On one of our evenings in Bali a few weeks ago, we thought it was time to treat ourselves to something truly special (okay, every night felt special), and after reading many reviews about the über famous Ku De Ta restaurant in Seminyak, we went for the crown jewel. Only seconds after opening the menu, the prices were a bit of a shock, coming from a place where you can eat delicious fresh fish for only a few dollars; seeing a $35 entree was hard to stomach, but the service, atmosphere and overall experience made up for it in spades. Tables were set around the outside of an enormous reflecting pool with a DJ set right at the edge. Soft red umbrellas were scattered along the catwalk above the beach — an incredible and idyllic place to share a drink at sunset. The scene was littered with the rich and pretty looking tourists (or rich locals, which there are very few) from Asia and Australia. The eclectic mix of local Indonesian food infused with French and Italian elements were elegantly presented and deliciously cooked by New Zealander, Chef Philip Davenport — who at this point is a local celebrity (and not to mention, probably very rich man). All said, Ku De Ta is definitely worth it for a special occasion — but not a deal you should be hunting for in Bali by any stretch of the imagination. If I could have done it any differently, I would have just gone for the environment, the drinks, and the view.

Some of you may be familiar with the work of Damien Hirst, as well as the ones which also mock him. This week, though, saw a submission through our Design Showcase which while similar, is neither: A Very Hungry God, the 2200+ pound skull crafted of pots and pans by Subodh Gupta, currently floating on a Venice’s Grand Canal in front of the Palazzo Grazzi. The piece was designed as a commentary about Parisian soup kitchens using pork in dishes, which is not allowed in Muslim diets. Très intéressant, indeed.

Thanks to the folks at eternallycool for their submission, which has scored them one of Belkin’s awesome new Mousetraps. You have something that should be featured here? Join us and Kohler over at the Design Showcase, submit your finds and you, too, could be scoring some sweet schwag.

The world has moved on from film, right? Digital is the way of the future, instant gratification in an instant world, blah blah blah. Not so much. Love them or hate them, and most people feel strongly one way or the other, Urban Outfitters has teamed up with the Lomographic Society to bring us Who The Hell Are You?, an International Photo Competition.

Between now and the end of August, their Jury will select 30 of the most personal, rebellious, brash, and out-there photos each week. The winners will receive a Lomographic camera and, at the end of the month, the Jury will select a single winner to be flow to London for the Lomography World Congress 2007. Additionally, The winning images (and more) will be posted on Lomography walls at 7 Urban Outfitters stores around the world.

I think this may be the kick that I’ve needed to get off my digital ass and finally pick up a Holga for a whopping $25. Get clickin’!

When you stop and think about it, sporting events don’t exactly fall into the realm of sustainable efforts. Most sporting events use massive amounts of electricity, bring large numbers of people (and their cars) to a sometimes far away stadium, and then proceed to sell everything under the sun in disposable containers. Or, if individual sports like running or mulitsport are more your thing, athletes come from all over the country and you still run into the issues of disposable race materials and crowds overusing an environment for a weekend or so.

There’s a Boulder-based organization that’s trying to change all of that, though. The Tri Sustainability Initiative, an offshoot of Boulder-based multisport event planning company 5430 Sports, was created with the sole purpose of bringing sustainable practices to an area where they’ve been sorely lacking: sports. Through the Tri Sustainability Initiative, 5430 Sports has already planned and executed a series of triathlons utilizing a zero waste and carbon neutral plan of sustainable practices.

5430 Sports has partnered with other organizations such as Start Global Cooling, an effort from Clif Bar, to sell Cool Tags. Each $2 cool tag from NativeEnergy keeps approximately 300lbs. of CO2 out of the atmosphere. They’ve also partnered with Eco-Cycle, Eco-Products, and Whole Foods Markets to make their race practices as environmentally friendly as possible.

By their estimate, the Tri Sustainability Initiative has already saved 3.15 tons of carbon dioxide emissions through their event practices and they’ve sold enough Cool Tags to offset more than 28,000 miles of driving. Now, if they could just get the NY Marathon planning committee to follow suit…

Talented Aussie designer Damien Aistrope has done it again with 2×4, a new line of seasonal, limited edition t-shirts. Currently in its first release, 2×4 works around the concept of four artists/designers creating two tees each, then releasing 200 of each of the eight resulting designs (2×4… get it?). Barely in to its first season, 2×4 can already count names like Emil Kozak, Adam Cruickshank, Jeff Canham, and Noah Butkus as collaborators, aong with Damien’s own influence in the design world, I’m sure that the line-up will be packed thick with role models as the years continue. Aside from the fact that one of these would make a very nice gift for yourself, I’d imagine the combination of scarcity/visual delectability would make a very nice gift for a design-freak friend, so head over and check out the goods!

For some reason — maybe just because they’re nice — the kids at Vinyl Pulse and Super Rad Toys have decided to team up to give one lucky person a whole basket-full of super-collectible vinyl. Though you’d think you’d have to sell your soul to Satan (or at least post something incriminating on youtube) for a chance at a Plasticgod Gosho, Yellow Dalek Gosho, a Traditional Gosho, a Blank DIY Gosho, and Mister Cartoon Green Lost Angel (yeah, all at once), all you really have to do is leave a comment on their bloggy thing. It doesn’t even have to be a witty comment- you could probably write what today’s date is, and it would still put you in the running. Those toy people… I bet they were too busy staging a Gosho vs. Lost Angel battle to set up a real contest. Well, whatever, this looks like a win/win to me, and you’ve got until Monday to go make that winning comment.

You know how every time you stop by a friend’s place, they always seem to have some interesting, offbeat desktop image on their computer? You want to ask where the heck they found it, but you’re worried that you’ll look like a total fool for not already knowing about that one site that’s the talk of the web (of course, it’s the part of the web you don’t read) or not knowing about that hip new artist that everyone else is talking about. Here enters Desktoptopia, a Mac-only app (exclusivity rears its ugly head again) that aims to make you the one with the interesting, offbeat desktop image. They’ve amassed a library of high-end, hi-res desktops by artists and designers around the world, and they’ll zap them to your computer whenever you’re looking to upgrade. It looks like you can also set up an automated process to switch your desktop image whenever you’d like (and you can pause that process if you stumble on an image that really floats your boat). All of their wallpapers are exclusive to Desktoptopia, so you don’t have to worry about seeing it on every other computer in the office.

The service costs $20/single use license but – infomercial moment – if you act this week, you can enjoy all of the benefits of Desktoptopia at just half the cost! That’s right, simply enter the coupon code “luckyme” at checkout, and you’ll get access to a huge library of exclusive desktop images, all for…half cost! Don’t wait, act now!

Sometimes (well, a LOT of the time) we can’t help but be completely flattered over the kind of people we can count as our readers. Case in point: Ben Light, a New York web developer with a sneaky side job, who commented on last week’s TSF. It looks like when Ben isn’t busy working in the software industry, he’s busy making things. Neat things, like BENches, which are wall hangings that double as seating arrangements when company comes a calling. Also worth noting is Ben’s vacuum lamp (all his lamps, really) and his whimsical rubber origami. Lovely stuff, Ben, and thanks for leading us to you!