practical joke

A lot of people find foam packing peanuts annoying but this seems like a great practical joke. I bet it was a nightmare to clean them all up.

Ed Hardy

First time I heard of Ed Hardy was on Pawn Stars. Some of the stuff is well done with intricate details and well selected colors but it is all over-priced. A T-shirt goes for $60. I think that if you wait a couple years the brand will be at Target for $20.

Noma Copenhagen

Unfortunately it seems that Noma is booked for every night I am in the city. Does anybody reading this know the owner or someone I can call to squeeze myself onto the reservation list? I do not mind eating in the kitchen.

DKDS

Looking forward to the upcoming trip to Copenhagen and getting to see DKDS. Also looking forward to seeing the waterfront in particular. Kurlansky should write a book about this town.

GameCast

A lot of people do not enjoy the NFL preseason but I love it. I like seeing all of the new players and gaining information on who is going to be playing in which situations. It is also nice to get a look at the new coach's playbook and strategies. Unfortunately even NFL ticket doesn't play the Preseason games so you have to catch the games on replay. In the critical week 3 game Buffalo is on at 2:00am Sunday. I will stay up for it but until then it is fun to watch the ESPN gamecast, sort of a realtime cartoon version.

water jet

Not an especially good selection of grays or a very contemporary choice for the accent color but the strategy is working. The photography helps too.

DKDS

Cool post from the Copenhagen based design school. From the student show.

Porky drives to work

Steelwood

Steelwood High Bar Stool by Magis. Stool with seat and foot-rest in steel plate painted in epoxy resin. Legs in solid beech. Interesting materials and connection details but I am not sure it is worth $500.

Eva Solo

Seen on Emmo home

sleepypod

Annemarie, I think that Porky would enjoy having one of these. Too bad he would probably just chew it to bits.

orizuru chair

I like the finish on this, the subtle texture adds richness to the color. Saw it on Design Milk

Acura NSX

It looks a little too much like a response to BMW's flamed-edge design language from a few years ago but there are some interesting details and the overall stealth form is more impressively carried out than the others who have tried it.

Y grinder

This is one of those forms that never looks good in a sketch but the right materials in 3D the simplicity is terrific. It is a salt and pepper mill.

waterskiers

diaper bag

Nice diaper bag. Cool material, pattern and color palette. It still looks a little too much like a Diaper bag though. Something about the position of the outside pockets. Nothing wrong with that except that they are not very easy to lug around without dropping things.

Threadless

Threadless t-shirt art

The best Eshirt website? threadless.com

Zumiez

Judging by local foot traffic Zumiez is going to crush HOTT in the upcoming back-to-school spurt.

Solomon Burke

Every song is worth listening to on "Don't Give Up on Me"

Burton

They used to be the pinnacle of lifestyle brands but they sure look pathetically corporate and stiff now. The colors, patterns, forms and even the materials look a lot like something one would expect from Eddie Bauer not Burton. I think it is hilarious. Having suffered through working with the pompous, self-appointed trend setters at Burton it is sweet to see them make themselves thoroughly irrelevant.

Labconco

Aside from the poor use of the script sub-branding these guys did a nice job of carrying a line-look across a broad range of products made with a varying materials and processes. They also did a nice job executing simple sheet forms that read as precise volumes rather than a series of planes.

Amy Butler Stationary

Amy Butler seems to have expanded her line of stationary. The colors are vibrant and the patterns familiar but still distinctive.

Mini-container

This is the mini-container we designed with Preserve. I have been using them at home for a while - I think that there is something about the smallish size that makes them more fun to use. It seems like we are saving more little scraps of food than we used to.

count 'n chat

Greg, this is the toy phone I mentioned the other day, made by Leapfrog Toys.

Company Men

I saw a preview for this movie on itunes during lunch. The premise is a bunch of businessmen that lose their job while all having families and expensive lifestyles to support. This seems like a really dismal premise for a movie. I can not imagine anyone wanting to go see it even if Ben Affleck is taught the value of hard labor by Kevin Costner. This seems pretty grim.

New Haven

Even as an occasional visitor to New Haven, I have found that there are a couple genuine, special spots. One spot is a hotel called the Study at Yale (and their restaurant, Heirloom). The people that work there are thoroughly enjoyable and the food is interestingly unusual without being pretentious.

cement table

I am thinking about getting one of these for outside of Evo...if I can work a deal.

SS version

Here is the stainless version of our thermometer kettle made by Cuisinart. They did a nice job on the manufacturing details and I hear that it is selling very well.

mini airstream

Other than the color palette I am not sure that there is much of a connection to the mini-brand. But the idea of a mini/airstream co-branded offering is cool and could be really compelling. Unfortunately, this concept misses one of the key features of any Airstream which is cleaver and efficient use of space. Their interiors usually anticipate use patterns and respond with intuitive features that make living in a tight space seem luxurious. This concept looks more like a really expensive deck on wheels.

CMFO

I think that this is the week to buy CMFO. Even if you are skeptical pick up 100 shares and see where things stand in October.

rope swing

Ian makes the most of a short and tattered rope swing on the farmington, right by the river road mini-golf course. The water is a lot clearer in real life.

Magimix vision toaster

Here is what the Sonoma website says: "Experience the only toaster with a viewing window that lets you watch the toasting process in action. Set the toaster to an automatic brown setting, or simply press a button to pop up your toast when it’s browned just the way you like." I think I might like to view the toasting process and I really like a good piece of buttery rye toast but $250 seems excessive. (Nice find Heather)