The recently opened Masters Craft ceramic ware boutique in the basement shopping area of Palace Hotel Tokyo is pure proof of what we already know: nobody masters the art of minimalism as well as the Japanese. Everything in this store, including how each individual item is displayed on the shelves and counters, manifests the skill of leaving all else out except what is needed for balance; of not being afraid of empty space, and of allowing every piece to tell its complete visual and tactile story. The 45 square-meter (484 sq.ft.) store was designed by Akemi Katsuno & Takashi Yagi, founders of Kyoto-based Love the Life.
There are certain things that just appeal to my sense of humor, even though these thing’s aren’t necessarily meant to be funny. And a basketball game with Rick Ross is just hilarious to me.
Alex is a native North Carolinian, 23 years old, and has been living in New York for almost five years now. Although she says she misses the mountains, the grit, grime, and glamour of good ol’ NYC is where she wants to be. Alex is a performer (dancer/actor) and is currently freelancing on a few projects in the city. She also work with kids during most days and teach yoga classes a few nights a week. The site Me In My Place certainly knows how to pick them, and whenever my team finds a girl that doesn’t fit the usual mold of this blog, but is still quite appetizing, MIMP seems to do the trick. Where else can you find a dancer/actress who has lingerie-clad pillow fights while the boys in neighboring fraternities try peeking through the windows.
A French video game collector just sold a collection of thousands of video games on eBay for more than $1.2 million. The collection includes every video game for many of Nintendo’s consoles, every video game for every single Sega console and also for lesser-known game consoles. In total, the collection includes 22 full sets with about 7,000 video games. The seller says he took exceptionally good care of his precious games. All are factory-sealed with original boxes and instructions. Many of the games have never been opened or played. He even kept the boxes away from direct sunlight. The efforts seem to have paid off, as a buyer from Canada has purchased the lot for the asking price of 999,999 euro (around $1.23m) for this jaw-dropping collection.
Rapper Lil’ Wayne released “My Homies Still” as the official first single from his much-anticipated tenth studio album “I Am Not a Human Being II”, scheduled to hit stores in 2012 via Young Money Records – In the StreetRunner & Sarom-produced urban single Weezy trades verses with G.O.O.D. Music representative Big Sean. “My Homies Still” is a sick tune! The beat is off the chain, and both Wayne and Sean throw in some of their dopest verses. To me personally it looks and feels a little bit like ‘Rella’ from Odd future… which looked and felt like ‘My Name Is‘ from Eminem. But check the method below.
Talent is all over the planet in every shape, form, size, and can come from people of any age. I’ve posted up a few videos of amazing people doing amazing things before, but the original ‘Awesome People Doing Awesome Things’ is one of the greatest to behold. Take a look below.
Mondo, the collectible art boutique arm of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, has announced their second Batman print for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. The limited edition variant of this print from world-renowned artist Olly Moss was available at Mondo’s Comic-Con booth.
Did you know that the boys and girls at work in Gaydon, Maranello and Stuttgart are all a bunch of slackers?* They are all designing half-arsed cars that aren’t quite special enough. You know the ones, those ugly Aston Martin DBS’, Mercedes SLS’ and Ferrari 458s. Luckily there is one man, a saviour, a pioneer of taste and design single-handedly saving the motoring world. That man is Kourosh Mansory.
Mr Mansory takes some of the most elegant designs of the motoring world and masks his interpretation of beauty over them by vomiting body kits onto them, splurging carbon fibre everywhere and defecating bits of gold trim around the edges. Mansory describe his work as ‘dynamically striking’, ‘extravagant’ and ‘noble’.
It comes in ice cream, square, sauce and hot chocolate form, and now the yin and yang flavor pairing of salted caramel is being applied to vodka. Stolichnaya Premium has launched what they describe as a golden brown caramel spirit “delicately enhanced with salt” in the US, the latest product to be flavored with one of the most popular sweet and savory combinations right now. Their Salted Karamel vodka was made to be served either on the rocks straight or as a flavoring to mixed drinks — in cocktails like salted banana, Salted Karamel macchiato martini, and salted Tootsie roll. “Consumers will taste the sweet caramelized sugar and soft English toffee on the mouth, balanced with a light saltiness that draws out the caramel flavoring.” The new flavor profile was developed in response to a consumer preference for caramel, the second most popular flavor after chocolate, says the company.
Remember how cool Tom Cruise was in “Minority Report” when he was manipulating computer data on a life-sized clear screen with his bare hands? Well, we may be approaching a similar plane of awesomeness once we adopt The Leap, which is itching to replace and outshine the good ol’ reliable but tired computer mouse.
