Austin Motel’s phallic signange?
I was in Austin last week and spent a night at the Austin Motel, where the rooms are all themed and the signage is a little … err … suggestive. As far as I can tell, it’s either telling me to bugger off or to come prepared. I mentioned it to the receptionist as I was checking out, asking her about the story behind its rather provocative nature, but she clearly didn’t find any humor in it and dryly responded that it was erected in 1938. Erected? Hmmm.
Tagged: Austin, Austin Motel, Texas
- 4
- 1
RELATED
The Kimber Modern Hotel, Austin, Texas
Whilst in Austin the other weekend, I spent a couple of nights at a beautifully designed hotel called the Kimber Modern, which is located in the happening SOCO area, just a short hop, skip and sideways roll to the bustling hive of restaurants and cafes along South Congress. The Kimber Modern is a hotel with a twist. First up, the architecture is stunning, this elegant and contemporary building with subtle splashes of color to break up the overall white-walled minimalism. And then there are the clever design touches, such as communal hammocks made from car belts, and a giant tank churning liters of water in a calming, almost Zen-like manner. [photos by Alison Zavos] Read more
Chicken Poop Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon
From deep within the WTF files, comes this out of Austin, Texas: a dive bar at which a rather unique form of bingo is played. Yes, every Sunday at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon, a dive bar near the main college campus, the locals play Chicken Poop bingo, which involves a poor fowl wandering aimlessly about a cage full of feed dropping its bundles on random numbers. When these ‘bundles’ find the right hole, ‘the patron with the corresponding ticket number wins cash’. Ah, huh. OK, bingo! Yippee. [photo by Connie Tsang]
Through watching cowboy movies, among other things, we’ve learned that Texas is full of dust. Fortunately, there are people such as Scott Wade who knows how to embellish something that is disgusting. Wade started to produce simple hearts or phrases such as ‘Wash me, you dirty fellow’ on the windshields and windows of cars. Later on, he improved his skills and now he can make a Mona Lisa or a Rembrandt by using the ‘dust extraction’ technique. He does not own a gallery because it should be really expensive but he has a huge permanent exhibition touring the city. The art of Wade reached the advertising world and brands such as Mitsubishi have used it in their graphic campaigns. Read more
Also by ZOLTON
Crimea X is the coming together of two offbeat, disparate characters, DJ Rocca (Ajello, Super Sonic Lovers, Maffia Sound System) and Jukka Reverberi from 90s Italian glam cult rockers, Giardini di Mirò, who have often have been compared with the sound of Mogwai, Arab Strap, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. We asked them about their favourite music and they started with The Smiths song, Ask [listen below] ‘I saw them playing live on Italian TV. It was during the 80s when I was extremely young, and I’ve never stopped listening to this song’. Read the rest of Crimea X’s Secret Playlist.
I love the curated selection of abandoned swimming pool photos on Feature Shoot today, featuring work by Carlo Van de Roer and Albert Jodar, amongst others.
Win a set of Sony personal audio prizes
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (1)
HAVE YOUR SAY
I love the strong lines and bold color interplay in Jay Taylor’s illustration work, which succintly captures ‘life’s little imperfections’. Most of Jay’s work is created by hand, with only simple composition and color changes being altered in the latter stages by computer. Read more
On the roof of Bangkok’s Banyan Tree Hotel is a dining experience like no other. The Vertigo Bar sits sixty one floors up, and serves delicious gourmet meals and cocktails. These are expensive by Thai standards, but cheap enough for shoestring travellers to indulge in now and then (a cocktail costs around AUD$12). I’ve spent hour after hour in the bar, drinking and smoking and taking in the amazing view. Most nights at Vertigo end the same, with fast-moving storm clouds rolling in without fail at about eleven pm. While wait staff scurry to move tables, and drunken diners navigate the steep stairs down to the safety of the hotel, the more hardy can sit and watch the clouds race closer and closer towards the building, soaking in both the atmosphere and the rainwater until the lightning gets too close for comfort.
The Virtual Shoe Museum was initiated by Liza Snook in 2004. Once the idea was born, a long search began for designers, photographers and publishers connected to shoes. New friendships developed and their mailbox filled with loads of material on fantastic shoes, art and design on shoes. The Shoe featured above is the Electric Light Shoe by Strawberry Frog.
British designer Emma Smart designed these cool papercraft lunchboxes that unfold into place settings. The boxes will be sold at ASDA supermarkets in the UK, and each of the three designs come packed with three different lunches.
No one disputes that the Bush Administration is no friend to civil liberties, but this little spot on the ACLU website smacks of paranoia. At least it’s entertaining, and some people might actually welcome the ultra-convenient vision of the future this piece of propaganda offers.
Produced by our talented friends over at Miami-based studio, Common Machine, this is the first installment of a new bi-monthly series of exclusive Lost At E Minor videos that they will be putting together for us. This one is on marionette maker, Pablo Cano, who uses ‘mundane objects to create magic on a string’. And he does. We hope you enjoy!
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
I live the upbeat, feel good tempo of the new single — A Hundred Hearts — from Philly group, The Swimmers. Off their latest album, People Are Soft, this song is a strangely fitting anthem for the blustery day outside.
Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
In Wish Upon a Star, this giclee print on archival paper, Yuta Onoda gives us his take on the Mario Bros for the fourth installment of the I Am 8-bit exhibition. This print comes in a limited edition run of just 30. Read more
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Brad Castro said | 28 July, 2009
You think it’s suggestive now – you should’ve seen the sign before they revitalized this part of town . . .