I found
Steven Beckly work on
Flickr and I can say I'm enjoying a lot of his photography and wanted to share with the readers his works. Steven Beckly is a photographer living and working in Toronto, Canada. He believes there is a beauty in everyday moments that normally go unnoticed. You can tell from his photography that he captures a lot of the everyday moments even when no one is around. If you want to check out more of his work or follow him on his social networks your in luck then. You can follow him on
Facebook,
Twitter and
Flickr and his
Blog.
I'm not one for camping but the
Opera Camper could change my mind on the wonders of camping. The Opera Camper is a sleek tow-behind package and from the looks of this camper. It is a luxury type suite camper that can be taken where ever you want it to go. It includes a tweaked veranda, two electrically-adjustable beds that can be combined to make a larger single sleeping surface. It has a boiler for the hot water in your own compact kitchen and it includes a top-loaded fridge with 36L of storage. It comes with the a ceramic toilet of your own so no port A potty for you. Lastly it comes with a corian fountain with pull-out faucet head that doubles as an outdoor shower. It current price for this camper is not known yet so it is (TBA). If you want more info check out the
brochure.
I found a new band that I haven't been able to stop listening to since I found him via
Paul Tebbott twitter page. Portland-based
Keith Kenniff, who creates music under the solo projects of
Helios and
Goldmund, as well as collaborating with his wife Hollie in
Mint Julep. His music consists mostly of piano and guitar with atmospheric background sounds which will put your mind at ease. It will take you to places where you feel warm and safe like when you were a kid playing in the autumn leaves with the sun shining and your feeling care free to the world. It's producers like Helios that not only reflect on the sounds that they hear and produce but also the reflections of sounds the listener might feel. Music like Helios takes you places it might be to past experiences or thoughts of new futures. It's all up to how the music shapes your mind.
On a non philosophical note though Keith also runs a
blog where he posts tracks that he produced or remixed as well as videos that he produced and wrote the music for. He currently is going to be releasing two limited edition CD's of "Unleft" and “Live at the Triple Door”. He states that he is having the albums professionally manufactured with full artwork, and remastered. Unleft will have the same track-listing as “Unreleased Vol.1” but will feature an extra bonus track called “The Morning Room”. He will only have 150 copies of each available for sale, and doesn't plan to repress them unless he receives another large order. If you want to preorder his CD's you can do so at the
Unseen Shop. The albums are due to be released on March 1st. I have added some of his videos that I found interesting for you to check out as well as some of his tracks.
A while back ago I did a post about
Ecospace and the
Mini-Jot which are office spaces that could be placed in your back yard. Well I found another one that I think is pretty interesting and it's called the
Archipod (pronounced ‘ark-ee-pod’, as in ‘architecture’). The company was looking for a way to decrease the cost and inconvenience of commuting to work every day. So then they created the Archipod which comes with an ergonomic semicircular computer desk, concealed background mood lighting, electric heater, smoke alarm, data ports and electrical outlets. The ‘Pod’ is primarily suited to use as a garden office, but could easily be adapted to anything you choose and it is about 2.9m diameter internally at the widest point x 2.5m to top of dome. I actually find this one to be interesting due to the shape of the pod. It looks futuristic with its back to the future like door entrance and its round windows.
Thinksound offers an eco-friendly alternative to other portable headphones. Go green while you upgrade your lousy pack-in earphones with
Thinksound Rain & Thunder Headphones ($75-$100). Both of these headphones feature a wooden body which it source is from renewable sources and it comes in a recycled, bleach-free packaging with a cotton carrying pouch that's sewn from renewable sources. Thinksound has found their niche that they were looking for in their products by offering eco-friendly products.
The best part of these headphones is that they have great sound quality in two different styles to fit your need. There are currently two Thinksound models to choose from. The Thunder, priced at $75, features a 10mm driver and passive noise cancelation (meaning the speaker cover blocks outside noise from entering the ear canal) with an emphasis on bass. The smaller
Thinksound Rain priced at $100 is supposed to be catered to audio purists who prefer a flat frequency response. Both models are considered IEM (in-ear monitor) canal headphones because they sit inside the ear canal with a snug fit. Typically, models of this design produce better sound because they have a direct shot to your ears without letting outside noise interfere or leak into the soundstage.
If you think that the price is a little steep you can always check out
Amazon. You can find the Rains for $60 on Amazon, and the Thunders for about $45.
I was made a aware of the
Sasquatch! Festival last Friday from a friend and I wanted to check it out and see what it was all about. I was very impressed by what I found and the
lineup for this festival is packed full of great acts. They have bands like Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5, MGMT, Band of Horses and many more talented acts over a 3 day festival. The festival is to begin on May 29th to May 31st in Quincy, WA. So far this year's lineup keeps Sasquatch! in the conversation of must-attend destination festival and makes the Sasquatch! 2010 well worth the price of admission, which is
$170 for a three-day pass or
$70 a day.
Another factor about this festival is how green this festival has become. For the past three years Esurance, the auto insurance provider, has teamed up with Sasquatch! to promote a more sustainable event. By increasing sustainable practices at the Gorge, including an expanded recycling program, eco-friendly signage, and energy-efficient lighting, they are able to reduce the overall carbon footprint at the venue. They even setup a way for folks to
share a ride and minimize the environmental impact on this large event. The three day festival will be 100% wind powered. Additionally, Carbon Harmony will offset 125% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced during the festival at The Gorge Amphitheater. I think that many more large events should use some of the sustainable solutions available to them when putting together their large events. It's rather refreshing to know that you can not only have a blast watching great bands but your also helping out the environment. That's something to feel pretty good about.
I thought this would be a fun little post about some of the most unusual bus stops from around the world. These are some very interesting designs that will make your time spent waiting for the bus a bit more intriguing.
Hammock Bus Stop
Relax while you wait for the bus or just take a quick nap if you want.
Curitiba Bust Stop
This futuristic public transport bus stop is located in Curitiba, Brazil.
Casar de Caceres Bus Stop
This is a minimalist structure that looks like a single sheet of white concrete. It was designed by architect Justo Garcia Rubio and located in Casar de Caceras, Spain. I like this one for it art and structure.
Vitra Bus Stop
Bus stop was designed for the Vitra design museum in Germany
LED Bus Stop
Designed as part of the smart mobilities project, this bus stop was presented in Paris in 2008. Users waiting inside the bus stop could engage via a touch screen interface while pedestrians waiting outside could interact with a 6ft. custom LED display.
I'm a sucker for interesting buildings and architecture and this one has caught my eye. What you are seeing is a real building. A company called Vitra a Swiss furniture manufacturer wanted to jump into the market of home interior and wanted a space for their collection. So they had designer Herzog and de Meuron design an amazing modern building which is comprised of 12 stacked houses. It was created in order to target individual customers with an interest in design. If you think the outside looks beautiful you should see the inside as well. The building is located on the border of Germany and Switzerland, in the town of Weil am Rhein. So if you every visit Germany I would check this out.
