SubliMotion, the world's most expensive restaurant will be opening in Ibiza, Spain this June.
Located at the Hard Rock Hotel in Playa d’en Bossa, it will seat 12 guests at a time for a 20-course gastro-sensory meal that will cost more than $2,000 a head.

It sounds kind of creepy though. An operator watches diners while they eat and changes the lighting or scene to "coordinate with a customer’s first bite or the flourishing of a new plate". I think I'd pay extra to have them not watch me chowing down.

Thanks Bruce!

I'm Away For A Bit

I'm travelling and have been having some technical difficulties. I didn't bring the right adaptor for France and couldn't charge any of my devices. Bought a new one today ($35.00CDN, ouch!) and am finally able to pick up emails, etc. but images aren't displaying properly. So don't worry if my posts are more sporadic than usual. Things should be back to normal before too long.

Incredible Juggling Skills

I wish I were just a little bit as coordinated as these guys are.



Carpool Lane on Vimeo
Thanks Bruce!

Interactive Map Of Barcelona

Barcelona, originally known as Barcino, was founded around 200 BC. BIG TIME BCN is an interactive map of the city that highlights the age of urban plots contrasted with the city's architectural heritage.The map, by created by the design firm 300,000 Km/s covers more than 2,000 years of history, nearly 70,000 plots and 3,000 protected monuments. Pop-up windows show photos and information about each monument.

Via

A tout vapeur by Apolonis...

A tout vapeur by Apolonis

Paris Here I Come

I'm off to Paris in a few days and am posting this to get myself pumped up.

Allo Allo {Deux Américains à Paris} from House of Nod on Vimeo.

The music: LES SANS CULOTTES. You can visit their website at lessansculottes.com/
Cinematography and Editing: Robert Kolodny
Produced by Bennett Elliott
A House of Nod Production

Micro Robots Making Things!

 SRI International's magnetically activated micro robots actually manufacture products.



Via

London In Motion

London In Motion- A Short Timelapse/Hyperlapse video from Lewis Symonds on Vimeo.

Lewis Symonds who filmed and edited this video is a 16 year old student at Wellington College, Uk.
Over 5 days he took a total of 10,600 pictures, 7,500 of which appear in the final video.

Via

American Odyssey, A Wonderful Photographic Journey

This collection of postcards are from the private collection of Marc Walter. The Detroit Photographic Company produced these images between 1888 and 1924 using a photolithographic process that predated the autochrome by nearly 20 years. They appear in American Odyssey by Sabine Arque and Marc Walter

Grand Canyon, view from O'Neill's Point, Arizona

Magnolia-on-the-Ashley, Charleston

Mulberry Street, New York

Images: Collection Marc Walter/Courtesy TASCHEN

More: The Guardian

Skanking, Lesson By Tony Verity

Ska Documental in 'Sombrero Club' With Byron Lee & The Dragonaires. Jamaica 1964.
Via

The Egg Painter

This docu-short offers a glimpse into the art and craft of egg painting in Ciocanesti, a small village in Romania's northern region of Bukovina.

Via

Bungie The Bulldog

Bungie was a world-famous British Bulldog. In 1936 he came to Toronto during a heatwave and died! So why did Bungie drop dead?

Now he is one of many animals in the Royal Ontario Museum's taxidermy collection.

Via  Smithsonian Channel

Behold the Apollo 70!

The Apollo 70 is a tricked out Airstream Land Yacht that serves as a mobile bar/food truck for corporate events. How wonderful is this?

Champagne or cocktails, locally sourced beers or beers of the world, Belgium chocolates and pastries or Americana gourmet street food - the choice is yours.

Via

Judgmental Maps

The JUDGMENTAL MAPS blog shows cities with stereotypical demographic labels that are guaranteed to offend almost everyone. That's the intention.

Via

Rolling Stones Gather Moss

British Pathé ‏has uploaded of 85,000 films to YouTube. This 1964 video of the Stones in Hull, Humberside is one of them.


