Royalty in ancient India played a form of Chess called Shatranj. Sadly, all they had was silk cloth board and usual dice. If they knew about the latest artistic investment in the game of Chess, they would have been amazed. For instance, The Art Of War board and dice, designed by Victor F. Scharstein. Imagine rhodium and gold chess pieces dancing at your command on a decked up ebony board.

Every piece is tastefully decorated with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones. Even the legs of the board are all gold- having eight all gold balls. It will be priced at nearly $50,000. It is said that all other parts of the game such as the lock and the key, the hinges and the handle are made of gold. I can imagine how much motivation a thief will have to break open the lock and get away with it.
My other concern is that of functionality itself. Would not so much of glitter distract the attention away from the game? But may be that is also a positive point if you twist the argument a little.

Now you can call your friends for a game of Chess and win every game as they would be too busy admiring the glitter and gold to play the game seriously, at least the first few times! If, after all my convictions, this game piece does not appeal to you, check out the subtle yet classy transparent chess set here.

Via ArtOfWarChess

Our lives have become increasingly private with the result that we have to deliberately plan and interact with our friends, neighbours and relatives. And if space is the problem, we can simply arrange a weekend gala on a terrace/garden. Having a  portable video projector with built-in DVD player and a screen or a white sheet of cloth will complete what ever was missing from the gathering.

This is exactly what a couple of people near Harlem did to celebrate. They all got together on the common terrace of the building along with an Epson MovieMate 72 projector. This reminds me of my University days when students would sit on strike and play inspirational movies on the projector in the lawns. It was such a thrill, huddled together to have a glance amidst noise of sloganeering.

But in case you are planning to organise your won white sheet theatre, be prepared for the vagaries of nature! It will be advisable to have a back up plan in case of rains. One must also protect the screen from high winds or it will be blown away!

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To begin with, the celebrating statement of the day is “EliteBlogger = Bir’day gurl Miss Cellania.
I was on my hunt for my next EliteBlogger after interviewing Alex from Neatorama and Shaun from Deputy Dog. And then fortunately both the bloggers recommended Miss Cellania, who is popularly known across blogosphere for her contribution across diverse nature of blogs i.e. Neatorama, YesButNoButYes and Mental Floss. Cutting the long story short, I spent couple of hours getting a fair idea of her deliverables and got to know that she is the Blogebrity of the humorous and offbeat stuff.

The very day I sent her an invite to be my EliteBlogger with a prompt response from her saying: “Sure, I will be glad to answer your questions.”

And here we have her with us penning down interesting responses to the long-list of questions sent across. Go with the flow:

Cellania, Kindly introduce yourself to my readers and take us through your usual day at work.
I get the kids off to school in the morning, then surf the web and post items at Neatorama and YesButNoButYes until about 1 or 2PM. Then I do some housework and take a nap. In the evening, I take the kids to their activities, check on my mother-in-law, grab some dinner, help with homework, and try to get the kids in bed by ten. Then I write for mental_floss and my own blog until maybe 3AM.

When did you sense an inclination towards blogging?
I started sending a newsletter of jokes in 2004 to reconnect with old friends and entertain new online friends. When I discovered blogging, it seemed like a much easier way to do the same thing.

Whilst having an email-interview with Alex, he introduced me to Neatorama as the neat side of web. What remains your criterion of post selection that you play here?
The main criteria for Neatorama is that an item be interesting; the kind of thing that will make you say, “Hey, that’s neat!” Other than that, it must be appealing to a wide audience, fairly safe for family viewing, and something we haven’t posted before.

Is there any niche that you maintain while posting “Morning Cup of Links” at Mental Floss or are they random picks that fit well one’s breakfast table?

I try to get a variety every day. Optimally, I’d love to have a science breakthrough, a link or two on history, geography, or language, some news that makes you think, and several funny links. And a kitten doing something cute. But I will sacrifice variety for quality, depending on what’s good that day.

How is your experience to write for a site targeted at men (YesButNoButYes)? Is it difficult or interesting?

Both difficult AND interesting! I walk a fine line trying to be ladylike and give the guys what they want. There have been many times I’ll pass on a great story or link because I think it’s over the line for me, and later find one of the guys used it and had a very successful post. But that’s OK.

How do you maintain stability at writing front as you deliver articles across diverse areas i.e. humor, movies, men, gadgets, and other random stuff?
For my own site, I just collect anything that amuses me. Working for mental_floss has caused me to expand my horizons, so to speak, since I never wrote about gadgets at all until they asked me to do a weekly “gadget report”. And I’m always looking outside my comfort zone to find subjects for my mental_floss features. It keeps me on my toes, but I’d hardly call it maintaining stability.

Japan seems to breed robots in huge numbers. Can you imagine a day when robots are efficient enough to substitute humans for all major tasks? Would you depute one to blog for you?
If I could afford it, sure! In fact, I would hire a human to do it for me now, if I had the money. I’d also hire someone, or a robot, to clean my house if I could.

