danipretto

This is a video of some guy in Japan made of nothing but Redbull and uncut cocaine playing Dance Dance Revolution, or the Japanese equivalent of Dance Dance Revolution. He's quick. If I was ever challenged to a duel I would pay this guy to take my place and kill my enemy. And, if I couldn't come up with all the money he wanted for the job, I'd have to go with plan B: flee the country, move to South America, grow a beard, and only respond to 'Mr. Monchichi, banana magnate'. Hit the jump for the video.

The world’s largest inflatable rubber duck sailed into the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong yesterday. The 46-foot-tall and 55-foot-long floating sculpture, which is the work of Dutch conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman, was pulled into the harbor by a tiny tug boat, causing quite a stir among the curious locals. The Rubber Duck has already visited Sydney, Osaka and Sao Paolo, and will remain in Hong Kong until June 9.

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Post tags: Art, contemporary art, dutch art, Dutch artist, floating rubber duck, Florentijin Hofman, Giant Rubber Duck, Hong Kong art, Hong Kong harbor, inflatable sculptures, mobile sculpture, rubber duck art

Designer Jean-Sébastien Poncet imagined a multi-use terracotta apartment complex for sheltering urban pigeons and turning their poo into compost. Intended for the French capital, “The Guano de Paris” aims to rehabilitate the birds, collect their droppings and facilitate a peaceful coexistence with citizens.

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Post tags: Animals, Architecture, fertilizer, Frecnh design, green materials, Guano de Paris, Jean-Sébastien Poncet, pigeons, recycling / compost, terracota, vermicompost

Nina Levy is an artist. She’s also a cool mom. NOT one of those ‘cool moms’ who flirts with the guy you like, but the kind of cool mom that does thoughtful things like drawing amazing artwork on napkins and packs them along with your lunch. You can see all of the napkins Nina’s made on her blog Daily Napkins. She’s created them over the past 6 years, racking up 2,000+ pieces of art. The lucky recipients? Her sons Archer and Ansel. I hope you kids realize how lucky you are! My mom is one of those other kind of ‘cool moms’. The only notes she ever sent in my lunch box was intended for me to pass along to the cute boys in my class. Sure it was super traumatic at the time, but now I can look back on it and laaaauuuugh and laugh and laugh. Because if you don’t laugh, you cry. That’s something I’ve learned in my years of therapy!

Imgurian eatmytwins and Redditor Chicosley have been cranking out some hilarious Cardboard Cat Costumes. They’ve dressed up their cats in all kinds of characters like Mario, Indiana Jones, an astronaut, a beefcake, and a smexy lady. I bet you could make your own provided you’ve got cardboard, markers, a camera, and at least a little artistic ability. Oh — plus a cat. Definitely gonna need a cat for this one. If you don’t have a kitty and you’re really looking to try this project, just leave a trail of tuna leading into your home. This is a foolproof method. You’re gonna end up with more cats than you know what to do with! That’s exactly what I did and look at me now! I’m in trouble with the law. Apparently, there’s such a thing as “too many cats.”

(via) Designed by Korean architect Moon Hoon, the so-called “Panorama House” in Chungbuk boasts an elegantly wooden stepped library that doubles as home theatre seating and home runs as a super fun slide.

EVERY COOL THING WE WANT

Artist Freya Jobbins creates these face sculptures made out of parts of plastic toys and dolls. They’re super impressive and it’s fun to see the different pieces she used to make up the 3D faces. Like, hands for hair, ears for nostrils, or eyeballs for eyeballs. Oh man, or that guy — that guy has a butt chin! LITERALLY. HIS CHIN IS MADE OUT OF A BUTT! A cute butt, too, now that I get a good look at it. *zooming in* Do you think it’s Ken’s? Ooh, yeah, you’re right: probably a G.I. Joe’s.

This is the music video for DJ A-Trak & Tommy Trash's song 'Tuna Melt', featuring an impressive 3:30 domino maze/Rube Goldberg machine, although it was clearly shot in sections. Still, I liked it. A LOT. More than I like my roommate, which is little to none and I actually daydream about ruining his life in between writing Geekologie articles. You ever stolen a roommate's identity just so they can't pay rent next month and get evicted? I have. Hit the jump for the worthwhile video.

