Light bulbs and dangling pieces of crystals are so passe`…we are loving these unique chandeliers that have been designed using everyday objects. Bic pens, a drum set and 3,000 gummy bears are all items that were used to create some top-notch chandeliers. Our favourite is the gummy chandelier, 3,000 gummy bear moulds (the actual bears are made from hand cast acrylic…this is not an edible chandelier, sadly) New York-based artist Kevin Champeny. The drum set chandelier hangs in a restaurant in North Carolina and was crafted by Matt Ludwig. The recycled Bic pen chandelier was made by Spanish design company enPieza.

We have no idea whether or not these cookies taste good or boast any special flavours, but one thing is for sure: they are damn cute! The cookies were made by Bakerlla.com creator using homemade graham crackers and fondant. These cookies would make perfect snacks at your next hipster gathering.

Matt Walford is an editorial and advertising photographer based in the middle of England with a flare for “deconstructing nature, whether its a landscape or a flower, or even food.” He then reconstructs these natural things to create his own unique world, in which things exist in a way that they do not in nature.

“I think this spells from a boyish need to take everything apart and put it back together again,” Walford says, “plus a great love of science and the natural world. I use a variety of techniques to create my images, ranging from digital photography to using a modified Flat-bed scanner to digitally capture things. Using a scanner gives an effect that cannot be replicated with photography, a kind of ethereal quality with a huge amount of detail. These ‘scans’ are then used to create images in their own right or incorporated with digital photography into a kind of ‘Digital Collage’.”

It’s no surprise that we love Alexa Meade’s unconventional portraits that feature people as canvases (remember this post?). Applying paint to a 2D canvas surface hasn’t appealed to painter Alexa Meade for a while, but her latest works of art have taken her art to a new level. Meade has teamed up with model Shiela Vand to create a series of stunning and surreal portraits using Meade’s body, paint and milk. The collection is entitled “Milk: What Will You Make Of Me?” and features Meade’s signature style of painting on the human body (which in this case, belongs to Shiela Vand) which is then submerged into a vessel of milk. The milk produces a background effect that resembles a canvas, but the submersion of the model in the liquid creates an sense of depth and whimsy that cannot be achieved without the practical effect. Here is a copy of the Artist’s Statement from the project’s official website:

“Alexa Meade and Sheila Vand have collaborated on a body of work that explores the fluidity of form in relation to time and space. By stripping the subject of depth and dimension, a displacement of identity ensues, demonstrating the power of context over content.​​
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Meade’s signature style of painting portraits on the body is submerged in a canvas of milk, where Vand’s performance is dictated by the opposing forces of fixed shadows and fluid space. Together, the artists compose an expressive identity for each image, but as the milk interacts with the pre-arranged pose, a new identity is formed that must be constantly re-imagined and re-shaped in the moment. As the paint seeps away into the milk, Vand’s performance must continually shift to accommodate its new context and form while Meade’s photography must capture the ephemeral moments before they de-materialize. The result is an ever-evolving, time-based portrait that includes every layer of the process within each consecutive frame. Each new visual identity is a product of the versions that came before.
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The surface of the milk intersects Vand’s body at an uneven and unusual plane, creating a sense of movement and depth beneath her compressed form. This play on dimensionality in the picture plane evokes an optical illusion that activates the viewer’s experience by challenging their common perceptions. The identifiable becomes ineffable, giving the flat photography of the painted three-dimensional space an unsettling tone. By blending the borders between the subject and its surroundings, identity is muted and we’re left with the distilled nuances that shape the space.”

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Writing notes on sticky pads of paper is much more fun if the pad of paper is wacky and cool, don’t you think? For this reason, we’d like to celebrate the cool memo note pads and sticky pad papers that we’ve stumbled across over the last little while. From hamburgers will all the fixings to sushi pieces on rice, bandaids, grass, and leaves, a wooden log, app icons, brickwork and light switch covers – this post covers all the bases. Remember our previous post that featured the Tetris Sticky Notes? Or what about the sticky note wrist watch? Well now you can feast your eyes on more creative memo pad and stick note inspiration! Do you have a new favourite? We do, but it’s a secret.

Hungarian-based design team, Antro Group, has been developing a foldable electric scooter since 2008, but only recently have released a fully functional prototype of the Moveo. The Moveo is a lightweight scooter that is quite compact when folded and weighs approximately 25kg and reaches up to 45 km/h. The electric motor makes the scooter eco-friendly and forward-thinking. We think it’s just cute as can be, and with traffic becoming a major problem in most major cities, this baby will make getting around and finding a parking spot a breeze.

Gummy bears are cute, but gummy people are cool. A Japanese company called FabCafe offers customers the opportunity to create custom molds of themselves that can be rendered into delicious 3D gummy self-portraits. Using a 3D body scanner and digital clay modeller, images of the human body can be captured and then printed using a 3D printer. Patrons can make any face, stand in any position (although it seems like a boring stationary position without protruding limbs would work best) and once the 3D printer has completed it’s work, patrons will be left with a gummy sculpture of themselves. FabCafe is hosting a 2-part workshop at their Shibuya location – pretty cool!

InstaThis is a service that connects with your Instagram account and helps you create stunning prints on acrylic or wood. And they are priced pretty competitively as well: an InstaThis 12×12 wood print costs about $60.

They encourage higher transaction volume by offering more of a discount if you order more pictures. For example, if you order three prints you see savings of 20 percent, for four prints you see savings of 25 percent, and on and on. However, you can’t get the same discount if you want multiple prints in different sizes.

They are committed to providing a unique mix of web to print technology with handmade craftsmanship. For their wood prints they use 5/8” Baltic Birch and their acrylic is polished 3/16” clear cast. They offer a ton of sizes as well: 6″ x 6″, 8″ x 8″, 10″ x 10″, and 12″ x 12″ all on both wood and acrylic.

The folks at InstaThis were kind enough to send a few samples for the walls here at the WHOA Offices and we are happy to report, they look WICKED!

Visit The InstaThis site and get started!

Fashion designer Si Chan from the London College of Fashion is the mastermind behind the awesome jacket collection that makes use of a series of hand movements that are commonly used while giving and receiving hugs. The clothing collection plays on the concept of how a hug can make one feel warm and fuzzy – hence the padding and puffy materials – as well as the idea that a hug can make one feel “full and not alone” – hence the large scale of the puffiness and size of hands. We aren’t sure we could wear one of the hug jackets with confidence, but we would surely utter “WHOA!” if we ever saw someone wearing a hug jacket walking down the street. Kudos also go to the photographer, Sara Pista, and model Adam Golenia for their unique and interesting portrayal of the hug jacket line.

Imagine our surprise when we learned that Washington’s White House needed to be gutted and renovated in 1948 after the building started to show it’s age. The White House was originally rebuilt in 1814 after having been burned to the ground by the British, and all the fancy 20th century innovations like electricity, indoor plumbing and ventilation were implemented. By November 1948, the New York Times reported the following:

“The ceiling of the East Room, elaborately done in the frescoes of fruits and reclining women and weighing seventy pounds to the square foot, was found to be sagging six inches on Oct. 26, and now is being held in place by scaffolding and supports…. But it took the $50,000 survey authorized by Congress to disclose the fact that the marble grand staircase is in imminent danger. Supporting bricks, bought second hand in 1880, are disintegrating.”

The building’s plumbing was deemed makeshift and unsanitary and the third floor of the White House was considered to be a health and safety hazard (a.k.a. a “firetrap”). Structural changes were implemented on the original building despite discussions of abandoning the structure altogether and re-building the mansion from scratch, but President Truman lobbied for the buildings restoration as opposed to demolition by arguing that the building that had shaped the nation should not be torn down. The photos above were taken during the construction and renovation process of 1950 when the White House was completely gutted and restored.
All photos courtesy of the National Archives.

