Archives for 2013
Nine Inch Nails Glowing Hockey Music Video
March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Tomas Jurco is one of hockey’s viral video sensations. The AHL Grand Rapid Griffins forward, aDetroit Red Wings prospect, has been called “unbelievable” and a “magician” in those YouTube clips that feature his sensational offensive skills.
If he wasn’t also called “electrifying” before, he is now.
Here’s Jurco in an incredible, must-see video produced by the Griffins, skating in a darkened arena with glowing luminescent wire wrapped around his body – scored with “17 Ghosts II” by Nine Inch Nails.
It’s pretty much the closest we’ve ever come to the marriage of TRON and hockey.
[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://vimeo.com/61659067″ type=”vem” w=”680″ h=”383″]
NORTHERN LIGHTS feat. Tomas Jurco from griffinshockey on Vimeo.
How did this eerie, hypnotic clip come about?
Ryan Gajewski, video coordinator for the Griffins, said the inspiration came from other athletic activities.
The Griffins had been thinking about long exposure images inside a darkened arena, with LED lights on a puck for example. The shots would be wide so the lights would trail behind the puck.
(Yes … an actual glow puck.)
With that already percolating in his noggin, Gajewski one day saw his friend wrap his bike in electric luminescent wire. His immediate thought: “Man, it would be cool to wrap a player in that …”
Along with that idea, he also found a clip featuring a snowboarder using the material to glow in the dark while boarding down a mountainside, showing the potential for the idea to work in motion.
The Griffins – who have tinkered with Go Pro cameras in the past to bring fans into the action during practice and feel like a flying T-shirt – afforded Gajewski and his team creative freedom and financial backing. Each six-foot strand of the wire costs $6, and the team used 17 total to wrap around Jurco.
“We could have used 100 more of them,” said Gajewski.
Jurco was chosen for his trick shot reputation. But there was one problem: He couldn’t perform the same stick magic due to the wire being wrapped around his lumber.
“We had to do it on the blade. We couldn’t use Jurco for his Jurco-ness, as we’ve done in the past,” lamented Gajewski, who also couldn’t illuminate the puck to a desired effect.
Still, the finished product is amazing, adding to Jurco’s already considerable online viral video legend.
Real Estate: If You Waited to Sell, You May Be Brilliant
March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Many homeowners look back on 2006 house values and wonder why they didn’t sell at the height of the market. They lament the money they may have lost by not selling. However, there is another side to that story. If they did sell back in 2006, they would have still needed to live somewhere.
Looking back at the euphoria that permeated the real estate market at the time, many may have sold and moved into an even nicer, more expensive home. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we can now calculate the financial consequences of such a move.
Let’s look at a house that would have cost $400,000 in 2006. For the sake of this example, we are going to assume that values in this region dropped 25% since. To compute total cost (principal and interest payment) we needed to research mortgage interest rates at the time also.
Here is the comparison: 
You saved over $1,100/month on your mortgage payment. Maybe it wasn’t horrible that you didn’t sell in 2006. Perhaps, it was a great decision!
via: KCM
7 Superb Designer Kitchen Setups
March 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The main design elements of the household kitchen have remained more or less the same for many decades, but the Philippe Starckcollection from Warendorf are surprisingly fresh and different.
The Starck collection takes kitchen design in a rather unexpected direction. The collection features the combination of kitchen functions with elements of different rooms.
In one design, the kitchen takes on the functionality of a library as well. The inclusion of tall shelves and even a rolling library ladder give the kitchen dual purposes as well as an unusually sophisticated aesthetic.
Another of Starck’s designs includes a rotating tower kitchen which contains everything one needs to have a fully functional kitchen: water, a stove, a fridge and a microwave are all contained in this tower kitchen design, along with plenty of storage space.
The kitchen designs from Starck and Warendorf go to show that even small-space kitchens can be eye-catching and completely functional.
source: dornob.com
Texting Turns 20: The History of SMS [Infographic]
March 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Well, it looks like texting is no longer a teenager. LOL, OMG! These silly idioms that we know so well today would probably not be present in our popular culture if not for the lineage of short message services that go far back beyond texting’s 20th birthday. In the beginning there was fire-smoke signals. Separating smoke was the first method of conveying information quickly across a great distance. I’ve always wondered though, was there ever a codified system for smoke-signaling or was it basically information that would carry regardless of smoke pattern? Regardless, smoke signaling has since evolved into more and more elaborate mediums and devices in subsequent centuries.
In regards to Mr. Text however, it seems that there has been a decline in text messaging in general for the first time in 20 years. Is it true? Is text messaging really dying? Well, yes and no. It seems that a large reason for the decline has to do with the rise in IP messaging. Because of Apple’s iMessage, iPhone users can text fellow iPhones for free. This has lead to nearly 300 billion text messages sent as of last October. This is a huge move on Apple’s part, and it will be interesting to see where SMS messaging will go in the future. Happy Birthday texting!
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Glamourous Glass House is a Luxury Retreat
March 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
An elevated glass koi pond, a sleek suspended porte cochere and the semi-circular facade of this luxury home in South Africa are dramatically framed by towering beams. Glass House by Nico Van Der Meulen Architects is a dynamic space full of transparent walls, with an open interior that welcomes in sunlight and views of the tranquil backyard.
The suspended glass and steel portico leading into the structure has a cantilevered effect thanks to narrow steel supports and vast expanses of glass. An above-ground koi pond set in a reflecting pool serves as both a dramatic focal point, and a means of regulating temperature in both summer and winter.
The glass doors of the lanai can all be opened, blurring the transition between the interior spaces and the large swimming pool and gardens outdoors. This luxury home also features an art gallery, gym, a basement garage with parking for twelve cars and a main suite with a built-in kitchenette and a transparent glass bathroom with automatic blinds that look translucent from outside, but still allow views from within.
The heated pond continues from the outside of the home to the inside, where it is topped with glass and a stainless steel staircase illuminated with blue LED lights.
Subtle, this monumental house is not; its size and complexity borrows from the over-the-top aesthetics of the 1980s, and some aspects of it recall more commercial structures. Taking elements from luxury residences of Johannesburg from decades past, the design of the Glass House fulfills the owners’ request for glamour.
source: dornob.com
Cubism, Cubed: Green Tendrils Wrap Through White Kitchen
March 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
“Glamorous”, “spectacular” and “surrealism” are some descriptors offered by the Bulgarian designers of this this electrified room design.
Practicality takes a back seat to formal experimentation and cubist expressionism – shelves, cabinets and racks are fit into the carved-up walls almost as an afterthought.
As a bonus, there is almost no way for this room to look messy – it is chaotic by design, which is a good fit for at least certain cooking styles.
Gememilli Design Studio takes a similarly colorful and angular approach to other interior designs as well, including and beyond some of the examples shown above.