*** i like couchsurfing ***

Couch Surfing is one of the coolest concepts I have come across. For those of you who don't know about couch surfing, be amazed by its awesomeness:

This is a worldwide (non profit) organisation comprised of people who offer accomodation for a couple of days in their houses to other people also part of the Couch Surfing network. Obviously you will have to arrange in advance with your host though, but that is needless to say...

"Couch Surfing is about participating in creating a better world. We strive to make a better world by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!"

What a great help to see new places and meet new people.

So cool! Check it out here.

Images from The List, La HEG à Montréal, paradineshift and found shit.

*** i like it in an almost perfect world... ***

This picture looks like fun, summer, friends and grillparties; set in an idyllic garden in, well, suburbia- or perhaps just outside of suburbia ...

People will bring bowls of fresh sangria and warm fruit tarts and the odd bottle of bourbon whiskey so that they can enjoy the pleasure that is my backyard. I will grow fruit, vegetables and herbs and i will build pretty wooden figurines and lanterns to adorn my porch. We will have champagne breakfasts and eat home baked croissants.

The air is sweet and sticky and it never gets cold.

[Picture from here]

*** ... matuschke ***

Matuschke is a DJ on a local (Bavarian) radiostation. He plays relatively good music and is generally quite amusing, overall I enjoy his shows. What I find particularly creative though, is his refusal to play song requests. The only way Matuschke will play your song is via Photorequests:

You send in a picture that represents the song you would like to hear and Matuschke guesses what song it is... then he plays it. On his webpage you can follow up on the requests. Here are some of the recent ones:

Scatman John's Scatman's World


Springsteen's Hungry Heart


Bobby McFerrin's Don't worry, be happy


Black Eyed Peas Don't Lie


The Bloodhoundgang Foxtrott Uniform Charlie Kilo


Brian Adams Summer of 69


And here is the one I sent in, any ideas what it could be?
[click for bigger view]

*** ... retro bowties ***

Aren't these the coolest bowties ever?
I like!







by something's hiding in here

*** ... bartricks ***

Man, do I have a fascination for bar tricks... come to think of it, I have quite a fascination with everything that has to do with bars.

This trick is especially jawdropping for me.
How absolutely cool.



[From Bartricks website]

*** clouds... ***

I really like this picture that a friend of mine took of me the other day. It is taken in front of his house, which is a old fashioned white stone house. You know, those houses that are still heated with oil stoves. This type of house makes me think of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five storybooks. Her constant mention of cooked ham, pantries and adventures in candlelight somehow make me feel cozy and comfortable. Perhaps it is because it reminds me of the contentment of my childhood as my mother would read me Famous Five at bedtime. It gives me some inexpicable sense that everything is going to be okay- much in the same way that the smell of underground parkades (or tunnels) makes me feel safe and secure; and makes me think of my grandfather and a red BMX bicycle. Strange, but some smells you don’t forget…

Anyway, again, that is all besides the point though…

The picture was taken in the afternoon a couple of days back, the light was an off yellow, almost orange. Like when you wear those tinted sunglasses. The clouds hung in the air much like lazy bags of flour would- floating like giant marshmallows in the sky. It was- to put it lamely- supercool.

*** ... jokes ***

I can never remember jokes, and I am really really bad at telling them. Nonetheless, I really like jokes. So here goes:

During an IRS audit, the auditor looked at the tax payer and exclaimed...

... "Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the IRS finds that believable."

"I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it," says Ralph. "How about a demonstration?"

The auditor thinks for a moment and said, "Okay. Go ahead."

Ralph says, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye."

The auditor thinks a moment and says, "No way! It's a bet."

Ralph removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops. Ralph says, "Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye."

The auditor can tell Ralph isn't blind, so he takes the bet.

Ralph removes his dentures and bites his good eye. The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Ralph's attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.

"Want to go double or nothing?" Ralph asks. "I'll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between."

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way this guy can manage that stunt, so he agrees again.

Ralph stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, and urinates all over the desk.
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Ralph's attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
"Are you okay?" the auditor asks.

"Not really," says the attorney. "This morning, when Ralph told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you'd be happy about it."

*** ... scarves ***

I really like scarves... these are some of the scarves I own.

*** i like... Bruno Munari ***

In Bruno Munari's book "Good Design", the orange, the rose and the peapod are analysed.


About the orange:

"Besides the juice, the sections usually contain a small seed from the same tree. This is a little gift that the production offers to the consumer just in case he should wish to have his own personal production of these objects. Please note the economic unselfishness of such an idea, and at the same time the psychological bond that is born between consumer and production."

How beautifully phrased.
What a unique man... Another one of his thoughts:

About wear and tear of the typical wooden spoon found in every kitchen... whose sheared off shape is created by use:

The special Munari touch is the observation that we have eaten the missing part of the spoon, which has slowly over time mixed up in our soup.

What an undoubtably true observation!
I like Bruno Munari...

*** ... creative people, talented kids and satisfied lives ***

Gennine is an inspiration to me, she is a "curious" stay at home mother and does the most beautiful things [which you can see if you visit her awesome blog].

It makes me imagine the kind of existance this woman must have: a family she clearly adores, a deep-rooted satisfaction with her life (something I have yet to find) and time- well spent on productive & fulfilling projects (ie the stunning fimo clay birds).

She also regularly blogs about her puppy (of course a lady like this owns a puppy...), as well as her children's drawings, which I think are incredible. I find them so charming and of course, inevitably naive, but in a way remarkably sophisticated... And I almost envy the children that drew them... To draw like this at age 8 (Daniel) and 9 (Israel), I think is... well... like I said before: incredible.













Man are those kids talented.

***(especially unconventional) pinhole photography ***

This photo was taken with a pinhole camera over an exposure period of 6 months by renowned photographer Quinnell. The blue lines on top are the sun’s cycles within the six months. Fascinating. Find out more here.

*** i like... postcards ***

"I'll swim to you"

A beautiful message to someone you care for, with a stunning illustration... I like alot!

(From upon a fold)