Question: Is This a Drawing or a Photograph?

Redhead Girl via Viana Arts

The answer please.  Is this your final answer!  Well, it’s actually not a photograh, but a drawing of a girl using only Bic color ballpoint pens!  Amazing.  Artist Samuel Silva took inspiration from a photo by Russian photographer Kristina Tararina.  He took around 30 hours to draw this and used 8 different colored Bic ballpoint pens (what a great ad plug for Bic!).

To check Samuel’s quick Q&A and more images of his artwork, go to: Deviant Art – Viana Arts.

In China: Robot Chefs making Noodles

Whoa, here’s a paradigm shift in China, robot chefs making hand-made noodles in restaurants.  It seems that human chefs take a longer time making noodles and cost more in wages, so restaurateur Cui Runguan decided to build noodle-bots.  The noodle-bots named Chef Cui cost about $2,000USD each.

We fight Deceptions and make an awesome bowl of wonton noodles!!!

Miss World Contestant Likes to Beatbox!

I can’t beatbox, but this girl can:

Make Music with Incredibox

I found a new timesuck. Incredibox is an amazing website where you can create your own music by selecting various melodies, beats, effects, and choruses together to create a unique and distinct musical piece of your own. The best aspect of the application is that you can visually see all your additions at work by dragging and dropping various icons representing each desired effect onto the avatar. You can then record and share your creation with your friends and see among which of you is the most musically inclined.

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The Looking Glass House

The ever-changing color lights inside polished stainless steel mirrors come together to create one amazing art project by Christopher Jenner. For some reason, I can’t stop staring at this and humming “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

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Home Decor: Donkey Kong Shelf

Your wall in room is to plain.  Add some retro video game inspiration with this Donkey Kong Shelf by designer Igor Chak.  What a conversation starter – it looks vintage with it’s pixel-inspired creation and is made made from carbon fiber.  The shelf supports up to 60 pounds of weight.

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iPhone 5 Leica Case

This might be the closest I will ever get to owning a Leica – as a skin for my iPhone.  The plastic skin case has solid Leica details.

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Jay Tsujimura: DSLR Bling Bling Jewlery

bI’m all for adorning myself with certain blings. Bling for my fingers and neck is a must – though the verdict is still out on bling for my teeth and other unmentionable body parts. What about bling for the camera? I love my camera but it never occurred to me to adorn it with jewelry. I have to give these guys creative points for going where no one has ever thought of. The designs are very masculine and definitely wouldn’t mind having them as rings or necklaces.

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Spotlight #5: Ozomatli

Retrenders Spotlight took in the eclectic rhythms and musical tapestry of L.A.-based, Ozomatli, during part of the City’s summertime Stern Grove Festival.

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Feel Good Film Festival 2012

A film festival that makes you feel good, the Feel Good Film Festival 2012, took place in North Hollywood, CA on August 3-5, 2012.  Here are the highlights from the festival brought to by Azure Lorica and Project 760 Productions:

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Muji Stationery Landscape

I just can’t wait until Muji opens up in SF so I’ve been busy getting familiar with their product line. Once they open their door, I will be so there with my wallet in hand.

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The History of the Batmobile

Image via Jay Mug.

Now that is a garage I would love to walk into – five of the most iconic Batmobiles all in one place. My favorite has always been Michael Keaton’s ride in Tim Burton’s Batman. The curves on that car blended perfectly with the gothic theme throughout the movie. Looking at it now, it still holds up. The other two Batmobiles afterwards were kind of cheesy, until Christopher Nolan’s Tumbler came along with its industrial stylings, and tore up the blueprint.

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Titan Books: Lenore – Swirlies

lenoreswirliesWhen I was passed Swirlies, a collection of Lenore comics by Roman Dirge, I was thrown into a nostalgic memory of years past. I was introduced to Lenore by a friend 10 years ago and I was quite captivated by the cute undead girl with her various quirks and morbid humor. Before I even opened the book, I was a little worried about how I would find the comic now. Oftentimes our present selves become disappointed with items of our past, outgrowing material we had cherished due to changing tastes or even just due to age. I remember the last time I cleaned up around the house, I found a stack of old comic books that, upon reading, I discovered that I no longer found them funny or interesting. I was quite saddened as I realized that they didn’t mean anything to me now other than childhood memories so I passed them off to someone younger who would appreciate them.

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Maria Sharapova Candy Line = Sugarpova

Tennis superstar Maria Sharapova launches her new premium candy line today starting with 4 types of sweets:  gummies, sour gummies, gumballs, and soft chew candies and 12 different flavors.  Each 5oz. candy bag will cost $5.99USD.

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French-Chilean Hip Hop Artist – Ana Tijoux

The French-Chilean musician, Ana Tijoux has been one of the most prominent independent MC hip-hop artists and has recently seen her popularity rise.  She built her reputation from the ground up in the independent music scene with her group Makiza, in Chile, in the 1990s.  Then in 2001, through some unforeseen moments in life, she decided to break apart from the band and the music scene all together, and went back to France.

