of Vosges' chocolate bacon bar. Because it was so incredibly good, I think the next concoction to try making is this.
A now outdated collection of the 17 perfect games in the history baseball. It will need to be updated. Also, Obama is awesome.
FotA Justin Kaufmann took to last weekend's Pitchfork Festival to have bands like The Black Lips and the Vivian Girls check the accuracy of their Wikipedia entries. And for BB: there's a five part talk with Wayne Coyne, who seems to really, really like to talk.
Everything is Terrible finds an old promo for the store fixture company Image by Design, complete with stirring cover of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time.
This is my same reaction to mushrooms. Also, could this be considered competition for Possum in the House? Maybe I shouldn't be linking it.
Try not to smile.
Roller Skating Down a Roller Coaster. Video of the stunt, here.
Ad firm Boondoggle went to Cannes and all they got were five worthless lion statues. Via Denver Egotist.
Los uniformes para Cinco de Mayo, episodio dos.
Two internet memes brought together for one beautiful t-shirt: Three Keyboard Cat Moon.
Variations of incomplete open cubes.
Being listened to here at the studio right now: WJJG-AM 1530, where we're finally hearing Out and About with Ron and Joe, Joe being the owner of our neighborhood's oft-visited Vinnie's Sub Shop and the hardware store next door. Trying to find the words for the show thus far, but it's indescribable.
Considering a trip to Sydney next year and I think the Roar & Snore package at the Taronga Zoo just sealed the deal. Via bblinks.
On Thursday the world's largest cupcake will be at Covent Garden's Real Food Market.
The demand turned out to be so great for Think Geek's April Fools prank, the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag, that the site is now in talks to actually produce the thing (complete with its warm intestinal pattern).
Shots from this past weekend's Peashooting World Championship.
A collection of Twitter Fail Whale sightings, which we were happy to find included Jennifer Daniel's sixth volley from April 10th's Layer Tennis match. Via Czeltic Girl.
Alexander Michael is Siloboy.
Mentioned only because it's pretty nifty: Erica Reid Gerdes (disclosure: my wife) recently completed a project to type up and share her grandfather's WWII handwritten memoirs
and scan in 1400 family photos.
America's Most Endangered Malls. Expect this to be a couple of red letter years for Dead Malls.
A nice response to the Grand Prix winning campaign for Wrangler.
Katie Holten created the Tree Museum to celebrate the communities and ecosystems along the Grand Concourse, a 100 year-old boulevard in The Bronx. Visitors will be able to listen in on local stories and the intimate lives of trees offered by current and former residents: from beekeepers to rappers, historians to gardeners, school kids to scientists.
"If you want to understand this country and its people and what it means to be optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous, you need to go to his home in Virginia. Monticello." Maira Kalman on Thomas Jefferson. Via Making Light.
The story of the Going Out of Business Store. "We're not. It's just the name of the store." Via Murketing.
"Why, if someone was to put out a poster, they'd sell 1,000 copies in his dorm alone!" Crazy story of the rise and rapid fall of the Ohio art/head shop that made Farrah Fawcett an icon.
We want to watch Jurassic Park. "We can come get it from you and we'll bring you two (2) Session beers." Via Czeltic Girl.
The headline says it all: "Wallabies get high in poppy fields, make crop circles." Via PXJ.
...and don't mess with The Weiner Circle either.
Note to budding restaurateurs: do not name your restaurant anything even remotely close to our beloved Superdawg.
Printable plans for making for your own Paper Taco Trucks. Via Torrez.
The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt. Set aside the next couple of hours to read all of the comments.
Posted without comment: This Week in Public Comment.
Anyone with even a passing interest in the history of advertising needs to listen to this week's TAL for the story about the ongoing(!) feud between legendary copywriter Julian Koenig and legendary art director George Lois. (Podcast is free for the next week.)
"The Ukulele Guide includes not only the standard moustache groups, but also exotic and endangered moustaches like the Shirley Temple and the LARP-stache. Recently cultivated strains of moustache such as the Octopus also feature prominently, and the headstock is graced with an inspiring moustache quote, sure to please any moustache fancier."
"If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you." Whatever you do, do not call Elizabeth 'Liz'.
Plastic Flashback, a visual history of the credit card. Via mktg.
Local note for those in NYC. FotA and Field-Tested Books contributor Andy Ross has a one-man show, Melancomedy, running at The People's Improv Theater throughout the month. Well worth your time to catch some of Andy's monologues like German Club and Sudoku.
For BB, if he happens to check in while on vacation: the Innocenti and Piaggio scooter ridden by Phil Daniels in Quadrophenia was recently sold at auction.
Koogle, the world's first kosher search engine. "If users attempt to search for an item or post a message on the Sabbath, it crashes and won't let you."
FotA Alissa Walker passes along this contest over at Dwell, wherein readers are invited to submit ice cream flavors based on designers or architects (like "Mies Vanilla Rohe" or "Walter Grapeious"). Winners will get their flavor made and sold by Coolhaus in LA (don't miss this video Alissa put together about them).
Laugh with your fingers. Press a key
35 Tip Jars Designed to Make You Give More Money.
For all of your form-based communication needs: the Bureau of Communication.
Related to SD's earlier post, Barbie Foot.
For MS, who tried this here at CP a while back but we were all well past the point of no return: a local PR firm has put in place a complete ban on all internal emails and IMs.
Here's your chance to snag a Riley/Pierce Snooker Suite, a sofa that converts into a pool or snooker table.
A brief history of Italian beef.
For the bacon crowd: Blue Plate Special pillows. For nerds: Ctrl - Alt - Del pillows. For people from States: State pillows.
Congratulations to the 106 students at Knowlton School in Berwick, Maine who just set the new Guinness World Record for most people dressed as superheroes in the same room. Via Transbuddha.
So you know, social networks around the world.
"Follow your dreams, unless your dreams are stupid." Comedian Eugene Mirman's commencement address at his old high school.
Upon losing her lawsuit against Quaker Oats over feeling duped after she learned that Crunchberries aren't a real fruit, this California woman likely exited the court room to smoke a candy cigarette and eat some gummi worms to help her relax. Via Czeltic Girl.
How to make a Nacho Hat.
Merlin Mann rates star reviews in order of usefulness.
When "The Man" tells you to turn your music down, you only have one choice: drive through City Hall.
Posted without comment: The $49.99 Walk.
"This week I butted heads with a very stubborn, closed- minded person. I'm just glad I had the sense to realize that it was me." The Personal Journal Of Doogie Howser, M. D., a collection of all the diary entries from the show.
"...an excellent painting for me... I love the entire feeling of it, especially the unique composition and my confident Mona Lisa smile..." Shudder.
Caught the play The Lieutenant of Inishmore yesterday at the Northlight Theatre. Most violent, gruesome play I've ever seen, with buckets upon buckets of fake blood spilled, but also really funny. Comes highly recommended if you find it playing in your town. Written by Martin McDonagh, who also wrote the terrific film In Bruges.
"I saw you weeping in the photocopier room. Please don't let it happen again." David Fullarton's workplace installation made entirely from office supplies and a wicked sense of humor. What I do at work when I'm supposed to be working.
For MS' deck, Tetris pots.
Posted without comment: Spiderman and the Pigeons.
...there's an app for that.
For MS and BB, following our conversation this morning: the two most interesting dishes I was served in China: Fried Scorpions and Fried Silk Worms (which look a lot like cicadas). Unfortunately, I wasn't daring enough to try either one, but was told that both tasted like french fries.
For MS, Salt & Pepper Cell. Via @AisleOne.
So need to get this, the Ecto 1 v The Delorean Film Crash tee
Sorta related to the last. Gonks!
The Clock Clock. Via Build.
104 Year old Ivy Bean is the oldest person on Twitter.
Cooper-Hewitt and The Nature Conservancy asked 10 designers to develop products from 10 endangered eco-systems around the world and Pentagram designed the exhibit and explains the details.
Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches. Via Good.
Visible Tweets.
I couldn't possibly get away with being an American traveling in China without posting at least one odd English translation. Also, doesn't the Nongfu Spring water bottle remind you of the Arrowhead Springs brand?
"Without really knowing what I was doing, for my first paying job, I had contributed to a plague: the profusion of sexless, blankly cheerful little people that I have come to call Neutered Sprites." -Michael Bierut.
Pregnant dolls from 19th century Japan.
"The shot was taken by shutting off all the lights in the room for 30 minutes and taking a long exposure of the path the Roomba took while cleaning up."
"Being a junk collector has no boundaries." I'll say. An excellent illustrated post as an example of "forensic graphic design," by Dennis P. Moran.
Traveling to China tomorrow morning, to Dunhaung specifically, where my father learned that Camel Hoof Tendon is a local delicacy. So he's been sending lots of camel recipes. He's mocking my tendency of being pretty picky, but this time, I'm eager to give it a try. A full report promised upon dromedary consumption.
"McVeigh uses almonds to gain the trust of the chipmunks that live in his backyard. Then he photographs them playing with Star Wars action figures."
The Preppy, Eclectic Dorm Room of Drew University Senior Maximilian Sinsteden. Sheesh.
Out with the old, in with the owl. Meagan Fisher's new site.
Would you eat a stack of 16 sugar cubes?
Bento box Moms have nothing on this Dad.
In case you don't want to say it out loud, Stop Talking cards.
Fun Twitter trend #crapnamesforpubs.
Meagan Fisher and I got sketched at FOWD by Rich Wells.
BB, isn't there an old saying in Cincinnati that goes something like "You can use a busty mannequin as BBQ bait, just as long as you don't chain her down." If not, there should be.
If you're wondering what exactly is going on with today's Ref coin flip, that's Mary Brogger's Haymarket Memorial he's standing in front of, which is located on the site of the infamous Haymarket Affair of May 4, 1886.
Adobe app icon pillows.
For MS, sparrow salt & pepper shakers.
The Vader Project. Some pix and some more pix. Oh yeah!
A large, rusty, cast-iron dinner service by Belgian designers Studio Job.
What's in illustrator and former Layer Tennis competitor James Hutchinson's fridge? Awesomeness, that's what.
For DW: The Denver Egotist's great multi-part rant about Chipotle's new advertising and menu.
For MS: science confirms that the neti pot is the real deal.
Muji USA Online, finally.
Hey MS, it's scutigera coleoptrata season. Maybe this will solve your spider problem.
A Da Vinci portrait has been found in a Tuscan cathedral window. No sign of his towel however.
Shinichi Maruyama's "Kusho." black ink in air. Beautiful.
Write your own message with Yellow Owl Workshop's LCD card and gift wrap.
"It's not expensive and it's nourishing, so that's the only thing I can tell you about it." Depression Cooking with 93 year old Clara. Via BB.
Related to the last, from Joe C, "This way is a lot easier and cheaper."
Walgreens has pulled the Chia Obama off their shelves after "a few complaints." Lame. (Via G****B.)
Cakewrecks is still totally worth checking out, not only for its never-ending parade of truly sad cakes, but also to remind you that there are way too many well-made Stargate cakes out there.
Don't judge people according to their appearance, by Peter Chmela. Via Thinking for a Living.
Less than #000000.
If you can possibly hold off on dying for another couple of months, these Star Trek caskets and urns should be available soon.
In all my years of production, I can say the piece of advice I use on each and every shoot is don't let the Japanese popstar dressed as a pineapple guard the camera equipment. Especially if you're in Sweden.
A story by our pal Jennifer Sharpe for ATC, Anybody Wanna Start a Commune?
Not quite the spiritual answer they were looking for.
Also from this weekend and as absurdly delicious as a mix of chocolate, bacon, and salt sounds: Mo's Bacon Bar. BB needs to buy one immediately.
For MS, some zen salt and pepper shakers.
Everything is Terrible passes along valuable info on getting your kids into commercials. Poor Katie.
"The picture frame will attack TVs close by, preventing them from working properly by changing the channels, muting them, turning the colours to black and white, shutting them down, turning them on at night with full volume and generally doing its best to turn it's owner against the new medium."
Posted without comment: Water Is Life, the "water awareness song and movie."
Local note for anyone within driving distance to Los Alamos, New Mexico this weekend: a memorial service will be held for Ed Grothus this Saturday afternoon. Also, some good news: "the family has no plans to close the Black Hole." And if you missed it, here's our five part series about the place and the man who made it. Thanks Bram.
For MS, here's what was being made in my house last night: Matzoh Crunch (also known as "Matzhoh Crack").
Piece Together For Peace, or how to make animals out shapes from a world map. Via Infosthetics.
If you're looking for a wooden spoon check out Herriott Grace.
24 hours of PrayStation for 4/1. Thanks for that Joshua and thanks to Jeffrey for pointing it out.
Laptop Direct's newest promotional effort: free funerals. Via Arbroath.
Unemployed Stuff: to do list.
Chinese architecture stamps.
Centraal Station Antwerpen gaat uit zijn dak! Try not to smile. Thanks Jeff.
Windfall, a story on Flickr, built from Lego. People who like this sort of thing will find this exactly the sort of thing they like.
Related to the last. Kate Bingaman-Burt's Flickr set on prepping for the PDX premiere.
Numerous photosets of the moment: The Goonies 20th Anniversary Reunion from Astoria, Oregon where most of the film was shot. Via Cynical C.
Giant fire-breathing baby robot terrorizes Tokyo's Roppongi District. Sweet.
Light Art Performance Photography. Like it says. Via The Minister.
On the occasion of their 13th anniversary, Art Lebedev Studio threw a party. "We bought 50 feather pillows."
Great fundraising idea and outside of building a time machine, the only way of buying affordable real estate in NY: adopt a building in the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art. Via I Like.
A huge collection of newspaper infographics.
For BB: the BBQ, bacon, and pork sausage combination that is the Bacon Explosion. Your arteries will hurt after just looking at it.
The step by step process of building of an Egg Zeppelin, which is exactly what it sounds like. Via Arbroath.
For DW: Battlestar Galactica Snacks. Via Czeltic Girl.
Wow, that cart that none of us like to use in the freight elevator can be sold as a table for $900?
Seriously the cutest thing I've seen all week. Via Jezebel.
Hey MS, apparently finding spiders at Whole Foods happens all the time. Luckily your salad spider wasn't this one.
Dave Cuzner of Grain Edit shot some of his collection of cool stuff for Inspiration Resource. Fab.
The world's largest billboard (one and a half acres in total), complete with several full-sized BMWs mounted to it.
So you know: a collection of out of the way spring break locales, from Degobah to the Justice League's Club JLI.
Something to hold on to for the next time you're waiting for a flight and upset about a slight delay: Michael J. Totten's incredible story of getting stuck at the Rome airport, battling Alitalia, a baggage handler strike, and a near riot. And that's just the first couple of paragraphs. Via Czeltic Girl.
Something about seeing a child with a gigantic tarantula on her face makes me think MS wouldn't like visiting the Living Museum of Spiders in Bogota.
Local note, related to the last. Canonical.
Esquire lists their picks for the best sandwiches in America and readers respond with their own favorites. Also makes for a good reason to repost the best documentary ever made about this very important subject: Sandwiches That You Will Like.
Igotapostcard.
"Crisalidas" by Fernando Gutierrez, a "luminous collage of moving images processed from mass media, re-interpreted into an intuitive and sketchy drawing on acetate." Spectacular. Hi-res image here.
"If a child was told to mime playing the guitar on the TV, it would probably look like this."
Now that we've finally cleaned it all out after having moved in a year ago, I think I've just found the perfect solution for what to do with the now empty space: How to Make a Mini Golf Course in Your Basement. More random home advice here.
Henrietta Swift and Christopher Smith create famous monuments with their shadows. Thanks Cooper.
"I have to warn everybody! Math is coming!" Nicolas Cage: A Career in (Baffling) Pictures. Wonderfully stupid humor.
A new site about nothing in Amsterdam.
Craig is leaving notes taped to lamp posts looking for like minded people to do things with him and also warn them about his time machine. Craig's Notes.
Curiosity's Light-Light is an installation at the Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo. It's made of illuminated spheres floating on hot air. Via Designboom.
Non-Americans speaking in American accents
A tribute to discontinued cereals.
I was lucky enough to catch a preview screening of I Love You, Man earlier this week. The movie was great, but even greater was the Q&A session afterwards with Jason Segel, Paul Rudd and John Hamburg. Segel stole the show with this. Thanks, Andrew!
Watch a life size blue whale swim across your screen.
A Japanese Life of Bento. Via Waxy.