In further proof I picked the wrong f***ing major, the University of Victoria in British Columbia is offering a 'Science of Batman' course that explores the human body and it's adaptability though the life of Batman. No word if losing both parents at a young age is a prerequisite. And for the record, yes, this makes three Batman related posts in one day. It just sort of happened. It's like falling in love, you know? One minute you're infatuated with a friend's boobs, and the next you realize she's really smart and funny and stuff. Plus is willing to put up with you and do sexy stuff together. That's the purest kind of love. Man, I should make movies like The Notebook. Thanks to Sergey, who signed up for the class hoping they get to take turns punching each other wearing Batsuits.

This is a line of creature/dinosaur eyeball lollipops from Etsy seller designerlollipop (of Eye of Sauron and galaxy lollipop fame). Six cotton candy flavored pops will set you back $13 and are the perfect thing to add to a Halloween punch bowl provided you can get them to float eyeball-side up and nobody accidentally chokes on one and tries to sue you and it's even more annoying because you purposefully didn't INVITE that dickbag to your party but he still managed to come as somebody's plus-one. Can you tell I'm speaking from experience? It sucks, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to settle this thing out of court with a ninja sword. Hit the jump for a couple more shots and yes there really is nothing else on the internet.

This is a video of BASE jumper/wingsuit enthusiast/potential extreme sport accident victim Alexander Polli flying through a tiny stone archway in Montserrat, Spain. They're saying the arch is only six-feet wide, but it looks a little wider than that to me. Granted not wide enough for anybody to fly through without being arrested for self-endangerment, but I guess the police in Montserrat are pretty lax. I heard you can drink in the streets there. That said, I don't need to risk my life to get an adrenaline rush, I can get uncomfortably excited scratching lotto tickets. Hit the jump for the video, but skip to 1:12 for the actual needle threading.

Here’s some tasty news that will get Vancouver carnivores sharpening their claws for summer: Scott and Amy Gurney, the creators of Victoria’s annual Culinaire food festival, are crossing the Strait in June to put on Vancouver’s first ever Brewery and the Beast. Citizens of Victoria enjoyed their first Brewery and the Beast last summer, and it – by all reports – a lip-smacking success. It’s being billed an “event focusing on education and promotion of local farms and ethically raised meat, while highlighting preparations by local chefs.” There are dozens of restaurants involved, among them Bestie, Wildebeest, Maenam, Cibo, Cin Cin, Lolita’s, Black & Blue, West, Meat & Bread, Peckinpah, Pourhouse, and Hawksworth. It’s sponsored by Phillips Brewing and Two Rivers Meats.

The original concept was simple: a large-scale meat-themed event held in the backyard at The Phillips Brewery, featuring well-known chefs skewering, grilling, and carving their creations for enthusiastic guests. “Overall it was a huge success and it inspired us to bring a fun, unique, and educational event to other markets,” says Scott Gurney, Event Coordinator and Creator of Brewery & The Beast. “We are excited to introduce Vancouver to the concept and showcase local and regional farms through the talent of Vancouver’s top chefs.”

Over 30 restaurants and chefs will be participating in the Vancouver event including Forage, Hawksworth, Maenam, West, and Wildebeest. The award- winning Phillips Brewing Company will be on-location to dispense a premium selection of their signature brews from a one-of-a-kind “Gypsy” wagon. Other libations will include wine on tap from the Vancouver Urban Winery, Left Field Cider, Phillips homemade sodas, and traditional Iced Tea. All will be fit to pair with the themed offerings for the day including; whole pig roasts, classic BBQ, charcuterie, culturally inspired creations, and experimental meat concoctions for the more adventurous carnivores.

It goes down on Sunday, June 16th (Father’s Day, woot!) from 1pm to 4pm at Concord Pacific Place (88 Pacific Boulevard). Tickets are $79 plus tax, and can be had here.

The much anticipated No. 1 Noodle House pop-up restaurant at 1 West Cordova opened its doors tonight for their soft opening. Scout broke the news of its imminence a month ago. Some context:

Restaurateur Mark Brand (Save On Meats, Boneta, etc.) has joined forces with first timers Tyrell Shaw, Lindsay Lapierre, Matt MacDougall, and Alex Usow (his Sharks + Hammers, Sea Monstr Sushi partner) to open No. 1 Noodle House in the old 1 West Cordova address (the original Boneta spot at Carrall and Cordova in Gastown).

It’s basically a big ramen joint. They’ve been researching the hell out of broths and are now onto noodles (heading to LA on a ramen spree next week). The menu will be small – just three ramens (soy, pork, maybe chicken), fried chicken wings, bao buns, salads and Banh Mi sandwiches – with a small beer, sake and spirits component.

The place will be geared towards the chefs who work on the line all night and then don’t have many options for food and drink when they clock out. No. 1 Noodle House might stay open until as late as 4am, with a capacity for 75-90 people. Guest chefs will also regularly moonlight to create specialty dishes of their own.

