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Top: Trojan House - MelbourneFrom the street, this Edwardian house might seem unassuming, undeserving of a second glance. From the back, however, the addition to the Trojan House by Jackson Clements Burrows, where three children’s bedrooms are cantilevered above a large living space, is anything but ordinary.
Next: Summer Cabins
Stockholm-based Sommarnöjen (Summer Enjoyment – or Entertainment - in English) has just unveiled the designs for five new beautiful 15-square-meter second houses. Sommarnöjen houses are designed by Sweden’s top-tier architectural offices Kjellander + Sjöberg Arkitektkontor, Sandellsandberg Arkitekter and Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter.
Last: Panama House, Sao Paulo, BrazilIn the past few years, the award-winning, Brazilian-born architect’s Studio MK27 has produced a steady stream of low-rise, boxy work all with an uncanny intimacy, yet without 
any of the usual stuffy treatments that supposedly create intimacy.
STONE TOWERS, CAIRO BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS
The Stone Towers by Zaha Hadid Architects for Rooya Group of Egypt is located in the Stone Park district of
Cairo. Providing office and retail facilities to a rapidly expanding Cairo, the unique 525,000sqm Stone Towers
development also includes a five-star business hotel with serviced apartments, retail with food and beverage
facilities and sunken landscaped gardens and plaza called the 'Delta'.
Client: Rooya Group
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Structural Engineer: Adams Kara Taylor
Gross Building Area: 525,000 m2
Site Area: 170,000 m2
Monday, 04 May 2009 "Another iconic vehicle is about to be reborn and brought into the 21st century. This time it is the Mercedes-Benz 300SL that is getting the make-over treatment (that’s the car with the batman-esque doors to you and me, or Gull-wings as they are known in the car business). This beautiful badboy, first introduced to the roads in 1954, is to be modified by Arturo Alonso and his company, Gullwing America. This time round it will be much more powerful, easier to handle and of course, it will feature all the mod-cons that one has come to expect from a vehicle of its caliber.Alonso is perhaps the best man to complete this task, being no stranger to the exotic car sector. He raced for years in a Mercedes 300SE, and he is also the engineer 
behind the Bentley S3 E concept from last year.With an aluminum body constructed with aircraft composite technology and chassis made of powder coated steel, the car will be powered by Mercedes’ M-133-55 engine, wired to raise the horsepower to 370. The new model will also feature striking red leather interior and an old-school instrument panel. The only hard thing left to do is to decide if you want the white one or the black one." - Brendan McKnight
http://www.thecoolhunter.net/
Scientists have discovered more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, the World Wildlife Fund said Monday.
A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove".
The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Stuart Chapman, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Programme, was quoted as saying in a statement by the group.From BBC: Dragon millipede (Image: Somsar Panha)
The "dragon millipede" (Desmoxytes purpurosea) was first described in 2007 by scientists in Thailand. Researchers suggest the bright colouring acts as a warning to would-be predators, as the millipede has glands that produce cyanide as a defence mechanism.
Conservation group WWF says that more than 1,000 species new to science have been recorded in South-East Asia's Greater Mekong region over the past decade. These include 22 snake species, including this green pitviper (Trimeresurus gumprechti).
The Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus) was first recorded by scientists at a food market in Laos. Remarkably, researchers say this species is the sole survivor of an ancient group of rodents understood to have died out 11 million years ago.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/15/gumbrechts-green-pit-vipe_n_151114.html
If you are in New York, go to the Fulton Ferry Landing by the Brooklyn Bridge and peer at London with a monstrous telectroscope. If you are lucky, your buddies in London happen to be on the South Bank by the Tower Bridge where a similar telectroscope stands. And guess what you will see? Each other! Why would that be in any way interesting, considering that we can webcam with anyone any time?This prehistoric-looking getup is ART created by London artist Paul St. George. And he, apparently, is only fulfilling the dream of his great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George. The elder St. George dreamt of burrowing a tunnel across the ocean, setting a magnifying telectroscope at each end so that people could see each other.If the fake tale isn’t enticing enough, the gizmo itself is worth the trek. It took two days and nights for the massive contraption to grow from the river mud and morph from a six-foot, revolving, metallic drill bit to the final tower of a 37-foot-long telescope. It will be there until June 15. To set up a viewing date with your buddies at the other end, go to telectroscope.net. By Tuija Seipell
By RANDY KENNEDYPublished: December 5, 2008 (image: Frederic Edwin Church’s “Scene on the Magdalene” (1854), an oil on canvas)
The National Academy, the venerable artist-governed museum and school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has quietly sold two Hudson River School paintings from its collection to shore up its finances and enable it to show more of its holdings on a consistent basis, the academy’s officials said on Friday.