In the mid 1950s, actress Ava Gardner decorated her newly built brick house at La Moraleja, a suburb of Madrid, with antiques she purchased at local shops.

Actress Billie Burke lived in an English-style house in Beverly Hills in the 1930s, with her husband, showman Florenz Ziegfeld. Here Burke is photographed in the beamed study, which she furnished with countrified furniture, masses of memorabilia, and charming art, including a portrait, at left, of her daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld.

When Elvis Presley had his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion, Graceland, decorated in 1957, the living room’s 15-foot-long sofa was upholstered in electric-blue fabric and the walls were painted Dresden-blue. By the early 1960s, however, the room had been repainted and the sofa recovered in a woven white material brightened by orange velvet cushions.

Showman nonpareil Fred Astaire built his Beverly Hills residence in 1959, five years after the death of his first wife, socialite Phyllis Potter.

Pacific Palisades was the California town where actor Gregory Peck chose to settle down in the late 1940s. He and his first wife, Eine “Greta” Kukkonen, a Finnish former makeup artist, purchased a 1930s house designed by legendary architect Cliff May, famed for his ranch-style aesthetic and sophisticated appreciation of indoor-outdoor living. The picture shows the Pecks behind the green leather–clad bar of the den, which was accented by illuminated glass pilasters.

Despite being just steps from a glamorous stretch of Central Park, James Dean’s studio apartment on West 68th Street in New York City was decidedly collegiate. The actor lived in the rented space, off and on, from 1953 until his death in a car crash two years later.

Purchased by the screen siren in 1957, Jayne Mansfield’s Pink Palace earned its name for obvious reasons: Inside and out, the Mediterranean Revival mansion in Los Angeles where she lived with her second husband, Mr. Universe 1955 Mickey Hargitay, was a paradise of rose-color excess, thanks to set designer Glenn Holse. Pink shag carpeting covered the ceiling, walls, and floor of the actress’s bath, and the heart-shaped tub glittered with gold mosaic tiles.

Actress Jean Arthur (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The More the Merrier) takes tea on the Colonial-style canopy bed of the Hollywood home she shared with her second husband, Frank Ross, a screenwriter and producer.

Beneath an artificial dogwood tree, Joan Crawford and her fourth and final husband, Pepsi-Cola CEO Alfred N. Steele, relax on the plastic-covered sofas of their 18-room New York City duplex penthouse in the 1950s.

Asian art picked up on worldwide travels is tacked to a wall of actor John Wayne’s living room in the San Fernando Valley.

Actor Kirk Douglas stretches out on a skylit sofa in his Beverly Hills home in the early 1960s. Above him hang two Pablo Picasso paintings that he and his wife Anne purchased in 1960.

Shortly after their 1956 wedding, Marilyn Monroe and her second husband, playwright Arthur Miller, stand in the unkempt garage of their Roxbury, Connecticut, estate. The house itself had been built in 1783, and Monroe and Miller added sliding glass doors to its rear façade and created a one-room studio where the playwright could work.

Future U. S. president Ronald Reagan settles back in a rolled-arm chair at his 1957 ranch-style home in Pacific Palisades, California.

Sophia Loren poses for photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, in 1964, in the master bedroom of Villa Sara, her 16th-century house near Rome. Purchased in 1952 by her future husband, producer Carlo Ponti, it was restored with architect and garden designer Imerio Maffeis and decorated by costume-and-set designer Ezio Altieri.

In 1960, Steve McQueen joins his first wife, Filipino actress Neile Adams, and their daughter, Leslie, at a Swedish modern–style table in their Hollywood Hills kitchen.

Oscar-winner William Holden relaxes in his home in Toluca Lake, a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley; the modest Georgian-style house was designed by African-American architect Paul R. Williams and was later owned by Denzel Washington.

Ever wonder what the houses of some of Hollywood’s most famous stars and starlets look like? We were so happy to come across an article by Architectural Digest featuring photographs of some remarkable actors and actresses of the Golden Age in their own homes. Who do you think has the most style? Our votes go to Elvis Presley (the warm, bold colours in his living room have got us all shook up), and Jayne Mansfield (pink shag carpet on the ceiling?! Now THAT is unique!).

Brooklyn-based artist, Vik Muniz, has a unique approach to facsimile works of art. We love Muniz’s large-format portrait art that he made using piles of garbage in Brazil, and we love his collection entitled “Pictures of Magazines” that features replications of famous paintings using pieces of torn magazine pages. The pages appear to be carefully torn, or cut in some cases, to include specific imagery like faces, buildings, products, etc., but what remains impressive is how the imagery all comes together in magical collage format to create a larger image. Colour and contrast are hard at work in these beauties, and Muniz deserves serious kudos for his ability to reproduce the classic paintings including Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and “Portrait of Adeline Ravoux”, Edouard Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies Bergere” and “Boy Blowing Bubbles”, Caravaggio’s “Sick Bacchus”, Geroge Stubb’s “Green Monkey”, Paul Cezanne’s “The Card Players”, Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grand Jatte”, Mary Cassatt’s “Picking Flowers In A Field,”

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Seven million people living in 423 square miles. The local government makes no attempt to hide this fact, noting the superlative on a fact-sheet (PDF). Although 49 percent of the city’s residents live in public or subsidized housing, the city has rents 35 percent higher than New York City. The Chinese city’s government has gone so far as to enact new taxes on investment in real estate to try to slow the rise in home prices, which now stand at nearly $1,300 a square foot.

No doubt, the throngs of bankers and mercantilists have comfortable accomodations. But according to the Society for Community Organization, 100,000 of the city’s laborers live in sub-divided apartment units averaging 40 square feet. The Hong Kong based advocacy organization commissioned and released these photographs, depicting the living conditions inside these apartments from the only vantage point able to capture the entire unit—directly above.

Source The Atlantic

Looking to kill two birds with one stone at breakfast? Skip the coffee and add DoubleKick’s Caffeinated Hot Sauce to your eggs instead! This hot sauce combines Asian and Southwestern chili sauces for a unique (and apparently delicious…though we wouldn’t know) flavour. The hot sauce can be a tobacco substitute, and you know what that means?! BLOODY MARYS all around! In all seriousness, we wanted to share this condiment with you, dear reader, because we think a caffeinated hot sauce that has ginger as an ingredient is completely ridiculous in the best of ways (and because it made us say WHOA!, moreso out of morbid curiosity!). There are 12mg of caffeine per 1 tsp (one serving).

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A USB hub is super helpful to those who need to access information on USB drives often, and while this product is super practical and typical in terms of USB hubs, we had to share it with you because it is so over-the-top adorable. Truly. The USB hub is shaped like a little 4-slice toaster and can access up to 4 of the breadslice-shaped USB drives at a time, and also features a card reader so you can multitask and multi-access even more. The bread slices of various types are equally adorable and really complete the whole package. The toast colours from lightest to darkest are named Tato, Butta, Ry Ry and Crisp, and all four slices of memory toast will work as individual 4G USB drives.

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Swiss watch brand, Romain Jerome has done it again – a super nerdy watch for super cool nerds features characters from the popular video game, Pac Man and another design featuring Space Invaders. The watch features Swiss automatic Concepto movement and only 20 pieces will be released to select Romain Jerome retailers for a pretty penny (about $18,000 worth of pretty pennies, to be exact).

Etsy vendors can be so creative – we love stumbling across the most ridiculous products for sale, and the hand soaps found in Adam Anderson’s shop, ManHands, are no exception. ManHands sells a collection of Manly-Scented Soaps for men of all walks of life. Want to lather up with a bar of bacon-scented soap for your morning shower? No problem. Want to smell like top soil? Cash? A bonfire? What about a Democrat? We’d love to know what a Democrate smells like (…or a Republican, for that matter). These soaps are sure to be the perfect gift for that difficult-to-buy for manly man in your family, and the best part is, the 3 oz. bars are made from harmless ingredients, like coconut oil, palm oil, sorbitol and glycerin.

