Volcanoes Can be Arty Too

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Eyjafjallajökull's ash started flying all over the place again recently, but has settled down. Meanwhile, while everyone attempted to scramble away from Iceland, Sean Stiegemeier flew over to be right where the action was. After 8 days of flight/weather drama, he was able to capture this stunning footage of the volcanic hellion and its smoke-stack spews. A Sigur Rós’s Jónsi track accompanies the time lapse, but here’s a Mastodon song you can play along instead. 

Volcanoes Can be Arty Too

Blasting Tunes like it's 1904

Fridays are about doing crazy things and looking really ridiculous and recovering in time for brunch on Saturday.  And Saturdays tend to be about the same thing, but recovering for brunch on Sunday.

So it's appropriate that today, after what I hope was a fabulous weekend for you all, I introduce to you the iVictrola, a new handmade iPod dock that combines a vintage Magnavox phonograph horn and your love for retro electronics, now available.

First of all, I will make it clear: it's not electric. At all. There's no outlet, no plug, no fuss.

Just like the phonographs of old, the iVictrola uses a giant metal horn to capture the music coming from your iPod and crank it out with a touch of historical flair (I'm guessing the RCA dog would be just as mesmerized by this).

All you have to do is drop your iPod or iPhone into the open slot on the hand-constructed walnut base, make sure your volume is up, and the dock does the rest. Ta-da! Sound is caught by the bottom of the horn and reverberates up the cone via the natural conductivity of metal—and the resulting quality will be eerily similar to the kind flappers and hip-cats danced to back in the Roaring '20s.

This may be the best way to finally introduce your grandmother to Jay-Z.

Blasting Tunes like it's 1904

Gelato, Sorbet, and Fro-Yo on a Stick!

If you're in New York, there might be an excess of licking in the West Village this summer. 


The culprit: a new form of popsicle-ized gelato/sorbet/frozen yogurt called the PopBar, sold at a new shop dedicated to popsicles (5 Carmine Street, at Sixth Ave). Eat them plain or dipped in nuts, biscotti, brownies or chocolate. 

All of this will be familiar to anyone who’s been to Italy’s various Stick House locations, but owners Reuben BenJehuda (an Italian who has worked in fashion for the past decade or so) and Daniel Yaghoubi (a German record producer) are making it a point to use hormone-free milk, real fruit (lemon, blood orange, mango, berries, peach, etc.), and no additives. And one last thing may help them stick it to the competition: Their coffee is Stumptown.


Even if you don't eat them at all, be prepared to buy them for friends in sundresses.

Gelato, Sorbet, and Fro-Yo on a Stick!

Tweet Museum

Celebrity tweets, illustrated...I'm enjoying these immensely.

Tweet Museum

Crayola Evolution

The evolution from 1903 to 2010, colorfully mapped out (visual metaphor for life, whaaaaat). When I was growing up, I remember the 64-box set was like the Bentley of crayons - now apparently there are 150 colors in all?!

Crayola Evolution

Vhere's Valdo?

This is a brilliant and hilarious "Werner Herzog Reads Where's Waldo" clip ... too good not to share on le blog.





There's more where that came from: Werner Herzog Reads Curious George, and Werner Herzog Reads Madeline

Vhere's Valdo?

Brandy Smuggler Walking Cane Flask

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You miss your plane, you commandeer a chopper. Your cocktail is offensively subpar, you hop behind the bar.

And now, if the stadium only stocks cheap overpriced beer, you fake a limp and hobble with purpose. Bear with me...

Introducing the Brandy Smuggler Walking Cane Flask, available to meet your smuggling needs.

Consider it the best reason to fake a limp since you played the role of Keyser Söze in a Tony-winning adaptation of The Usual Suspects. In short, it's exactly what it sounds like: an aluminum, gold-handled cane that's been hollowed out to fit not one, but five two-ounce flasks, which you can then fill with the beverage of your choosing. (Just hope no one asks why your cane is making a swishing sound.)

It's not hard to see how this would come in handy. You can use the flasks to mix and match—two bourbons, two scotches and, why not, one champagne. Oh, better yet - half with champagne, half with OJ and start making mimosas!! And it's all housed inside an innocent-looking cane made by Harvy, the same brand that probably made your grandparents' walking sticks.

Respect your elders.

Brandy Smuggler Walking Cane Flask

party playlist revolution

Ah, the party mix—execute it well, and you're a hero. Execute it poorly, and your friends will never let you near a stereo again. 


A solution: this site, which lets you and your friends create a collaborative playlist, even as the party is in motion. Not that anyone should thwart your wall-to-wall Bee Gees rock block.


Start collaborating here.

party playlist revolution

Det Snurrar I Min Skalle

I found this via my friend, Zeeg.  It's pretty sweet.  Familjen a.k.a. Johan T Karlsson, a Swedish techno/electropop artist, has blown my mind with the video for the song ‘Det Snurrar I Min Skalle’. That is Swedish for ‘It’s Spinning Inside My Head’. Directed by Johan Söderberg, the video is a mash-up remix of footage from a tent revival. I am hesitant to even use the term mash-up because this is so far beyond what your typical media mash-up has become. Open your eyes and ears and enjoy!



**Where do you start to look for archived footage like this? There are probably so many gems out there waiting to be reborn into modern magic!

Det Snurrar I Min Skalle