Via

3D On The Rocks

Japanese whiskey-maker, Suntory, has a precision drill that can chisel detailed sculptures like this beautiful pagoda out of an ice cube.

 

Via Food Republic

Sirens of Chrome

Margery Krevsky’s Sirens Of Chrome is a docudrama that "focuses on how the ingenious pairing of beautiful women and cars has influenced five generations of global fashion, design, commerce, romance and status". Her new book, also entitled Sirens of Chrome, traces the story of auto models from short shorts to business attire, and is filled with terrific photography from the industry’s history.

1963 Detroit Auto Show, “real life hood ornament” posing atop
the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda

Packard Motor Co. enlisted members of the Marion Morgan Dancers to promote
 the 1927 model Packard 343 Series Eight.
The troupe danced around the United States at auto events and
in London in variety shows, specializing in interpretative Greek movement.
Here, dancers perform a circle ceremony around a convertible coupe.

A model wears a nude-colored swimsuit for a skit with an
Emmett Kelly-inspired
hobo to promote Chrysler at the 1960 Detroit Auto Show.

More: The Morning News

Kirsty Mitchell - The Stars Of Spring Will Carry You Home

British photographer Kirsty Mitchell creates stunning images of a wonderland inspired by fairytales. This video contains behind the scenes footage of The Stars Of Spring Will Carry You Home, the final chapter of her Wonderland series, filmed and edited by fxmedia.co.uk. While working on it her close friend, John Clarke, was killed in a motorcycle accident. She has dedicated the project to him.

Wonderland - "The Stars Of Spring Will Carry You Home" - Kirsty Mitchell Photography from FX Media on Vimeo.

Read more at Mitchell's blog.
See the complete Wonderland Collection at Kirsty Mitchell Photography

Homemade Cadbury Creme Eggs

Whether I like Cadbury Creme Eggs is irrelevant. Some of you think Easter would not be Easter without these fondant filled confections and I am posting this for you.



Recipe at this Link

If you are a creme egg afficionado who is feeling a bit adventurous you might like to check out these recipes for deep-fried wonton creme eggs, Scotch creme eggs and sweet creme egg pizza. And, no, you won't have to share with me. I wouldn't think of it. Really.

The Victorian Inventor of the Wheelie

Today daredevil cyclists have a passionate following but you'd be mistaken if you thought this was the first generation to perform death defying bicycle tricks.
Way back in 1897 trick bicycle rider Daniel J. Canary was called "the father of us all." Canary performed amazing feats on the high-wheel, but when he got his hands on the newly-invented "safety bicycle," similar to the bikes we know today, he did even more: he invented the wheelie.

Read more at The Appendix

W1A, BBC Mockumentary

W1A is a satire about the BBC shown on the BBC.  A film crew follows Ian Fletcher, Head Of Values, around corporate headquarters as he attends pointless meetings with useless staff. If nothing else the show demonstrates that the public broadcaster has the ability to laugh at itself. The video below is  a preview of the fourth and final episode.

Elvis Costello And The Attractions Shop For Groceries In 1978

Geraldo Rivera goes shopping with Elvis Costello and the Attractions who were touring to support their 1978 album This Year's Model.  Behold the glamourous life of punk rockers on tour!  Elvis ponders the merits of olives vs capers! The video appears to be raw footage for a 20/20 segment that may never have happened. Elvis buys milk, capers and avocados - sounds like a party.



