Wild Dance Practices - this made my day:
The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines makes its inmates practice dance choreographies - namely MJ's Thriller and a theme from Sister Act. A couple of crossdressers in nun attire involved.



(via Gawker)

Dance with me in this cozy Tokyo breeze, little trees:

How to not get hurt-
yourself in the closing train doors...

Here are some nice ones from both JR and Metro lines:

All about perfectionist Japanese housewives

Ok, feed me weird things! So I went to the Quilt Convention held at Tokyo Dome in Chiyoda. Amongst several thousands of eager women, sometimes accompanied by their husbands, I promenaded around - amazed by the utter perfectionism Japanese housewives show in every detail.
See for yourself:

Manhole Cover in Tokyo
Look at these lovely Sakura - cherry blossoms flowering the Tokyo grounds. These ones are from Shinagawa district.

Public Life / Public Ashtrays in Tokyo















What do we have here?
Well, as there is no such thing as a public ashtray Japanese people catake the matter in their own hands as they care for the smoking community: Put up some little cans, next to the non smoking sign, of course. Someone must empty them regularly - but I haven't seen that someone so far.

How-to learn English:
Adult speak for Japanese to enhance the cross-cultural delights

excerpt from an 80ies Japanese book titled
"Let's make the bed right away"

brought to you by the lovely Tokyo Damage Report guy

Wow: Speakers to public security cameras

"...People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,' said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars..."

Bloomberg reports,
via Slashdot

the mounten-baiku situation
so this is how it goes here: no parking anywhere allowed



- else the police takes your bike and you pay 3000 yen to get it back.
and now this: got a ticket two times! For the baiku!

Learning Japanese the easy way - just ad an U and you'll be fine:

English - Japanese

Microphone - maiku
Desert - dezato
Receipt - risitto
Message - meseji
Bike- baiku
Nightingale - naichingeru
Gum - gamu
Cassette - mc kasettu-tepu
Celebrity - serebu
Festival - fesutibaru
television - terebi
Carnival - kanibaru

well, I forgot the romantic part:

kiss - kisu
couple - kappuru
love-letter - rabu-reta

Shoppee in Tokyo! So before you get your Nooka watch –



indulge in a short history of the calvulator watch from Watchismo.

oh, some flying bomb must have hit my car!
wait, it was D*Face`s work for his new gallery opening. Pretty neatly I have to admit.

(via lovely Vinylpulse)

There are things on this earth that are not easy to grasp. But at least they`re funny.

Watch this: Doing handcrafts with Tampon Art

Flashy music: Whitney Music Box




Jim Bumgardner and Coverpop visualized this musical realization of the motion graphics of John Whitney as described in his book 'digital harmony':

"in this variation the dots trigger sine waves which are multiples of the fundamental frequency 48hz. when multiple dots hit at the same time, they combine to form buzzier sounds. the pitches are reversed so that the inner dots get the low frequencies. music generated using syd synthesis software."

(thanx to Eyebeam)

Christ, the end is nigh –





with this Holy Flash works, Jesus will have a lot of saving to do.

(via Jeff Staple`s blog)

World Cup reminder: do the bull thing





Pias Recordings announces:
"Mogwai haben sich jüngst erneut in ihr hauseigenes Studio “Castle of doom” in Glasgow begeben.
Das Resultat ist ein full length Soundtrack zum beim Cannes-Festival von Kritikern gefeierten Film „Zidane: A 21st century Portrait“ über den französischen Ausnahmefussballer. Der Film erscheint hier übrigens bei Warner auf DVD!
Die szenebegleitenden Klangfragmente wurden im Nachhinein zu kompletten Songs überarbeitet, die Mogwai-typsich, wenn auch weniger laut und rockig sind.
Das Album „Zidane: A 21st century Portrait - An original Soundtrack by Mogwai“ erscheint kurzfristig schon am 3.11."

eco has reached the club movement

Now your dancing ass is ecologically minded, too, at The Sustainable Club, featuring energy-generating dance floors, toilets flushed with rainwater, walls that change color in response to temperature fluctuations, and a rooftop garden where clubbers can enjoy an organic beer with friends.









Springwise says:
"Kicking off in Rotterdam's Off_Corso on October 14th is the Sustainable Dance Club. The kick-off party will feature biological beer on tap and fair-trade clothing brand Kuyichi helping clubbers customize their clothes. The end concept will go much further. Enviu, an environmental NGO for young people, is working together with architectural firm Döll to create a truly sustainable nightclub. The club they envision will feature energy-generating dance floors (excellent way to extract kilowatts from energetic clubbers), toilets that flush with rain water, walls that change colour as a reaction to temperature changes, a rooftop garden and other elements that combine to create a sustainable clubbing environment.

Working with the Technical University of Delft and the Development Board of Rotterdam, Enviu and Döll aim to build a club that will be fun and profitable, yet will have a low impact on the environment, while raising awareness for social and environmental issues. Some 80 Enviu volunteers (young professionals and students) have developed the concept over the last 8 months."

Nice presentation video at Treehugger.

acessories for Barbie. Right after the wedding carriage:













something that goes great with something made of plastic: the bling bling mouse covered entirely with Swarovski strass stones.

(Thanks Fosfor Gadgets)

the realm of Toast Art


Make Magazine serves as a wonderful insight in the world of craftmanship and of handmade goods with a high nerd factor. We learn how to "Make a digital toy infrared camera" - or even better, indulge in the art of portrait on a toast.
Yes, dear Marc Bolan, you might have turned in your grave. But I love to put some marmelade on you.

the future is a grim beta

"By 2020, the people left behind (many by their own choice) by accelerating information and communications technologies will form a new cultural group of technology refuseniks who self-segregate from "modern" society. Some will live mostly "off the grid" simply to seek peace and a cure for information overload while others will commit acts of terror or violence in protest against technology."

All right - this is one of the scenarios 700 technology experts from ICANN, the Web Consortium, from Google and IBM ("of whom more than half were online before 1993") imagined in a survey of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
More interesting at arstechnica.

(via Pixelsurgeon)