Link roundup

1. How to create a retro scifi-style poster. Via.

2. Treasure map. Via.

3. "Gigantic piles of shrink-wrapped garbage have been moldering in the heat of a Hawaii industrial park for more than five months, waiting for a place to be shipped." Via.

*Buy treasure maps at Amazon.

Dystopian art by Laurie Lipton

A few of the less disturbing drawings from Laurie Lipton's "Machine Punk" show, opening November 5 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. She writes:

This show was inspired by the Steampunk movement that is sweeping Britain. Instead of steam, however, my devices are mostly run by electricity and madness. I was vacuuming one day and noticed the amount of plugs and cables on the floor... a veritable wasp's nest of wires and sockets connecting a hoard of gadgets and doo-dads intertwining around the house and my life. I was trapped like a fly in an electrical web. What had happened? Were these things making my life easier or more complex? I began with The Steam Punk Pocket Watch, an absurd idea of a time piece too huge & complex for anyone's pocket, and went whirling on from there. These machines are designed to hinder, control and/or give the illusion of technology. I had a tremendous amount of fun creating the images and think that this show will touch anyone who has ever become entwined, up to the eyebrows, in the Technological Age.

The Fates



Surveillance



Recycling



Perambulator



Motoring



The Illusion-of-Control Tower




Communication

*Buy vintage phones at Amazon.

Futuristic street sweeper (link roundup)

A behemoth of a street sweeper by Danny Gardner.

And a few more links:

1. Blue rabbit brooch.

2. "Safety is contagious."

3. A tiger enjoying some milk.

*Previously: Unlucky Rabbit's Foot Voodoo Keychain.

*Buy vintage jewelry at eBay.

Trash truck by Michael Schall

Garbage truck and star factory by Michael Schall, whose work is currently on display at Platform Gallery in Seattle.

*Previously: Trash truck of the future.

*Buy garbage truck toys at eBay.

Bertie Lego CubeDudes (link roundup)

One of two Lego CubeDudes by Angus MacLane based on ThreeA Toys' Bertie.

And a few more links:

1. Bobby Solomon at Kitsune Noir is looking for a coblogger, and also posted a huge number of iPad-ready desktop wallpapers.

2. The stunning pictures of sleeping insects covered in water droplets. Via.

3. Robocop poster by Travis Pitts.

4. Beijing to sweeten stench of rubbish crisis with giant deodorant guns. Via these sites.

*Previously: Little Shadow Doll by ThreeA Toys.

*Buy Ashley Wood toys at eBay.

Cake Monster, Garbage Truck Cake

Two gems from The White Flower Cake Shoppe:


Monster cake deemed "too cute" by the judges of Food Network's horror cake contest.



Garbage truck wedding cake. Via.

*Previously: Garbage truck costume.

*Buy Start A Cake Business Today at Amazon.

Garbage Truck costume

Homemade garbage truck costume made by one of Nancy Dorsner's readers. You can see more photos and read how it was made here. And skim through Nancy's site because she's recently posted many more clever costumes.

You know, I'm seeing a lot less interesting Halloween art this year. It could be that I'm not looking in the right places, but I wonder if the economy has hit people so hard that they have less time for such projects.

*Previously: Trash truck of the future.

*Buy costumes at eBay.

Starting and ending the day with rainbows

Today was my last day on vacation (if being away from home with two kids under five can be called a vacation). The day started and ended with rainbows. The late afternoon rainbow was actually a double-rainbow, and so vibrant that it seemed tangible.








It had been ages since I last visited Hanauma Bay. Used to be, you'd buy food at the beach and then hand feed fish right at the water's edge. Now, there's wind and solar powered street lights (those things hanging down were turning with the wind), and a solar-powered trash compacting garbage can. You also have to watch a nine-minute movie about reef preservation before they'll allow you step on the beach.




Also, I passed a repo store with a bear in the window.

*Previously: More photos from my vacation.

*Buy rainbow calendars at eBay.

Trash truck of the future

I'm pretty sure my son's going to demand I make him Marcin ImpreSariO's futuristic garbage truck as soon as he sees it.

*Previously: Philadelphia has solar-powered trash cans.

*Buy garbage truck toys at eBay.

"Please do not break coconut here"

You might have already seen Jason Eppink's Total Crisis Panic Button, but did you know it has its own website, complete with locator map?

