Last week we announced our new superhero tattoo contest where you guys could submit your superhero tattoo photos for the chance to win a two NeatoShop tees of your choice. We finished collecting submissions, so now it's your chance to vote for your favorite. Voting ends on Tuesday night at 11:59 PM PST, so hurry up and vote!
Entry #1: The Silver Surfer
Entry #2: Batman
Entry #3: Wolverine
Entry #4: Ryu from Street Fighter
(He's from a game, but he technically has superpowers)
If you have a two-story home, you typically need stairs, a ladder, a ramp or an elevator to get up to the next floor, but going down can be a lot more of an adventure -especially if you revert to the old playground favorite, the slide. Over on Homes and Hues this week, we rounded up 9 Houses With Slides Inside so you can recall your childhood dream of having just such a home.
The slides are all fun-looking, but many of them are suprisingly sophisticated, showing that adding a little creative flair to your home doesn't mean it has to look like a playground. In fact, some of these places are downright chic.
Sink strainers are critical for keeping your pipes clean, but no one wants to empty them out because the stuff inside is just utterly disgusting. But with the Tweak, you can pick up the strainer, squish the material into a cone and then flip out the gunk inside to empty it out.
The peice comes in two different sizes and a variety of colors and is so far only available on Kickstarter, where it has reached its funding goal four times over.
If you ever owned a desk fan or box fan, then you know their motor will eventually die and while resourceful people might be able to fix them, most people find it's cheaper and easier to get a new fan than fixing the old one. With so many fans inevitably ending up in the dump, it's nice to see someone turn them into something beautiful again, and that's exactly what the team at Fantasized does.
The group purchases fan guards from local scrap yards and plastic scraps from a local chair-making factory, supporting the local economy, and they then paint them and bring them to local artisans, who weave them into beautiful and useful home accessories.
The famous San Diego fair is back in town and Zeon and I got a chance to check it out this weekend. As always, the trip was fun and we've come back with dozens of pictures of weird foods, cute animals and fun rides so you can sit back and enjoy the fair without ever leaving your home or office.
The Fabulous Food
This year, the big buzz was about the bacon-wrapped churro that was injected with Jack Daniels and served with whipped cream and a Jack Daniels dipping sauce. We didn't try it, but we did try a few other treats from the Bacon-A-Fair booth that made them.
If you couldn't tell by the name, this place loves bacon (just like us Neatorama writers).
I tried the bacon-wrapped mushrooms that were stuffed with a little cheese and served with parmesean cheese. It was pretty much amazing although if I make it myself, I'd add in more cheese in the middle.
Meanwhile, Zeon tried the cheesy bacon bombs, which featured jack cheese wrapped in croissant dough and then wrapped in bacon before being deep fried. It was rich, bacony and as ooey-gooey as you'd expect.
Here are some of their other menu specialties. The chocolate-covered bacon is a little disappointing though, as the bacon is a little too thin to really get the full smokey flavor over all the chocolatey goodness.
Treehouses are usually in trees, but this house in the lake is pretty darned amazing even if the only trees are hidden away in the bridge. The Treehouse Solling of Germany sits about 14 feet above the water's surface, offering a great view of the fish, critters and flowers of the forest.
Inside, a number of beds and benches make the site cozy, while ample storage makes it a practical place to stay and an impressive skylight makes for incredible stargazing even on chilly nights.
If you live in a small space -whether by choice or neccessity, you know that it's important to make the most of every inch of your space. Sometimes though, it's hard to visualize what you could possibly doo with a small nook on the side of your fridge...
Or the baseboards under your kitchen cabinets...
And sometimes it's hard to find the space for everything you need in your home -like a desk. Over at Homes and Hues though, we have some solutions for making the most out of even the smallest living spaces.
If you have a pool, you need a shower to rinse off the chlorinated water before, but going in the house dripping wet isn't much of an option. That's where the Viteo Shower comes in.
This clever shower hooks into any outdoor hose and then turns on when you step on it. Just set it up outside your pool when you're going to go swimming and step on the platform when you want to wash.
From the outside, this Boca Raton mansion looks a lot like any other multi-million dollar property, but the mansion of ex-CEO of FriendFinder, Marc Bell has a serious geek side that might not appeal to the average buyer, but is just perfect for a nerd lord seeking his kingdom.
