Lite-Brite Idea

We all remember Lite-Brite, the colorful toy that let us leave messages for our parents, draw pictures, and generally release our childhood creativity in a non-destructive way. Now you can bring that fun into your living room with the Lite Table. Inspired by the classic toy, this table includes 100 oversized pegs to move around to keep your guests and yourself occupied.

Minnie Me

Bucking the trend of ever-expanding dining portions, Chicago-based Minnies is out to prove that bigger isn't always better. Featuring a wide selection of bite-size gourmet burgers and sandwiches, including traditional favorites such as grilled cheese and Reubens, alongside the more inventive Mykonos (roast chicken, tzaziki sauce and kalamata tapenade) and Thanksgiving delight (roast turkey, cranberries and wild rice gravy) Minnies applies nouvelle cuisine portions to casual dining. Besides serving waistline-minded eaters something to nibble on, the fifties-style diner gives hungrier customers the mix-and-match pleasure of tapas restaurants. Are you big on little food?

Wash Your Hands

I would like to personally thank, or shall I say, give a Hand to the designers of this soap for creeping me out.

Available at Foliage, this "Hand Soap" only costs $12 and is sure to make a great gift for say, someone who has waited on you hand and foot, or perhaps just lent you a helping hand. Weird or not, I've got to Hand it to them for not only making the soaps by hand, but using only organic products. I just wonder if these soaps are selling Hand over fist?

Tie-Dye For

You heard it first, you heard it here, Tie-Dye is making a comeback. Yes tie-dye, as in your sixth grade art class project. Spotted on a couple highend runway shows for next year, as well as several Hollywood it girls, I say it will be several more months before you can get yours at UrbanOutfitters.

Do You Look "Like A Virgin"?

How do you prove you're a virgin in the town that inspired "Sex and the City''? The producers of an off-Broadway show are giving away free tickets to anyone who can demonstrate his or her chastity. Which raises the question: Just how will the theater know? Producer Ken Davenport, 34, had a hypnotist screen people standing in line for the free tickets to the first preview of his 90-minute comedy, "My First Time'' to determine their status. The show, which opens July 28, is based on a decade-old website that invites people to anonymously share their stories about losing their virginity. Great, another "who's done it" play - just what Broadway needed!

Oh Good Grief, Tourism

When I hear the word tourism, I think of beaches, comfortable hotels, and lots of relaxation. But now, darker forms of tourism are gaining popularity in an increasingly news-strung world. It’s called Dark Tourism - and two of its genres are Thanatourism and Grief Tourism, which denotes the urge to travel to the dark places of the world like the Killing Fields, Ground Zero or Auschwitz. And you thought the guilt trips your mom gives you were weird.

Absinthe Minded

What does Marilyn Manson drink? Believe it or not the answer just might be Mansinthe his new absinthe which is set to debut in Europe in August. Liquor Snob reports that the distiller, Matter-Luginbuhl, is a famed maker of high-end absinthes in Switzerland. Manson is a noted lover of absinthe and the project has been in the works for several years. The absinthe is made from herbs such as grand wormwood, fennel and anise and is not sugared and the label artwork is by Manson. There are prereleases: a limited edition for 300 euros and a special signed edition with a different label available from "The Beautiful People, The Beautiful People" at Gallery Schenk in Cologne that sells for 500 euros.

Book Burning, Man

In the interest of full disclosure, let me state the following: I have not gone, nor do I ever intend to ever go, to Burning Man, which is scheduled August 27 - September 4 this year. There are many reasons behind my reluctance, not the least of which is my strong aversion to placing myself in situations completely out of my control and difficult to extricate myself from, much less a huge gathering of less-than-sober strangers in the Nevada desert. Photographer Leo Nash has been attending Burning Man for over a decade, rising early in the morning each day to document the bizarre and wonderful assortment of vehicles, structures, and other constructions that often defy description. The nature of his subject — like the festival itself — is fleeting, yet through Nash’s understated black & white compositions, you can see each surreal flight of fancy captured in time prior to being put to the torch. Nash released a hard-bound compilation of photographs in Burning Man: Art in the Desert that is worth reviewing if only to appreciate the book’s unique matchbox design, if not its contents.

