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Taking a Break for the Holiday Weekend

Karen — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:30:00 GMT

MailboxTees is officially taking 10 days off before the pre-holiday madness- but will be back with interesting stories, adventures, and things to share in early December!

And even though this is a minor hiatus and not "The End," here is a cool flickr set of "The End" part of movies, via BoingBoing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crazy Gravestones from Concord, Mass

Karen — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:33:00 GMT

I was out in Boston a few weeks ago, and spent a couple hours in Concord, Mass, which is you know, where that whole "shot heard round the world" thing went down. Right in town there's an old cemetery with some Revolutionary era gravestones. We spotted a couple of odd ones, like this one where they misspelled the guy's name and had to fix their "typo":

And this one, which due to the old-timey script, I first read as "Having laid down the f-word with honor..." but it's sword. Not fword. Heh.

Manga Comic for Wine Connoisseurs

Karen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:25:00 GMT

"The Drops of God" is a manga comic about wine. The story follows 2 brothers on a quest for some legen...wait for it...dary wines.

Instead of boring ol' wine talk like "buttery and oaky" they bust out stuff like:

'"Just like a classic rock concert!” says one brother after taking a sip of a 2001 Mont-Pérat. “Like walking in a quiet forest being followed by two butterflies,” exclaims the other brother.'

Well. I'm not exactly sure what being followed by butterflies tastes like from an oenological point of view, but I'm totally using that kinda prose to impress people at my next dinner party.

[via xorsyst]

Gorgeous High Chair

Karen — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:18:00 GMT

Let's dispense with all of the "oh but it's so impractical" talk and just all agree that this high chair by Christopher Kurtz is AMAZING.

The adult chair ain't too shabby either...

[via Apartment Therapy]

I'm Cancelling My Trip to Houston

Karen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:13:00 GMT

This is old (as you can see by the date) but this computer error makes it look pretty damn unpleasant in Houston. Is this what hell freezing over looks like?

[via Gizmodo]

Turn These Glasses Upside Down to Make Them Sunglasses

Karen — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Sunglasses one way, glasses the other way. Just flip 'em upside down and you've got whatever you need.

I can't tell if these are really cool or insanely tacky. I'd have to see them on someone... oh, here we go.

Um... still confused. I think tackycool.

How to: Rickroll Halloween Costume (But Nobody Got It)

Karen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:21:00 GMT

This Halloween I eschewed my usual political/news costume ideas in favor of internet meme costume ideas. And lo, the Rickroll costume concept was born. What if the front of me could look normal, and then when someone started talking to me, I could flip around and be Rick Astley? So, we decided to make 2 Rickrolls representing 2 of his really really nice outfits from the video. We wore our clothes backwards. We wore hats and velcroed life-size laminated Rick Astley heads (printed out at home, laminated at Kinko's, cut to size, sticky velcro) to the back. Then when someone started talking to our fronts, we would flip around, switch on the song, and start backwards dancing. This is what we look like from the back (remember our fronts look pretty normal):

Pretty freaky, eh? Too bad at the first party we went to only about 15% of the people knew what a Rickroll was and at the 2nd party only about 10% knew. I guess we are actually an average of ~~88.5%~~ 87.5% dorkier than the majority of people at those parties. Shoot. Well, we tried.

(If you are reading this and you still don't know what a Rickroll is then chances are you are probably actually not reading it anymore but in case you are, here you go. )

Stools Made From Rolled Up Newspapers

Karen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Recycling at its best! These stools are made from rolled up recycled newspapers.

[via Craft:]

Super Cool Spidery Shoe Holder

Karen — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Wouldn't want to stick some of my more skanky kicks into this pretty wall sculpture, but if you just held out your very best party shoes this would be rather stunning!

[via Pan-Dan]

Hose Radiator Bends to Your Whims

Karen — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:00:00 GMT

This amazing radiator is in a hose shape so you can bend it, coil it, or stuff it under your bed. As an ex-Brooklyn resident with a crazy loud and hissy radiator who was like part of the family, I think this looks absolutely fabulous.

[via Yanko Design]

Pantone Rubik's Cube

Karen — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:03:00 GMT

Finally, a Rubik's Cube even a graphic designer could love.

[via Neatorama]

Halloween Treat: A Ban on Palin Costumes?

