Last month we blogged about the coolest dad ever, David Laferriere, who for the last 4 years has been drawing on his kids’ lunch bags.  Well David, we found your counterpart.  Meet the coolest mom ever, Nina Levy!

A professional artist by trade, Nina brings a piece of pop-culture to her kids lunch by drawing well known fictional characters that traverses the nerdistsphere onto napkins.  Sci-fi, cartoons, gaming, comics … pick your poison, Nina covers them all!

I usually get requests, although they are sometimes hard to fulfill- “I want Nightwing and Kid Flash blowing up the Brotherhood of Evil while Batman and Superman watch.”

Check out some of my favorite nerd-approved lunch napkins, then head over to Nina’s napkin blog and check out her other work on her website.

Source: Laughing Squid

Deli Garage is a Hamburg based company that loves concocting new, exciting recipes.  One day while tinkering around in the kitchen they thought their food needed a bit more pizzazz.  Enter Food Finish! 

Gilded Treats

Food Finish is food coloring in a spray can.  It turns any humdrum meal into fancy dinner!
It comes in a range of sparkly fun colors:

• Gold
• Silver
• Metallic Blue
• Metallic Red

Gotta get it!

Unfortunately, Food Finish cannot be imported to the US.  Something to do with import laws, aerosol cans, and oh yea…PUBLIC SAFETY!

Actually, Deli Garage only cites import laws, but I have a sneaking suspicion that pesky FDA regulations might have something to do with it as well.

Let’s take a look back at 12 of the favorite posts from 2012! Starting with Last January and working our way to December, this year we had a number of amazing stories on our blog. Did your favorite make the list?

A NEW WAY TO LOSE YOUR WEDDING RING

After searching for her diamond wedding ring Swedish couple Lena and Ola Paahlsson gave up hope. It wash’t until 16 years later that she notice a carrot that had an unusual bit of luster sprouting from within its top. When she pulled the carrot out of the ground she found her white-gold band with seven small diamonds, it was her lost wedding ring! Read more Here

IT’S A BIRD… IT’S A PLANE… IT’S A SKYDIVING DOG!

Meet Otis, the ultimate skydiving dog. This 10 year old pug has joined his master on dozens of skydiving expeditions, of course they go tandem. Otis has been skydiving for 9 years and he, with his owner Will DeSilva, have had over 60 jumps together. Check out the video!

UNBELIEVABLE BACKFLIPS ON A WHEELCHAIR!

Aaron Fotheringham is a world-renowned extreme wheelchair athlete. Fortheringham has Spina Bifida and has used a wheelchair since he was three years old. But Aaron never let anything stop him. He has performed on a fifty-foot ramp-to-ramp jump, doing double backflips. In New Zealand he performed the world’s first wheelchair frontflip! We find his talents and passion pretty unbelievable! See More Here!

WORLD’S BIGGEST BUNNY

Darius is the world’s largest bunny. At only 2 years old he is 49 lbs and stretching to a length of 4 feet, 3 inches from nose to puffy tail! His owner, Annette Edwards, plans to bulk the bunny up another lbs! He has a pretty good diet with 12 carrots a day, and hay, cabbage, apples, and of course rabbit mix. Darius is now on tour all over the world, he is even bringing out a book for children! Check out more cute pictures.

VACCUUM-SEALED LOVE

“Flesh Love”. Tokyo artist Haruhiko Kawaguchi vacuum packs couples in a 100x150x74 cm plastic bag! The idea is to keep love fresh forever…. how, um… romantic? Kawaguchi has the couples get into the bag and after the air is sucked out of the bag by a vacuum cleaner, he has 10-20 seconds to take his pictures. Anything longer could be dangerous. So far 80 couples have participated and the photographs are quite amazing. Here are more unbelievable pictures!

FORE!

How’s your golf game? If you are anything like me, your ball manages to find it’s water to the water every time. This is normally fine, but at the Carbrook Golf Club in Brisbane, Australia it takes on a new meaning to the term “water hazard”. The water on their 15th hole is full of sharks! There are currently six 10-foot bull sharks that call this course home. You better master your land game before you play this course! But first, watch the video

KABANG, THE HERO DOG

Arguably the most heroic story from this year was about Kabang the dog who saved the lives of two girls. Dina, age 9, and Princess, age 3, were crossing a busy street in Zamboanga City, Phillipines their family dog saw a motorcycle barreling down toward them. Kabang leaped in front of the motorcycle and saved the girls! Kabang knocked the motorist off the bike, but her upper snout got caught in the wheel. Thankfully she survived and is currently being treated at UC Davis in California. If you would like to donate to Kabang you can here www.careforkabang.com, and follow her progress at the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital. You can also read more on our blog! Click Here.

FEARLESS SPACE JUMP

Felix Baumgartner successful completed what many would consider the most unbelievable stunt ever. Baumgartner AKA “Fearless Felix” became the world’s first super sonic skydiver. That’s right, He jumped from space! He had a 24 mile free fall, broke the sound barrier, reached 833.9 mph, was the first person to go faster than the speed of sound without the assistant of an aircraft, and had over 8 million people watch live on YouTube! Watch the clip now!

