|
Infamous and controversial street artist, Banksy posted this CCTV mobile - just in time for the holiday season. You know, for kids. It’s a DIY project “not available in the shops.” All you need is some “wood, string, plastic tube, nails, [and, of course,] lead paint.” In keeping with Banksy tradition, the inherent commentary here is pretty thick. “Total assembly required. Keep out of reach of children.”
Now here’s an idea: take a Jet Ski, reroute the pump jet through a hose, channel the hose into a jet pack, strap it on your feet and arms and take off like a human dolphin. Apparently someone read one too many Iron Man comics or watched The Rocketeer and lightning eventually struck. “Why can’t we do that with water?” This seems like the essential idea behind French company Zapata Racing‘s Flyboard. Even the pros in the video don’t make it seem easy to control, but it still looks like one hell of a fun ride.
These figures by self-described “Evil Arts Organization” Suckadelic depict a Cybertron version of the Occupy Wall Street conflict. With obvious references to the classic Transformers tussle of Autobots (the 99%) vs. Decepticons (the 1%), Sucklord is the leader of the 1%’s battle for cyber domination over occupation. These were released at a show yesterday on the Lower East Side, complete with accompanying trading cards. My only question is, in the war for a fair shake, the Decepticons have Megatron played by, perhaps, Goldman Sachs, but does OWS have an Optimus Prime? I guess I always pictured the OWS answer as more of a Voltron-type mashup of powers. Regardless, I like the metaphor.
[via The World's Best Ever]
This series of ads was designed by Team Detroit for an enrollment campaign for Detroit’s College of Creative Studies. They cleverly depict teens in situations common to anti-drug PSAs. The art direction and production value of these is pretty fantastic. I’ve included some of my favorites below, but you can check out a few others here. I wish more schools would be so creative in their advertising. These keep it edgy while targeting parents to confront their kids and encourage them to follow their real passions. “I learned it by watching you, alright!” Good stuff.
I couldn’t help being drawn to this stool made by British environmental design studio, FAT. It’s made of soft foam rubber (like a stress ball) and appears more or less actually comfortable. I tend to like the idea of this quite a bit: take a classical icon like Hercules, known for his power and godlike stature, his image often made of stone, towering over viewers of his effigy in a sculpture garden somewhere, but make his bust into something as common as a comfy place to sit. From the product description: “The bust of Hercules, usually something solid both in its material and the culture it represents becomes unexpectedly soft, deforming a recognizable object into stranger shapes when it is sat on. It uses the plasticity of rubber to suggest a more uncertain and doubtful state.”
New York City’s Department of Transportation commissioned artist John Morse to design these 12 street signs as part of a program called “Curbside Haiku.” The signs are intended to raise awarenss of the “critical importance of shared responsibility among pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists in keeping New York City’s streets safe.” Many of the haiku are embedded in QR codes on the sign itself (because we need more reasons for people to stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk to do something on their phone). They’re located primarily around cultural institutions (like the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA) and public schools. The New York Times posted a story about them (written in haiku stanzas) and asked readers to submit their own sign suggestions, some of which are pretty clever. The signs are available from the Safe Streets Fund for $65 each or $100 for a set. This video from UK-based Open University uses clever animation to describe six of the most famous thought experiments: Zeno’s Achilles & The Tortoise, Barjavel’s Grandfather Paradox, Searle’s Chinese Room, Hilbert’s Grand Hotel, Einstein’s Twin Paradox, and Schrödinger’s Cat. My personal favorites have always been the Chinese Room and the Grandfather Paradox, but I can’t help but think that Schrodinger’s Cat reminds me of the Bonsai Kitten we posted about last week. Multiple states of being. [via Laughing Squid]
Like many, I harbor a great deal of nostalgia for Cup Noodles, which is likely why I was so enthralled when I found this robot Cup Noodle timer designed for the 40th Anniversary Cup Noodle Expo and opening of the Cup Noodle Museum in September. Now if I can only get a hold of one…and let Jason Freeny have some fun with it. 
[via Laughing Squid] These bicycle wheel animations are better than spoke cards and beads combined. Katy Beveridge fashioned these cutouts as an experiment in proto animation in contemporary design and to film the animations in real time. Check out the video to see how well it turned out. As proof to what a great idea this was, people have already made comments, asking whether she’s planning on producing them with durable materials to sell them online. Would you want these? I would. These could do for riding bikes around the city what Sprewells (a.k.a “Spreewheels”)Â did for cars, only a lot more unique and interesting. [via BuzzFeed]
This stuffed kitten in a jar sold by Think Geek is based on the satirical Bonsai Kitten website from the early 2000s. The original website gave instructions on how to grow your kitten in a jar to shape it (like one might shape a bonsai tree through tying and trimming). Now all we need are stuffed versions of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and the Flying Spaghetti Monster and we’ll have a series. Any ideas of other internet memes that could be toys? [via Think Geek]
|