Italian design company, Idiha Design, has come up with a new shower stall design concept for the lazy bather. The giant looped-shaped shower stall (effectively called the Loop) is actually meant to power wash a bather’s entire body without the bather having to apply much effort. Touted as a “giant-sized bidet”, we prefer to draw the parallels between a car wash and this shower stall – even though the shower Loop will be able to clean in those “hard to reach” places than only a bidet can manage. The shower has six high-pressure jets and a waterfall overhead. It requires a fairly large and enclosed area for installation – water is sure to pool all over the bathroom floor if it’s installed in the standard bathroom layout.

South Korea artist, Ahn Jun, goes to more lengths than most photographers would dare in order to take a fabulous photograph. In order to capture a unique perspective and create an unusual work of art, Ahn scales the world’s tallest buildings in New York, Seoul and Hong Kong and positions herself on window sills and ledges, dangles her legs into the empty drop below and snaps her photos. Ahn’s work is constantly being mistaken for photoshopped digital works but she promises her photos are 100% real and although most of her shots are taken in dangerous situations, she tries her best to be careful…but likely not at the expense of her work. Ahn started her skyscraper photo project in 2008 and has climbed over 14 skyscrapers over the years in search of great photo ops. The artists spends a lot of time sifting through the photos of her shoots, trying hard to choose an image in which her body looks peaceful and almost dream-like, instead of fearful and anxious (which is really how the artist is feeling when taking these photos). Sometimes, Ahn uses a harness in order to play up the safety factor and still maintain a great photo. We can’t imagine how she gains access to the tops of some of these buildings, and the same goes for the various window sills she has dangled out of. She goes to great lengths for her work, and for that, we commend Ahn Jun’s dedication to her craft. Plus, her photos are kick-ass cool, too.

Spreading a little love on your next bike ride is easy with these bicycle tires that feature raised heart stamps. The design was submitted to the Seoul Cycle Design competition by Hamed Kohan from Iran. As the wheel turns, the various heart-shaped knobs leave imprints in the sand, on the sidewalk and on the road. The tires and the competition submission were entitled “Spread Your Love”, and we cannot think of a more darling way to add some whimsy to a bike path.

New Mexico artist Was Naman is best known for his work as a commercial photographer, but his latest collection of portraits takes of subjects wrapped in scotch tape is what caught our attention. During the holiday season, Naman was having fun with wrapping gifts and decided to take the use of scotch tape one step further. He asked his friends and family to participate in a photo series in which Naman wrapped their faces with scotch tape in order to photograph the distorted and somewhat freakish expressions. He then asked subjects to try to remove the scotch tape using nothing more than their face to loose and release it. The results are hilarious and Naman has come away with this project with a sponsored supply of scotch tape from the Scotch brand to created more photo projects using their product. We think the expressions are hilarious – and we’d love to see a side-by-side photo of what each model looks like – pre-scotch-tape-face. Naman must have some really nice friends – we dread the idea of removing so much scotch tape from our eyebrows and hair! Ouch.

Ever wonder what the city sky would look like if pollution and bright lights didn’t drown out the stars? Luckily, French photographer, Thierry Cohen, has produced these amazing images in a collection called “Darkened Cities”. The images feature real photographs of cities that have been altered to eliminate lights and other atmospheric pollution in order to make the starry sky more obvious. The night skies were altered using accurate latitudinal representations of actual stars. We find the images to be some what post apocalyptic in the most beautiful of ways, and we hope for more blackouts in the near future so we can catch a small glimpse of a glimmering countryside sky in the middle of a big city.

Making a first impression is important for anyone in any industry, and in certain industries (specifically the creative ones) a business card can say a lot about a person or a service it is representing. We were fascinated by the business cards that some of the world’s most favourite people hand out – some people who are so famous, one would think a business card is never used! Who could Abraham Lincoln have given his business card to? We can’t imagine someone who he might come into contact with who wouldn’t know how to get in touch with him already. Then again, what do we know! These business cards designs have left us feeling inspired – perhaps a new That’s Like, WHOA! card should be in the making?

Driving without actually having to lift more than a finger to navigate seems like a concept from a sci-fi movie, but IT and technology developer, BYD, has managed to achieve the unthinkable: a key-powered remote control that can move and steer any car without the presence of a driver. Wondering when a remote controlled car may come in handy? It’d be easier to get your car in or out of a tight parking space or get it to shelter during bad weather and all of this can be done without you ever having to step foot into the vehicle. Pretty outstanding, right? The remote control driving sytemp has directional keys that are used to move the car around at a maximum speed of 2 km/h for safety reasons, and can be activated from a distance of up to 10 meters. Aside from the fact that the car in the video looks like any other family-safe sedan (and not the sci-fi car you’d expect it to look like) the technological advancements have blown our mind. Plus, the BYD Su Rui car costs around $11,000-$16,000. Not too bad when you consider all the bells and whistles that come with it!

Phillip Blackman is the British illustrator who is responsible for UndeadTeds. UndeadTeds are repurposed soft toys transformed into fluffy, bloody horrors to keep you awake at night.

Menswear Dog is a 3 year old shiba inu living in NYC with a panache for all things style. His interests include never washing his selvage denim, lurking around Soho for someone to notice his steez, and sniffing fine a$$ bitches. his name is Bodhi (apparently named after Patrick Swayze’s character in Point Break) and he has got some serious swagger. Dave Fung and Yena Kim, the fashion and graphic designer duo behind the blog, stumbled onto the Menswear Dog phenomenon after posting a photo of Bodhi on Facebook. The blog shortly followed.

Just when we thought the world could not be more obsessed with Instagram, the InstaWATCH comes out and blows our minds! Luckily, we love instagram and all the wonderful products that support the sharing of instagram images. Designed by May 28th, the InstaWATCH does exactly what you think it does – the face of the watch changes at your command to reveal an uploaded photo. Now, it’s important to note that the images that are uploaded to your watch face must be larger than 300px x 300 px in order to appear crisp and sharp…and an image cannot be re-uploaded, so pick your favourite photo and wear it proudly on your wrist for ever more. The watch is available in 14 different band colours and is surprisingly affordable considering it is one of the coolest customized gadgets to fly past our radar in the last little while. The only thing that could make this watch cooler, is if the images could be changed by blue tooth or syncing to work with instagram directly.

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In March 2012, a renegade team from Mint Digital conceived a plan to let the world create their own cardboard friend. They feared it was an impossible dream… but the first prototype proved just too loveable. After 4 days, locked away in the countryside, they had a crude working version of Foldable.Me. People were excited but there was one problem. Foldable.Me needed hairdos, lots of hairdos. And chins, beards, eyes, lips and noses too. In order to realise their dream of creating a Foldable of anyone, they needed to draw thousands of facial features and outfits. Not a small task. They turned to Kickstarter for help. Within a couple of days they’d smashed their funding goal and ended with 1000% of what they needed. Happy days! They could now hire a great illustrator. Over the next 6 months the team cranked out thousands of illustrations, stacks of code and went through a pile of different cutting tools. Along the way, Foldable.Me picked up more than 18,000 signups to their launch mailing list and received press coverage from Manchester to Taiwan. Along the way, the Foldable.Me team became surprisingly intimate with the details of cardboard manufacture and papercut first aid.

Foldables weigh in at a mighty 10g and stand 8.5 cm tall (roughly 3.5in). Each Foldable is made to order using our secret blend of matt laminate cardboard and high grade inks. They are precision cut and scored to be sturdy little souls – but they wouldn’t be much good in a fight.

