We pick interesting products and trends for you!
Just in time for Halloween from Play Buddies – here’s Mickey and Minnie Halloween action figures. The figures stand 3.5″ tall and comes with Halloween accessories. Play Buddies also have 2 other collection sets, the Mid-Autumn Festival figures celebrating the Lunar Harvest all around Asia and a Playground theme set of Disney characters.
Home appliances such as rice cookers are always bland in design and color. Well, not anymore, thanks to Doma’s RC-500 line-up. The rice cookers are designed to look like big gigantic peppers. There are 3 colors to choose from: yellow, green, and red.
These cute rice cookers have an aluminum non-stick interior, it can make 3 bowls of rice, and comes with a spoon and cup.
MSRP: $25.54USD
For more info, go to: Doma RC-500.
I need to try this move when I get on the dodgeball courts next time.
Retrenders visited Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco to catch a glimpse into the intense planning and preparation that took place months ago for the upcoming 20th anniversary show, “Las Pinturas de Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo en Movimiento” (The paintings of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Movement).
Ensambles, a premier Mexican folk dance company in San Francisco, has been presenting the art, dance and culture of Mexico on stages and venues in the Bay Area and abroad throughout the last 20 years.
The company, led by artistic visionary, Zenón Barron, will be presenting its capstone performances at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park.
The cast of Ensambles is over 35 dancers strong, with training in multiple dance disciplines. The special presentation will bring together the dance company and three of the Bay Area’s finest traditional musical groups: Vinic-Kay (La Gente y el Canto), Cascada de Flores and Los Compas.
Show schedule:
November 3, 2012 – 7:30pm – Herbst Theater, San Francisco
November 17, 2012 – 7:30pm – Spreckels Performing Arts Center, Rohnert Park
Tickets can be purchased at City Box Office
For more info, see: Ensambles and Cascada de Flores
Contributed by Al Morales (aka greyluvr)
Host, Retrenders Spotlight
I’m a big fan of graphic tees from Japan – here’s a collaboration between Atmos and Bounty Hunter. There’s a couple of color combos to choose from.
MSRP: Est. $81.00USD
I can’t afford a trip to Japan right now, so I guess I’m gonna go eBay apparel hunting!
For more details, check out: Atmos Tokyo.
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No Subtitles, but if you understand Japanese, then catch this interview by Sneaker Resource with Hikaru from Bounty Hunter and Yuichi Sato from Atmos:
American talk-show host Jay Leno, recently stopped by Japan to check out some classic JDM rides – the Datsun Fairlady Z and the Toyota 2000GT.
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Based on Konami’s survival-horror video game franchise, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is the sequel to the 2006 original film. This flick will be based on the Silent Hill 3 video game and it looks pretty scary. On a side note, I still can’t play the original Silent Hill game with the lights off.
The film is set to be released in theatres on October 26, 2012.
Coca-Cola is teaming up with Blank You Very Much (BYVM) for a cool design t-shirt contest and the winner will get $5,000 bucks. So, all you aspiring designers, artists, and anybody else – head to BYVM and download the t-shirt template and start designing! The t-shirt design will be judged by an all-star panel – Bobby Hundreds (Founder of The Hundreds), Wendy Lam (Editor-in-Chief of Nitrolicious.com), Jared Flint (Art Director for Gilt Groupe), Michael Dupouy (Founder of La MJC), and Darren Romanelli (DRx).
Important Contest Dates:
Contest ENDS: October 29th, 2012 at 11:59pm.
Community Voting
From 12:01am on October 30th, 2012 to November 12th, 2012 at 11:59pm
Judges Deliberate
Starting November 13th, 2012
Judges & People’s Choice Winners Announced
Shortly after November 26th, 2012
For more details, rules and downloading the t-shirt templates – go to: BYVM x Coca-Cola.
This past Tuesday, in New York, the cast of the much beloved Princess Bride reunited and celebrated its 25th anniversary.
As a kid growing up in the 80’s – the Princess Bride is one of my favorite films. It has an all-star cast, a great storyline, and terribly funny one-liners. My favorite line: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
For more info, go to: Princess Bride Forever.com.
Happy Birthday Cartoon Network! Since 1992, you have some of the most imaginative television programs around such as The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, to current faves – Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball plus countless others. We look forward to seeing 20+ more years of great cartoons and shows! Congrats CN!
For more info on the network or to check out their current schedule of shows check out their home page – Cartoon Network.
South African home designer Katie Thompson teams up with Mercedes-Benz and takes an old SL car interior dashboard and turning it into a useable office desk.
Check the in-depth article about Katie’s project with Mercedes-Benz at: Business Insider.
Image via Liam Brazier
Check out artist Liam Brazier’s unique art drawing style with these iconic superheroes. He uses sharp lines and triangles.
This is why we all need a 3D printer:
Image via Patrick Jouin/MGX
Designer Patrick Jouin created this Bloom Table Lamp from a 3D printer. What’s cool is that the lamp can “bloom” like flowers which act like a dimmer switch so you can control much light you want.
For more info and images, go to: Inhabitat – Bloom Table Lamp.
For more of his works, check out his site: Patrick Jouin.
