Blandito Italian Bendy Foldy Lazy Floor Pillow

So your Blandito may not be the seat to offer your aged auntie when she drops by for tea and scones, but as a cosy crash mat for the multifunctional small-space lifestyle of the hip young urban creative with a penchant for modern Italian design?

Furniture of merit, indeed.

I believe the title says it all. Blandito® by Oradaria Design of Italy, is described as a “transformable pad for lazy living” – and I think we can all get behind that concept, no?

Cosy as a sleeping bag or one of those appalling slankets but with, you know, much more padding and much less of the nerdy monk look.

Stuffy as a floor pillow, but with its own smooth moves – transformative!

Yet, furniture-ish in a couch-inspired way, but without all the stiff bits that keep you from slouching in comfort.

Yeah, well, the pictures say it all.

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Driftwood Horses

Beachcombing, a few years back, my friend found a piece of driftwood that looked exactly like three horses’ heads rising from the waves. Very cool. But that’s nothing compared to the driftwood horses of artists Matt Torrens, Heather Jansch, and Deborah Butterfield.

Matt Torrens driftwood horse sculpture Spirit The differences between these different artists’ interpretations of “driftwood horse” are striking, but all have achieved a remarkable combination of driftwood’s naturally weathered graceful lines with the powerful majesty of the equine form.

Matt Torrens

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta (“Cow Town”) and now living in southern California, the horse rendered in driftwood is a natural subject for sculptor Matt Torrens.

“Spirit,” the driftwood horse head sculpture by Matt Torrens shown here, was exhibited at the California State Fair in Sacramento, August/September 2008. Photograph by laura.bell.

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Weird Kitchen Science and Dancing Dinners

Food is an adventure in science, as any intuitive cook well knows. But sometimes the science can get just a teensy bit weird, as in the Japanese seafood delicacy known as Odori-Don, or “dancing squid bowl,” a trendy variation on a traditional dish of Hakodate, Japan.

If you haven’t seen the action-packed video, here you go — Dancing Squid Bowl a.k.a. Dancing Zombie Squid: (more…)

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