Big strides have been taken to make virtual reality more of a reality. Today we’re enjoying gadgets that have us believing that we’ve crossed over to the flipside. Video game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 + Kinect, and touchscreen tablets, smartphones, 3D televisions and movies have been eagerly embraced not only by geeks but by the general public. But they have us wanting more. Now Leap Motion is taking huge “leaps” towards virtual reality by offering an entirely new and more intuitive way to interact with our computers.
Imagine what sort of Pandora’s box The Leap is opening up for those who work with and rely on 3D imaging; i.e. graphic artists, game developers, architects, scientists, doctors, engineers. The Leap could be one of the shiniest tools we have in our toolbox thus far.
And if you think The Leap costs a fortune, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. The Leap device that simply hooks up to your USB port is only $69.99 plus shipping, but you have to pre-order and expect yours to arrive between December 2012 through January 2013. Supplies are limited. Go to LeapMotion.com to learn more about this groundbreaking technology and be one of the firsts to own a Leap.
Gucci elevates the simple game to a new level of refinement with its leather board, case, game pieces, and storage pouch, each embossed with the signature Gucci emblem. The Checkers Set in Brown Leather by Gucci is priced at $4,350.
ComicCon was in full effect over the last week, and of course, Marvel Studios blew it out of the water. Guardians of the Galaxy, coming August 1, 2014 is one of their newest projects along with, test footage displayed for the very first time for Ant-Man, to be directed by Edgar Wright. With the announcement came the reveal of the first concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy by Charlie Wen, as well as logos for both films. In addition, Marvel Studios announced the official titles to the Thor and Captain America sequels: Thor: The Dark World, in theaters November 8, 2013, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in theaters April 4, 2014. Check out the all logos, plus the just-released Iron Man 3 logo, below, and also check out the just-launched official Iron Man 3 site by clicking here.
Perrier-Jouët unveils “Belle Epoque Florale Edition by Makoto Azuma” in Japan, the first designed Limited Edition of Belle Epoque since Emile Gallé in 1902. The launch, held in Tokyo last week, marked a historical event for the company and fortified its ties to one of the thirstiest markets in the world for luxury goods.
Makoto is the owner of an ‘haute couture’ floral workshop in Tokyo, Jardin des Fleurs, where he has cemented his reputation as one of the world’s eminent floral artists. The limited edition bottles are described as a “reverential homage” to Gallé’s original Art Nouveau design which was inspired by Japanese art. Like Gallé, Makoto’s design springs white gold-lined anemones from a single arabesque.
“I wanted to make something extraordinary, taking inspiration from the sensation of champagne inside the mouth, and the delicate movement of the ivy and leaves with a special attention and tribute given to Emile Gallé’s anemones,” Makoto said.
The limited edition Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Florale Edition will be available worldwide in September for €300 ($365).
It is not often when browsing through Google street view that you come across anything of real beauty but Aaron Hobson has found some rather rare examples of what the Google car cam has caught while traveling around the world.
Watch this behind the scene’s video for Nicki Minaj’s next single “Pound The Alarm”. The video is shot in her birthplace of Trinidad we see her dance around in feathers showing off all those curves watch the clip below.
Samsung has just launched its 75-inch (189-cm) ES9000 OLED TV in South Korea with a whopping price of 19.8 Million Won ($17,450). It is the world’s largest super OLED TV and sports a gorgeous 7.9mm-thick bezel, while its 1GHz dual-core processor allows it to run multiple Smart TV application simultaneously. The Samsung ES9000 features what the company calls a “Diamond Black Panel” which it claims improves the clearness, contrast and brightness of the display. “The ES900 is the world’s largest super OLED TV to be produced from a single pane of glass and showcases the ultimate in picture quality by featuring unmatched vivid and true-to-life picture quality in both 2D and 3D,” Samsung said in a press release. In comparison to even the best LED TVs, it offers virtually unlimited contrast ratios and near perfect color accuracy through several technological advancements. In addition to Samsung’s new 1GHz dual-core chipset, the ES9000 also introduces voice control, facial recognition, as well as an intuitive new gesture control user-interface.
Tokyo based Bunka Fashion College is Japan’s most respected fashion college. Each year around Culture Day the school holds a three day long culture festival. Among the countless events are fashion shows created and staged by Bunka students. As you can see from these images, the quality is amazingly high.