Image via SteelDrake Blogspot
So far, this is still just a concept but designer Steel Drake can sure make a car-loving grown man drool. Production cars borrow heavily from concept cars and this design gives us a glimpse of where Mercedes is heading towards the future. There are some similarities to the Lamborghini from the hard sharp lines at the door and also the bottom vents in the front, but the front grill and logo is unmistakeably Mercedes. Though no matter how much influence is drawn from either car company, this is still one SICK looking car.
For more images, go to: Steel Drake Mercedes-Benz SF1.
I’ve seen this a while back highlighted in European design magazines – the Plumen 001 is the world’s first designer energy saving light bulb and what a great idea it is. Instead of buying pendant lights or other light fixtures to cover up the ugly light bulb – why not beautify the lowly light bulb itself?
For more info, go to: Plumen.com.
Dear Santa,
I’ve been naughty and nice this year, but I think I deserve some gadget love. Don’t you Santa? Wait, can you believe it’s October already? Well, to give you some ideas of what to get me, here’s a Yahoo Tech list of the Top 6 sleekest gadgets of 2012:
1. Samsung T27B750 HD Monitor, MSRP: $549.99USD
2. Nike+ Training TR1+ Lunar Footwear, MSRP: $220USD and up
3. Razer Ouroboros Gaming Mouse, MSRP: $129.99USD
4. A2B Velociti Electric Bike, MSRP: $2,300USD
5. Philips Fidelio SoundSphere Mini Wireless Speaker System, MSRP: $499.99USD
6. LG LFX31945ST Door-in-Door Refrigerator, MSRP: $3,499.99USD
Are you a Marvel-fan and an Apple geek with iPhones and iPads galore? PDP and Marvel have come up with some cool retro iconic cover designs cases for the iPhone 4 cases and neoprene covers for the iPad.
MSRP: $34.99USD iPhone 4/S case and $24.99USD neoprene covers for iPad.
For more info and other PDP designs and covers – go to: PDP x Marvel Comics.
When I first saw these Marvel themed sneakers, I immediately though of my son back when he was five years old wearing his little spider-man shoes and his power ranger backpack to school.
Fast forward to this year and, with the success of the Avenger movie, adults now have a chance to wear their own superhero sneaks but with more style. These fantastic kicks from Reebok lets you proudly display your favorite hero on your feet – without having to feel too embarrassed when walking around in them.
Check Marvel.com for more info on these kicks – Reebok x Spiderman & Reebok x Avengers.
A few months ago, we here at Retrenders showcased the purses that were designed by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (https://retrenders.com/2012/06/11/louis-vuitton-x-yayoi-kusama/) in collaborating with Louis Vuitton. Kusama’s bio is as interesting as her body of work and that’s exactly what fascinated Marc Jacob at Louis Vuitton. Recently in London, Selfridges, a high end department store in the UK, launched a window display designed by Kusama in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. It is nothing but spectacular and is a total treat for the eye.
Selfridges & Co
400 Oxford Street
London
W1A 1AB
Contact store for Yayoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton Concept Store Hours.
For more info, go to: Selfridges.com – Yayoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton.
Who doesn’t like giveaways? Mono B x Clothes Encounters Giveaway Contest.
Easy and Simple Rules:
1. Subscribe to Clothes Encounters
2. Like Mono B’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/monoBclothing
3. Like and share this image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=487058584652208&set=a.41243421544…
4. Giveaway is international.
5. The contest begins September 28, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. PST and ends on October 5, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. PST. (only a few days left – so enter NOW!)
6. Winner will be randomly chosen and announced on October 8, 2012 on Mono B’s Facebook page.
Who knew – I guess even LEGO mini-figs need some “stress free” plants.
Image via M.R. Yoder Flickr Photostream.
For other cool LEGO builds, check MR Yoder’s Flickr Photostream.
I’m real, not a drawing!!!
Taking “anime eyes” to a whole new level:
19-year old girl Anastasiya Shpagina from the Ukraine loves anime – here’s Anastasiya on a Ukrainian talk show explaining the “anime” look. No subtitles.
For more info, read the article at: Examiner – Real Life Anime Girl.
This might be the coolest darn fishbowl I’ve ever seen!
Growing up, I remember having a fish bowl with a couple of fish in it which all somehow wound up upside down when I came back home from school. So, I bought my son a fishbowl with a couple of fish and, unfortunately, that didn’t last too long either. When I came about this beautiful hand blown fishbowl from Turkey, my first thought was maybe the fishes would have lasted a little longer living in something so beautiful. Then my second thought was next time I should look up how to raise fish.
For more info, go to: Aruliden – Fishscape.
Image via 24° Studio
As part of the Shitsurai Art International Competition, Crater Lake was one of the winning art installation projects to be installed in Kobe, Japan. This structure has all the features I adore in a design – simple, elegant, & functional. Can you imagine this art piece lined along one of the piers or maybe even Fishermen’s Wharf here in San Francisco? This installation can serve a multitude of functions – a bench to rest, an area for the kids to play on and I just know all the skateboarders are eyeing this wondering what trick they can do off this.
For images and details, go to: 24° Studio – Crater Lake.
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