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15 greatest sports photos of all time

Sports Illustrated recently compiled a list of the greatest images of all time to grace modern society, from the genuinely inspirational and awe inspiring to the more quieter serene, calms before the storm, here are our favourite fifteen from the list.

Almost, just almost enough to make us want to join a gym and get into shape. Almost.

Muhammad Ali knocks out Cleveland ‘Big Cat’ Williams, November 14, 1966.

Willie Mays, World Series, September 29, 1954.

Michael Phelps, Beijing Olympics, August 16th, 2008.

Muhammad Ali’s first round knock-out of Sonny Liston, May 25th, 1965.

Ervin Kovacs at the Paralympic Game, September 21st, 2004

Michael Jordan at the All Star Weekend, February 6th, 1988

Babe Ruth, 1926

Roger Bannister, British Empire and Commonweatlh Games, August 7th, 1954

Nadia Comaneci, Montreal Olympics, August 2nd, 1976.

Dennis Rodman, Pacers at Bulls, March 7th, 1997

Alan Ameche, NFL Championship Game, Dec 28th 1958

Julien Leparoux and Sanibel Storm, Keeneland Racecourse, April 28th, 2006.

Ben Johnson, Summer Olympics September 24th, 1988.

Vince Young, Rose Bowl, January 4th, 2006

Joe Dimaggio, Yankees at Senators, June 29th, 1941

Check out the full list at Sports Illustrated here.

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#sports photography #sports illustrated #greatest sports photographs #greatest sports pictures #sports pictures #muhammad ali #cassius clay #bobby moore #england 1966 #world cup #michael jordan #jo di maggio #joe di maggio #joe dimaggio #dennis rodman #babe ruth

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The transparent speaker

Managing to be eye-catching and yet subtle all at once, the speaker has been created by Swedish (could they have been from anywhere else?) industrial design studio, People People, generating funds on Kick Starter 11 months ago to start production.

The design replaces any non-essential bits and bobs with tempered glass, making the whole package airproof and devoid of any pesky vibrations or sound diffusion. Which essentially means that not only does it look amazing but it will also sound smoother than the love child of Adele and Marvin Gaye with Jay Z on hype duties.

Bloody beautiful.

Check out People People here.

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#audio #speaker #people people #transparent speaker #sweden #swedish design #design #kick start #kick-start #music #technology #gadget

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The secret lives of superheroes

But they can’t always be in work mode, what about when it’s time to get off the streets and head home? Superheroes are just people after all and must have to kick back every now and then, do some shopping, laundry, get the MOT done on the Batmobile, eat, sleep, have relationships. They can’t be super all the time.

The Secret Hero Life by Greg Guillemin takes this notion and paints it in wonderful technicolor pop-art showing that sometimes being a superhero can be just a little bit...normal. Albeit wearing awesome costumes.

Check out our favourite pieces below.

For more of Greg’s work visit his website here.

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#batman #spiderman #aquaman #superman #catwoman #mary jane #peter parker #bruce wayne #clark kent #comic #comics #superhero #superheroes #pop art #dc comics #marvel comics #secret life of superheroes #secret lives of superheroes #greg guillemin #secret hero life #secret hero lives

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10 Classic works of art pixelised

Clark’s collection, Art Remixed sees him revisiting classic work and breathing new life into them for the pixel generation. Kitschy and novel they may be, there’s no disputing the fact that his work is eye-catching and would make a brilliant talking point. If you’ve got the Benjamin’s to front for one that is.

Starting out as a Digg and Pinterest art shleb, Clark seems to have mastered the internet and more recently caught the roving talent spotting eye of Saatchi who now stock his work on their online store. Not bad for a load of dots really.

Da Vinci

Warhol

Van Gogh

Vermeer

Munch

Mondrian

Dali

Renoir

Hirst

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#art #posters #saatchi #hirst #renoir #dali #mondrian #munch #vermeer #van gogh #warhol #da vinci #hopper #gary andrew clark #pixel #art remixed #classic

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Pretend Man Quotes #5

#man quotes #quote #quote of the week #thomas edison #edison #philosphy #philosophy #inspirational quotes #inspiration

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Band of the week: Allen Stone

But, cynicism aside, Allen Stone has soul. In abundance.