It wasn’t until 2004 that she returned to Chile and connected with funk Chilean band Aluzinati, where she then became a featured artist in Control Machete’s album, Uno Dos Bandera, and worked on a soundtrack with Julieta Venegas. She even reunited with Makiza for a short time, but realized she really wanted to pursue a solo career.

In 2007, she released her solo album, Kaos, and she was nominated in Latin America’s version of the MTV Video Music Awards as Best New Artist.

In 2009, she released her 2nd solo album titled, 1977, which was a return to her rap roots and a homage to hip hop. The album was autobiographical and dealt with the complications she endured in life.

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Junko Mizuno “Hansel & Gretel” Art @ Nucleus

If you are in the LA Alhambra area stop by Nucleus for a neat gallery opening by artist Junko Mizuno this Saturday.  The event begins at 7:00pm and will showcase her take on the Grimm Brothers’ Hansel & Gretel.  The Hansel & Gretel exhibit will run from August 18, 2012 through September 9, 2012.  Also, there are art prints to purchase and prizes to be given – plus Junko will be there in-person for autographs.

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Acura x The Avengers = NSX

If you watched The Avengers film this summer, Tony Starks and Bruce Banner hop into an Acura NSX sports car.  Now, TSM brings us this 1/43 scale quality resin collectible, the 2012 Acura NSX Roadster Avengers Special Edition.

Image via daboxToys

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LEGO Romance of the Three Kingdoms

This makes me want to crack open my PlayStation
and play the Koei video games!

This LEGO diorama was inspired by 14th century writer Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Eric Mok has put in a lot of work and details into this build.  The use of black, gray, and white LEGO bricks captures the spirit of an old Chinese painting plus making the diorama look like a wall scroll is a nice touch.

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The Dark Knight Rises LEGO Motorized Tumbler & The Bat

I want these LEGO toys!!!
Image via Peer Kreuger (mahjqa)

Well if you can’t afford to buy Hot Toys’ The Dark Knight Rises vehicles (for instance the Movie Masterpiece 1/6 Scale Tumbler vehicle is $439.99 for preorder and will be out next year – ed. note), then you can build The Tumbler and The Bat vehicles yourself.  These two awesome looking Batman vehicles were built by super LEGO builder Peer Kreuger aka mahjqa.

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Star Wars Origami

Where was this book when I was young and too poor to buy Kenner’s Star Wars action figures back in the 70’s? I could have folded my own Star War heroes but then, now that I think about it, I would have gotten my butt kicked by the neighborhood kids for having origami. Last week I posted a Yoda origami and it was a pretty creative art piece. With this book, you can extend beyond Yoda and create R2-D2 and the Millennium Falcon – plus it includes specially designed origami paper.

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The Humanae Project: The Ultimate Pantone Chart

Brazilian artist Angelica Dass is attempting to catalog a “chromatic inventory” of all possible human skin tones in her Humanae Project. She takes an 11 x 11 picture of an individual, and matches it to a similar shade in the Pantone color classification system. Rather remarkable and simply mesmerizing.

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The History of LEGO

legohistoryDid you ever wonder how LEGO began?  Well, here’s a cool animated mini-documentary on the history of LEGO.  If you have 17 minutes to spare in your office cubicle, put on your headphones and learn some cool wiki-style facts about LEGO.

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Mimoco Bruce Lee USB Flash Drives

I’ve always said, Bruce Lee was Da Man and I’m always excited to see a newer generation recognizing and keeping his greatness alive. Mimoco is celebrating the legend by putting his likeness on a USB flash thumb drive. Also, if you guys get a chance, check out a recent documentary in his life titled I am Bruce Lee.

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Fendi Classic Baguette Bag Tee & Pleated Zucca-Trim Skirt

Little girls love to play grown up – they want to wear lipstick and carry a purse like Mom. But since they really have nothing to carry inside that purse, why not give her just the look of a purse? This Fendi shirt has the print of a purse sewn into the shirt. Neiman Marcus currently has it on sale for $99. I do wish they would have made this shirt for my wife though. That way she can stop spending so much money on real purses.

Buy it @ Neiman Marcus – Fendi.

UNIQLO Pop-Up Shop in SF!

The wait is OVER!!!

Are you tired of H&M style?  Well move over H&M – Japanese retail giant UNIQLO is coming to San Francisco with a full 29,000 sq foot mega store on Powell Street this October 2012 just in time for the holidays.  So to wet the hearts of stylish budget-minded fashion aficionados, UNIQLO has opened up a pop-up shop selling select men’s and women’s apparel. The downtown/financial district store will be open for another 3-4 months until the full-scale UNIQLO store opens.

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