It seems that punting is a quintessential past time for English University students and… tourists alike. So how do you tell them apart aside from the cameras slung around their necks and slightly-louder-than-necessary voices? Their punting skills, of course!
Cambridge University, worried its undergraduates have lost the knack, has come to the rescue with a how to guide to what has become a dying art of punting. The Bluffer’s Guide to Punting, written by the Punt Society of St John’s College, explains how to start, lift the pole, and steer - and how to avoid an embarrassing plunge into the water. The guide tells learners how to look like a professional in a series of illustrated cartoons. It also warns novices against the biggest mistakes of all - looking like a tourist, or worst still an Oxford student. Of course, it wouldn’t come from Cambridge without a few Oxford jabs…
Now I expect you to punt like a pro the next time you are England!
Bompas & Parr creates fine English jelly and different moulds for jelly, and now they want your help.
Bompas & Parr operates in the space between food and architecture. They want to explores how the taste of food is altered through synaesthesia, performance and setting. The jelly design competition is a part of the London Festival of Architecture. The resulting moulds and preparatory material will be auctioned on behalf of Architects for Aid.
Each entry will be judged on innovation, aesthetics and “wobble factor”. So hurry up, the deadline of midnight on 23 May!
Not everybody you need to buy a gift for falls into a generic category - for him, her, pet, hostess, baby, mother, father… So, I have started a less-than-typical gift suggestion list for some of those other people who deserve something they will love too!
For the PMSing Gothic:D.L. & Co and Valerie Confectionshave come together to make the skull-chocolate Mori Ex Cacao, meaning “death by chocolate” which has always been the way I would prefer to die!
For Pocketless Geeks: A clothes pin USB jump drive from POOR Design that you can literally clamp onto your shirt.
For Modest Girls Gone Wild and friends in the Witness Protection Program: Black Bar Sunglasses that protect your identity.
Ever wonder if someone is doing the same exact thing you are at the same exact moment? Well this Saturday, May 10th, you will know… if you participate in Pangea Day!
Pangea Day, named after the super continent that might have existed over 250 million years ago (before the component continents separated), intends to bring the world, well, back together.
This Saturday, millions of people worldwide will watch the same short films at the same time. Via thousands of locally organized events, the organizers hope to remind watchers what we all have in common. Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future.
Six cities - Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro - will broadcast live footage of 24 short films in 8 languages. The 24 short films have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from 100+ countries. They were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and help us see the world through another person’s eyes.
The estimated 4hr long cinematic debut will also include top speakers and musical performers: Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, Iranian rock phenom Hypernova and others.
To spread the good word even further, performances and films will be available via Web, mobile phone and local television (based on locale).
Executive Director Delia Cohen hypothesizes, “Pangea Day will be a global campfire of shared stories.” And while movies can’t change the world. The people that watch them, can.
Urban Outfitters new fourth brand, Terrain debuted last week in Concordville, PA… near Philadelphia. UO purchased popular local garden center J. Franklin Styer Nurseries and will retain staff from that business. In fact the transition will carry through to the name as the store will officially be known as Terrain at Styer’s’.
This new venture expands UO’s reach from traditional retailer into the service sector. Terrain will offer garden design consultation services and building services. Within the store there is a cafe that offers a menu of fresh locally sourced food that will change with the seasons.
It’s quite obvious that UO leveraged it’s strength of visual merchandising in displaying the plants and product. Even the shopping bags and Terrain collateral are beautifully executed.
Yesterday, Dutch artist, Henk Hofstra, installed his art piececalled “Art Eggcident” on the Zaailand, one of the largest city squares in Leeuwarden, Netherland.
The installation consisting of several large eggs (each 100 feet wide) will remain sunny side up for the next six months.
This Viktor & Rolf upside down store in Milan Italy is over the top… and I love it! This wonderfully executed dispay was created by architect Siebe Tettero with SZI Design - Amsterdam… and lets face it, it had potential to be a total disaster!
I am a spiritual person… but not in the traditional sense of the word. However these amazing churches are enough to make me… well, go to church!
Iglesia de Santa Monica in Madrid, Spain looks like a cross between a sea barnacle and the little wonky-eyed monster you feared was under your bed when you were a kid. And, what is up with that ominous sky? Spoooooky!
The new distorted window in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, England is intended to emulate the rippled image of a cross as if it were being reflected in water. This window, designed by Shirazeh Houshiary, is part of a $36 million refurbishment of the church which was originally built back in 1726. Check out more via The Guardian.
