fun

Robin Hood Restaurants

Posted by _tango! on December 27, 2006
Posted in: brand, design, experience, food, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, thoughts. 2 comments
Robin Hood Restaurants

What a kick-butt idea!!!

“These pay-as-you-can cafes have missions that are unapologetically altruistic—call it serving up fare Robin Hood style. “Our philosophy is that everyone, regardless of economic status, deserves the chance to eat healthy, organic food while being treated with dignity,” explains Brad Birky, who opened SAME with his wife, Libby, in October. Customers who have no money are encouraged to exchange an hour of service — sweep, wash the dishes, weed the organic garden — for a meal. Likewise, guests who have money are encouraged to leave a little extra to offset the meals of those who have less to give. “We’re a hand up, not a hand out,” says One World owner Denise Cerreta, who prides herself on the fact that everyone can afford a meal at her café.

The cafés’ business models have won fans among the city’s well-to-do residents, many of whom regularly dine there. At One World, patrons have given Cerreta a car, bought new dishes, arranged to professionally clean her carpets, supplied new tile for the restaurant bathrooms, and donated property for an organic garden and funded a new irrigation system for it. Last week, a gentleman left a $50 bill next to an empty bowl of soup at SAME. Since opening, one man has regularly come in and left money on the counter without eating, stating “I was blessed today so I though I’d pass it on.” He’s homeless.” via TIME.

I’ve always been a fan of exchanging ones time for another rather than diving into money talks. This probably occurred when I had to pay a lawyer recently, but I did continue this trend when my friend needed a design for his CD album. I knew he had little money, so I said I’d do it for free in exchange for his time down the road. I spent 15-20 hours designing the cover for him, and in exchange he said he’d give me a free concert (you know who ya are 😉 ). Buh yeah to to community driven ideas!(much like my thoughts on search engines)

SAME (SoAllMayEat.org) was inspired by another cafe, OneWorldEverybodyEats.com, for this great initiative.

Newspaper Monster!

Posted by _tango! on December 20, 2006
Posted in: art, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, thoughts, wacky. 3 comments

How crazy cool, scary, mysterious, and inspirational is this! I love it when people take ordinary objects and make them extraordinary. In this case, lots of old newspaper transformed into an alien like monster that’s somewhat cute, yet scary to guard your entrance. I’m making one over the holiday break!
via MyHumanComputer
More pics after the jump.
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Fish Pedicure

Posted by _tango! on December 17, 2006
Posted in: experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, thoughts, wacky. 3 comments

fish pedicureOOOooo…I never thought I’d be craving for a swarm of little fish to nibble on my feet and hands, but I just might now. I’ll assume it tickles at first then transforms into a soothing yet odd prickly massage..one day..i’ll give it a try.

“For the adventurous, there’s the Ooedo Onsen. This three-year-old kitschy spa made to look like a centuries-old, shogun-era village lets visitors choose from 15 different yukatas (light cotton kimonos) to wear while inside. In addition to its 28 baths and massages, Ooedo offers an exotic esthetic treatment called Doctor Fish, a foot bath featuring live fish called garru-rufa.

The small fish swim in a shallow tub of warm water and nibble at dead skin, leaving hands and feet smooth [top]. Imported from Turkey, the fish are used in some Middle Eastern countries as a natural way to treat skin disease and rheumatism. Be warned: Dozens of fish chewing on flesh looks like something straight out of a horror movie. But when you get over the ick factor, the nibbling can have a calming affect.” www.ooedoonsen.jp

read more via bookofjoe

Nintendo Wii

Posted by _tango! on December 12, 2006
Posted in: brand, experience, fun, information, tech, thoughts. 4 comments

When you see these ads, it’ll make you want to buy a Nintendo Wii because they just scream out FUN! Yes, there is the ever so powerful Xbox and Playstation3, but when those 2 are battling for first place, the Wii stands out especially at a much lower cost($250ish) and a much more playful attitude. Sure the Xbox and PS3 are more powerful and graphic intense, but are they as much fun? Isn’t that the point of games? I’m sure their good, but not as exciting since the Wii is creating a community of people obsessed about not just the gaming aspect, but how they play it. There’s a wonderful pool of images on Flickr of Wii users! I’d like to see a comparison of pictures of people playing the PS3 or Xbox, which would probably seem like the stare of boredom that we get in webcams. Anyhow, just my prediction, but the Wii will kick butt! I want one even if I end up smashing my TV with the controller. I’m not saying the Xbox and PS3 are bad, I’m just saying that the Wii is really revolutionizing our aspect of gaming consoles.

Watch the fun ads above or after the jump(direct links: here, here, and here) I’ll throw in some images from that pool of Wii players as well after the jump.