"Aeneas and The Sybil added The Underworld the the Places I've Been Application." The Aeneid on Facebook. Awesome. Via Eternally Cool.
Not sure if the address would still be valid some 80 years after this ad was published, but if you're looking for a solution, it might be worth a try: How to Obtain a Better Looking Nose.
DesignApplause on the new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
A brilliant front page from today's Rocky Mountain News. It's very last one. Reminds me the farewell edition of Chicago's finest. "It took 102 years to finish and these are the final pages of The Chicago Daily News."
Very entertaining browsing: the Michael Jackson auction catalogs.
"I rescue, salvage, and recycle other people's words." -Will Ashford.
So you know: Ways To Be Cool. Pay particular attention to the last on the list. It's totally true.
Apropos of nothing: if the new trend in schools is working while standing, might we propose that we call this The Walter Murch Method?
MS, for your trip to Arizona soon, make sure you stop by the Heart Attack Grill, which you might recall having read about earlier in our favorite lunchtime magazine, Nation's Restaurant News. Via Denver Egotist.
For BB, how to make bacon mayo. Via Neatorama.
Leo Villareal's complex light sculpture in the concourse walkway between buildings at The National Gallery of Art in DC is made up of 41,000 programmed LED nodes and is titled "Multiverse."
Clever advertising for a band via a short piece of video that's sure to make the rounds: A Day in the Life of Abbey Road.
Gothamist's collection of the Top NYC Transit Typos. Via Czeltic Girl.
The 50 Dollar Logo Experiment puts an online design services' "unlimited revisions" claim to the test. Via Andy Rutledge.
Bram sends along some more info on Ed Grothus' passing: here's from the Santa Fe New Mexican, a piece from the Los Alamos Monitor, and some memories (and a couple of good links to previous stories) from the Santa Fe Review.
Day 316 and tree 152 of the annotated and illustrated journal of the author climbing a tree every day. Yowza. Via Made in England...
The financial climate doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. Just ask this Miami banker.
Ed Grothus, the wonderfully eccentric owner of the Black Hole in Los Alamos, NM and subject of our serialized documentary, Laboratory Conditions, passed away yesterday (here's his obituary). While we only got to spend a day with Ed, we'll miss him dearly and our wishes go out to his family and his many friends and admirers. Someone better step up and get those two granite monuments put up immediately.
So you know: a listing of the nation's best cupcake bakeries.
Posted without comment: The Never Ending Story: The Van.
As if the barkers and creepy clowns weren't enough, here's just the thing to keep you away from the state fair this year: Ride Accidents, a listing of injuries and fatalities befallen upon those seeking thrills and amusement. Via Cynical C.
So you know, a chart taking apart the $819 billion stimulus package.
The ___ Cards.
This is what Lawrence Yang thinks whenever he sees one of the new Pepsi ads.
From the Corn Dog Pizza to Bacon Shell Tacos: This Is Why You're Fat, a collection of delicious things your arteries will hate you for enjoying.
"So, you finally caved. You've accepted a friend request from your Mom, Dad, crazy Aunt Ida, and your college roommate's newly divorced mother. Well here's your chance to get back at them for taking away your public privacy." Via Laughing Squid.
For MS, Rubik's cube salt and pepper mills.
There are Klingons among us and they are robbing 7-Elevens in Colorado.
"They mustn't have had a clue what it was." Before you begin a career in burglary, it's probably best to educate yourself on popular artists of the day first.
Evan Roth's videos from inside international airport x-ray machines.
I'm not sure if this is sexy, sartorial or just silly but I know I like the title, Pugnacious Puffy Pants at BibliOdyssey.
Anyone can Swiss.
Anna The Red's Bento Factory. How to have Wall-E, Yoshi and lots of other characters for lunch.
"Hello is this the International Space Station? It is? May I please speak with Amanda Huggenkiss?"
Related to below: the story behind the selling of 867-5309.
867-5309 is for sale on eBay.
Impressive.
So it's agreed. Neither Pittsburgh or Phoenix are as awesome as Chicago, and neither of us will probably watch the game anyway.
Phoenix's music scene is also nothing to brag about. Though we are the home base of Alice Cooper, Jimmy Eat World, and The Meat Puppets (who went to my high school and were rumored to have been kicked out for riding motorcycles through one of the halls, which thinking about it now seems like a highly improbable and very stupid rumor).
The Steelers' logo is based on the Steelmark, the handsome Paul-Rand-esque symbol of an industry synonymous with Pittsburgh. The Cardinals' helmet features an angry songbird borrowed from St. Louis, and it's on both sides of the helmet, which is lame. Lame like a city full of expansion teams that are younger than I am.
Speaking of Air, they often tour with the band Phoenix who make fun music videos with Roman Coppola. So I ask you BB: where's the cool band named Pittsburgh, huh?
Okay BB, Pittsburgh may have Mr. Rogers, but how can that one little fact possibly compete with Phoenix's massive dust storms, the world's most documented UFO visitation, or the ability to fry eggs on sidewalks? And really, you can keep Mr. Rogers. I'd chose Wallace and Ladmo over him any day.
I will say that Phoenix is worse than Pittsburgh because a) Marty Robbins, Stevie Nicks, and Lynda Carter were all born there, b) you can't wear sweatpants to dance clubs, and c) there was never a Disco-basketball-astrology film nor a Star Wars-porn-chick-flick set in Phoenix.
In the interest in creating a rivalry around the office because BB's hometown team is playing my hometown team in the Super Bowl, I will say that Phoenix is better than Pittsburgh because a) Marty Robbins, Stevie Nicks, and Lynda Carter were all born there, b) we have far more and far better Mexican restaurants, and c) our team used to be the Chicago Cardinals, which makes them like an extra double hometown team.
Star Wars yoga poses. Yes, Star Wars yoga poses. Via John Hodgman.
Best part of the whole Blagojavich mess? The return of the smug, gum chewing kid. He must be Pat Quinn's son?
Instructions for the World Nude Day 2009 competition, "1. Get nude. 2. Get a mate to film you. 3. Do something funny." Via MiEBG.
Local note: Our favorite caterer aims to revive the faltering noontime economy with a Lunch Bailout Plan! Fixed menu, recession-priced. We have them here every Thursday. (Full Disclosure: BDP is my wife's company.)
More than four million sales and $40 million dollars later, a look at the business side of the Snuggie.
"The notebooks function like a security blanket for me. I can't go into a meeting unless I have my current notebook in my hand, even if I never open it." All of Michael Bierut's National Blank Book Company marble-covered composition books stacked on a chair. (I guess we're going to have a mighty tough time moving him over to Field Notes.)
Kitsune Noir on the experimental video work of Volkan Ergen.
Our friends at the design firm smashLAB publish an open letter to the Discovery Channel asking that they make their show Smash Lab less sucky so it will stop damaging their good name on Google.
TDR folds. Always admired their work, branding and confidence.
A photoset posted without comment: Aretha Franklin's Hat. Here's BB's favorite.
Abraham Lincoln: the true father of the emoticon?
BBDO's Bring Your Kids to Work Day prank/promo. Via Denver Egotist.
Wash your hands with hands.
Terrific, in-cockpit, multi-camera footage of landing a 747 in San Francisco. Also, the takeoff in London. Via Telstar Logistics.
Speaking of Sullivan, the Chicago Architecture Foundation hosts just a handful of Graceland Cemetery Tours per year and they always sell out quick. Either plan your Chicago trip around these dates or, if you live here, you have no excuse. Best two or three hours you'll ever spend (in a cemetery).
Posted without comment: Chia Obama.
"It's all yours now. Good luck." Lip Reading at the Inauguration.
Pets in Uniform. We're guessing/hoping that the person who thought this business up is now a multi-millionaire. Thanks Claire.
Local note. "Prepared properly, a good beef is as good as Chicago food gets. Likewise, a bad beef is probably the worst thing that can happen to you. Kudos to purveyors of juicy, shaved beef on a crusty bun with fresh peppers in tangy, salty broth." GreaseFreak knows all.
Former CP crew member Dave Reidy takes on the role he was born to play as Ted Teddington, creator of the Amazing Amazer.
Is Obama President?
Turner made two things for us.
Obama's People.
Surprised that it wasn't an original creation, Justin Watt gets to the bottom of his family's favorite cookie recipe by tracking down his grandmother's source material.
Professional Fingerboarding, complete with wide angle lens. Via Denver Egotist.
Presidential Inaugurations on video from McKinley to W.
The perfect estimate for bad potential clients. Via Andy Rutledge.
Z$100tn.
A Wikipedia entry on why you shouldn't tell people to not stick beans up their nose, a point well illustrated in this Home Movies classic.
In case you need it, some perspective: Letters to Obama from Navajo children. Thanks, Sarah.
"Dude, you mean you didn't get a tracking number?"
Fuzzy responds to our earlier "Push Button, Receive Bacon" post with his own collection of hand dryer humor.
BB: the 2009 dates haven't been posted yet, but keep your early May open for a trip down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for the next annual Mid-America BMW '02 Fest.
Posted without comment except for a quick "Yeah!" and a big thumbs up: Captain Mark Approves.
Blossom Goodchild clarifies facts regarding October 14, 3009. Stay with it. Wow.
Amber waves of buttery ice cream with roasted non-partisan pecans. Yes Pecan!
A friend of the Bush daughters on getting invited to the White House for dinner and really bad movies.
"Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men." A Rejection Letter from Disney from 1938 and printed on some unfortunate stationary.
Tell the Obama-Biden administration that design matters by endorsing the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative.
Doesn't this skull made from a blend of Cuban and Mexican Dark Chocolate (and cast from a real human skull) look delicious?
Watches worn in space.
The School of Life.
For MS, DIY nesting doll salt shakers.
An explanatory sling, perfect for the injured who are tired of answering the question "Hey, what happened to your arm?" Via bblinks.
Couldn't have come at a better time as I try and figure out how to build a better home office: Where We Do What We Do, shots of people's work spaces.
Today's afternoon project, make space origami.
Dave Allen is a surviving member of an endangered species - a professional bookbinder. Via Things.
Ron English, The Secret History of KISS. Spectacular. Via Made in England By Gentlemen.
A tradition that never fails. Each year some newspaper site posts a gallery of photos of kids scared by Santa Claus and then I can't resist linking it up.
Related to the last: the Dean and Company website just launched this week. It looks like something Henry Darger would have made if he'd gotten into web development.
Some holiday ads from the Great Depression. Via GB.
A magical spring outing for BB and MS, the Harry Potter exhibit.
The history of Krampus, the Sinister Sidekick of Santa from Germanic alpine regions. "His brief is to punish the children who have misbehaved during the year."
Make gift tags from holiday shopping bags. Via d*s.
Feast of Fools interviews FotA Andrew Huff from Gapers Block who shares some tips on blogging.
FotA and Field-Tester Ben Greenman has just penned his latest opus: Blagojevich! The Musical.
Three posts that I think should be required reading if you're looking for some context about the death of print (or how information is flowing today, and it's not from paper) 1. The Newspaper Industry and the Arrival of the Glaciers, 2. Content and Its Discontents, and 3. Change Happens.
Finally an excuse to post this: the smug, eye rolling, gum chewing kid in the background (to the right) at Gov. Blagojevich's election night acceptance speech from two years ago. If we'd all known what that kid knew back then.
Bye-Bye Blackboard.
Captured By the Norwegians.
Footage from an RC plane's water balloon bombing run.
So you know, holiday shipping deadlines at other popular online stores. For Coudal things, Jewelboxing, Field Notes, Dead Can Dance discs or Pixies discs we recommend ordering by December 15th so you have time to make sure it's wrapped up all nice and pretty. (For procrastinators we also offer 2-Day and overnight shipping.)
For the wannabe wizard, mystical fire. Via Technabob.
"Suddenly you notice that he's waxy, flat, and lacking the definition demonstrated in the other subjects, and his presence takes on a ghostly quality." All in the Family, from Secret Fun Blog.
The electrical, bio-mechanical, totally rad sculptures of Christopher Conte. Via Everyone Forever.
Speaking of the Christmas Story house, it can be rented out for Christmas eve and morning. Heads up for next year.
How hard could it be to recount ballots? Apparently not as easy as it sounds as Minnesota Public radio has shown with examples. Plus you can vote for what you think the voter's intent was. Via Graphpaper.
Local note. The Winter Pageant Redux at Redmoon Theater, right in our neighborhood is magical. Def bring the kids.
Peter Coffin and Cinimod Studio's awesome public flying-saucer performance, "Untitled (UFO)"
Bas de Boer's Today's Issue, "a selection of interesting links that grabbed my attention for longer than 20 seconds... nothing more, nothing less." Bookmarked. Via Joachim Baan.
"When Rich was eight years old, he asked his mother if there was anything in the medicine cabinet that could blow up. She told him, 'Of course not!' Within 30 minutes, he proved she was wrong." Rich's Incredible Pyro.
"Despite an ambitious number of signs, I felt my local Home Depot wasn't addressing some of the strongest benefits of owning a shed. I decided to make some new signs and try them out!" The Shed Prank.
A digital compendium of the news that says Traditional Publishing, R.I.P. Thanks Alex.
The Portable Library Project explores "ideas surrounding archiving, journaling, libraries, ephemera, and incorporating an art practice into everyday life." Very nice.
Reporting on news and developments concerning unmanned aerial vehicle systems, the Drone Report.
For the biologist in your family, a knitted frog dissection.
Base jumping off the Burj Dubai.
Top 10 Beards from Karl Marx to ZZ Top.
Great clip art resource for those times when you just can't find the perfect "two girls riding in back of a pick-up sitting on a barrel of poison" image. Thanks Mike.
Disputed ballots from the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.
In case you're looking for barstools.
Show me your dock, I'll show you mine. Clipped from Quipped.
Notice.
Two options and that's it. Quarter Pounder, the McDonald's concept in Tokyo. Here are some more photos of the place.
R.I.P. 1+1=3. We've enjoyed Via'ing you over the years.
The translations seem a bit off, so good luck in trying to figure out what's going on. But you'll still wind up having a blast exploring the 3D Eco Zoo. Via Byrdhouse.
But I think we can all agree that a zombie fighting a shark is just the worst it can possibly get.
"Simon: your outright rejection of running zombies leaves you exposed, in a very real and damning sense, as a terrible racist." Thanks Stuart.
Congratulations to the stick for making it into the Toy Hall of Fame.
It's easy to believe that nothing could ever be considered an equal to Wisconsin's House on the Rock, but then I visited St. Louis' City Museum this weekend and learned otherwise. It is a bewildering mix of fun and fear. More info on its history here and Zulkey's reaction here.
How to kill time on the web now that the election's over. We recommend visiting CP at least five or more times per day.
Tired of your current position? Up for a major change? Apply here.
The painful spectacle of a big expensive promotion gone wrong. Read the news report first, Carnival's World's Largest Pinata goes unbroken, and then the company's completely un-fun Fun Crowd site. Still, they got in the Guiness Book, right?
Noted without comment. The Sky Factory.
For BB: Bacon Flash Drives.
"Those amazing sideburns and mustache get me going." Obama Rally Missed Connections. Thanks Jamie.
Another mysterious giant Lego man has washed up on a beach.
It's easy to get caught up in what we've voted against. Screw that. Here's what I voted for.
In a rare fit of volunteerism, James and Candy drove to Bucks County, Pennsylvania to help Obama's campaign. After going door-to-door in a suburban neighborhood, they made a collage of the results.
Fired up. Ready to go.
Teenager changes his name to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined and takes the title for world's longest name. "His grandmother is no longer speaking to him."
For all your Abe and Mary Todd needs: The Association of Lincoln Presenters.
We are happy to see so many people are on board with our proclamation for November 4. Please forward it to other interested parties. It will be a beautiful day tomorrow in Chicago and the national forecast looks very good too. Plus the weather should be nice.
This. F@#&ing. Election. A visual guide to a seemingly endless battle.
Dave takes on the Colonel by answering KFC's $10 challenge from their recent TV spots.
Why engineers will always be the kings of Halloween: behind the scenes look at building a Star Wars AT-ST Costume.
Halloween at Cake Wrecks: Ghost cakes, mummy cakes, and for MS, two batches (1, 2) of spider cakes.
Terrifying. Photos from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement. 1971. Via c77.
For MS: Obama is a friend to the Flat Stanley movement.
Not a good sign for Obama: the Alien has switched his endorsement.
Design Sponge is accepting entries for their ugliest pillow contest. Check out some past entries here and here.
Charles Meets Barack.
