June 23, 2008

A Century of Olympic Game Posters.

A little known fact about me? I’m obsessed with the Olympics. Summer or Winter Games, I don’t really care. But for the two weeks they take over the airwaves I rarely leave my house or my television. I videotaped the 1992 gymnastics competition (I was 13) and re-watched it several times. Did I think the outcome would be different? Who knows. I just dig the Games that much. So you can bet when 08.08.08 rolls around I’ll be glued to my seat and wishing I were in Beijing.

I came across a great book last week on Cool Hunting. A Century of Olympic Game Posters “offers an intensely visual representation of the modern Games, and shows the evolution of the Olympic Games poster as well, from the first official poster for Stockholm in 1912 right up to the present.” I just might need it.

Posted In posters, read up
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June 23, 2008

Scoop + Stack.

Judge me if you must: I’m not a huge fan of ice cream. I like the soft serve kind and frozen yogurt, but not so much the kind you can just buy in the grocery store. No real reason, there are just loads more things I’d like to digest. All of that said it doesn’t stop me from wanting one of these Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop & Stacks. I just like the shape “scoop” they make and who knows, maybe I’d pick up a mad ice cream addiction…

:: via boingboing and Mackin Ink

Posted In grand design, kitchen
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June 20, 2008

Summer Tunes.

I’m a self-admitted music whore. And I love it. You know how some people only listen to the beat and not the lyrics? That’s not me. I dissect songs until I can make them fit a related mood I’m in at any given moment. Pick a song in my extensive iTunes library and I can most likely tell you the circumstances surrounding the very first time I heard it. In other words, music is a very memory-related sort of thing to me.

Summer Music (as I like to call it) is one of my favorites. The 23 songs below are just some that stick out in my mind. (Sorry, there aren’t any links…)

Crazy – Aerosmith
Good Vibrations – Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch
Shake It – Metro Station
Rock Lobster – B52’s
Why Can’t I – Liz Phair
1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
Round Here – Counting Crows
Just Like Heaven – The Cure
Just the Way I’m Feeling – Feeder
My Baby’s Got Sauce – G. Love
Black Balloon – Goo Goo Dolls
Sugar Magnolia – Grateful Dead
Basket Case – Green Day
Happiness – Hagfish
Back to You – John Mayer
Lola – The Kinks
Killing Me Softly – The Fugees
Stay – Lisa Loeb
Perfect Day – Lou Reed
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Thinking About You – Radiohead
The Joker – Steve Miller Band
Summertime – Sublime

What are your favorite Summer Songs?

Posted In music
6
June 19, 2008

IntelligentFirstAid Talking Kit.

I’d like to consider myself a fairly rational and calm person. (Although I’m not sure others who know me would agree. Hmm.) All that can go out the window in an instant though when there’s a medical emergency happening right. in. front. of. you.

The IntelligentFirstAid “talking” kit, designed by medical and educational experts, combines supplies, visual instruction cards and now an audio module for verbal guidance to manage the most common injuries. The kit is separated into individually labeled and color-coded injury packs so the user has all the supplies and easy to follow instructions for managing a specific injury. The audio module in each injury card takes the technology a step further. By the squeeze of a button, the module narrates step-by-step instructions to manage the injury, pausing and repeating when necessary for accurate response.

Really, really smart design at work. And it has a shoulder strap!

:: via Cool Hunting

Posted In grand design
0
June 19, 2008

PaperBack Swap.

With all the packing and getting ready to move I’ve taken a lot of inventory and realized just how many books I actually have in my possession. The answer is a resounding too many. I’m proud to be a bibliophile, but at least a third of my collection is comprised of one time reads that I’ll never pick up again but just can’t seem to part with.

I’ve vowed to slim down my library once I get into the new house and think I’ve found a great way to do it – PaperBack Swap. Basically you list all the paperback books you own and are willing to part with online. At the same time you compile a list of books you’d like to read from what’s listed. When someone requests one of your books you mail it to them and pay the shipping – generally around $2.13 – and in turn when a book is sent to you the postage is paid. Everything is run on a credit system, for every book you send out you receive a credit to get a new book. Seems fair enough and a great way to save some money at the bookstore which can be a major money suck in my life!

:: via Rare Bird Finds
:: image via Veer

Posted In online, read up
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June 18, 2008

Clorox greenworks.

I’m really excited to try Clorox’s new(ish) greenwork’s line of household cleaning products. A lot of my cleaning supplies are almost empty, so when I make the Big Move next month I plan on stocking up with the glass and surface cleaner as well as the other four products in the line. What a great way to get natural (re: safe) cleaning products into the hands of the masses. Way to go Clorox – we asked for it and you answered.

Have you experienced Clorox’s greenworks line yet? How do you like/dislike the results?

Posted In do good
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June 18, 2008

Ingegerd Råman.

I first saw Ingegerd Råman’s beautiful glasswork in a photo on sweet paul’s blog and emailed him to get the scoop. I’m in love with the clean lines of Råman’s work and the seemingly large amount of thought put into each and every piece despite their minimalism. (The product shots below hardly do the work justice – you almost have to imagine them on your own table.)



Posted In create, glass
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June 17, 2008

The 100 Thing Challenge: Living With Just 100 Items in Your Life.

These days most people are living a jam-packed life. We want more when we already have lots. And in the grand scheme of things that just doesn’t make much sense when you consider what’s really important.

Meet Dave Bruno. One day last July he looked around his San Diego home and realized just how much of his family’s belongings were cluttering their lives. So he decided to do something about it. And that was the beginning of The 100 Thing Challenge.

“By my thirty-seventh birthday on November 12, 2008 I will have only 100 personal items. I will live for at least one year (God willing) maintaining an inventory of only 100 personal things. This challenge will help me “put stuff in its place” and also explore my belief that “stuff can be good when it serves a purpose greater than possession alone.”

The thought is that everyone is holding on to so many possessions not because they need them, but because they like what the idea of the possessions means. An example are kitchen pots. We don’t need more than a few to make a meal, but we like the idea of the family and comfort associated with that meal. When I started to really think about that I realized just how true it is. “Things are to be used, people are to be loved.”

Keep up with Dave’s progress on his blog.

:: via Neatorama
:: photo via Veer

Posted In collaboration/project
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