 Taking him on face value alone you can be forgiven for doubting his ‘soul saviour’ accolades, looking less like a Motown giant than he does a Shoreditch fashion hippy but give the boy a microphone and he’ll stone you just like his name. Whether or not there’s a little bit more to his hippy-preacher-son package than his label lets on is irrelevant when held against his voice which is like a smooth latte served with added funk.

MTV have called him the best voice they’ve ever heard which I wouldn’t necessarily agree with but he is certainly blessed. Reminiscent of a young Stevie Wonder there are dashes of Jamie Lidell in there and even the odd flash of the more mainstream (potential deal breaker) James Morrison. He might not have the most original voice in the world but it’s definitely one that makes you feel good and with a collection of songs catchier than cholera it doesn’t really matter. 

Have a listen to his song ‘Sleep’ by hovering over the picture above and clicking play.

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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#allen stone #soul #music #motown #stevie wonder #funk #band of the week #band #singer songwriter #new music

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Court your attention

For Ward Roberts the memories are mostly fond and became the inspiration behind his courts project. Travelling between Hong Kong, London, Melbourne and New York in 2008 he went in search of these recreational areas to see if they were still as popular now as they were during his childhood. 

The results are both haunting and beautiful at the same time, a lesson in composition and architectural harmony showing places that at once desolate and yet full of energy.

 The complete work, published in 2012 can be bought from Erm Books. 

For more of Roberts’ work check out his site here.

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#war roberts photography #photgraphs #photography #architecture #erm books #and collective #erm books and collective #travel #hong kong #melbourne #new york #nyc #ny #new york city #london #courts #tennis courts #court #sport #places

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Guitar amp for grown-ups

That said, there are times when having a giant bazillion watt amp just won’t do – when you’re not on stage for example, or when you’re a grown-up and no longer have space for such an epic piece of equipment in your living quarters. Yes, you could do what many do and opt for a practice amp, but even then you'll find that a perfect level of tone can rarely be achieved unless, to refer to the cliché, you turn it up to eleven. Turning a practise amp to low volume just doesn't seem to cut it if you actually care about the sounds you’re projecting (or subjecting) onto the world.

  Enter then, the Yamaha THR amp, breaking both the mold and new ground as far as amps are concerned. First of all just look at it, it’s the kind of thing that would sit at the front of HG Well’s time machine. From the orange glow of its ‘Virtual Tube Illumination’ to the retro colour scheme and controllers there’s no doubting it’s a good looking piece of kit. The sounds it can produce though is where the real meat and potatoes are.

  Dubbed as the ‘Third Amp,’ it packs enough juice to get stadium volumes but also maintains sound quality when turned down low – something I have never seen another guitar amp do. At least not very well anyway. If you’re a hobbyist or even a more serious player that doesn’t want to lug heavy equipment around I’d say that it’s one of the most must have guitar accessories since the iRig or the Alesis iDock. Which personally I think says quite a lot.

  Check out the site here.

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#guitar amp #practise amp #review #yamaha #yamaha thr #guitar #guitarist #bass #bassist #music #noise #rock and roll #design

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Survival for minimalists.

At least according to the Mayans anyway, a civilisation who let’s face it, did make a few dodgy decisions in their time. Most notably adopting cannibalism as a normal past time and pissing off the Aztecs but hey, we all make mistakes and if they say the world’s going to end then who are we to judge them on a few minor (cannibal induced) hiccups. Which is why we’re hedging out bets just in case, if the apocalypse does decide to arrive we can imagine the ‘Just In Case’ Survival Kit by Mensunocerouno is a good starting block for getting about town in one piece.

The beautifully minimalist kit comes complete with matches, chocolate, water, a knife, notebook and that all-important final beer. If shit does get real on December 21st you can at least rest assured that you’ll be going out in blaze of stylish glory.

Check it out here.

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#survival #end of the world #2012 #december 21st #aztecs #mayans #menosunocerouno #just in case

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The useless luxury of Erratum

Inspired by allegations surrounding the working conditions in Apple’s Foxconn factory and in particular the story of one worker who would deliberately drop a spanner on the floor so that he could have a few seconds rest, Hutchinson become fascinated by the idea of deliberate mistakes. Following up on the idea he invited workers from factories across China, India, Poland, Turkey and Pakistan to make deliberate mistakes in the production of one everyday item that they mass-produced and send the item to him. The strangely haunting and compelling results of which you can see below:

All of these one-off items and more are available to buy at: www.erratum.co

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#jeremy hutchinson #erratum #art #project #apple's foxconn factory #consumerism #global consumption

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Pretend Man Quotes #4

#chuck norris #chuck norris jokes #chuck norris quotes #quotes #inspirational quotes #man quotes #pretend man blog

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The Perspective Card Case

The only problem that I generally have is that these wallets can tend to look pretty boring. Or if not boring extremely garish. Sure you can have nice leather and colours but they’re hardly ever seen as actual talking points, unlike their full size counterparts.