BODY BAKERY

Kittiwat Unarrom creates some pretty gruesome pieces. But don’t worry – these severed body parts are made out of bread! Unarrom is a Thai artist whose family runs a bakers. Even though they look scary, they are pretty tasty to eat! Think of the dinner talk if you served some of these at your next party. More pictures here.

FLOWER POWER

The first Sunday of September in Zundert, Netherlands is the annual Bloemencorso Flower Parade. This spectacular parade has been held every year since 1936. But these aren’t normal floats, these are amazing works of art! Only dahlia flowers are allowed in the parade, which decorate each giant float. It takes hundreds of workers and thousands of flowers to complete each one. More amazing floats here.

HUMAN MOTORCYCLES

Look closely, because this is not your average motorcycle picture. The woman on the motorcycle is body painted head to toe. But that bike she is sitting on, isn’t a bike, it is more people body painted! They used professional yoga instructors to contort into the motorcycles and with the help of Tina Merry, professional Bodypaint Artist, they created some spectacular pieces! Check out the video and more pictures!

THE AMAZING AMBIDEXTROUS SIYUAN

Talk about right brain, left brain! 24-year-old Siyuan Checn from China is not only able to write with both hands simultaneously, she cane write in TWO SEPARATE LANGUAGES AT THE SAME TIME! Wow! When Chen was learning English she found the only was to finish all of her homework in time was to double her efforts! Watch the video to see for yourself!

This year Ripley’s is counting down the 5 weirdest products we have seen relating to thanking and giving.  Hopefully we are not too late and you can score some of these for your family feast!

#5 Thanksgiving Gumballs

Can’t make it to Mom’s for the holidays?  Pop one of these in your mouth and instantly be transported to the Thanksgiving table, sans drunk Uncle Erine and your sister’s boyfriend du jour.

Each tin of this limited edition treat contains all the classic flavors of Thanksgiving – turkey, cranberry and pumpkin pie!  And as their website says: Enthusiastically approved by pilgrims!

#4 Gator Turkey

Herbert’s Specialty Meats takes the idea of the turducken and Cajunfies it!  Take one boneless turkey, add Cajun seasoning, then stuff it with Herbert’s special Alligator Dressing, and you got yourself a finger-licking dinner!

So just what is Alligator Dressing?  The recipe is on their site: onion, bell pepper. Cajun seasoning, tomato sauce, and of course, GATOR!!!  Thanksgiving, just as the pilgrims intended.

#3 Turkey Cake

Although this treat appears to be a delicious carrot cake, don’t let your eyes deceive you!  This cake is actually made with layers of sweet potatoes and turkey.  Add some mashed potato frosting and you have yourself a complete Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. Want the recipe? Click here.

#2 Jello Mold Turkey

Just Google “jello turkey”, and hundreds of images pop up.  Each year completions are held to honor the best in turkey jello molds.  Here are a few of my favs.

#1 Jones Tofurkey & Gravy Soda

This drink is more of a gag gift than anything you would actually want to drink, but each year Jones Soda comes out with a holiday pack sure to not make your mouth water.  The centerpiece of this year’s holiday pack?  Tofurkey & Gravy. Yum!!!

I love Halloween.  I love dressing up.  I love candy.  But what I really, really, really, love are crazy pumpkins!

This year we are counting down the Top Ten most unusual, bizarre, crazy, odd pumpkins you have ever seen!  We had some debate about this list.  I mean, it is a completely subjective countdown.  But we ended up with this final list because, frankly, I’m the writer of this blog so I get the final say!

#10- Pumpkin House

Number 10 isn’t ONE amazing pumpkins, it’s HUNDREDS of amazing pumpkins!  This house surly wins the blue ribbon for most Halloween Spirit!

#9- I’ll have fries with that

This pumpkin makes me want to give up candy for Halloween and chow down on a greasy burger.

#8- Kraang

This is more of a watermelon/pumpkin hybrid that takes me back to middle school when I would race home to catch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after school. Kraang was always so diabolical!

#7 ZipperHead

The detail in this pumpkin is amazing! I have no idea how they managed to carve so much detail, but the zipper looks super realistic, like I could pull it down and cover the guy’s creepy face. 

#6 Zombie Apocalypse

The massive size of this pumpkin makes it impressive.  It stands about 5-feet-tall. The zombies exploding out of the pumpkin transcends more into a horror movie tableau than a simple jack o’ lantern.

#5 Marilyn

The detail of this piece is exquisite.  If I didn’t know it was a pumpkin I would have thought it was a beautiful portrait worthy of hanging in any art gallery.

#4 Shot Through the Head

The movement in this still piece is what impresses me. The funny face helps too.  It looks like the guy is only mildly discomforted buy the pumpkin bullet going straight through his skull.