How would you define an ideal blog? I mean, what special features it must have to make an impact and deliver?
There are no universal ideals, because there is no way to please the entire online audience. There are niches for link blogs, political blogs, personal blogs, specialty blogs, art blogs, etc etc. They all have different standards to appeal to a different audience. Within each genre, they should have 1. Quality content, 2. Whatever it take to make accessing that content easy for the reader, like a pleasing layout, simple navigation, and proper grammar and spelling. Even those things vary, because you don’t need proper grammar on a blog that posts graphics only, and a pleasing layout varies depending on the type of blog and the audience.

Do you think there is any scope left for evolving bloggers to try their luck?
There is room for many more bloggers! You hear about how many millions of blogs there are, but they come in all languages covering many different subjects. And many bloggers don’t need luck, because they aren’t setting goals for their blogs -they just want to write for whoever is interested. Blogging is easy to try out, and easy to quit if you aren’t getting what you want out of it.

Both your personal blogs Miss Cellania and Miss C Recommends seem to be populated with videos. Considering your inclination towards digital technology, can we expect you to enter into the domain of podcasting in coming months?
I don’t have the time or patience to do audio podcasting. I don’t even have the time or patience to listen to podcasts! As far as video goes, I tried that at Neatorama. Since I live in a small town far away from anything interesting, it’s really hard to find good subjects to shoot.

Pen down your five favorite posts written till date.

The LOLcat of Death.
Does My Butt Look Big in This?
The Weirdest Insects in the World.
My Dream Job.
8 Historical Crossdressers: Women in a Man’s World.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something that should go here.

Whom would you count as the top-five male and female bloggers that has enabled blogosphere stand next to mainstream journalism?
I really don’t feel qualified to answer that. There are way too many good news bloggers that I don’t read. I tend to concentrate on the humorous and offbeat stuff, so a lot of good journalism passes me by.

Tell us you favorite blogs across following areas:

1. Gadget:
Coolest Gadgets
Gizmodo
Geek Like Me

2. Political:
Simply Left Behind
Shakesville
Crooks and Liars

3. Movie:
Big Picture, Big Sound
Transbuddha

4. Entertainment:
Neatorama
YesButNoButYes
Bits and Pieces
Phil’s Phun
The Presurfer

6. Others:
Metafilter
Nothing to do with Arbroath
Mental Floss
Science Blogs
Damn Interesting
Cynical-C
Omegamom
Clueless in Carolina
Wulfweard the White
I could go on all day. I love a lot of blogs!

Quick bites:
1. Hours you invest surfing net: 6-8 hours a day. A bit less on weekends.
2. Biggest blogging mistake you did: I spent three years doing one post a day, when I should have done several smaller posts.
3. One hidden truth: It never pays to take yourself too seriously.
4. If asked to post only on one blog (not the current ones), which one would that be?
Hmm, that’s a hard one. Damn Interesting.
5. Advice you would have given yourself five years ago? Start writing! It’s what you’ve always wanted to do!
6. If not a bloggger then….A DJ. I was a radio announcer for 24 years.
7. Life without Internet: Lonely.
8. First gadget you kept your fingers upon: A clock! I got attached to one when I was a toddler. My mom says “clock” was my first word.

How would you like to be known as:

1. Blogger
2. Writer
3. Entrepreneur

Blogger is fine. I don’t write as much as I link. And entrepreneur is a big word for someone who doesn’t make any more money than I do.

If asked for giving three tips to a greenhorn blogger, what would that be?

1. Write about things you enjoy, or you’ll get burned out fast.
2. Don’t worry about pleasing everyone, because you can’t.
3. Make friends. They’re the best thing to come out of the internet.

What are the five things you wish to accomplish while you’re alive?

1. Raise my daughters to be strong, confident, independent women.
2. Travel the world.
3. See my grandchildren.
4. Build a retirement fund.
5. Go on a date.

Where do you see the future of blogosphere? Is there anything that you wish blogosphere to accomplish?
I love how the internet is getting so much information to people in the blink of an eye. I only wish that this kind of communication were available to everyone. I see a big dichotomy between computer users and non-computer users, which I am afraid, will only become worse. What I would like the blogosphere to accomplish is to bring people together, with communication between people of different regions and countries, so we may understand how similar we really are.

Whom would you recommend as my next EliteBlogger and Why?

Hoss at Old Horsetail Snake would be a hoot to interview. Jon Swift would also be funny. Or Jean-Luc Picard. They all have wonderfully amusing online personas.

Give us your views on EliteChoice.
This series of blogger interviews is fascinating. I’ve learned a lot about people I thought I knew!

Your turn! I am ready to answer a question for you.
Where are you?
I am currently in Las Vegas

Here, we convey all our wishes to Miss Cellania and look forward to have a birthday cake from her next year on a preplanned schedule. Thanks Celliania for fetching time from your busy routine to enthrall my audience.