Pitbull may be headed to a Walmart on the secluded island of Kodiak, Alaska, reports the Associated Press. As part of a marketing deal, Walmart plans to send the reggaeton star to the store that lands the most “likes” on its Facebook page by July 16th. However, David Thorpe, a writer for the Boston Phoenix and the popular humor website SomethingAwful.com, found it entertaining to campaign to send Pitbull to the most isolated store possible by pushing the Kodiak location and rallying the Internet to swarm its Facebook page with “likes.” As of today, it had surpassed 35,000 “likes” and spawned a rather successful Twitter campaign called #ExilePitbull.
For his part, Pitbull remains a good sport, tweeting, “I hear there’s bear repellant at Kodiak, Alaska” and adding the #ExilePitbull hashtag. “Wherever the fans want to have a party, I will be there,” he added in an emailed statement.
Affion Crockett is well known for his celebrity/rap spoof, primarily his first go at Drake, but now apparently, he’s coming out with an entire album titled “Watch The Clone”. The first single off said album is titled “WTF”, and a masterful impersonation of Jay-Z discussing Lil Wayne’s current fashion trends. A nice video with a funny premise, (and featuring Donnell Rawlins) “WTF” is sure to make any Hip Hop enthusiasts laugh. Check the method.
Mertopolis a Lima-based design studio has designed the House in Palabritas Beach. Completed in 2009, the contemporary property is located in the Palabritas Beach, Lima, Peru. According to the architects: “The contemporary Peruvian property is located on the first row of lots and was designed so that the architecture acted like a frame to the view of the beach and the islands that are found in front of the house. The esthetic of the house celebrates the summer with modern curves that remind us of the Brazilian architecture of the sixties. The contemporary Peruvian house has a white finish with color accents in red, in both main elements such as the swimming pool as well as furnishings. The house reminds us of competitive elements used in Stanley Kubrick films, with the white curved elements contrasted with details in red. The exterior was designed as a white elevated box, exposed from its front side. One of the sides has a concrete lattice based on a contemporary composition with perforations that allow the interior to have a transparency without losing its intimacy. Sliding the glass doors were used so the dining and living rooms could be integrated as one. An interior patio was developed on a lower level where the bedrooms and family room conjoin so that an intimate zone for these rooms are created. The main bedroom is located on the first level and was designed so that it had a view towards the ocean. As a whole the house created a contrast with red color over white surfaces, in a way that the spaces give an appearance of amplitude. From the inside of the living room, the architecture offers a frame that shows the landscape of the beach, the island and the sunset.
We’ve all heard the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side” but it turns out that the grass is actually always greener where it gets the most intense light. Using this tid-bit of gardening wisdom, British artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey have created a series of large scale portraits using living grass as their canvas. The artists project a negative image of a photograph onto a wall-mounted sheet of grass seedlings on clay, in a dark room, and photosynthesis takes care of the rest. The grass grows in shades of green directly proportional to the amount of light they receive, thus creating a tinted image of the photo.
Forbes‘ new list has declared Hollywood star Tom Cruise world’s highest earning actor after he took home $75 million between May 2011 to May 2012. While Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol collected close to $700 million worldwide, the 1980s musical Rock of Agesstarring Cruise wasn’t a big draw. Last year’s highest-paid actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, placed equal second on the list with Comic actor Adam Sandler after each collected $37 million. The recent winner of ten Razzie Awards may make critically panned films, such as Jack and Jill, but the movie grossed $150 million worldwide.
The list of top ten earners also includes Johnny Depp, Will Smith and British comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen, who placed joint sixth with earnings of $30 million.
In June, Forbes released its list of the highest paid actresses and Twilight star Kristen Stewart topped the list with $34.5 million, while her male costars tied on the actor’s list at $26.6 million, which is more than third-place Sandra Bullock earned with $25 million. There’s inequality in salaries even at the top.
1. Tom Cruise — $75 million
2. Leonardo DiCaprio — $37 million
3. Adam Sandler — $37 million
4. Dwayne Johnson — $36 million
5. Ben Stiller — $33 million
6. Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen — $30 million
8. Will Smith — $30 million
9. Mark Wahlberg — $27 million
10. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner — $26.5 million
Dark Man X and Machine Gun Kelly may not bust a move, but they still manage to keep the party’s feet moving in their new video, directed by John Colombo. X’s Undisputed is still coming.
Applying wallpaper to walls has never been so fun. With this perforated “tear off” wallpaper from ZNAK, you can customize the appearance of your space by tearing off the pieces as you please. The wallpaper is created out of non-woven material and the shapes are inspired by the the transformation process of snakes.
