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Scorpion Chair, anyone?
10.09.2014
04:08 pm
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This Scorpion Chair by designer Vyacheslav Pakhomov immediately caught my eye when I was browsing the Internets this morning. I don’t normally gravitate towards ostentatious stuff like this, it has to be done right. The chair has an H. R. Giger/Maria Montez kinda thing going on that I dig. If your home or office is lacking the perfect accent piece, hey, you could do worse than a Scorpion Chair. Might be just the thing to tie your room together perfectly, no?

This puppy doesn’t cheap, though. Its price is 230,000 rubles or $5,749 USD.

BUT IT’S A SCORPION CHAIR, DAMMIT!!!


 
Via Neatorama

Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.09.2014
04:08 pm
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Get your Halloween on with this treasure trove of wild 1970s cosplay
10.06.2014
02:28 pm
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I posted these photos a few years ago from io9 writer Ron Miller‘s insane 1970s cosplay-esque photo collection. They need to be revisited again. If not just for the disco dust-era eye candy, then to draw inspiration from these batshit galactic costumes for this upcoming Halloween.

Some have a slightly Kenneth Anger-ish feel to them. Well, Ken Anger meets Sonny & Cher meets Sun Ra meets a contingent of OTO members snorting coke at a Star Trek convention taking place at Studio 54 maybe…

You have your work cut out for you, folks! A good soundtrack for these would be Chic’s “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsa, Yowsa, Yowsa)” don’ you think?


 

 

 

 
More photos after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.06.2014
02:28 pm
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The Surrealists’ tarot deck
09.29.2014
11:22 am
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In 1940 and 1941 André Breton, widely considered the founder of Surrealism, and a group of like-minded individuals (René Char, Oscar Dominguez, Victor Brauner, Max Ernst, Jacques Hérold, Wilfredo Lam, André Masson, Benjamin Péret) decided to design their own deck of tarot cards. The deck they finally came up with was executed in a remarkably pleasing, almost ligne claire style. In accordance with the mindfuckery inherent to Surrealism, the group rejected the courtly/medieval theme of the traditional deck and nominated their own heroes to represent the face cards, including Hegel, Freud, the Marquis de Sade, Baudelaire, and so on.

(A quick clarification: It seems evident that this is a deck of playing cards or possibly a hybrid of tarot and playing cards. Sources seem unequivocal in describing the deck as a tarot deck, and so that’s what we’re going with too.)

The Surrealist deck of cards suggests a kind of post-Enlightenment, left-wing, revolutionary, intellect-based cosmology. So the royal hierarchy of King, Queen, and Jack was replaced with “Genius,” “Siren,” and “Magus,” this last word accentuating the occult roots of the project. Rejecting the traditional clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds as well as the traditional tarot suits (wands, cups, swords, and discs), the group invented its own symbolism, with flames and wheels constituting the red suits and locks and stars being the black ones. Flames represented love and desire; wheels represented revolution; stars represented dreams; and locks represented knowledge.

Brilliantly, for the joker, the group selected Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (bottom).

Genius of flames: Baudelaire
Siren of flames: Marianna Alcofardo (author of Letters of a Portuguese Nun)
Magus of flames: Novalis

Genius of locks: Hegel
Siren of locks: Hélène Smith (nineteenth-century psychic)
Magus of locks: Paracelsus (Renaissance physician and occultist)

Genius of wheels: De Sade
Siren of wheels: Lamiel (from Stendhal)
Magus of wheels: Pancho Villa

Genius of stars: Lautréamont
Siren of stars: Alice (from Lewis Carroll)
Magus of stars: Freud
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
via Tombolare
 

Posted by Martin Schneider
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09.29.2014
11:22 am
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Firearms are a girl’s best friend: Handguns beautifully embellished by Tiffany’s
09.22.2014
08:02 am
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Smith and Wesson .44 New Model No. 3 Single-Action Revolver, serial no. 25120, sent to Tiffany’s in November of 1888
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany that would make your head spin—lighting, jewelry, furniture, stained glass landscapes—all manner of lux design with those trademark Tiffany saturated colors and organic shapes. It was a family business. It was only after the death of his father Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1902 that Louis Comfort Tiffany start really focusing on jewelry design and more romantic pieces.

Prior to Louis’ redirection of the brand, the Tiffany name was associated with luxury glass and silver goods of a much more robust variety, like the collection of handguns you see here from the Met. There is art nouveau, distinct middle eastern and Japanese influences, and ornate engraving reminiscent of scrimshaw. Some of the pieces were displayed at exhibitions to demonstrate Tiffany’s gorgeous work, the others were commissioned for wealthy patrons. One would imagine such finery would be kept somewhere in a glass case as a conversation piece, but you’ll notice some wear and tear on some of the pieces that may be evidence of use.
 

Detail from the 25120
 

Detail from the 25120
 

Detail from the 25120
 

Smith and Wesson New Model No. 3, .44 Caliber Double-Action Navy Revolver, serial no. 23060, shown at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago,1893
 

Detail from the 23060
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Amber Frost
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09.22.2014
08:02 am
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Looking for a TON of burlesque matchbook covers? Well, you can stop looking.
09.17.2014
10:56 am
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Judging by their web site, The Match Group seems a fairly run-of-the-mill custom matches concern. Need your logo on a matchbook? They’ve got you covered. You want match boxes instead, you say? Relax, Mr. Connoisseur, it’s all good. Here’s a great excerpt from their About page:

With over 25 years in the industry, company founder, Joe Danon began his career as the North East Regional Sales Manager at the prestigious Universal Match Corporation. He then went on to become the National Sales Manager at Maryland Match Corp. for 13 years. His passion and devotion to the historic importance, whimsy and efficacy of match advertising is unrivaled. His devoted and loyal clientele have long benefited from his “Love of Light,” graphic design expertise and unparalleled product knowledge.

