This slow motion video shot in Tokyo is so dope…dying to visit Japan!

Tokyo Slo-Mode by Alex Lee

Good news!  According to this 1948 pop quiz, “You can be a real he-man and still like to make a cheese soufflé.”

The article also says, “It’s no reflection on your masculinity if you are a man and sometimes prefer feminine things.  Nor should you feel dismayed if you are a woman and have some masculine tastes.”  Well that’s a relief, because I scored a 7 which supposedly means I have masculine interests.

This stuff kills me!  So funny.  What’s your score?

via Retronaut

Diggin’ this mini toiletry bag from Flight 001.  It’s compressible so you can throw it in your luggage/backpack without it taking up too much space.  Plus, it’s bright orange!

F1 Spacepak Mini Toiletry Bag – $30

View Japan Annular solar eclipse on May 21, 2012 in a larger map

View Japan Annular solar eclipse on May 21, 2012 in a larger map

So stoked! There’s an annular solar eclipse happening on May 20th. It will be visible in Japan and certain areas in the western U.S. so we’re taking a road trip to get a good look at it. The red line on the map shows the exact point where it can be seen in totality and if you’re somewhere outside the vicinity of the blue lines, it will be seen as a partial eclipse. Since we’re driving from southern California, the closest place for us to get the best view is northeast of Las Vegas.

An annular eclipse is different than a total eclipse. When the moon passes in front of the sun, it doesn’t completely cover it like a total eclipse does. It makes the center of the sun look like a black hole and leaves a “ring of fire” around the edges for a couple of minutes. There hasn’t been one in the U.S. in 18 years!

I’ve never seen a solar eclipse so I can’t wait! I’ll report back with lots of photos after the trip…

Photos and sources: NASA Goddard on Flickr, NASA

This tilt shift video of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is incredible!

By Keith Loutit and Jarbas Agnelli

I’m jumping in!

Hole to Another Universe Wall Decal – $40

via Swiss Miss

Speaking of portals to other worlds, have you seen this video taken at the McMurdo station in Antarctica…?!!

When it comes to featuring products on my blog, I will only post items that I absolutely love and would use or buy myself.  That being said, this Artemis sweater sent to me courtesy of Triple Aught Design would be the first thing I’d grab if there were a zombie apocalypse.

Seriously.

Okay, the zombie apocalypse isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, but in the meantime this performance hoodie is definitely a piece I’ll be throwing in my backpack for an expedition (like the trek I did in Peru – here’s my packing list and video here).  I like it since the design is under-the-radar and doesn’t come across campy – so you can wear it both on and off the trails.  It’s made of 100% merino wool which regulates your temperature in cool or warm conditions and doesn’t hold stink…perfect for extended adventure travel.  A few features that set it apart are the reinforced elbows, the thumb holes for easy layering, and the big hoodie that actually covers your head – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that!

Bonus:  Since it’s made of merino wool, the Artemis sweater is naturally fire retardant so you can feel safe while using your flame thrower on all those zombies.

(Triple Aught Design is a San Francisco based tactical apparel and equipment company that doesn’t sacrifice form for function.  You can find the Artemis sweater right over here.)

Photos:  My own

One of my favorite sites to see on the central coast of California is Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  It’s a lavish estate that newspaper magnate/media mogul William Randolph Hearst built as his weekend ranch retreat.  They also call it La Cuesta Encantada or The Enchanted Hill, since it’s perched up high on a hill right on the Pacific coastline.  The sweeping vistas are only matched by Hearst’s art collection…the castle is loaded with rare art and antiquities from around the world.  He liked to entertain and always invited influential people such as Amelia Earhart, Charlie Chaplin, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to stay in the guest houses for short getaways.

To design this hilltop “castle” Hearst needed an architect with some serious skills so he chose the talented Julia Morgan.  Born in San Francisco in 1872, Morgan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in civil engineering.  With the encouragement of one of her instructors she applied to the Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study architecture, but she was initially refused entry because the school did not accept female applicants.  After two years she was finally accepted since she consistently placed in the top percentage in the entrance exams and could not be ignored.  She ended up becoming the first woman to graduate from the school.