"...a giant child armed with a box of crayons has been set loose upon the landscape." Dutch tulip farms. Via swissmiss.
Shakespearean actors reading celelebrity sex tape transcripts. Not even one tiny bit safe for work. Via Andrew Sullivan.
The Noodle Soup Oracle shall provide you with answers at lunchtime. Via bblinks.
Baconnaise, the flavored mayonnaise, gets right to the point with their tagline: "Everything should taste like bacon."
"I mean, when you see 700 shambling dead zombies walking toward the Civic Center up the bridge, it would probably get the Secret Service's attention." Zombies Pose No Threat at Palin Event. Some video of the undead here.
From the writers behind Weird Illinois: Haunted Illinois, an online collection of paranormal activity from across the state.
Couple of great print ads for travel irons.
Fred Flare is having a grand opening party tonight for their first ever door store in Brooklyn. From clicks to bricks. Congrats guys!
Shop Untouched Since 1960s, boarded up and forgotten, only recently discovered. Remarkably similar to This American Life's best show to date: "The House on Loon Lake."
Posted without comment: An Ode to David Ogilvy.
Hal 9000 has a wicked photostream.
Murder is murder, even in ones and zeros.
From Mechanix Illustrated, November 1968. What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?
Touched Echo by Markus Kison is an installation on Brühl's Terrace in Dresden that uses bone-conduction to send visitors back in time. Via Precious Forever.
Photos from the White House Bowling Alley, which is sadly no longer in use. Note the Nixon photo, which you might remember hanging over "The Dude"s tiki bar.
British journo Jeremy Clarkson hates motorcycles, and the Vespa GTV Navy 125 is no exception. Even as a well-known scooter fan, I have to agree with pretty much everything he says.
Levi van Veluw's series of self-portraits depict himself as landscape. Watch the video too.
Our friends at Design Observer are up for the Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Award and voting ends in an hour. Give them your vote won't you?
To "help protect the diversity of costuming" at your upcoming Halloween party, a handy downloadable poster warning guests not to wear "non-clever and hastily assembled Sarah Palin costumes." Via Balloon Juice.
Los Alamos' Black Hole made an appearance on NPR's Morning Edition yesterday. For more on "Atomic Ed," check out our five part documentary: Laboratory Conditions.
Secret footage from the G-8 Economic Summit. Via Todd Harrison.
A machine translation of a post and interview at Slanted about Daniel Citizen's graduate thesis, The Spam Annual Report 2007. It's full of interesting facts and the report itself is beautifully designed and set, appropriately, mostly in Courier.
The PDP11 Handbook.
Trouble coming up with a Halloween costume? Dress like a celebrity.
Ironic Sans needs your opinion on a very important matter.
An old shop and ice cream parlor untouched since the 1960s.
Mr. Broome writes, "...both chock-a-block with adrenaline pumped eye candy. Perfect for a Friday." 1. 2. Vroom.
Limited edition cereals from Air Bed and Breakfast, complete with accompanying theme songs: Obama Os, "Hope in every bowl!" and Cap'n McCains, "Experience a surge at the breakfast table!"
The Great Southern California ShakeOut, "the largest earthquake preparedness activity in U.S. history."
The Landscape Anthropology of Photography Museums (and the spatial implications of graven images.)
Noted without comment. Five ads for rayon that ran in the August, 1966 issue of Seventeen.
"Adam," a mural mosaic. Hmm.
DAConnect, "the first hologram for your car." A little skeptical about how real this is, but who knows. More info on their site. Via Denver Egotist.
Yes We Carve, dedicated to the making of Barack O' Lanterns.
John Cleese rants about the American misuse of "could care less".
"But who is 'Steve' and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?" Charlie Rose by Samuel Beckett.
Posted without comment: Juicy Jay's Sizzling Bacon, bacon flavored rolling papers.
Will Hudson found the actual in the virtual by organizing a big show of work that has been featured on It's Nice That and displaying it at The Plymouth College of Art in Devon UK. Here's some photos of the exhibition. We're happy to have had our Field Notes included.
Some interesting bus stop ads.
Just the facts, sir and ma'am.
Meat and cheese combo proves edible, as researched by Jason Santa Maria and company.
So you know: what politicos eat for breakfast.
The Cape Farewell Expedition to the Arctic to investigate climate change. Included on the voyage are people like Jarvis Cocker, KT Tunstall, and Leslie Feist, all of whom apparently have the expertise to get this global warming thing all wrapped up in no time. Ongoing photoset here.
Gothtober 2008, the sixth year of this collaborative, Advent-esque calendar. This year's theme is "Haunted Mission de Santa Gothtober." Via Czeltic Girl.
Thanks to The Da Vinci Code there has been a lot of effort spent analyzing "The Last Supper," but until now nobody has answered the most basic question, "What did they eat?" (pdf). From Gastronomica, via Nag on the Lake.
Clever idea or disaster waiting to happen: The Bonfire and Banned Books Event in Bridgewater, Mass.
Both painful and hilarious: Keepin' It Realtor, a large collection of "creative" real estate advertising. Via Copyranter.
"How my personal identity would be documented if it were considered in graphic design terms." Christopher Doyle™. Clipped from Quipped.
So you know: How to Land a 747.
While in NY this weekend, we decided to walk 60+ blocks to the Peanut Butter & Co. restaurant near NYU. Highly recommend ordering "The Elvis" (peanut butter, bananas, honey, and bacon, grilled to perfection).
There's still time to buy the Elvis is Alive Museum in Hattiesburg, MS. Among other items, the purchase includes a 1974 Cadillac Limo and the rights to two different books "that detail the beliefs that Elvis did not die on August 16, 1977."
Due to bad weather yesterday, Yves Rossy, the Fusion Man, had to once again reschedule his attempt to jet pack across the English Channel. When it finally does happen, you can watch it here, live.
Related to the last. Slashdot points out they overlooked an important error message.
"...like Proust's Madeleine, an error message from a machine out of your past can transport you back in time." The 13 greatest error messages of all time.
What happens on Main Street affects Wall Street. Language NSFW.
Google's Project 10 to the 100th.
Needed to refind this for a visual reference. Don't ask. Great looking catalog for 1976 Superior Funeral Coaches. I'm betting on layouts like this making a big comeback soon. Dig the typography and, of course, the classic landaulet styling.
Posted without comment: Laugh Your Abs Away.
"Dear Designer, the advantage of designers wearing black at conferences or at any other occasion is that you can easily distinguish between designers and clients. Which can give you a head start if you are looking for new opportunities." LoveLiza
Today is PARK(ing) Day. Find a temporary park near you.
Posted without comment: the history of Marian McQuade and National Grandparent's Day put to song.
Who says you have to leave your beloved pooch at home while you go for a bike ride?
Letterpress chocolates, appropriately via Design Milk.
Two things I thought my high school teachers made up in the 80s, but are apparently longstanding education memes: Ta Ta Ti Ti Ta and Mimal.
Big fun. Frame stabilization is applied to the famous Bluff Creek, California sasquatch footage from 1967. Lots more enhancements and information here.
Crossing Everest on a Unicycle. "I am going to ride my unicycle 1000km, from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal."
Noted without comment. Suspicious Vans. Via G&H.
Matt's childhood box of curiosities.
RAF officer breaks 37-year silence on UFO radar mystery. Via Mefi.
Flowing Data "asked readers to collect data about themselves or their surroundings and then visualize it some way." The Personal Visualization Project. Via Glass.
Airplane hostel prepares for liftoff. Indeed!
A new bookmark that will be visited every day around this time: A Hamburger Today, the hamburger blog.
Robyn Okrant has decided to live according to the advice of Oprah for one year. According to the NYT story about her last month, her husband has been mostly supportive of the project, acknowledging that "there's been some nice brownies and I enjoyed the decluttering project."
The Homestar Extra, a planetarium for your house from Japan.
Paper trains.
"...the very anti-Pixar essence of these characters: they have no background, no purpose nor story to tell. Yet, they have a soul and a clear personality..." An illustrated post from wm$na on Peter Thaler and Lars Denicke of Pictoplasma.
"Don't underestimate the dark side of the triangle." Darth Vader Explains the Pythagorean Theorem. Via Transbuddha.
Want to "give your home an edgy look with some serious pizzazz"? Z Gallerie takes inspiration from Damien Hirst.
Posted without comment: moving the KFC secret recipe to a more secure facility.
Obama Supporter Buttons for every conceivable form of person or object, from snake lovers to sail boats. Via bblinks.
Could've used this yesterday, Umbrella Today?
Boicovideo, video reviews of magazines.
Like the Kindle, but prettier.
So you know: A List of Frivolous Political Parties. For my money, you just can't beat the Rhinoceros Party in Canada.
Much better than the standard def pair you're wearing: HD Sunglasses.
Hunting the 62mph Autobahn Skateboarder.
magCulture on OK Collections, a sweet, new magazine from The Netherlands that would be perfect in the MoOM Museum Shop, if there was such a thing.
Ugly Overload. MS, don't scroll down too far or you'll see the Stowaway Spider and won't be able to sleep tonight.
Posted without comment: JetAngel, advertising using branded, decommissioned military aircraft, or rather, "Turning on the afterburners on advertisement!"
Peacay on Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow.)
"Schoolgirl breaks world record for balancing snails on her face." What they never explain in these stories is how this all got started. And why?!
Elderly people upset at 'elderly people' road signs. Non-jumping deer are likely the next to complain.
"She rolled down her window and asked if it was open, then looked heartbroken when told that it wasn't." Sioux City is maybe a little too excited about their new Olive Garden. Via Cynical-C.
For the MS salt and pepper collection, toilets.
Posted without comment: Sheep Stomach Lamp Shades.
Stars as Lego characters. Thanks Henry.
The story behind the Go Miniman Go! campaign to celebrate the Lego man's 30th birtHDay. It all launched yesterday with this spot.
What makes a good chocolate chip cookie?
Wired says, "Show us your geek tattoos".
Anyone want to go over to Dave Cuzner's house? Nice tour of the environment that inspires Grain Edit.
"I'm Steve Parry, I'm not Michael Phelps!"
A must have, the Chococlock.
Commercial signs that move in Tokyo and Osaka.
Noted without comment. 100thofasecond.com.
For SE, the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder.
Grain Edit has a peek inside Small Studio in Lyon, France.
The Making of a Meat Cake. Not a vegetarian friendly link in the slightest.
The Olympics in Lego.
One day is 360 turns and every turn is exactly 4 minutes. Turntime.
The Human Marvels, presenting peculiar people.
James Ellis on his brief career in printing.
Passport book from the Expo 86 in BC, Canada.
Posted without comment: "If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will - Go Vegan."
Fantastic read on the future of suburbia.
Salvador Dali and SpongeBob Squarepants at The Daily Heller.
Cool stuff found in Bill Keller's Grandfather's garage.
The process behind the prosthetics for Shrek: The Musical.
de-noted is a blog to see what would happen if you release a question written on a bank note.
Who knew that scientists were working on an invisibility cloak in the first place? I still want my jet-pack, though.
Some pretty strange theme restaurants.
A possible answer to the question: "Why doesn't the Kool-Aid Man shatter when he smashes through walls?" Via Transbuddha.
So you know, this is what $748 million will get you.
General Electric's Widescreen 1000 TV from 1978. Via bblinks.
We were semi-excited to see the Olympics opening ceremony this evening, but then we watched Los Conquistadores de Ecuador and certainly nothing will ever be able to top that experience.
You know the economy is bad when celebrities start appearing on dollar store products. Thanks Claire.
Although the "people in animal costumes" idea has long since worn out its welcome, it's refreshing to see that it's still very funny when it isn't intended to be funny: Polar Bear Escape Training at a Tokyo Zoo.
For the CP studio where a lot of IMing occurs, the i-Knock.
A global warming rug.
I Am Rich, a completely useless iPhone app that costs $999.
So you know, how to give yourself elf ears. Via BB.
The Temple of Tame Tigers seems like the real life version of a favorite Far Side strip: "Trouble Brewing."
Chicago's been seeing some unfortunate weather again this summer, and last night, I happened to be trapped on a CTA platform during quite a light show. Thanks for the video, Andrew!
LEGO powered time-tracking.
Some tattoo ideas for BB should Chicago win the 2016 Olympic bid.
Not sure if it's appropriate to get out the "We're #1" big foam hand for this one. A study has found that US and Spanish dollars contain the highest traces of cocaine of any currencies.
The Ridemaster Pro, "the ultimate fully interactive horse simulator."
Leaving an AI chat bot on sex-oriented chat sites to see what happens. "She's still in there now, getting harassed. Poor thing."
In case you're going for a swim, the most deadliest sea creatures.
Jurassic amber soap (with insect). Thanks John.
10 Tips to make your bike the ugliest on the block.
So you know: a list of fictional ducks.
For math lovers, the Pop Quiz Clock.
"Libidinous inclinations aside Death, although dreaded and loathed, plays a morally ambiguous role compared to Zombies who seem to be purely evil." An annotated visual survey of Zombies in art history. Found among other things.
I'll be interested to see who gets this web design job in San Diego.
All reports are that the "boutique death movement" is alive and well.
Backyard Paradises.
Cake Wrecks, via Glass. Maybe we should send in Steve's birtHDay cake?
Sweet, Gizmodo gets an exclusive tour of the Lego factory.
For BB and DW, an idea for your next scooter rally. Via Neatorama.
Design by hacking cheaply made plastic junk.
This is the first time this phrase has appeared in Fresh Signals, The sound of jelly wobbling. Via The Big Noob.
The Process. Thanks Kelli.
Yes it is.
"A trip across the US is approximately 3000 miles coast to coast. At this rate, she only needed to run 2.5 miles a day which is definitely possible!" Hamster Across America. Via Torrez.
No further comment needed. Snack foods that sound like sex acts.
10 More Must-Try Exotic Fruits. Via That's How.
Your iPhone is full of beer. Via MACup.
The art installation "is open to anyone willing to risk life and limb for a thrill ride." Lagombra's Bicycle Rollercoaster.
Posted without comment: Journey at The Center of the Earth. Via Transbuddha.
The contradictions swirl and build. Behold a site of Soviet-born artist Yevgeniy Fiks who lives in New York and is mounting an exhibit in Russia of portraits he painted of current Communist Party, USA members. It raises some provocative questions.
America's regional hot dog styles. Sorry Chicago, LA has bacon on theirs. Via Metblogs.
NPR reports today that Germany is considering "Kinder voting", extending the vote to all citizens, even those in diapers. Perhaps the kids could simply come up with some t-shirts.
Ben Greenman's latest contribution to musical theater: A-Rod! The Musical.
Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand. Really big beautiful drawings. Via CH.
For MS, Improv Everywhere filled a subway car with identical twins. "The Rosenblum twins had the same song queued on their iPods - that's the level of dedication these agents had."
Send Barack Your Baby. "When your baby arrives, Barack will give it your choice of a kiss, a hug, or hope." Via Bits & Pieces.
Save the Arecibo Observatory, so Bond nemesis Alec Trevelyan can keep threatening London and Jodie Foster can continue talking to aliens.
I have absolutely no idea what this site is all about and it doesn't really bother me in the least.
Posted without comment: the Everyday Wedding Ring. Via 2 or 3 Things.
Starting with the Old Testament, in seven months without interruption, all 66 books of the Bible are written in calligraphy by a robot. Check the video.
Excellent, I was just wondering this the other day. How Californians see America.
Are you suffering from hidden talents?
"It has reconsecrated the painting after Dan Brown deconsecrated it." Peter Greenaway presented a show of lights, music and sound in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie Monday night. Reinventing The Last Supper.
In an odd yet interesting play on the word "vintage", Prince Charles has converted his classic Aston Martin to run on biofuel distilled from British wine.
"This one time, at Camp Camp..."
Nice print ad by JWT Hong Kong. Stuck in the wrong job?
Well finally. That question I never had the nerve to ask Sister Mary John in grade school has been answered beautifully in a coloring book illustration.
A man on a mission to find the world's greatest chocolate bar.
"Instant origami is the contemporary interpretation of the traditional Japanese paper folding technique - focusing on speed and imagination rather than on the technically brilliant execution."
Pink Tentacle reports in from Yamagata with this year's crop of rice paddy art.
Posted without comment: a dramatic video reconstruction of how you would fit 13 people into a Volvo station wagon.
Cute copper tortoise grater.
For MS, a little something to think about on that next bad hair day.
For BB, "Every Monday all U can eat bacon."
Things of the day. Saint, SAT Question, Song, Theorem, Planet, Baseball Stat and Astronomy Picture.