Better yet, Jason's Flickr gallery is full of roughly 3,000 images. Here are a few highlights:


Porkslap Pale Ale. (Here's the appropriately silly official site.)


Temporarily out of service garbage can.


"Please do not break coconut here!" sign.

Via these sites.

*Previously: Philadelphia has solar-powered trash cans.

*Find vintage signs at eBay.

Neon signs outside of Rapture (link roundup)

Nice shot of the neon signs outside of Rapture in Bioshock.

And a few more links:

1. Esquire magazine wastes time and resources on whimsical bar codes for each issue.

2. Dragonfly man animated gif.

3. Rear-loading Lego trash truck. Via.

*Previously: Apparently, I have the sexual nature of a dragonfly.

*Buy Bioshock toys at eBay.

Trash Monster (link roundup)

Trash Monster by Brandon Jay Blommeart. See more here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Wild story about Ron Artest:

Artest missed the first two team buses (the ones for players, coaches and team personnel) from Houston's hotel to the Staples Center and barely made the third and final bus, which was reserved for business staff, sponsors and friends of the team. These stunned people watched Artest sprint to the bus right before it left, jump on and take one of the remaining seats ... yes, wearing only his underwear. Owner Leslie Alexander happened to be sitting on the bus and witnessed the whole thing. And you wonder why the Houston Rockets didn't make any effort whatsoever to bring back Artest.

Via Bill Simmons' NBA offseason summary.

2. The Dread Pirate Roberts as a robot.

3. Okami fan art.

*Previously: Okami mask.

*Buy Princess Bride toys at eBay.

Philadelphia has solar-powered trash cans, artistic recycling trucks

Philadelphia has solar-powered trash cans and artist-decorated recycling trucks. As to the "Big Belly" trash cans, they're motorized and compact trash. When they're full, they seal themselves and send out a notification to headquarters. They open like a mailbox, so they'll presumably become disgusting to touch almost immediately, and something tells me that any energy savings earned by the fewer required pickups will be outweighed by the sophistication of the cans' construction and need for upkeep.

*Previously: Trash can with built in hair-removing comb.

*Buy garbage truck toys at eBay.

Giant Koi (link roundup)

Giant Koi by Jeremy Enecio. High res at the link. And lots of great fairy tale creatures on display in his portfolio.

And a few more links:

1. Terrific concept art for movies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter at Dermot Power's site. The Attack of the Clones gallery includes images of Asajj Ventress, labeled "Early Sith Concept." Interesting, I just assumed she was created for the first cartoon series.

2. After I put out a call for logo designers, Ken Tango told me about the site Crowdspring - - you post a project and then choose from the logos posted. One of the recent projects was for a pornographer called "Coming Attractions."

3. Graffiti-covered garbage truck.

4. I had a weird trip to the post office the other day. First, the guy who parked next to me drove a hatemobile - - it had "DR H8" vanity plates and was covered in custom graphics advertising some website where you could anonymously send hate-filled emails to people. Second, I unexpectedly received from a publisher a random book called Dump 'Em, which promised to tell me how to break up with anyone. I was afraid someone was sending me a message.

*Previously: Trash truck by Doktor A.

*Buy Asajj Ventress toys at eBay.

Firefighters putting out trash trucks engulfed by fire

If you have a young boy, it doesn't get better than this. Videos of firefighters putting out garbage truck fires. The last video even includes a loader.









*Previously: Trash truck paper toys.

*Buy garbage truck toys at eBay.

Trash can with built in hair-removing comb (link roundup)

Hye-Min Jung designed a trash can with built in hair-removing comb to make it easy to get hair off a brush. More photos here.

And a few more links:

1. There's apparently a campaign to discredit toy customizer John "Jin-Saotome" Mallamas.

2. Article explores how the Village Voice games Digg. Via.

3. A blogger points out that the whistleblower who tried to convince the SEC to investigate Madoff could have saved everyone the trouble simply by posting his concerns online. Via.

4. Last year, "four of Japan's top 10 best-sellers were about how blood type determines personality." Although it's illegal, many employers ask blood types at job interviews.

*Previously: Girl spontaneously changes blood type after organ transplant.

*Buy blood type home test kits at Amazon.

Beautifully packaged used condoms

Surfrider Foundation plus Saatchi & Saatchi equals beautifully packaged garbage. The items were displayed at various farmers markets. Via these sites.

*Previously: Durex is looking for an expert condom tester.

*Buy condoms at Amazon.