The sale of the paintings, Frederic Edwin Church’s “Scene on the Magdalene” from 1854 and Sanford Robinson Gifford’s “Mount Mansfield, Vermont” from 1859, was sharply criticized by the Association of Art Museum Directors, which has a longstanding policy of strongly discouraging museums from deaccessioning artworks unless the money is being used to acquire other works and to enhance a collection — not to raise operating funds.
The association asked its members to cease lending artworks to the academy and collaborating with it on exhibitions....http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/arts/design/06acad.html
For a world class museum with an unparalleled collection of antiquities including Roman, Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian, African, and recently, collections from North America and Mexico, to display something so tasteless calls to question the integrity of the institution. This is a museum which showcases such works as the Rosetta Stone, The colossal Bust of Ramesses II, the Head of Amenhotep III, intricate pages of papyrus from the Book of Dead of Hurefer, and an extensive collection of mummies, including an inner coffin made of gold for Henutmehyt among so many other historic and priceless pieces.
I don't mind the extravagance of making a statue out of solid gold during these harsh times, (I suppose Britons are one of the few with the financial security to burn money, with the exception of fuel poverty of course) or that it's of an idealized female, which might have suggested a nod to other classic Greek or Roman sculptures, which would have made the venue seem like a logical choice, but the juxtaposition of her body can only be described as vulgar. I have a hard time just looking at the picture. Can you imagine meandering through the lovely Greek galleries and coming across this? Perhaps showing with artists such as Damien Hirst makes one nervous and desperate enough to "shock" viewers? Whatever the reasoning, I can honestly say that Saddam Hussein’s solid gold toilet is more beautiful and contemporary. I say melt it down, and feed a small country. --EveA 50kg solid gold statue of model Kate Moss has been unveiled at the British Museum, in London. The £1.5m sculpture, entitled Siren, is by artist Marc Quinn and is one of several contemporary sculptures in the exhibition Statuephilia. Each work has been sited in a different gallery within the museum, placed with items from its permanent collection. Quinn's sculpture is said to be the largest gold statue created since the time of Ancient Egypt.
'Ideal beauty' Described by the museum as an "Aphrodite of our times", it sits in the Museum's Nereid Gallery,alongside its statues of famous Greek beauties. Quinn, whose most famous work was Alison Lapper Pregnant, has said of using Moss as a subject: "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment.
The museum hopes it will remind visitors of its diverse collection"But even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image."
Other artists in the exhibition include Damien Hirst and Antony Gormley. Hirst has addressed his fascination with death by filling the historic wall cases of the Enlightenment Gallery with 200 specially created skulls...(Thanks Daniel in D.C.!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7647947.stm
Roberto Cavalli "Cleopatra" dress
Herve Leger Women's Ombre Dress
Fall 2008 Gucci horsebit-side eyewear in Ocean
Concrete Drop Earrings by Konzuk
Ebony Hips Wood + Leather Handbags by TIVI (also in Zebrawood)
Cork Cuff by Studio 1AM
No.2 Stainless Steel + Wood Bracelet/Cuff by TIVI
Cairo Resin + Aluminum Bracelet by TIVI
The UM Tote by Josh Jakus
Seesaw Wall Flats by Inhabit
Top: Trojan House - Melbourne
any of the usual stuffy treatments that supposedly create intimacy.