The rest of the summer is justthisclose to being sold out in The Deck, our ad network. If you have a product or service that could benefit by being in front of millions of web, design & creative professionals, give us a shout quick.
Sleeveface rolls along. Love this one. Thanks Andrew.
Oilcloth homage.
Matthew's Typical Infographic.
Copy Writer, Marketing Materials, $18/hour. "While you are writing copy you will also fill the role of security guard. We will buy your uniform. You won't carry a gun."
Are you right or left-eared? Diana Deutsch's Cambiata illusion. Thanks Ant.
More kids and animal noises. Bzzzpeek. Adorable. Thanks Thomas.
My daughter and I were just discussing this yesterday, so this extensive chart would have been very helpful. How to mimic animal noises in other languages.
Related to the last, The Moccasin Bar in Hayward, WI.
For SD's new pad, couture keys. Via AT:LA.
"Each issue of The Thing is conceived of by an individual artist, reproduced and wrapped by the editors and sent to the subscribers." The Thing 2 is getting set to go.
Somewhat related to a running conversation at lunch about an ad featuring these long necked creatures: Giraffes Declared Kosher. MS and BB: maybe those people in the ad are eating giraffe?
"All you have to do is insert a coin and a piece of china will slowly move forwards and fall into the bottom of the machine, breaking, and leaving you happy and relieved of anger."
Quick, grab some Legos and fix that wall. Via The Letter.
Stumbled on Night Owl Paper Goods at a shop over the weekend. Check out their nice line of eco-friendly wooden cards.
J.K. Rowling on The Fringe Benefits of Failure in her Harvard Commencement address.
FlickrTwitterThinker, from Avoision.
Water sculpture by William Pye.
So you know, a sculptural crochet primer.
According to this in-depth analysis of Facial Hair in Presidential Elections, both Obama and McCain would be wise to remain clean-shaven.
Related to the last. A Teenager's Guide to Understanding and Preparing for the Second Coming.
Everyone needs a little sunshine in their lives. Enter S.A.D. tees.
Create your own Persian rug!
Summer is here, and some great weather for cruising a few yard sales. You just never know what you might find.
So you know: The Tuna Calculator, informing you on how much tuna you can safely eat in a week.
Physiognomy. "Fourteen faces were constructed, de-constructed and fused."
The Letterpress Process, photo sequences illustrating the steps involved in printing jobs. Sweet. Via Design Observer.
Michael Wolf's photo series of Chinese copy artists, standing with their paintings. Found among other things.
A statement followed by a question separated by a colon: an effective journalistic technique?
"Random compositions made by converting pictures into music using a scale of colour." By Hoagy Houghton a GDi student at the University of Brighton. Via It's Nice That.
Discussed at lunch: Murray from Flight of the Conchords and Chuck Todd: separated at birth? Apparently we're not the only ones who think so.
How does your "Brand Timeline Portrait" look? Here's Dear Jane Sample's. Via the unstoppable Mr. Parker.
Erik Nordenankar's self-portrait is large. Really large. Really, really large.
Macbook Pro x blackboard paint = Blackboard Pro.
Related to the last and as poignant as ever today. Edward Kennedy's Eulogy of RFK.
Senses Working Overtime's photosets ought to just about destroy your morning. Mmm, Sweden House.
Click on "Small Ads" at Brian Taylor's Candykiller.
Pencil Talk.
Marital Rating Scale from 1939.
Per our lunch conversation yesterday about Adam West being the one-true Caped Crusader and particularly fitting for today: Batman Politics. Via One Good Move.
A house for $100. James Mathias is trying something different in these slummy real estate times.
Posted without comment: Things Younger Than John McCain.
Behind the scenes look at how Obscura lit up the Meatpacking district in NYC with 20 HD projectors. Thanks Geoff.
The brand new Mellow Johnny's bike shop (Texan for Maillot Jaune) opens in Austin.
In an Absolut world where Absolut gave away free money. Yeah, I'd live in such a world.
"What is the oldest piece of code that is still in use today, that has not actually been retyped or reimplemented in some way? By 'piece of code,' I'm of course referring to a complete algorithm, and not just a single line."
Did God mess with Chip Kidd's New York Times this morning?
Multiple design plans for the 'Angel of the South', a project that simply seems like an excuse to build something randomly huge in Southern England.
"A helmet-like balloon that is connected with the seat can be tilted over the heads of the two people seated. Their heads thus are enclosed a narrow cylindrical space that is covered by a glass-clear plastic dome above which a transparent balloon hovers."
1470 piece Craftsmen Professional Toolset. The photo gives me tool envy.
See where some of the $152 billion stimulus package is going.
The "CBS Eye" has Shaker roots. Via L&UL.
Do fast cars go to heaven? Via Things.
It seems that Cobra Commander and General Hawk have found the internet.
Need a new word to describe a collection of disparate images held together purely by the taste of the curator. For example, Crabstick's Graphic Anything set. Via Scott Hansen.
Portland + Bikes = Top Prize
Thanks to Kevin Byrd and everyone at Armchair Media for a great meal and some sight-seeing on Friday. If you're anywhere near Atlanta this week, don't miss their beautiful work for this year's Modern Atlanta event.
Baby Car Logos. Via Glass.
Six reports about guerrilla gardening in London.
According to all of his mates / He exhibits some curious traits / But he does what he pleases / He's counting his sneezes / And recording the times and the dates.
15 Horribly Tacky Cake Toppers.
The University of Delaware Library's 200 Years of Children's Books collection. Via Plep.
And from yesterday's lunch conversation about what was thought to be Errol Morris' next movie, instead of Standard Operating Procedure: The Story of 'Nub City', where residents of a small Florida town decided to pull insurance scams by amputating their own limbs. We have to stop being so morbid at lunch.
Designer tip. Before presenting a new logo, it's wise to rotate it and make sure it looks OK that way too. Via Torrez.
For my next birtHDay party, I will be having a Donald Judd pinata. Franco Mondini-Ruiz has a show running at Frederieke Taylor Gallery.
Harlan Ellison and Robin Williams discuss L. Ron Hubbard. Fast and furious.
So you know. How to paint a Pan Am 727.
"These images represent the state of urban life today. In our childhood, skyscrapers were buildings that we had to raise our head to look at. Now we can imagine our future by bending down to examine tiny models of buildings." Urban Fiction by Bejing artist Xing Danwen.
Bad mags. Like it says.
Year of Creativity 2008. "Reinvent yourself. Because people are like ideas: new ones can change the world."
So you know, what's better for heating a mug of water, the stove or the microwave?
A world freehand circle drawing champion. I didn't know such a thing existed but apparently it's quite a big deal.
Shooting stuff in slo-mo. Via Clusterflock.
When WFMU writes "follow the jump for more boring images." who am I to resist?
Hands as lots of things.
Bento lunches that look like album covers.
So you know, an in-depth article on how fingerprinting works.
Explanation of all the items on the menu for The Last Meal on the Titanic. A fun idea for a very morbid dinner party. Via Cynical-C.
The seven names (and logos) of God.
Star Wars 1942 action figures. Via Dark Roasted.
Wii Remote hacks.
Robynne Raye and Michael Strassburger of Modern Dog are Debbie's guests on Design Matters today. Listen live at 3pm Eastern.
Dieter 'Didi' Senft's Guitar Bike.
Hair Formula 1, 2005: hair dryers, hair rollers, hair pins, tar paper, ping-pong balls. Created by Michael Johansson. Via Made in England by Gentlemen.
Posted without comment: Oxygen Plus, portable oxygen spray. Via Eyebeam.
"Ringo Starr's head was chopped off, but the rest of the Beatles were untouched."
A new study shows that just being exposed to the Apple logo can make you more creative.
Five dangerous things you should let your kids do. (Via Kimzyn.)
For Spencer, Cupcakes!
Thinking Machine 4.
Marathons? No problem. Run a marathon without water while wearing car-tire sandals? No problem for these Maasai warriors who will run the London Marathon. Impressive.
Noted without comment. A found book.
If you want me to stop cutting down these oak trees, please just give me a sign. Via Arbroath.
"We're roommates. We make call-and-response baroque scenes on a dry erase board. They usually have nerdy characters from nerdy things in them." I think you better have a look at this.
Star Wars Toys That Unintentionally Look Like Other Celebrities.
A list of billionaire college dropouts. More interesting would be a collection of billionaire preschool dropouts. Via Transbuddha.
Some talk and video about Mimosa Pudica: The sensitive plant. If you can find one at your local nursery, they're a blast to have around the house.
Indexed: Before his time, really.
For the Bluetooth user who wants to move beyond those awful earpieces and appear even more ridiculous: The Bluetooth Microphone Dental Insert.
The Bacon Flowchart.
Top Power-Lunch Spots in the US. Strangely, neither Bari nor Vinnie's is included.
Remainders at BibliOdyssey. Love this.
Diet HD, "with deep blue lenses that make the food you're eating look, well, disgusting."
"Don't hate the part of you that most makes you feel alive." Amen, Brian.
The letterhead of Robot Salesmen Ltd.
The automotive family tree.
Likely the most depressing link for the day: Three Squares Greetings, greeting cards for the incarcerated.
The Drum Table, with durable, interchangeable and rearrangeable percussion inserts.
Evan Hecox on Arkitip Chronicles. Via Naz.
The day they broke into Hal Riney's island, the video and the whole terrific story.
Advertising Vs Reality: A Product Comparison Project, "a study of 100 different products by comparing the look of the products as shown by the packaging with the actual contents inside the boxes."
Hal Riney has died.
Shira Bicycle CB Radio and AM Radio and Burglar Alarm. Man I wish I had one of those for my Orange Krate.
A collection of the Strangest Christian Products and Signs, including the Lego Church.
To keep in mind for when we open the CP Oceanography Center: The Marion Hyper-Sub.
True Story of a Twitter Marriage Proposal. "I'd be happy to spend the rest of my geek life with you."
Posted without comment: Why choose if you can combine?
A good place to start in your preparations for tomorrow: The National Corndog Day Blog. Via AdFreak.
From experience we know that few things generate clicks and joy like explosions do. So thanks to Dave Faris and Mefi, here are seven fuses to light. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Ah, that's better.
Felt cereal boxes. Nuff said.
The Sun-Times should probably be less embarrassed about the identity of the winner in their $1,000 mock-the-Tribune music video contest and more concerned that the combined age of the second and third place winners is 133.
Adland on a swell print campaign for Nova 101.5, Le Grand Mix. Dig the funk version.
Permanent Vacation. Two unattended computers send endlessly bouncing out-of-office auto-responses to each other. By Cory Arcangel. Via Boing.
Everyone's a (Food) Critic.
"When you run out of stars, you can always use asterisks." Marc John's Post-it note drawings. Via C-Monster.
Origin unknown. Maybe Mars?
"The blood that spilled was our blood." A More Perfect Union. Obama's speech in Philly today made us proud to be with him.
Cavalier Egyptian Attitudes to Trademarks: Windows Potato Chips. Maybe more disturbing is that they're "ketchup flavored."
An international team of researchers appears to have proven the old adage: Short Men Are the Jealous Type. "By contrast the least jealous women were of average height."
Inventive layout for the portfolio of designer Seth Rieder. Via Netdiver.
A Vending Machine for Crows, training crows to fetch coins on the street and bring them back for a treat. Via Torrez.
"At any given point, we have more than 1,664,000 people who are ready to pray for your brand." Very funny and sure to offend: Christvertising.
Played in Britain, a publisher of books about sports in the UK, largely about the details, like architecture and the balls used in football matches. Via I Like.
Zeldman is Debbie Millman's guest on Design Matter today, listen live at 3pm EDT.
Posted without comment: Who Needs a Movie? Via AdFreak.
Minor League Baseball Logo Tournament, day two.
The Evolution of the Yeti, raising the issue that they aren't always white in color (but rest assured, they're always abominable). Via 1+1=3.
Try making this Nutella Ice Cream. SO good.
7 Insane Conspiracies That Actually Happened.
Top 10 Barely Legal Gadgets for the Modern Spy. Via Dark Roasted.
The Wiindow Curtain Control, using a Wii controller.
In honor of Pulaski Day: Hardkorowe Pierogi.
"Potatoes baked on hot pebbles!" and other mobile food bars in Tokyo.
A little difficult to move around in, but chocked full of old tech goodness: Retro Electronics and Audio Lab in Midland, TX. Start on the Television Photos and Repair Journals page.
A complete list of Obsolete Skills. Via Transbuddha.
How people in different countries count money by hand.
"Something's out there flying around that is highly unusual." More from Tecnologia Obsoleta.
The idea behind The 2008 Art Shanty Project, "We plan to offer 20 Residencies of $700 for construction of shanties and projects. These are intended for artists to build a shanty and spend a significant portion of time on the ice."
"Can you provide some more color as to what you are doing for your supply chain initiatives to reduce manufacturing costs per hectoliter?" Joe Herrick of Gutterman Research: The Earnings Call Hoaxster.
"I wish I could wake up tomorrow morning and the diorama would be ok." Museum Officials to Consider Returning Destroyed Diorama. The story never really explains why it was destroyed, resulting in a very strange read.
The Western Round Table on Modern Art (1949), 7+ hours of audio including Frank Lloyd Wright, Duchamp and others. Via Edward Lifson.
Le Grand Content, answering all the questions of the universe, via PowerPoint.
Finally! The fourth season of Radiolab starts today.
Wm$na interviews artist Antony Hall who communicates with electric fish, trains worms and has some really sweet goggles too.
Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre.
Guess who they're rooting for in Obama, Japan?
Funny Op-Ed piece by Dave Eggers in yesterday's NY Times: Losing to Idaho, about California's embarrassment over not picking Obama.
From YumSugar's Random Kitchen Gadgets: Useful or Useless? the peanut butter and jelly spreader and the Batter Finger.
No, Hillary Clinton Is Your New Bicycle.
Sometimes mail goes missing, but don't worry it'll eventually get there.
A fitting relink for the day: Tree-Nation.
"Typical advertising is for jerks. Joey the Midwife isn't." Joey the Midwife: An Advertising Agency.
Bring your camera to the polling place tomorrow.
Sand/Light is an experiment that uses a data as a map to determine whether the particles should change their speed because of an obstacle. Via John Nack.
So I'm moving to Finland. It's dark most of the time during the winter. How do I make fake windows? Ask MetaFilter.
Pics or it didn't happen. Well, here you go.
If you're looking for a crafty-but-awkward Valentine gift, get stitching!
"Sufferers will often attach a personality to their alien hand and will try to punish it for disobedience." Bizarre Diseases
Bizarre new mammal discovered. "The cat-sized animal, which is reported in the Journal of Zoology, looks like a cross between a miniature antelope and a small anteater." Via bblinks.
"Office Collar has been designed in response to the open plan working environment. The collars act spatial isolators, narrowing the field of vision, therefore enabling their wearer to focus on the tasks in front of them." Via J-Walk.
All the lil' birdies are free for you to enjoy. Download, print, cut and play!
"For Mr. Oudolf, in fact, the real test of a well-composed garden is not how nicely it blooms but how beautifully it decomposes."
Car logojacking.
The life cycle of a blog post.
"The intrasauce technique consists in injecting a sauce inside an ingredient with a syringe -- think Grand-Marnier injected in the flesh of a duck (a dead one, I mean). For optimal absorption, the sauce must be injected slowly and in several passes." Read more notes from the Molecular Gastronomy Conference.
Bringing in the sunlight into dark, dreary apartments any way you can: Sheet Metal Tests. Via Eyebeam.
"I dreamed I was a fireman in my Maidenform bra."
Last year, it was Sydney. This year, many more cities will celebrate Earth Hour on March 29th. Turn off your lights for an hour, enjoy the stars, and think of what we can do to change.
German DJs and their living rooms. Found among other things.
John Thibodeaux writes, "I just saw the post about the Christmas tree bonfire and thought that if you think that looks like fun, you might want to check out how we recycle our Christmas trees down here in New Orleans."
10,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars = US$3.90 = 2.60 euros = £2
"Every year in January, a few of my neighbors drive around picking up dead Christmas trees that people have put out on the curb for disposal. They drag them all out to the beach, make a huge pile, and light it up." Via Transbuddha.
Trevi Fountain Prankster Strikes Again in Rome, in what sounds like a real-life version of that popular ball drop spot for Sony.
Manjula's Kitchen, a homemade Indian vegetarian cooking show on YouTube. Too awesome.