Foldables are $11.99 each and shipping worldwide is totally free!!

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Whenever you fly and check a bag, you always have to wonder whether your bag will arrive when you do, especially if you have a new stops and layovers along the way. Trakdot is designed to help you keep track of your suitcase when you travel. The pint-sized device is placed in your checked luggage, and then reports its location in real time to any mobile phone or SMS-capable device. For instance, if you land in San Francisco and your luggage doesn’t, you can easily pinpoint where you and your suitcase became separated during your travels, and hopefully retrieve your bag a little quicker.

In addition to sending your luggage’s location to your phone, your bag’s location can be sent to you via email. Bags can also be tracked on Trakdot’s website, as well as with Trakdot’s free application. Useful even when your bag isn’t lost, an additional app can even let you know when your suitcase is approaching on the baggage carousel. A single Trakdot device can be linked to several different smartphones for tracking, and each phone can track multiple Trakdot devices. So, Mom can track the entire family’s luggage on her iPhone.

Trakdot is expected to be available in March of this year (2013) for a suggested retail price of $49.95. Activating the device will cost an additional $8.99, plus an annual service free of $12.99.

You may remember when we posted about 100 Year Old Color Photos From The Russian Empire. Recently we stumbled upon this equally old snaps from the city of love. All the images above were taken using Autochrome Lumière technology. The Autochrome Lumière is an early color photography process. Patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907, it was the principal color photography process in use before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s. It is an additive color “mosaic screen plate” process. The medium consists of a glass plate coated on one side with a random mosaic of microscopic grains of potato starch dyed red-orange, green and blue-violet (an unusual but functional variant of the standard red, green and blue additive colors) which act as color filters. Lampblack fills the spaces between grains, and a black-and-white panchromatic silver halide emulsion is coated on top of the filter layer.

Add a little spice to your day at the office (or formal event) with the Flask Tie – a necktie with a removable built-in flask pouch inside. The hidden pouch holds 6 fluid ounces of your favourite beverage (but let’s not beat around the bush here…we all know what type of “beverage” will be stored in the Flask Tie!). Available in a range of colours, there is a tie to match every outfit and perfect if you want to be “that guy” who always has his tie in his mouth.

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We love seeing people fall down. We always hope there are no major injuries, but we fully admit – the WHOA! team loves to see people falling down, which is why there’s no surprise when we say we love the collection entitled “Struggle” by Kerry Skarbakka.

Kerry Skarbakka is a visual artist and educator working in photography and video. He received his B.A. in Studio Art with an emphasis in Sculpture in 1994 from the University of Washington School of Art. In 2003 he completed his MFA in Photography from Columbia College in Chicago. Skarbakka’s work has been exhibited internationally in museums, galleries and art fairs. We love the way he manages to capture people mid-air, as if he is the only one witnessing a fleeting moment that is then captured on film forever. Skarbakka’s work was inspired by pilosopher Martin Heidegger who described human existence as “a process of perpetual falling.” Heidegger goes on to say that it is the “responsibility of each individual to them [themselves] from [their] own uncertainty.”

#5: the Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida.

Made from 1,100 tons of limestone boulders—bigger than those at Stonehenge—this  structure, located just south of Miami, was built from 1923 to 1951 by a single man, a tiny Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin. What was the inspiration that could cause a man to spend 28 years to carve a Coral Castle from the ground up using nothing but home made tools? An homage to unrequited love? Perhaps to illustrate ancient sciences that defy gravity? Leedskalnin claimed to have known how the pyramids were build, and attempted to replicate the building methods as proof. Or maybe just sheer, raw human determination? The Coral Castle is an everlasting mystery to those who explore it.

Coral Castle

#4: The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Rennes-le-Château, France

Located in the small hilltop village of Languedoc in southern France, The Rennes-le-Château castle attracts thousands of visitors per year for being the centre of numerous conspiracy theories and for being the location of an alleged buried treasure discovered by 19-century priest, Bérenger Saunière. The chapel inspired the worldwide bestseller, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail from 1982, which in turn inspired The Da Vinci Code from 2003. Saunière is believed to have discovered the treasure of the Cathars, a Christian sect founded in the 11th century, inside this clue-laden house of worship. The cache of gold is rumored to have been stolen from the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70—and possibly connected to the legends surrounding the super-secret Priory of Sion, Knights Templar, Holy Grail, and the real tomb of Jesus. Well-known French authors like Jules Verne and Maurice Leblanc are suspected of leaving clues in their novels about their knowledge of the ‘mystery’ of Rennes-le-Château.

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene

#3: San Juan Parangaricutiro, Michoacán, Mexico

Along with the village of Parícutin, San Juan Parangaricutiro was buried beneath ash and lava in 1943 when an explosive volcano in Mexico’s remote mountain state of Michoacán began spewing lava, eventually burying the villages of San Juan Parangaricutiro and Paricutín under a coal-black layer of chunky lava. The crucifix-topped bell tower of the San Juan Parangaricutiro Church just so happened to be spared from the destructive lava, while the vacated church’s altar, at the other end of the church, is also entirely intact while the rest of the town was buried and destroyed. The tops of cathedrals in old San Juan Parangaricutiro still protrude from the volcanic deposits, and the bell tower can be seen in its entirety.

San Juan Parangaricutiro

#2: Kolmanskop Diamond Camp, Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is like a scene from a scary movie. Like a no-man’s land between life and death, it is commonly referred to as ‘the land God created in anger’. The scenery is comprised of huge beached whalebones, the crumbling hulks of shipwrecks and dead plants. In 1908, a railway worker named Zacharias Lewala found a shiny stone and took it to the chief railway foreman August Stauch, who later confirmed Lewala’s find to be a large and rare diamond. The secret of the large diamond soon reached the masses and diamond seekers and adventurers settled in the area. Within a few years, thanks to the development of the area brought forth as a result of a diamond-rich land, Kolmanskop became the richest towns worldwide.

Kolmanskop Diamond Camp

#1: Maunsell Sea Forts, North Sea, U.K.

Six miles offshore from Suffolk, England are a number of sea forts on stilts clad in rusted metal and accessible only by boat. The forts were re-occupied in the mid-1960s for pirate radio. All forts are currently abandoned except for one which is known as the Principality of Sealand. The Bates family has claimed the fort tower as their own, and self-proclaimed the fort a nation state and deemed his family to be royalty.

Maunsell Sea Forts

Checking your valuables in your luggage is a bad idea. Those grubby-handed baggage handlers are easily able to open your luggage, rifle through your belongings and head for the hills. The growing threat of theft when it comes to checked baggage is on the rise thanks to the rules about not being allowed to lock one’s luggage while traveling. Luckily, the Guardian, designed by safe manufacturer, Döttling, is available for purchase. The Guardian features a combination-style safe lock that meets the same standards used by the Royal Prussion locksmiths for nearly a century. This luxury baggage provides safe travel for up to six watches, jewelry, cash, important documents and anything else that is small enough to fit inside. The centre of the Guardian is a multi-walled, high security cylinder that is built into the leather. The tear-proof and cut-resitant fabric used in bullet-proof vests adorns the exterior of the Guardian, while polycarbonate lines the interior. Now, you may be wondering what happens if the Guardian itself is stolen? Well, Döttling has thought of that, too. In the event that a thief foregoes the entering of a three-digit code and carries away the entire luggage, the GPS tracking device that comes with the item is sure to identify the whereabouts of the thief. This Guardian is James-Bond-calibre! We love the design of the unit and the need it fulfills for fancy-pants travellers. We can only wish to one day require the use of the Guardian to protect our belongings while traveling. As of now, we never leave home without something that can be replaced at a local convenience store.

