Mountain Light by Timescapes

Tokyo Sundown by Patrick Gosling

Light Painting: Table by Tak Kuroha

And since I feel it would be a wasteful post to bore you the rambling above, hit the jump for some initial impressions of Disney’s Expedition Everest ride (and a video or two).

One reason Disney is especially great because of the way they create a story and immerse guests in the middle of it (more on that to come). One ride we ended up enjoying was Expedition Everest @ Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This video does a pretty good (albeit truncated) job of showing off the progression of the queue line. Essentially the story of Everest begins the moment you see it in the park. The entire journey across the park (more-so in the Asia section where the ride resides) is punctuated with different “story” elements: shrines that mirror the mountain, “supply shops” for backpackers. The queue line itself takes riders through a Tibetan temple/shrine, a yeti museum, etc., all leading up to their arrival at “base camp” where they board the ride vehicle. And that’s just the queue line. In most other parks this would simply be long rows of people fenced in by chain or rope.

And for what it’s worth: a video of the ride itself

My work involves the construction of small-scale meticulously detailed models using various materials and objects to create emotive landscapes. Every aspect from the construction to the lighting of the final model is painstakingly pre-planned using methods which force the viewers perspective when photographed from a specific angle. Using a mixture of photographic techniques such as scale, depth of field, white balance and lighting I am able to drastically alter the appearance of my materials.

Be sure to check out the rest of his work, really impressive stuff.

Anyhow, Linzie’s Spam One-Liners project is just crafty enough to be on the likes of The Little Things We Do, but just designy and hilarious enough for the world of Straw Dog. Linzie is crazy awesome @ illustrative work and hand-lettering. She put that skill to good use with the Spam One-Liners project by taking snappy/outlandish sayings from the spam we all see in our mailboxes and turning each one into a separate work. Everything from “Welcome to the world of the slim people” to “One Day the Tooth Fairy May Save Your Child’s Life.” Be sure to check out the whole collection, and if you really love it buy the book (which contains 30 one-liners as individual postcards).

Fallingwater in Half-Life via Kasperg
This is a video of a map created for the videogame Half-Life 2. The author used the actual floor-plans and over 250 interior and exterior photos of the house to create it. The best part: if you have Half-Life 2 you can nab the mod and experience it yourself.

Building Fallingwater by Owen Shifflett
Owen got his hands on one of the awesome Lego Architecture Fallingwater sets, and then proceeded to build it in stop-motion.

So, we’re going to take a step back in time a couple years, and I’m simply going to provide you a link to this awesome video of an awesome space-saving, transforming apartment designed by Gary Chang. Using tracks, wheels, and other great design elements, he is able to get 24 different room combinations out of his 360 sq. foot apartment.

While you’re checking it out, also view some of the other clips. It’s pretty interesting to see some of the innovative design ideas (ground up vinyl records in flooring!) people come up with while building green homes.

Hit the jump for another design by the same creator, as well as instructions for how to create business cards that double as a flashlight and even dial your phone number.

Awesome. Genius. The business card penny launcher.

Visit Instructables where there’s a how-to for how to build business cards that double as an LED light, and one that can dial your number for someone.

For even more creative business cards, check out these two collections (1, 2) from Creativebits. Everything from salon cards that include hair-pins, to a metal business card that can transform into a model of a designer at a desk.