Via Dangerous Minds

A Handyman's Tour of Versailles

If you've ever visited the magnificent Chateau de Versailles outside of Paris you may have wished that you could see it without the hordes of tourists that descend upon it every day. I know I would like to sneak in after hours to explore the palace in peace and quiet.
Canadian photographer Robert Polidori was given that opportunity. In the 1980s he won a contract to document the ongoing restoration of the palace and saw spaces that tourists never see. Here are some of his photos:

Backstage plants at l’Orangerie, in the gardens of Versailles,
taken in 1983, Camera Work

Taken in the Salle les princesses royales,
2010, Galerie de Bellefeuille

Marie Antoinette’s la Meridienne bed,
photographed in 2007, Arthur Roger Gallery

1985, Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Much more: Messy Nessy Chic

Fictitious Dishes by Dinah Fried

 Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals is a project by designer and writer Dinah Fried, who cooks, art-directs, and photographs meals from famous fiction.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, 1963
'Then I tackled the avocado and crabmeat salad...Every Sunday my grandfather
used to bring me an avocado pear hidden at the
bottom of his briefcase under six soiled shirts and the Sunday comic.'

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, 1980
'Stopping before the narrow garage, he sniffed the fumes from Paradise with
great sensory pleasure, the protruding hairs in his nostrils analyzing,
cataloging, categorizing, and classifying the distinct
odors of the hot dog, mustard, and lubricant.' 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
'On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams
crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys
bewitched to a dark gold.'

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, 1915
'There were old, half-rotten vegetables; bones from the evening meal,
covered in white sauce that had gone hard; a few raisins and almonds;
some cheese that Gregor had declared inedible two days before;
a dry roll and some bread spread with butter and salt….'

Each photograph is accompanied by the passage in which the recipe appeared and with facts about the respective author, novel, or food.

Much more at Brain Pickings

The Sad Lunches American Office Workers Eat At Their Desks

Sad Desk Lunch is so, so sad.

Here we are. Eating our sad tupperware lunches. Oh yeah, just to make it better? Eating lunch at your desk can expose you to more bacteria than a toilet seat.

Via 22 Words

Japanese Speaking Bird

The Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa) is not only a pretty bird but is also intelligent. These birds are renowned for their ability to imitate human speech. This video shows one having a conversation with its owner.

I don't understand Japanese but comments on reddit say the conversation  translates as follows:

Bird:” ‘Uhm Hello, this is the Ono family.” 

Bird: “What’s wrong?” 

Owner: “Abe-chan, you’re a little too early. Once the phone’s picked up, then properly say hello.” 

Bird: “Okay, understood.” 

Owner: “Do you really understand? I’m counting on you. Hello, this is the Ono family residence in Gifu.” 

Bird: “Okay, I understand!” 

Owner: “Got it.”

Via TwistedSifter

Herding Cats

"Anybody can herd cattle. Holding together 10,000 half wild shorthairs, now that's another thing altogether!" A clever ad for EDS.
This has been around for a long time but it made me laugh so I had to post it.

Via 

The Library Dioramas of Marc Giai-Miniet

French artist Marc Giai-Miniet constructs tiny bookish worlds. These incredibly detailed dioramas, while lovely, have a decidedly sinister air about them.

More: Beautiful/Decay Artist & Design
Via

Fed Up

This documentary takes a frightening look at the relationship between the food industry and childhood obesity.

Fed Up blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history.

Via Blog on a Toothpick

From Peru With Love

Voyage Peru from House of Nod on Vimeo.

Music by Kanaku & El Tigre
Cinematography and Editing by Robert Kolodny
Produced by Bennett Elliott

House of Nod created this scrapbook of snapshots from their journey to beautiful Peru. After watching the video I'm checking out travel deals to South America.

Via

The Horror Of Leftover Spaghetti

You need never experience the horror of leftover pasta again if you use The Spaghetti Tower developed by Ori Saidi and Daniel Gassner of the Israeli design studio Ototo . The specially designed cap allows you to cook just the amount you need.

Via Neatorama

Creating The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s latest movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is set in a gorgeous Eastern European hotel on the eve of World War II. Unfortunately you can't stay in this beautiful pink confection because the hotel doesn't exist. Set designer Adam Stockhausen created the miniature model we see in the movie.  National Geographic talks to him about creating the Grand Budapest Hotel and other sumptuous locations in the movie.