The Perspective Card Case by Ox and Tree on the other hand is a little bit different, designed with the desire for something a little less square. It’s got a unique shape that contrasts nicely with the usual rectangular selections and it’s also made from premium European natural veg-tan cowhide that oozes quality and will only get better with use and age.

But not only that, it doesn’t look like a wallet. It looks like a box. But it’s not, it’s a flat card case. It’s like a reverse TARDIS or something, which is awesome and will likely beat the stitching out of any of your friends wallets. Now if only it could pull of a similar illusion and make my bank account look a little bigger…

Get your hands on the case here.

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#perspective card case #ox and tree leather goods #wallets #cardcases #cardcase #card case #card cases #leather #leather goods #tan leather #slim-line wallet #slim wallet #slimline wallet #slim line wallet #card holder #cardholder #business card case #business card holder #business card wallet

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Band of the week: S O H N

S O H N is a little bit like Leon in that his name is just a single word and he’s quite mysterious with very few details surrounding him. OK, he’s not really that much like Leon to be honest but I couldn’t really think of a very good opener, other than talking about the spacing and capitalisation of his name which is extremely annoying. I do however like the film Leon and also like S O H N though so maybe it works a little bit...

 Anyway, ramble over and on to the meat and potatoes, S O H N is the kind of musician that would probably call himself a producer instead of a musician. He makes extremely emotional and soul heavy ambient sounding electronica. A bit like James Blake but probably less likely to cash in on a Feist cover (bet he was gutted he didn’t make the cut for a John Lewis ad…) or be anywhere near as jittery in the way he chooses to force out tears.

First and foremost is his voice, and what a voice it is. It’s like a reassuring chat with a wisened, emphatic loved one with their finger on realism. I usually hate any kind of electronic music that pushes any girly emotional Bon Iver slant but S O H N manages it quite well and his tunes are extremely arresting. You might not like it straight away but at the same time you probably won’t want to turn it off either, which is a very good quality to have in music. For this reason S O H N is probably one of the more interesting artists I’ve been sent this year and if he could get round to single spacing his name so it doesn’t keep fucking up my blog format I’d probably say I love him a bit. You should check him out by clicking below and let us know what you reckon to him in the comments.

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#band of the week #sohn #music #electronic #indie #bon iver #james blake #feist #ambient #leon #review #band tip

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12 Minimalist TV Show posters

This collection from designer Albert Exergian fall into the category of the former, each one depicting a popular TV show, some are slightly more cleverer than others, whilst some take a little concentration – akin to a magic eye puzzle.  Check out our favorites below.

For more design brilliance in a convenient email format check out our newsletter, it’s free and it’s brilliant. Click here to sign up.

  For other great posters check out Print-Process.com or head to Albert Exergian's site here.

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#minimalist posters #tv and film #television shows #tv shows #dexter #true blood #nip/tuck #californication #the simpsons #prison break #the big bang theory #breaking bad #boardwalk empire #homeland #the walking dead #game of thrones #posters #design #graphic design #graphics #albert exergian #print process #print-process

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The evolution of mobile phones (Russian Doll style)

Kyle is a designer specialising in hand crafted models, set design and art direction, he also makes some of the best things out of paper that we've ever seen. You can check out his site at by clicking here.

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#kyle bean #design #evolution of mobile phones #papercraft #paper craft #russian dolls #matryoshka dolls

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Mind-bending artwork from Felice Varini

Swiss artist Felice specialises in anamorphosis art, clever eye tricks that appear distorted unless viewed from a special angle or via a special instrument. His art, usually based around geometric shapes is created through the use of a projector style stencil technique the fantastic results of which you can see below. 

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Check out www.varini.org to see more of his work.

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#felice varini #anamorphic art #anamorphosis #illusion #installation #mind trick #optical illusion #artwork #projector stencil #abstract