finding cain

The Orée Stylograph is ballpoint pen that can digitally record and store notes and sketches made in a companion notepad. It is made of real copper, and uses fine ballpoint cartridges which can be refilled. It has a high-speed micro camera that tracks pen strokes, while an accelerometer detects its movement and angle. The content stored inside the Stylograph can be transferred to both iOS and Android devices with bluetooth pairing. According to Orée, the pen can be used for up to 42 hours, and it can be recharged via micro USB. You can't buy this yet, and its selling price has not been unveiled. However it will be available for pre-order online and at selected retailers later in September. This is what I want for my birthday. If there's someone out there generous enough, share! [h/t: Northmodern ]

The months leading up to the release of The Force Awakens have been filled with some amazing toys being shown from companies like Lego and Disney, and now we take a look at the upcoming Star Wars samurai figurines from Tamashii Nations .  It's a really cool blend of east meets west. For example, the Royal Guard edition is based on the akazone samurai and comes with both a katana and a huge staff. My favorite is the Ashigaru Sandtrooper, which features matchlock guns, a sword, and a cool backpack. The Ronin Boba Fett is an eye candy, while the Samurai Taisho Vader is quite boring for me. The infamous bounty hunter will hit Japanese stores in November for 9,950 yen (around $82)—but you'll have to wait a little longer for the Royal Guard and Sandtrooper action figures. They're out in March and February of next year, respectively, and will both set you back 8,856 yen (around $73). [h/t: Toybox ]

Trading paint for dust, Scott Wade creates stunning works of art using dirt and mud as his medium. He works as a graphic user interface designer, but his time is increasingly spent producing amazingly detailed images on filthy car windows. The San Antonio-based artist has done a number of commissioned works for major brands and his creations have been featured on various TV shows, fairs, festivals, and corporate events. Scott was exposed to drawing at a very young age, but his career as a dirty car artist began when his vehicle got blocked in at a parking lot. Out of boredom, he pulled out a chewed popsicle stick out of his mouth and started doodling on a grimy windshield. On average he says he spends between an hour and a half and three hours on each drawing. Here, his take on Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Be sure to check out Scott's official website for more.

I call it a good day when I learn about one new female artist who bares her soul on every canvas with brutal honesty. One perfect example is South Korea's Woojung Son. Her online portfolio is filled with colorful paintings and digital illustrations inspired by her dreams and imagination. As a little girl, Woojung was drawn to art as a way to retreat into her own little world. Now, she wants to create stories, communicate with people, and build her own kingdom through her masterpieces.  Perhaps because she's still quite young, Woojung is refreshingly devoid of pretentiousness when explaining her work. "Imagine. Have a dream. Be free," she says of her process. "I've always liked to paint, and I've made my own imaginary space through my work. In my imaginary place, there was no concept of time or space, and everything was free." Woojung usually listens to Alexandre Desplat and loves reading Werber, Tolkien, and Rowling. The DanKook University ...

I love musicals. But a musical about Burning Man? I don't think so. My problem with Burning Man: The Musical is that the songs are badly-written. Admittedly, I watched the first video because I was curious and I expected it to be awful. It tells the story of Joe, a young techie who hopes to become a multimillionaire. I don't know much about him, but he hangs out with Silicon Valley elites, eats psychedelic shrooms, prays to Steve Jobs and dresses like one of the characters from Mad Max . The first video is up on YouTube, but producer Matthew Werner and his crew are still trying to raise $20,000 to produce two more songs from the musical and eventually a full-length spectacle. Here's the best part: For a $5,000 Indiegogo donation you can get your own speaking or singing role in one of the clips. Good Lord!

This is BeachBot . The great thing about this turtle-shaped machine is that it can create large scale sand art. Measuring in at just under two feet long and about 16 inches wide and tall, the adorable robot uses a rake attached to its tail to carve lines with various thicknesses into the sand. It's not perfect yet, but its creators at the Disney Research labs say they're hoping to make it 100 percent automated in the future.