Israeli artist, Nirit Levav, makes life-size sculptures of dogs using nothing more than bicycle parts. Bike chains, pedals and gears are put together to create these quirky works of art that were inspired by a visit to a bike shop in The Netherlands where cycling is very popular and common. Levav asked the bike shop for a collection of the shop’s accumulated junk and received a box full of bicycle chains.

Levav graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York with a degree in Fashion Design – she pursued a career in fashion specializing in bridal gowns, but somehow found herself studying jewelry, pottery, ceramic sculpture and iron sculpturing. Levav’s love for dogs is rivalled only by her desire to create works of art from recycled materials.

Berlin-based designer, Sarah Illenberger, is working on an on-going project entitled “Strange Fruits” where she turns ordinary fruits and in some cases, veggies, into surreal imagined items. An apple made out of human hair? A disco-ball pineapple? Too much awesomeness in one place! Our favourite work is tied between the fruity Rubrics cube and the pomegranate grenade.

As for the artist’s intention, here is an excerpt from Illenberger’s website that likely sheds more light on the situation:

“Defining one category for all the work of Sarah Illenberger is no easy task. The forms the visual translations of her themes assume are far too diverse. What initially sounds quite abstract, in reality, is mostly practical in that her creations are not generated on a computer but rather by meticulous handwork, sometimes incorporating the most mundane materials. A story about love-sickness is visualised through an embroidered design. Variously coloured tablets are used to compose portraits for a magazine. And in Sarah’s hands, beauty products are given new life by being transformed into tourist landmarks. Whatever she creates, it is done with a humorous touch and a great love for detail. Each assignment leads to a unique work of art, sometimes visually enhancing the content of a feature, sometimes to be considered a work in its own right. In her Berlin studio, Sarah Illenberger develops concepts for editorial as well as commercial clients. She mostly works alone, but occasionally teams up with a photographer.”

Prints of the artist’s work are available on her website.

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With a Guinness judge in attendance, Hennessey Performance made two back-to-back runs with a Hennessey Venom GT down the 8,000-foot runway at Ellington Airport in Houston and did zero to 300 kmh (186 mph) in an average of 13.63 seconds. That’s enough to topple the previous “production car” records held by the Koenigsegg Agera R, which hit 200 mph in 17.68 seconds, and the rolling nuclear reactor known as the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which hit the double century mark in 22.2 seconds.

“We are exceptionally proud of our team at HPE who helped to make this new Guinness World Record possible,” said company founder John Hennessey. “This is just the first of several validation tests designed to show the world what our special car is all about – being the fastest. Period.”

It should be that fast, for the price. Hennessey will build just 29 Venom GTs at a price of $1.2 million each.

Another brilliant addition to Maximo Riera’s animal-form furniture line is the Toad Sofa. Máximo Riera has been a practicing artist for over thirty years. Whilst predominantly working in photography, painting and sculpture, he has also published a collection of poetry. Inspired by his travel and experiences through Europe and the Caribbean Islands, Máximo’s vibrant use of colour and evocative attention to detail have been an inspiration which convey the meaning of his creations. His work also demonstrates a predominant influence from abstract expressionism and the Pop Art movements.

Even though his artistic career was relegated to a secondary role due to his professional life in the medical industry, Máximo still organized several exhibitions and events for his work, with all proceeds going to charity. Máximo has now retired to his studio in Cadiz, Spain, where he paints and sculpts each day.

Want to see more animal-furniture by Maximo Riera?

Hourglass Footwear is selling a pair of spicy stilettos for the Sriracha hot sauce lovers of the world. The “Rock Out” stilettos feature a hand-painted pop-art interpretation of everyone’s favourite Rooster hot sauce all over the platform shoe. We can’t be sure, but it appears as though there are only one pair of these babies up for grabs. Hourglass Footwear is a cool Seattle-based company that hand-paints shoes, in fact, they will hand-paint a pair of your shoes that you send them and transform a pair of boring, black pumps into something awesome. Like Sriracha Hot Sauce shoes.

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You know what is awesome? Juxtaposition. We love when artists juxtapose subject matter with concept, which is exactly why we’re fans of Leah Minium’s collection of photos of Storm Troopers portrayed as loving friends or family. Minium took this photos to share with her instagram followers and on her blog. The Storm Trooper figurines belong to her sons, and sometimes she likes to grab a few and snap some pics of them in unlikely situations just because making “soulless Troopers emotive” is fun…and her kids love the photos, too.

Swedish company Pause has developed the CataCoffin – a burial coffin that comes with a CataCombo Sound System that will pump music into the (un)listening ears of the dearly departed. A custom-built 2.1 amplifier, 2-way speakers, tweeters with external cooler and an 8-inch subwoofer specially tunes to the coffin’s acoustic space come standerd with the CataCoffin. The deceased can listen to their favourite tunes well into the afterlife, and so can those who are mourning thanks to the CataTomb tombstone that has an upgradeable music server that runs on a 2.5GHz Intel processor and a 4G wireless connection (allowing the living to manage playlists online from afar). While this idea seems absolutely frivolous and unnecessary (last time we checked, the sense of hearing passes away along with the body…) it is a wild concept and we applaud Pause for their ridiculous idea. What do you think? Would you choose to keep your loved ones serenaded long after their time?

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Swedish band the Shout Out Louds have created a limited edition version of their new single Blue Ice as a playable piece of ice. As the first single to be released from its Optica album, the band created ten boxes, containing a plastic record-shaped mould and a bottle of water. Offered to fans and press, those who got their hands on the boxes could fill the mould and place it in a freezer. Once ready, the piece of ice could be placed on a record player, producing a copy of the single at around 30 percent of its original recorded quality.

Created by the India branch of advertising agency Ogilvy, the campaign saw a large billboard kitted out with 60 shirts and a mechanism that pushed each one forward a small amount every time someone tweeted with the hashtag ‘#RainingSolly’. According to reports, people around the billboard were then invited to use their phones to interact with it, while a large screen displayed their tweets. The user who tweeted at the moment a shirt was released could collect it for free. Pretty Whoa!

Watch the video:

For the record, bombs are not cool. Bombing people, is not, in any way…cool. But this interactive map that explores the London Blitz during WWII made us say “WHOA!”. The shock factor behind the awesome Bomb Sight website is unrivalled. It was developed by a team at the University of Portsmouth and gives a detailed overview of where the bombs Germany dropped on the UK landed and killed more than 20,000 people and left 1.4 million homeless. The team created this map by collecting information on all bomb strikes from October 7 1940- June 6 1941 and cross-referenced the information with geo-located photos from the Imperial War Museum and memories from the BBC’s WWII People’s War archive. Navigating through the website is intended to give users a better idea of what it was like in London during WWII Luftwaffe Blitz bombing raids. The Bomb Sight web map and mobile app allows users to search by street or postcode of interest, allows users to zoom and pan the map like any other google map interface, and clicking on individual bomb icons will provide more information and in some cases, photographs, of the bombs that fell in that particular location. We commend the developers of this website for their obvious patience (the site took over a year to build) and their justified interest in sharing this historical information with the public. Hopefully viewers will be overwhelmed by the number of little red dots just like we were, and the dialogue regarding stopping mass-bombing and genocide will continue in favour of putting an end to like-minded violence that is currently taking place in countries around the world.

