monday links

I'm in LA this weekend for a quick work trip, a visit with my mom, and hopefully some sunshine. Here are a few links for your enjoyment this Monday morn:

This video on how ink is made is beautiful and surprisingly mesmerizing. It kinda takes me back to this classic from Sesame Street. 

Two Japanese artists constructed this giant kaleidoscope in a shipping container. How amazing would it be to get to go inside?

Tired of the Bold Italic? Check out The Sans Serif: San Francisco's least reliable, most entertaining source for news. 

[Top photo from Lauren Conrad]

monday links

Happy Monday! Have you snapped up any $6.99 peonies from Trader Joes yet? Better hurry before they're all gone! The ones I bought hadn't quite opened yet, but I got them to start opening by leaving them in warm water for a couple hours. I was inspired by Little Green Notebook's trick for grocery store roses. After about 2 hours all but one little bugger had opened beautifully! I'm not 100% sure if this affects their longevity yet, but as of day 5 they're still looking good and opening more each day! 

Speaking of flowers, or 8 million flower petals that is, have you seen this insane Sony commercial? They flooded a Costa Rican town with 3 tons of flower petals to demonstrate the detail of their new TV screen and the images are absolutely incredible! Prettiest. Explosions. Ever.

If you enjoy a good pun, you're sure to love these illustrations from Jaco Haasbroek. For even more of his work, check out his site here.

Do you love Beyonce....and Dunkin' Donuts? Well here's just the parody video to get your week off to a good start! I apologize in advance if watching this will make you want donuts (it will).


[flower volcano photo via Lost at E Minor, Wolf in sheep's clothing illustration by Jaco Haasbroek via Mashable, Dunkin love photo via the blot]

monday links

Arg, Mondays. amiright!?

Hey friends, its been a craptastic weekend, so naturally I've turned to Kids in the Hall and cute animal videos... enjoy!

Is this puppy part Easter bunny? Watch videos of his crazy hopping here.

Video of an extremely ferocious baby elephant here (you may want to turn the sound off for this one).


And now I must be off to watch my new favorite show, Call the Midwife. Here's hoping for a better week ahead!


[Puppy photo from his Vine,  Elephant via Imgur]

monday links

Happy Monday! How's your week looking? I'm heading to Florida at the end of this week. We'll be in Miami for a few days and then we're driving down to Key West. I'm excited- I've never been to the Keys! Any suggestions on what to see and do? So far I've got two things on the agenda: eat lots of Key Lime Pie and try to see a Manatee. Oh, and singing Kokomo, which I'm sure will be stuck in my head the whole time.

While researching Key West, I came across They Draw and Travel, which features fun maps illustrated by artists from around the world. I love the illustration style of this Key West map by Nate Padavick.

Are you sad the Olympics are officially over? I didn't watch them as much as I would have liked to. I definitely would have watched more events if David Attenborough had narrated the whole thing, like in this curling video. I wish he could narrate everything, all the time.

If you need a laugh this morning, look no further than Texts from Dog. I think this one might be my favorite. Or maybe this one. Aah, can't stop. This one.


[Top image via Tip Trips Florida, Key West map by Nate Padavick via They Draw and Travel, Olympics image via 2014-Olympic]

louis ck one

Oh, Internet. Just when I think you can't possibly come up with another ridiculous tumblr page, someone had to go and make this:

As an awkward seventh grader, I begged my parents for months for a bottle of ck one, convinced it would make me as cool as Kate Moss (spoiler alert: it didn't). Do you think this version will give me the comedic powers of Louis C.K.??

Check out the full ad campaign tumblr page here. 

[photos from the louis ck one tumblr]

tiny messages

These tiny cards are awesome. They seem like an especially great idea going into the holidays, when we all get a bit stressed and could use a little note of gratitude and encouragement. These would be so fun to slip to your co-workers, your favorite barista, or the harried cashier helping you on Thanksgiving (please tell me you're not shopping on Thanksgiving). The best part is you don't even have to write anything on them, you can just leave one for someone as an anonymous message from the universe. 

Find these and more tiny messages from Emily McDowell here. 

[photo from Emily McDowell]

dinovember

Refe Tuma and his wife have devoted the month of November to convincing their children that their plastic dinosaurs come to life while they sleep. So far, it looks like the dinos have been getting into quite a lot of trouble...

The scenes they've set up are hilarious, they're obviously having a lot of fun with it. I can't get over that roaring T. Rex- something about his expression just kills me!

I love this idea. I remember my dad doing something similar (though not quite as elaborate) with my favorite stuffed bear, Oatmeal, when I was little and it was so much fun to find him hiding all over the house.

You can check out more photos here and follow their page on Facebook through the month of "Dinovember".


[Photos from Medium.com]

happy halloween

Happy Halloween! Get your day off to a spooky and scary start with the best Halloween song ever (sorry for the crappy video quality):

[infographic via Vulture]

olde timey lolz

The Breakdown 1914

If you thought sharing funny photos of cats was invented by the internet, let me introduce you to the work of Harry Wittier Frees. A century before Cute Overload, Frees was dressing up animals in human scenarios and taking ridiculous photos of them. 

Fire! 1914

Free's career began at a birthday party in 1906, when a paper party hat was passed around the dinner table and landed on the pet cat's head. Harry took a picture and just like that, the LOLcat was born. As time went on, his props and scenarios became more and more elaborate. His mother even sewed tiny outfits for the kittens, puppies, rabbits and pigs he photographed. 

Hanging up the Wash 1914

Though he photographed many different animals, Frees maintained that, "the kitten is the most versatile animal actor, and possesses the greatest variety of appeal". This dude knew what he was talking about. I'm not even a cat person, but look at that kitty hanging up her laundry! I can't even handle it- I think my head is going to explode. 

Making Baby's Clothes 1914

OK, ok, so the puppies are ridiculously cute too. Frees was obviously a genius. Check out the Library of Congress archive if you think you can handle more. 

[all photos by Harry Whittier Frees at Library of Congress via Vice ]