finding cain

People wear band shirts for a lot of reason. For some because it looked good on Ryan Gosling or Kendall Jenner, while for others it's because they are genuine fans of the artist and the music. But how much would you be willing to spend for a simple piece of clothing? A few years ago, someone apparently bought the Sonic Youth T-shirt that Kurt Cobain wore during Nirvana's 1994 Munich concert for $25,000. It is one of the highest recorded publicly purchased band shirt to date. If you have one of these tees hanging around in the back of your closet, you could be in the money. But please, do not wear a band shirt if you don't own at least one of their albums or have never seen them perform live. Save yourself from embarrassment. Anyway, here's some music. 

When I first discovered Lucy Glendinning's work through Beautiful Decay a few years ago, I felt like I was looking at something not supposed to be seen. Her creations are intriguingly eerie, faintly disturbing, and fiercely stunning. The British artist from Somerset blends the human figure, poetry, and philosophical questions to produce intricate sculptures that are simultaneously creepy and engrossing to look at. Browsing her website is like venturing into a mix of the familiar and unknown. Some look like scientific specimens, others seem like characters from a horror movie, and others are visualizations of serenity. Lucy studied sculpture at the University of the West of England, Bristol. After college, she apprenticed for Elisabeth Frink, where she learned how to make molds and castings with wax which influenced her work to this day. What the hell was she thinking when she did these?

If you're a fan of the Alien movie franchise or if you have a strong penchant for grotesque surrealism, you might want to check out this show at the Gagosian, New York featuring works by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and Canadian sculptor Mark Prent.  "Depicting subject matter gleaned from the depths of his psychic anxieties, Giger’s stylized sculptures merge writhing, skeletal organisms with elegant metallic features, coalescing in his signature “biomechanical” style. Although Giger was best known for designing the iconic extraterrestrial Xenomorph from Alien (1979), his other works display the full range of his artistic influences, which span from ancient Egyptian statuary to twentieth-century artists such as Salvador Dalí and Francis Bacon. Displaying a mastery of hyperrealistic sculptural techniques, Prent’s uncanny fiberglass and resin sculptures simultaneously shock and enthrall. His art—which has remained fundamentally grounded in the human form since the 1970s—melds

The paintings that immediately catch my attention are the ones that are brimming with color. I first found Qiurui Du when I came across this SinoVision clip . The young artist from China uses vibrant hues and thick lines to portray ordinary people and everyday scenes that he grew up with. Some of his paintings combine pop culture with disturbing objects and terrifying creatures that look as if they belong in an animated horror movie. They're playful, chaotic, and absolutely beautiful. Du graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design. He is based in Beijing and New York, where he is pursuing his Masters in Painting and Drawing at the Pratt Institute. Be sure to follow him on Instagram and check out all that he has to offer.

Balenciaga is known for selling insanely expensive weird stuff. Remember that $1,290 T-Shirt Shirt? How about the leather IKEA tote knockoff which costs over two grand? The European luxury brand is in the business of taking everyday products, throwing their spin on them, and then selling them at ludicrous prices. And, because these truly are the end times we're living in, I present to you the Balenciaga Sofa . This modular, see-through couch is made by interior and furniture designer Harry Nuriev , and will make its debut during Design Miami in December. It's stuffed with old, discarded garments from the fashion house, and the furniture's glossy overlay is made from scrapped transparent vinyl. The design is nothing special. It has been done before. But you have to at least applaud their efforts for giving damaged and unsold clothing another life. This is not the first time Harry has worked with the brand. Last year he created an entire office covered in Balenciaga logos. 

I have just realized that it's less than a month before Christmas and even if I'm an agnostic I like giving and receiving gifts. When it comes to giving, thoughtfulness has much more value than the present itself. But if you don't mind spending a little more, this wall-crawling graffiti robot will do. Warning: It's so cool you'll want to keep it for yourself. Created by MIT professor Carlo Ratti, Scribit was successfully crowdfunded last year and is now available on the market for $499. The vertical plotter can write and draw on practically any smooth surface. Its erasable markers are formulated to vanish with heat, and the device can operate between four color combinations. The accompanying app offers hundreds of illustrations, and can also import and print any .svg file. Two nails, a power plug and an Internet connection. That's all you need to use Scribit.  WATCH:

Stefan Bleekrode 's cityscape drawings have a hypnotic power that invites viewers to look closer. What's even more surprising is that he creates fascinating sketches of famous cities using his memory.  The Dutch artist starts off with a quick pencil sketch on paper. He then adds ink and uses ivory black watercolors for shading. He can finish a small drawing in 30 hours, while large-scale illustrations take him up to half a year to complete.  Most of the ideas Stefan uses for his compositions come from trips abroad, as he often travels around Europe and the United States. However, some of his drawings are imaginary, such as Metropolis at Night (pictured below). Stefan reminds me of Stephen Wiltshire , who is also famous for producing highly detailed scenes after just a brief glance. WATCH:

