Simian Design

The Wilkinson Residence, designed by Robert Harvey Oshatz, is in Portland Oregon. It’s gorgeous, and breathtaking. It also is awful. This sort of high-profile, self-indulgent  project, which I LOVE, is what architects are drawn too. And why most houses look like they do; there is no money there.  I mean this took some serious cash.

Plus can you imagine the upkeep of this house? Already you can see issues with some dripping and mold it looks like in some of the photos.

But at the same time, this is EXACTLY the type of Space-Age Bachelor Pad I’d want when I hit the lotto. It really is gorgeous. I just wish we had elements of this in normal, day-to-day architecture. If we had stuff like this that the majority of people lived in, how could we not, as a society, have jet-packs? It’s simply demand it, wouldn’t it?

NOW THIS is a motorcycle. I mean, sign me up. If you own and ride one of these, it automatically makes you cooler than 99% of the people out there. This is the 1949 MOTO MAJOR 350.

Torinese engineer Salvatore Majorca created the revolutionary Moto Major straight after WWII. Apparently it was an engineering rather than styling exercise, but 60 years on, its shape is still breathtaking. The wheels, in particular, would not look out of place on many modern motorcycle

If this isn’t camera porn, I don’t know what is.  It’s a stunningly complex photo of  a Nikon D3 cut in half.  The detail shown is amazing.  Just look at all the glass in that lens.

I love this.

Ran across this from Make.  The GeoEye-1 (Google’s satellite) took pictures of President Obama’s inauguration the other day. Luckily it was a clear day, and the pictures, taken from 423 miles up, look great.

(via Make)

star_wars_nativty_05, originally uploaded by Larry Lars.

This is full of win. It’s just genius. Having the twins in the manger is the crowning touch.

This is just all the best parts of the holidays, lego and Star Wars all wrapped up in one package. Nice.  Read more at the Star Wars Blog.

The Smoking Gun has gone through their archives and compiled a list of the 20 best mug shots of 2008. 

A fantastic list.  This guy is probably my favorite, but the cow is pretty solid as well.

Ray carves pumpkins.  Really amazing pumpkins.  He shows you how to carve your own amazing face on a pumpkin.  Something worth-while to try.

Just a quick break to show you this brilliance. He also does Aliens,  Cthulhu, Predator and more.

Wow. What a great collection of photos. There are so many excellent photos that I’m so in love with. I could easily have a Star Wars-type shrine with photos and paintings like these.

Waterfall in Banff, Canada.

Generally you think of caves as places for bears to sleep, bats to poop and Balrogs to slumber.  While this certainly is the case the majority of the time, there is also incredible beauty to be found.

Since it’s generally pretty dark underground (I know, go figure), you have to light up the place pretty well to see the beauty, but when you combine caves, water and good lighting….. beauty happens.

Environmental Graffiti has collected 10 great pictures from 10 great underground rivers and lakes, well worth checking out.