Why anyone in the world would ever need or want a box of flexible, moldable chocolate that can be worked like modelling clay is beyond our comprehension. But, apparently, this hot-ticket item from ThinkGeek promises hours of fun and a delicious chocolate treat at the end of a craft session. The Moldable Magic Chocolate Kit includes milk, dark and white chocolate. But what we are curious about is how this so-called “moldable chocolate” will be pliable enough to be formed without melting in your hands? That’s kind of weird, don’t you agree? Who wants to eat chocolate that ACTS like modelling clay but instead is really the Belgium chocolate it claims to be? Touted as a fun craft project for kids and adults alike, the Moldable Magic Chocolate Kit will not be sticky or melty…just tons of fun. We have to learn more about this patent-protected method that lets chocolate set while remaining flexible. Sounds suspicious to us…

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Major advances in the prosthetics industry have led to the development of the bebionic3 by RSLSteeper – a carbon-fiber myoelectric hand which is also made from aluminum and alloy knuckles. The bebionic3 moves by responding to muscle twitches in the upper arm, and uses sensors to trigger one of 14 pre-pgroammed grips that mirror common human hand movements. Users can finally engage in delicate movements, like typing on a keyboard, handing fragile objects like an egg, and even use a computer mouse thanks to programmable sensitivity settings. The muscles in the user’s upper arm cause the bebionic3 to move each finger with incredible precision. The arm was crafted out of layers of advanced silicone material, and constructed with an integrated reinforcing mesh that makes it soft and durable while being both easy to remove and clean. Plus, the arm is available in 19 different lifelike colour shades to look as authentic as possible. Truly wonderful advances for the prosthetic-wearing community.

Keeping your drink cold doesn’t have to be boring thanks to the Death Star Ice Sphere Mould. The 2.4″ diameter deathstar mould is dishwasher and freezer safe, made of food-safe silicone and makes any drink infinitely cooler (pardon the pun…or don’t) than ever before. As a bonus, the Death Star Sphere Mould can be used to make soap or chocolate, too, but let’s face it – pouring a drink over the Death Star could bring about a sense of satisfaction you never knew you were missing. Besides, now your nerdy jokes will hold more klout at your next party.

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Running from one terminal to another with your carry-on luggage just got a lot easier thanks to the awesome Scooter Luggage by Micro. Developed in tandem with Samsonite, this handy little luggage case of 26L capacity features hard-side construction and has a built-in kickboard that folds out to transform the luggage into a mobile pieces of transportation. Rolling around on a luggage scooter seems kind of goofy at first, but tell the guy who missed his flight by one minute after having ran through the airport and he’ll likely admit he wouldn’t have cared about looking goofy. Here’s hoping the airport allows for scooter action in the terminals…we can only imagine the red tape that will come with this invention. Then again, if those wheely sneakers are allowed, the Mirco Scooter Luggage should be, too!

Remember cutting out snowflake designs from folded pieces of paper as a kid? Well these photographs by Russian photographer, Andrew Osokin, serve as great inspiration. The intricate detail and delicate forms are thanks to Mother Nature herself, and luckily, through the science of macro photography and Osokin’s keen eye, we can admire these crystal beauties up close. Next time you’re running for cover from the snowy skies, think of these photographs and imagine that every single little flake is it’s own work of art.

What better way for Pizza Hut to celebrate having reached 100,000 Facebook fans than by creating a Pizza Hut perfume? Prompted by a joke on the official Pizza Hut Facebook page, the company’s advertising agency decided to run with the idea and manufacture 110 bottle of Eau de Pizza Hut. The scent boasts top notes of freshly baked, hand-tossed dough – the same smell that makes customers salivate upon entering the doors of a Pizza Hut restaurant, or the first whiff that escapes a newly opened box of freshly baked pie. The limited number of perfume bottles were auctioned away through the Pizza Hut Perfume Auction in December 2012. The scents have all been auctioned off, as far as we can tell, one of which reached the price of US$415 after being sold through ebay by an unthankful recipient of the perfume who was eager to make a buck instead of proudly stink of fresh pizza.

Here’s hoping the wacky perfume scent goes into production worldwide – after all, smelling like patchouli (or a hooker, on the other end of the spectrum) is so last year.

This Spock hood sold through ThinkGeek is exclusively suitable for fashion-flawed nerds who still manage to wear things like this and be cool about it. The hood is actually made for the ladies, but we won’t tell if you wear one, dude. The Spock Hoodie comes with pointed Vulcan ears on the hood and a drawstring so you can tighten up your hood and rock your Spock-famous ears like a pro. The hood is made of 60% cotton and 40% polyester. This item would make a great outfit for major events such as the first day of school, graduation day, your 60th birthday party or your best friend’s wedding. Sadly, Spock-like logic and intelligence is sold separately.

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Latvian conceptual artist and creative director Voldemars Dudums created this insanely clever bird feeder using an old computer keyboard and some cubes of bacon fat. When the birds would fly down to snack their inadvertent key presses were fed to an api that parsed each little tap into a bonafide tweet on the @hungry_birds Twitter account (fyi, these particular feathered friends became political during the U.S. elections, so there’s that). The birds, mostly tomtits, would tweet roughly 100 times each day and could even be watched live over on Birds on Twitter. It even landed Dudums a people’s choice award for Guerrilla Innovation in Advertising. Unfortunately the project went offline in March of this year, as that’s when the cryptic avian tweets cease. I feel like a schmuck for being so late to the party on this, but reading through the archive of tweets is still pretty entertaining for random literary gems like “OOOMMMGGGGG” and “AIAIAIA”.

Via thisiscolossal.com

French photographer Laurent Chehere is known for his commercial work for clients such as Audi and Nike, but after a change of interest he left advertising and traveled the world with stops throughout China, Argentina, Columbia, and Boliva. From his numerous photographs along the way was born his flying houses series, a collection of fantastical buildings, homes, tents and trailers removed from their backgrounds and suspended in the sky as if permanently airborne. The collection of work appeared at Galerie Paris-Beijing last year with an appearance at Art Miami in December.

Via thisiscolossal.com

Artist Ed Fairburn draws incredible portraits on maps. Sure, it sounds like a simple idea and an easy thing to execute, but this type of careful composition and use of shading in illustration is not easy accomplished by many. Fairburn claims that his art is largely figurative, and through the exploration of the human form, he is ble to examine the patterns and structures which exist across the body. Emphasis is placed on the fragmented texture of the skin, a process which has encouraged his work to evolve from its occupation of plain paper to the potential occupation of other, pre-fragmented or pre-patterned surfaces (like…maps). These works of art remind us of those 3D posters where you have to stare at it for a minute before you can see the hidden image – somehow, the facial compositions are not as obvious at first glance, but a little bit of distance when viewing will prove that these portraits are truly beautiful and unique.

Barcelona-based illustrator, Giselle Vitali, has produced an impressive collection of anatomical icons for various social media and web platforms. The icons of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Behance, and more are illustrated to resemble muscle, tissue and bones in a series entitled “Musculante”. The artist says:

“Experimentar a fondo—las redes sociales nos invaden, no sabemos si ellas son parte de nosotros o nosotros de ellas. No sabemos tampoco, quien utiliza a quien. Basados en esto, supongo que deben de tener carne, mucosas y huesos, aunque no se, si sentimientos, como nosotros mismos!”

Translation: “Experimenting thoroughly—the social networks invade us, we do not know if they are part of us or we of them. We do not know either, who uses whom. Based on this, I guess they must have meat, bones and mucus, and even feelings, like ourselves!”

Well put, Giselle Vitali. We love the transparency present in the illustrations, as if we can see more than just muscles and tissue, we can see the veins and passage of blood. Too cool.

If being chopstick-impaired has left you unable to eat your food with a more exciting utensil than a fork, your sad days are finally over. The Tukanni Chopsticks designed by Kayiwa are made of sterling silver and are circle spring-loaded, so you can be sure you’ll be able to pinch that sushi roll successfully. Although, be warned, the ease that comes with using chopsticks does not come cheap – these babies cost a pretty penny. Perhaps it is a small price to pay in order to be able to eat in the sophisticated manner of the Japanese without fumbling over sticks. Right? Hmm..we’re not so sure. But we think these are cool anyways.

