Just Stay at Home

Back from the long weekend and... Woo boy. Today is turning out to be one of the biggest days in a long time as far as DC Comics goes.

I'm sure a lot of people are going to have a lot to say about the immense reboot that DC seems to be undertaken. I'm not going to be one of those people, at least not today. There's too much to process and too little real information for me to be able to say what I feel about this right now.

All I know is that I'm going to be sad losing the history built up in the high numbering on Action and Detective. But that's a cosmetic thing, and doesn't really mean much in the long wrong.

Also cosmetic -- but potentially more worrying -- are the new Jim Lee costume designs. I've never been a big fan of his costume designs and I'm particularly wary about the new look of Superman. It just doesn't feel right.

But that's cosmetic, as I've said. And I'm sure people felt that the current Superman costume -- a far cry from the original 1938 version in a lot of ways -- didn't feel "right" either. Change is sometimes necessary. We'll see if this change works... And sticks.

Designer and artist Idan Friedman of Israel's Reddish Studio has created a series of portraits embossed on aluminum foil pans. All the people featured in "Ordinary People and Disposable Objects" are part of his everyday life, ranging from close friends to passers-by.







As viewed when exhibited:



all images courtesy of the artist

Special thanks to Annals of America for bringing these to my attention

Reddish Studio

A-Z cartoon alphabet letters with each letter to form words. Suitable for children learning media.

In November 2009 I introduced you to a dollhouse design by Minimii that was a miniature reproduction of Arne Jacobsen's actual home in Charlottenlund. The post also compared the dollhouse to the original home of the famous designer.



above: the inspiration for the dollhouse, the real home designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1928

Finally, the modern dollhouse is now available for purchase.

The MiiBox
Another version, the MiiBox, that is a smaller, wall-mounted version of the dollhouse suited to both adults and children and can be used for display as well as interactive play.

above: the new Miibox is a smaller, wall-mountable version of the dollhouse

The official press release:
GET YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT DOOR OF MINIMIIS ARNE JACOBSEN MINIATURE- AND DOLL-HOUSE

MAY 26TH 2011
Many people have patiently been waiting and finally it’s ready for new inhabitants. You now have the possibility to furnish your personal and handmade copy of Minimiis miniature house with all refinements; a true copy of Arne Jacobsens villa in Charlottenlund built in 1929.



The Miniature house is suitable as a design icon for exhibition as well as a beautiful miniature- and dollhouse in your home. Arne Jacobsens sense for thorough and user friendly design is executed in scale 1:16 (3/4”) with few adjustments, which only makes the house more accessible and play friendly. An attractive and unique miniature house that encourage fascination with the detail, play and fantasy for both children and adults.




The first 300 customers who order either the Arne Jacobsen house or the MiiBoxen™ achieve special and fun features which only makes the house even more personal.

The MiiBox™
The MiiBox™ is a wall hanging Arne Jacobsen miniature house, also in scale 1:16. The MiiBox™ is an inno-vative design object for the living room, kitchen, bathroom or nursery. Use the MiiBox™ like a little dollhouse the whole family can play with and decorate, or use it to store any of your other small treasured things.


The MiiBox™ is made in the same quality as the miniature house, but is half as large. The facade is hinged enabling you to open it downwards 180° while decorating the MiiBox™.

VIP Package For The First Customers
The first 300 orders for either the Arne Jacobsen miniature house or the MiiBox™ will as an extra feature be numbered and with possibility to add the new inhabitants personal characters. The first houses and MiiBoxes™ will be made to order and can only be preordered through the Minimii online shop. We engrave your personal nameplate for the front door as well as your personal and Official certificate. Both elements ex-ecuted in brass matching the doorknob. In the Minimii online shop you will be asked to fill in the needed data for your name plates; your name, or the name of the person you wish to give the Arne Jacobsen house to.


above: rug and wallpapers for the dollhouse are available, too

Your made to order Arne Jacobsen house or MiiBox™ shall not be empty when you get it. Therefore the first lucky customers gets, included in the price, Arne Jacobsen furniture and accessories consisting of the Egg™, the Swan™, the Series 7™ as well as wallpaper and a rug with patterns from Arne Jacobsens beauti-ful aquarelle drawings. The furniture and accessory package represents a total value of € 155, - .