Karen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:58:00 GMT

Heh.

[via Laughing Squid]

Jack-O-Lantern Proposal!

Karen — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:10:00 GMT

Since it's the Halloween Eve, I wanted to share this awesome Jack O'Lantern marriage proposal!

This guy is committed... how frickin' long would it take to carve all those pumpkins? I hope she said "hell yes."

[via Neatorama]

Towering Around Town: Chicago

Karen — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:15:00 GMT

I spent last weekend in Chicago with friends and wanted to share some of my favorite photos. I hadn't been there for almost 20 years so it was a treat to spend a few days there, albeit cold and windy days!

Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City towers seen from the river.

The fun/frightening Carnival Foods signage was the only (literally) bright spot on this overcast and rainy walk near Oz Park.

We caught a man on Halsted Street working diligently on this Barack Obama mural.

The comics at Second City hilariously dressed up one of the stodgy old guys carved onto their theater building's facade for Halloween with a cape and Darth Vader mask.

Am I anthropomorphizing too much, or does this Lincoln Park house look like a person to you too?

Caramelized butterscotch and apple bacon hanging from a wire contraption during a mind-boggling molecular gastronomy dinner at Alinea.

Wolfy's!

I call this apartment building "the frowny robot building."

Crowds approaching Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" sculpture (aka "the Bean") in Millenium Park.

We were driving aimlessly through the suburbs and randomly came upon this half-scale model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, built in 1934. The parklands that surely surrounded it at one time have been oddly subsumed by a YMCA and a Costco. (And yes, we took the obligatory "pushing it back upright" series of photos...)

The sign for Empire Liquors in Wicker Park sports real liquor bottles enclosed in mesh.

Loooooved this warning posted in the awesome Old Town Oil shop.

Previous mini photo journals:
Hot Dogs, Harpoons, & Jive Talk: Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA
Tamales, Hipsters, & Underpants: SF's 24th Street, The Mission

Stonehenge Recreated with Fridges

Karen — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:25:00 GMT

Welcome to Stonefridge: a fridgehenge.

That's it. It's Stonehenge made of old refrigerators. According to this website (which also has a bunch more pictures) an artist created it outside of Santa Fe, NM, until some art-hating, fridge-loathing jerk COMPLAINED and made them take it down.

Who has time to complain about a fridgehenge? Do you really have nothing better to do?

Bacon Luggage Tags, Plus, I'm Sick of Bacon-Related Things

Karen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:32:00 GMT

Look! It's another bacon thing that's not food-related: bacon luggage tags!

And with this, I am officially DONE with bacon-everything except for, of course, the actual eatin' kind of bacon. That kind is still OK. But please stop already with the bandaids, the air freshener, and yes, the luggage tags. It's old. It's over. Move on to pork rinds or something.

Here you go: I made you a Venn diagram to express my position more clearly.

Obama Belt Is Not Polling Well With Me

Karen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:29:00 GMT

Sorry for the unexpected posting hiatus. I had to make a wedding cake and host an Obama fundraiser last week. Now, that clearly shows I loves me some Barack, but this belt is not doing it for me.

Whoever can make this work in an outfit must be even cooler than our man "That One."

[via NYTimes]

Gorgeous Decoupaged Table

Karen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:32:00 GMT

I am so enamored of this decoupaged table I saw on Craft:! I want one!

Garage Wine In Garage Containers

Karen — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:27:00 GMT

I love this packaging that Korefe did for Anthony's Mini Garage winery! Such a clever idea. They've packaged cooking oil in industrial oil cans, and different types of schnapps in what look like turpentine containers.

You can see and learn more about this packaging at TrendsNow.

Yes, It's True: Tampon Crafts

Karen — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:14:00 GMT

Oh, just when you think you've seen it all... then you see that people are making art and jewelry out of tampons. Hey, on the bright side they're unused tampons, so, you know, that's a plus. I'm really loving this tampon panflute, and wondering how it sounds.

OK so all kidding aside, I actually think these Halloween ghosts are cute... I mean, picture a whole window full of them. (I can't believe I just advocated for tampon ghosts... I might need to get out more.)

Visit TamponCrafts.com for a full rundown and helpful instructions on how to make all these and more.

[via YesButNoButYes, who has a funny story about how he found this out in the first place]