Reservations about Reservations?

For planners like me, when I go on vacation making restaurant reservations is as important as making flight and hotel reservations, but that's just me. I know for many people trying to figure out what they are going to have for dinner is stressful enough, let alone trying to figure out where.

In New York City, reservations are serious business, or I shall I say a new business. Allow me to introduce you to TableXchange, a new website devoted to scoring you New York's hard to get reservations at the hottest restaurants in town. Wish you can eat at Nobu or PerSe, no problem! The only thing you have to decide is for how many and what time. Think of TableXchange like a concert ticket broker, but instead of two tickets to The Blue Man Group you get a table for two at Blue Water Grill. Procrastinators, eat your heart out.

Wheel You Look At That

What do you get when you combine a bicycle tire, a caster wheel, and some plastic? The Magic Wheel, of course. The Magic Wheel is set to be next in line when it comes to modest transportation fads such as the Razor scooter. While the unicycle remained lost in the realm of circuses and clowns, the Magic Wheel aims to change that by featuring all three forms of self-propelled transportation in a single mode of transport. This Swiss-designed scooter weighs in at just under 14 pounds. How do you ride it? Like any other scooter, you stand on it with one leg and push off with your other. Check out the video to see it in action. At around $240, the Magic Wheel isn't cheap but is "set to take the UK by storm". Magic Wheel you buy one?

$culptures

Even though the latest trend for the rich is "stealth wealth," there are bound to be those out there who just can't help but flaunt what they've got. One way to do it is to get yourself a money sculpture, or I suppose you could make your own if you have an artistic bend towards paper mache. You can easily customize it by using any dollar denomination you want (it cracks me up that this one is made of $1 dollar bills) but hey, if you're a little short on cash and don't want to hit the ATM you can just peel off a few bills and be good to go.

VeeVIP Cocktails

VeeV is the world’s first Açai (pronounced ah-SIGH-ee) spirit and is simply, “a better way to drink.”

Launched by a pair of ambitious, cause-minded Gen Y brothers, this new liquor brand is changing the way Los Angelinos and all these celebrities drink, one hotspot at a time.

In addition to becoming a permanent “mixture” at many entertainment industry mainstays like Winston’s, Parc, Les Deux and Bar Marmont, the açaí-infused spirit has also made appearances at high profile political functions for both Hillary and Barack. In addition to açaí ‘s superfruit properties, VeeV also boasts other exotic ingredients, such as prickly pear and acerola cherry, that are reputed to minimize the pain of the morning after.

Health and hangovers aside, my favorite thing about VeeV is that they are donating $1 for every bottle sold to Amazonian rain forest charities which is something I'll definitely drink to anyday!

Wallet You Know

Wallets appeared soon after the introduction of paper currency in the early 17th century and ever since then, leather has been the material of choice. If leather feels a little outdated to you, allow me to introduce you to the Dosh Wallet - an Australian design that uses a blend of flexible and semi-flexible polymers to create a rugged, waterproof home for all of those items like credit cards, keys and sim cards that just weren’t an issue in the year 1642.

See String?

We've all heard of G-Strings, but C-Strings?

Just when we thought every kind of panty had already been invented, they come out with the C-String Invisible Underwear. Instead of having to deal with annoying underwear lines, this C-String provides coverage without the panty straps. Here's how it works: The C-String has a flexible internal frame that hugs and holds to your body. At the front it looks like a normal sexy underwear and to the rear it has a thong-style strip. To learn more, watch a video about the C-String.

Time To Jet

Between barefoot security checks and the infamous shampoo ban, air travel is in sorry shape. But so far, no airline has offered much more than free drinks to put the class back in business class. Silverjet is reworking business class, from buying out a terminal in London to serving meals on real plates. Even Newark is getting a little more swank. (The airport, not the town; they aren't miracle workers.) Instead of waiting in a check-in line, just drift past the counters and over to the Silver Lounge. Attendants will handle the bags and tickets while you sit in the lounge, knock back a few and wait for them to bring you your ticket. Think of it as a pre-flight refueling. And if you are scared to fly alone, there's a Silver(jet)lining, book before July 30th and you can take a friend for free!

