G I Z M O D O .cz

Kevin Walter’s Wrath of God battleship is the latest SHIP to drool over. Having read the builder’s profile and learned that he’s 18, I’m reminded of a quote by Soren Roberts on SHIPs: “because you’re not a man until you’ve built one.” I guess this means that most of us still have a long way to go, but meanwhile Kevin shows us how it’s done.

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So, what champagne will you be toasting with tonight to ring in the New Year? Dom Perignon? Cristal? Taittinger's? Perhaps a good sparkling wine or even sparkling apple cider. But odds are you won't be drinking Angel Champagne unless you're either very in the know, or personal friends with Mariah Carey.



12 years in the making, Stefano Zagni's recently released Angel Champagne is quite possibly the most exclusive on the market. The champagne, which is blended and cellared in Reims, France, is beautifully presented in stunningly designed, hand finished, numbered and signed bottles.



"A passion for perfection is always paramount in my decision-making,” says founder Stefano Zagni. “Whether in business or my personal life."

The story of Angel Champagne is testament to his passion. Throughout every stage of its refinement, care and expert judgment have been applied – in order that those fortunate enough to enjoy it know they are enjoying the very best.

Angel Champagne is only available from the Angel web site or through specially selected establishments, which have been approved to stock the Angel range of Champagnes.

The range of Angel Champagnes includes non-vintage, vintage and rosé champagne, made with grapes sourced from the very best and premier Crus from the region of Champagne where specialist blenders then apply the centuries-old craft of assemblage in order to perfect the unique Angel taste. Then every bottle of Angel is hand-crafted and ‘finished’ with silver and cut-glass labels, inset gems and platinum finished body. Each hand-finished bottle is unique.



The iconic style of Angel and the hand finished detailing to the bottle known as ‘the body’ that contains the Champagne & Grande Cuvee Brut is unique to each Angel White and Angel Pink produced. The Angel White & Pink Magnum was specially selected for the sheer beauty and curve of the body and the pronounced shoulder & neck.

No one bottle is the same with the Angel solid silver neck ring, identification label and stylised ‘Angel Mark’, hand finished with gems, produced and worked to be held for the first time.

Starting with the most exclusive:

Special 24 bottles- Unique. Desirable. Collectible.

To mark the immensity of the new release, the very first 24 bottles of Angel Champagne will be set aside as items of special interest for discerning investors.

Each of the 24 platinum finish bottles is to be individually numbered, with solid platinum label, hallmarking and mounted diamonds. Each will be encased in the Angel handcrafted special creation leather tube with diamond-encrusted screw heads, silver base and head.





These hugely collectible items will be available for £250,000 (or $401,863.78 USD). For pre-orders and to register your interest, please contact the Angel team by using the contact/register your interest page and listing 'Special collectible' in the address panel.


Champagne Brut Triple Jeroboam - 9L White

Platinum finish bottle body of immense stature with solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is intense and the nose is fresh and elegant with a lovely clarity and precision to the pear, green apple, white flowers and mineral aromas that resonate on the long and elegant finish. Price: £5,450.00

Champagne Vintage Brut Magnum - 1.5L White

Platinum intense finish bottle body with solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is intense with heady aromas that lead to a richy-textured expression of the fruit. There is a superb expression of depth and richness of brioche, quince, pear and toasted nut aromas. This textured wine possesses awesome length, density and a sublime, classy finish which can only be found in a great vintage. Price: £1,824.00

Champagne - Rose Magnum Hint of Pink 1.5L

Platinum finish bottle body with crystal hand cut glass centre peice wing in a hint of pink, solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is delicate while the nose is intense with layers of small red berries, pomegrade, strawberries and flowers that marries power to a decidedly pure, pointillictic expression of the fruit. The finish combines wonderful elegance and finesse. Price: £1,535.00

Champagne - Brut Magnum - 1.5L White

Platinum finish bottle body with solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is intense and the nose is fresh and elegant with lovely clarity and precision to the pear, green apple, white flowers and mineral aromas that resonate on the long and elegant finish. Price: £1,486.00

Champagne Vintage Brut - 750ml White

Platinum intense finish bottle body with solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is intense with heady aromas that lead to a richy-textured expression of the fruit. There is a superb expression of depth and richness of brioche, quince, pear and toasted nut aromas. This textured wine possesses awesome length, density and a sublime, classy finish which can only be found in a great vintage. Price: £1,022.00

Champagne - Rose Hint of Pink 750ml

Platinum finish bottle body with crystal hand cut glass centre piece wing in a hint of pink, solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is delicate while the nose is intense with layers of small red berries, pomegrade, strawberries and flowers that marries power to a decidedly pure, pointillictic expression of the fruit. The finish combines wonderful elegance and finesse. Price: £1,019.00

Champagne - Brut - 750ml White

Platinum finish bottle body with solid silver labels and neckband encrusted with diamond cut crystals and crystal cut glass wing embellishment and crowned with a unique silver speckled hand applied black flocked foil seal.

