Archive for the 'wacky' Category

Amron Heatswell: Heat Swelling Material

Monday, March 29th, 2010


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

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010


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

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010


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

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Charlie Brooker – How To Report The News

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

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


LIFE: Discovery Series

Saturday, March 20th, 2010


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

Thursday, March 18th, 2010


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

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

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

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Infographic: Mega Shark by Stephen Taubman

Friday, March 5th, 2010


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

Thursday, February 25th, 2010


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

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010


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


Super Chilled Soda Bottles: Shake for Ice

Saturday, January 9th, 2010


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.

more videos after jump.
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Chairs placed on streets of NYC, then tracked with GPS

Saturday, January 9th, 2010


Awesome experiment!

Blue Dot Studio put 25 of their chairs on the streets of Manhanttan, and then followed the chairs through a combination of GPS and video surveillance as people picked them up and took them home–which, by the way, the public could follow in real time on Twitter. Then they interviewed the chair-collectors. This is the film.I love the friendly use of hacked mobile and surveillance technologies to enhance the shared nature of urban experience, and the exploration of how today’s brick-and-mortar cities are fused with real-time electronic interactions. I love the way these people talk about how the chairs intersect with their lives, and the passionate way they speak of “curb-mining” and upcycling the things they find on the city streets.”

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment

vimeo video

via boingboing