Notice the bit about “historic importance?” The Match Group not only offers over 25 years of hard-won experience in the world of matches, they keep an informative blog full of historical information and trivia about matches and matchbook design, and they’ve maintained an exhaustive Pinboard to assemble an impressively massive trove of design samples from all across the web. It’s broken down into 65 categories. That’s not a typo. But what I’ve elected to share here is a selection from their Burlesque/Pinup collection, because this is the internet, and since they don’t have a set of cat matchbooks, boobies win. (I’d suggest also perusing their “Matches as Art” board, though.) Obviously, little of this is going to be safe for work, but I’ve made an effort to keep the more graphically risqué stuff (read: nipples and buttcracks) for later in the post.
 

 

 

 

 

 
More after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Ron Kretsch
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09.17.2014
10:56 am
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DRUGS: Trippy photos from a ‘unique’ volume of the ‘LIFE Science Library,’ 1969
09.12.2014
02:13 pm
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The cover of Life Science Library: Drugs

Back in the 60s LIFE had a series of hardcover books—26 volumes total—called the LIFE Science Library that tackled many subjects like Mathematics, The Mind, Health and Disease, Time, Food and Nutrition and so on. One of the volumes printed in 1967 was simply titled Drugs and it gave the history of medicines and how drugs affect the human body. Now if you were to judge a book by its cover, the LIFE hardback cover on drugs looks pretty boring, right? I woulda walked right past it without a second thought! The thing is, if you’d open it up, it’s chock full of trippy eye-candy delights.

Why such a boring cover with such delicious psychedelic imagery on the inside?


 

 

 

 
More after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.12.2014
02:13 pm
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Charles and Ray Eames introduce their legendary lounge chair on daytime TV, 1956
09.09.2014
05:32 pm
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If Charles and Ray Eames weren’t the greatest figures in American design in their era, they may have been the ones that most encapsulated the American twentieth century. Their careers flourished after World War II, and they made important contributions to the areas of architecture, design, industrial design, photography, and film. Their lounge chair is an undisputed icon of American design. After already having introduced a series of fiberglass and plastic resin chairs and wire mesh chairs for Herman Miller, the Eames introduced the lounge chair in 1956 on the Home Show, hosted by Arlene Francis. (It’s common to refer to this appearance as having happened on the Today Show, but I don’t see any justification for that.) 
 

Charles and Ray Eames sitting on their creation
 
In the interview, Charles mentions a movie about their home, known to all architecture lovers (including Ice Cube) as “Case Study House No. 8.” That movie is linked below in addition to the Today Show clip. Impressively, the music was composed by Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein.

In that vein, Charles discusses a project he’s doing with the great director Billy Wilder, almost certainly a reference to the montage Charles did for The Spirit of St. Louis, but it’s worth pointing out that the connections between Wilder and the Eameses are extensive.

 

 
Towards the end of the clip Charles plays a cute little movie of a man constructing an Eames lounge chair on his own. Using time-lapse photography, the man skids and slides around with unnatural speed and the chair begins to take form. Once he is done, he sits in the chair and enjoys a brief reverie, during which the image of a woman materializes on his freshly built ottoman and then vanishes, after which the man begins to disassemble the furniture.

Not to be too unkind about this, but that movie cries out for a psychological reading, methinks. I mean, that woman may as well be Ray Eames, right? Ray shows up briefly on the Today Show set but then vanishes too, and at the time Charles was given the lion’s share of credit for the couple’s creations. Arlene Francis even repeatedly emphasizes that Ray is “standing behind”/“supporting” Charles. After stating that her role is too look for the “big idea” and to “look critically at the work”—core elements of an artistic persona, both—Francis inanely says that it’s important to have “a critical viewpoint of your husband’s work, so that he can improve along with it—otherwise he might be stagnant or stand still.” 
 

 

Posted by Martin Schneider
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09.09.2014
05:32 pm
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Devil Tarot Card, Cthulhu, Ouija Board and Critical Hit area rugs
09.08.2014
11:45 am
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Devil Tarot Card Rug: Order here

Because every home needs a nice, simple accent piece for their living room or family room, right? Why not these lovely Devil Tarot Card, Cthulhu, Ouija Board or Critical Hit area rugs by Middle of Beyond AKA MOB?

The only thing slightly bumming me out about theses rugs is they’re hand-tufted acrylic (wish they were hand-tufted wool).

They’re all pre-order right now and ship in 4-6 weeks. The prices range anywhere from $50-$300 (depending on size).
 

 

Cthulhu Lovecraft Rug: order here
 

 

Ouija Spirit Board Rug: Order here
 

 

Critical Hit Large Rug: Order here
 

 
 
via Boing Boing

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.08.2014
11:45 am
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Not so happy McDonald’s Happy Meals
09.05.2014
12:58 pm
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McDonald’s should take note from artist Newt Clements on how to improve upon their Happy Meals presentation. Seriously, I’d go to McDonald’s every day (not really) if these were a real thing. I especially like Clements’ toy designs that accompany the “meal.”

They’re just mock-up prototypes, but with fast food sales dropping like a stone, perhaps McDonald’s will listen? A Twins Peaks Happy Meal? That’s marketing innovation!


 

 

 

 
More after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.05.2014
12:58 pm
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Amazing ‘Plants of Gods’ terrarium
09.04.2014
12:05 pm
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A neat newfangled take on terrariums by designer Prodip Leung. According to the website selling ‘em, the “Plants of God” terrarium is limited to 100. So I guess that makes it a collectable? Either way, I dig it.


 

 

 
via Superpunch

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.04.2014
12:05 pm
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