Video Slime

My friend Shael, an aspiring video game developer, has taken some older Slime pieces and embedded them into a video game based on the movie JUMPER. Pretty awesome (Slimeball being in the game - not the movie...hehe). Click here for a link to the video game trailer.

I'm heading out to Mount Baker in Washington state for a few days of shred. Back on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Funny Money

Absolutely brilliant! I've seen origami rings made out of an American bill but nothing like this. Check out all of the rest of the work here.

Speaking of Talent

This guy's work has been popping up on a number of blog and art related sites...it's so interesting I couldn't resist posting it. If you haven't noticed, the canvases are made entirely with packaging tape. More here.

Work By Wiles

A friend of mine (Giles) sent me a work in progress shot of his snowboard. He's taken an old deck and given it a facelift - making it one of a kind. I'd love to see any work you've done. Please send any photos to zachklein.1@gmail.com

Obey Obama

Sup ya'll - hope the weekend was good.

Came across this image - Shepard Fairey (the man behind the Obey Giant) has produced a print endorsing democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. I think this is the first OBEY print that doesn't have critical or negative overtones to the work. More about the print and Fairey's thoughts here.

If you are interested in Obey and Shepard Fairey here is a link to the PSFK conference he spoke at this past December. During the 45 minute video he spoke about how he takes his art and applies it commercially, exploring how he works with brands and agencies. There's some good discussion & links on the bottom of the page (with the video). Enjoy

Thinking Inside the Box

A crazy new trend is emerging in South Korea where people are paying money to lie inside a casket which is later nailed shut for 15 minutes. The mock funeral is said to make participants reflect on their lives and think about their future. Talk about putting things in perspective! I can see how this would be psychologically and emotionally exhilarating - tapping into a part of your mind that we generally ignore. In Western culture, we have a funny way of simply ignoring the fact that at some point - we will die. I wonder if this would have a lasting effect on one's perspective of life and death. I've sourced the article from the Globe & Mail and placed it below.

CHUNGJU, SOUTH KOREA -- After solemnly reading their wills, seven perfectly healthy university students climb into caskets in a dimly lit hall.

Workers nail the coffins shut, then sprinkle dirt on top as the lights are switched off and a dirge is played. Muffled sobs can be heard from some of the coffins. About 15 minutes later, they are opened and the five men and two women are “reborn.”

The mock funeral, which aims to get participants to map out a better future by reflecting on their past, is part of a new trend in South Korea called “well-dying.” It's an extension of “well-being,” an English phrase adopted into Korean to describe a growing interest in healthier, happier lives.

Experts see the well-being and well-dying trend as a sign that South Koreans have grown affluent enough to be able to consider quality-of-life issues. Others dismiss the fake funerals simply as moneymaking ventures.

Korea Life Consulting, which staged the mock funeral for the students, charges up to $325 per customer.

“I felt really, really scared inside the coffin and also thought a lot about my mom,” said Lee Hye-jung, a 23-year-old woman studying engineering. “I'll live differently from now on so as not to have any regrets about my life.”

Ko Min-su, who heads Korea Life Consulting, said about 50,000 people have taken part in his fake funerals since they began in 2004. Most are in their 30s and 40s. His company has eight offices around the country.

Some leading firms see “well-dying” as a way of improving employees' job performance. In 2006, Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest firm, enrolled 900 workers from one of its factories. The experience makes workers more efficient, said Kim Hee-jin, a personnel manager at Samsung.

At the students' funeral at a mountain resort in Chungju, 150 kilometres south of Seoul, photos of celebrities who died prematurely, including Diana, Princess of Wales, and John F. Kennedy, were hung on the walls.

Participants take a class on the meaning of life, pose for portrait photos to be used at the service and write wills as if they have three days to live.

“Mom and Dad! Everything I have now is from you, your teaching and your love. I'm so sorry that I have to leave you behind,” said Hwang Yun-jin, a 29-year-old mechanical-engineering major, crying as she read her will aloud.

Korea Life Consulting's Mr. Ko, a 40-year-old former insurance agent, launched the business after realizing the fragility of life following the deaths of his two older brothers in plane and car accidents. “Everyone can die unexpectedly,” he said.

Bunnin' Up Dee Chalwa

It's a safe....no...it's a vending machine....no it's both...the image below is a chalwa vending machine with the security system that could stump Tom Cruise. More about it here. Big up to Blobbo for this one.

Paint Jobs

Pretty damn funny - someone has taken porn stills and painted over the images with the PC Paint Accessory. More images here. Somewhat of a viewer beware...

Fuck yo car!

The world would be a much better place if everyone where on a bike instead of in a car- less pollution, fitter people and no traffic! This article from PSFK (amazing blog if you've never been there) claims that travel time in London is slower that they were 100 years ago! WTF?!? - it's time we the rethink the system we rely on for transportation.

The PSFK article mentioned above also had a link to a bicycle completely made of bamboo...how cool is that! The bike is made by Calfee Design.

Bass In Ya Face

You like 2LiveCrew? Heard of Miami Bass? Here's how Wikipedia describes it:

Miami bass (also known as booty music, a term that may also include other genres, such as dirty rap, is a type of hip hop music that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. It is known for applying the Roland TR-808 sustained kick drum, slightly higher dance tempos, and occasionally sexually explicit lyrical content.

If you're interested you can download albums and sets from here.

Tasty & Fun

The gaming world is clearly having an impact on pop culture these days. Take a look at these delicious looking consoles. Thanks Senor Blobbo for the link. Please feel free to sent me anything for posting! Have a great day!

Next Fall - The Medevil Torturer

Another one from BoingBoing...what exactly is going on here is beyond me. You can read more here.

