Recommended Viewing | Carved in Stone...

The Leeds School of Business flew master lettercutter Douglas Coffin from Sandpoint Maine to carve the Koelbel name into a new building.

Coffin is one of only six lettercutters in the US. View the video to see the carving in progress and hear Coffin describe the art, techniques, and pleasure inherent in this rare (perhaps dying?) art form. Watch the video embedded above or on YouTube, here - enjoy!

WICKED! Nokia N96 + Bruce Lee...

A very cool bit of video editing here... in this commercial for the Nokia N96 - Bruce Lee Limited Edition (I wouldn't mind having this phone). Watch the embedded video above or via YouTube, here - enjoy!

Via swissmiss - cheers!

WICKED! Type War...

Too cool. This typographic animation/ad was created by Optix Digital (Hamburg), for Inlingua Business English schools. Watch the video embedded above, on YouTube or via Motionographer, here - enjoy!

Thanks again to Mr. Simpson for the link - cheers!

Recommended | What? Clay Art & Curios...

Evelin Richter is a talented Winnipeg Beach based ceramist, I've blogged about her previously on MUHSASHUM, here. Anyhow, Ev's website/blog is now live (design by Circle and powered by Wordpress)! You can learn more about Ev, as well as see some examples of her work, visit her website/blog at http://www.whatclayart.com - enjoy!

WICKED-COOL! Kato Mask...

A couple of hours ago I received a visit at the office from the lovely, Beth Romphf Gillespie, wife of my good friend James (KALAMAFRAZ). Well, aside from stopping in to wish me a Happy Birthday, she came bearing this amazing (unexpected) gift... James and Beth privately commissioned one of Beth's co-workers to custom make me this wicked Kato mask!

For those of you who don't know, Kato was the side-kick of the Green Hornet and was played by none other than the famous Bruce Lee himself! It was a short-lived TV series, but it would go down in history as being one of the pivotal roles in the now famous career of the 'little dragon'.

The mask was hand-made out of leather by, Ryan Roth Bartel, a local artist/designer. You can see more of Ryan's work here and here...


... Evil-doers BEWARE! There's a NEW Kato in town! (j/k).

Now, if only Kato could find his hat, he'd be ready to fight crime... =D Thanks again to Beth, and James (and Ryan), you shouldn't have... but, I love it! Cheers!

Recommended | Baby Steps to Living Green...

One of my colleagues at Circle, designer Susan McWatt FitzGerald (MGDC and soon-to-be Mom), has been doing research in preparation for her new arrival (expected late April 2008). Take a look at the stats she came across re: Disposable Diapers... scary. See her original article here.

BAD Plastic Water Bottle... GOOD SIGG ?

A lot of attention has been given recently to the on-going debate about the safety of plastics for liquid storage. Particularly with the upward trend of personal water bottles in the urban/work environment. A recent decision to pull plastic water bottles off the shelves by the popular retailer, Mountain Equipment Co-op may be a cause for some concern (or at least your consideration) when thinking about your next water bottle purchase... see the Globe and Mail article here. If you must have a water bottle perhaps you should consider a SIGG bottle... they're Swiss made! ;)

Learn How to Screenprint Your Own T-shirts...

A great video on YouTube about D.I.Y. screenprinting by the folks over at Make Magazine. Check it out here on YouTube - enjoy!

Globetrotter ECO Car via Inhabitat...

Via Inhabitat: Ever imagined driving in an ultra lightweight, solar-powered plastic car? If designer Harsha Ravi has his way, this will be the future of sustainable automobiles. Winning the conveted Young Designer of the Year award, Harsha Ravi has envisioned a release from dependence on fossil fuels with an emphasis on eco-friendly vehicle technologies and cutting back the weight and bulk of today’s gas-guzzlers. Ravi’s concept uses a carbon-neutral, bioplastic body with 12 percent petroleum-based/88 percent corn-based plastic that reduces manufacturing energy 30 percent. And there’s much more - a zinc-air fuel cell, nano-paper battery, airless tires, nanopaints to absorb solar energy while parked to charge its batteries, and woven seat material. This car is lightweight, functional, frugal - the ultimate “tread lightly” automotive feast for the environment-savvy consumer... (view the original posting on Inhabitat)

I think it's a great idea and I completely encourage the designer's forward thinking... although, I do have some doubts as to the practicality of the design in environments as extreme as the Canadian Prairies (hot, dry summers and freezing cold winters). I'd be interested to see how an actual prototype vehicle would perform under conditions that normal vehicles would have to endure on a regular basis. What do you think?

COOL! Rubbermaid Halloween Samurai...

Via Boing Boing:
Flickr user Kudzutech's bad-ass samurai costume (build detailed at the link below) is made from 32 gallon Rubbermaid garbage cans! Link.

Wow! That is one serious piece of work... kudos to Kudzutech! Be sure to check out Kudzutech's Flickr set showing the process. Cheers!

Recommended | Etsy.com

Etsy is a really cool online place to buy and sell all types of things handmade. I've been meaning to blog about this site for some time now... I find it to be a great place to see all types of crafts, jewelery, ceramics and more. As far as I am aware, anyone can become a part of the online Etsy community by signing up, all you need is a valid email address (signing up is required in order to buy or sell). It's definitely worth a look! Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/

Curse of the Amazon.ca

Just a little rant... for those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I am a collector of sorts... I collect all types of things, ranging from found ephemera to toys, movies, books and more. Anyhow, I was going through my bookmarks and came across this neat experimental flash site called Amaztype. It's a neat little program that searches through a user specified Amazon locale, for images that match your search word (see image). I felt it was appropriate considering how much I love/hate Amazon. I'll admit, I use Amazon for most of my book purchases, majority of which have become online... this is where the curse comes in. I don't know about anyone else but, I've found the online shopping movement to be a curse altogether... its far too easy to make purchases online and forget about them... the fact that Amazon doesn't charge your credit card until they ship doesn't help the fact either...

Oh well, check out that experimental Flash site here: http://amaztype.tha.jp/ and BEWARE the Curse of the Amazon.ca