Ellery

Here's a super clever art installation by artist Markus Raetz. As the two paper chandeliers spin, the light source from behind mimics a ghost head turning its head from side to side. The paper is specifically cut to create the illusion of motion from the invisible head.

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As if we needed more reasons and as if they could get any cooler, Italian fashion house Versace proved once again this month that it’s possible to fall in deeper, better love.

First, they teamed up with dreamy Canadian star Nolan Funk. Second, they slayed at Milan Fashion Week with their cowboy-meets-biker trends. Rhinestones, leather, studs and bandana-prints galore. I mean, do we have to spell it out for you? Nolan Funk in chaps. This is a gift.

But in all seriousness, this collection is a triumph for fashionistas as well as underwear enthusiasts everywhere so we at The Underwear Expert are pretty amped about it. Check it out…

Who knew there were so many ways to tie a scarf? If ever there was an epic scarf-wearing video, this one by Wendy's Lookbook is it.

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Created in 2006 by multidisciplinary artist Kimsooja, To Breathe – A Mirror Woman was an elaborate installation at the Palacio de Cristal, Parque del Retiro, in Madrid. Originally built in the late 1880s to house a collection of flora and fauna from the Philippines, Kimsooja transformed the Palacio de Cristal into a multisensory sound and light experience. A special translucent diffraction film was used to cover the windows to create an array of naturally occurring rainbows which were in turn reflected by a mirrored surface that covered the entire floor. Additionally, an audio recording of the artist breathing was played throughout the space to further enhance the experience. The installation was on view through the end of the summer and you can read much more about it here.

Kimsooja most recently wrapped the Korean Pavilion with a similar film treatment at the 2013 Venice Art Biennale. (via My Amp Goes to 11)

Lisa Frank is the woman responsible for Trapper Keepers covered with majestic unicorns prancing over rainbows. She’s also responsible for a failed business empire plagued with scandal, greed, and abuse.

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When Jessica Shyba brought Theo home for the first time, she had no idea what to expect.

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This guest post is by Ramez Naam, who writes science and science fiction.

Consumers clearly want to know whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients. Given that huge interest, foods containing GMOs should be labeled. I’ve written as much before at the website of Discover magazine, trying to persuade scientists that they should support GMO labels.

But Initiative 522 is the wrong way to do it. I-522 mandates that any food containing genetically modified ingredients state so "conspicuously on the front of the package." Yet the scientific consensus on GMOs is that they’re just as safe to eat as any other food. The estimated number of people killed per year from GMOs is exactly zero. Meanwhile, excess consumption of sugar and fat in the United States is estimated to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Yet sugar and fat are only noted on the back of the package, in the ingredient label. Nuts and shellfish, which are potentially lethal to some eaters, are also noted only on the back, in the ingredients label.

The front-of-package mandate in I-522 isn’t a reasonable attempt to inform consumers. It goes above and beyond that, to place a burden on GM foods that isn’t placed on tremendously more dangerous ingredients. It’s an attempt to tap into fear of GMOs, to drive them off the market, by making them, in the initiative’s words "conspicuous."

• RN
• Here’s where the GMO label should go—where everything else in the ingredients is. I-522’s front-of-package requirement is an attempt to drive genetically modified foods off the market.

You may be thinking: But GMOs are more dangerous than sugar, fat, nuts, or shellfish! And you wouldn’t be the only person to think that. But that’s not the scientific consensus.

Every mainstream scientific and medical body that’s looked at the safety of GMOs has found them as safe to eat as conventional and organic foods:

• The American Medical Association finds them so safe that they’ve rejected labeling entirely.

• The National Academy of Science, the premier scientific body in the United States, reviewing hundreds of studies, has found them safe to eat.

• The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest organization of professional scientists in the US, says “the science is quite clear” that GM foods are safe.

• In Europe, where GMOs are even more feared than in the United States, safety has been affirmed by a review of hundreds of studies by the British Royal Society of Medicine, by more than a decade of studies involving 500 independent research groups funded by the European Commission, and by a massive Italian review of 1,837 studies of GMO safety.

• Even the supreme court of France (where GMOs are hated) struck down that country’s ban on GMO planting, ruling that the government had shown no believable evidence of any harm to either humans or the environment.

• Indeed, the National Academy of Science has also found that, in general, genetically modified crops have been kinder to the environment than conventional crops. Farming, in general, is hard on nature, but as their report says, “Generally, GE (GMO) crops have had fewer adverse effects on the environment than non-GE crops produced conventionally.” The report found that Roundup, the pesticide everyone loves to hate, is actually many times gentler and less toxic than the pesticides it replaced, and that GMO-planted farms tended to till less to destroy weeds than other farms, and thus saved fuel, reduced carbon emissions, and reduced the loss of moisture and life from their soil.