"I rescue, salvage, and recycle other people's words... At some unpredictable point along the way, in my mind, the images start to invent themselves." Will Ashford's "Recycled Words."
If anyone cares beside me, we're still in the lead. Take that Leo.
How to build a LEGO geodesic dome.
"While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. You foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it." Courtesy of Jeff Bridges. Thanks JJ.
"The Gomboc is a roundish piece of clear synthetic material with gently peaked, organic curves. It looks like a piece of modern art. But if you tip it over, something unusual happens: it rights itself."
CR runs down Design Museum's Designs of the Year Shortlist. Quite a varied bunch.
Bring bad design to justice. Thanks Ches.
Peacay on cabinets of curiosities.
All the nouns (53,463) in the English language visualized and arranged by semantic meaning equals 80 million tiny images.
Copy of the moment: "The next stage of watercraft is here. Leap ahead of your friends and neighbors in coolness factor when you show off your Amphibious Tank at the next lake party." It gets even better from there.
What Alberto was holding in his right hand all day. Every day.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times."
Man vents anger.
Everything you need to know about 2008.
Nicholas' personal Feltron 2007 Annual Report has now been posted.
A long exposure light show and even better, a variety of projects created with Tesla coil sparks and long-exposures, including "making of" details. Sweet.
"It does seem a bit weird watching an explicit 1920s porn film set in a dress-maker's shop in the National Library."
Building a Meat Cabin. My arteries hurt just looking at it.
Ten Years Ago.
"You wouldn't believe it. He's plastic." Finding Vladimir Lenin at the South Pole. Via Dark Roasted.
"One village of artists exports about five million paintings every year -- most of them copies of famous masterpieces. The fastest workers can paint up to 30 paintings a day."
For 30 Euros you can commission a Palestinian youth to spray paint your message on the Israeli West Bank Wall barrier.
C-Monster starts by covering the art industry but you never know where it will go from there.
Ted Serios "was an unemployed alcoholic bellhop from Chicago who could allegedly project images on unexposed film by staring into the lens of a camera with intense concentration." Via gmt+9(-15).
MS: next time we're in Arizona at the same time, we should hit up the Sedona Vortex Tours.
The Royal Channel. The official YouTube channel of the British monarchy.
Flip Books.
WPIX opens up their Holiday Yule Log as a download, for those of us not in New York.
Artist Nils-R. Schultze knows what to do with fountains when it's too cold for water. Via MoCo Loco.
"During the course of my holiday I will send three postcards to one person of your choosing. These postcards will be rant-ravingly insane, yet they will be peppered with unmistakable personal details about the addressee. Details you will provide me." Drive Someone Insane with Postcards. Via Chris Glass.
For those who like both GPS and the sound of their own voice: YourPND, which allows you to bypass the voice that comes with a device and instead succumb to your own disturbing vanity. Via Springwise.
Light emitting wallpaper by Jonas Samson. Neat!
Immanuel Kant: Wrong on Metaphysics, Wrong on Ethics, Wrong on Aesthetics and Wrong for America.
Ad agency AKQA's holiday message. When the gerbil runs on the wheel, the neon sign lights up. Via AdFreak.
Noted without comment. Eyescapes.
Chips and candy with the branding removed by Derek Stroup. Thanks Hubs.
This Peanut Looks Like A Duck, "a site about things that look like animals."
Happy birtHDay "blog." Via bblinks.
AdFreak's ongoing Freakiest Ad Moments of 2007.
"...the user sits on the chair, the user's alter ego appears in the Delay Mirror. The alter ego mimics user's action with a few second delay." A simple, fascinating project by Kenichi Okado. Here are a couple video clips.
For decades, astronomers have theorized about the Star of Bethlehem. Dave Ex Machina offers up a new theory involving the destruction of Alderaan. Via Cynical C.
Ship Lifting in Russia. Via Dark Roasted.
Giant Spider Attacks Space Shuttle, news at 11.
If we had one of those Secret Santa things going on here at CP, someone would be getting either these USB-heated boots or this USB tape dispenser. Luckily, we don't.
"A reproduction of Edouard Manet's 'Bar at the Folies Bergere' made entirely of old Pantone chips. Over 5,000 unused chips were painstakingly colour matched and and stuck down over four long nights." Greatness. Via It's Nice That.
"I've always viewed bacon as 'the candybar of meat' so I only felt slightly weird about it." For BB: Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze.
Collective Perception. Found among other things.
The Solar Powered Dollhouse, "full of alternative energy goodies!" Nice, principled idea, but can you imagine receiving it as a kid? Via Eyebeam.
Newley Purnell's latest adventure, the Waffle Hot Dog. And while you're there, don't miss his previous encounter with the French Fry-Encrusted Corn Dog.
The. Best. Menu. Ever. You should know I was tempted to use all caps for "Ever".
Video of Marian Bantjes chatting with Debbie Millman at the recent Design Matters Live. '"I tend to become very obsessed with things and go completely overboard." Lucky for us. Marian played Armin Vit in our 11/2 Layer Tennis Match and her "Click Me. Love Me" art print is part of our Gifted collection.
"A series of American Sign Language hands that I made from matchbooks I found on the street."
"There is no way to communicate the part of me that believes..."
For MS, Foodpairing.
The teacher of the Typography class in the previous post is Douglas Wilson. As a sneak preview for a new project we're just about to launch we commissioned Douglas to painstakingly assemble another set of his Blind Boxes. The first set sold out fast and this edition contains even more printed ephemera and various other found items. So you know, there are only 20 18 of the Second Edition Blind Boxes available.
"I gave each student in my Advanced Typography class a Field Notes to fill with whatever their heart desired. Some of them created beautiful stuff, while others doodled until the book was filled. Either way, it is fascinating to see what they created!" So great.
Likely following his "It's Not a Real Hijacking!" piece, a student in Ontario was arrested for his 'fake bomb' art project at a school fund raiser. Best line: "The dinner was canceled, the Toronto police bomb squad arrived in force, along with its robot..." Via Art Info.
Seen while driving yesterday: Abe Frohman's, "Chicago's Finest Sausages."
The maiden flight of a 1/2 scale X-Wing Fighter, Artoo? Are you there? Artoo?
Just before we're about to typeset the credits to roll at the end of Laboratory Conditions, Pierre Mai of Ottobeuren, Germany and Kevin Hamm of East Helana, Montana have joined the list of Executive Producers on our current film projects.
"I love what the Clinton campaign has done with this pamphlet. The colors are rich, the illustrations are well done and endearingly retro, and the use of die-cut is just fantastic. Have a look."
What If My Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music? Via Cynical C.
Kent French, the world's fastest clapper. Via Dark Roasted.
The Belle & Sebastian Wall Calendar: Toast to Glasgow, wherein "Each month a member of the band takes you to their favorite place in this fair city." Via I Like.
To The Stars! "German, Italian, British fantastic illustrations and promotional literature - all from the Golden Age of Retro-Future." 1930s-70s. Via Boing.
25 Hours of FedEx flight operations. Thanks Henry.
ThirstyLight, lights up when it's time to water your plants. There are many victims of mine that could have benefited from this invention. Via Torrez.
Today's field trip with the kids, American Science & Surplus. Wee.
Posted without comment: A summary of routines by David Cain, Juggler for Jesus.
Steve Gadlin overcomes his fears and tries a Pizza Cone. Later, he reports back with an unsurprising review.
Expo 67 ephemera.
Food company Podravka's latest annual report arrives blank. Bake at 100° for 25 minutes. Via c77.
So you know: How to Build a Paper Transformer. Via Andy Rutledge.
Simply Breakfast, daily photos of what Jen had to eat. Via I Like.
Tenspace, "...the movie combines the numbers one to ten with images derived from ikebana - the Japanese art of flower arranging." Thanks Romain.
Amy Sedaris' home. Just as kooky as I expected.
Posted without comment. Abstract Nationale.
Simon Husslein's "Nest One" light installation. "A woven sphere is glowing at sunset. Changing colours symbolize new life plated into a dying tree." Via vvork.
One way to watch a live Layer Tennis Match is to dedicate one monitor to each volley.
"Museums are jammed with chicks, standing around, looking at art."
"In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch." Thanks Joe.
Best snap from the Seed Conference yet. Is this thing on?, from Rich Orris.
Another holiday, another chance to feel inadequate. It took me half an hour to carve just ONE of these things.
Money pubs, home of the world's most expensive wallpaper.
Mmmm.... car-baked cookies.
Ironic Sans interview with Art Binninger, "the Ed Wood of 1970s stop-motion animated Star Trek parodies."
A New Violent Conception of Life and History, Kevin Broome's collection of quotes on why the Neo Futurist group dyed the Trevi Fountain and what exactly it means.
Over the weekend Olive Riley celebrated her 108th birtHDay making her possibly the world's oldest blogger.
This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin's famous bigfoot film.
Note to everyone at CP: let's throw out our bulky workspaces and get Scooter Desks, thus becoming the weirdest office to visit ever.
Posted without comment: Phone Fingers. Via 1+1=3.
For the clueless environmentalist: the 6-Door Prius Limo.
Meticulous Tasks "explores the relationship between the value of a piece of work and the time and effor put into it. Over a two week period I chose a mundane task to do each day that would produce a finished image."
FF Studio Visit to the Berkeley garage that is the workspace of artists Brendan Monroe and Evah Fan.
Awesome mirror prank. Via Mefi.
Not exactly a museum, but this is rather MoOM-like in scope. The World Directory of Pasta Shapes and Names, part of the "integrated multimedia communication on pasta and related activities".
Shake Pole 30.09. 831 fluorescent tubes powered by the electromagnetic field surrounding overhead power lines. By Richard Box. Via vvork.
So you know: Notes on Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day, which falls on December 8th of each year (no matter which one it is). Via bblinks.
What's could possibly make apple pie any better? Bacon. Via BoN.
The entire studio is crying right now. Stacy Hedger, "Miss Douglas."
Posted without comment: a song about Roberto Luongo, the Canucks' goalie.
"To make the butterflies, we starting tossing about different ideas for generative wing design."
One Sexy Apple, the story of Honeycrisp apples.
Posted without comment: The Back-Up, a shotgun holder for under your bed.
MS, now that we discovered that you can wash a keyboard in the dishwasher, you want to try this experiment? Dishwasher Lasagna Florentine.
Um, hey, CP - how about a little corporate fun? Via BB.
Now that's a true bad ass.
So you know: the Romanian UFO Network has a blog. Via Eyebeam.
Yowch. Someone at NASA should keep their day job. Via Design Info.
Mona Lisa from recycled train tickets. Thanks Brad.
The seven deadly sins of company naming. Clipped from Quipped.
"Eight artists snuck into the depths of Providence Place mall and built a secret studio apartment in which they stayed, on and off, for nearly four years until mall security finally caught their leader last week." 1 Room, No View. Via Eyebeam.
Weather Flags used by the US Department of Agriculture in the late 1800s.
8 legs good, 2 legs bad.
"I was parked next to a really friendly guy with a lovingly cared-for but nondescript '92 Thunderbird, and we talked for an hour or more, trying to pretend either of us cared about the other's vehicle." BB enters his Vespa in a car show.
The good old PB & J - Back to save the world.
Russell Byars of Pennsylvania has been officially crowned the new World Stone Skipping Champ.
Taste Test: Gum.
Faces in Places, Via 30gms.
Peter Feigenbaum's gorgeous model railroad slums.
The Modern Ephemera Society, a photo pool. Via Mr. Glass.
Anti-telemarketing counterscript. If only I could find a way to screw up all these prerecorded calls.
Tim Gaudreau's self-portrait as revealed by trash. Clipped from Quipped.
UNKL delivers a UniPo six-pack of Wilco.
Decals for interior design. Of course, the Fleet Vehicle Identification Symbol System completes any room.
It's PARK(ing) Day.
Wonderful gallery of sci-fi paper models with printouts.
Barry Bonds says Mark Ecko is stupid for doing this. Via Mule.
Listen in to the wild tales of Iceland's resident gnomes, dwarves, elves and hidden people.
Standing 27 feet tall the world's largest chocolate fountain pumps 2,100 pounds of deliciousness at 120 quarts per minute.
This is not safe.
Feeling adrift in a sea of fetish possibilities? Here's a map.
"The first speed-reduction device I tried was this Mr. Potato Head." Via Zawodny.
eCommerce as imagined in 1967.
"Where are my legs?" "Here are your legs!"
Residents of San Francisco: Vote for Chicken John or Don't Vote for Chicken John, the choice is yours. Via Torrez.
Local Interest: Our friends from Galewood Cookshack will be at the Logan Square Farmers' Market this Sunday, filming for Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Saveur magazine features food from Chicago this month. Not all content is online as of yet, but "Heartland of the World", "City of Pork", and a short article on Chicago culinary inventions are. Check the print edition for interesting articles on Bruce Sherman, Rich Melman, and a photo essay about how Chicagoans shop for food.
For SD, Nepal Air sacrifices goat for Sky God. Perhaps you should add this to your pre-flight checklist?
So you know: The Basics for Avoiding "Cop Talk" in radio reporting.
Three years worth of edible art for bento boxes. Via Make.
"In Russia suspended ceiling is not only a stylish element of the flat interior, it can simply save your dwelling from flood made by the careless neighbors living above." Bubble Ceilings. Via Neatorama.
From a single sheet of paper. Thanks Howard.
"Design the copywriter's birtHDay card. They said." Excellent. Via The Serif.
"I am here to work in a total post-modern sort of sober, commonsensical way".
Little hand-painted people, left in London to fend for themselves, a tiny street art project. Via Wooster.
Bin Laden (Almost) Meets Bush in Australia.
Posted without comment: Cow Bingo. Via bblinks.
In-N-Out Burger's secret menu. Via Coding Horror.
Intimate Exchanges is a "multi-play" where two actors make decisions Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style, cycling through 10 characters and 8 different plays. It can be perplexing, but each show is a new experience. Here's the decision tree.
Via Grand Text Auto.
Finkbuilt asks, "What would happen if you shipped 20 unassembled old-timey wooden fishing lure kits off to be finished by a bunch of artists?"
Local note. This experimental sound installation currently at the Lincoln Park Conservatory has the coolest title ever, In the event that the stag horn fern becomes metallic and that each of its bifurcating leaves rings like a tuning fork, please turn off this recording. Via Tolva.
Dust Bubble collects fine links on hot air ballooning but misses the most important one, The Golden Age of Ballooning, parts one, two and three. "Louis the 16th is dead already?"
Our last Infrequent Mailing included a contest called Missed Connections and we've just posted the winners. Thanks to everyone who entered. Last week we sent out another edition of the newsletter with short updates on various projects as well as a new contest called Stupid Camera Tricks. Subscribe under "Via Chicago" on the left and you can still get in on the contest action.
When Peacay tosses out a salad of linkage for the weekend it's a good time to pay attention. Offcuts at BibliOdyssey.
Strange Beautiful on The Conet Project and recordings of shortwave "numbers stations." More at the Internet Archive.
"I'm sorry for violating the safety and security of your home." Guilt ridden burglar returns loot, apologizes in letter. Via Cynical C.
"In our initial conversation when I asked, 'Why me?' he answered, 'Because you sound like the kind of person who stays there.'" An interview with writer Tom Bodett on becoming the Motel 6 spokesman.
Looking for sports phrases this afternoon for some tagline inspiration when BB and I ran across Clip Words Live, "over 500 ready to use headlines, phrases and statements." We realized we were out of a job when we read such gems as "Volleyball is our thing!" and "Peer pressure is awesome!"
Yesterday was La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain. Here's some photos from this year's event.
The Ghost of Market Crashes Past. Looks like it's about time to clear out the accounts and make some room under the mattress. Via Defective Yeti.
If You Can Read This, You're Hired. Recruitment ads that need to be decoded and beer mats that reflect well on their creators.
"You: different-sized pupils, thin, white, duke-like. Me: only 13 and clueless." Our Missed Connections contest.
Erik uses Field Notes for a very important list. Ethan's trying them out and Damien compares them to another popular method of capturing visual thinking.
"Why frogs?" "Because they are small and light." Frog Can Fly, a project from Mi-Mi Moscow. Via wm$na.
"I was in the hammer lane doing double nickles in my wiggle wagon when this county mounty shot me in the back." Trucker Lingo.
Noted without comment. Antichrist and Barcodes.
The Brazilian gesture for speed, the Serbian three-finger salute and lots more at A Nice Gesture, "stories of gestures and sign language about perception, semiotics, and technology." Via Plep.
