Nikon & Canon Chess set

This is really a missus of what Nikon Canon intended. But this little advertising stunt by LensRentals is just brilliant probably not the most expensive chess set you could buy but its defiantly up there.

LensRentals stated at the end of their article, "well we figured we might as well plug it in to our rental model and price it: You can rent the Lensrentals Chess set for just $9,221.00 per week."

Pasha Coxhill - Tall Bikes, Wooden Bikes and Bike Wars

 Pasha Coxhill and Co are spearheading a new wave of bicycle enthusiasm in Liverpool.  SHUBs Richard MacDonald interviews this charming gent and discovers some of his brilliant creations.

Q: So who are you?
A: I'm Pasha Coxhill and this is the Number 2 Bike Company.

Q: What were the motivations for the company?
A: I used to work for Cycling Solutions, a company in Liverpool who go into schools to teach kids, ages 9-10, how to ride bicyles on the road. They got a massive gig off the council to get new bikes into deprived areas and they needed a mechanic to sign the bikes off as officallyroadworthy so I got the job doing that. The must have been about 400 bikes, so I learnt a lot about bike maintainance and getting them running.
The hours from that job started dwindling a bit as the funding was being cut and I thought 'Uh Oh, i've gotta get some money' well I knew a bit about bikes and i've got a mate down at the tip and I know Bulky Bob (a company working with councils to recycle and reuse bulky household waste) so I went to Bulky Bob and said “look give me any old bikes, I'll give you a fiver each bike, take them home, do them up and sell them on... just to make some money... to pay the rent, then it went crazy!

Ride with us on tall bikes, wooden bikes and bike jousting, after the jump...

Schleeh Design

These paper structures are the work of Schleeh Design founded by Colin Schleeh and Rachael Schwarz in 2001. Schleeh was born in Montreal in 1955 and is the son of Sculptor Hans Schleeh.

Schleeh Design create a range of limited edition pieces and accessories as well as making these damn interesting note pads.

Niklas Roy: My Little Piece of Privacy

 

Niklas' workshop is located in an old storefront with a big window facing towards the street. In an attempt to create more privacy inside, Niklas decided to install a small but smart curtain.

5 Ton Megatron Sculpture

This sculpture is one dedicated effort from pone Chinese man. Looking like the Bat mobile from hell the whole structure was built from scrap to form a frankly terrifying object. Given time this is what CGI probably will get to and I for one will be disturbed by this. None the less a magnificent effort from one man. Catch more images after the jump, Enjoy.

Film of the Week : Monsters

2010 gave us one of the most subtle and beautiful monster films [if you'll forgive the pun] that have been released in a long time. There has bee a spate of revisiting this genre over the last few years and this film is no exception. It is however a very good exception and should be considered on its own merits. Unfortunately the trailer isn't very good, so if you are really up for watching this film id just avoid the trailer and see the film. As is a trend in modern film the trailer gives a lot of stuff away and doesn't do anything to strengthen the film. Enjoy

Concept Art from Tinfoil

Tinfoil or Daniel Dociu produces digital concept art. Stunning works of both technical genius and visual beauty. Catch Tinfoil's personal statement after the jump. The use of the media and just fantastic imagination of some of these works really does make it all worth at look. After the Jump there are also some more of his images. Just a simply beautiful collection of work.



Tinfoil's statement on his website, www.tinfoilgames.com, states

Cadel Evans Wins the Tour de France

Congratulations to Team BMC and Cadel Evans for a well earned win of the Tour de France. Here a press conference given yesterday by Cadel one day before he officially won the Tour today. Also congratulations to Mark Cavendish on his green jersey win and everyone else who took part in giving us a summer of entertainment. On another note commiserations to Bradley Wiggins we hope you have a speedy recovery.

The Peugeot EX1

The Peugeot EX1, The official Peugeot website states " The project is to create an exceptional vehicle to celebrate Peugeot's 200th anniversary quickly allied itself to another goal: mobilizing itself to all the historic skills devoted to electric motors" visit the Official Peugeot site. On top of looking stunning this car also won a number of awards, check out the video of it in action or click the jump for some more images of the car, Enjoy.

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

Will it measure up? can it? This film has a lot to achieve and allot to follow up, with the recent SpiderMan re-imagination being the undisputed best, and financially profitable, of the Marvel films. Enjoy the trailer I look forward to your opinions.

Interactive Tron Halfpipe

Lets face it Disney did some truly ace advertising for Tron Legacy when it was coming out this is a technique they used in Australia. I've got to say i am convinced.

Film of the Week : Inception

Staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt [3rd Rock from the Sun], 2010 saw one of the most supported Sci-Fi films since the Matrix. A fantastic film ignoring the fact that it panders interly to allot of peoples ego's, i.e. "I know whats going on here". But all of that aside a fantastic film and just worth your time. Defiantly one the best film's of the last few years, not a direct book creation and just intended for the screen. Having both a theoretical and visual brilliance on its side, only time will, and can tell the extent to which this film will stand as a classic.



Also this film included one of Hans Zimmer's best bit of soundtrack, The dream is collapsing, to have a listen catch the jump.

Bill Stone : Deep Sea Exploration, Autonomous Robots & Lunar Mining

Bill Stone on Deep Sea Exploration, autonomous robots and lunar mining. This really is what we need to be doing. Although at this point NASA had not just stopped going to space so forgive some naivety on his part, its just these modern times. Enjoy.