Phone-y Insurance

Whether salvaging data from a smashed cell or proactively copying your contacts before your belongings are stolen, backing up your phone is a chore far more important than paying taxes or flossing. Save your time and sanity with the Phonebook Flasher.

The Flasher is a purpose-built USB drive that plugs into your cell and backs up your numbers, like you regularly do with your computer. Depending on your cell model, one end will connect to either a SIM card innie or a direct-to-phone outie; either way, just plug in and copy contacts to the onboard memory. The drive's capacity is 10,000 and if you have more friends than that, you're cool enough that they'll call you if you lose your phone!

Boys Night-Lab Out

Let me just say, I love the Night-Lab, and I love to boogie, but that's not my point!

I have just stumbled upon the very cool site Night-Lab and I feel compelled to share it with you. Night-Lab is Ryan Baudoin's online men's store focusing on design, concept, originality, and style. Being a former art magazine editor, Ryan hand picks independent artists products from all over the world to showcase on his site.

My favorites are the Bob Ross tee (pictured above), the Snap-A-Party, an all-in-one kit with a dinner plate, utensils, and chopsticks that snap out model-car-style, as well as the Backwards Clock that will be very useful if you ever need to turn back time.

Although Ryan has geared Night-Lab towards men, his friend Amy has plenty of finds geared towards women at Day-Lab. I guess men and women are as different as Night and Day!

Do You Have An iDea?

I like spoofs, particularly ones that involve pretty websites. While I'm not exactly sure what possessed SBD (who by all accounts should be terribly busy with their nice list of clients) to turn the napkin into an iSomething, we are pretty sure that it must have been something a little holier than your average demon, because the iDea site is just plain awesome. And plain silly. And I'm not going to spoil it any further. Just go!

Bensimon Says...

These simple sneakers produced by Bensimon are being touted as the French version of the flip-flop. You've got your tired old Keds, but here's what stylish French girls are wearing this summer.

The Environmental Club

Dancing all night can use up a lot of energy, or create it -- at least that's what a group of Dutch researchers hope when they're done with their Sustainable Dance Club. Based in the Netherlands, the researchers and architects are working on creating a club that will use solar power, wind turbines, low-energy-using LED lights, and rain water and clubgoers sweat (yes, you heard me correctly) to flush toilets. But the real innovation is to develop a dance floor that creates power out of the pounding feet of dancers. The dance floor would be embedded with sensors that would help generate electricity. For more information on this technique, check out the video that surfaced on YouTube. Who knew your awkward dance moves might be doing the world a favor, after all!

Tees Me

I just wanted to give a quick nod to this hilarious t-shirt that popped up recently at Threadless There’s not much to say about it that you can’t decipher by reading the blatantly clear message that is the shirt. I especially enjoyed the message because it reminded me of something that Penelope on SNL would say, and it echos my sentiment regarding the pretentious cloud that sometimes drapes over the music scene. As of now, there are plenty of guys ($12) and girls ($14) tees in stock, but something tells me there’s going to be a run on these!

Oh, Beehive

The hairstyle that Amy Winehouse is infamous for has inspired other celebrities like Britney Spears.

Not sure if this hair-raising trend is solely responsible by Ms. Winehouse cause you can't discuss beehives without talking about Hairspray.

But you know what they say, the higher the hair, the closer to God.

Toebesity

Toe tucks are the summer's cosmetic surgery fad. This sounds a bit like a story the plastic surgeons have created to drum up business, but whatever: Fat toes are out, and going under the knife for your little piggies is in.

I Smell A Rat

Animated movies always have products associated with them but the latest Pixar movie has produced merchandise that goes far beyond the usual fast-food restaurant tie-ins and themed bedroom sets. Ratatouille is about a Parisian rat with culinary aspirations has spawned a new line of cooking accessories for kids sold through Sur La Table. Even more interesting is the Ratatouille wine. The wine will be carried by Costco and is a 2004 white Burgundy from the Mâcon's Château de Messey. You can buy it starting on August 1 at Costco stores in 18 states for around $13. This may just be the first wine your kids encourage you to buy. I wonder why they aren't promoting cheese with this movie? Do you give a rat's ass marketing a chance?