Have you seen the amazing work of Shintaro Ohata? If not, I'm very pleased to introduce to you this extremely talented Japanese. Ohata has a distinct style of placing sculptures in front of paintings, that when viewed directly appear to be a single artwork. The figures are sculpted from polystyrene while the backgrounds are painted on canvas using oil paints. The 40-year-old artist from Hiroshima has to his credit, various solo and group exhibitions, commissioned masterpieces, and several awards. Via his artist statement: "Shintaro Ohata is an artist who depicts little things in everyday life like scenes of a movie and captures all sorts of light in his work with a unique touch: convenience stores at night, city roads on rainy day and fast-food shops at dawn etc. His paintings show us ordinary sceneries as dramas. He is also known for his characteristic style; placing sculptures in front of paintings, and shows them as one work, a combination of 2-D and 3-D world. He say...

My wife's cousin is going to Taiwan on Monday and I told her to check out this cool tiny settlement in Taichung. It's called Rainbow Village, a community built for retired soldiers after World War II, but has become a distinctive tourist attraction, thanks to the transformation brought about by Huang Yung-fu's vibrant murals. The streets and the walls of practically every house in this neighborhood are covered with paintings of colorful figures, from birds and animals to celebrities and cultural minorities. Considering the fact that Huang, who is now 93 years old, began painting only five years ago, his work is pretty impressive. AFP's Laura Mannering has written an interesting piece about the enthusiastic war veteran: "The settlement in the Nantun district of Taichung City once comprised 1,200 homes for veterans and their families.  But as the decades-old accommodation became run-down, developers snapped up the land and residents were offered Tw$2 mil...

I haven't seen it yet, but according to the production notes it's about a photographer who became obsessed with his fear of the future and decided to channel his apprehensions into a photography project. Using DNA tests, fortune tellers, and a prosthetic makeup artist, Phil Toledano puts himself in some situations that frighten him most, including obesity, desolation, stroke, isolation, and death.

Banksy's Dismaland now has a commercial—and it's as gruesome and gloomy as you'd expect.

Every five years hundreds of exotic ships, private boats and modern vessels converge on Amsterdam's waterways for the biggest maritime event in the world. From August 19 to August 23, SAIL Amsterdam 2015 attracted more than two million people. The spectacle, which started in 1975 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Dutch capital, was closely monitored by various port officials to ensure the safety of the vessels and spectators.

More than four decades ago, soul icon Aretha Franklin recorded her third live album Amazing Grace. That LP won a Grammy and went double platinum, becoming not only the best selling live gospel album of all time, but also the biggest seller of Aretha's career. Late filmmaker and producer Sydney Pollack captured the 1972 gig inside Los Angeles' New Temple Missionary Church, where the Memphis-born singer performed for a lively crowd that included Mick Jagger among the fans. Forty-three years after it was shot, the footage has finally been made into a documentary. There is no release date for the film yet, but according to the Los Angeles Times , it is set to be screened at next month's Toronto International Film Festival.

There may be but a small crowd of people who stand at the intersection of love for classical music and interest in virtual reality technology, but if you are one of those folks (and you're visiting LA this fall), then I've got some good news for you. VAN Beethoven is a virtual reality experience using Oculus's 360-degree and 3D technology that allows visitors to experience a private concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from a customized truck, which is complete with authentic carpet and seating from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. For no extra charge, viewers can don an Oculus Rift headset and enjoy part of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in a pretty unique way. The VR experience allows guests not only to see and hear the performance of the orchestra, but also feel the quality of the acoustics within the hall. "Music is a beautiful symbol of unity, and it is very important to share the joy of music with people from all walks of life and from the many differe...

You go to a contemporary art gallery. In one room there's a collection of random paint splatters; in another a canvas scrawled with the words "We are the kids that your parents warned you about" hangs on the wall; in another an artist wants you to ask what the hell that is. "I could have done that" is the usual statement when looking at a piece of contemporary art. Maybe you really could have, but why didn't you? Why did the artist? And why does it have an audience? The Art Assignment delves into the topic by examining the works of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Piet Mondrian, and Cy Twombly, among others.

Does Nicola Samori ever underwhelm? The Italian painter and sculptor caught my attention some two years ago, when I stumbled upon his work on Artsy . Samori creates dark, Baroque-inspired oil paintings by layering and fusing images on canvas, wood or other objects. His work stems from fear, and his process involves "skinning" his painted figures with a palette knife or thinner and painting over the surfaces multiple times to achieve deep-seated results. "Peeling off the faces make it possible for all the neglected parts of a representation to come to light and, as far as I am concerned, they all work even better without any kind of control," Samori explained in a  2012 interview . "I don't know what it is that gives a person their identity, it's such complex matter. I definitely don't think a portrait can eventually give it back because you can always perceive its author behind its eyes; well, maybe others' portraits (even their removal,...