From the Wood Green Mob to the Dark Side Ninjas, a complete list of London gang names from The Evening Standard. Via Eyebeam.
Oh that it were so, eh BB?
For fans of Shadow Divers: the recent discovery of the USS Grunion. Also interesting to read the search team's blog and see the first photos ever taken of the submarine's wreckage.
"The inventors of the Chickens Suit, this ingenious 'piece of freedom,' truly believe that there is a real need for this world to suit its chickens. We talk from experience. Chickens Suit has made our lives richer." Via bblinks.
"Ideas fly like left jabs and connect like right hooks." The Draft FCB Creative Rumble definitely needs an Unsolicited Response, but I'm afraid we just don't have the heart for the job. It's much too sad. Via Mr. Parker.
Photoset of the moment: snaps from the Cardboard Robot Rumble in San Francisco. Via Laughing Squid.
Britney Spears' fragrance rips identity from Mondonation. Sheesh.
Language Log collects the data and looks at the use of the phrases 'I Mean' and 'You Know.' Via One Good Move.
Everything Lebowski Fest including the oh-so-sweet Nixon Bowling Poster. Thanks to Marshall and friends.
The Beginners Guide To Lock Picking. You'll be an expert thief in no time. Via Eyebeam.
Don't Buy - Updates Soon.
Mes-Etolies by Barragán and Aitken, is an interactive installation that responds to the viewer's presence with light. [translate] Via Designboom.
Musselsoppans Vänner's excellent collection of random images. I. II. III.
Internet, Bah Humbug!, a letter to US News and World Report from Defective Yeti's late grandfather.
A guide to creating a minimalist home.
The Swap Meat in the New York Times Magazine, in case you missed it. "...a virtuous circle of artful swag."
Chicken Hypnotism and video to prove it works. Via Dark Roasted.
The Worst Domino Rally Ever. Via Transbuddha.
Noted without comment. "UFO" footage from Haiti last week.
Cooking with Christopher Walken. Via BoN.
Posted without comment: Ballad to A Wigged Dog.
Learned about on the trip through Nebraska: the life and death of 'snoop books', small directories of who was associated with which license plate.
Posted without comment: 130 Cats in One Flat.
During the first decades of the 20th century, copies of a young woman's death mask were widely sold in France and Germany and hung on the walls of many homes. Via The AKS
Keep reloading The Morgue for visual non-sequiturs, collected by Micah J. Bauer.
All about crop circles.
The Mission Stencil Story "is an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure story that takes place on the sidewalks of the Mission district in San Francisco. It is told in a new medium of storytelling that uses spraypainted stencils connected to each other by arrows. The streetscape is used as sort of an illustration to accompany each piece of text." Via La Petite Claudine.
Now you can sleep at IKEA.
Kolya: Works in Paper. "Money circles the globe forming links between cities on opposite sides of the world. I must give them a voice and share the stories they tell... I ask them the question: 'Where have you been?'" Via It's Nice That.
Each issue of The Thing is conceived of by an individual artist, wrapped by the editors and sent to the subscribers. Via Apartment Therapy.
Noted without comment. American Clown: Athletic Dance for Men or Boys. Via Bibliodyssey.
Speaking of mysteries revealed...
"An unbound magazine in a box... the first truly new idea in publishing since paperbacks." An ad for Aspen Magazine, October 1967. Via Paper Cuts.
Great idea, and really useful: Walk Score. Via GB.
An occasional correspondent and link-trader, filmmaker Theresa Duncan, has committed suicide. We didn't know her very well but what we did know was funny and smart. Her site The Wit of the Staircase stands frozen at its last update. The blog's title come from a French phrase that is used to describe that super-witty remark that occurs to you on your way out of the party, where you could have used it. We won't come up with one in this case.
Magic oranges from Spain!
Planning a trip to see the in-laws in August. Even though we already have our favorites, thank goodness I checked "869 Listings for Dunkin Donuts in Boston, MA"
A look at McDonald's menu items around the world.
Jaime writes, "Regarding TW's post today on Faux finishing... Why not pick up the art yourself?"
So you know: Build your own Mont Blanc pen for under $20.
Warning: people in colder climates might not believe this is possible. Did you stop by a roadside truck stand for pecans on your Sunday drive? Or maybe you caught an alligator this weekend (who didn't)? Or you have more okra in your garden than you expected? The Crescent City Farmers Market has the right recipe for you.
On entering the former church the visitor is met by an empty expanse of water with a single step at its edge. Bridge by Michael Cross. More photos from people who visited the installation. Via Computerlove.
Defective Yeti's favorite story of all time: The Horror of Blimps. Very funny. For some reason it seems reminiscent of This American Life's most famous piece, "Squirrel Cop."
Posted without comment. From the SF Chronicle's received voice mail collection: "It's time for the revolution." Via Torrez.
For DM, there are more bagel cutting difficulties out there than you thought: The Meaning of Cutting a Bagel in Half.
Visiting The World's Largest Rock Shop in the seaside town of Great Yarmouth. "Rock" as in "hard candy."
The US has lost the height war. "Americans reached a height plateau after World War II, gradually falling behind much of the industrialized world."
IHOP is buying Applebees. Can't wait for the Southwestern Monterey Jack Blueberry Ribs'n'Funnelcakes Combo.
The Hidden Hazards of Circus Thrillers, from the July 1936 issue of Modern Mechanix. Via Eyebeam.
Why you shouldn't use your cell phone at a concert.
Recipes from top restaurants for the home kitchen. Via Vagablond.
Interesting selection of car license plates from Latvia, where the government allows you to write any word you like, as long as you can pay for it.
Weather icons collected from various press websites. Via Subtraction.
Noted without comment. Institute of Modern Science. Via D&T.
Joshua Allen evaluates SmartWater using The Knowledge For Thirst's standard SAD/RAD binary schema.
The Micro-Fiber Militia, local crochet graffiti artists.
Flurries in Buenos Aires. It's the first major snowfall since 1918.
"A train on a chip, plus more things found with microscopes." Thanks Matt.
Solving the Enigmas of Everyday Design. Via Core 77.
I think I'll start doing a Monday Drink Link here and there, due to my typical Monday morning need for a little extra caffeine. Today I'm thinking about cold-brewed iced coffee.
Take Shape Design & Patterns. Via Designcollector.
Local note. Jeremiah Ketner Twilight Gathering, a solo show, opens tonight at Rotofugi on Chicago Avenue.
The Hanakotoba Plant Communicator. "It can convey to you what your plant cannot in a 200 word vocabulary." Via bblinks.
So you know, how to make your own mac tablet.
An interview from American Public Radio's Weekend America with Kate Bingaman Burt of Obsessive Consumption. Kate has created an exclusive limited-edition for our Swap Meat.
It's a natural for the Swap Meat, but I'm glad we didn't get this meatloaf cake in the mail.
A triumph of design simplicity, iDea.
For BB, Mark Bazer as Ravinia's Programming Director. "We host the BoDeans June 17th. But if you miss them, don't worry. They'll be back 7 more times this season."
If you can't beat em, you can always fake your death.
"Testimony from dozens of persons and police officers depict seeing what appear to be witches flying through the skies of remote Mexican towns." Via Torrez.
Deyrolle, the strangest shop in all of Paris. Via Cynical C.
Happy birtHDay Canada. Your CN Tower is all fancy now.
Every four years, one presidential campaign is immediately finished due to some random, inconsequential thing. For Howard Dean, it was the scream. In 2007, Mitt Romney's dog strapping story is it.
"As the screensaver dims and shifts to a moon, it provides a gentle reminder: maybe it is time to go home, cook some dinner or go for a drink, and let the computer continue doing nothing." By ORG.
Fifteen Polaroids placed in a row close to the floor. "Fiskur," by Darri Lorenzen. Via VVork.
Um…
"It is our mission to define a set of guidelines to which all information posted on the Internet must adhere, and to hold responsible those who would knowingly break those guidelines." Net Authority, a wonderfully subtle spoof. The "How to Spot a Violation" section is terrific. Via Cynical C.
Global Cities at the Tate looks at the changing faces of ten dynamic international cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Face your pockets. Clipped from Quipped.
BrickWorld was held here in Chicago over the weekend. Check out the photos.
Furni's DIY Clock Parts Kit. Buy the kit, then design a clock. The best design makes it into their next collection.
Don't shoot, Buster, that martini is made with Smirnoff. A selection from our current exhibitions in The MoOM, The Museum of Online Museums.
The creator of this map has had the interesting idea to break down the gigantic US GDP into the GDPs of individual states, and compare those to other countries' GDP.
Love Your Earth, a competition from DesignBoom.
Build your own Tricycle Chariot, from the December 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics. Via Make.
Posted without comment: No Thumbs from the California Driver's Handbook. Via Torrez.
Ping Mag's Korean Rubber Shoes Redesigned, which is much more interesting than it first sounds.
Janek Schaefer's Vacant Space. "On entering, the gallery appears silent. Panoramic projections of unoccupied spaces merge and slide across one wall.
Plugging headphones directly into the projection wall reveals random layers of amplified location recordings that influence the scrolling visuals in different ways."
More magaziney and bookish goodness: The magCulture blog and Intralibris.
Geoff on the sounds of hypothethical earthquakes.
Instructables teaches you how to make Bacon Placemats. Perfect for your next swanky dinner party. Via Cynical C.
Looking to get out of work early today? Simply go to your office, turn up your speakers as loud as they go and repeatedly listen to these NYPD Siren Samples from the NY Times. You'll be asked to leave in no time. Unless you live in NY. Then nobody will even notice. Via Design Info.
Many Sunday Afternoons on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Via Grow a Brain.
New York Magazine profiles the Minister of Information, Edward Tufte: "Thirty-five, forty dollars a book, 1.4 million copies?" he says, with a quizzical smile, when I ask about money. "You can multiply."
A soviet-era Skoda Capri 205, complete with wooden tires. Via Eyebeam.
The 70th anniversary of Madge and Harrisson's Mass Observation. For more info about the movement, there was also this great piece in the New Yorker last year: "Surveillance Society."
"Several people have asked me what test equipment and tools I use to work on old radios so here are
photos and descriptions." Via The DDC.
It's brand new so it's difficult to say whether Bad Idea a Day will turn out good-bad or bad-bad. Looks bad (in a good way) so far. Via fimoculous.
Talk about a ride.
"While I have no strong feelings towards Al Gore one way or another, I also had nothing better to do. This was how I found myself standing in an hour+ line, with no actual intention of buying the book being autographed."
"For as long as I can remember, I've had this implicit sense of a relationship between letters and colors. To me, every letter seems to have a color of its own." Letter Color Synaesthesia. Via Design Info.
"I'm not talking to a ghost, I'm opening the curtains." TMN interviews artist Kaylynn Deveney about her A Day in the Life project.
Inexplicably weird, impressive and even a little unsettling, all at once: Japanese Custom Vans. Via PSFK.
"This blanket has several sheets containing a traditional bedtime story. Each 'page' adds a layer of linen making you warmer (or cooler)." Bedtime Stories Sheets. Via bblinks.
For BB, Vosges' bacon candy bar.
Secret Rooms of the Stasi, the former GDR's Ministry for State Security. Also everyday stuff in the DDR, Life and Style exhibition. Via an excellent wm$na post.
Jessica posts an update on the status of her a shiitake mushroom log.
"That's when it occurred to me: Nobody says that hamburgers can't be shaped like hot dogs. Thus the Hamburdog was born."
On her way to work, Karin Eriksson gets to see this unbelievably awesome truck. Our local equivalent is our beloved meat truck, which we never seem to see anymore. The last time we got all nostalgic about the meat truck, we did a Flickr search on the subject. Hours of fun for your Friday.
"Though movies and television would like us to believe otherwise, it was very rare when gunfights occurred with the two gunfighters squarely facing each other from a distance in a dusty street." Complete List of Old West Gunfights. Via Cynical C.
Dinner in the Sky, freaky. Check out the video too.
"After the bats set fire to a hangar and a general's car, the Army Air Forces had seen enough of the experiment." The Bat Bombers. Via That's How.
Local note. Former Guest Editor and our best pal in Mississippi, Kate Bingaman Burt has a show up at Fraction Workspace through June 1. Here is Kate's photoset on the installation and gallery. In case you didn't know, Fraction is right next to CP all-time fave Club Lucky.
Enjoy oysters? Admire the work of Frank Gehry? You may like Oysters Guggenheim Bilbao, complete with your daily dose of titanium. Via Megnut.
Like a ghost from the virtual world, a wire-frame sculpture of a Subaru Impreza by artist Benedict Radcliffe. It was parked outside a gallery in Mayfair which was showing more work by Radcliffe inside.
Tis the season: Designboom analyzes the top trends in HD for 2007. I'll probably just stick with the $7 pair I bought at that gas station two years ago.
Everything you could possibly ever want to know about the 1975 AMC Pacer. Via Chris Glass.
"6 curious artists strip away not only most of modern life's familiar structures, but an entire dimension: they have elected to inhabit a structure that effectively forces them to live in 2 dimensions." Flatland. Via Veer.
Selected stamps from David McFarlane. Very nice.
So you know. Corey Arnold's account of how to be an Alaskan fisherman for FF.
"Our friend Jacob who is a bit artsy went to new York for a week. We got a hold of his keys and turned his tiny and messy flat into an art installation."
Guilt Trip Cookies, with the nutrition facts painted on with icing. Via bblinks.
"Depending on your palate and perspective, they are either the worst thing to happen to pickles since plastic brining barrels or a brave new taste sensation to be celebrated." Kool Aid Pickles.
One of the weirdest footnotes in history: The Circumcellions. Via Cynical C.
The Objets Trouvés feature at Tofu-Magazine presents an eclectic collection of experimental film, documents, pictures, sounds, movies. Collected on the web and elsewhere.
How Magazine interviews designers about their personal collections.
Sights and sounds of a virtual forest.
Tiny. Cardboard. Vintage. Analog. Audio equipment. Fab. Via Serif.
FBI Special Narcotics Agent Max H. Roder's collection of 28 diaries, kept on a day to day basis so he could recall things if he had to go to court. Via Notebookism, who we found because they highlighted the Bearskinrug Sketchbook in the Swap Meat, which, as far as we know, has very little to do with narcotics.
Secret NY started with large sculptural yellow arrows that were placed around Manhattan. New Yorkers were invited to send audio messages from their mobile phones about the specific places where they encountered one. Over time it has become a sort of index of unique moments of living in New York.
Art project or wonderful prank? Either way, it's great. Dan Smith Will Teach You. Via PSFK.
1+1=3's Old School Cycling Logos. As the owner of a new Bianchi, I'm a little biased, but they're all great.
Really bad wiring jobs.
"Goal Sculptures just kind of happen as you walk around a deserted sports field. It feels like you're making sculptures with your eyes." Via Gravestmor.
Video from a series of guest lectures at the NY's School of Visual Arts. The 3-part George Lois talk is particularly good. Thanks Andrew.
The Billion Trees Campaign, part of the United Nations Environment Programme. Via Perpetual-Elaboration.
MS, this one's for you. A real gem of nature is The Hawaiian Happy Face Spider. Via Points of Departure.
Nice little collection of Dynamite magazine covers.
Posted without comment: Kinder Surprise tv spot. Via AdFreak.
Zulkey's interview with Zach Galifianakis. Weird timing after all the Zach posts we put up yesterday.
Deviant Sex Act Fabricator, from our friends over at Aesthetic Apparatus.
Push for Free Cheese. Via bblinks.
"Sky-catcher gives access to an online archive of photographs of the sky above Amsterdam... the background image of this page is the last taken picture of the sky." There's a cool poster available too.
"I place stencil images on transparent or opaque materials, then leave these on the roof of my studio and let the particulate matter in the heavy air fall upon them." The Smog Collectors series by artist Kim Abeles is an artistic protest against smog "that materialize the reality of the air we breath."
Andreas Muller was born in 1976 in Germany. He started his Crop Circle research in 1993/1994 with his final work in school. Since then he has been continuously researching, investigating and documenting the phenomenon, not only from his desk but also with extensive work in the fields, with a focus on England and Germany.
Paleo-Future, A site that "looks into the future that never was." In general, nothing is every as cool as it was going to be. Via India Uncut.
The Year 2000, as seen in German postcards from 1900. Via 1+1=3.
Medieval Clipart "culled from various period sources, most notably woodcuts of the 15th & 16th centuries."
At some point this was bound to happen. Wallpaper from the 70s, found among other
Noted without comment. How Does an Expert View Heaven?
Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer put images with music and never do it the same way twice.
Napkin folding instructions for your next dinner party.
How often is the public given the power to name a hamster? Choose wisely.
The Durian Palace. "A home of the King of Fruits on the World Wide Web". Durian chat, durian poetry, durian botany, durian recipes... you get the idea.
Re the aforementioned Mingering Mike, there's a gallery of his records and an interview with his author/DJ/detective up at TMN.
Wojciech Kosma's Untititled Network, a performance for four laptops at The Center for Contemporary Art, Seville Spain. Via Vvork.
Mark Bennett's print series of famous floorplans includes The Home of Jane & George Jetson and The Home of Norman Bates (near) Fairvale, CA. Thanks Alison.
In Canada they have Tandoori Sizzler Doritos. In Chicago, we don't have Tandoori Sizzler Doritos. Canadians, help a brother oot! (Watch the Bollywood-esque commercials in the Doritos Screening Room.)
Our brand new Lowercase Tee site and the Obama-Bama tee got a nice writeup in Time Out Chicago's Kids section today. And YES, we do now offer that tee in adult sizes!
Felix of Avoision writes, "I was trying to figure out how people digitize home movies. I came across a site that offered that service, but also provided their clients with server space to post and share their converted movies. The search feature, along with some creative keywords, is just a blast."
Two sites related to The Deck are up for Webby awards this year. The always great Design Observer is short-listed in the Culture category and Threadless (a relative of YayHooray) in Community. They both have all our votes, Can they have yours?
Simply perfect, from Wooster. "Emperor Constantino."
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear No First Name. You'd be surprised how many cover letters from job applicants we receive that are addressed to the very same person.
100% Recuerdos Ajenos, 100% Other People's Memories. "I have found all of the photos and objects that are shown here in the streets of Buenos Aires..." Via the always observant gmt+9 (-15).
"I have no explanation for buying this old tackle box at a garage sale on Saturday." Glad Coop did though. Via The DDC.
Home Decorators Ambush F Train. Clipped form Quipped.
FecalFace's Studio Visit series is always interesting. In this episide, Andreas Trolf checks the Santa Cruz home and studio of skateboard graphic artist extraordinaire Jim Phillips.
"We spent most of 2003 in Sydney trying to set up a magazine. After immense frustration it went nowhere but out of its ashes TA KE HA RA, a kind of anti-zine, was born." Via City of Sound.
Rosemary Williams' The Wall of Mall.
"The redesign of American currency was meant to foil counterfeiters. But in Colombia, a highly specialized criminal subculture has stayed barely one step behind."
We're planning some changes over at the Lowercase Tee site and will let you know when we're up and running with some new tees! Meanwhile, if you have photos of your kids wearing any of our tees, old or new, that we could post up in our brand new Flickr photostream, please send them to crew(at)lowercasetee.com. Thanks to all of you who have sent us the photos that we've featured on our site over the years -- we would love your renewed permission to share them at Flickr.
Our friends at smashLAB have just launched a great new project: Design Can Change.
Here's a funny bit that applies productivity techniques to accomplish procrastination. Enjoy.
The header, "1974 Custom-Built Motorcycles," is a pretty subtle description for this eBay auction.
"Because of the popularity of guide horses, service horses and emotional support horses, there has been a increasing demand for sneakers and shoes for miniature horses." No comments necessary. Via Designboom.
Clotaire Rapaille believes all purchasing decisions lie beyond conscious thinking and emotion and reside at a primal core. He helps Fortune 500 companies sell to the reptilian brain.
For the busy kidnapper who doesn't have the time to leaf through magazines looking for those few specific letters: The Ransom Note Generator. Via Andy Rutledge.
A prank in a university lecture hall, Reach!
So you've just made 50 custom cds (using Jewelboxing, of course) and now you've got to figure out what to do with that weird spindle/cylinder/box thing that the blank cds came in. If you like bagels, you're in luck.
MS and I were talking about this quote from a story in the Trib: "...with Bush facing a strong morning sun in his eyes on a cloudless morning in the Rose Garden while Vice President Dick Cheney stood off to the side, hands in pockets, in the shade of a tall tree," saying that it was a really odd way to describe the scene, but then a video surfaced and it's exactly as it sounded. Weird.
FotA Melanie Orndorff has just launched Cupcake Finder. Sadly it's just for LA and NY at the moment. But no bother, because, as everyone in Chicago knows, it's Alliance Bakery or nothing.
"Personal pies, an audit of my life so far." Goes well with Nicholas Felton's 2006 Annual Report. Via I Like.
"On the wall outside his former residence - flat number 27B - where George Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move." Via Archinect.
Jake from skinnyCorp has a brand-new, totally awesome toy, a time-lapse camera set-up that is solar powered and sits in a weatherproof housing.
"A 2-hr long broadcast of a creepy, meandering, experimental soundscape that could have easily been mistaken as a takeover of earth's communications systems by alien overlords." WFMU on Radio Net 1977.
For DW: The History of Blogging.
The wildest, wackiest and most groomed beards and moustaches went on display at the International German Beard Championship.
10 Things you never knew about the Nintendo Wii
Coop, "After raiding my vintage decal collection to decorate my new hoopty, I got sucked into yet another black spiral of obsessive behavior, and once again found myself trolling eBay, searching for more vintage water slide decals."
The Deep Wood Press in Mancelona, Michigan is printing money via letterpress. Really.
It's not him, but this is pretty close to what it would look like if BB snuck up and started taking photos of your lunch. Via Torrez.
The DDC and cutting edge vector graphics.
Kevin Broome writes. "Your Swap Meat reminded me immediately of the work of Ray Johnson, a recently discovered 'favourite artist of all time' who mailed thousands of pieces of art to friends and colleagues via the New York Post throughout the 50's and 60's thus forming the New York Correspondence School of art. More here. The documentary about his life and work, How to Draw a Bunny is highly recommended."
"Each entry was researched carefully (meaning not at all) and judged on a variety of criteria, such as ugliness, randomness of mascot choice, cheapness of costume, and the all-important creepiness factor." The 25 Worst NCAA College Mascots. Via IBC.
MetroNaps might come in handy with all of this early drinking.
Related to a conversation had while walking back from getting lunch at Vinnie's today: Christian Clown Training. "There are a few common sense rules that all clowns should be aware of before entering a nursing home. First, call the activities director and get permission to come." Via Byrdhouse.
The crew over at Industrial Brand Creative does is again by taking top honors at yet another Canstruction Vancouver.
Robert Reich's first (and possibly last) video blog. Via Zach Klein.
Everything Wrong With America in One Photo. Sean Crespo takes on a morning show in NY. Via AdFreak.
A river of images, carefully categorized and curated at If Charlie Parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats.
The Solar Mount. Moon River describes an attempt to use the Mont Saint-Michel natural monument in Normandy to construct the biggest sundial ever.
Always both inventive and provocative, Jean Baudrillard has died at age 77.
Screenvader.
"In the case that one of the relationships completely evaporates (which, let's face it, Lisa's not heading in a good direction), we've still got other branches to take up the slack. Best of all, because Lisa was high-resistance anyway, her departure barely affected net current, which decreases from 3.1 A to 2.8."
Official gifts from the GDR found among other things.
Right before she got canned, Zulkey received a box of business cards, so she's holding a contest asking for the most creative way to get rid of them. The prize? A box of business cards.
Fun if you have kids at home. Fun if you don't. Bzzzpeek, animal sounds kids make in various languages.
Only in Berkeley. Transcendentist, the first eco-friendly dentist office in the US. "Every visit includes a foot massage, sound and color therapy are used to soothe patients, and the office even has its own line of essence infused, natural body products."
Moon River on electronic graphics, then and now.
Microlandscape dioramas by Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz. Via No Sense of Place.
Online dating summed up in two pix from Matthew.
NFCTD.
Hallmark starts tackling serious issues with their new line of cards, everything from cancer to depression to infertility. Luckily, none start with "So I've heard you've got..." Via AdFreak.
We were just talking about this. It's February in Chicago. Via GB.
Kinda like pizza in a cup. Via BoN.
Reinterpreted, vintage paint-by-numbers kits at the Corey Helford Gallery's Charity By Numbers project. Via The How Blog.
Doing some research and randomly ran across Hummingbirds.com, a surprisingly informative, well put together batch of knowledge, including an About section answering such pressing questions as "Do hummingbirds migrate by riding piggyback on other birds?" and "I found a baby hummingbird! Now what?"
ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbon's Bus Ball.
Been looking for just the right ribbon magnet for the back of your car?
Without comment: Rapping presidents for NY Honda dealership. Via AdFreak, who did comment by saying, "God, I hope they never do something like this around Martin Luther King Day."
Pikapika, sketching with light and time. Fab.
Speaking of cars, in FotA Chris Glass' hunt for a new ride, he's put together this chart, to better weigh his options.
"A Useless Account allows you unlimited account editing! You're bound to use it at least once!"
A catalogue of other "hoax devices" to be on the lookout for. Via AdFreak.
A sad day indeed for Wisconsin residents and fans of mystery alike. The Death of The Wonder Spot.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you, sir, but it appears to be morning. Very inconvenient, I agree, sir. I belive it is the rotation of the earth which is to blame, sir." Stephen Fry as Jeeves as The Voco Clock. Wonderful. Via bblinks.
Lots of people around town are purchasing beer and sheet cakes with computer-printed Super Bowl images. Each time I see one, I think about this fabulous error message cake. Hope Aunt Elsa appreciated it as much as I do.
"How to have fun... and get things done." A set of vintage 1950's storybook style print ads. Via Rashomon.
For JC: Some brief clips from 21st Century Jet a PBS series on the making of the Boeing 777. Highly recommended viewing.
Aardvarchaeology on Mongolian Cuisine and Cursing.
Winners of Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart contest. Via Chris Glass.
"This is a chocolate brownie, fudgy and rich, delicious at room temperature and absolutely dreamy when re-heated just a touch in the microwave." Kitchen Chick on Martha's Fudgy Chocolate Brownies. Think there's still a couple left in the CP kitchen from this morning's batch.
"The Ad Generator is a generative artwork that dynamically creates fake advertisements in order to explore how advertising language constructs and manipulates meaning."
Standing by for Jaime. Thoughts have been thunk. Deeds to follow.
MS, you'll love this: The Frilled Shark, "a living fossil." Via Zach Klein.
During January of 2007, a group of people are locked into a primate exhibit in Adelaide Zoo in Australia. Here's a panoramic QTVR photo of The Human Zoo.
All the Super Bowl Logos. Has something to do with the page's image compression, sure, but everything from the early to mid '70s looks like it came from a video game, particularly '73. Via AdFreak.
A lot like our Verse by Voice, but with motorcycles and about football. Dare Bear.
Noted without comment. "After placing the swan on the pants..."
Best postage stamp ever.
Lovely coinage. T9onyms. Pronounced "tynonyms," two words made by texting the same numbers on a cell phone pad.
Super cool, like most things found completely by accident. NewBold Products, "your Pinewood Derby timer, software and tv headquarters."
For BB, in celebration of his newest backup drive: Maxtor's MacWorld display. Via Frog Design.
Veerle talks up the Float bed by Max Longin, the less expensive alternative to the $1.35 million one by Janjapp Ruijssenaars.
Recently uncovered audio from an MLK speech at Temple Israel in Hollywood in 1965.
Reno 911's Mary Birdsong responds to Christopher Hitchens' article "Why Women Are Not Funny" on Zulkey.
Noted without comment. Wall Taping Gallery.
"The earliest articles on the incident did not refer to 'little green men.' That color was apparently later injected by the national media, although Lucky Sutton's son now says his father described them as 'silver' with 'a greenish silver glow.'"
"Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat." The passing of Momofuku Ando, inventor of Ramen instant noodles. Via bblinks.
Posted without comment. Home of the Small Grin. Thanks Claire.
The top 10 most ridiculous products for babies. That said, there were many times I wished I had a forearm-shaped beanbag as I snuck away from the crib at 4am, even though the squeaky floor would have blown my cover.
Nicholas Felton's highly anticipated 2006 Annual Report has just been published. Of particular interest, the reporting on "number of animals eaten."
Don't do it Garrison.
Up there with one of the best Fresh Air interviews ever, yet, strangely, not a single question ever really gets answered. Terry Gross talks to Frank Luntz, political pollster and language expert.
Macheads, today would be a good day to pay attention to John at Daring Fireball.
A real size fiberglass Mini was attached to a ramp that would move the car up and down creating a Yo-Yo effect.
"...he put a dot on a sketch of the South West Peninsula, wrote 'somewhere here' and hoped for the best." Via one+one=thr33.
Where would we be without the Gary Burghoff Enhanced Fish Attractor Device? Celebrity Patents. Via Waxy.
Bacon. Anytime. Anywhere. God Bless America.
Photoset of the moment: Military Weaponry for Kids, scans from a coloring book from China. Via Byrdhouse.
There are only two of us here at CP who don't own an iPod. We didn't have any excuse before, but now we're going to start citing this as the reason: Ergonomic Nightmare of the Week: iPod.
Happy birtHDay to Virginia Call, she's 113 today. Wow.
So you know. 77 Things You Need to Know About 07. Via Swissmiss.
"If anything, your average upwardly mobile young professional has so outstripped and outclassed the mid-eighties yuppie that if Gordon Gekko himself were to show up in polite society in 2006, he would look kind of provincial." The Return of the Yuppie. Interesting read. Via PSFK.
On the annual holidays on Catalina, we were trying to remember the name of a boat we'd seen a couple of years back off Descanso Beach and ran across this site, Shipwrecks of Southern California. The ship, by the way, was the Valiant.
100 Things we didn't know last year. Via BoN.
"A displaced architectural space" titled Perpetual (Tropical) Sunshine for the Lyon Festival of Light 2005. Created by Fabric. Via Pruned.
Coded but Not Hidden, WaPo story on "number stations," previously described and sampled in this great Akin Fernandez NPR piece. Via SlasHDot
The ElectriClerk, "a fully-functional retrofitted prop computer." Created from a 1988 Mac, a 1923 Underwood, a fresnel lens, assorted mechanical parts and the mind of Andrew Leman. Beautiful, just beautiful.
Girl Guide Cookies, circa 1971. Via Chris Glass.
Marshall asks, "Don't you hate it when you're travelling far from home and you lose your camera?"
Local note. A no-cover, no-minimum guide to the seamier side of 1959 Chicago. Via the Goof.
"For this special podcast the whole show is just radio station IDs and promos from demo LPs of the 70s and 80s." Via WFMU. Fab.
Food-O-Mat, 1959, Acme Market, Nottingham Plaza, Syracuse, NY.
Stan goes back to letterpress school and we're all more than a little jealous.
Some men don't miss a trick. From Finkbuilt.
"Dear McDonalds, what exactly is this Grimace creature you have spawned? Is he a mutated prune? A malformed mushroom?" Top 10 Creepiest Fast Food Mascots.
All the flavor of Rick Steves, with a unique Bill Moyers aroma. PBS
Blend Coffee. Via AdFreak.
AdFreak's Top 10 Advertising Stories of the Year.
Tons of tech detail on how to choose CD/DVD archival media. To cut to the chase, Patrick McFarland endorses Taiyo Yuden discs, the only brand we sell with our Jewelboxing Studio and related products. Via slasHDot.
Core77 asks if this could go on forever?
"The glow of your teeth exudes the courage of raw liver." The Surrealist Compliments Generator.
Number One is The Zappa.
Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photoset of kids screaming at Santa.
"Whenever I want to relax I start to design full body car advertisements. Yes, I know - It is a strange hobby, but it is fun." Found among other things.
30gms snaps a picture of these nice holiday decorations in the windows of the studios of Cartlidge Levene.
Maybe this is the Mars announcement DW.
"The survey was conducted online by Brand IQ of 339 members of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas." Via AdFreak.
Avian Android. "Sculpture, android bird's voices, a mechanical reconstruction of organic life-forms, electronically controlled." Via Next Nature.
Christoph Büchel's Minus, "a punk band's entire equipment frozen at -25° Celsius immediately after their concert, arresting the transitory moment of the performance in a kind of standstill."
Fictional chemical substances, mostly from science-fiction, a fun browse. A-M and N-Z. Via Large Hearted Boy.
The high school football comeback of the century. Make sure to stick around until the very last second. Via Zach Klein.
Nina Katchadourian's Talking Popcorn is a sound sculpture that involving language, translation, Morse Code and, of course, popcorn. Via Vvork.
