A former boutique storefront in London has become the temporary home of the U.K.’s “first walk in cocktail.” For a mere £5 an hour, a British culinary team allows you to “climb into plastic suits and enter a venue where beverages will be pumped into the room as a vapour cloud”.

Lucky ticket-holders to the sold-out event are encouraged to “breathe responsibly” before stepping into an alcoholic fog for up to 40 minutes – long enough to inhale a fairly stiff drink.

The Guardian noted that “as far as taste goes, this is the real deal,” with some mouthfuls of air “sweeter with tonic and others nicely gin-heavy.” They cleverly concluded that, “With no sentient ice cubes able to confirm it, one can only assume that this is what the inside of a G and T feels like.”

Via BLDGBLOG.

April 21, 2009, 9:39am

In news that’s sure to give hope anyone who counts themselves among the aging Red River set, scientists are set to begin testing on the world’s first artificial liver. The so-called “extracorporeal liver assist device” or ELAD is a 4 inch plastic disk which contains “immortalized” lab-cultured human liver cells grown in sinister vats somewhere in California. Once installed, these devices serve to filter poisons out of the blood, allowing the user to go right on drinking vodka tonics, or more, likely waiting for transplant. Despite their $30k pricetag, expect these to become the must-have accessories for the discerning hard-drinking oldster.

February 05, 2009, 9:27am

Brothers, something is missing. Between the robots, investment notifications, and sharp objects, there has been nary a steampunk update in quite a while. With that in mind, I bring the melding of Victorian-era sensibilities and Jobsian design aesthetics: the iSteamPhone. Goggles not included.

January 29, 2009, 4:11pm

A collection of bizarre lo-res animated gifs.

Via Modcult.

January 29, 2009, 9:45am

Vyacheslav Molotov, Bolshevik newspaperman and Stalin protege. His rise to infamy came when, as acting Soviet foreign minister, he told the world Russian bombers were airdropping food and supplies to the embattled Finns when they were actually dropping bombs. Like generations of outgunned armies after them, Finnish youth took to the street and threw homemade bombs at Russian tanks. They proved so effective that a Finnish distillery mass-produced them by  by the hundred thousand during the war. Repurposed Finlandia Vodka factories mixed cheap booze and tar (as a gelling agent) and packaged it up in a smart-looking bottle, complete with a pair of waterproof matches.

January 16, 2009, 9:03am