bookofjoe

A note on shadows

Constant readers will know that as a rule I crop photos very tightly, with no more than a pixel or two of margin around featured objects or people.

Yet once in a while I'm faced with a quandary, in that sometimes shadows are integral to a photo's effectiveness.

Consider the two above and below.

Which do you prefer?

Or how about this

and this:

Or this 

versus 

this?

What is it?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

Dream Water

At first I thought it was from the Outback but I was quickly disabused as I read Laura Johannes's March 30, 2010 Wall Street Journal story about the plethora of new relaxation beverages hitting the market.

She wrote, "Dream Water contains melatonin, a hormone which has been shown to aid sleep in healthy people and help fight insomnia...."

More: "Melatonin in beverages has come under regulatory scrutiny. The FDA issued a January 13, 2010 warning letter ... stating that melatonin... is not an approved food additive."

The shape of things to come?

[via bennybb]

Pocket Enigma

"One wheel version of a real Enigma in a smart CD case. Designed exclusively for and only available through Bletchley Park, Pocket Enigma is a little cipher machine."

£4.99.

Fake Swimming Pool

Designed in 2004

by Buenos Aires artist Leandro Erlich.

"In one of the courtyards of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa,

is a swimming pool framed by a limestone deck.

When seen from the deck, the pool appears to be filled with deep, shimmering water.

In fact, however, a layer of water only some 10 centimeters deep is suspended over transparent glass.

Below the glass is an empty space with aquamarine walls that viewers can enter."

[via Amusing Planet and Milena]

TUKLUK

 

 

 

 

Apply within.

[via Gyerekszoba]

What your email address says about your computer skills

[via 9gag and The Oatmeal]

Chairless — Episode 2: Brainless™

You may recall April's post featuring Alejandro Aravena's "Chairless" (above and below), an "ultra-minimal strap designed to be wrapped around the body in lieu of a chair."

It was introduced with much fanfare at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan this past March.

Well, guess what?

My BrainGenius™ crack research team put their collective cortices together and came up with the Brainless™ strap.

Introduced at the Fête de Morons in Charlottesville this morning, our Podunk town iteration employs the same principle as the famous Chilean architect's creation, but offers a very low-rent, for-sale-right-now alternative to his as yet unavailable version.

Simply get a yoga strap and cinch it, then put it around yourself and voilà: Brainless.

I don't know what the designer version will cost if it ever goes on the market but I guarantee you it'll be a multiple of 10 times more than the $3.88 you'll pay here.