The Republic of Zubrowka, where the film is set, is a fictional country that takes its name from a Polish bison grass vodka.
Design group Watson/DG teamed up with Anderson to create Akademie Zubrowka, an interactive website that offers a made-up college course on the made-up country, called “The Republic of Zubrowka Before the War: a Central European Case Study of Social, Political and Cultural Upheaval.”

The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie

A rare recording of “Motherless Child Blues,” owned by the collector Richard Nevins.

In the world of early-20th-century African-American music and people obsessed by it, who can appear from one angle like a clique of pale and misanthropic scholar-gatherers and from another like a sizable chunk of the human population, there exist no ghosts more vexing than a couple of women identified on three ultrarare records made in 1930 and ’31 as Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley. There are musicians as obscure as Wiley and Thomas, and musicians as great, but in none does the Venn diagram of greatness and lostness reveal such vast and bewildering co-extent. In the spring of 1930, in a damp and dimly lit studio, in a small Wisconsin village on the western shore of Lake Michigan, the duo recorded a batch of songs that for more than half a century have been numbered among the masterpieces of prewar American music, in particular two, Elvie’s “Motherless Child Blues” and Geeshie’s “Last Kind Words Blues,” twin Alps of their tiny oeuvre, inspiring essays and novels and films and cover versions, a classical arrangement.

So begins an article by John Jeremiah Sullivan that held me from beginning to end. Over the years ethnomusicologists had uncovered little about these two women. Sullivan set out to see what he could find and his journey is a fascinating one.

Much more at  NYTimes.com

The Legend of Dōgo Onsen

To celebrate the 120th birthday of Dōgo Onsen, Japan's oldest bath house, Brad Kremer created this remarkable mixture of animation, time lapse, and real time footage.

The Legend of Dogo Onsen - subtitled from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.

Via Kuriositas

This Bear Is Too Grumpy To Play

I was surprised to learn that Tiger/Hasbro electronics had produced this talking Super Toy Plush Teddy Bear from Steven Spielberg's 2001 movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence. After all A.I. was most definitely not a children's movie. Apparently it is still possible to buy this disturbing toy with a gravelly voice recorded by Jack Angel, the actor who voiced Teddy in the film, but you'll have to cough up close to $800.



Noel Murray has written a touching article in The Dissolve about what Teddy meant to him. It makes me want to watch the film again.


Via Kottke

Mary and Gretel

Animator Howard S. Moss' 1917 stop motion film Mary and Gretel has been described as “Alice in Wonderland meets the Garden of Eden… [a] surreal fable of a drunk rabbit, bowling dwarfs, and the two bewildered girls of the title.” 



Via The Public Domain Review

The Search For General Tso

In The Search for General Tso director Ian Cheney seeks the origins of a "Chinese" dish that was unknown in China until it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States..



 Documentary Website
Via Food Republic

Crimean Tom

Near the end of the Crimean War in 1855, British and French forces captured the Russian port city of Sevastopol after a yearlong siege but they were starving and could not find food to eat. They found a cat and named him Tom and noticed that, unlike his human counterparts, Tom appeared well fed. One day, they followed the cat who disappeared among the debris. When the soldiers cleared it away  they discovered a  cache of food the Russians had hidden at the beginning of the siege. Tom had saved the soldiers from starvation and returned to England with Deputy Assistant Commissary William Gair. Unfortunately Tom died just a year later. Gair stuffed and mounted the cat and he is now on display at London’s National Army Museum in London.

More stories about the Felines of War Here

Via Blort

Little Miss Sunshine, The Hen Who Became a TV Star

Little Miss Sunshine spent most of her life as an egg-laying battery hen in a tiny cage with three other hens, gripping tightly to a wire floor that sloped away beneath her. After a time she was supposed to be put down after she stopped producing enough eggs to make her commercially viable but was rescued by the team at Edgar's Mission and her new life began.

She is an intelligent hen who has learned a whole repertoire of tricks and gives a whole new meaning to the term "bird brained".



