I thought the most exciting collaboration news I'd get this month was going to be Lanvin x H&M, but clearly I was wrong. While that piece of news has stagnated as we await the release of the looks, I think in early November, this you can get right away. Star Wars x Winnie the Pooh! Chewy boy gets the plum role of Pooh himself, while Han Solo channels Christopher Robin. There's also Sesame Street x Picasso (something I know a thing or two about too... AHEM) and Sesame x Star Wars, plus lots of other hilarious, adorable goodness at Jances Hance's site. Prints are available as well as other merchandise. More images after the cut! Pat, these are for you, even though I don't think you read this blog. Some best friend!

Remember the clock that we showcased a while back that is for the alphabetically inclined? Well, here’s one for math nerds. (Sidenote, why is it that it sounds so much smoother in my head that mathematically inclined people should be nerds rather than geeks? Hmm, a conundrum to ponder over a rainy day methinks.) Anyway, makers of this clock want to ensure that those calculus lessons, math classes haven’t gone to waste. Of course, most of us past a certain age learned to read an analog clock by its angles, so numerals are kinda unnecessary but nice concept. How many do you know? Answers after the cut. Get it for US$25 here.

Answers
12 - a radical
1 - Legendre's constant is a mathematical constant occurring in a formula conjectured by Adrien-Marie Legendre to capture the asymptotic behavior of the prime-counting function. Its value is now known to be exactly 1.
2 - A joke in the math world: An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says, "You're all idiots," and pours two beers.
3 - A unicode character XML "numeric character reference."
4 - Modular arithmetic, also known as clock arithmetic, is a system of arithmetic for integers, where numbers "wrap around" after they reach a certain value. The modular multiplicative inverse of 2 (mod 7) is the integer /a/ such that 2*/a/ is congruent to 1 modulo 7.
5 - The Golden Mean...reworked a little.
6 - Three factorial (3*2*1=6)
7 - A repeating decimal that is proven to be exactly equal to 7 with Cauchy's Convergence Test.
8 - Graphical representation of binary code.
9 - An example of a base-4 number, which uses the digits 0, 1, 2 and 3 to represent any real number.
10 - A Binomial Coefficient, also known as the choose function. 5 choose 2 is equal to 5! divided by (2!*(5-2)!)
11 A hexadecimal, or base-16, number.

I've had home improvement on the brain for some time now. I love my new place, it only needs a little bit more personalization to achieve perfection, and I believe that the finishing touch could come in the form of this chair, a Nika Zupanc design for Moooi: the 5 o'clock chair. Come to think of it, while we're imagining ridiculous interior accoutrements that Loretta will never let me buy, I really like that "sui wong wong" eyeball wall installation. It has this whole cosmic thing going on that's very anime-meets-Armani.


Images: dezeen

The folks at Sleep Naked generously gave out sheets to some of the Hong Kong press, dovetailing nicely with my new move and new bed size. And new sense of extreme hygiene, given that their sheets come in only hotel-ready white. I tell you, these sheets are evil -- once you jump into bed with them, you'll never want to leave, but the irony is you can't really do anything ON the sheets without sullying their pristine whiteness. Including my favourite activity, (get your mind out of the gutter) eating. Oh, crumbs. Therefore, the implementation of these sheets will also coincide with my new diet, and by diet I mean not scarfing cookies and chips in bed anymore. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will continue as scheduled, in spite of me being so fat that my pants are no longer functional (pocket popped, zipper won't stay up on account of bulging fat pushing it down...)

But on a more serious note, these do live up to their name; you really will want to sleep naked in them, that's how soft and cuddly they are. Now if only they had sleeves...

You know how there are days when you are just soo cranky or sleepy at the office that you simply don’t want to talk to anyone because you are afraid you’ll unleash the inner vampire in you? (Sorry for the vampire reference, ShoeGeek has me hooked on True Blood and I just saw Twilight over the weekend... (which btw was hilariously cheesy)) Well this is when you need these mood mugs to convey your emotions. Choose from Happy as Larry, Monstrously Moody and Seriously Sleepy. How much do you want to bet there’s an overstock of Happy as Larry mugs? Get it here.

The internet is a beautiful place. It’s one giant mall where I keep discovering new shops to venture into. I just stumbled onto The Curiosity Shoppe and am falling in love with the random items they have in stock. From the crayon rings that we profiled in the past to ceramic flashlight lamps, USB reading glasses, potato chip pendants, this shop is like falling into the wacky world of Alice. Some items that caught my eye after the cut.

Not for sale yet, but this little invention is one of those things that will make you kick yourself if, like the Snuggie, it takes off into retail superstardom and turns the inventor into a multi-millionaire (Snuggie sales topped US$60 million as of March last year, according to the NYT). It's the simple things that make the most sense. And www.happinessinbed.com is the best website URL choice ever.

"How bizarre is this," I said to FashionGeek right before I started writing this post. "We're going to have two posts on detergent this week." So we decided, what the hell, let's make it washing-up week on Hong Kong Fashion Geek. Tomorrow, you can read about the paper detergent she's extolling to anyone who travels, but for now you can read what ShoeGeek has to say about Woolite Black, for anyone who wears black. Yeah, that means you. (Read on, I promise to entertain.)

I sometimes think I put way too much thought into doing laundry. I love my clothes, and I've been burned by the man in the laundry shop many times (how can you send back four SINGLE socks and NO pairs?) so I meticulously sort my colours from my whites from my delicates and so on. Despite this anal colour-sorting (it makes me realize what a crap job the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter has), my dark clothes, like Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, are often victims of the fade. Insert cheap laughs here.

For some reason, Woolite decided to go on the offensive with a blogger campaign to launch their new detergent, Woolite Black, created for dark clothes. Random? Yes. But she of the streaky dark clothing does not complain about free detergent. And I don't know if it's kismet or a weird coincidence, but the very next day after I received the Woolite package, my dog decided to pee on my black bathroom mat. So I washed it with my brand new bottle of Woolite Black. It's not really a fair comparison, because I actually use Woolite as my regular detergent, and it's hard to test an agent that prevents fading with just one wash, but... PHWOAR. It didn't fade! Magic. See the before and after shots to prove it. It's like a bad infomercial, haha, and somehow I tricked you into reading this far.



So, you ladies who love LBDs -- go pick up a bottle. On another note, I'm very amused by this trend of things going black. Like pantiliners that come in black so as to blend more naturally with your black underwear. You know, in case you come across an up-the-skirt cameraman on the MTR. (Don't tell me it's for the benefit of lovers because that opens up a whole new debate about why your lover and your pantiliner are even in the same room.)

Then there's this latest that landed in my inbox: Renova black toilet paper (also comes in blue, green, fuschia, red and orange). Now word-of-the-day toilet paper made sense -- you poo, you learn. Insert Friends reference here. But black TP... um, sorry to get graphic here, but how do you know when to stop wiping? Then again, they say once you go black, you don't go back. But I'm pretty sure they were referring to Woolite.

I love ThinkGeek. And not only because they have the word Geek to their names. I love them for all the fun items I can find which are perfect novelty gifts for other geeky friends. If shipping were cheaper, I suspect my credit card bill will have a lot more items from ThinkGeek charged to it. My latest discovery is this heat changing arcade mug. Do you remember having heat changing mugs back in the day? Well combine it with some old school arcade games and you’ve got a classic nostalgic piece for that 80s baby.


Choose from the Pac Boy mug which displays an empty maze until you get that cuppa coffee and instantly add 8-bit style ghosts and energizers to the mug or the Space Intruders mug which show retro invaders style battle in action.

Get them at ThinkGeek for US$7.99 a piece

An awful lot of my friends are moving into new apartments recently. So much so that the past couple meals I’ve had with friends have always been interrupted by contractors or delivery men or designers etc. And normally these calls tend to be rather lengthy so I’ve found myself daydreaming about what my own place would look like when I eventually make that grown up step and move out. First thing I decided was that I must have a decent shower. And on my daily prowl for things to entertain you, I come across the perfect thing.

I never thought I’d be one to lust after a shower fixture. After all, lusting after fashion and gadgets already fills my ‘to covet’ quota. But check out the products from Jaclo’s spa collection. Choose from the Aquavolo Duetto, a stainless steel showerhead fixture that doubles as a waterfall shower and a rain shower, the Circolare spa rain canopy or my favourite, the Dream Light Rain Canopy which features LED lights to illuminate the falling water in white, blue, amber, red, green or warm white hued lights. Why you need to have coloured water, I’m not quite sure. But doesn’t it look pretty? It’d be perfect for those days when you want to belt out that Glee tune, or perform an impromptu rain dance.

Continuing our love for gummy bears, we present the Gummy Bear Chandelier. Unfortunately, dear readers, the gummy bears in question are made of acrylic and not edible but the chandelier is still pretty darn cool. And check out the store which carries them, Jellio. Combining interior design with childhood fun, they have created quite a few bits of yummy furniture. Sorry guys, I’m really hungry right now so I’ve got this fixation with the food furniture more than the other fun stuff but if you go on the site, you’ll see plenty of iconic pieces of childhood brought back to life in a funky way.


Jellio’s key focus is to create interior design that makes you smile and they have certainly done that with the amazing items they’ve created. I’m drooling over the Cupcake Seat and would love to pair it with the Ice Cream Bench. Also, be sure to check out their Custom Projects section. They’ve done some pretty cool stuff such as creating lava lamps for the folks at Google, and Rubik’s Cubes for a PS3 launch. Be prepared though. If you are a Geek like me, you’d covet everything they have on offer yet won’t be able to afford it as their items are pretty pricy.

When you've been working in the magazine biz for a number of years, you may find you've collected quite a number of back issues that clog up your apartment. The primary reason to keep a full-time job, I often find, is so that you can refrain from bringing home magazine issues until absolutely necessary. As you can tell from the images above, I've come up with some uber-stylish solutions for displaying my life's work... NOT.

But I'll be moving into my first official "grown-up" apartment and will be getting a wall-to-wall shelving unit that, my designer friend guarantees, is calculated to hold "20 or more years of career." Yay! I can't remember where I found all of the below pictures, but if you're looking for a bomb-ass shelving system, just take them to a contractor for replication. Yes, I am condoning architectural piracy. Doesn't everyone do it?

I was rewatching The September Issue and fell in love with Anna Wintour's neat white Vogue spines in her neat white shelves. But not all of us are lucky to stay with the same publication for 20+ years. The colour coordination of book spines seems like a tedious task, but it is cool-looking. Otherwise, I do also like how Mizz Wintour leaned photo frames against the magazines to add some detail and personality. Wish I could find a photo...

In a city where tiny apartments are prevalent and stress rampant, this Foldaway Massage Chair should be pretty ideal for the Hong Kong market. Boasting of invigorating leg and foot massages and folding to the size of the ottoman, the Foldaway Massage Chair uses air cells to inflate and deflate to deliver a kneading sensation. Finger-like nodes provide acupressure massages on the toes, arches and soles of the feet. At US$800, this is a pretty pricey gadget (not to mention it’s basically the Osim iSqueeze plus a chair, and the iSqueeze is considerably cheaper) but there’s something about its red and white colour scheme that has us wanting this overpriced ottoman that folds into a 22” x 19” block (the press release calls it a cube but the math nerd in me disagrees). Of course, the fact that us Geeks are suckers for anything convertible might also be a factor. What do you think? Is it worth it?

Available here

Not quite the shoe porn you're used to, but for a footwear fiend like myself, there's nothing cuter than a dog bed inspired by the croc. Who's a cozy little corgi?

Get it at Sasquatch! Pet Beds

There's no reason not to look cute even if you're in the kitchen. Check out these adorable Dreamy Aprons from Neiman Marcus. I could totally see ShoeGeek rocking the half version as a skirt (I'm not so much of a ruffles girl but can still appreciate their cuteness factor.) The only annoying about Neiman Marcus is that you can't order online. Or rather, in order for them to ship internationally, you have to call them to place an order. However, I'm hoping that by posting this up, some Chinese manufacturer will stumble upon this site, make it and sell them in HK. (Psst, if this happens, be sure to email me!)
In the meantime, get it here.