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

Mashed potatoes, fries, potato salad. All are tasty and easy to make, but what keeps a lot of folks from even bothering with the real stuff, and headed toward the box or drive-thru is that peeling potatoes is generally not a fun task. Now with Tater Mitts, pebbly palmed rubber gloves peeling potatoes does not have to be a long, drawn-out affair. And priced under $20, these gloves make great gifts, cause like they say, it's the Tot that counts.

Blooming Business

Today, actually several hours ago, three ex-microsofters: Hillel Cooperman, Walter Smith and Jenny Lam launched They're Beautiful, their first "interactive experience" at Jackson Fish Market. If you think this is an actual fish market, you have some catching up to do.

They're Beautiful is a virtual florist where you can send bouquets electronically, but where this becomes an "interactive experience" is that you can keep your flowers in their greenhouse and stop by every few days to water them. Oh and if you don't - yes, they will start to wilt and eventually die. Confused? Click here for a step by step directions to send your first bouquet.

Thanks for the tip Monica. Please don't hate me because They're Beautiful!

What's The Dill?

When it is scorching outside, and you hear the jingle of the ice cream man, the last thing one would assume would come to mind would be “Gee, I’d like a pickle juice popsicle!” A Hopsicle, maybe, but pickles? According to the folks at Pickle Sickle, their frozen pickle juice popsicles are a hit here in Texas. Apparently Kool-Aid Pickles are all the new rage in New York too. So whether you like yours frozen, kool-aid infused, or even just like to drink the juice, you'll relish this sour trend!

Saving Some Dough

Rental cakes are the newest wedding industry trend. Many brides are choosing to rent an extravagent wedding cake made out of foam. Generally there is a space in the fake cake for one real slice of cake. After the bride and groom cut the cake, caterers whisk it away and serve up cheap sheet cake to your guests.

Talk about having your cake (of your dreams) and eating it too!

Slim Shading

They say the camera adds ten pounds, but what if it can take ten off?

The latest in digital camera technology from HP has a new "slimming" feature. Which means that with a few flicks of a button, anyone can look more slender - instantly.

And you thought photos don't lie!

You Go Girl, Scouts

Feeling irrelevant to modern teenage girls, the Girl Scouts are undertaking a massive overhaul, Phillis Nefler style. The organization recognizes that earning merit badges for cookie sales and embroidery doesn’t resonate anymore. Today’s girl scout wants high adventure. After two years of research and input from thousands of Scouts and volunteers, Girl Scouts USA heard the message loud and clear: Girls wanted an organization that would help them deal with everyday challenges such as bullying, teen pregnancy and divorce, as well as age-old problems such as peer pressure and self-esteem.

In related news: The Boy Scouts of America have been ask to stop bullying, knocking up and divorcing the Girl Scouts.

The Pop-Up Club

A couple months ago I read about the latest trend in pop-up establishments, the pop-up club. Much like a pop-up store, restaurant or hotel, the space can be constructed overnight and be gone before dawn.

Following in the success of Southern Comfort's SoCo Cargo Experiment, Kubrik is a modular open-air club located in Barcelona, Berlin and Lisbon for the summer. The club is an open construction of light-up plastic boxes that make up the walls, hallways, DJ station and bar.

Hand Tossed

Naughty pizzerias have popped up in NYC and Canada. If you live or plan to visit the NYC area, you'll be surprised to hear that Cordato's in the Financial District is now offering illegal lapdances for only $10. According to a hidden camera investigation on New York's CBS 2 HD news, Cordato's is a popular pit stop just blocks from ground zero, where construction workers and Wall Street traders frequent. Can you blame them really, because what guy doesn't want a piece slice of the pie...

Playing the Cloverfield

Everyone's talking about the trailer for JJ Abrams' top secret movie, tentatively titled Felicity: The Movie Cloverfield, which is being shown before the Transformers movie. Watch the pirated trailer here, or here. It's not coming out until January 18, 2008.

What's with not giving the name of the movie at the end of the trailer? Something tells me they are going for a major grassroots marketing campaign (ahem) Blair Witch. What do you think about the trailer?

