Beautiful spider

Beautiful spider. Here's a short video of it crawling around. And in the same gallery, a short, beautiful video of a paper lantern. Here's the photographers design blog.

*Buy Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Rick Cho was recently hired as the new Portland Trailblazers General Manager. Here's the interview process:

I met with [team president] Larry Miller on Tuesday in Las Vegas. And then I met with Nate [McMillan]. Larry wanted me to connect in person with [owner Paul] Allen on his yacht in Helsinki.

What's he doing in Helsinki?

Just vacation. Going around Europe.

So on Wednesday I flew from Vegas to Toronto to Helsinki, and with the time change I got there Thursday evening. I went straight to the yacht, and I met there for more than three hours with Mr. Allen. Just the two of us. He asked me a lot of questions.

Later that night at the hotel Larry called me and offered me the job.

2. "Two prisoners have escaped from a jail in Argentina, reportedly while it was using a dummy to man one of its guard towers." Via.

3. "A ship from Korea carrying supplies to build housing for military buildup workers in the American territory of Guam was denied permission to dock when inspectors discovered thousands of spiders in its cargo."

*Buy Break-Out! Famous Prison Escapes at Amazon.

Rip current death toll; spiked spider

Take a quick vacation - - enjoy this photo gallery taken on the Kalalau Trail in Kauai (yes, there's a high-res version of that armored spider).

*Previously: Chipotle parking spot warning sign.

*Buy spider specimens at Amazon.

Bat getting a cleaning (link roundup)

Bat and brush spotted here.

And a few more links:

1. Great photos of spiders and bridges here.

2. Thorough explanation for why City of Angels might be the worst movie ever. Here's a sample:

Meg Ryan's weird narcissistic appreciation for an invisible peeping ghost, and Nicolas Cage loves her because...one time she ate a pear? They go on a date, you see, and Nicolas Cage asks her to describe the pear she is eating, and now the movie is basically City of Pears.

3. Tumblr's super succinct sign up page compared to Posterous'.

*Previously: Vampire bat poster.

*Buy pears at Amazon and maybe you can seduce an angel.

Alice in Wonderland-esque furniture (link roundup)

Anthropomorphic and melting furniture on sale here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Poland keeps demanding that England turn over the chicken poachers hiding there.

2. Charmingly off-kilter cake.

3. Impressive/creepy spider closeups.

*Previously: Anthropomorphic grandfather clock.

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

Beer Lady action figure by Suckadelic (link roundup)

So weird. Stop at Whole Food in New York on Saturday, have some Beerlao beer, meet the Sucklord, and buy a new vinyl toy.

And a few more links:

1. Neil Gaiman's daughter briefly hijacked his Twitter feed.

2. Will Leitch remembers the year 2000 month by month.

3. Tapestry made from spider silk. Via.

*Previously: A tasty beer's journey through your body.

*Buy Suckadelic toys at eBay.

Deer devastates itself jumping over a fence (link roundup)

Deer jump FAIL video. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Spider cupcake.

2. Max from Where the Wild Things Are cosplay.

3. Halo Wars Arbiter concept art.

*Previously: Master Chief kicks back on an Eames Lounge Chair.

*Buy Where the Wild Things Are toys at eBay.

New school, old school (link roundup)

"New school, old school" t-shirt design by Lars Mander. If you'd like the chance to buy it, click on the voting widget:



And a few more links:

1. Clumsily-staged event for French politicians promoting a government freeze on school supplies. Via.

2. Chip Kidd talks about the lackluster cover work he's done for DC Comics. Via.

3. Camel spiders being brought back to the USA in soldiers' gear? Via.

*Previously: Suntan "tattoo."

*Buy Chip Kidd's Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan at Amazon.

UP posters by Paul Conrad (link roundup)

Paul Conrad created several posters for Pixar's Up and posted them here.

1. Good headline at Fark: If you mock hipsters, you're a hipster.

2. As if my last post about spiders wasn't creepy enough, read about the sex habits of the spider known as H. sadistica (seems like that's really it's name). Via.

3. BBQ joint dramatically improved business by placing a busty mannequin in a bikini outside. Via.

4. Check out Mitch "spacesick" Ansara's Atari Age-inspired blog header.

*Previously: Carl Fredricksen paper toy.

*Buy Up movie posters at eBay.

The Maltese Falcon poster (link roundup)

Movie poster for The Maltese Falcon by The Silent Giants on sale for $25 here.

And a few more links:

1. A monster called "doom."

2. Finally saw Monsters vs. Aliens (in non-3D) and thought it was great (aside from the Colbert character). I'm ready for a sequel right now.

3. Win a Robot in the City plush.

4. It's not news that spiders are really good at surviving dunkings in water. In fact, scientists tested some spiders and found that they could survive underwater for as long as 36 hours. But "after the 'drownings,' the researchers, hoping to weigh the spiders later, left them out to dry. That's when things began to get weird." Read on (and have nightmares).

*Previously: The Prequel to The Maltese Falcon.

*Buy Monsters vs. Aliens toys at eBay.

Jewelry and steampunk spider by Cathrinette Rings

Steampunk spider by Cathrinette Rings.

And although I'm not sure I'd call it steampunk, I like the jewelry in her Etsy shop:




Via.

*Previously: Steampunk medallion.

*Buy steampunk creations at eBay.

Video of Royal de Luxe's giant steampunk spider

Giant steampunk spider by François Delarozière's La Machine for Royal de Luxe. You can read about La Machine here. And here's video of some of their other steampunk creations:


Sultan's Elephant


Little Girl Giant


The Reverse-Propelling Squid


Manta Ray


Giant Crab


Lantern of the Depths

(None of these are particularly new.) Via.

*Previously: Steampunk pocket watch.

*Buy steampunk creations at eBay.

Gallery of spider faces

Lots of disturbing closeup photos of spiders in this Flickr gallery. Via.

*Previously: Nikon's Small World Photo Contest.

*Buy bug toys at Amazon.

Tarantula! Science's Deadliest Accident

No sooner do I finish my post on the space spider NASA lost, then I discover this:




Here's the trailer:



There are prints and original posters on sale at eBay. Via.

*Previously: Ant-filled lollipop.

One of the space spiders is missing

I mentioned last week that NASA was sending spiders to the international space station to watch them try to weave webs in zero-g. You guessed it, one has gone missing.

You can see video of the remaining spider weaving in space here. (I'd link to NASA, but there's no permalink there, and they don't seem to let you embed video. Tax dollars at work.)

While looking for an image to illustrate the post, I stumbled across these two excellent chestburster costumes:






The second is via WTF Costumes, which is well worth a visit.

*Previously: Aliens, Sweded.

*Buy Alien toys at eBay.

Clockwork Spider

Learn more here.