JUST AN ILLUSION.

Couple of illusions to brighten up your day and make your eyes widen with child-like wonder at how easy it is to fool your puny human brain.

First, come visit the "virtual barbershop" (gotta wear headphones for it to work). So real I came away with a couple of inches taken off my mullet.


Then win big bucks betting your friends that squares A and B are the same shade in the picture above. Check below or use the eyedropper in photoshop...

click this image for larger version, vertical bars show A and B are the same shade

PANIC AT THE SILENT DISCO.

"We are the world... we are the children..." (photo by Darbotz)

Quiet is the new loud. So... wanna party, but sensitive to the sleeping habits of your 80 year old neighbour? Yet again, 707 to the rescue... Think back to the movie Babel and the scene with the hot, deaf Japanese girl in the club, engulfed by silence as everyone dances to Earth Wind and Fire. That IS SILENT DISCO! Well, except that you'll be wearing wireless headphones. And probably aren't deaf. And probably aren't a hot Japanese girl (although if you are, it is very important that you email us your phone number and photo immediately for research purposes).

Anyway, basically it's a club without a sound system. All patrons are given wireless headphones upon entry, and can switch between the various DJ's playing on the fly. To any observers, what you see is a sea of people dancing to different beats with no audible music... Genius.

So, what's it like? Courtesy of our intrepid roving 707 reporter...

"Last Saturday, while some of us were at Embassy Playground, after watching VHS or Beta we decided to go to the Silent Disco and the guys there gave us wireless headphones, and you could choose which DJ's you wanted to listen to (there were 2 DJ's on the spot) playing different types of music...one DJ was playing Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and when you tune in to other DJ, there was that old Junior Senior song...it was so good we even missed Belle and Sebastian DJ set...well you get the idea..."

Wow. Almost like being there. After unanimous rave reviews from friends, if the Silent Disco crew comes your way check 'em out and, ahem, enjoy the silence (yes, an awful pun, based on a depressing song so old it's hardly even relevant any more, but it's late and we're tired).

MACBOOK BLING.

So you're an uber-successful designer and want to show it off as crassly as possible to your equally taste-deprived friends? Have we got the product for you...

Take one Macbook Pro, dip in 24k gold, add a handful of diamonds and... Ta-dah! You've managed to defeat the purpose of a portable computer by making it too heavy for anyone but a 'roid monkey to lug around. But then who are we kidding, rich people don't carry their own laptops anyway. That's why they hire poor people!

Otherwise there are always the lighter options of a gold iPhone or iPod Nano...

SIGNAGE.

Reassuring to know that Indonesian Airport Security is under control.

Couple of signs we took photos of in Jakarta recently.

But feel to bring in guns and drugs.

THINKING OUTSIDE (INSIDE?) THE BOX.

Award-winning concept for a room-in-a-box from CAPSULO. Got a bad feeling it'll be like those bloody wooden cube puzzles where once you take it apart you can never get it back together again. Damn you puzzle, damn you!!!

BEARBRICK x ELEY KISHIMOTO.

ELEY KISHIMOTO have come up with one of our favourite BEARBRICK reworkings in quite a while. Available in red and black colourways.

Also gotta say thanks to Mark Eley for the congrats, kind advice, and giving us a heads up on what might be a more appropriate use of the print for new parents... They've just used it on a special Japan-only limited edition MACLAREN stroller...


{Bearbrick photos from TOYBEAST}

NEW AT 707.

Arrived Sunday night, an as-yet-unnamed son. Suggestion to call him Seven was already shot down by the missus. Maybe time to open "707 Kids"?

NO MORE SHAKIN'.

Saddened to hear that POLAROID has just decided to stop producing its famous instant cameras... May not be the best quality shots around, but we'll miss the retro charm and excitement of waiting for the images to fade in, and the iconic bottom-heavy white border. Somehow hitting the play button on a digital camera just isn't the same...

SKULL-A-DAY.

Tape is dead.

We loved skulls before they were cool, while they were cool, and even now that everyone's mum is happy to wear one on a shirt... The SKULL-A-DAY blog is obviously by someone with the same appreciation. Every day, a new post with a picture of a skull. Perfect breakfast blog reading.

{thanks to Marc for the link}

FEELING BLUE.

Croatian farmers deny the use of harmful chemicals.

Yes, there is a world record for 'most Smurfs gathered together at one time'. No, this group of crazy Croatians didn't get it with their total of 391, which is why they're depressed. Seems that it will go to one of two competing groups of British university students, who, in their vain attempts to prove how eccentric and irreverent they are by appropriating elements of 80's youth culture in an 'ironic' way (but are really only reaffirming their loser status and desperate need for attention), have gathered as many as 1,132 'Smurfs' in one place.

707 does not smurf the smurfiness of this smurfing, and has no plans on smurfing the record, we just want to chill with Smurfette.

{re-imagining of Smurfette by WayneSantos.com}