From an organizational perspective — even a musically inclined one — the odds of finding three beautiful girls, all long-locked, well-worded, and in possession of keyboards, seem slim. The odds of them finding each other — that seems near impossible. However, on the off chance that that sort of thing might happen, it makes sense that it would happen in Brooklyn. And on the off chance that that sort of thing did happen, it goes to follow that the three beautiful girls would see something serendipitous in their similarities, nurture them, then do what all good Brooklynites with instruments do: form a band.

They call themselves Au Revoir Simone, and they call each other Erika, Heather and Annie. We call them ethereal, because we’ve been having trouble turning their music down since we first laid ears on the sweetly layered, abstractly energetic, and quaintly composed melodies. They all sing, write, and play each of the instruments their music requires. But most importantly, they fit together perfectly. Oh, and they make a killer batch of cookies.

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Love fish? Hate algae? Indifferent about LCD technology? Then you’re a little strange … but that’s good, because you’ll also be into this blue whale sized “virtual” fish tank in Bejing. Longer than an American football field, we can’t help but wonder where we’ve seen this before. No. Oh, yeah.

via Gizmodo

We know you’re a regular prodigy on Final Cut and Photoshop. You’ve got all of the shortcuts down from A to Z. The problem with that: all of your friends know you do, too. Thanks to your speed on the Mac, when it comes to answering their queries on complex programs, you’re their go to guy/gal. Unfortunately all of that time fixing their flubs leaves you with little time to work on your own projects. If only there were a way you could share your keyboard knowledge, you might actually get something done it time. Well fret no longer, gifted digital denizen. The forward thinking folks at Photojojo have come up with a solution to your quandary. Their brilliant new keyboard shortcut skins for Mac versions of Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and Pro Tools (amongst other programs) allows anyone to become endowed with the digital wisdom you possess. While that doesn’t make your skill set any less special, now you can help your friends in the amount of time it takes to say “figure it out for yourself” or, if you fancy being polite, “please go to photojojo and get a keyboard skin, I’m busy”.

Japanese sneaker collector site Kenlu has the scoop on the new Adidas Rod Laver Vintage Lux kicks — and my pulse is up. A lot like the American Lux’s I wrote about a few years ago, my spidey sense says these ones will go fast. Creme leather, subtle snakeskin, classic court style. Slated for a release in 2008, as Borat would say, very nice.

It’s getting warmer and warmer everyday and I might need to pick up a bike to plow through the city streets on the weekends (HINT: my birthday’s coming). I’m digging the special edition Cannondale and G-Star collaboration called the RAW CANNONDALE. An incredibly sexy city bike with custom pedals, corked grips, Brooks saddle (so hot) and tube covers featuring G-Star materials (denim, cloth, nylon, the like). Sign me up?

Via Selectism and more pictures after the jump.

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We like to think that London and New York City were actually twin metropolitan cities separated at birth. One city went to live in England while the other was all the way across an ocean in America. Luckily, we’ve covered how to get between these two cities, but now a giant telescope allows you to leisurely look across the pond.

Paul St George, an artist, created a functional “Telectroscope,” a device based on an 18th century hoax. He told the press that invention works by using strategically placing mirrors in a large tunnel between New York (ending at the Brooklyn Bridge) and London (ending at Tower Bridge). Thus New Yorkers and Londoners can spy on each other. If you would like to keep the romance of a giant telescope peering between New York and London alive then don’t click here to read the BBC article about how it really works.

We love a bit of public art. Who doesn’t. It is wonderful to walk around the corner and see some amazing sculpture amongst the bland apartments, or better yet, a construction yard. Like most areas in London, the Elephant and Castle area is going through some construction; cranes and scaffolding are a common site for the residents. So imagine their surprise when they happened upon this stag sculpture. Ben Long made the piece entirely out of the same materials as parts of scaffolding. The sculpture is part of an on going project called “The Traveling Art Exhibition” (Long has also done some finger drawings in the dirt on the back of trucks for the project). The scaffolding is on display at Elephant & Castle’s regeneration zone until July 2008. We wonder how many kids will attempt to climb it before it is taken down.

Via Creative Review