The colour is intense and the nose is fresh and elegant with lovely clarity and precision to the pear, green apple, white flowers and mineral aromas that resonate on the long and elegant finish. Price: £840.00

Buy any of the above bottles here.

Prices in US dollars:
Grande Cuvee Brut White - 750ML $795 (including Angel necklace)
Grande Cuvee Brut Magnum White - 1.5L $1295 (including Angel necklace)
Grande Cuvee Brut Rosé Pink - 750ML $825 (including Angel necklace)
Grande Cuvee Brut Rosé Magnum Pink - 1.5L $1325 (including Angel necklace)
Champagne Brut White - 750ML $455
Champagne Brut Rosé Pink - 750ML $495
Champagne Brut Vintage Black - 750ML $795
Champagne Brut Magnum White - 1.5L $875


Special Creations
The Angel Special Creations range has so far included personalized, diamond encrusted bottles of Champagne and Champagne cases, plus beautiful leather bottle cases, which can be personalized, and hand finished to an exceptional and exacting level of quality.



A special custom gift case and magnum bottles with hand-crafted name embellishments were created for Mariah Carey & Nick Canon's 1st anniversary celebration gift. Both Mariah and Nick’s initials were gem encrusted:


Hand embroidered velvet bottle sleeve with drawstring and a leather shoulder bag:


Hand crafted leather embossed and stitched case with silverwork and encrusted gems:




Angel Jewelry & Accessories


Not just the bubbly, Angel’s range of available accessories includes a lapel pin and cuff links for men, a bracelet, a ring, earrings, a hairpin and necklaces for women (some with diamonds), as well as unisex necklaces and cell phone charms. A specially tailored flight transit case is also available. All of which are shown below.









Unlike luxury brand Roederer's Cristal champagne, who, in 2006, got a lot of grief (and a boycott by Jay-Z) for implying that they'd rather not be associated with hip-hop artists and their music videos, Angel champagne seems to be happy to take over that role.



Given that Mariah is the 'face' of Angel Champagne, it's no surprise that the champagne was featured in her Obsessed video and is apparently one of the gifts she is known to send. Her album, "Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel" came bundled with a CD that featured advertising for products, including Angel Champagne. The champagne has also been featured in the Rick Ross video of the hit record ‘Magnificent’ and in Fabolous' Throw it in the Bag video. and their It's My Time video.

Take that, Cristal. And Happy New Year!


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Check out these Champagne-related posts:

•Painters Get Tipsy On Champagne

•Bevvy Of Buckets. Modern Champagne Coolers And Ice Buckets.

•More Bubbly For Your Buck. The Top 10 Best Champagne Deals.

•Enough About Champagne To Make Your Head Spin. And That's Before You Drink It.

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Chris Doyle’s stained glass creation features a complex octopus design. It incorporates both transparent bricks and plates for a more detailed depiction. I’m still left to wonder why an octopus?

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above: Come together. Below: detail of Come together



Australian born sculptor and painter Ricky Swallow has many talents. Only one of which are his realistic wood carvings made with Jelutong, English Lime, Walnut and Pear wood.

Although he has wonderful bronze works and watercolors, too, it's his wood carvings that emulate canvas, rubber, animals and more I want to share with you. The appearance of these sculptures suggest they are made of materials other than wood.

The majority of the sculptures below are made of Jelutong*

Sleeping Range:

Fig.1:



Fig.2



The Bricoleur:

Field Recording/Highland Park Hydra:

Everything is nothing:


The arrangement:


Private dancer:

Together is the new alone:

Younger than yesterday

Instrument:

Growing Pains (contingency for beginners):

You can read a review or Ricky's 2006 show in the NY Times here.

*What is Jelutong?

Jelutong (Dyera costulata) is a type of hardwood also known as jelutong bukit or jelutong paya. It grows in Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra and has the appearance of a straight grained wood with fine, even texture. Colors range from creamy-white sapwood and heartwood, maturing to a pale straw-yellow.

It is light, soft, brittle, and weak with good stability in service, low decay resistance, and works easily with both hand and power tools.

This type of wood planes to a nice, clean surface and glues, screws, and nails without difficulty. Stains, paints, and varnishes fairly well.

It is popular for model making, patterns, wooden shoes, battery separators, and drawing boards. Also used for interior joinery and corestock for doors. Excellent wood for carving and sculpture due to its softness. Latex in the wood is extracted for chewing gum.



above: Ricky Swallow, Field Recordings

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Only a select few know that I've got a ridiculously enormous collection of snowdomes ( also called snowglobes, shakies or waterglobes). Most of the over 300 that I own are packed away in boxes with the exception of a few of the more artsy and unusual ones. By that I mean limited editions, signed and numbered and sold either in museums, galleries or directly from the artist.

A few days ago I wrote about the artfully twisted snowdomes and photo prints of Walter Martin and Paloma Muniz. (I don't yet own one of theirs, but I want one... I have to wait and see if they ever go on sale, lol).

I do have the WTF snowdome (a recent purchase from Urban Outfitters) and the third edition of the more offensive version by Nora Logorano and Marshall Reese, both shown below:


Which brings me to their latest collection. Ligorano and Reese have just released their Seven Deadly Sins Snowdomes, which I would LOVE to have. Each has one of the seven deadly sins depicted in translucent colored type (in a font appropriate to the sin) on a colored wood base.


above: Close-up of LUST

above: close up of ENVY

A little too pricey for me to buy the whole collection at $100.00 each. But they are fabulous, take a look:







They’re available a la carte, $100/each. Order them online here

Dimensions: 5 1/2 inches high, 3 3/4 inch wood base, 4 inch glass globe.

about the artists:



NORA LIGORANO and MARSHALL REESE (shown above) have collaborated together as Ligorano/Reese since the early 80’s. They use collaboration to blend diverse talents into a singular voice and vision. In the process of creating their work, their individual contributions cross and criss-cross between each other from brainstorming to realizing and making the art on location or in the studio.

They use unusual materials and industrial processes to make their limited edition multiples, videos, sculptures and installations, moving easily from dish towels, underwear, and snow globes, to electronic art and computer controlled interactive installations.

They take and manipulate images, audio and text from old media: print, television, radio and combine that with the new: internet and mobile telecommunications. Their pursuit is an ongoing investigation into the impact of technology on culture and the associations and meanings that the media brings to images, language and speech in politics.

Ligorano and Reese

Pure Products, USA

special thanks to See-Ming Lee for the additional photos

Check out these other 7 deadly sins related items:

•Kacper Hamilton's 7 Deadly Wine Glasses
•Rossignol Has Artists Depict The 7 Deadly Sins On Skis.

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Measuring 4′6″ (172 studs), Steef de Prouw’s Nebulon-B escort frigate is one massive and detailed build. It’s big enough to accommodate mini X-wings and Millennium Falcon on its docking tube. From what I’ve seen there’s no other Nebulon-B like it in terms of size and style.

This picture shows the grandeur of the frigate in space — an amazing sight to behold.

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Jarek’s Starcraft Battlecruiser ranks among one of the best I’ve seen. This is his biggest creation to date, taking a month to complete. The model features Jarek’s smooth yet textured building style, rendering the ship true to the original.

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As several readers noted regarding the clearance on 2009 LEGO sets, the 2010 sets are also now available.

The much-anticipated LEGO Atlantis sets are now available.

And LEGO Toy Story sets are also now available.

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Their 1-step plan is apparently to have their members build mindbogglingly awesome stuff, again and again and again. Really, I want to know how the creations posted online with the little lugpol logo are so consistently great.

crises-crs‘ Zero to Hero – part 1: Winter

Great by itself, but in parts 2 and 3, he subtly changes the lighting, some building details, and the action to capture the different feel of the seasons and the progress of the hero’s training.

For a very different feel, but equally neat creation, here’s PigletCiamek’s Arabian Street 2: The Caravanserai.

Any lugpol members out there, please tell us why you are so totally cool. I know it’s nothing sinister, but I would like to know what certain groups do to regularly present such an impressive level of building, LowLUG is another prime example.

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Sebastian Arts (Aliencat!) posted pictures of this church based on a real one in Sherpenheuvel, Belgium. Like any great creation there are a lot of different things to like, but for me it’s the basic color scheme and uneven wall texture.

He has more on his MOCpages, including fantastic rear and interior details.

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