Pushing (for) Daisies

Call me a television-ary, but I think ABC has a hit with their new Pushing Daisies sitcom due out this Fall. Pushing Daisies is a love story about a young man with a very special gift, the ability to return someone dead briefly back to life with just a simple touch.

So far the buzz is great. Is it just me or does this preview reminds anyone else of Amelie? Perhaps it's just me cause according to my friend Rose, I suck at analogies!

Brocabulary

New York magazine's Daniel Maurer, whose upcoming glossary of guyspeak -- tentatively titled Brocabulary -- makes clear there's more to being macho than watching Ultimate Fighting and drinking from the milk carton.

Words such as mancation (a male-bonding getaway), bromance (the platonic love between two "hetero life-mates") and power tool (a guy who has achieved wealth or status despite being a complete jerk) are the male language-lover's answer to driving a Mercedes, instantly communicating masculine savvy without giving the appearance of trying too hard.

Think of this book as your secret man-i-festo to guy talk, just don't broverdose on it.

New Office Space

A true confessions site devoted to the weird behavior of people at work. There's a lot of office anger out there. I'm worried about the dental assistant who admits to licking "the insides of the cups belonging to the patients I hate." or better yet, the IT Professional who doesn't know what Java is!

Do you have a confession to share? I promise I won't tell...

You Drive Me Crazy

Forget GPS—customers in ten major U.S. cities can now book professional chauffeurs for their rental cars. Car rental giant Avis has teamed up with WeDriveU, a private chauffeur service, to make this convenient new option available to Avis Preferred members.

With Avis Chauffeur Drive, fully insured and certified drivers, who know the ins and outs of local thoroughfares and can navigate city streets with ease, pick up customers in their rental cars from baggage claim or passenger loading zones, chauffeur them around town, and can drop them off and return their rentals at the end of their trip. There's no need to wrestle with maps and directions, and customers can get work done while en route to their destination, making the time savings alone worth it for business travelers in a crunch. And offering customers the best of both worlds: a driver for the part of their trip they need one, and just the car for the rest of the journey.

The service is priced at $30 per hour, with a 3-hour minimum, in addition to standard rental car charges—an estimated 35% less than customers might spend on standard car and driver services. Customers can reserve chauffeurs up to 24 hours in advance in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Post(er)-Its

This is why I love Capitalism. (1) See a niche, (2) fill that niche, (3) sell the thing that fills the niche on the internet. It really couldn’t be simpler.

The people at Genius Pad have mastered that formula. They have a product that’s so obvious it will make you smack yourself for not thinking of it first, and having a Genius Pad around the house is worth at least the $12 they’re charging for one. Basically, a Genius Pad is a very large post-it note (12 inches/30cm square). It’s the same yellow color as a post-it, and it’s got the same adhesive back thing going on. The difference is just the size and, more importantly, what all the extra space allows for. With a Genius Pad, ‘be back at 8' becomes ‘I’ll be back at eight. I just ran out to buy batteries and get a haircut. When I get back you’d better have your shit packed and out of my house.’ Or maybe you could just write ‘GET OUT’ in really big letters. Either way, you know it’s going to be more fun to have a bigger piece of paper. Cop your own Genius Pad at Megasticky.

Ice Cream, Man

Matt Allen, (pictured above) is a person known affectionately to many as “the Ice Cream Man”. Not to be confused with your local neighborhood purveyor, this ice cream man has what could confidently be stated as one of the best jobs of all time. Allen travels all over the nation to concerts and music festivals such as Bonaroo and Lollapalooza to dole out free ice cream and is financially supported through advertisers, sponsors, promotions, branding and merchandising. According to his Myspace page, he’s has handed out around 80,000 frozen treats, carrying a vast variety of favorites including neapolitan bars, chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches and nostalgia-inducing TMNT pops. His goal is to serve up half a million goodies. Check out his website for music and concert reviews, stories from the road and schedule updates. For those of you dying to bust out of your cubicle and go "slingin' the cream, livin' the dream," you can also volunteer to be a part of his team. Thanks to Allen, ice cream trucks are becoming a huge trend at hip events in major cities.