More: Animals Australia

1/48 Scale Model Kitchen In A Bottle

Kirin's commercial for their Salt & Fruit soft drink line is the cutest thing ever. They created a 1/48 scale model kitchen and an office, fruit stand, and other dioramas.

More at Laughing Squid  Via Curiosités De Titam 

The Grounds for Violence

The Winnipeg Free Press posted this song by Bartley Kives written to the tune of “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel that captures the Canadian state of mind this winter.



Via Neatorama

The Alphabet Sandwich

Nick Chipman's Alphabet Sandwich is a towering abomination with 26 different toppings, each one starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Here's what it consists of:

• Avocado
• Bacon
• Cheese
• Doritos
• Egg
• Fish sticks
• Garlic bread
• Ham
• Italian sausage patty
• Jalapeno peppers
• Krispy Kreme doughnut
• Lettuce
• Macaroni and cheese
• Noodles
• Onion rings
• Pepperoni
• Queso blanco dip
• Ramen noodles
• Spinach
• Turkey burger
• Usingers bratwurst
• Veal Parmesan
• Waffle
• Xylocarp (coconut)
• Yams
• Zucchini

Read more about the making of the sandwich at DudeFoods.com 

Fashions of the Future as Imagined in 1893

Future Dictates of Fashion by W. Cade Gall was published in the January 1893 issue of The Strand magazine. The article reveals the contents of an imaginary book from a hundred years in the future (published in 1993) titled The Past Dictates of Fashion. The book takes a look back at the last century of fashion (1893 -1993).

This imagined future of fashion is not spot on.  I know we dressed weirdly in the 60s and 80s but I never saw outfits as strange as these. Here are a few examples.

1940s

1960s

 1980s

Via: The Public Domain Review

'Rob Ford For Scale' Weight-Loss Photo

A Toronto man has used Toronto mayor Rob Ford as a benchmark for his weight loss. Matthew Wong, 32, had his photo taken with Ford at the Corso Italia street festival in July 2013. After Wong's partner at the time became concerned that his 230 pound weight could have health consequences Wong took steps to address his weight issue. He says he was inspired by Mayor Ford's Cut the Waist challenge. Unfortunately Ford was unable to stick to his diet but Wong lost 60 pounds.

The before and after photos skyrocketed to the top of Reddit with more than 5,000 up votes and nearly 2,000 comments over four hours.

More:  CBC News

How To Escape From Zip Ties

Because you never know what might happen:

The Art Of Manliness Via TYWKIWDBI 

Homes In Mid-Explosion

Brooklyn-based artist Ben Grasso paints houses in mid-explosion. His snapshots of collapsing architecture show the dynamic at work between natural and built spaces.

Living Room I, 2013, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches

Tree, 2013, oil on panel, 48 x 72 inches

Link Via The Morning News

'Game of Thrones' Opening Sequence Reimagined With Social Media

Fans of Game of Thrones are familiar with the title sequence consisting of a three-dimensional map of the world including the continents of Westeros and Essos. The details of the title sequence change each week depending on the locations visited. In the video below the opening sequence replaces the show's houses and landmarks with social media icons: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, Google +, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat and LinkedIn. Brilliant!



Via 

Epic Food Commercial

Are you tired of cooking three meals a day, seven days a week? Apparently you can turn cooking into a real adventure with Lurpak’s line of butter and oils.
Via  Foodiggity.com

A Tour Of Accents Across the British Isles

Professional accent and dialect coach Andrew Jack demonstrates the many distinct accents across the UK.



Via 22 Words

Knut-Inge Johnsen – Snapshots from my Window

For three years Norwegian photographer Knut-Inge Johnsen had an office with a window, facing an open space. Many people passed by each day and he realized that this was a kind of daily theatre so he began taking photos of the activity that took place there. He exposed 1500 pictures over three years and then had an exhibition in the area where the pictures where taken and people were delighted to see these images of themselves.

Via