kookymojo

2004-12-15T17:09:00.000Z

So, in case you didn't get the hints, or read my Livejournal lately, I went to Reykjavik for the weekend.

Click here to read The Adventures of Mushgamp and Thingstuff... and their Beard.

2004-12-15T17:01:00.000Z

In last month's Wired magazine, there was an interesting article about whether or not Colombian cocaine farmers were growing genetically modified plants. The journalist came to an interesting conclusion

Last week, this BBC article claimed the opposite viewpoint. Naturally, I'm curious about who is most accurate and who is the victim of believing a lot of disinformation, but the best thing about the second article is the name of the vice-president's assistant. German Manga. Really. That's what they're called. Isn't that brilliant?

I wonder if Germany has a homegrown manga scene, anyway?

2004-12-08T19:33:00.000Z

Lake disappears through a crack in the earth. That must be so weird.

Meanwhile, the American tectonic plate is busy tearing away from the European tectonic plate at the rate of 2cm a year. See the aerial view here, and the view from the ground here.

2004-12-08T19:30:00.000Z

Male contraceptive pill gets closer to becoming reality. About fucking time.

2004-12-08T19:29:00.000Z

Bloody hell, that's a flood and a half (and yay! designboom.com has a weblog!)

2004-12-03T17:00:00.000Z

"Surtsey is not only one of the world's newest islands, but the most filmed and researched and one of the most restricted." "It was a dramatic, fire-and-brimstone birth that erupted from the icy sea".

This lucky person got to pay a visit".

2004-11-24T17:40:00.000Z

In case you haven't been following my livejournal lately, you may not know that I've just spent a week in Barcelona, which was glorious. One of the highlights of my visit was seeing all the amazing street art that seems to be on almost every street corner. Sadly, I don't possess a working camera, so I have to link to other peoples' sites:

One, two and three.

2004-11-24T17:26:00.000Z

Really nasty food:

Hakarl. That's "rotten shark meat" to you and me.

The first recipe to come up if you google "nasty food" is this carrot loaf.

Prison widows (y'know, like "football widows", not actually widowed) discuss their menfolks' cooking. (Also, please note the banner adverts at the bottom. This one's my favourite.)

And the Chica Recipe Archive.

2004-11-12T17:03:00.000Z

Some cheesecake and pin-up linkage for Pervboy (yes, I have posted these sites on here in the past):

Gil Elvgren
Antonio Vargas
Jack Cole (yes, as in the creator of Plastic Man)
Joyce Ballantyne (yes, as in the woman behind that old Coppertone advert)

There's plenty more amongst a massive selection here, and it's also worth looking at the other pages on the sites linked above for even more stuff.

2004-11-10T10:42:00.000Z

Cool mods.

And cool modes.

2004-11-03T14:04:00.000Z

I'm fascinated by volcanoes, but very glad I don't live near an active one. There's one erupting in Vatnajokull glacier at the moment, which is believed to have been caused by expansion of a lake underneath the Vatnajokull glacier. Air traffic is being diverted. Here's what it looks like when there isn't a volcano erupting, and here's what the destruction looked like last time. Let's hope it's not so bad this time!

2004-10-29T19:09:00.000Z

Some seasonal Halloween and Day of the Dead links:

Musica de los Muertos at Pooch Island

Send an e-card from Evil Kid Productions.

"Waiter! Waiter! There's a dead squid in my soup!"
"It's not dead, Sir. It's just dreaming." More silly Lovecraft humour at Barbelith.

Make your own sugar skulls. I forgot again this year. Too busy making a basket from an old colander, a wire coathanger and newspaper headlines.

2004-10-22T15:34:00.000Z

Speaking of people who design opening titles to movies, there's a new book about Saul Bass that's due to be published by Laurence King. If you email info@laurenceking.co.uk, quoting BASS05, you can get it for £35 -- that's £10 off the published price. And it looks like it's going to be a nice volume to own.

2004-10-22T15:27:00.000Z

There's a nice tribute to Richard Avdeon on designboom.com.

Today I found the complete script to Funny Face (which Avedon designed the opening titles for), too.

2004-10-05T15:54:00.000Z

Not that I'm an especially big fan of diamonds, but...

"I've heard of affairs that are strictly platonic
but Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend,
and I think affairs that you must keep liaisonic
are better bets if little pets get big bag gifts"

[Posted for Burge, to clear up that pesky verse that was confusing us in the pub last week]

2004-10-05T15:07:00.000Z

Some links from the Young Designers' Mart at the Design Museum:

Ubercute safety measures from Sweet Dreams Security.

If you're getting married, and you don't want to spend a fortune on a dress you'll only get to wear once, then you might want to consider getting a pretty wedding dress designed by Rachael Sleight, who also made the Sun-dress pictured above. Just be careful of papercuts.

I can't remember who made this felt lampshade, and forgot to note the name, but it's very cool.

Rose Cobb creates pretty and practical designs for modern living.

I like Pascal's suit which has the contents of his mobile phone's SIM card written out on the pinstripes.

Stuff from the Monstrously Strange But Cool department:

Julia Lohmann makes lampshades out of sheep's stomachs. She gets the stomachs from the butcher, and treats them in a similar manner to tanning leather, so that when they are soft enough, she can wrap them around something and leave them to dry permanently in that shape. The lamps are strangely beautiful objects, as long as you don't think too much about where they came from. Of course, Lohmann makes them with the intention of getting people to think; she wants people to consider their different value judgements that say it's okay to wear leather, or to make glue from bones, or even to stick a cow and her baby into a tank of formaldehyde and call it art, but get skittish and start to veer away at the thought of using anything else.

Also, freaky fish:
angler fish, the whipnose, and transgenic tilapia create cheap drugs.

2004-09-23T17:12:00.000Z

Remember, though, it's only lines on paper!

2004-09-23T17:03:00.000Z

The art of David Mach. Check out his amazing coat-hanger sculptures, especially -- and if you're in London, go and see the one on display in the National Portrait Gallery.

And don't get him confused with that other groovy artist, David Mack.

2004-09-23T16:46:00.000Z

Craftster.org is a useful place to find crafty hints and tips.

2004-09-17T19:00:00.000Z

Cheezy romance book covers painted by Robert Maguire. The last three in the selection of pulpier ones lower down the page are better.

2004-09-17T18:42:00.000Z

Looking at the recently republished (again) 'I Can Fly', illustrated by Mary Blair, one can really see the influence she had on the work of Seonna Hong. Speaking of Seonna Hong, she and her husband Tim Biskup have designed some toys for the Neo Kaiju Project, and I confess a girly love for the "Nut Hugger" character, even though it's not very monsterish.

More cute monster toys can be found at Time Capsule. Even my mum is a fan of the Charles Burns and Pete Fowler ones.

2004-09-17T18:37:00.000Z

Speaking of design, here's an interview with Margaret Calvert. And here's another one.

2004-09-17T18:16:00.000Z

There's a whole bunch of stuff to see at the London Design Festival next week. There's a Design Mart and a Saul Bass retrospective at the Design Museum (and there's also an exhibition about the history of the E-Type Jaguar, and one on Constance Spry.

And that's just one venue!

There's also the exhibition of British Independent Design since the Sixties.

2004-09-17T18:15:00.000Z

Bustards from Russia.

2004-09-09T20:41:00.000Z

Driving on 9 by The Breeders is my new favourite road trip song.