I’m a big fan of these Dragon Speakers– a design by Axelsson Design studio, founded by Joakim Axelsson in the UK. Reminiscent of Buro Vormkrijger’s awesome Woofer Speakers, these sound-spewing hi-fi dragons are available in white (shown), red, black or made to order in a color spec you provide for a casual 1000 GBP.

According to NME and Stereogum, Shitdisco is what you’d refer to as “disco-punk.” Their album, Kingdom of Fear, is perfect for those burdened with short attention spans; at 38 minutes, it’s a genius culmination of spastic bass lines and Klaxon-esque vocals. In other words, Shitdisco is totally fun. Their video for “OK” keeps that rhetoric going– directed by live-action guru Price James, it’s a pop-up book gone wild.

Via designboom

The centerpiece of this summer’s “Art of Play” in Chicago, “Niki in the Garden” exhibits over 30 fanciful sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle at The Garfield Park Conservatory. Internationally renowned for her interpretation of the female form in her Nanas sculptures, her works at the Conservatory include mythical creatures, figures from pop culture, and even a certain former player for the Chicago Bulls. Rather than view her works at arms-length, visitors will be encouraged to sit and climb on the sculptures. The Conservatory is well worth a visit on a nice weekend during the summer, and a public exhibition nicely reinforces the community emphasis at Garfield Park. A few years ago, the Dale Chihuly exhibition at The Conservatory was well executed, and it is great to see Chicago continue to develop accessible cultural resources.

My friend Angela put it best last week when she said, “I’ve reached maximum social networking saturation.” As a one-time rabid Dodgeball member (whose future seems uncertain now, having been abandoned by Dens & Alex under unfortunate circumstances), as well as a light-to-moderate Facebook/IILWY/Twitter user, dispassionate Myspace-er and obsessed Blackberry owner, I think she’s right. I’m connected 101% of the time, and although this isn’t exactly news to me, I still have those moments where I realize that disengaging myself every now and then may be beneficial to not only me, but the people around me.

But then, I find new things like B-List, and I convince myself that because it’s technically “research”, signing up is okay. B-List allows Blackberry Pearl, 7130 and 8700 owners to create lists of their favorite venues to share with other B-List users, with the database having already been populated by over 100 “celebrities” lists from all over the world. I’m really digging the community feel of it (as opposed to a friends-only invite system), and because it’s not primarily city-centric, it could prove an invaluable resource when traveling and looking for the newest, hottest venues.