iDale

Some bloke, Yelken Octuri, who designs interiors for Airbus just just blown me away with his Honeymoon space shuttle design for a bit of weightless you-know-what in space.

1. Launch into space

Space tourism is getting closer than most married couples do, so the Honeymoon space shuttle concept aims to offer a unique zero gravity experience for couples to reconnect or set the bar with.

2. Your love-pod is released into the galaxy

The Shuttle contains five capsules, each hosting a couple for a 48-hour flight – there’s also a specific mechanism that will keep you and your partner together to enjoy the pleasures of microgravity lovemaking.

3. Your capsule opens and gets into position with a view

4. Let the games begin

The capsules are dropped at an altitude of 200 km and once the flight is finished, each capsule follows an automatic and autonomous return flight…

5. A gentle landing before lighting up a smoke

Weightless Sex Warning

Like any form of aviation, the weightless bump and grind must respect a few rules. You’re not totally free in space and must know that any action triggers a reaction. So make sure you aren’t sent flying across the capsule and smashing into the wall (unless that’s your thing). Soft and gentle does it!

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been running a Meerlust Wine and Wonderbra competition (over here). The prizes, valued at over R6000, were great – so it’s no wonder the entries have been flooding in via email and twitter every single day.

In the studio: Sasha, Kim & Lauren

I sought out the help of Sasha Martinengo & Kim Schultze from 5fm to help me do the draw – think of him as a crazy Italian auditor armed with a microphone and a blonde sidekick. And a Wonderbra…

Testing out the goods

Although Sasha seems to fit well into a C-cup and knows his way around a bra strap, I’ve gotta say he’s gonna have to earn back some of my respect for hating on my love for Apple products – the guy uses some girlie red craptop for goodness sake – come on Sasha!

After all the banter, we got down to business and filled his wife’s new bra with the entries…

Serious business

And first place goes to…

Adrian Frost – a guy. Yes, a guy.

Adrian takes home a R1200 Wonderbra voucher along with 3 bottles of Meerlust Chardonnay, 3 bottles of Meerlust Merlot and a Square Forest. That ought to set the mood for one very lucky lady out there. Well done!

As for the rest…

I think it would be best if you visit the competition page and see ALL the winners for yourself in one place. Click here to see the winners.

I must admit that in the end I gave in – I let Sasha have a photo with Lauren and I. He twisted my arm! What was I supposed to do?

Sasha, Lauren & yours truly in the 5fm studio

And that’s a wrap!

Here’s the thing: FlashRods are incredible!

Back to the Future Baby!

We all love cars and we all have data, so if you put the two together you get a stainless steel hard drive car that’s highly detailed with opening doors, bonnets and boots. Holy!

American Muscle Baby!

Each FlashRod is stuffed with a 500GB Seagate hard drive. And the variety of cards is growing quickly…

But wait, there's more... Baby!

It’s not bad either at a price of $250 (R1800) – think about what you would pay for a high quality die cast car and a hard drive. hmm? Do the maths and get yours here.

While we’re on the topic of Cars, check out which Flash Rod your favorite blogger would go for in my SA Blog Boys and Their Dream Toys post.

Let the beauty we love be what we do

This past weekend kicked off a little early because I headed to the launch evening of the Food Wine Design Fair in Hyde Park. It was a great event and I finally got to meet Dawn & Roger from Jorgensen’s Distillery, who are doing a competition on iDale with Square Forest (Enter here), in person.

Dawn Jorgensen & Dale Kopping decorating

The event was really classy for an exhibition and hosted in several marquees on the roof of the mall. The first were filled with design related things like creative furniture, home decor and household accessories. Everything from Pixar-style lamps and clip-together tables to rock-inspired pillows and cutting boards made from recycled wine barrels.

A big bowl of creativity never killed no one

Easy-does-it-interior-design

The next tents focused on interesting home-industry type foods like olives, meats, cheeses and cupcakes. I wasn’t blown away by this one as it seemed the usual suspects were out to peddle off their over-priced food stuffs. Fitting, considering I was in SA’s most expensive shopping mall.

The very last marquee was devoted to wine, beers and unique spirits like Field of Dreams Absinthe. The gents from Brewers & Union (featured here too) were there as well as my friends from Meerlust and Sunday Times blogger Neil Pendock.

Frames galore!

I left the event making a couple of purchases including a cutting board (which has since started warping) and a really great frame from Luna for my picture frame wall collage.

Saturday was action day – I headed off to the indoor go-karting track near Greenstone Centre to kick some ass. And I did in my lucky kart with the fastest lap time of the day.

Lucky number seven! YO!

I’m not gonna lie and say it was easy. By the time my second race was over, I thought my fingers were going to fall off from clutching the steering wheel so tight – now I know what it must be like clutching on to something for dear life!

Anyway, by now you’re probably asking yourself why there hasn’t been any mention of a braai yet? Never ask that question. Ever.

Mid-race braai is the only way to spend mid-race.