Play For All Ages
Minimii´s mission is to produce and market miniature- and dollhouses and MiiBoxes™ with furniture and ac-cessories in a high quality designed by international acknowledged architects and designers. Minimii wants to bring the world beautifully designed quality toys for children and adults, and to disseminate the knowledge to good design in a yet unseen and accessible manner.



Minimii produces play friendly miniature- and dollhouses, furniture, art and decor, which are true small copies of real full size solutions. Houses where real people live, who inspire to play, and preferably with an interesting architecture. With the stylish, functional and timeless design – in mini size – children’s fantasy can run wild, also with mom and dad, who let the play take place in the middle of the living room, with the Arne Jacobsen House’s beautiful toy universe and completed details.

About Minimii
The idea behind Minimii is Linda Stenberg’s. With her sense and interest for design and quality combined with a life as busy mother of three she got the idea back in 2009. Linda was hunting for a dollhouse for her two oldest daughters and she found only old Victorian styled dollhouses furnished like her grandmother’s house with terrible old brown chairs. She then got turned on by the idea of creating a Danish modern quality doll-house, which both she and her daughters found attractive.

Linda runs Minimii ApS with business partner Claus Højer Hansen, who is managing director for the company.

Order The MiiBoxen or MiiBox dollhouses here.

For the past few years, I've been doing round ups of nicely designed modern outdoor gas, wood and coal burning grills and barbeques. Given that it's Memorial Day, I figured it'd be the perfect time to introduce you to a few additions since my top 25 grills for design lovers post last year. The trend now seems turning toward bold and bright colors and Green -as in eco-, in particular. Take a look at these ten new additions to my previous twenty-five.

The Puuur By Barbecook:




A stainless steel barbeque grill with an innovative reflector shield that reflects the charcoal heat back into the ceramic bowl. Easy to light and to clean, the modern design is available in three standard colors or any custom color of your choice.


Learn more here

Bob Grillson Wood Pellet BBQ:





The Wood Pellet Grill from Bob Grillson unites the legendary barbecue taste of barbecuing over real wood with the comfort of a gas grill. Clean wooden pellets offer a safe energy source for the "Green" BBQ.


learn more here

Walzer BBQ from MOM Design:


The Walzer freestanding BBQ grill is available in all stainless steel or powder coated in your choice of RAL colors. The BBQ Walzer grill is fitted with (polypropylene) rollers, which allows it to be moved easily across uneven surfaces.



Learn more here

The Kinzo Grill and table:



The Kinzo Grill from BetonWare combines a cement and wood slat table with a stainless steel grill.



Learn more here.

The Plancha from Calanc


Designed by Christophe Calanca for Calanc, the wood and stainless steel grill is on casters for easy mobility and is automatic gas ignited.


Learn more here

Fire & Steel's sculptural grills:


The Scorpio, the Tripod and the Circle are designer grills from Fire & Steel. Created to appear like large sculptures that contain grills and baskets and have large pulley systems. They are very expensive, but certainly, very unusual.



Learn more here.

Focus Mikado
Focus, the french manufacturer known for their modern fireplaces and the small wall mounted barbeque listed in my previous post on modern outdoor grills has designed the Mikado, an outdoor Firepit that doubles as a grill:

Learn more here

An Eco-friendly BBQ, the Safretti Olympiq



The philosophy behind the design of the OlympiQ revolves around the combination of maximum user-friendliness and an aesthetically pleasing appearance. The result is a high-quality, modern design that makes reference to the famous Olympic torch. The OlympiQ is built around the Philips “Woodstove”, a high efficiency wood burn (Philips) technology, originally intended for rural populations in India and Africa. It can be a wok, a grill or an outdoor fireplace.



Learn more here

Don't forget these posts:
Top 25 Modern Grills For Design Lovers


If you're looking for fabulous modern fire pits that can double as outdoor grills, don't forget these great looking ones by AK47:


Happy Memorial Day!