Posts Written by Paul Strauss

John Beck Paper & Steel produces dramatic, industrial styled furniture and lighting using (sometimes shotgun-blasted) steel, with a sprinkle of reclaimed wood and eco concrete.

This incredible footage was captured on the CCTV cameras on the Pacific Sun cruise liner when it hit choppy waters. After watching it, life on The Deadliest Catch is starting to look calm to us.

(NSFW) A 15 minute time investment here rewards you with a fluidly written, at times brutal, tightly directed 15 minute short film about a lottery ticket by the talented Dan Brown. (Thanks Duncan!)

What would you do if you were stuck on a desert island with nothing more than your wits and an IKEA store? Helmut Smit shows us how to assemble an IKEA fire without matches or a lighter.

The Neptune Memorial Reef, a cemetery under the sea, is fast becoming the world’s largest man made reef; covering over 600,000 sf, it’s becoming a new ecosystem for marine life and a diver destination.

This sneak preview video for musicians Squarepusher’s new album isn’t notable just for its awesome distorto-electronica, but for the most excellent LED head gear this side of Daft Punk.

NERF’s first fully-automatic weapon has battery-assisted firing, clips which hold 18 darts each, and um, a “riot shield.” We’re still waiting for a NERF RPG that fires footballs. You hear us, NERF?

Shot by Don Pettit on the International Space Station, this stunning time-lapse view of our humble planet captures the Northern Lights in the sky as tiny dots from cities at night whir by below.

This Bulgarian triple-distilled vodka contains an insane 88% alcohol (176-proof). It’s sure to put hair on your chest whether you want it or not. The label even says “handle with care.” Please do.

The latest mid-level dSLR from Canon offers a sharp 18-megapixel CMOS sensor, and a hi-res 3-inch LCD. It shoots 1080p full HD video with manual exposure control, and has an HDMI output.

While we’ve seen our share of cool Parkour stunts over the years, this video reminds us that it’s the extreme sport of insane people, and you should never, ever try it yourself.

While Vecna’s BEAR robot is supposed to save lives, it looks like he’s spending most of his time getting pumped up to destroy us all. Let’s hope Skynet never comes online.

(NSFW) It started as a two-minute concept trailer, and now it’s a full length flick. Blade Runner’s baddie Rutger Hauer is back on the big screen in this B-movie bloodbath.

Star Wars fans should appreciate this retooled version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody which tells Anakin’s story from his humble beginnings through his emergence as the Dark Lord of the Sith.

As you may or may not recall, we featured a little video of this Bosnian soldier-of-fortune guy who looked really tough, but didn’t have anybody to actually shoot at. This video fixes that.

This limited-edition Motorola Droid 2 is decked out in the style of everyone’s favorite R2 unit, including a back that looks a little like R2 if you had run him over with a steamroller.

Perfect for cooking up really small burgers, or maybe toasting a single marshmallow for your s’mores, this miniature BBQ grill was created from a reused Altoids Sours tin. (Thanks, Anthony!)

Viewsonic’s new tablet offers a 10-inch LED backlit touchscreen, runs on an Intel Atom N455 CPU, and can boot into either Android OS or Windows 7. It also recycles the name of a really old tablet.

Convertible, coupe and rumored hybrid derivatives are coming soon for the $247K 2011 Rolls Royce Ghost, which is powered by a 563 hp, 6.6L turbocharged V-12 with 8 speed transmission.

After 12+ years of false starts and false hopes, this eagerly anticipated sequel was actually shown in playable form at this week’s PAX. We still don’t know when it’s getting released, but it looks great.

This amazing avian is the Michael Winslow of the forest. The Lyrebird copies the songs of at least 20 other species of birds, as well as the sounds of mechanical objects operated by nearby humans.

We often assume Pixar can do no wrong, but every once in a while they get all human on us and fail. newt was in the works for a while, and never made it to the screen. More concept art here.

As Star Wars fan flicks go, Fed Wetherbee & PJ Tamayo’s film is one of the more sublime efforts we’ve seen, steering clear of over-the-top effects, instead focusing on character, dialogue and plot.