"We never truly get over a loss, but we can move forward and evolve from it."—Elizabeth Berrien My good friend Amber was into visual arts. She died twenty years ago. If she was alive, she would be a huge fan of Kara Walker , Vanessa Teodoro and Allison Torneros . Men still dominate today's art scene, but a lot of female artists are forcing a change in the way the world sees women in art. In honor of Amber, I made a list of six works by six female contemporary artists (6 was Amber's favorite number) that we would buy if we had a lot of money, or steal if we intended a reenactment of The Thomas Crown Affair. This trippy self portrait by Erina Matsui . Does she take psychedelics? I mean, look at her work. Born in Okayama, Erina often exaggerates and distorts her features. She sometimes becomes an enigmatic figure among planets and stars or a mythical being emerging from a cloud of shrooms. This piece by Eugenia Alcaide . Ginny is an artist from the Phi

Toys from Japan are so hip that they're called art. In this 15-minute video, Carl Kent-Smith shares his massive collection of sofubi, neokaiju, vintage Japanese playthings and other plastic creatures.

Love Porsches but can't afford them? Check out the Porsche Design Ultra One i5 , a laptop that, at $1350, is a lot more affordable than the famous German cars. It has a 15.6 inch, 1080p touchscreen display, a fingerprint sensor, a magnesium case, and speakers co-designed with Harman/Kardon. The notebook features a special hinge block that puts practically all ports of the device at the back in order to hide cables when they are in use. The Ultra One definitely wants to stand out. But will it speed past the race to the checkered flag or end up in a devastating crash? I love the minimalist design. It's thin, lightweight and stylish. Unfortunately, the laptop is powered by an Intel Core i5 8200Y processor, which is designed for low-power computers where energy efficiency is more important than speed. For general purpose computing, the Ultra One is okay. But $1350 is a lot to spend on a notebook with performance that's just 'okay.' With that price I could bu

Leslie Barnes is an award-winning illustrator and animator based in Glasgow whose compositions can fill any space with a breath of fresh air. I can't remember when I discovered Leslie's work. It must have been six or seven years ago. But I do remember my reaction when I first saw her unique, vibrant and eye-catching designs. Although Leslie has always loved drawing, she actually has no formal art training (she has a degree in English Literature). Some of her illustrations are somewhat geometric, and the various patterns and effects that she creates are simply mesmerizing. The best part? You can buy limited edition, signed and numbered pieces in her store at remarkably affordable prices. Leslie has created exclusive product ranges for both the V&A and the Tate Museums in London. Other clients include Clinique, Glamour Magazine, Random House, Puffin Books, Anorak, and OKIDO. She is the author and illustrator of three children's

Jenny Sabin is an American architect, educator, and researcher whose work centers on design and emerging technologies, and bridges the gap between science, art and architecture. Her latest project is called Ada, an astonishing AI-driven structure designed in honor of one of the first computer programmers, Ada Lovelace. It is made of fabric digitally knit with photoluminescent yarn, 895 3D printed nodes, 1,274 fiberglass rods, and weighs about 1,800 pounds. Ada is currently on view at Microsoft's corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington. WATCH: Jenny was awarded the prestigious Architectural League Prize in 2014. Her work has been exhibited internationally including at the FRAC Centre, Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, and as part of Imprimer Le Monde at the Pompidou. [h/t: The AI Blog ]

If you've ever wanted to build and run your own museum, Kitfox Games has created a video game that lets you do just that. Mondo Museum is sort of like RollerCoaster Tycoon, but instead of putting up and managing the amusement park of your dreams, you can construct, administer, and curate a virtual museum from a variety of categories. You can start from scratch, or you can build your own version of The Met. The game is coming to Steam in 2020.

Sitting down with your kids to read a book not only helps you bond with them, but also gives your little ones a sense of well-being. Even babies benefit from the experience of hearing stories. Reading to young children, starting in infancy, can help with language acquisition and literacy skills. Unfortunately, kids with deployed parents spend days and nights without their mom or dad home for a story. To tackle this issue, Google has partnered with Instrument to offer My Storytime —an incredibly convenient way for parents to keep story time alive, no matter where they are. With the app, parents can record themselves reading different chapters of stories, or upload the existing audio files and then play back these recordings on Nest Mini, Nest Hub, and Nest Hub Max devices. This is obviously handy for moms and dads who work night shifts, or travel often for work. My mother used to read bible stories to me. Then I would repeat them to my friends. The story of Lot bothered the hell o

On my way to the cinema to watch Ford v Ferrari I received a message with a photo and a link to a website. 'Three-headed electric toothbrush cleans teeth in less than a minute.' Hehe, I replied. I thought it was a late April Fools' joke. Then I realized it was from the Internet, where the bizarre is normal and the normal is bizarre. So I checked. It is not a joke. The BruBruBrush is a strange-looking triple-head oral care tool that, according to its Kickstarter page , will clean your teeth "super-efficiently, gently and without your attention to the process of brushing." A pledge of $139 will get you one, when and if they reach production. The device cleans twice as fast as a regular toothbrush, the folks over at BruBruBrush claim. It is water resistant and will work fine with a regular toothpaste. The bristles are soft and replaceable, and a single charge is worth 25 minutes of brushing. Here's a video of the BruBruBrush in action