Category: Sparks in the wild

Posted in Home sparks, Sparks in the wild

Making a scene

Posted on by Cate

The aim of the good folk at BluScenes is to turn your screen into a scene. Uh huh. No longer is it good enough to use your screen to, you know, watch TV and movies and stuff. Now your screen can transport you to other worlds, or create a different ambience, or add to your art collection.

For example, you purchase a Blu-ray disc of, say, a fireplace. And you play it. So a fireplace appears on the screen. And you watch it. It makes crackly noises just like a real fire, but according to the BluScenes, it avoids a “common pet peeve that we’ve experienced with some other fireplaces — the flames go “off the top of the screen.”  We designed our scenes feature the full fire.” Because if you want to watch a fake fire, then you’d better make it a full fake fire. And it’s only $19.95 and you’ll never need to chop firewood.

Or perhaps an aquarium is more your thing. Except you’re allergic to fish or you don’t like all the cleaning or you don’t have a great track record in caring for living things. Then you can choose from the Scenic or Coral Reef aquariums from BluScenes and hey presto, instant fish tank. And accompanying soothing music.

You can find more products at the BluScenes website here. And I take no responsibility if you never ever leave your house again!

Posted in Sparks in the wild, WWWhat?

Happy Shark Week!

Posted on by Cate

I like to think that I’m a woman of the world and I know what’s going on…which is why I can’t believe that until yesterday I hadn’t heard of Shark Week. You probably already know all about it, but just in case you’re like me and have missed this festival in previous years, here’s a brief update. Shark Week started back in 1988 – it’s a creation of the Discovery Channel and is essentially a week-long series of TV shows about sharks. Apparently, it was developed to help the average person have a greater respect for sharks. And it’s now broadcast in over 72 countries. Uh huh.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Shark Week and the peeps at the Discovery Channel marketing machine have gone all out. In addition to the usual souvenir DVDs, books and t-shirts, you can also buy a heap of other wacky gear to show that you’re a friend of the sharks. Like this hat, for example.

Foam Fin Hat from the Shark Week Store

Or these cupcakes, custom-made in a Georgetown bakery. The toppers show a logo or a shark or A LONE HAND STICKING UP FROM THE OCEAN OF ICING. Not sure that image is helping the sharks’ cause, to be honest.

DC Cupcakes from the Shark Week Store

And then there’s this hoodie t-shirt (for adults and for kids) – if you hold your arms like you’re giving yourself a hug, you can scare the life out of people around you. Nothing says Happy Shark Week like a giant set of chompers headed your way.

Shark Week Hoodie from the Shark Week Store

Finally, here’s the ultimate Shark Week accessory for your canine companion – a Hammerhead Shark Pet Costume. It doesn’t seem quite right to me, but hey, anything goes in Shark Week!

Pet Costume from the Shark Week Store

So, I wish you and yours a very happy Shark Week. If you’d like to learn more about this Week, you can check out the Discovery Channel website here or head straight to the Shark Week Store to stock up on goodies here. A word of warning – when I checked, the website went straight to an auto-play video with a very scary voice over very scary music, “Deep beneath, a pre-dat-or is lurking…” Eeeeek – Happy Shark Week!

Posted in Arty sparks, Sparks in the wild

Way to play, crochet

Posted on by Cate

Frame magazine recently featured some amazing playground designs by Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi-McAdam. What’s so special about them? Oh, just that they’re made of crocheted yarn. Uh huh. Like giant brightly coloured spider webs that you can climb on and swing from.

Apparently Toshiko first came up with the crocheted playground idea back in the 1990s: ‘she was installing a piece made of crocheted yarn, when children asked if they could use it as a hammock’. Nothing like a live experiment to test the strength of the yarn – and it seems that the piece was actually stronger than expected.

Since then, Toshiko has turned her focus to creating public playgrounds and founded a company with her husband, ‘aimed at developing the concept of the play structure’.

The whole point of their work is ‘public art for kids’ – to design an artful experience that responds to the joyful engagement of children. Love it. For more info and pics of this fantastic idea, you can check out the Frame mag feature here.

Posted in Home sparks, Sparks in the wild

A Tale of Two Kitties

Posted on by Cate

Helena is the talent behind Tokyo Inspired – selling ‘lovingly handcrafted’ cases for your iphone, camera or pencils. They are very cute and more than a little bit quirky. And they remind me of Zippy from Rainbow. I discovered Tokyo Inspired on etsy and although I can’t claim to be down with the mysteries of the animal kingdom, I am really not sure about the photos that Helena has used to sell her wares…

Take this lovely image of a cute snoozing kitty. The cat looks so happy snuggled up against her soul mate there on the rug. Except – it’s not her soul mate, IT’S A PENCIL CASE. And it has a fairly maniacal-looking zippered smile on its face. And eyes that never sleep. But then, I think there’s probably no harm as long as the (real) cat is happy, right?

Then there’s this pic of a grey cat laughing with his arm tucked around his equally delighted companion. Oh, he’s so chuffed that his partner mirrors his wide smile when he tells his favourite joke about that time with the saucer of milk. They are so happy and in sync and meant to be together. Except – hang on, that’s not a smile, that’s AN OPENING TO STUFF PENCILS OR A SMART PHONE THROUGH. And I start to feel like this is getting a bit out of hand.

And these two grey cousins, caught in a never-ending battle to see who can ‘freeze’ the longest. It’s just not right.

I love your work, Tokyo Inspired – the cases are very cute and I can think of lots of people (myself included) who would like them. But I’m just not sure that it’s fair to the real cats to keep up this charade. Because one day, maybe a zipper will break, or a sequinned eye will drop off, or an ear will unthread, and there will be heartache in the litterbox.

You can check out these very cool cases (and cats) at the Tokyo Inspired shop here.

Posted in Sparks in the wild

Deeper Water

Posted on by Cate

…is the name of my favourite Paul Kelly song, but that’s not what this short post is about. I first saw this on Bless This Stuff and thought it needed to be shared – it’s the hotel pool from the Holiday Inn, Shanghai. Yeah, whatevs, I hear you mumble – what can be so special about a hotel pool?

Well, this.

It’s a glass-bottom pool.

Hanging off the building.

At the 24th floor.

I checked and they also have a turndown service and deliver a free newspaper to your room each morning. No pets allowed.

Just don’t get confused and book the Shanghai Downtown Holiday Inn – they don’t seem to have a pool which makes their hotel seem, well, a bit crap in comparison.

In case you don’t believe me, or if you want to find out more, the original Bless This Stuff post is here and the hotel website is here.