While Victor Huang was trying out his shiny new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2 in Wahine Memorial, Wellington, New Zealand, he attempted to get video of a large wild octopus. The octopus snatched the camera from his hands and swam away with it while still recording — subsequently filming a chase for the camera that lasted several minutes.

“While trying to get video of a wild octopus, it suddenly dashed towards me and rips my shiny new camera from out of my hands, then swims off, all while the camera is recording! he swam away very quickly like a naughty shoplifter. after a 5 minute chase, I placed my speargun underneath him and he quickly and curiously grabbed hold of the gun as well, giving me enough time to reach in and grab the camera from out of his mouth. I didn’t feel threatened at all during the whole ordeal. he seemed to be fixated on the shiny metallic blue digital camera. the only confusing behavior was how he dashed off with it like a thief haha. cheeky octopus.”

The above video is the chase, with the following credits: Music by Vincent Gillioz (Car Chase) and Dalmatian Rex and the Eigentones (Octopus I Love You). First unit camera: Victor Huang. First unit director and second unit camera: Cheeky Octopus.

via Metafilter

We’re excited to see The Quotidian met the Mission Street Food Project; while both are local to San Francisco, each do something on a cultural level that we’d love to see replicated in other major cities — and both are getting national attention. The Quotidian is a San Francisco phenomenon; they are a ongoing online video documentary project “that highlights how everyday people and actions can have a larger effect on the world”. They recently examined another SF phenom, Mission Street Food Project, which scores killer local chefs to bring high-end San Francisco food to the people and creating happening events (and hot date destinations) in the process, all while giving proceeds to charitable organizations. Their next event is this Thursday, April 1st, and all dining events are cash only. Quotidian did a fabulous documentary on MSF (above) explaining,

The success of these nights has also transformed Mission Street Food into a serious charitable business, as more than $17,000 was donated to local charities during the part-time restaurant’s first 10 months of operation. Mission Burger, a lunchtime burger stand that Myint started inside the Duc Loi Supermarket a couple doors down from Mission Street Food, has also generated more than $2,500 in donations during its first three months of operation.

While the idea of donating sales proceeds to charitable causes isn’t necessarily new, what’s impressive about Mission Street Food is that it’s taken place in the dining world, where profit margins are notoriously hard to come by even with the most established restaurants and competition is cutthroat. Mission Street Food has succeeded as a foodie destination and business in spite of (or perhaps because of) its charitable roots, proving that it’s possible to be a successful small local business with a great product while giving back directly to the community in a real, meaningful way.

via Kai Hsing

image of Poker Face cookies by fadedlines6

You don’t have to be a fan of Lady Gaga’s taste in apparel to appreciate the way she looks as a frosted gingerbread cookie — yummy — but if you’re like us and you enjoy her entertaining styles, you’ll appreciate the care, creativity and attention to detail that fans have been pouring into homemade confections bearing tribute to the Lady. First up are the gingerbreads by Matt Meyer and Devonne Ditinick, painstakingly re-creating over a dozen outfits spanning many of Gaga’s character manifestations in high-end couture.

Next are Gaga cupcakes, captured by Cupcakes Take The Cake. One set is Lady Gaga busts in cupcake form, another set is the monogram “G” cupcakes custom made for Gaga’s “Paparrazi” video. The artist uploaded her final masterpieces to DeviantArt, with commentary.

A number of Lady Gaga cakes have been baked, but this one by The LadygloomThe Ladygloom was presented to Lady Gaga and is as far-out of an interpretation of a cake as is Gaga’s own brand of fashion.

cookies via Fashionindie

North Korean traffic girls, in their uniforms deigned by the Great Leader, with their unfailingly robotic movements and riveting focus, are becoming figures of cult status. Instead of traffic lights to control the stop and go flow of an intersection, women dressed in perfectly crisp and identical outfits stand alone in the middle of intersections in a small circle (or on a platform with an umbrella for shade). They are only allowed to turn counter-clockwise, directing traffic with forceful, halting movements. They have wonderful uniform variations for rain and winter. They’ve been the subject of photographic study since at least the 1970s, have the website Pyongyang Traffic Girls dedicated to them (with Traffic Girl of the Month; here’s March), a growing catalog of user submitted YouTube videos, and at least one Flickr photo pool. Are they sexy? Strangely, yes. Are they efficient? Frightfully so. Do we have our Halloween costume now? Most certainly.

via SuperPunch

photo by Bryan Hughes