Bugatti Veyron mod

Floats like a butterfly stings like a walrus. I am not in the habit of reading the Daily Mail I really want to make that clear now, I have no news paper affiliation. However this is just wicked. he has taken his Ford Cougar and put one bespoke body kit on it transforming it into the iconic Veyron. Ridiculous but well done sir. To see the original Daily Mail article visit their site HERE and for more remarkable images catch more after the jump.

Tumiki Fighters

If like me you like anything good and free, here's a little game I used to play a few moons ago called Tumiki Fighters. It was developed as freeware by Asahi to get a free download go to their site. This is hugely addictive and just fantastic to play, see if you can get past level 4 without using the button to make everything shrink. This is a challenge set only be Mr David Cotton, we salute you sir.

Film of the Week : Species

Staring Natasha Henstridge, Ben Kingsley and of often a favourite of Quentin Tarantino, Michael Madsen. This 1995 Thriller saw a alien DNA sequence received through the S.E.T.I. program combined with our own to create a child. As you can probably imagine this did not go well.

Without giving away any of the story besides that, please bear in mind a considerable design element of this film came in the form of H.R.Giger, and he didn't use any of the restraint found in Alien. A very strange film, to be taken on its own terms but why oh why is Forest Whitaker's character in this film. I've nothing against Forest Whitaker but his character is just appalling if anything stood out in this film it really shouldn't have been that fact.

A brilliant and fun film, enjoy.

Prezi

Prezi is the zooming presentation editor.  Free for students this great piece of kit allows you to have your presentation on or offline.  The space it allows you to work in is more or less  unlimited, with the ability to easily drop images and videos into a free-flowing presentation.

Ekranoplans & The Caspian Sea Monster

Ground effect vehicles were developed initially in Scandinavia. Using "the ground effect", a physical anomaly, to induce low altitude flight. All of this was done in a relatively fuel efficient manner, certainly comparably against an aeroplane. The effect is caused by vortices of air under the wing of an aircraft which creates almost a cushion for the vehicle to ride along on. Vehicles utilising this phenomenon are referred to as ground effect vehicles.

The soviets developed these machines as troop transports and even in the case of the Lun class Ekranoplan, weapons platforms.



For more images and videos of these marvellous machines read more after the jump.

Micheal Coleman : Transformers 3 sound works

A little look into the fantastic world of Micheal Coleman and Michael Bays, Transformers 3. As far as films go this is nothing new however it does look extraordinary fun to do this. Also it is worth saying that the sounds in all of the transformers films are just fantastic, to see more sound design from Micheal Coleman visit his Vimeo Channel Enjoy

Camille Seaman: Haunting photos of polar ice

Some beautiful and stunning photography from TED, see does open with the statement "As an artist" and see really appreciates icebergs. The best part is right at the end with the motion, Enjoy.

Film of the Week : American Physco

The Beach Boys have never been this disturbing, one of Christian Bale's finest cinema pieces. Also staring 30 Seconds to Mars Jared Leto notably also in Fight Club. The story flaunts disturbingly with concepts of a blend insanity and metro-sexuality. However Ill let you be the judge of the film, a truly brilliant picture and well worth watching, enjoy the trailer.

Assassins Creed Revelations

Assassins Creed Revelations, Given the strength of Assassins Creed 1 & 2 this game should be special. This trailer was released at E3 if you haven’t seen it yet Enjoy.

The Hasselblad H4D-200MS

I recently had the pleasure of getting to play with a H4D-200MS. This camera is just unreal the quality and excellence of the hasselblad range is obvious however the ease of uses and just captureable detail is simply stunning. If you dont know 200 megapixels, 200, its just crazy. This camera is actually a 50MP body with MS (multishot) capability, recording 1, 4 (High Detail 50mp) or 6 shot (200mp) images. For more info or details on the H4D-200MS see Hasselblad's website. Please enjoy these images from the camera, for more images and some info from the Hasselblad website catch more info after the jump.

Transformers 3 Final Trailer

With the release of Transformers 3 If you haven't had a chance to go see the film yet, Enjoy the Final Trailer.

Marco Zamora : Urban Imagery

Marco Zamora creates initially monochromatic imagery through a collage of different sources. These creations are then focused and heightened with the specific introduction of colour. These images are a calculated study of the human condition yet they are striking and beautiful also.



Marco's website states, "Marco Zamora was born and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. In 2004 he graduated from California Institute of the Arts, with a Bachelor of Fine Art. Using the paintbrush and pen to draw, Marco develops imagery about the urban landscape and the people that inhabit it. Producing a richly complex and experimental image, Marco goes into a neighborhood and shoots a spot, recontectualizing and collaging figures to create each paintings identity. City life, his culture, color/scale experimentation, and the working class have influenced his artwork. Splitting his time between painting and apparel design, Marco's recent work can be seen in a variety of Van's ads and collaboration projects as well as galleries up and down the west coast."



To read more about Marco or see other images by him visit www.marcozamora.com, to see some more images here catch the jump, Enjoy.

Amazing Robotic Hand

This is really quite scary as science moves forward and furthers itself all I can truly think about is a Mr Dyson and SkyNet. Check out this video but for me it gets a bit creepy around 2.40, generally its the precision and speed of the thing. Fantastic yet dark science, yet worryingly familiar and similar to a certain film. If we witness "The Rise of the Machines" I called it.