bookofjoe

Scissors & Paper: Cutout Artist of New York

Long story short from the New York Times: "Ming Liang Lu, a Chinese artist, cuts intricate portraits of people out of paper on the L train platform of the Union Square station in Manhattan on Monday."

"A self-described 'master paper portrait cutter,' he has the ability to trim facial portraits out of frail paper within minutes."

"Mr. Lu practices several ancient Chinese art forms and on weekends, he teaches calligraphy, painting and cutting at the New York Chinese Cultural Center."

"Mr. Lu is pleased when a rider wants a portrait — he accepts donations — but he is also content cutting an interesting face. 'Not about money,' he said. 'About face.'"

Snow Globe Polar Bear Salt & Pepper Shakers

It's been weeks since I've featured salt & pepper shakers.

I don't know where my head's been, but that's now remedied.

From the website:

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One white and one black polar bear seasoning globe.

3.5"H x 2.5"Ø.

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$11.95.

Snapseed app now free (the way we like it)

From The Mac Observer:

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This week Apple is giving away Snapseed, the primo photo post-processing tool that kicks all manner of butt when it comes to helping you make your great photos stupendous.

"Meh!" you say? You need another photo processing app like Tina Turner needs another hero? I'm here to tell you that Snapseed is not just another photo processing app. Snapseed has skillz, foremost of which is its seemingly magical ability to let you make specific adjustments to a photo without having to deal with layers. You create adjustment areas, which you can expand or contract to cover just the spot you need, then tweak it for contrast, brightness, and saturation. You really have to try to understand how this works and how powerful a tool it is. Nik, the maker of Snapseed, has a similar tool in its Vivenza 2 Photoshop plugin, and it costs a lot more than free.

Snapseed offers a wealth of other tools, filters, and so on, making it an app any photographer would feel comfortable using exclusively.

If you shoot photos and would like to process them on your iPad or iPhone (I'd recommend the iPad because of its bigger screen) then grab Snapseed while you can for free.

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Fair warning: Do it now – not later.

Sharpie Retractable Ultra Fine Point Markers

Once you've used a retractable Sharpie, you'll never go back to the ones that dry out because you forgot to replace the cap.

Huge advance in Sharpie World.

Assortment of 8 colors pictured up top: $12.44.

New world record for tightest parallel parking

The old record of 22cm clearance was shattered by Chinese stunt driver Yan Hue "with an incredible feat of parking that left the front of his MINI Cooper Chinese Job Special Edition wedged into a total space of separation from two cars in front of and behind him of just 15cm."

In the clip above, you can "skip to the 1:15 mark to see the new world record in all its glory."

[via my new Crack Australia Correspondent Elizabeth Trakas and Joe.ie]

12 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Cut From a Dime

From the website:

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Now you can call me crazy.

Since I started doing this a lot of people have.

I introduced these "Numismatic (Coin) Jigsaw Puzzles" as a joke to a customer in Texas who is always trying to stump me and coin cutting has taken a crazy turn since.

With a steel blade only .002" thick, I cut little jigsaw puzzle pieces from any coin.

The very time consuming process includes hand-cutting one piece at a time, cleaning fine dust, waxing each piece with a Q-tip, and reassembling with a pair of tweezers.

I originally sold them loose in a box, but browsers found it unbelievable that they would go back together.

I now sell them in 2"x2" plastic coin snaps.

You can leave it in the case or take it apart, just make sure to have aspirin, tweezers, and patience to put it back together. 

All dime puzzles are 12 pieces, no two are alike, and all come assembled.

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$13.99.

Time spent with Adobe

This is SO TRUE!

I get an "Update Flash" notice at least once a week.

[via GraphJam and Joe Peach]

iCade Mobile Game Controller for iPhone & iPod touch

They've taken the fantastic iCade for iPad and crammed it into a much smaller form factor.

Gamers, your world is about to be turned upside down.

Apply within.

Fair warning: There goes the rest of your life.