#3 Heeeeerrrrrrreeeeee’s Johnny!

The Shining is arguably the scariest horror flick ever.  Jack Nicholson’s face etched onto the side of this pumpkin is making me thirsty for a glass of Red Rum!

#2 Death Star

Okay, there are other pumpkins on this list that have more detail and more artful carvings, but COME ON! It’s the Death Star! Show respect for the awesome power of  the moon-sized space station capable of blowing up an entire planet is seconds.

Hey Disney, have you seen this pumpkin?  I bet it’s for sale for a few billion.

#1 Pumpktris

This pumpkin might not look the most complicated, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts.  This pumpkin is a fully working game of Tetris!  The stem acts a the joystick.  The makers of this piece didn’t simply put a game inside the pumpkin.  No sir.  They actually fashioned a game using embedded LED lights, circuit boards, and other hardware. The results are amazing. Check out this link and  awesome video of the Pumpktris at work.

If Halloween had an official bakery, Kittiwat Unarrom’s would be it!  Unarrom creates gruesome depictions of severed body parts using the most unusual medium…BREAD!

Edible Art

Unarrom is a Thai artist whose family runs a bakery.  He used the surroundings he grew up in as inspiration.

“My family is in the bakery business and I learned to bake when I was about 10,” Kittiwat said. “I want to speak out about my religious beliefs and dough can say it all. Baking human parts can show the audience how transient bread, and life, is. Also, my bread is still bread no matter how it looks.”

Would you eat it?

Despite the hideous look to Unarrom’s baked goods, apparently it is quite tasty!  Check out the video at the top of the post.  You can see the customer’s odd reactions, and watch Unarrom at work.

Heck yea I would!

I wouldn’t mind freaking out some dinner guests by serving this mangled bread.  Imagine the pranks you could pull. The possibilities are endless!

These awesome fruit and veggie stills are made by Turkish artist Sakir Gökçebag. Believe It or Not, none of these images have been manipulated or photo edited!

Watermelon Slices

Gökçebag creates these striking patterns using organic produce.  So far he has done a series of apples, peppers, beans, watermelons, and pomegranates.

The one thing I’m wondering though is, WHERE ARE THE PUMPKINS! It’s that time of year! Do they not have Halloween in Turkey?…Oh wait, they don’t.  Never mind.

Ivo Vos is a product and interaction designer, based in London.  His latest line caters towards those who prefer their catering, well, catered to.  Vos’ line, Brunch, is a brunch set specifically designed for those of us who like a little control with our breakfast.

Toaster can be angled to eject toast directly onto your plate

Vos was inspired to create the line after he had interviewed an existential therapist.

 ”Neuroses arise from people believing they lead meaningless lives.  This inspired me to design products that make us aware of the significance of banal activities.”

Brunch allows one to indulge in mundane tasks and precise planning.  Every aspect of this breakfast experience can be plotted, exacted, and consumed in a tailored fashion.

Digital teaspoon and creamer measure

 The Line

So what does this ritualistic breakfast set comprise of?

• A toaster that can be angled to eject toast directly onto a plate
• A teapot with an ultrasonic sensor that measures the distance to the table, and a rotation sensor to detect when the tea is being poured
• Graphed place setting for precise alignment
• Bread slicer to measure the exact thickness of toast
• Teaspoon with a digital scale to measure sugar
• Creamer measure

Cutlery and plates can be aligned exactly

I’ve been waiting for this my whole life

Do you have a touch of neurosis?  Does obsessive-compulsive describe you?  Will this breakfast set make everything in the world seem right in again? TOO BAD!  You’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Vos has built the prototypes -except for the toaster which still needs some engineering- he is just waiting for a manufacturer.  If you are looking for a kickstarter, here is your shot! You can contact Ivo Vos here.

[Source One; Source Two]

Precise bread slicer

Sensor teapot

Oregon brewer, Rogue, has always come up with some pretty inventive ales and names. They are the guys that brought you such quaffs as Dead Guy Ale, Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout, and Santa’s Private Reserve.  However, their latest concoction might be too weird…even for Ripley’s!

MMM Yeasty!

Brewmaster John 'More Hops' Maier

More Hops

Award-winning brewmaster John “More Hops” Maier hasn’t shaved his beard since 1978, so of course that is the obvious place to search for the next tasty strain of yeast.  When lab workers searched through Maier’s tufts of facial hair, they were excited to find a strain of yeast that is perfect for fermenting beer.  Maier says there’s no reason to be grossed out by the product, “Yeast is everywhere!”

Thirsty Yet?

Welll, you will have to wait.  The beard brew is currently still in the testing phase.  The new suds won’t be out till next year.

Statistics:

• 5 assistants
• 12 days
• 397 lbs of coffee
• Over one million beans

Mocha Mural

Kim’s dramatic mural-portrait of a woman s called Awakening.  All of the coffee used to create the work was donated by a Russian coffee company.  The mural spans 30 square meters of Moscow’s Gorky Central Park.

[Source]