Iron Man - House/Lab Envy
Wow. Iron Man. I actually fought going to it, since i've been pretty let down as far as superhero movies go lately... but i must admit it exceeded my very low expectations by quite a bit, and i now have a massive case of house/lab envy. Beautiful (fictitious) house in malibu overlooking point dume... tons of windows, insane lab below, beautiful bedroom overlooking the pacific, castiglioni's arco lamp in the living room... and that LAB, with the adorable (in personality) robots, and gorgeous collection of cars (i groaned when they smashed some)... can the next side project for NOTCOT be starting a crazy research lab here overlooking the beach for fun?
Anyhow, just got back, and i can't get that house out of my head ~ video on the next page of a walkthrough of the set, but unfortunately, low res, and it could use a few better shots of the house - see the movie to see it properly? Also interesting to note... gwyneth paltrow in stilettos and pencil skirts *running* away from giant robot on grates, seriously? And product placement galore as well - his need for burger king, and constantly flipping those LG phones... OH and i was drooling over those Audi R8s the whole time too (thanks, nick, for the reminder in the comments).
On interesting PR emails i received today, this one was pretty funny... i have no idea whether this was a contrived spot, it does seem plausible it could have been an accident, but none the less it has that Blair Witch/Cloverfield panicked "attack of the crabs!" feeling to it... and it's a fun friday video (embedded on the next page for your viewing pleasure!)... So what do you think? And does it work? Behind the scenes footage of Discovery Channel shows are definitely fascinating... this one of the Crab accident is from the 
After seeing 
While i'm totally holding out for that intense mini pro-sumer 
There has been much talk of NOTCOT TV... actually scratch that... by *talk* i mean *pressure*. And we're definitely interested, but keep in mine we're 2 people running 4 sites, with help from a tiny handful of part timers who help when they can. If you asked me what i'd be doing now, three years ago, this wouldn't have even been in my realm of possibilities! BUT, that being said, i've been buzzing with ideas, just not the time/resources to pull it off quite yet... and when i saw the new 
ARGH, does anyone else still get the 
Are elephants the new steadycams? Or the new paparazzi? (elephrazzi?) Are spy cam technologies finally being put to good use to capture incredible new nature footage? Does a tree trunk rendition of R2D2 really slip under a tigers radar as it rolls around the jungle floor?
Regardless of whether you did or did not attend TED this year, the 
New from 
"cool it, cool it, man, you're being too literal. What you need is a lesson in abstract thinking... [wow. you are weird]... the funny thing about abstract thinking is you can't get away from it... to get rid of an abstract thought you have to erase it by thinking backwards." I don't know about you, but that makes perfect sense to me. And remind me again, why don't we have more television like old school Sesame Street anymore? If we make a NOTCOT show, i think we really need to head back in this direction. 
On more fun 3am discoveries, Art Director, 
36 year old bhilmers of youtube has created a star wars movie intro channeling his inner Saul Bass, using "Machine" by the Buddy Rich Band off the album Big Swing Face (1967)... and it's pretty sweet for any Saul Bass lovers out there (who's not?). Embedded after the jump!
With the retirement of Fidel Castro - here is a nicely timed campaign for 
NOTCOT Note: I'm excited to introduce you to Jenny Lemieux and Leo Corrales, of 
Also part of the 
As i'm sure most regular NOTCOT readers have noticed ~ my background and those of our few contributors is quite varied, but passion-filled! Justine and i grew up heavily inspired by both design and nature, and as a result i'm here doing NOTCOT, and she's helping out when not busy finishing up her PhD in Animal Behavior and fencing... we grew up surrounded by all types of creatures, so it should be no surprise that we're smitten with 
Can you believe that is layered vinyl stickering? Creating that depth through layering? Such a nice mix of the precision of vector lines cut with a vinyl cutter... yet brought back out from the digital to a physical mixed media piece? I discovered the work of 
First things first ~ i think my favorite thing about running the NOTCOT sites is YOU. Yes, you readers who find and share the most inspiring and incredible things with us whether it is via NOTCOT.org, email, im, etc. I don't lie when i say that thanks to you, i haven't had a day that i wasn't incredibly inspired by something since the sites launched back in 2005. So, thanks for that!
DGTLHYBRD just opened my eyes to the beautiful site (and movie) ~ 
So while dan and i got sidetracked from "real work" researching the insanely bizarre world of Cup Noodles... you already saw the 
I was just checking out 
Guitar + Vox + OhMiBod = Vibrator responding to the sounds of the guitar. Ever have those days where it you're holding two objects and it suddenly *clicks* that they're meant to be put together? Well a box of toys showed up from 