Posts

View in gallery The golden hour is a precious time of day for photographers. The hour when the sun rises and the hour when the sun sets collectively cast some of the most magical colors and moods available throughout the day. This magic hour is a phenomenon well-understood by photographer Andrew Brooks . His landscape photography captures the still silence of nature at these most magical moments, the times upon which our sun breaks the horizon and ultimately returns to its resting place....

There is no end to the different types of coffee you can order. But that’s ok because there is no better way to start the day than with a nice hot cup of coffee. It’s no shock that coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. It is also one of the most versatile. There is far more to a cup of coffee than just a chipped mug and a cup of black liquid....

View in gallery Cinco de Mayo is a day of pride and reverence to the independent spirit of our friends in Mexico. There’s nothing somber about this celebration, however, as it’s a day for excitement with friends and at least one margarita. I spent my Cinco de Mayo celebration in the latin quarter of Ybor City, an historic district of Tampa, Florida and the Cigar Capital of the United States....

View in gallery Celebrity Photograper Lorenzo Agius has spent his fair share of time with famous people. Not just a few, but many of the biggest names in film, music and fashion. His work isn’t as simple as setting up a camera and snapping a pose, it goes deep into capturing the personality of his subjects. Jude Law, Kevin Spacey, Madonna, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp and more have all shown their true colors in his film, if only for a passing moment....

Without coffee, morning is just night with sunshine. For some, the pre-work pass through their favorite drive through is daily routine, but for the rest of us, making our wake up juice at home is the only way we’re getting it. Drip coffee has gotten a bad name in the third wave of coffee, but this isn’t always fair. Drip brewers can make some of the best cups around, and it’s hard to judge too harshly a machine that can brew for you while you sleep....

Nostalgia has been big business lately, with reboots, reimaginings, retreads, and “gritty” revivals of everything that was ever popular. Among those capitalizing on the fond memories of yesteryear are the fine greed-mongers at Nintendo, who have spit out both a NES Classic and a SNES Classic console , which are nothing more than tiny, basic computers loaded up with some ROMs for gaming and an old school controller. Atari and Commodore 64 consoles are quickly following suit, hoping to nab a bit of the merchandise....

View in gallery This year, the 4th of July called for something different. I’ll always enjoy the bottle rockets and fanfare of the 4th, but it’s easy to overlook the deeper meaning of Independence Day. This “deeper meaning” is written in American history books, and there’s history in my back yard that I had not yet explored. So I grabbed my camera, a day pack and some refreshments and headed to a place off the beaten path– the abandoned beach forts of Florida’s gulf coast....

View in gallery Whether you’re on a business trip, a weekend rendezvous or a last minute vacation, you absolutely cannot do it better than with the Lou Dalton Weekender Heavy Cotton Bag. That’s not sales speak either, it comes from a pretty basic equation on our part. All of the above most certainly include first impressions– be they with potential clients, new employers, new loves or old friends, a bag like this just screams “ baller ” at anyone who is just about to judge you....

Traveling to Berlin? If you’re looking for something a bit more intimate than the brand name hotel or even the boutique, consider this houseboat vacation rental right on the water. This modern houseboat, offered by “hand-picked paradise” travel company Welcome Beyond, is located on the Spree River which snakes through downtown Berlin. The heart of Germany’s capitol is easily accessible from this houseboat by river, by taxi or even by bike....

You’re headed to Paris for business. Trying to figure out a nice place to stay, with modern amenities and a nice restaurant to enjoy your evenings. City center is uber expensive and conditions are not always the best, so how bout you’ll stay close to the airport? But can you find one? I’ll let you in on a little secret : yes, you can. A few months ago I was invited to Paris by pentahotel to participate in the ground opening of their new hotel located in Roissy-en-France and very close to the CDG airport....

Communication is key to a healthy relationship. If you and your girl don’t talk enough, this list of questions to ask your girlfriend will solve that. View in gallery Okay, you want to connect with your significant other, and understandably, you’re not a mind reader. Hence, asking your girlfriend the right questions is key. It will not only let you know what she wants for dinner (before you order pineapple on pizza, which she hates, by the way) but asking questions will also improve your relationship and intimacy in the long run....

View in gallery If spending $250,000 on a Rolls Royce Ghost isn’t enough for your bank account, why not add on another $150,000 to give it the Mansory treatment? The Mansory Rolls Royce White Ghost builds on the Rolls Royce standard with upgrades both visual and mechanical. The White Ghost version of this sexy Rolls is whited out from head to toe, save for the trademark chrome grille, with LED running lights under the headlights and on the mirrors....

The New York skyline is second to none in terms of recognizability, but hidden in the jagged peaks and valleys are more than a few surprises. You’ll find that the rooftops of New York have their own personality, and it’s as varied as the city that never sleeps. Without ever touching the streets , you can find incredible restaurants – both known and unknown – gardens of every size and variety, and a dizzying array of businesses and entertainments that are, ironically, part of the “underground” scene of the Big Apple....

View in gallery Six Scents Parfums have released their third series of luxury perfumes and colognes crafted by some of the world’s most renown boutique scent artists. Six Scents Series Three is a collaboration with the Australian design firm 3 Deep Design who gives these striking scents a high style package, one that has won the hearts of the design media across all three Six Scents series. While series one remains our favorite of the Six Scents collections, the latest iteration of this masterful line of perfumes is one to be celebrated yet again....

View in gallery Last year, we covered what we consider to be the most beautiful bookstore in the world , a rehabbed church in Maastriche, Netherlands. There’s something about a secularly-revived church that excites us, so we had to share the new Spirito – Martini lounge in Brussels, Belgium. Entrepreneur Franseco Ravo purchased the church and hired the Puresang team of architectural designers to give the church new life as a nightclub....

View in gallery Used Magazine features Suzie Kennedy in a retro Marilyn Monroe style photo shoot with the work of fashion stylist Katy Lassen. Kennedy sports Monroe’s platinum blonde curls, vibrant red lipstick and seductive eye make-up that creates an image devilishly close to the late Hollywood glam phenom. Among the designers worn in the black and white vintage style photographs are Prada, Comme des Garcons and Dries Van Noten among others....

View in gallery Artist Dan Tobin Smith doesn’t build his works in photoshop– he carefully selects a world of color and creates these chromatically-bisected works of art by hand . You’ve likely seen Smith’s work before, he created the album cover for Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3 (which we talked about moments ago in another post). Long before the Jay Z album cover, Dan Tobin Smith developed a style so unique, so different, that his work is gaining international acclaim by the minute....

View in gallery A group of architecture students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture have designed a contemporary prefab home dubbed the Taliesin Mod.Fab Prefab. The Mod.Fab home is a one-bedroom, 600 foot prefab developed using panelized construction techniques that keep costs low and quality high. Like many other recent modern prefabs , Mod.Fab uses renewable systems to harvest energy from the sun as well as greywater/rainwater recycling....

View in gallery World’s Thinnest House – Could you live in a home that measures just 3 feet wide? The Keret House is a new art project and residential prototype in Warsaw, Poland. Keret House occupies a a sliver of space between two buildings in the dense urban landscape of modern Warsaw. At just 3 feet wide in some areas, and up to 5 feet wide in others, it uses height and length to provide livable space to a single occupant....

View in gallery The use of mirrors is a well-known interior design technique often employed in small rooms or apartments. For cramped quarters, mirrors help provide the illusion of space. Mirrored design isn’t exclusive to indoor space, however, as new trends in mirrored architecture are bringing the reflections outside. Mirrored houses, cabins and art installations show just how other-worldly mirrors can be in architecture. It’s a fascinating trend that we at TheCoolist have followed closely....