All of this, I suspect, is at odds with what you’ve heard. And, despite the links to the most credible scientific and medical organizations in the world (as opposed to the few fairly fringe scientists who campaign against GMOs), you may not believe everything I’ve written here right away. That’s fine. Read the links at your leisure. You may even think I’m a paid Monsanto shill. I’m not. I hold no stock in any agricultural or biotech company and receive no money from them in any way.

Even if you don’t accept the scientific consensus right away: know that one exists. That doesn’t change the fact that you have the right to choose what goes into your body. You do. Of course, you already have ways to choose to eat non-GMO foods already. You can purchase foods labeled organic, none of which contain GMOs. You can purchase foods that proudly proclaim that they’re GMO-free. Consumers who want to eat GMO-free have options already, with no added law whatsoever.

Even so, given the huge demand for it, I support labeling all foods that contain genetically modified ingredients. Giving consumers that added information—in a place and manner consistent with other ingredient information—is a good thing that can help consumers regain a sense of control and reduce unnecessary fear of genetically modified foods.

Doing so on the front of the package, though, where virtually nothing else is required, while far more lethal ingredients are mandated only on the back, sends an entirely different message. That would call out GMOs in a way that’s dramatically out of proportion to the real risk, and far beyond what’s needed for consumer choice. That’s not about a right to know. It’s about fear. It’s misleading and it ought to be rejected.

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• restorether.com

The installation party is today, from 4-9 pm at the Old Rainier Brewery. There will be music from BLUEYEDSOUL, games, prizes, and lots and lots of beer (of course), and it's free to get in! Get more info here (but watch out for the auto-playing noise when you click through).

Welcome back, R! We missed you.

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We hope you didn't spend the last six months designing and building an elaborate over-the-top Halloween costume with which you hope to win over the internet next week.

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Under Armour is making the bold claim that it's finally "fixed zippers." And while its innovative new Magzip feature probably isn't going to change the entire world, it's still a vast improvement to clothing technology that hasn't evolved in in almost 100 years. It's also voodoo magic.

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The annual World Architecture Festival is about more than just awards: attendees can check out a pretty packed line-up of talks and crits, browse galleries and installations, and hob-nob with fellow folks from the biz from students to bold-named stars.

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Kids can find joy in the mundane, be it a cardboard box turned into a fort or just some generic item around the house imbued with possibility through their imagination. When all that energy dissipates and it's time for a nap, you can make that more fun with a homemade hammock.

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Source

Privilege: so sweet to have. But even sweeter to not have. Privilege has its benefits, but the lack of privilege confers that sweet, sweet moral superiority. With that in mind, we have decided to determine who, exactly, has the least privilege of all.

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Combine robots, 3D graphics, and actors and what do you get? Box, an amazing performance by San Francisco-based engineering firm Bot & Dolly. It's a short film that explores how the digital world interacts with the real world.

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So it's come to this: In an effort to get patrons to interact with the people seated in front of them, one restaurant is offering a discount to customers who agree to abandon their smartphones for the entire duration of their meal.

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It’s been less than 24 hours since the humdrum Emmys, and I’m already lamenting the great television shows that weren’t honored: So You Think You Can Dance, Parks and Recreation, Bates Motel, etc. That got me thinking about classic underrated TV, and the strongest examples I can recall are — and always will be — Lauren Bacall‘s commercials for High Point coffee.

It’s de-caff!-einated.

Have you seen these ads? Do you remember them? Why don’t you talk about them ALL THE TIME?

It’s as if Lauren Bacall woke up one morning (full of the caffeine of LIFE) and said, “Well, it’s 1982. Time to be a gay serial killer.”

How can I have 40+ favorite parts of a 30-second clip?

“My favorite time of day IS NIGHT.” — Lauren “Andrew Cunanan” Bacall.

God, one thing’s for sure: Lauren, like High Point, has a distinct flair for capturing flavor! The way she says “capturing flavor,” it sounds almost exactly like “Katharine Hepburn.” That takes training and decaffeinated charm. Emma Stone impersonated Bacall’s marvelous elocution in a small moment from Crazy Stupid Love, but I was too busy staring down the creases in Ryan Gosling‘s naked torso to super-care.

And if you’re craving a fuller, minute-plus experience, please join Ms. Bacall in her limousine for a followup ad.

Who needs caffeine or High Point when these commercials will always fill us with endorphins?

The post Watch: Lauren Bacall’s Classic, Insane Coffee Commercials appeared first on thebacklot.com.

In this new short from Marc-Antoine Locatelli, dancer Lucas Boirat is seen battling with various geometric forms of light that launch and morph as part of a carefully choreographed dance that marries human motion with motion graphics. It reminded me a bit of Proeigon. Gifs courtesy Vimeo.

It's being called "the most beautiful, haunting infomercial you'll ever see."

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There's a much better way to load your dishwasher than my (old) method of tossing everything in willy-nilly. This video from CHOW shows us exactly how to arrange our dishware.

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Okay so, regardless of whether or not this Extra bubblegum commercial makes you tear up, you gotta admit, most gum ads don't try to hit the notes that this does. As far as I can tell, most gum goes for humor.

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