Right now, the concept is for a 7 month pop-up, which Brand describes as a “business incubator”. If it works, they might stay or move somewhere else. Opening day is scheduled for late April or early May.

Items on the very short lunch and dinner menus include bowls of ramen ($9.50), banh mi sammy’s ($7.50), bao buns with fried chicken and kimchi ($7.50), and pork spring rolls ($7.75). Nothing is over $10. The room looks rough and ready, with communal picnic tables fronting the giant hood vent (complete with stenciled cobras emerging from ramen bowls) and all of the mirrors that used to hang from the ceiling back in the Boneta days now decorating the walls. Take a look for yourselves over the weekend and let us know what you think.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

Want to have your cake and eat your spoon? Well, that’s pretty silly of you! ‘Cause you don’t eat cake with a spoon. You use a fork. Besides, pie is really where it’s at. Unless we’re talking about ice cream cake, in which case OMG GIMME!! This is The Edible Spoon by Triangle Tree. It consists mainly of organic corn flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, plus various herbs and spices. You can choose from 3 different flavors plain, spicy, and sweet. OR you can eat all the flavors at once and have a spoon party in  your mouth. Wheeeeee!

Costume Craze brings us this collection of Star Wars Dog Costumes. Now you can transform your dog into a Bantha, Dewback, Tauntaun and AT-AT. That’s cool and all, but I’d much rather transform my dogs into beings who are going to pay rent on time and clean up after themselves. These freeloaders just sleep, eat, fart in their sleep, and sleep. Or as I like to call it: living the dream.

This is Bathing Bad, a line of Breaking Bad inspired bath salts created by Great Face & Body Spa with the same sky blue color as Walter White's infamous meth. An 8-oz bag from Firebox will set you back $23 and they are NOT to be confused with the designer drug bath salts you smoke if you want everybody to turn into shadow people and attack you. Any bets on how long it takes some local news station to run some fear-mongering story about the dangers of novelty bath salts that look like drugs from a TV show? My money's on 6 o'clock. Hit the jump for one more shot.

This is a commercial for LG's new 21:9 UltraWide monitor that's allegedly so lifelike that if it plays a video of some chicks looking at you while you're trying to pee it makes it super hard to open your floodgates. Presumably the guys all knew they were being filmed because recording people using the bathroom is generally frowned upon, plus that would explain why none of them started masturbating (although one dude did almost make out with the monitor). Me? I can only pee when there's nobody else in the bathroom because I still push my pants and underwear down to my ankles like you did when you were a kid. Hit the jump for the video.

Japanese design studio YOY brings us these Chair Paintings. They’re using some serious eye trickery if you ask me. The chair paintings are actually screen printed on a canvas-like elastic that’s wrapped on a frame of wood and aluminum. You can actually sit in them and be a piece of art! Jk jk, you can sit on them and just be glad you’re not standing. I mean, who do you think you are — Mona Lisa or something?

Note: Larger version HERE but you'll have to save the image to see it full-size because Geekologie is long, not wide. Unless wider is better in which case we're totally wide too. This is the evolution of video game controllers designed as a poster for Pop Chart Labs (and different from this one they were selling prior). You can buy a 27" x 39" version yourself for the low, low sale price of $29. Or not, I'm not the one selling them. You know what I am selling though? Happiness. "Those are pills." I DISTILLED THEM FROM PURE HAWAIIAN SUNSHINE. "They look like Advil you licked the name off of." I'll give you two for $10. Thanks to Patrick, who once tied his roommate to a Lay-Z-Boy using nothing but Nintendo controller cords THEN TICKLED HIM WITH THE ZAPPER.

This fantastic wooden Foosball table, Afrika Kicker, is a socially-motivated, mobile concept that raises money to help support youth activities in South Africa and Rwanda. Created by Misereor, the table is entirely different from its commercial equivalents, made up of pieces that resemble the playing fields scattered across rural areas of Africa. The design includes many of the typical elements you might see on a rural ‘pitch’, including a sandy and uneven ground, a tree, and a well in the middle—some of the players even play on crutches! Moreover, for every game played, 2 Euros is raised for the kids.

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Post tags: africa social design, afrika kicker, community design, eco design, eco foosball table, green design, kolle rebbe agency, misereor, mobile football game, project design, social design

Pega just unveiled a new WindUp Chair at Milan Design Week that charges your smartphone as you sit! Simply wind up the oversized clockwork mechanism incorporated in the chair’s wooden backrest and plug in your phone – as the flywheel unwinds, it charges your device.