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Ready for Season 3 of Downtown Abbey? We sure are…

Kim Parkhurst, owner, designer and curator over at toadbriar has come up with this set (cleverly titled Houndton Tabby) of fine prints featuring rather distinguished cats and dogs as main characters from the hit PBS show Downton Abbey.

This prints are made with archival materials tested to last 200+ years under indoor lighting conditions. The print surface has a velvety matte finish which allows every detail to be clear and richly colored. It is signed by the original artist and will arrive with an acid-free backing.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “selfie”, allow us to share the definition as presented by UrbanDictionary.com:

“A Selfie is a picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.”

We LOVE that advertising agency Lowe Cape Town has re-imagined some of the world’s most iconic photographs as selfie shots, complete with extended arm and big grins. The collection was created as part of a campaign for South-African based newspaper, “Cape Times”, with a slogan that read: “You can’t get any closer to the news. Know all about it”. The executive director behind the project is Kirk Gainsford, Art Director credit goes to Dane Alexander, and agency producer credit goes to Tenille Abrahams. Also involved in the project are copywriters Natalie Rose and Melanie Horenz, with photography credit going to David Prior. What a wonderful collection of images, we can’t get enough of them! Although, all that is missing is the classic selfie “duckface”.

official ad agency site

https://twitter.com/lowecapetown

Ever wonder what your little bundle of joy is dreaming about? We do all the time (same applies for our doggies), and love that photographer Adele Enerson has created a series of images that depict what her son, Vincent, might be dreaming about while napping. Clad in white jumpers and positioned against a white background, Vincent was photographed during nap time and Enerson sketched imagery over iPhone photos using her stylus pen. We love the simple style behind these photographs and love the interpretations of what Vincent’s body language indicates. Well done, mommy-artist.

StickyGram is a personalized printing service from the brains at Mint Digital that turns your Instagram images into lovely little magnets. You create your pack online and they deliver them right to your door.

Each StickyGram is 50mm x 50mm. That’s approximately the same size as they appear on your iPhone. They come in packs of 9. Their unique process produces a flexible yet durable magnet that displays the quality of your original images. Stick them on your fridge, locker or any magnet loving surface you can find. Each pack is hand checked by a member of Team StickyGram before it goes out the door to ensure each pack is top notch.

StickyGram began as an experiment by Kejia Zhu and the team at Mint Digital to create physical objects from the web. Bringing Instagram into the real world turned out to be an idea that excited people. After much prototyping and coffee, the StickyGram service was born. As for Mint Digital, it started on an ironing board in a drafty Brixton flat. Now they’ve got fancy offices in London’s Clerkenwell and New York’s Soho. Since 2004, they have been focused on improving our expertise in the four competencies that are vital for launching a digital product: concept, design, software development and online marketing.

STICKY YOUR INSTAGRAMS NOW! CLICK HERE.

Artist Lorenz Potthast has figured out a way to slow down time. Ok, not really, but his Decelerator Helmet certainly manages to trick the mind into believing time is slowing. The helmet takes a video signal from the outside mounted camera that is displayed on the screen of the helmet and simultaneously inside the helmet for the user to see. Using a remote that accompanies the helmet, the user can choose to slow down or accelerate the video feed of time as it is passing in real life. It’s all pretty deep, but equally cool, don’t you think? Imagine being able to slow down or speed up time – allowing you to savour those special moments, or hurry past the irrelevant ones. Plus, the headgear is pretty badass in a nautical-astronaut-media-alien kind of way.

Nostalgia Electrics has finally answered our prayers – a toaster that toasts a bun and cooks a hot dog at the same time is now available! Ok, fine, we never in a million years would pray for this invention, but now that it’s here, we thought we’d share this wacky item with you in case you’re one of those hot dog fanatics that loves the idea of a quick-and-easy dog meal on the fly. The Toaster comes with adjustable heat controls, a removable hot dog basket, a removable drip tray, a cord wrap for easy storage and a pair of mini tongs so you can access your newly toasted delicacies with ease. Personally, we prefer hot dogs that are a little more on the crispy side (all 100% beef), but who are we to judge?

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Drinking in public is not widely accepted (or legal) in many cities, and if you happen to live in such a horrid place, you may want to consider investing in these concealed beverage pouches. Depending on your taste (and physique) you can choose the BeerBelly model in which a polyurethane “bladder”-shaped pouch can be worn under a shirt to resemble a fat belly, when in reality, the pouch is filled with 80 ounces of a hot or cold beverage and comes with a drinking tube to be used as a straw. On the flip side, the female version of a secret beverage pouch is positioned on a woman’s bustline (or a man’s for that matter… there aren’t rules when it comes to secret-beverage-consumption-product fashion). The pouch is meant to resemble a larger bust, and is appropriately called the Wine Rack. Unlike the BeerBelly, a larger pouch can work in favour of she who is wearing it – big beer bellies…not hot…big boobs, on the other hand, are more likely to garner social praise and admiration.

We admit, these devices do not present the classiest way to consume alcohol in public (ever heard of the ol’ paper bag concept?) but these products score high on creativity (and ridiculousness) which is why we like them.

We’ve always wondered what the Land of Lucky Charms cereal would be like – surely a wonderful place with lots of sweets to be had. Thanks to photographer Ernie Button’s ongoing series entitled “Cerealism”, we no longer have to think quite as hard to imagine a world made up of our favourite crunchy and sweet breakfast food. Button’s motivation behind the series is quite interesting.

In his artist statement, he shares the following: “Art is shaped by a person’s life experiences and I am no different. When I was a youngster, cereal was a luxury item. A brand name cereal was a rarity in our house as they were consistently more expensive. Something like King Vitamin (a popular 70′s cereal) or Cap’n Crunch made for pure breakfast heaven as a child. On a recent trip to the grocery store, there sat King Vitamin next to a new version of Cap’n Crunch, Choco Donuts. Looking at the rest of the cereal aisle, it is clear that breakfast cereal has changed from mere nutrition to sheer entertainment. The cereal aisle has become a cornucopia of vibrantly colored marshmallows that resemble people and objects and characters from movies, as if they were calling out to have their portraits taken, to be the center of attention.

However, on the other side of the aisle sits the more ‘adult’ cereals (i.e. fiber, bran). Having lived in Arizona for over 35 years, those cereals upon close inspection resemble some of the shapes and colors and textures of the southwestern desert. I began to construct landscapes that would utilize the natural earth tones of certain cereals. I placed enlarged photographs of actual Arizona skies in the background of the cereal landscapes giving the final image an odd sense of reality. It is apparent that cereal is not just for breakfast anymore. Cereal has evolved into pop culture objects instead of just nutritious corn pops.

I took a few years off from the world of Cerealism to pursue other photography projects. During that time, I experienced some changes in my health that forced me to examine what I was eating and change the foods that I consume. It pushed me to look closely at what nutrition means. I am much more informed and aware of what I consume. Even though I don’t eat cereal that much anymore, I still find breakfast cereal fascinating on a visual level: is it food, is it entertainment, is it nourishment, is it really a dessert or is it all of the above? I don’t want it to seem like I’m picking on cereal but the macro world of cereal provides me with the perfect vehicle to examine and highlight what it is that people eat; from the frosting-like coating that covers the marshmallows to the brightly colored cereals that turn milk a variety of pastel hues other than white.”

These fun images make us smile, and a little hungry, too.

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Fool your co-workers and fellow party-goers at holiday parties with the OPUS collection of Next ties from Zazzle. The Perfect Hairy Chest and Stomach Neck Tie are likely to prevent you from making new friends right off the bat, but the Bodybuilder Neck Tie might have a different effect. Our personal favourite (and definitely a winner in wardrobe options for the next medical seminar you have to attend) is the anatomical Xray of Entrails Neck Tie. Finally, a neck tie that is so off-the-wall that we want to buy one of every design for all our friends.

