DesignVerb! » wacky

Contraband: Strange Cargo at Kennedy Airport

tango! — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:34:02 +0000

The NYtimes has a great post on “Strange Cargo at Kennedy Airport” by Taryn Simon. Everything from the bizarre, the obvious, questionable, and extremely curious objects.

“These images are from a set of 1,075 photographs — shot over five days last year for the book and exhibition, ‘‘Contraband’’ — of items detained or seized from passengers or express mail entering the United States from abroad at the New York airport. The miscellany of prohibited objects — from the everyday to the illegal to the just plain odd — attests to a growing worldwide traffic in counterfeit goods and natural exotica and offers a snapshot of the United States as seen through its illicit material needs and desires. ”

See the project here, read more about it, or see many of the picture mirrored after the jump.
Buy the book with all 1,075 images on Steidl.

Spider Crab Shelling!

tango! — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:18:06 +0000

I’ve heard about crustaceans crawling out of their own shells but I’ve never seen a spider crab with long legs yank itself out with such ease. It sure makes my crab eating skills an embarrassment. How cool would it be if you could just pull out all the meat all at once skipping the hammer and crackers!
Watch the video above and starting around 0:55 it gets mighty fascinating!

Wedding Proposal

tango! — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 19:40:26 +0000

I’ve seen some pretty creative proposals (ie, the designers proposal), but when the person proposing is in the film/entertainment world, this is what you get! How awesome. Watch the entertainment proposal above or here.

TEDxCambridge: How do you eat? May 16th

tango! — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:08:00 +0000

I’ve been incredibly busy helping organize the TEDxCambridge event occurring May 16th at the MIT Stata Center. The theme “How do you eat” is based off of this year TED prize winner Jamie Oliver in regards to Food and education. If you are in Boston May 16th, apply to get an invite and let me know. We can only invite 300 attendees and registration will close soon. You can learn more on tedxcambridge.com

Also, if you are in a position to sponsor any food, funding, or gifts for the event, please contact me asap. (now! =) ).
We will have 2 break sessions followed by an evening event in eating, drinking, and idea sharing!

Lots of awesome speakers in the line up!
- Wylie Dufresne: WD 50
- Chandler Burr: Times Scent critic
- Dan Ariely: Behavioral Economist
- Richard Chisolm: Filmmaker
- John Gertsen: Mixologist
- many more!

update: Photos on flickr, via eddric(350),Tino(40), JB (60), millie(16)

Peter Root: Ephemicropolis

tango! — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:13:02 +0000

Artist Peter Root takes 100,000 staples to create Ephemicropolis representing a small city ranging in building sizes.
via designboom

tons of pics mirrored after jump.

Circular Walking Bookshelf

tango! — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:13:14 +0000

Fun, not sure why, but I can see having a spinning bookshelf in a house being interesting.

more pics after jump via david garcia

via likecool

EVOL

tango! — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:27:36 +0000

“EVOL is a berlin based street artist that transforms banal urban surfaces, into miniature architectural surfaces through pasting. using pasted paper, EVOL transforms electric boxes, small planters and other geometric city forms, into miniature apartment buildings and other structures. each piece of paper is printed with a repetitive pattern of flat gray walls dotted with plain window frames. once applied to a surface, the paper transforms the form into small building that EVOL often adorns with small characters. EVOL performs this process within different cities and has even been commissioned to do installations in galleries, where he was created entire blocks of miniature buildings.”

http://www.evoltaste.com

Mirrored pictures after jump via designboom

photo: EVOL

UK’s Seed Cathedral is a Tribute to Green

tango! — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:14:55 +0000

Wow! This fuzzy like cathedral of spiky seeds is awesome!

“With just under 2 weeks to go until the shanghai world expo 2010 opens, the UK pavilion has been complete and is being used for testing ahead of the event.

Designed by thomas heatherwick studio the 20 meter high cube like structure is pierced by 60,000 slim and transparent acrylic rods. the centerpiece of the pavilion is the seed cathedral, where visitors will be able to explore a variety of seeds of different plants featured on the end of each rod.”

mirrored pics after the jump via designboom

construction of the pavilion

the union jack on the pavilion

entrance into pavilion

rods being inserted into the wall

rods

rods with seeds at the end

rods being inserted in the wall

construction of the pavilion

If paper towels could talk

tango! — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:47:01 +0000

haha. If paper towels could talk. Please someone make a lineup of these…tissue paper, toilet paper, rolls, etc.

