Arita Japan was likely the first place porcelain was found in Japan. Since then, it’s become the center of Japanese Porcelain. They make some amazingly intricate and delicate porcelain. Arita Porcelain Labs turns out some amazing items.
Here’s a movie about their work:
Tokyo Weekender also did an article on the labs and some other porcelain makers in the area.
Sublimotion is a fascinating restaurant experience located in Sant Josep de sa Talaia in Ibiza, Spain. As of 2015, the restaurant is considered the most expensive in the world with an average price of around USD $2,300 per person.
What makes it so expensive? First, it is only open from June 1 until Sept 30 with only 2 seating’s of 12 guests per night – making reservations very exclusive. Second, 2-star Michelin chef Paco Roncero utilizes molecular gastronomy in the 20 course tasting meal. And finally, you get a fully immersive VR/Projection mapped experience with actors, laser light shows, DJ’s, virtual reality experiences, and actors.
Give this a look to see what the experience is like:
This isn’t the first restaurant with similar experiences.
Ultraviolet Restaurant in Shanghai was very similar but slightly more playful/experimental feel. Some have accused Sublimotion of having copied their original concept since there are some clear similarities.
There are also lots of other restaurants and dining experiences adding projection mapping to their menus as well. A few years back, I went to Inamo in London that had projection mapped dining surfaces as well as the ability to pay your bill, order more drinks, and even order a cab from the table.
Belgian artists Filip Sterckx and Antoon Beeck, who work under the collective name Skullmapping, to create the interactive eating experience called Le Petite Chef.
Two pretty cool museums to visit if you are ever in Kent UK.
First the one of the largest private collections of vintage microcomputers in the UK: The Micro Museum in Ramsgate.
This Museum is (Not) Obsolete is right next door and contains TONS of amazing vintage electronics – most of which still works! Working telephone switching hubs, scopes, and lots of crazy modern rebuilds done by Look Mum No Computer.
Besides Omega Mart and Lost Spirits distillery, Area 15 also has some other great displays. Here’s one of the best reviews I’ve found online and helped me figure out which things I’d like to see when I go.
After taking a break during Covid, the unknown group of artists called Anonymouse are back. The group that primarily works in Sweden creates fantastically detailed miniature building fronts they install into the front of existing buildings. They even light up at night. My hope is to see some of them in real life.
Completed in 1972 the Nakagin Capsule Tower was a rare remaining example of Japanese Metabolism (alongside the older Kyoto International Conference Center), an architectural movement emblematic of Japan’s postwar cultural resurgence. It was the world’s first example of capsule architecture ostensibly built for permanent and practical use.
The capsules that make up the main structure of Nakagin Tower were designed to be rotated and replaced every 25 years. However, lack of funds resulted in rotation and replacement of capsules that never took place and ultimately led to a deterioration of the structure.
Inside Japan did a fabulous video that toured the inside of the units and talked with one of the remaining owners.
The building, however, fell into disrepair. Only around thirty of the 140 capsules were still in use as apartments by October 2012, while others were used for storage or office space, or simply abandoned and allowed to deteriorate. There is the additional problem that the structure no longer adheres to modern earthquake standards in quake prone Tokyo.
Now the tower’s time has come and the building is now officially being dismantled. There is one bright spot: the current owners, Tatsuyuki Maeda, explained that a team is trying to preserve some of the capsules and regenerate them as accommodation units and museum installations around the world. Maeda’s statements are based on an announcement by the Kisho Kurokawa Chiyoda-ku Office of Architects and Urban Design that it aims to dismantle the iconic architecture and reuse its capsules as accommodation units and museum installations. Nakagin Capsule Tower A606 Project is extracting and preserving various unique unit components and extracting unit A606 to put on display with all of it’s original equipment.
As a kid, I LOVED catching the latest Knight Rider episode each week. Besides the episodes with KARR, one of my other favorites as a kid was the episode that featured Michael’s evil twin Garth and Goliath: a giant semi with the same protective shell as KITT.
I love visiting locations where my favorite films and TV shows were filmed, and it turns out someone found the filming location for the Goliath episodes. How cool is that?
Want to outsource your work? Consider out-horsing your work instead!
Some clever folks in Iceland created a giant keyboard and let a few of their Icelandic horses play on it.
You can even get them to write your out-of-office email response as well.
Hekla frá Þorkellshóli generated my most recent out of office email for me. High quality!
Major multi-day hikes:
More information and some of them taken from here.
It’s springtime, and that means wildflowers are blooming in the gorge! Knowing when to go and what trails you want to take can be overwhelming. Here’s two good resources.
With the increased popularity of the gorge, you now need permits more than ever before to hike trails and see the flowers. Here’s some links for that: