By Tomás Alonso

Trident Vitality Rejuve Gum
Submitted by Gregory Collins

An over-the-top, industrially and graphically designed silver box with a flip-up lid. Cigarettes for women? European chocolates? A lost prop from a Bourne movie? You just don’t know. Way too much Helvetica. You scour the fine print and discover it is gum. Impressive. You did not see that coming. You open it. Flashy foil and clear plastic inner packaging puts you in an absurdly Dyson state of mind. Health. Simplicity. Understated affluence. The mint sprig on the packaging has a drop shadow so you start salivating like a Pavlovian St. Bernard thinking a mojito explosion is imminent. Then, you bite down. Your senses gridlock. Massive confusion. Everything is watermelon. The juice is watermelon. Your tongue is watermelon. Your minty fresh exhalation is watermelon. You take it out of your mouth, hoping for visual clues. But there are none. There is only watermelon.

A few things about this video. It is truly amazing. Check the date: 1989 – The 90′s were only months away, but here, in this den, in the company of “Bill Elliott”, knee socks and Stairway are still holding strong.

And what about the Fleming bottle cutter? As Bill suggests, you can make a great little drink glass from ordinary jars. Or, if you’re feeling crafty, a little rocking chair thing?

Fleming Bottle Cutter:  $14.99 on Ebay.

Debuting Friday, April 27, 2012 through August 2012, Royal/T will present unique ‘food for thought,’ with “The Art of Cooking,” a new food-and art-themed exhibit.

Food is something we can all relate to, as a social signifier and everyday source of pleasure. With this show, the curator Hanne Mugaas (who is from a family of restaurateurs and gourmet chefs) says “Food has always been present in art. With this show I wanted to focus on contemporary artists who represent food in interesting but also humorous ways – as food is (for most of us) linked to pleasure, not only when it comes to taste but also social interaction. This exhibition is meant to celebrate food – no matter if it is a gourmet meal, a donut, or a slice of toast with marmalade”.

Espen Friberg‘s show graphics point the way: this isn’t about artists strictly focusing on food as their subject, rather, it is intended to “induce “the pleasures of the table”.”

Weeeeird, dude.