Woouf! Awesome Funky Furnishings
Woouf! rocks. This Barcelona-based company produces sofas, beanbag chairs, pillows, and other such odds and ends of a distinctly lighthearted and often musical or foody nature, as seen above in their wall of Marshall and Vox amp-shaped beanbag seats, or rather, Wooufall and Woouf amps. My personal favorite, however, is this:
The Miniwoouf sofa, a full-sized sofa modeled in painstaking detail after the legendary Minimoog synthesizer, one of the first portable synthesizers ever and a true revolutionary product. A badass instrument and a badass sofa.
I also like their ghetto blaster beanbag seat:
They also have stuff modeled after the Walkman, burgers, ice cream, and Skittles, or as they call them, Wooufies.
On top of this explosion of retro-chic awesomeness, everything is made entirely in Barcelona, versus, say, Shenzhen. I daresay Woouf! balls harder. Check out their site.
Georgia About is a fantastic blog about all things Georgian, I highly recommend it. This post about Svaneti is awesome!
Svaneti (Georgian: სვანეთი) is situated on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains in the northwestern part of Georgia. It is the highest inhabited part of the Caucasus.
The characteristic landscape of Upper Svaneti is formed by small villages situated on the mountain slopes, with a natural environment of gorges and alpine valleys and a backdrop of snow-covered mountains.
Svaneti is known for its wonderful scenery and its architectural treasures, including dozens of churches and the famous Svanetian towers erected mainly in the 9th-12th centuries.
The towers were built as protection against invaders and raiders. For many centuries the Svans (Georgian: სვანი) have been in contact with the northern Caucasian tribes on the other side of the mountains and with the Ossetians to the east. Though trading took place, these relations were often hostile, with raiding parties from one or the other group attempting to seize the other’s property.
The towers also protected families during the blood-feuds…
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Great Ballers of Music: Tinariwen
The band you see above, founded by political exiles in 1979 in the heart of the Sahara, started playing on homemade instruments, fought in Mu’ammar Gadhafi’s guerilla army, slowly built up an international following making few concessions to outside audiences, and just recently won a Grammy. Actually, it’s hard to imagine any greater ballers of music than this legendary, long-running outfit, whose name simply means “Deserts” in the Tuareg language. (more…)
Georgian Wine at its Best: Pheasant’s Tears
I’ve said Georgia is the place for wine. The oldest evidence for wine-making has been found in Georgia, dating back to 8000 years ago, and wine has been in steady production there since then. Even their indigenous word for wine, ghvino, is thought to have influenced Indo-European languages – vinum (Latin), oinos (Greek), and, of course, vino (Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc). As of 6000 years ago, the people now called Georgians essentially created the method of winemaking that remains in use today. For those Georgians who make wine at home, they follow roughly the same procedure. Almost all commercial wine, however, has begun to be made using Western European methods, in an effort to appeal to a global palate. Appealing they are, some even excellent. Pheasant’s Tears has stuck to the ways of their distant ancestors, and their wines are nothing short of amazing.
Georgia: Suggestions and Such (Part 2)
So I’ve told you where to go and what to see, how about some more practical information? Transportation, costs, accommodations, food and drink…How to make the most of your time and money once you’re there.
Transportation: For far-flung trips to Kazbegi or Kakheti, or even further, it can be useful to rent a car – without doing so, getting to Davit Gareji would have been a huge pain in the ass, and all these stops after the jump, going to and from Kazbegi, would have been unlikely if not impossible without hiring a taxi at an exorbitant fee: (more…)
Georgia: Suggestions and Such (Part 1)
Yes, Jvari is worth the short uphill climb from where the taxi lets you off
So you’ve decided that Georgia looks beautiful, the people sound lovely, and the food delicious. Right you are! Now you want to visit. Hurrah! Tourism is a quickly growing sector of the economy, and as I’ve said before, it’s definitely worth it.
Now then, you may ask : “where and when should I go, what is there to see, how do I get around, and what does it cost? And I have other questions too!” Today we focus on the where…obviously it’s biased towards where I went in the limited time I had, but having done my research, as a hard baller should, I determined that the following would be the highlights of the country, and I was right.
Hidden Gem: Introducing Georgia
Hidden from whom, you may ask? Certainly for anyone with any background in the Eastern bloc, the Republic of Georgia is no secret; ask any Russian about khachapuri and expect drooling. But for the majority of us here in the West, the Middle East, or Asia, Georgia and the Caucasus in general remain largely unknown. At only 4 million people, it’s smaller than just the capital of American Georgia, and often the latter is what pops into people’s heads when they hear the unqualified name. At least Wikipedia takes you to a disambiguation page…
But I want to change that. Georgia is a lovely, remarkable country, with an ancient and distinctive history and culture, some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve set eyes on, and people that give even Arabs a run for the money in the hospitality department. Let’s not forget that the food and wine are brilliant and plentiful, too. (more…)
Holy Shit! The Light Cycle
Hammacher Schlemmer may be cheesy as all hell and otherwise never get a mention on WBH but LOOK AT THIS:
Yes, it’s basically the Tron motorcycle, and it is in fact a real motorbike that you can ride and buy for, gasp, $55,000. It may be insane to spend that on a bike, but really only one word can describe it: SIIIIIIICK!
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=11862 (click to see a video)
Glimpses of Georgia
Gergeti Trinity Church
No, not where Outkast is from. The country, in the Caucasus. The Republic of Georgia, Sakartvelo. One of the most lovely places I’ve ever been, where at almost every head turn something gorgeous and unexpected pops into view, where the people shatter your notions of hospitality with their unending kindness and warmth, and where the food and wine are so good that “moderation” ceases to be in your vocabulary. Here are some photos for the time being:
BMW Steps up to the 4 Door Coupé, and God Damn.
Quick, can you name the current crop of luxury/performance sleek, swept-back, “4 door coupés,” as the industry likes to call them? They’ve been on the market for several years now:
- Mercedes CLS (the first, debuting around 2004)
- Aston Martin Rapide (the one to get on a truly unlimited budget)
- Porsche Panamera (ugly and atrocious, and blasphemy to the Porsche name, but then they have the Cayenne and Cayman to deal with so Porsche really is in over its head…)
- Audi Q7 (lovely and recently winning all sorts of accolades)
- VW Passat CC (Yes, even Volkswagen has got in on it, even if they don’t really run with the players mentioned above)
What’s conspicuously missing? The Bavarians! It’s been along time in the making, but it’s finally here, the 2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, and boy do they have a knockout.
We Ball Harder 