Justin Van Genderen’s series of “vintage” Star Wars travel posters are now available as prints.

Available in different sizes. $25.18 for the 15.5” x 24” size.

Throughout the entire Vancouver Olympics, I never noticed the podium design. But now that I’m seeing these photos, I have to say they’re absolutely beautiful. Though I have to imagine some of the Olympians probably had initial concerns standing on them.

They were designed by the team of James Lee and Leo Obstbaum. The Western red cedar and Douglas fir wood was donated by various organizations from across British Columbia and fashioned into shape by newly trained wood workers in Vancouver.

There’s plenty more photos of the podium and the wooden trays used for presenting the medals at mocoloco.com.

Saw some other cyclists rocking these rock climbing gloves the other day and I think I might get some for myself. Maybe one for riding and one for heavy duty work (Habitat, food bank, other volunteering).

Just $30 at REI

I like these slick long wallets by Wikkerink Design. They’re made from reused old inner tubes. It comes with one of two linings: vinyl or felt. The vinyl folds up a little thinner and looks better, in my opinion.

$49

(via pollyisnotprobably.com)

I’ve always wanted to wear a puffy jacket but most of them would just make me look like the Michelin Man. The Blouson by MA looks like it just might work.

The fit is slim with a high collar, narrow sleeves, darted back, and hidden zip closure. All the right details to keep the look trim and sleek.

$995

IKEA is hardly the first place I think of when considering quality furniture. But every once in a while, I’ll see an item that catches me pleasantly surprised. On yesterday’s trip, I came across the IKEA STOCKHOLM TV unit.

In the photo it doesn’t look like much but once I handled it in the store, I could definitely see the thought that went into it. The doors slide up and down smoothly and when open, recede into the cabinet. The two center drawers have a damper that catch and pull in the drawer slowly and silently. They have the same feel as the doors on luxury cars. There’s some bits of real oak and unlike most IKEA items, the veneer covers every surface, even in the cabinet inserts and rear of the unit so you won’t be embarrassed to show any part of it. The handles are smoothly milled and there’s a elegant trim that goes all the way around on the top and at the base.

In the golden-brown color, the unit has a nice mid-century look. I have been shopping around for a good piece of vintage furniture on Craigslist to replace the slapdash holding up the TV and entertainment bits. After measuring up th dimensions against my living room, I’m going to go with this IKEA unit.

$299

NOTE: I did a little research and it turns out that IKEA STOCKHOLM is IKEA’s premium line. The quality and finish are more in line with what you might see at a designer furniture store like West Elm or EQ3. There’s a special page for the collection but you’ll find more pieces using “IKEA STOCKHOLM” keyword search.

And next is the enigmatic John Malkovich who hosted Saturday Night Live in December of last year.

I particularly like the black & white photo. It has that “elderly statesman of acting” look and is something I would expect from an Annie Leibovitz portrait.

You can see the other SNL portrait collages here.

A collage of the portraits for Paul Rudd, host of Saturday Night Live on Season 34, Episode 8.

Gotta love the pirate style eyepatch-over-the-glasses shot. He seems like he’d be a riot at a get together in a bar.

You can see the other SNL portrait collages here.

2 months ago I linked to Coal Considered’s “Stockholm” scarf. After taking a look through their entire catalog, I gotta say the “Dubai” is pretty stunning as well and even more versatile. Instant hoodie!

$50 ($45 via Google Shopping stores)

Can’t help laughing.

From a set of wedding invitations printed by Moontree Letterpress.

Digging the update of the classic desert boot in the Puma Urban Mobility Collection. It retains the elegant desert boot shape made famous by Clarks with a casual, urban twist.

$250

(via acquiremag.com)

Stunning Ventricle Vessel vase intertwines purple, red, blue, and white glass into a fusion of color and creativity. Created by Eva Milinkovic of Tsunami Glassworks.

Available in three sizes - 12” ($500), 16” ($750), and 22” ($1100)

You should also check out their other glass creations.

(via carrieleber.com)

This “Stockholm” scarf by Coal Considered is pretty sweet. Maybe it’s the photo but do you think it’s too feminine for a guy?

Comes in wine (red), charcoal, black, and khaki (pictured).

$70

So often it’s easy to forget that Hugh Laurie wasn’t always Dr. House. Fans of British comedic television of course know him better as George from Blackadder and Bertie from Jeeves and Wooster. I bring it up because his portraits from this 11th episode of SNL, season 34, remind me of those two roles. The tuxedo portraits being of course Bertie, and the red uniform portrait reminding me of George.

As always, you can see the other SNL portrait collages here.

Continuing with the Saturday Night Live collages, this one is of the country singer, Tim McGraw, who hosted the show in Season 34, Episode 9.

It would have been fun to see him do some portraits other than “singer” or “cowboy”. But then other hosts who do original portraits are usually actors or comedians.

You can see the other SNL portrait collages here.