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Justin Gershenson-Gates is a Chicago-based jeweller who designs these wonderful insect sculptures made from watch parts and light bulbs. Gershenson-Gates also creates wonderful works of jewelry from old watch parts, but this post is all about the intricate creepy-crawllies that are sold through his Etsy shop, A Mechanical Mind. The Mechanical Spider, for example, requires an incredible amount of manual labour, including thirty four soldered joints in the spider’s legs alone. The artists does not use any glue or resin to fasten pieces, everything is soldered into place and impossible to reproduce perfectly.

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http://www.etsy.com/listing/116436525/mechanical-spider-sculpture-no-12

Phorce is the world’s first smart bag. We live in the mobile age. You can wake up in San Francisco, spend the afternoon in New York, and be back in the West Coast right on time for drinks. Whether you walk or ride around your hometown, drive to another city, or fly to another continent- your trusty bag is always with you.

Unfortunately bags haven’t changed much over time, so they’re a little outdated. Phorce is designed to be the ultimate bag for the mobile age. Phorce can hold lots of stuff in its minimalist design. It can power all your devices, even MacBooks! It can communicate with your smartphone. It can transform from a messenger bag into a backpack, or briefcase. And so much more…

Phorce can charge up to 3 usb-devices simultaneously. Charge smartphones, tablets, iPods, GoPro and other cameras, smart watches, portable speakers, noise-canceling headphones, and thousands of other devices.


On top of charging all your other gear, Phorce for Mac can also power a MacBook for up to 7 extra hours*. So leave that bulky wall charger at home, and enjoy the freedom to work (or play) from anywhere.

Thanks to its integrated lightweight battery pack, Phorce is powerful enough to charge an iPhone 5 over 8 times, a Galaxy S3 about 6 times, or an iPad Mini 2.5 times. Phorce has more power than you’ll need, so it’s always there when you need it.

Phorce connects and communicates with your smartphone via Bluetooth. The Phorce app (iOS & Android) shows you exactly how much power your bag has left and what you can do with it. Intuitive graphics display the exact number of times Phorce can still charge your devices, like your phone. You can also ask Phorce to send you notifications, for example a reminder to charge Phorce when its battery’s running low.

Losing your bag means losing a lot of valuable possessions: your laptop, tablet, keys, money, your personal files & documents, and -of course- your bag. Whether you forget your bag when rushing out the door in the morning, leaving a restaurant or coffee shop, getting off a plane, metro, or train, or out of a taxi – you’ll receive a notification on your phone as soon as Phorce is outside of your range, so you can quickly run back and rescue it from the evil clutches of your arch nemesis.

What we bring, where we go, how we get there, and what we do once we get there varies from day to day. Phorce can adjust itself to your needs, thanks to its unique construction and strap system. Phorce can transform from a messenger bag, to a backpack, or briefcase in a matter of seconds, so you can carry it however you want to. Transforming Phorce requires no additional components, and can be done on the go, in a matter of seconds.

Magnetic black suede handles, rich padding for your shoulders & back, and anti-slip shoulder straps make Phorce very comfortable to carry – even for long periods of time. Phorce is constructed out of a durable, water-resistant, custom-coated fabric, and features waterproof zippers to keep your gear dry. Impact-resistant padding protects your devices against shocks and bumps.Despite all its features and technology, Phorce’s weight is comparable to other premium bags at just 3.7 lbs (1.7 kg). This means Phorce is light enough to comfortably carry around all day.

Phorce has just been funded on Kickstarter. Keep and eye out for it’s official release!

We love it when creative folk decide to put a spin on typical holiday imagery. Thanks to numerous illustrators and graphic designers, we are able to feast our eyes on Zombie Santas – you didn’t think Santa would survive the zombie apocalypse, did you? Trading in his cookies and milk for brains, brains and more brains, these hilarious renditions of Santa as Zombie are sure to shake things up this holiday season (because, really…how many photos of cute kittens with Santa hats can you keep looking at by now?).

USA-based Etsy shop, realfruitjewelry has become one of our favourite Etsy vendors. The colourful, fun and whimsical jewelry is all made from real fruit and preserved with a hard, water-resistant resin coating to ensure the fruit pieces last a lifetime. Truly a unique idea, and a great gift for fruit-and-colour lovers. We love the collection of vibrant, exotic fruits available in earrings, necklaces, rings and cufflinks. Our personal face? The real strawberry necklace in all it’s perfect imperfectness. The tomato earrings are pretty kitshcy-cool, too. Since all the pieces are made from different fruits, sizes and shapes may vary – but that’s all part of the one-of-a-kind fun, isn’t it?

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Parisian artist Clement Briend works with projections as an artistic medium. He is known for his works in which he projects meaningful or haunting images onto every day objects such as doors, buildings, bridges and in this case, trees. The series is called “Cambodian Trees” and features imagery of Cambodian spirits and deities projected onto trees around the city of Phnom Penh. The trees are beautifully illuminated at night, setting the stage for a pretty ominous (or enlightening) scene. Briend lives and works in Paris, and also teaches photography at the University of Valenciennes.

Chilean architectural firm, James and Mau Architects, is best known for their prefabricated houses, including this uniquely designed house made called the Manifesto House (as built by Infinski) that was built using mostly recycled, reused and eco-friendly materials. 85% of the house boasts a green building standard. Materials like cork, iron, wood, aluminum, noble woods and eco-ceramics were combined to create a pretty cool design aesthetic that can be replicated in just under 3 months. Not bad! We love that the majority of the house is constructed out of wood pallet skids – a great way to reuse a popular material and product that is often discarded. Plus, all the wood slats arranged in opposing angles makes for a cool design.

We shared our favourite ugly Christmas sweaters with you in the past, and this year, it’s time to shake things up a bit. Behold: Some of the ugliest Christmas trees ever. Too bad not everyone is fortunate enough to have a keen eye when it comes to holiday decor. We hope these people didn’t pay much for these trees. We can’t help but think of little Charlie Brown and his super sad Christmas tree…hopefully these images will make ol’ Charlie feel a little bit better.

Christmas is a time for giving, so why not give your lover a little extra something to be thankful for this year with some of these sexy Christmas costumes?! Sexy elves, reindeer, a sexy snowman and plenty of Mrs. Claus outfits are sure to keep the men joyful during the holiday season, not to mention the super sexy get ups for men, too. Who knew Rudolph could be so…sultry?

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If you’re still waiting until you become a famous celebrity or superhero so you can have your own action figure is no longer necessary. Now, you don’t need the mega bucks nor the celebrity status thanks to the Omote 3D photo booth (that is more like a photo studio with employees) that will print out a 3D figurine of you or a friend (or both!) in tandem with 3D printing technology. To get a figurine of yourself made, all you have to do is book an appointment at the Omote 3D booth in Tokyo, stand still for 15 minutes while someone scans you with a stereoscopic camera, and then wait a month for your beautiful figurine-self to be printed and shipped to you. The company boasts their ability to provide group-shots in 3D form, but is unable to support super wacky poses, so your best bet is act like the most inactive, immobile action figure ever (since that is what your figurine-self will be anyways).

omote 3d official site

http://www.omote3d.com/index.html

Mischa Barton has designed a series of iPhone and iPad cases for UUnique London – makers of luxury mobile cases and pouches. Mischa Barton revealed one of her designs for UUnique London’s “London Lotus iPhone 5 Case” that will cost $302,985 – the world’s most expensive iPhone 5 case. The case features 18-carat rose gold along with shimmering pink and white diamonds. Some of Barton’s other designs start at $40 and go up to $960 and mostly feature designs that boast the patterns of intricate embroidery, embossing and fine fabrics. Obviously, instead of building wells and feeding people of starving countries, $302,985 is well spent on an accessory for an ever-changing piece of technology. Well done, UUnique London.