View in gallery The exotic, illuminated creatures known as Noctiluca scintillans are about as close as we get to magic in the developed world. In an act of defense, these tiny marine organisms glow bright blue when approached, a way of alerting their neighbors that a predator approaches. We humans appreciate them for their visual beauty, a capability to turn a calm seaside surf into a glowing force of nature....

The common misconception among people who haven’t gone deep into combat zones is that tomahawks are silly little axes carried by racist stereotypes in Hiawatha cartoons from the 30’s . Truth be told, the tomahawk is alive and well, riding in the fists of some of the most hardened first responders, anti-terrorism experts, and survival badasses from every time zone. Made lovingly out of modern materials, a good tomahawk is a self-defense weapon, a tool for staying alive in the wild, and a tactical way for a lone soldier to lay siege to a reinforced drug den....

Ever felt that as you get older, it’s harder to form new relationships? You’re not alone–which is why we wrote this primer on how to make friends as an adult . In good times and bad, friends are the people who are always there for us. They offer courage when we have none, corny jokes when we’re low, and comfort when we feel the most alone. But in the messy world of adulthood, good friends are hard to come by....

View in gallery We first came across the tattoo photography of Warwick Saint years ago in Inked magazine. Saint’s work with women in ink has yielded a large body of work, a few of which we’ve collected here at TheCoolist. Saint’s imagery captures the raw, counter-culture rock-and-roll sexuality of his subjects, but maintaining a refined sense of style that is equally classy. Take that image above, for example– the tattoos and pearls yields a stunning contrast, one that we had to share here....

Could this be the McDonald’s of the future? The newest McDonald’s is a work of architectural art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, designed by Mei Architects and Planners . It’s a wild new direction for McDonalds, a one-off experiment that could pave a bold path for the brand. It’s over two stories tall, it’s wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass and it is as sustainable as it is stylish. It was rapid-built in just two months, thanks in part to economical off-site production....

View in gallery Looking for luxury living in the Colombian outback? Look no further than Juan Esteban Correa’s imaginative Lot 23 House. This concrete, glass and slatted wood structure overlooks the mountainous Colombian countryside while wrapping around this private, wooded lot. Centered in the L-shaped pattern of the home is a soothing blue-tiled pool framed by slatted wood to match the character of the home. Next to the pool, and under the raised deck of the house is a seating and dining area that shares the natural scenery of the neighborhood with Lot 23’s guests....

Blending in a glass jug, throwing everything in and letting the motor do all the work is an inelegant way to mulch your food. Think of the cleanup, the endless deconstruction and de-deconstruction of the blender, the storage space, and the cost. If you’re a daily smoothie drinker who needs that, fine, but the way to blend with grace, or process food that doesn’t fit into a quaint little pitcher is to lay your hands on an immersion blender....

When it comes to cigar lounges, you’ll often find that your options are quite fancy. Cigar lounges are classy, upscale establishments designed to help you appreciate the fine quality of what you’re enjoying. They’re a place where you can meet like minded people with similar tastes and experience new flavours from around the world in a context where you can ask questions or exchange preferences and experiences with other enthusiasts....

The lifestyle of a Bond villain can now be yours, provided you have six figures to spend on a nightly basis. The Oliver’s Travels “Lover’s Deep” luxury submarine is now accepting reservations for two-at-a-time from the Caribbean island of your choice. Just pick a destination, board the ship and prepare to submerge. “Lover’s Deep” provides an incredibly rare travel experience that might even be the only one of its kind. Sure, there are luxury yachts for rent around the world, but none can submerge and provide an underwater view of the marine world from a collection of airtight windows....

View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery Rihanna by Camilla Akrans for August 2012 Harper’s Bazaar Gallery

View in gallery Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto uses the simple medium of salt to create large art installations. Ranging from intricate designs on the floor resembling a turbulent sea to a crumbling brick wall, these stark white creations evoke a sense of both wonder and mysticism. The compound of simple salt is transformed into unfathomable pieces of art, requiring careful placement and little room for error on these relatively massive structures....

View in gallery TheCoolist loves luxury yachts , and this one has a trick up its sleeve– a built-in parking space for its very own super car. The Strand Craft 122 Super Yacht is a 122′ sea machine with a smooth exterior design, luxury interior furnishings and a speedy sports car as its cargo. The Strand Craft 122 is powered by a set of twin Rolls Royce engines, capable of pushing this puppy to 55 knots on the open water....

View in gallery Below the streets of Munich, Germany, photographer Nick Frank silently stalks the city’s subway stations, waiting for the perfect silent moment. When the passengers have departed and the trains are rumbling elsewhere, Frank captures the empty stations in artful compositions. Some are balanced in perfect symmetry, others twist and disappear in the distance. All of Franks works show a strong contrast of color accents, where bright, basic colors stand out amongst the quiet, neutral darkness beyond....

View in gallery As portable as it is pretty, this imaginative new synthesizer is a music warehouse in a tiny form factor. The Teenage Engineering OP-1 Synthesizer includes eight unique synthesis engines, a slew of onboard effects, a live sampler and a built-in 4-track tape-style recorder. If you’re a synth geek (like us), you just got really excited. If you’re a bit foggy on the details, let us demystify!...

With the western explosion of sushi restaurants came a lot of strange habits that had never been seen when the palaces of squid and yellowtail existed almost exclusively in the land of the rising sun. People were suddenly mixing wasabi into their soy sauce and dunking the sushi rice into the mixture, consuming an unbalanced level of salt that was destroying the flavors. These habits have become commonplace, and have been handed from person to person, creating an entire culture of people who are eating sushi wrong; at least according to the experts....

Switchblades, which are now better known by the name “Automatic Knives” have a history that goes back hundreds of years, with the earliest models appearing in France and Italy – which is why they are often known by the name “Italian Stilettos” – back in the 1700’s. View in gallery These spring-assisted knives had a small following in Europe, which was then brought over to the United States after WWII when brave, Nazi-killing soldiers saw these snap-open knives during their time fighting in the European theatre and adopted them for home use....

The days of the clunky computer are long behind us. With the introduction of the MacBook Air, Apple showed us that portability and power were not mutually exclusive. That laptops can be good, and not wrench your spine out of alignment when put into a messenger bag. To compete with the Air, the Ultrabook was born, and with it came a whole array of mobile computers that balanced stunning screen resolutions with SSD (Sold-State Drives) which were better than their hard-drive progenitors....

Short of doing Green Arrow cosplay, few people use recurve bows – aka traditional bows – these days, as compound bows have largely taken center stage in the hunting arena. Since compounds are easier to find, easier to learn, and easier to fire, most see no reason to go with the more classic recurve. A few traditionalist hunters will typically have one on hand, for sport shooting, target practice, and improving their firing muscles, but rarely do they see much action in the field....

Tired of disposable, designed-for-obsolescence gadgetry? One company is looking to challenge that conception. Known as Binauric, they’ve designed a speaker which they claim is capable of evolving alongside its user. In other words, it’s a piece of audio equipment which could potentially stave off obsolescence forever. “We always felt that hardware was missing this evolutionary factor,” explained Markku Palipea, Binauric’s co-founder. “So in the beginning we asked ourselves ‘what potentially could a speaker be capable of?...

In the beginning, unmanned aerial vehicles existed only in science fiction. Then they became a controversial arm in the modern military. Today, the full range of drones for sale to the public offers peaceful uses for entertainment, aerial photography and commercial mapping and exploration. The revolution of the drone has been quick, and the devices have flourished for hobbyists and entrepreneurs a like. Drone technology has come a long way since it became available to consumers, to the point where drones are both affordable and highly functional....