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Crit Buns

Posted by _tango! on December 7, 2006
Posted in: design, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, thoughts. 6 comments

crit bunsDo you go to art school, or sit through tons of crits(critiques)? Perhaps your in a space with tons of stools with missing or worn out foam pads. Well, if so, your butts probably craving one of these soft “crit buns” to sit on! “Crit Buns” were created by designers from my school RISD. I first spotted these colorful and graphically packaged buns during the RISD alumni sale and thought, duh…we all need one…then again, I just sat on my hands back when I was there even though the dirty pants from the charcoaled up floors were somewhat proud war marks for the RISD-oids.(mainly freshmen students since they have drawing studios which are famous for using bricks of charcoal a day which most kids end up sneezing out towards the end of the day…ooo, those were the days.) Go get a crit bun and make your buns smile!!!

Musicovery.com

Posted by _tango! on December 6, 2006
Posted in: art, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, me, music, tech, thoughts. 5 comments
musicovery

Musicovery.com allows you to create a play-list of songs based on the mood that your seeking by filtering music by genres and time, then selecting a mood within each category; dark, energique, positif, or calme. It’s somewhat like a streaming radio station that you have a bit off control over, but you can’t save, bookmark, or copy any names quickly. Otherwise, the visaul layout is compelling enough to play with for a bit and personally I grooved to the “Calm Funk” with a bit of “positif” stream that I am now listening to.

Other music aiding services I’ve looked into are: Yahoos LaunchCast (I use this, my station), pandora.com, and Blogmusik.net.
(thanks Danny)

Funky Baby Stroller by Stokke

Posted by _tango! on December 2, 2006
Posted in: design, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, style, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

At first glance, I was captured by this cool baby pong picture! I clicked ahead, watched the demo video by Stokke, and figured out, dang, these Xplory strollers are pretty sweet! Just because your a baby, doesn’t mean you have view life at that height, hence, this stroller props up the seat to give the baby a higher viewpoint. Besides the viewpoint, the video also points out how a higher seat puts less stress on a parents back since you don’t have to bend over as far. Otherwise, the higher seat idea reminds me of Dean Kamens invention the iBot, which gives people in wheelchairs the opportunity to be at eye level with humans again(also has tons of other amazingly innovative features, including the gyroscope that helped launch the Segway)

via thecoolhunter

RC Mop

Posted by _tango! on November 30, 2006
Posted in: design, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, thoughts, wacky. Leave a Comment
remote car mop

I love it when people come up with ideas that sometimes seem dumb but seriously inspire me. In this DIY example via Evilmadscientist, a mops added to a remote control car, and bahm, ya have cleaning with a zest of fun. I’m not saying this works great, but sometimes when you think like a kid again or act goofy, you get results that raise great questions and often great ideas. I almost want to clean more now with this remote mop! Why cant cleaning be fun?! Anyhow, this is an example of one of those goofy ideas that I love much like the babysuit mop found in the great Chindogu Society Books. Otherwise, for the more grown up types that hate mops, try the MopShoe.

Tony Robbins

Posted by _tango! on November 29, 2006
Posted in: entertainment, fun, information, inspiration, me, thoughts. 5 comments

ValleyWag just posted me a reminder about how GREAT Tony Robbins was during TED and they even posted 6 reasons why.

Mark Pincus mentions, “Tony Robbins is an impressive man and a real leader and I’m someone who previously thought he was a cheesy infomercial peddling guy in hawaiin shirts.” Well, guess what, I totally agree. I’ve seen him in infomercials, movies, and other cheesy media gigs, but after meeting this dude, I’m like no wonder he’s known…he’s awesome! So I decided to post his lecture he gave at TED.

I met him backstage right before he went up, watching him memorize his long presentation word for word to each slide (impressive) and met him as I walked by his table. He saw me walk by, stood up, introduced himself to me, stuck his hand out and said, “Hi, I’m Tony” in which my response was “Hi, I’m small” (dudes like 7 feet or something) Anyhow, this guy rocks! Watch Tony’s video here(includes the awesome Al Gore moment), or the rest of the mind-boggling and inspiring TEDtalks here.

Derren Brown: Mind Control

Posted by _tango! on November 28, 2006
Posted in: design, entertainment, food, fun, inspiration, materials, me, thoughts. 1 comment

derren brown

Does your environment persuade the way that you think, act, and create? Absolutely yes! Watch this video of mind control magician Derren Brown manipulate some advertising creatives in a little test. Believe the video or not, I’m a huge believer that everything affects who you are; what you eat, read, watch, listen to, and especially the people and environments that surround you. After watching the video, watch the other great videos, books, and observations then question how everything around you influences and creates who you are.

I’m constantly coming up with definitions for a designer, but I never thought I’d say a magician, but I’m adding this to the list since magicians are masters of human observations and directions. As a designer, we have to understand how people perceive products, graphics, materials, instructions, sounds, time, spaces, etc. We create stories to consumers, viewers, and observers. As designers we are psychologists of human behaviors, marketers, advertisers, creators of direction and communications, and a bit of everything else.

Dig deep into Derrens websites here and here and get inspired, educated, and entertained about the human mind and more about ourselves.