Long road trips in cramped up cars makes one feel like traveling in a house on wheels. This caravan or trailer, call it as you like it, is nothing of the ordinary sort. Airsteam’s PanAmerica has designed, for the adventurer, a luxuriously stylish and comfortable trailer. The new 34-foot 2009 Airstream PanAmerica can haul two motorcycles, ATVs or other action/adventure/ outdoor gear, up to 3,000 pounds weight in its garage. The PanAmerica’s 11 foot garage is accessible via a gull-wing door and fold down ramp for easy loading and unloading of your vehicles, plus a pass-through door in the bulkhead with porthole window providing occupants access to both rooms.
The back room is also equipped with storage cabinets, tabletop work areas, tie downs, electrical outlets for power and speakers tied to the PanAmerica’s crystal-clear sound system. The living space is completely equipped with stainless steel appliances, lounge area, shower and toilet, and a double bed sleeping area. The living space offers contemporary European luxury yacht-inspired design with flush cabinetry, flowing lines and indirect lighting.

Stainless steel appliances and trim, leather appointments and a flush-mount flat screen television makes journey in this an extremely comfortable trip. Seems more like a luxury suite than just a trailer. Get packing to spend that weekend away in style. Though avoid camping trips in this luxurious trailer for you don’t want camping to loose its true spirit!



Via AcquireMag / LuxuryLaunches

Hi-fi technical stuffs become great accessories in a modern home decor. And what better than those ubercool speakers that will surely become the reason for your neighbour’s envy! Providing for especially those who can’t settle for anything but the best, a New Zealand-based company called Arvus Loudspeakers has come with an exclusively stylish loudspeakers aptly titled ‘The Prerenaissance’.

The speakers are priced at $140,000 and are available in wood, painted, carbon fiber, and stainless steel finish options. I shall talk about the particular style option I liked the best. In the wooden look, the speakers have a very earthy yet stylish feel around them. If what we hear is correct, then each speaker has hundreds of man hours reflecting in the unmatchable design.

And the sound technology offered is a perfect match for the expensive looks. With 6 channels of amplification, the speakers can make up a total of 3000 watts RMS. Well, what more could one ask for!

Via Product Page

Some times, keeping low profile is not such a bad idea altogether. That is what Airstream did at the launch of the PanAmerica- they practically did nothing. Even the product was no where to be found on the company’s own site. Now that’s taking the idea a little too further, if you ask me. What makes the product really sturdy and durable is the aluminum monocoque shell, which accounts for twenty percent less fuel consumption. It has an inbuilt garage having hookers and locks along with a foldaway ramp to keep your bikes securely.

The length of PanAmerica is a spacious 34 feet . All the models are disability friendly and the manufacturers are more than willing to customize the vehicle to making it more disable friendly, if need be. It is worthy of $85,000 that it asks for.

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Imagine playing football in a field studded with diamonds! The Diamond Plate Foosball Table, recently launched is not exactly made up of gems but has the diamond metallic plating on the table. Amazingly set in polycarbonate, the model has chrome plate ball returns. To add zing to your game, it has a fitted MP3 player dock having integrated speakers. So if you want this fantastic piece in your home or gym, be prepared to shell out $1,223.

Via Uncrate

Have you ever heard about any one giving their house for free if you buy a replica of the house? I am sure none of us have heard about this cranky thing. That precisely is the reason why Gerry Mann and Cindy Mann are selling the toy house for $169,000 and offering their four-bedroom, two-bathroom home as free.

The couple living at 221 Bradley St were tired of waiting for any customers to arrive at their door for more than an year. Gerry Mann explained his classic case thus: “The Realtors do the normal thing; they put us in the book, they have an open house. So after a year I was thinking, I don’t know, I have this dollhouse sitting in my basement, let me see if I can do some creative marketing.”

Their ancestor, retired engineer late Ron Cadwell made a replica of the home 50 years back using a 1-foot-to-1-inch scale, as a play house for children. Little did he know that he his little replica home would be worth hundreds of thousands!

Via Yahoo / BattleCreekEnquirer

If that instatement of in-house golf simulator or full-swing golf simulator fails to offer the expected amount of excitement or rather has created a void for you then consider the priceless set of worlds most expensive golf clubs designed by Japan-based manufacturers ‘Honma’.They say a set of 14 golf clubs is going to bite you with a demanding cost of $45,000. The head shape, shaft and the grip of the golf clubs is customized sporting 24k gold plating and Pt 1000 platinum.

Each club is feigned considering the specifics of the customers in terms of its length and weight. There is a possibility that you can emboss initials over each club.

Via GolfAustralia

Here is the prospective contender for the choosy race to design world’s most expensive golf ball marker. Those sporty folks with an admiration for blingy products can witness it as an inviting opportunity to ink deal with glossy golf accessory coming from the house of Shano, an established name in the production of golf ornaments. Sporting platinum and diamond, the golf ball marker flaunts 1/2 of a carat of white VS diamonds measuring 1″ in diameter and 1/10″ in thickness.

Priced at $10,200, they still fall behind the pricey model of the TriMark marker retailed for $10,500. If you ask me then I am game for a new rider as the elite design is quite appealing.

Via Luxist