On Sunday I think I had one of the most unhealthy days of my life. AND I never went for a jog either…

First I headed to Rosebank to pick up two tiny picture frames and scope out the vibe. Then I give a hand and hopefully made a difference in raising funds for Cotlands Charity by purchasing a McHappy Day hand for R5 from McDonald’s – it’s a thing they have going in the month of November.

Improving the lives of the children in our communities

So in addition to my McFlurry I consumed no less than a packet of biltong, a lamb chop, a bowl of crispy chicken from Kung Foo Kitchen, chocolate, Cream Soda and an entire box of chocolate smokes…

Really. Can you blame me?

At the end of the day I watched a classic movie – Van Wilder – and hung a few more frames on the picture frame wall collage. I’ve now got a total of 17 frames and running out of wall space at a rapid pace…

My name is Dale and I'm an addict.

Soon I’ll have no choice but to go vertical with this project!

All in all a great weekend! Be sure to check out the following:

• 5 Steps to Making Absinthe
• Where Top Blogger Break Bread
• Win Absinthe, Vodka, Brandy, Limoncello and a Square Forest

It’s not generally wise to buy second-hand gadgets. But when it comes to hand-built quadraphonic mixing consoles used by Pink Floyd, the rules can be chopped and changed so someone out there can own a slice of the band’s legendary live performance history…

One mythical concert coming right up

Hand built quadraphonic mixing consoles used on the Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell world tours are being auctioned at Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia sale in Knightsbridge on December 15th, with a percentage of the proceeds going to concert industry charity Stage Hand.

Hey guys, lets score some LSD and play with our soldering irons!

Every Pink Floyd tour since the late 1960s featured quadraphonic sound among the many live sound and lighting effects pioneered by the band. Sound effects including helicopters, the famous chiming clocks and gongs of Dark Side Of The Moon and many more, were whirled around massive arenas and stadiums using banks of loudspeakers positioned in a diamond layout.

PULSE - the most legendary concert ever

Only six generations of quad mixing desks or external quad panning devices were made during the band’s performing history between 1969 and 1994, each using the best audio technology available at the time.

Mike Rowe, the man flogging the two Pink Floyd consoles

It’s no wonder I included Pink Floyd in my  Twelve Most Memorable Album Covers Ever post a while back.

Click here to watch, listen and read what all the fuss is about. Trust me.

What’s the most a bottle of nail polish could cost? R200? Or do you draw the line at eighty bucks?

How about R1 Million? That’s about the cost of this Models Own Gold Rush bottle of nail polish…

You gotta really love gold to get this glaze!

Don’t be fooled though – the shimmering metallic shade doesn’t have actual gold in the formula, but the outside is dripping with the real thing – along with 1118 inlaid diamonds baby! It’s available at British jeweller Frost of London for those wanting to invest in some commodities – for the rest of you ladies (Adam Lambert and the Parlotones), a R60 “ready to wear” version of the polish is also available.

Hahaha, iTunes, pffft!

The Beatles have sold 450,000 albums and 2 million individual tracks during the first week they went up online. That’s about $8 million spent on Beatles downloads off the mark!

The most popular and most downloaded track is the ever legendary “Let it be”. So here it is…

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

And when the brokenhearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be

For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Yeah, there will be an answer let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be

I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Yeah, let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

Any of you guys remember writing that???

Apples free iOS 4.2 Software Update was released yesterday. This is important stuff because it brings all-new features to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, letting you do even more with one of the world’s greatest mobile operating systems.

I’ve installed it and have a run down of the most important implications it’s had for my iPad in particular…

Multitasking

This is the big one and allows you to be more productive as you work, have more fun while you play, or do a little of both. It’s really smooth and efficient and doesn’t affect the performance of the app you’re working in or drain the battery…

Browsing while running 3 apps in the background

Folders

You can now have more room for more apps with drag-and-drop simplicity. You can declutter your workspace and sort your apps for fast access to your favorites…

Pop your best and worst apps into folders

AirPrint

Another big play, AirPrint makes it simple to print email, photos, web pages, and documents with a couple of taps. In true Apple style there’s no software to download, no drivers to install, and no cables to connect…

Print anything from anywhere

Find My iPad

This feature used to be available only to paying MobileMe users, but now anyone can locate their missing device and protect its data. Once you set it up, you can find your lost device on a map, display a message on its screen, remotely set a passcode lock, and initiate a remote wipe to delete your data. And if you eventually find your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can restore everything from your last backup…

Locate your devices from me.com - now free

And there you have it!

I’m not too concerned about numbers, specifications and compounds when a car looks like the new CLS 63 AMG. I just want to see what is looks like and hear how it sounds…

The Front

The Rear

The Cabin

The Cockpit

The Side

The Vibe

Add some sound and this is what you get…

Earlier this year, during the Word Cup, Kulula launched a series of hilarious adverts online, in the papers, on radio and outdoor. I loved them.

For those of you who can relate, here’s a great video outlining how the campaign was kicked off and then snowballed to increase their ticket sales by 33% and gain R6.8m in free publicity…

You gotta love it!