Thursday, October 25, 2007

Knock Your Socks Off

While speculation about Sex and the City movie plot lines continue to run hot, one thing is for certain - Carrie Bradshaw's fashion sense remains as eccentric as ever. If I were a betting man I would say that thigh high socks are set to become the next big fashion trend, especially once everyone sees Sarah Jessica Parker wearing them in multiple looks in the new Sex and the City movie. Are thigh high socks the new leggings? I think its only a matter of time before UrbanOutfitters and American Apparel start knocking off this look...

Poster Service

No room for a lamp on your cluttered desk? Hang a picture of one on the wall that actually shines light, instead. Irish designer Finn Magee has created a pair of posters that not only depict everyday objects, but retain their functionality. Embedded LEDs in his "Flat Light" poster lets light shine from an image of a desk lamp, while a seven-segment LED display displays the time on the image of an alarm clock in "Flat Time". More interesting than most other clocks I've seen, and a definite conversation starter. (Note: there is no purchase info on Magee's site, but there is a Contact page in case you're interested.)

Edible Cocktails

Looks like the days of doing jello shots from small paper cups could be going the way of rotary phones and palm pilots. The newest things hitting the club and bar scene are edible cocktails - gelled "drinks" made into miniature works of art you eat like hors d'oeuvres. Buzz inducing hors d'oeuvres.According to a recent LA Times article, the inspiration for these jiggly, solid cocktails came from the Bar du Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, where "slices of layered jelly shots are served on clear glass plates along with long wooden skewers" used to eat them. Chefs and bartenders took notice, and are busy inventing new and creative ways to serve classic drinks. And the possibilities are endless.If you've ever been on a college campus you remember making jello shots by adding gelatin to vodka (or grain alcohol for those of you who really wanted to get the party rolling), pouring the mix into a cup or mold, and setting in the fridge overnight. But really creative mixologists are going a step further. In the LA Times piece they mention a jellied gin and tonic served at Tailor in NYC by bartender Eben Freeman. He serves it with frozen lime chips, sprinkled with "'tonic' powder, a concoction of baking soda, citric acid and powdered sugar, for a fizzy-on-the-tongue effect." A kind of mad scientist of the drink world, he's also working on marshmallow and cereal based cocktails. Other bartenders are experimenting with layered drinks and suspending marinated fruit in the mixture.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Human LCD

Using color-coordinated clothing rather than cards, soccer fans in South Korea have been creating amazing synchronized routines in stadium stands. Apparently, they borrowed the technique from their northern neighbor, only without all the socialist propaganda. One assumes they eventually find time to watch the games. Watch another cool video here.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Get "Sets" - Go!

Just in case shopping online looking at lots and lots of stuff you desperately want but can't afford isn't fun enough, I have news for you. A new application called Polyvore enables users to grab images from around the web (and any images others have uploaded) and create "sets" -- ensembles of individual items, arranged, for instance, to be a complete outfit. The sets can be viewed by others, commented on, rated, shared, embedded, etc. Clicking on any item brings up information about it and a link back to the original page on which it appeared. It's basically a social network for shoppers. And if a user buys shoes from a linked source, say, Amazon, Polyvore gets a revenue share. Also, the application can be used on Facebook, so everyone can see how cool your dream wardrobe is. (Your dream wardrobe that you can't ever really own, because it costs so damn much.)

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Weigh Too Funny

For the weight conscious with a sense of humor along comes the hilarious Celebrity Weighing Scales ($50). You'll no longer weigh in pounds and inches, rather you'll compare your weight with the names of celebrities, historical figures and a few calorifically-challenged fictional characters. From Mr. Ed to Goldie Hawn, dieting has never been this much fun.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

High-Techno Club

A new nightclub in London, twentyfour: london, is designed to appeal to the high-tech "wouldn't it be great if holodecks were real" side of the population: it has walls that can change and morph into whatever you want them to be, via projection technology. A canyon? You got it. A beautiful beach at midnight? You got that too. Want to ogle models strutting the catwalk? No problem. You can even bring in your own videos and pictures, so it really is "whatever you want." Other features the high-tech nightclub offer include drinks that notify the bartender when they're empty and interactive experiences like a virtual koi pond.

Turning Out Hits

Music boxes came to prominence in the 19th Century, but their history dates back a few hundred more years. You see, there was this bell ringing dude who got tired of all the hard work. So, he decided to engineer a device to make his life a little more hip. It was a cylinder with metal studs. Each stud (as the cylinder rotated) operated cams which rang the bells. Further research determined that the first song played on this new system was the theme to Super Mario Brothers!
There are no pins, but a strip of paper, which you punch yourself. That's right, you punch all your own songs! No more listening to "Memory" - it's time for Koji Kondo's greatest hits (the genius behind many of Mario's and Link's most memorable themes). I'd love to chat more, but it's time for me to compose a lullaby for Princess Peach. Click here to download a PDF blueprint of the Super Mario Brothers theme. Cause sharing is caring...

Stirrup A New Look

So there's been buzz that the stirrup is back, but I'm still convinced that it's all coming from the denim companies, trying to get us to buy another new pair of jeans. Take a good, hard look at these 7 for All Mankind Stirrup Jeans, $168, and ask yourself: is the stirrup jean really, truly going to make a comeback? I sure hope not, but I wanted to give you a leg up, I mean stirrup!

Oh and apparently Prada thinks men will be wearing stirrup pants too this season. All together now.. WTF!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

About Time

No one ever says, "It's 11:43" when you ask for the time. They'll say, "It's quarter till", or "Almost noon". (Or in this office, "lunchtime" as they walk out the door.) The designers over at InsightOutsight in the UK thought it was about time someone designed a clock that tells time the way we do. Not with exact numbers, but with "rough time". So they designed one. The clock rounds off the time and gives you a phrase instead of a number. Any time from :41 to :49 is considered "quarter to", :50 to :59 is considered "nearly", etc. They called it, fittingly enough, About Time.