Cool Hunting
| 03 May 2006view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Maine Bites
by Ami Kealoha
My first stop was for a "Maine Quarter Pounder" at Bayley's Lobster Pound where one of the world's first lobster rolls was created and today is the home of biggest (and tastiest) lobster roll I've come across in the U.S. Since 1915 when Ella Bayley began selling the leftover lobsters her husband had caught to feed her and their four sons out her kitchen window, the family has sold over 30 million pounds of lobster! (See her and Steve pictured, below left.) For around $7 (prices fluctuate) I got about a quarter pound of fresh, heavenly lobster meat, mixed with a touch of mayonnaise, and heaped onto a simple hot dog roll. Bayley's also ships live lobster and other specials throughout the US via FedEx packed with seaweed to survive up to 36 hours. Starting around $80 from Bayley's.
Next I headed to the Old Orchard Beach Pier, honky tonk capitol of Maine and home of The Original Pier Fries (pictured below left). Their heaping box of hand crinkle-cut fries, doused them with the recommended combination of white vinegar and salt, are some of the finest fries imaginable.
Going through the squeaky screen door of the Harbor Fish Market, surrounded by buckets of fresh local Damariscotta Oysters, Little Neck Clams, iced bins of Flounder, Haddock, Monkfish, and Swordfish— not to mention a full wall of green tanks housing live Down East lobsters—felt like a time capsule of old New England. Their impressive smoked fish department often carries Finnan Haddie, a smoked haddock fillet that is almost impossible to find outside of the UK or Nova Scotia. Call 1-(800)-370-1790 (ext. 3) 48 hours before you want your order shipped anywhere in the U.S.
Perched atop the rocky entrance to Portland Harbor between two historic light houses is the Lobster Shack Restaurant. Famous for delicious fried clams, seafood, and one of the most stunning outdoor eating areas (intermittently sprinkled with drops of sea spray from the nearby crashing surf), they are also home to one of the best Maine Whoopy Pies. Spelled Whoopie in Pennsylvania (the other location it was supposedly developed), the Lobster Shack's pie filling is made of a rich near-butter whipped cream surrounded by moist chocolate cake-like disks.
Contributed by Edwin Cahill
Nokia 8800 Black
by Josh Rubin
I've always loved the Nokia sliders, and was rather impressed with the stainless steel, spring loaded, uber-lux 8800 when it first came out last year. Now they've released an updated, super sexy all black version, distributed exclusively by Nokia UK. Apparently quantities are limited, but I'm not sure how much so.
£799 direct from Nokia (via Shiny Shiny)
The GIF Show
by Ami Kealoha
The GIF show at Rx Gallery in San Francisco elevates an art form more disposable and as ubiquitous as the doodle. Filled with videos, prints, readymades, sculptures, and animations executed in the same medium as those infuriating porn banners, the GIF show opens tonight, 3 May 2006, and runs through 9 June 2006, exploring the aesthetic texture and "broader social life" of graphic interchange format (or GIFs) in recent years.
Participating artists all have some fascination with the visual overload of personal Geocities-type websites—which now outnumber the population of China and India combined. Paul Slocum transforms circuit boards into something recalling Joseph Cornell’s boxes, Jim Punk makes disconcerting collage GIF animations, and Olia Lialin's work simply throw the mind off kilter. Cory Arcangel, one of the bigger names in the exhibition (who is also set to release "8-bit", a full-length documentary about the global influence of video games later this year), shows breadth and variation in his work (pictured), adding context to the exhibit without overpowering other pieces.
For another piece by Arcangel and more info, go after the jump.
Contributed by Kristopher Irizarry
iDiamond Earphones
by SummerSeventySix
As if wearing white iPod earphones wasn't enough to make you attractive to a mugger, Italian company Mac@Work has decided to add white gold and diamonds. The iDiamonds, as they're called, come with the gems delicately arranged as a heart, star, moon or lightning strike on buds coated in precious metal. The price of these blingphones starts at 660€.
via Sybarites.org