Sweeney Todd 2.0

Ok...I'm just gonna try and post stuff up instead of putting everything together in one post.



















Source: http://www.boingboing.net/

Cuddlingus - The act of cuddling, spooning or snuggling

Aiiight...day 3 and I'm starting to get the hang of this. One thing that's certain is that the look of the blog needs to be more appealing and interactive. I feel like you are a constrained when it comes to the look of the blog when working off a provider. Nonetheless, I'm gonna work on a header over the weekend and see what that does. If you know of any providers that offer a wider degree of personalization, please feel free to let me know.

I'm going to go back to my previous post and attribute pictures with listed links. Please let me know if you feel that a picture per link is better or adds too much to the page. I'm hoping to keep the blog succinct so people can take a quick gander at the posting and choose what they'd like to check out.

So before we get started...I'd like to thank my good friend Rob for posting the first comment. After seeing the USB posting from yesterday - he sent me a link of a Humping USB Dog. Click here to be directed to the page.

Here we go...

I love where this piece of technology is heading - the pocket projector Earlier this year I thought that it would be super cool if phones had the ability to project images onto a near by wall. Instead of cramming around a phone, you could simply project photos of your friends etc on a wall. This pocket projector was shown to the public during the 2008 CES convention.

I spent my last two evenings as a guest speaker at an OCAD course on marketing. During my presentation on trends, I shared the idea that the P2P environment is one to watch out for in 2008 and onwards (thank you TrendWatching). One of my examples of the P2P environment was Etsy and I was very surprised that none of the students had heard of this site (being at OCAD?!). I realize that Etsy has been received a lot of coverage over the last few months but I figured I'd post it anyways. For those of you who don't know what Etsy is - it's an online market place for artists. People can either post your work and sell it through the site or look for gifts and other goodies. If you haven't check it out - I highly encourage you to do so. Below is a piece of work someone is selling through the site - pretty dope.

The last post I wanted to bring to light today comes from a blog run by this dood Matt Carr who is a serious creative mind working at Umbra. On his blog he posted work done by Ian Hundley who makes cityscape quilts. They are absolutely gorgeous and I like them so much I'm going to try my hand at quilting - which according to Instructables - doesn't seem too complicated.

Finally, I've just had a thought. With a picture and an explanation of the link - this posting has gotten quite long. Maybe it would be better to simply have one link per posting and have the blog resemble a Google Reader page. Maybe I'll try that so I can upload links on the fly and not have to think about combining anything in one little package. Hmmm...again...this project will be run by trial and error. Love to hear your opinion
Have a great day.

Links - Jan 22nd

Tokyo Flash - Unique watches from Japan...I just picked up the JLR7 on Craigslist and it's great. Despite the fact it looks nothing like a "normal" watch - after a few days of practice...it's pretty easy to read.


Vandalism That Pays - Most people who wake up in the morning to find their property vandalized are rightfully pissed off. This wasn't the case for a London property owner who had his building pieced by Banksy - today's pop culture graffiti star. Lucky for the property owner, he knew the popularity and value of Banksy's work. Instead of buffing the piece, the property owner cut the wall off the building and sold it on ebay for an exorbitant amount of dough.

Unique USB Cards - People are doing some pretty fun things with USB cards. I came across this sitethrough the GeekAlert blog. I've also found some other cool USB cards on Etsy - an online market place for artists.

Flash Flood Kills 2 Writers - Two graffiti writers were killed in Australia when flash floods ripped through the drainage system they were painting in. One of the writers managed to slip through the bars at the end of the drainage system and barely escaped death. More here.

Designer AR-15 - You're about to leave your house but you know you are forgetting something. Hmmm...what could it be...oh yah...your hello kitty AR15...you bought it to match your handbag.

Sweet Links - Jan 21st

Money Celebrities - haha..alternative fun with money. If you like that you might also dig LP Portraits. Send me any fun images you have using money, LP or anything else for that matter.

Designer Darth Vader Helmets - amusing photographs of different Darth Vader helmet designs.

Resist Today - Clothing, art, bags and more accessories - all pieces include an edge of anti-capitalism.

Sweet Tape Dispenser - no pun intended

If you are like me, you secretly want the world to be infected by the solanum virus so you can put your zombie survival skills to the test. My friend told me about a comic book series called The Walking Dead. I get the impression this series is already very popular...but nonetheless...it's gotta be new to someone - it was to me!

Gaming Terminology - Gaming is the fastest growing form of mass entertainment today. It's very interesting to see how the culture is developing its identity. Here is one example of this cultural phenomenon is coming into it's own.

The Decapitator - An artist in London is attacking out of home advertising with some clever "vandalism". With the rise of artists like Banksy - everyone is looking for the next underground celebrity.

This Is A Test

It's Monday...again...I've decided to try something new this week...hence the blog...I'm hoping to eventually use this blog as a means of sharing information with my friends and family. Over the last few months my growing love for RSS and Alerts has resulted in me spending too much time sending information (links etc) to my friends. I'm hoping the blog will be able to act as a hub of an array of interesting links and thoughts (though mostly links). I'm not sure what the technicalities are with regards to sharing articles and links found on other blogs and site...this project will be run by trial & error.

I'd like to take this opportunity to try and share a link. I came across the following on Springwise. The site - LIFTOPIA offers skiers and shredders reduced lift tickets to select resorts. I took a quick gander at the site - it is good but limited in terms of how many resorts it represents. Nonetheless it's worth keeping in your back pocket - who know where you might find yourself looking for cheap lift tickets.

Finally, believe it or not, but it snowed like crazy at Mount Saint Louis Moonstone this weekend. We rolled up there expecting bulletproof hardpacked but we're blessed with two feet of fresh - completely unheard of in Onterrible. It was truly a gift - check out the MSLM site here