Photos out of aircraft windows 5

Lego does Wright!

In what might just be the coolest news of the year so far the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation have licensed Lego to recreate classic Wright buildings, namely the Guggenheim and Fallingwater in those loveable bumpy little plastic blocks.

I have a horrible suspicion though that they'll go the way of a lot of recent Lego products and pre-create more parts than they challenge kids to make out of square blocks. I mean little Lego drinking cups? Honestly. The initial packaging pics look like there are plenty of imagination fostering blocks though. Here's hoping.

Interestingly, the Architecture series ups Lego's standard age rating of 7+ to 10+. Maybe the extra 3 years fosters a level of appreciation of the medium that means these sets won't be bastardised and turned into multicolour random houses, or the ends chewed when bricks are stuck too tightly together.

According to the press release: Builders of all ages can now collect and construct their favorite worldwide architectural sites through these artistic replicas.

Well, maybe not all ages. Either way Jasper's going to have a long wait before he gets to enjoy his Christmas present this year.

Having children: proving crap for collecting art, but a brilliant excuse to buy cool toys.

Via Notcot

On fire

In the spirit of NZ Music month, I present the inimitable Head Like A Hole.

Shot in downtown Wellington on a sunny morning back in the day, by a band whose bassist I used to play bike tag in deserted carpark buildings with, shot atop a building across the road from a school I spent years trying to get into, and would later live around the corner from.

A whole new take on Springsteen while beautifully mocking both U2's then recent LA rooftop video and a record industry intent on handing them a bunch of cash to make a music video.

Rock and roll? Quite.

Auckland

The return of Dorothy Vallens

Like most small town boys, I grew up totally enamored with David Lynch's brilliantly surreal film Blue Velvet. On my daily walks across a field to school I could almost have been Jeffrey Beaumont. I never did find that severed ear, though not for lack of trying.

I must also thank Isabella Rossellini for introducing me to the alluring notion of the femme fatale through her creepily cool character of Dorothy Vallens.

I've just discovered Rossellini revisiting that shimmering role as a praying mantis, amongst others, in a fantastic series on the mating and other rituals of insects: Green Porno which I had to share. Running on the Sundance Channel, it fuses Lynchian theatrics with scientific accuracy using education as the excuse. So brilliant it's almost worth getting Sky for.

And to come back full circle, there's a scene early on in Blue Velvet where a pristine small town lawn is put under the microscope, revealing a grotesque world crawling with insects. Nice.

Hat tip: Cakehead Loves Evil