via bookofjoe

Amron Heatswell: Heat Swelling Material

tango! — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:22:09 +0000

I’ve seen a variety of cool materials in my days but I’ve never thought about using one to act as a cup holder after pouring in a hot beverage as this Heatswell project by Amron does. I’m very curious to find out if the actual forms can be controlled. I’m guessing the forms don’t retract either, but if they did, I’d imagine a whole line-up of clothing that changed forms based on the humidity in ones environment. Watch the video above or here. (it gets much more interesting after 1:35)

Shoes that make everyone the same height

tango! — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:48:39 +0000

Woa, awesome project, from way back in 1997. Making shoes to make everyone level. What are the social behaviors now…

“Berlin-based artist Hans Hemmert (famous for his work with balloons) threw a party where guests wore shoe-extenders to make them all the same height of 2 meters. Aside from bringing the partygoers all to a common eye level (and eliminating the awkward postures of party talk between the tall and the short), the gathering is lent an infographic nature by the shoes: all made from blue foam, the person’s real height is read in the visual uniformity of the sole instead of at the head—like a walking bar graph.

This (completely underpublished) project, entitled “Level,” is from 1997, produced for the Personal Absurdities show at the Galerie Gebauer Berlin. Finding it now, in 2010, I can’t help but read it as a design event, getting directly at the basic qualities that shape our interactions with others—what does it mean when we all share one height?

Hans Hemmert is part of the art collective Inges Idee. Check out their site for more amazing projects in public space.”

via core77

Esslack Food Spray

tango! — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:33:06 +0000

See it, spray it, bling it, eat it! Korefe makes some edible Silver and Gold paint, making sure to capture your guests curiosity! I want to eat silver cereal!

More pics after the jump.

via lovelypackage

Charlie Brooker – How To Report The News

tango! — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:37:09 +0000

haha, this is awesome! Charlie Brooks gives the 101 in How to Report The News! Watch it above or here.

LIFE: Discovery Series

tango! — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:56:55 +0000

Back in January, EG conference attendees experienced the premiere screening of Life, a new series by Discovery and the BBC on nature after their Planet Earth film! On March 21st at 8pm EST, LIFE will premiere on TV and I highly suggest watching it.

From water running lizards, to frogs that bounce like rubber balls as a defense, an intense new understanding in frog tongues, to the most beautiful bird gestures I’ve ever seen. Get a glimpse of the film on the LIFE site, or on a few video clips below:

The Bouncing Pebble Toad
Queer Eye for the Straight Vogelkop Bowerbird
In Love with Weedy Seadragons
The Jesus Christ Lizard

Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp

tango! — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:57:05 +0000

By far my favorite talk at this years TED was cell biologist Mark Roth talk about Suspended Animation! Unbelievable! TEDsters were running around the bar asking for Hydrogen Sulfide after the talk.

“Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. It’s wild stuff, but it’s not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help trauma and heart attack victims survive long enough to be treated.”

Watch the video above or here.

Gehard Demetz: Wood Carvings

tango! — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:12:58 +0000

Gehard Demetz makes some incredibly amazing wood carvings that are mysterious, eerie, beautiful, and full of emotion! I’m not sure what the story is behind each one of these pieces but I’d love to find out.

See several of his wood carving pieces after the jump.

mirror via 4otos

Infographic: Mega Shark by Stephen Taubman

tango! — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:11:18 +0000

Here’s a pretty cool Mega Shark Infographic by Stephen Taubman inspired by the movie Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus (youtube clip here). Click on the image above for a larger image, or download the pdf here.

via taubman.com

MIT Flyfire Swarm Concept

tango! — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:57:49 +0000

Hmmm, perhaps one day we wont be looking at pixels on a screen, but walking right into them thanks to these firefly LED flying bots. I’d like to imagine them as LED dust instead. Watch the video here.

via gizmodo

TEDMED: David Blaine

tango! — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:11:01 +0000

Great lecture by magician David Blaine during TEDMED 2009. Watch it here.

Super Chilled Soda Bottles: Shake for Ice

tango! — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:40:21 +0000

While in Hong Kong I was told about some Coca-Cola soda bottle that created ice just by shaking it. These soda bottles are stored in a special vending machine throughout Hong Kong. When you open it, then shake it a bit, the inside liquid creates ice! I didn’t have the time to fetch one of these bottles, but I found a few video clips (here, here, and the above video) .

From my knowledge, the soda is the same as regular soda, but the temperature is a bit more chilly. When you shake the soda after opening it, carbon throughout the bottle fizzes up, creating ice crystals, hence making ice. It’s just the right temperature to turn some of the of the liquid to slush, but not freeze the whole bottle. I’m making a guess about how this all works based on this “Beer magic trick video” though it seems to also work with plain water. I’m going to have to give this trick a try.