I'm a big fan of hamsters as ShoeGeek will tell you and if you follow me on twitter, you'll know that my favourite hamster Nosy Jai just died (ironically of a swollen nose from a cold which led to pneumonia). Anyway I'm still in mourning yet that won't deter me from bringing you the latest Geekisms. I was unfortunately reminded of my hamster when I saw this ingenious invention called the Rakku Shoe Wheel but am still compelled to share it with you, my dear readers. It's essentially a hamster wheel but for your shoes! How brilliant is it that it can retain the shape of your shoes plus store so many pairs in such a small space?

Designed by Danilo Torro who was living in Hong Kong at the time and sick of shoes being littered all over his tiny apartment, he developed the Rakku in 2002. To keep shoes in place as the Rakku spins, elastic bands are stretched over each of the wheel’s 20 pockets. The bands are pushed to the side when the shoe is inserted or removed.

And if you are someone who decides what to wear based from a pair of shoes (ahem ShoeGeek). Why not spice things up by spinning the wheel to see what you should wear tomorrow?

Available at GOD

Proud to be a Geek? Show it off with this Text Talk Vinyl Shower Curtain or simply brush up on your emoticons while showering. It's like the modern version of those smiley posters I use to get back in high school. US$15 at Bed Bath & Beyond

I love plants. Having something green at my desk cheers me up immensely. Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb. No matter how determined I am to care for plants, they seem to die on me. (The only exception was a plant I received from Seed as a press gift. It somehow managed to last over a year except that it started out being two strong stems with 12 to 15 leaves and now there's only one stem with 5 drooping leaves so I don't have high hopes for the poor thing.)

I am determined to find a way to solve this problem and no, plastic plants aren't the answer. After some digging, I was told that moss terrariums are amazingly easy to take care off and you would have to actually work at killing them. Supposedly, you only need to water them every month as the lid seals off the moisture and it becomes a small ecosystem.

There are countless cute moss terrariums to be found on Etsy ranging from US$20 to US$300 but they only ship within the US so I decided to make my own and now I can't decide how to decorate it. Should I go with the picnic setting or the mossroom? For something Christmasy try using glass ornaments and putting the moss inside.



What you'll need:
gravel or glass beads (HK$10 at Jusco)
potting soil (HK$6)
moss (HK$45 at a flower store near The Pawn in Wanchai)
glass jar (I used an old Yankee Candle jar but any glass jar with a lid would do)
decorations (these miniature sushi, chopsticks and green tea are available at City Super for HK$30, the mushroom those capsule toy machines for HK$5)

Instructions
1. Place the gravel/ glass beads at the bottom of the jar for drainage
2. Add about 1 inch of moist potted soil
3. Layer the moss on top, feel free to squish as much as you can into the jar for a nice thick carpet.
4. Spray the moss with some water
5. Add the decoration
6. Close lid

And there you go! A simple, green garden sitting on your desktop. Now fingers crossed that I won't kill this terrarium!

The one thing that I cannot do without every year is a live Christmas tree. It's amazing how different I feel when there's the scent of pine in the house. While some may say it's a bit of an extravagance (and I'm not denying it as a 5ft tree costs between HK$700 - HK$1200), it's one of those purchases that is definitely worth it. When I was younger, I had all sorts of small stuffed animals that was given to me at childbirth as decoration for the tree and it's been my biggest regret that my parents threw out all those toys without my consent while I was away at college.

So now I'm forever on a quest to find Christmas tree decorations. Eclectic is what I strive for. We have the usual Swarovski crystal ornaments but also quirky ones like Smores, red sequined Absolut vodka key chains and this year I'm looking to add this set of acrylic video game controllers to the mixture. Designed by Dave Rollins, these seven ornaments contain laser cut-out versions of Wii, N64, Xbox 360, Dreamcast, NES, PS2 and Sega Genesis controllers. Perfect for the gamer geek in me.

Available here

How cute are these yummy little creations from kokocandles? They're so realistic, I'd have a seriously hard time convincing myself not to gobble them all up. The only downside is that they display such verisimilitude that there's a high chance my greedy dog would take a big old bite before realizing she's just eating a hunk of wax. Actually, knowing her, she'd probably finish a full set meal of candle wax without even noticing; she just spent the past half hour trying to lick my laptop's USB hubs.