Hearst hired Morgan in 1919 because she was an accomplished architect in California with a background in classical architecture and could manage a project of this scale.  Morgan and Hearst worked together for 27 years on the castle.  She designed most of the structures including the 115 room casa grande, three guest houses, the indoor and outdoor swimming pools, the gardens, tennis courts, and even a zoo.  She also oversaw every aspect of construction including the purchase of everything from Spanish antiquities to the reindeer for the the zoo.  Due to Hearst’s deep pockets and obsession with perfection, the massive project was still being modified and changed up until his death.

Above are some photos we took while touring the grounds.  My favorite part of the whole castle is the Greek inspired outdoor Neptune pool.  The bottom of it is a brilliant blue and white Grecian columns and statues line the edge of it.  Every time I’m there I just want to jump right in!  I actually stuck my toe in once while no one was looking – it was the highlight of my day!

Photos of Hearst Castle: My own
Profile photo: Wikipedia
Sources: HearstCastle.org, Wikipedia, Hearst Castle The Official Pictorial Guide by Nancy E. Loe

This Moleskine travel journal caught my eye at the store the other day.  It has all kinds of things in it to help you organize your travels like calendars, trip planners, wish lists, and an expandable pocket to stash all your ticket stubs in.  Might have to buy one (or two or three!).

Moleskine Travel Journal – $13.57

The clearest example of this is how toys and clothes are marketed to kids. You can’t walk into a major department store without seeing pink dominating the girls section. Have you seen the new pink Legos “for girls”?  There’s a lot of gender stereotyping controversy going around about the new product (here and here) since it has a beauty shop, a cafe, and a pool.  Things you don’t see in a typical set of Legos which are marketed toward boys. I think Riley sums it up best in this video, “Some girls like superheroes, and some girls like princesses!  So why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff and the boys have to buy different color stuff?”

But pink hasn’t always been seen as a girl’s color.  Get this, did you know that pink used to be considered a boy’s color and blue a girl’s color?!  A June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”  Time magazine even published this color chart that was displayed in department stores to show people what color to buy for babies (mostly pink for boys and blue for girls).  The color switch was made by retailers in the early 40′s but the pink and blue fad didn’t kick in with full force until the early 80′s.  The big reason was due to prenatal testing.  When expectant parents found out the sex of their baby, they could then shop for “girl” or “boy” merchandise.  “The more you individualize clothing, the more you can sell,” says author and professor Jo B. Paoletti who has been studying the color pink for over 30 years. Why pink vs. blue? “It’s really a story of what happened to neutral clothing,” says Paoletti. For centuries, both boy and girl babies wore white dresses. “What was once a matter of practicality—you dress your baby in white dresses and diapers; white cotton can be bleached—became a matter of ‘Oh my God, if I dress my baby in the wrong thing, they’ll grow up perverted,’ ” Paoletti says.

The thing that irks me is that it’s often perceived as a dainty delicate color and many people tend to automatically assume that pink = female. Remember this TED talk I posted with New Yorker cartoonist, Liza Donnelly? She mentions how we’re being conditioned at a young age to believe that all girls should like the color pink and are supposed to play with dolls. This assumption sticks with us as we get older because I see the unnecessary use of pink all the time in things that are women specific. For example, I found this ad for a women’s mountain biking clinic on a local race blog and was completely turned off by it for number of reasons:

First, did they have to slap pink all over it just because it’s geared toward women?  Secondly, am I supposed to get behind the slogan, Courageous Women of Dirt?!  So lame. Last but not least is the registration url shown at the bottom: www.rocknroadcyclery.net/DIVAS. Really?? Divas?! That’s just an insult. So essentially what this poster is saying is that I’m considered to be a “Courageous Pink Diva of Dirt” just because I’m a girl who likes to mountain bike. WTF.

Fact is we’re all different…some girls like pink and some don’t. You simply can’t define an entire gender by a color. Pink ≠ female.

Sources: Pinkisforboys.org, Smithsonian Magazine