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Post tags: Chair, chair design, interactive chair design, interactive design, interactive furniture, Interactive Objects, Milan Design Fair, Milan International Furniture Fair 2013, Pega D&E, PegaDesign Wind Up Chair, Taiwan chair design, Taiwan designers

Because the internet is fueled by cats, this is Sports Balls Replaced With Cats. It’s a Tumblr page filled with pictures in which sports balls have been replaced with cats. Oh. Ohhh. Okay, well, that makes more sense! See, when I first read the title I thought it was gonna be something compleeetely different. Like, you know, photos featuring the men of sports, but uh, their testicles are replaced with cats. Seemed a little out there if you ask me. But be honest, that’s what you intially thought as well, right? Yeah… I didn’t think so. But I sure was hoping.

 

These are shots of the 22-foot long wasp nest found in an abandoned house on the Canary Islands. Experts say the nest probably wasn't made by indigenous wasps, and is likely the work of an invasive species from Africa. *buys beekeeper suit on eBay, plans on never taking it off* This is cool to wear to weddings, right?

Officers were called out by worried neighbours of the empty home in the island's capital and say the nest was in an indoor hallway and contained literally millions of wasps. Authorities have been unable to trace the owner of the house.

You want to find the owners of the house, do you? Here's what you do: burn that nest with fire -- there's gonna be a bone pile at the bottom. Thank you, thank you -- I'll take my Canary Islands honorary detective badge now. Hit the jump for one more shot.

Zoo Portraits is a photoseries by Yago Partal. The pics feature zoo animals dressed in their picture-day best. He’s got them all, from a pig in a Hawaiin shirt to a bull in a leather jacket (ironic!) to a wolf in a tuxedo. Damn they look good. Way better dressed than myself and all my friends combined! Granted I only have three friends (including me) and, our defense, Bobo is homeless and Chicken Little is a cat. As for me? Well, I don’t have an excuse. I’m just tacky!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a series of jellyfish-inspired pendant lamps designed by Roxy Russell. They range in price from $325 to $425 and are the perfect expensive thing to add a little under-the-sea flair to a room. Take it away, Sebastian! ♫ Under the sea Under the sea Darling it's better Down where it's wetter Take it from me ♫ God I love that song. And I'd keep singing it if I were you. Because *melting butter* as soon as you stop I'm eating you and the rest of the band. Hit the jump for another shot.

This are both sides of some dude's beard featuring a raptor and apatosaurus facing off in battle. Or maybe just standing there making eyes at each other. Apparently the beard won some school's 'teacher beard growing competition', which, as far as prestige goes, is only one step up from my annual 'roommate beard growing competition'. I won the last two years in a row just for living alone. Unfortunately, now I live with this idiot Derek and he's like a caveman when it comes to growing beards. I want to shave it off in his sleep, but how I am supposed to explain what I'm doing if he wakes up? "Tell him you were collecting hair to make a voodoo doll." Yes! Or was having trouble sleeping and need him to read me a bedtime story. Thanks to my pal Terry, who tries to tell me he's a bigger dino fan than me just because he has both of those glow-in-the-dark dinosaur coins. Please -- the money doesn't make the man, Terry. And to beeps, who knows the real #1 dino fan is probably neither one of us. And to Anjie, who might actually be number one -- who the hell knows?

This is the Cinderella Castle Suite, the one and only hotel room inside The Magic Kingdom. It was originally intended for Walt Disney himself, but the magical accommodations were only recently completed in 2005. A very select few people have had the privileged to stay there, like Kevin Jonas, one of the Jonas Brothers, and his wife. The suite is perhaps the most exclusive hotel room in the whole damn world considering no amount of money can reserve you a spot there. So yeah, that’s about as exclusive as anything can get. For all the money in the world they wouldn’t let you stay there. No one can have it. Unless you’re a Jonas Brother. Which… you’re probably not. But if you are? OMG OMG OMG can I get your autograph? Uh, it’s for my little sister. But go ahead and make it out to me and I’ll make sure she gets it.

We just got word from the found/vintage/antique-curating girls at The Found and The Freed that they will be opening a pop-up this Friday night in the former Chrome Yellow digs at 207 Abbott St. in Gastown. Opening night starts at 7pm, but regular hours will be Monday to Friday 11am to 7pm and from 11am to 5pm on the weekends. The pop-up wraps on May 10th. The shots below (from a previous F&F pop-up) will give you some ballpark idea as the aesthetic in the offing…