Then Be
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Need some zen in your life? Is something bothering you? Proceed toThen Be.
Chocolate Mail
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I'm constantly horrified at the idea of having to lick stamps or envelopes. They taste terrible. There is no need for this (as this week I discovered you can buy mint flavored fake blood - if they can make fake blood taste good, surely they can make stamps taste good). Enter the brilliant design mind of Toby Ng. Toby has created Chocolate Mail. It is a conceptual project about redesigning stamps to taste like chocolate. The chocolate stamps would come in 3 different flavors, dark, milk or white, and would be sold in sets of 24 resembling a chocolate bar.
Design makes me happy.
Contraction
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My favorite entry into this year's RE:Play Film Festival is Contraction. The short film was written & directed by Christopher Hewitt & James Cambourne. It is totally odd, but there is a simplicity and exaggeration that pulls you in.
Real Human Interface
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The always brilliant, Multitouch Barcelona have released a new video project called Hi, A Real Human Interface. It is an amusing reinterpretation of a computer preformed by a guy in a box.
I am once again reminded to say nice things to my computer. (Found through Fubiz)
Cardboard Love
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What says I love you better than pen on cardboard? See more heartfelt and recyclable love letters from a self proclaimed pessimist at Cardboard Love. Lovely.
Don't be afraid to be lame.
Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machine
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The Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machine is a vending machine full of breakables. Insert money, smash something. Brilliant! Unfortunately this is just an interactive sculpture created by Yarisal and Kublitz. I say unfortunately because I would really get good use out of one of these. They could put one in my office next to the regular vending machine, and charge $50 per plate. I can't think of a more satisfying way to release some afternoon frustration. (Found through Thriving Too).
Reminds me of Smash Shack.
Touching Strangers
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Photographer Richard Renaldi's Touching Strangers series captures the awkward moment when two strangers come in physical contact with each other. The subjects of the photos are posing together, as if they know one another, but clearly do not. The priceless little giveaways like a clenched jaw or stiff embrace are what make the photos so enjoyable.
Pulse
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Pulse is a live visualization of recent emotional expressions written on blogger.com. Blogged emotional expressions are parsed using a list of synonyms which are translated into physical changes on a rubbery heart. This project has a fascinating mix of human emotions and computer data data. Feelings are coded as data in blogs, and the data is turned back into Pulse, an object with its own sense of life. I appreciate that the end result seems very alive, but very robotic at the same time. It appropriately represents the mix of warm emotions and cold data that are feeding it. Pulse is the thesis project of University of the Arts Berlin student, Markus Kison. (Found through Computerlove).
Virtually Mine
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Virtually Mine is an interesting exhibit created by CITIZEN:citizen for the Peel Gallery. The exhibit examines the value of objects. By value, they don't mean how much it would sell for at an auction, but what kind of value the object has to its owner. The general public is invited to bring objects into the museum to be cataloged for the collection. When someone submits an item they describe themselves, the object they are submitting and the explanation for its inclusion. One of my favorites is the Armani Handbag included in the image above. The owner explained its value by saying "It's my favorite bag. I think it's extremely classy and I got it on sale in SoHo for nearly nothing. I feel sexy when I use it."