(w)Rapping Paper

Trying to find unique wrapping paper is no easy fete, until now. Allow me to introduce you to Si Hill designs, aka the inventor of rapping paper. The artist has simply taken two rap songs and made wrapping paper consisting only of their lyrics. Eminem features “My Name Is” while SugarHill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” is also there in the collection for your choosing. These have been a massive hit so expect a lot more to follow soon.

Green Card

If you hand in this business card to your clients, I’m sure that they definitely want to keep it on their table rather than keep in their pocket or dump it to the bin. Growing Business Card is an idea from Another Bloomin’ Designer, Jamie Wieck. The card works just like a miniature house-plant. Just dip in water, alfalfa or cress will grow. Talk about a budding talent!

Anything, Interest You?

What if I offered you a soda, but I couldn't tell you what kind it was, would you still want it? Singapore based beverage company Out of the Box is hoping that you will. Banking on customer apathy, they've recently launched two new brands of soda, Anything and Whatever. The Anything soda is carbonated and comes in Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer. The Whatever soda is non-carbonated and comes in Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea and Chrysanthemum Tea. The big catch is that you won't know which Anything or Whatever you're getting until you open the can. So what will ya have? Anything or Whatever?

Sand Script

Everyone who goes to the beach wants to make a statement. From the suit they wear to their footwear. Paolo Ulian’s print beach sandals design will have you getting all kinds of attention. These clever sandals have the words “Whoever Loves Me Follow Me” printed on the bottoms so when you walk across the sand, you leave a printed trail for any admirers to follow. Just be prepared for whatever follows you around the beach!

Lawn Chair

This eco friendly lawnchair incorporates sod into its steel and rubber design. It includes a watering system to distribute moisture efficiently. The design was made by f+bp architects in LA. Talk about getting to the root of good design.

Word of the Day: Smirting

The British coined a word, Smirting, for smokers flirting outside public places where smoking is banned, such as pubs and restaurants. There's nothing more romantic than huddling under a tiny awning on a rainy night, smoking cigarettes like a band of outsiders.

If you need a pick up line to use besides: Is your daddy RJ Reynolds? Cause you are smoking, try one of these...

Men(tos) At Work

This Summer Mentos’ intern isn’t just working for them: rather, the mint company has made college student, Trevor, available to the public. Like any good intern, he’ll do anything ranging from ordering your lunch and proofreading to calling in sick for you and creating party playlists. You can watch him live and can call or email him to put him to work. Just check his schedule to see when he’s available.

The Simpsons Life

As a promotion for upcoming feature The Simpsons Movie, 7-Eleven stores in 12 U.S. cities have been made over into Kwik-E-Marts, the convenience store from The Simpsons.

The stores will feature products such as KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola and other Simpsons-related merchandise. The stores will not, however, sell Homer Simpson's favorite drink, Duff Beer, because of the movie's PG-13 rating. The Simpsons Movie is due out July 27.

Trophy Wifes

A recent obsession with the beautiful significant others of top sports figures. This trend shouldn't be too surprising to anyone who went to high school.

In related news: the countdown has begun for Eva Longoria and Tony Parker's wedding. Apparently their lucky day will be 07/07/07.

Who is your favorite Power Couple?

Assvertising

Forget about Moons over My Hammy, today it's all about Moons over Broadway. A giant billboard of smiling butts comes to Times Square today. The new ad campaign for Toto's add-on bidet, the Washlet, is the latest example of butt advertising.

Clothes Minded

In simpler, pre-metrosexual times, getting dressed on the weekend was as easy as slipping on a Polo and jeans. Now, thanks to the late Cargo Magazine, you need to actually think about your weekend wear. Is this tee edgy enough? Dark green or light green shorts? Am I wearing too much H&M?

Relax, literally, with Distilled, a new menswear collection with a little West Coast edge. A leap beyond basic threads, Distilled infuses art with fashion. Each piece is a collaboration between founders Matty Merrill and Sep Kamvar, and rising artists. Look for unique materials and intricate details in every shirt, jacket and denim. Contributing architects, graphic and multi-media designers add something unexpected inside and out, whether it’s a hidden credit card pocket or a cutting edge illustration. The goods are also produced in limited runs of 300 which means you won’t look like the average Joe. Not that you would in this post-metro era.