"This is a circuitbend Sega Megadrive2. It has got a magnetic patch-bay." A beautiful contraption.
We've received some odd promos from time to time here at the studio, but nothing as interesting as Global Fish's arctic meal in a box. Via Reluct.
Know someone who is hard to shop for? How about a Taco Truck Pillow?
"I got the impression most of the delegates took the surroundings for granted, while I was obsessing over the typography, the chairs and the general ephemera of international relations, 1950s-style." I Like Visits the United Nations Building. Via Things.
Personal trainer Poul Nielsen's Business Card. Fantastic.
Notcot's gift ideas for your indie ninja.
"I've been really busy ranking everything in the world in order of best to worst. But instead of showing you the best this or worst that, I've decided to show you the items that I've ranked exactly in the middle." Via Zach Klein.
Dekotora, rides pimped.
"So I've been thinking about hands and arms. I started by thinking of extremely small hands, on my hands. So here are some drawings from that thinking." Via Plastic Bag.
Beta Tank is an organic display system that uses air bubbles for pixels. Via Infosthetics.
492. If you are still reading this test, do you really need a test score to prove you are a nerd?
Sally writes, "Here are the All Blacks doing their Haka, which they perform in front of all the teams they meet before the game. They played France last week and won 47-3. How's that? The revenge game Saturday at gmt+1. You should totally try to see that." Duly noted.
Photos from Katrin Sigurdardottir's installation at The Renaissance Society called "High Plane 3." Check her other recent works too. Via Bezembinder's.
Noted without comment. Skateboarding Girls. Via Le Petite Claudine.
The very handy Mailbox Locator. Via Lifehacker.
"As one woman put it, the picture appeals to her simply because it shows, 'just what Jesus looked like.'"
Reason enough to start planning a trip to NYC: Evil Dead: The Musical.
"There is no room for aggression as long as one is properly equipped." Miss Geschick & Lady Lapsus' Make Love Not War bedding.
It's somewhat well known that I heart Chipotle. So I was excited to find out they're holding their first-ever ad contest. Lots of entries to browse through, like this gem.
"The difference between the little people architects draw on their sketches and the little people interaction designers draw on their sketches."
The Motor-scooter: A Mother of Transportation Invention, photographs of scooters being used to their fullest extent in Vietnam.
"Here is Mr. Staaland with his radio collection. He has special interesting in hi-end receivers."
"Australian artist Nike Savvas makes final adjustments to her art piece consisting of over 50,000 polystyrene balls." Via Moon River.
"Apparently it's not about doing something different," said an anonymous G&M creative. "It's about giving the process a name and being all secretive about it. Which is so much easier." How can you not help but love the ad shop G&M Plumbing? Here's their response to Ad Age's story about TBWA's Media Arts Lab. Via AdFreak.
Petr Weigl's "Fossil" series of acid-etched concrete panels. Sublime. Via Gravestmor.
Building a cheaper, less stressful workplace. Ryan's Office 2.0 Experiment. Via Andy Rutledge.
Dutch Tape Funeral March "The work consists of 13 rolls of duct tape initially placed at the top of the 16-foot-high gallery wall. On the day of the opening the rolls of tape were released so that they could 'roll' down the wall under their own weight, a process that took over 8 hours to complete." Awesome.
Mike Ford makes little gadgety sculptures out of switches, tubes and other old-school hi-fi components. So cool. Via the always-observant PCL Linkdump.
Mr. Fairfield's Color Block. Much to explore in the archives here, for example, Chalkboard Cezanne.
Now that the day is finally here, go back and enjoy all 31 days of Secret Fun Blog's Halloween Countdown, featuring nearly every plastic skeleton ever made.
A little peek at TBWA's Media Arts Lab, the secretive firm in charge of Apple's advertising.
If you enjoy your paper's police blotter as much as I do, you'll really enjoy having Chicago musician, actor, and voiceover artist Darren Stephens read it to you in Inside Chicago's twice-weekly STOP! Police! podcast. Via GB.
Yukonishimura, works of paper. Via Moon River.
Selling the computer revolution with marketing brochures like this beauty. Most with complete docs in PDF format.
"This group of stock letterheads came out of a book of 120 samples from 1963. They were meant to be used by people in advertising to catch clients eyes and I am sure they did just that."
Kitschy Pink Flamingo Faces Extinction.
Sometimes there's no better way to tell a story than with a quick infographic on an index card.
"Nothing can be more impressive that a gigantic city, rendered in miniature form." Tinselman's Small Model Archive: Cities.
Carved crayons by Diem Chau. Via NOTCOT.
"What if the internet turned into a werewolf?" A wonderful classic, revisited: Erik Blevins' letters to Patton Oswalt. Via Waxy.
Noted without comment. The Nutty Buddy.
"Soon, the oil reached frying temperature and I dumped a few chips into there. Meanwhile, the computer was still happily chugging along running Quake 3." A guy wants to try using oil to cool his computer, and becomes hungry for some homemade fries. So he tries both at once.
X-Entertainment posts great stories about toys, B-movies, forgotten TV shows, and junk food all year 'round, so as you'd guess, they go nuts for Halloween.
C.H.U.N.K. 666. "After the apocalypse, everything will change, including the laws of physics as we know them. We, due to our experience in riding chopper bicycles, tallbikes, and the like, will finally find ourselves at the top of the food chain." Thanks to Our Man in Vancouver.
Peacay finds this sweet print campaign for the Anagram Book Shop in Prague.
Positive Ape Index tests their homemade lake racer. So cool. "This car was built from scratch, in a little garage, by friends, just the way all those guys in the black and white photos did it back in the day. To see it run for the first time, out on that same lakebed, was truly thrilling."
Excuse the family post but my brother-in-law, John Christopher Jones, gets a very nice notice as part of Charles Isherwood's NYT review of GBS' Heartbreak House on Broadway. Yay! Also, check the audio slide-show about the costumes.
Craig's video peek at the new, massive SkinnyCorp, Threadless HQ.
Geoff on The Reserve at Shadow Crest Cove and other things to name your subdivision.
Noted without comment. Awesome boy.
Local note: 4 Years Later, a show featuring projects from the anonymous You Are Beautiful collective is taking place at Ai Gallery until November 18th. If you're not in Chicago, check out their projects online.
For conspiracy nuts everywhere. Each frame of the Zapruder film, isolated and scanned.
Posted without comment. What Happens When You Microwave a Furby.
Museum Camoflauge. Via c77.
For some unknown reason, today is the slowest Monday for Jewelboxing sales in the last 15 months. Lets see if we can fix that. Order a JB kit before midnight tonight and we'll also send you a Field-Tested poster and book, a Copy Goes Here DVD, some CP stickers and live Pixies CD from Japan. After you order, write us at crew at jewelboxing dot com and say "Please."
Arash and Kelly's Genius Pad. In case you need more room for your message. Via BoN.
"The white table we usually use for our meetings is covered in local specialities everyday - it's almost like some kind of sweet festival. Today we''ll show you some of their lovely package designs."
German DJs and their living rooms. Via Cinamonas.
Noted without comment. I Strip For God.
How to build a Morse code signaler and see how long it takes before someone figures it out. Via Cynical-C.
"If you are not happy with finished product, you take it and pay us. We do not consult with clients - we unleash the project!" Cyber D-Sign Clan, for all your business card and web design needs.
Links to this site as a blooming graph. Via d*s.
Video of sidewalk chalk artist Julian Beever, from Matt.
John reads 700 Hobo names aloud, all in one take. Via TMN.
Local note. The Massive Change exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago should be great. Isn't. Scattered, patronizing, even tacky in spots. Take a pass.
The art of Derek Stroup.
Sweet promo site in Ikea's closets.
For the person who has everything. Via c77.
Le Rhinocéros.
The top ten college pranks of all time. On Wisconsin.
I-Mockery's Ultimate Guide to the Halloween Candies of 2006. Via Cynical-C.
Noted without comment. The official website of Bunny Yeager.
Design Will Save the World. [Translate] Michael Lévy for eTapes on Lebedev, CP's long-time favorite design studio. Via Design et Typo.
Oh Flint, maybe someday you'll rebound. Wes Janz documents the depopulation of what was once one of Michigan's gems. Via Archinect.
"Now that I got the hot dogs, where the heck was my seat?" A joyous Improv Everywhere Mission at Yankee Stadium.
50 Berkeley Square, the most haunted house in London. Via Things.
Noted without comment. 30 days of screen caps of cable newsreaders. Via Khoi.
Truth: selected realizations.
"There are a lot of gross candies in this world. A lot. I didn't realize the level of grossness that candy has sunk to." Candy Addict's Top 10 Grossest Candies. Via Cynical-C.
Peacay on The Trades including Finders or Collectors from 1800 London. Early bloggers perhaps?
A British street artist known as Moose creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels. A great NPR story. Via cpluv.
Tuned Stairs at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. "The installation turns the stairway into a musical instrument. Each step plays a xylophone note as the visitor steps on it." Check the videos. Via wm$na.
Nice article in Good Magazine about the next generation of American public spaces.
WebDesktop is a neat little app that lets you display any URL as your desktop background.
PixelStamps is a collection of stamps "pixelated by the pixelartists of the world." Via Werbeblogger.
Some ad agencies go for clever on their clients' billboards, whereas others just stick $100,000 on one and figure the odds of someone stealing it.
Lots to explore. PhotoStatic, a magazine about xerography. Via dbhq and The Nonist.
The constantly updated catalogue of entrances to Hell in and around the United Kingdom. From Coop.
Speaking of Carlos, Step Magazine features Segura in big, well-deserved profile this month.
Remembering Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, king of the flagpole sitters.
Posted without comment (mostly because I don't have a clue about what's going on): The Bubble Baba Challenge.
Anthropologist Jason Santa Maria uncovers these beautiful resin and aluminum sculptures which are based on the skeletal systems of famous cartoon characters.
Aqua graffiti.
"At night projections from moving cars are shone on the buildings downtown. Each car projects a video of a wild animal. The animal's movements are programmed to correspond to the speed of the car." Via Wooster.
Octodog's Frankfurter Converter follows the old adage, "If you can't get your child to eat their dinner, just convert it into an off-putting meat creature."
Interesting conversation between Geoff McFetridge and Chuck Anderson on a truly awful sofa. Geoff was also featured on CP in Slowtron's Western State series and Chuck's work can be found at Nopattern. Via Meathaus.
Creative Bastard's telemarketer trap. Via the Fireball.
Pick a number, any number... via MeFi.
Improv Everywhere's Slo-Mo Home Depot.
"For them, sex is like shaking hands, and they do in all kinds of positions." Hippy Sex Fiends and Brutal Machiavellians, an interview with Frans de Waal. Via The Nonist.
7deadlysinners found this note about something that was lost.
The Gloves Project. L'expo au Café Pop à Nantes du 6 au 28 octobre 2006. Via HGF.
10,000 Reasons Civilization is Doomed.
Often a little crass, but regularly pretty clever and funny: The YoungGuns Awards Call For Entries. Via Goodness.
This years Ted Talks include industrial designer Ross Lovegrove, 11-year-old concert violinist Sirena Huan and a handful of other speakers who's brains are twice the size of mine.
"Once a year, my co-worker Jeff gets together with all of his friends to dig a hole. For no other reason than to dig a hole." The Big Dig 2006. Via Zach Klein.
Industrial Brand Creative asks What would you put on your customized Heinz ketchup label? and then asks for submissions.
A day in the life of Amos Crowley, Wonder Wheel Operator. Via BR.
Noted without comment. "I'm unhappy seeing your look of unhappiness."
Interaction Design Classics #1: The 'progress bar' on the Voice-O-Graph in Badlands. User interface stuff and Malick all in one post. That's why we love City of Sound. That, and the great big masthead.
Light From Tomorrow by Thomson and Craighead.
In the "nothing's cooler than yesterday's view of tomorrow" department," Mechanix Illustrated's British House of the Future, circa 1956. Found among other things.
Don't agree with all of them, as some were certainly inteded to be creepy from the start, but what can you do? YesButNoButYes' Ten Creepiest Icons in Advertising History.
"Who won't like it? People who often go to bed extremely intoxicated on alcohol. Very conservative people, who don't even care about the benefits of better sleep, improved health, etc." The Floating Bed. Thanks Claire.
Designing Movement: An Aesthetic Investigation of Motion in Product Design.
Posted without comment: The "Hanging With Hannah" Doll. Via Byrdhouse.
A nice inventive bit o' collateral, The VW Jetta Backseat Driver's Manual. Via Airbag Industries.
Everything about the show has always been impossibly gaudy and dated, from the sets to the typefaces. Yet no one in their right mind would want it any other way. The Fabulous Price is Right Site!
Kubik-Berlin, Large, modular, stackable, programmable blocks of light. Check the videos. Via WMMNA.
The two-million dollar comma.
Cell Phone Disco, an electromagnetic experience.
Pika Pika, a lightning doodle project. Made with long exposures and lots of ingenuity.
Some nice Lego print and outdoor.
If you haven't gotten enough, agency.com has launched WhenWeRollWeRollBig.com, explaining how all of this was their plan from beginning, as well as making their own wacky photoset. Brilliant! Viral is awesome!
12/9/68, Stanford. "This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking." Via Broome. Nice reference for our 72° research.
For Coop. This is Bari, the joint we're talking about in the Unsolicited video. CP rating: 4 forks.
To go along with MS's post, AdFreak's comments section about the video is a blast to read. And don't miss the new t-shirt.
Super sweet promo site for what sounds like a great conference in Montreal. Adapt 2006, advanced digital art production techniques. Via NetDiver.
"George Smith's two year old child at William's, Bay county, died last week in great agony after eating heartly of canned peaches." Michigan Obituaries from 1800's. Morbidly fascinating. Via Things.
"Land of the Fembots," The Speigel Catalog, 1969.
Noted without comment. The Anniversary Inn Bed and Breakfast - America's Favorite Romantic Getaway. Thanks Jesse.
A follow-up: MoHDI's Otter Pop Bandolier. Thanks, Dave.
The Chinese/Indian border, but in miniature. Via CGist.
Alexander the Grape! I could totally go for an Otter Pop right now.
And, of course, perhaps the most famous outtake of all time: Orson Welles' Frozen Peas Session.
Cash in an envelope.
Sage advice.
A new kind of clock, in a mural, in a window, in Detroit. Chronographic. Via c77.
"The cars are split into three categories. Our Ferrari F430 Spider resides in f1, while our Lotus Exige falls into f3. f1 cars enjoy a higher point value than f2 or f3 cars." ecurie25, shared car ownership. Via Springwise.
I told you why there was no ice in the arena!
"Guys, you're a design school. Please give us better ads." Everyone's a critic. Thanks Claire.
The Portugese Soccer Action Figure, with "Unique Uppy-Downy Action!!" Via Goodness.
We've always wanted to do this. Just noticed that Hoefler & Frere-Jones employ fictional character Steve Gibbs (scroll down) to help oversee unwanted calls and emails. Great idea.
Pancake & Franks letterpressed stationery and cards.
7 Deadly Gummy Sins by Elliott Back.
Peacay on The Lion Family Tree.
Brian "Mr. Inferno" Concannon, who believes jumping off cliffs is alright, but a lot more fun if you're engulfed in flames. Via Transbuddha.
How to paint anything the color of the Golden Gate Bridge or approximately, #C25E34. Via Make Ready.
Apparently our Dear Cell Phone User Cards weren't quite enough. At least in Stockholm anyway. Thanks Marsh.
The Designers Republic turns 20 today. Congrats!
If you think you've got the perfect plan, think again: the many methods of drug smuggling. Via Torrez.
"Q-Link is... the official online service for Commodore owners. It's easy-to-use, full color, and interactive." Grab your C-64 or an emulator, read the Member Guide and log on.
I'd seen pictures of this project involving 12 students at Wieden+Kennedy's experimental ad school, 351 hours and a zillion pushpins, but never had anything to link. Thanks to Mike at W+K, now I do. If you want to succeed, you have to Fail Harder.
Now available in Chicago.
Noted without comment. One Year Supply $5.00 A Week For 2 People.
Signs you are not my new roommate.
Antique Trunk Manufacturers' Labels. Lots of nice type references. Via The DDC.
Airline Meals, "The world's leading website about nothing but airline food." Via Upgrade.
Creativebits takes a look back at Photoshop Version 1.0.7
What we'll be eating for lunch today at CP. Via Byrdhouse.
The 2010 South African World Cup logo.
The skip intro button is the most used button on the Internet.