If you think there’s not much you can do with the bland look of white porcelain, the cooler-than-us people at Hu2 Design have come up with something affordable, impermanent and way, way out there. Their “Smart Vinyl Laboratory” features vinyl stickers can be applied to any smooth surface…like this one! And renters, note, they are completely removable.
A bargain at £20, given the huge amount of attention you can expect to get from any guests who may use your facilities!
http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpg00Gayle Leonardhttp://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpgGayle Leonard2009-10-06 07:00:472009-10-15 08:22:58All the Hip Toilets are Wearing These
Is today’s tidal wave of plastics rooted in the actions of centuries past? Ellen Driscoll’s installation FASTFORWARDFOSSIL: Part 2 (at Brooklyn, NY Smack Mellon/Dumbo Arts Center) is composed of 2600 discarded #2 plastic bottles she has painstakingly cut up and reformed as a ghostly, translucent landscape. The installation was conceived to provoke a critical look at the environmental and human damage inflicted by the oil and water industries in the last two centuries on regions as diverse as Nigeria and the United States.
According to Driscoll,
This installation is a continuation of a multi-year series which explores the dynamics of resource harvesting and consumption. This part of the series focuses on oil and water. Rising at 5:30 AM, I harvest #2 plastic bottles from the recycling bags put out for collection on the streets of Brooklyn. For one hour, one day at a time, I immerse myself in the tidal wave of plastic that engulfs us by collecting as many bottles as I can carry.
A nineteenth century trestle bridge plays host to an eighteenth century water-powered mill which spills a twenty-first century flood from its structure. The flow contains North American, Middle Eastern, and African landmasses buoyed by a sea of plastic water molecules.
“The Very Best” is East African (Malawi) singer Esau Mwamwaya and producer duo Radioclit (Johan Hugo and DJ Tron/DJ Shark Attack). The track Rain Dance, featuring hit-making heavyweight M.I.A., is from their brand-new album The Heart of Africa.
A great collaboration, too, since M.I.A. (from Sri Lanka) is noted for tribal-ethnic beats and dance-driving repetition.
Much of Mwamwaya’s vocals in Rain Dance are in Chichewa, the language of Malawi. Love that rain-stick intro!
Esau Mwamwaya was born in Mzuzu in Malawi, East Africa. He grew up in the capital, Lilongwe, where he played drums in various bands such as Masaka Band. He was a good friend of the legendary Evison Matafale and they played together for several years before he was killed in Malawi police custody in 2003.
In 1999 Esau Mwamwaya moved to London, England ran a second-hand furniture shop in Clapton, East London until setpember 2008 when he returned to Malawi.
Esau’s shop was on the same street as Radioclit’s old studio, and after the Radioclit boy’s bought a bike from Esau they invited him to one of their house warming parties They made friends and started working on music together. Three years later and the project has gotten it’s name The Very Best.
Play the track
[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/very-best-rain-dance-w_-mia.mp3]
http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpg00Gayle Leonardhttp://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpgGayle Leonard2009-10-02 17:36:322009-10-15 08:21:44h2o mp3: Rain Dance – The Very Best (with M.I.A.)
Numptee is the charmingly clueless character starring in Yorkshire (UK) Water’s new public education campaign, “Bin it, don’t flush it.”
You can’t help but smile at his silly antics though they spotlight a serious problem: sewer blockages and flooding, half of which are caused by Numptee and his buds putting inappropriate items down the drain. From campaign headquarters at yorkshirewater.com,
Numptee, did you just put that cooking fat down the sink?
Yorkshire’s sewers are being abused and it’s causing all kinds of problems. You wouldn’t believe some of the things we find down the sewer – nappies, false teeth, fat, Christmas trees and even a Spacehopper! As funny as that sounds, all of these things can cause the sewer to stop working and this can lead to flooding.
Hmmm, are we talking about you? You might be a “Numptee” if:
you’re one of the 40% of people who dump fats, oils and grease down the sink
you’re among the 25% who think it’s OK to put items like cotton buds, nappies or sanitary products down the toilet.
Now, Numptee’s handlers at Yorkshire Water aren’t idiots so naturally the campaign is multi-media and backed by numerous social-media channels. You can follow the red-lipped phenom on Twitter (@MrNumptee) because…
By following Mr Numptee on twitter you’ll be able to see if we are dishing the dirt in your neighbourhood and take a sneaky peak at some of the unusual things that block up our sewers – yes that’s right we really do find strange things down there including one particular problem with knickers!!!
Where's Numptee Jr.'s dirty nappie headed?
If you’re like me, you don’t want to miss a single episode on Yorkshire Water’s YouTube channel. Contest-entering types can give their creative interpretations of exactly what kind of creature Numptee is (see the WIN tab) with top entries receiving cinema tickets, where…that’s right, Numptee trailers will be playing!
I found a lot of interesting information on the campaign’s web pages, including a neat tip to make “Bird Cakes” out of waste fats (the recipe is here.)
Numptee? Bin there, done that. You: don’t do it.
*Britspeak Glossary for Americans!
Bin: Trash can Cotton Buds: Q-tips or cotton swabs Knickers: underwear Nappie: Diaper Numptee: Dolt, or idiot Spacehopper: Child’s sit-on bouncing toy
http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpg00Gayle Leonardhttp://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/tis-2015-header1-433x80-300x55.jpgGayle Leonard2009-10-01 18:57:542009-10-09 18:42:06Are you a Numptee?