The eight bedroom, sixteen bathroom palace features a Star Trek theater, a Star Trek bar, a full size arcade, a Call of Duty gaming room and more. It can be yours for only $35 million.
There's been a lot of press lately about Luigi's intimidating death stare featured in the new Mario Kart commercials, but when you think about it, can you really blame Luigi for being a triffle aggravated? After all, he's been stuck playing second fiddle to his shorter, chubbier brother for over thirty years.
After all this time, I think it's time to show Luigi that he's loved too. And here are some superfans with the ink to prove it.
On a side note: as with most tattoo posts, I rarely have the name of both the artist and the person with the tattoo, so if you have any info on these pieces, let me know in the comments.
This piece by Dorian is a fantastic example of why Luigi is so likable -he's never cocky and he's comfortable in his own skin.
At the same time, Luigi's never one to back down from a fight as this tattoo by Shannon Ritchie proves.
That bravery comes at a cost too. After all those fights, Damian James knows that Luigi has suffered just as much in the name of the Princess -but he has to settle for Princess Daisy who is never even locked up in the same castle as Peach.
It makes you wonder, if you were this overlooked, wouldn't you also turn to smoking shrooms or some other substance that makes you see ghosts, monsters and man-eating flowers? Thanks John Gorman of Providence Tattoo for illustrating this point so well.
So maybe next time you see the Luigi Death Stare, cut the guy a break -he's had to deal with a lot of crap thanks to his big brother and he never complains. In fact, I think we should all aspire to be a bit more like Luigi.
We here at Neatorama know that many of you geek readers have geeky ink. That's why we were inspired by Harebrained Design's delightful Battoo tee shirt to launch a new contest based on your superhero tattoos.
Submit your superhero-inspired tattoo to jill@neatorama.com, post it in the comments for this post, or post it on the NeatoShop's Facebook wall -but hurry because all entries will need to be recieved by June 18, midnight PST.
The winner will be voted on by the Neatorama community, but if we get enough entries, we may also have a Neatorama employee favorite as well. Winners will receive two NeatoShop tees of their choosing.
Everyone needs a cable modem and router these days, but they aren't exactly the most beautiful things to look at. Fortunately, Sweet Sanity has a solution that helps you hide the boxes and wires inside some simple, white storage boxes.
Pretty much every kitchen needs a colander, but they aren't exactly the easiest thing to store in your kitchen. With the RMDLO strainer though, you can strain and steam at your leisure and then just fold the whole thing up into something about the size of a ruler. As an added advantage, the design can even be pushed together on the sides so you can empty the strainer into a small container without any trouble. The piece will also work as a steamer by simply placing it on top of a bowl of water.
I don't know about the weather in your neck of the woods, but down here in Southern California, it's already shaping up to be a really warm summer. That's why I was so happy to put together our newest Homes and Hues feature: 28 Ways to Stay Cool This Summer.
While you'll have to head over to the site to get the full list, here are a few tips I find particularly useful:
Don’t cook indoors. Summer is the perfect time for grilling and it’s a great way to keep heat out of your house. If grilling isn’t an option, try using your microwave or set up your Crockpot or other electric appliances in your garage or somewhere else where they don’t heat up the house.
Take advantage of the basement. You might reserve this underground area for storage, but it’s generally a good 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of the house, making it a perfect place to hide out during the peak of summer.
Add awnings. The U.S. Department of Energy says that adding awnings to your south- and west-facing windows can reduce solar heat gain in a home by 77%. Also, if you need to replace your windows any time soon, be sure to get double-paned windows, which provide better insulation.
Run your wrist under cool water for five seconds. One of your main veins is particularly close to the surface when it passes through your wrist, so cooling it down will spread the colder blood out throughout the rest of your body.
Think about snow (or swimming pools). The mind is a powerful tool and studies show that thinking about cool stuff can actually make us feel less warm.
Folding couches are really heavy and uncomfortable for both the sitter and the sleepers, but this fantastic folding ottoman bed is great for putting your feet up and can provide a convenient sleeping space for your overnight guests that weigh up to 250 pounds.