Arne Birkenstock's Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery is a documentary about German painter and convicted fraudster Wolfgang Beltracchi who made millions of euros selling fake art. His forged paintings by artists such as André Derain, Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, and Heinrich Campendonk, among many others, have made their way into museums, galleries, and private collections all over the world. But what makes Beltracchi an exceptional forger is that he didn't copy the paintings of great masters, but created new works which he imagined the artist might have painted or which might have gotten lost.  "For nearly 40 years the charming and effervescent Beltracchi produced hundreds of meticulous works of art, forgeries of early and mid-20th century artists, using old canvases and distressed frames scoured from flea markets and paints whose pigments he ground himself. Amazingly, he didn't reproduce known paintings, but, working in an artist's style, would create entirely...

It isn't really hard to fall in love with the Magic Mountain Lodge – a volcano-shaped hotel hidden away in the center of a private nature reserve in Chile. The guest house is designed using local building materials and labor and all the wood was carefully harvested locally as well. It is accessible only by foot and welcomes visitors with a suspended rope bridge, complete with water coming down from the top of the lodge. Several activities like horseback riding, hiking, ski tours in the winter, and white water rafting are offered to guests to keep them busy during their stay. Visitors can also access the longest zip wire in South America, which run through the grounds at a height of 1,500ft. There's also a bar, a restaurant, and hot tubs made out of ancient, hollowed out tree trunks overlooking the forest. [h/t: Inhabitat ]

I recently discovered the work of Hattie Newman on tumblr and was immediately attracted to her intricate paper-cut designs. The British designer and image maker creates fascinating little cities entirely from paper that carry a sense of wonder and charm. Hattie's originally from Devon, but now lives and works in London after studying illustration in Bristol. She enjoys painting too, but she thinks she haven't completely mastered the skill of it yet. While many of Hattie's creations may be miniatures, she has earned an impressive client base including Cadbury, Sony, Louis Vuitton, Honda, GAP, and  The Guardian. Visit Hattie's  website and Bēhance page to view more of her portfolio.

I can't write at home all the time because I get stir-crazy and I can't keep my two-year-old daughter from disturbing me while I'm in front of my computer. I love having her near me while I'm working, but I have trouble focusing when I'm interrupted or there's a lot of noise in the background. I end up cleaning the house, gardening, watching movies, or reading books, or smoking pot and taking naps. Recently I discovered Museo Orlina , Tagaytay's answer to Baguio's Bencab Museum . Ramon Orlina, a multi-awarded Filipino artist best known for his abstract glass pieces, bought the property in 2012. Though originally meant to be just a vacation house for his family, the sculptor eventually turned the place into a modern, four-level art space. For an entrance fee of P100 (about $2), you can explore the site with a staff member showing you around. The museum features various galleries named after Orlina's children. Level one, dubbed as Naesa, is a space...

I have a special kind of hatred for insurance companies. They control the banking industry. They own the real estate. And when they catch a virus, stock markets fall. However, I find this new ad quite charming. The 90-second spot, titled Tiny Dancer , was made by London-based communications agency Adam & Eve/DDB for John Lewis' home insurance division. Bunny May looks adorable as she dances to Elton John's classic hit. In fact, she's so cute that you could forgive her for wrecking the house. Check out how the ad was made in the behind the scenes video . [h/t: Creativity Online ]

When I was in elementary school, about 25 years ago, a huge globe was one of the most coveted and costly graduation gifts. But in this age of GPS, Google Maps and Google Earth, few clamor over traditional globes anymore, and the art of globe making has fallen by the wayside. In fact only two workshops in the world still make handcrafted globes; one of them is Bellerby & Co. Globemakers , a studio based in London. Founded by Peter Bellerby seven years ago, the idea came about when the former bowling alley boss struggled to find a well crafted globe for his father's 80th birthday present. Faced with a choice between a crappy made globe or a pricey vintage type, he decided to spend some time and money making his own. It turned out to be quite a bit more challenging, time consuming and more expensive than he thought. Eventually, it led to the creation of his own globe-making studio. Now, the 49-year-old and his team of passionate artisans create bespoke globes w...