Photos from the SandFestival Ruhr have been turning up in various newspapers‘ “pictures of the day” galleries. From what I can gather this festival in western Germany features 11 large sand sculptures, one of which depicts “President George W. Bush as an octopus who holds corn, oil, a cross, the World Trade Center, and a gun in his tentacles.” Though I don’t know any German, I do know how to use flickr tags so here’s a “sandfestivalruhr” gallery which currently contains photos from Markus Schroeder.

The San Francisco Chronicle caught up with the creator of the Mobile Movie (MobMov) movement at an undisclosed location as 15 cars tuned in their radios to enjoy the latest traveling feature film. Bryan Kennedy has received plenty of blog and national press coverage as his nostalgic re-creation sprouted a healthy following in many states and around the world. This article observes that the movie-goers “seem to be attracted to the intersecting parallels of art and kitsch, the familiar and the unknown.” A recent intermission innovation at this MobMov is playtime on a Nintendo Wii.

The popularity of jewelry featuring uncut diamonds is growing. At DeBeers’ U.S. stores, one of every five pieces sold features rough diamonds. Not surprisingly DeBeers was among the first to push these stones into the jewelry market. Many of the stones used are unsuitable for cutting into faceted gems, so otherwise worthless rocks are made valuable by clever marketing to the exclusive, subtle, and natural trends in luxury products. (via Luxist)

The N.Y. Times reviews the museum dedicated to bubbly sugary refreshment, The New World of Coca-Cola. From a lobby decorated with the corporate mission to a tasting gallery ready for sampling sodas from around the world, the sweet success of Coke is ready for sharing at $15 a head.

Before the big hit “Brigadoon” skyrocketed their careers, Lerner and Loewe staged the musical “The Day Before Spring.” Earlier this year Jim Morgan of the York Theater Company decided to bring it back to life, obtained the necessary permissions, but then discovered that the music was nowhere to be found. A detective story of sorts then ensued. A revival in 1990 had been cobbled together from the sheet music of seven published songs from the musical and the recollections of living original cast members and musical directors. But Morgan and his directors found that score to be “so sketchy as to be essentially unusable.” Enter Mark Horowitz, senior music specialist at the Library of Congress. In 1999 the library purchased a set of Loewe’s documents which he had left to a friend who had in turn left it to someone who put it up for auction at Christie’s. Horowitz provided this treasure trove to music director Aaron Gandy who found that “Every song had a different set of materials that survived.” Gandy pieced it all into a full score and this weekend the curtain goes up on a revitalized “The Day Before Spring” as part of the York’s “Mufti” series.

How do you transport a coin worth $1.9 million across the country? John Feigenbaum dressed down in a t-shirt, jeans, flip-flops and bought a coach seat on a redeye flight to avoid suspicion. He got an unexpected upgrade to first class and stayed awake through the flight, periodically checking to make sure the coin, a 1894 dime, was still in his briefcase. The dime is one of only 24 struck that year at the San Francisco mint for a VIP gift. Only nine are known to still exist. Feigenbaum transported the dime from the seller’s vault in Oakland, CA to the buyer’s vault in Manhattan, and collected a nice commission.

I hadn’t checked in on Peter Gabriel in a while. He’s been investing in digital music distribution, founding and backing We7, a download site with an ad-supported model. The free mp3s are fronted with a short audio ad and you can pay for a version without the ad. Neither version has DRM. Gabriel is currently on a European tour and his WOMAD festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary. He’s working on an album which may be released in 2008. Bonus video links: Gabriel speaking at TED 2006 about Witness, daughter Anna’s Youtube channel.

For the chef who has everything, why not wow them with a gold-handled saucepan decorated with 200 diamonds? Just fork over £100,000 at Harrod’s in London and German cookware maker Fissler will make you one to order. It comes in a jewelry box made of rootwood (similar to burl). A pot like this needs a matching spoon for stirring and brandishing.

In a back room of a small music store in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, owners Steve and Barb Baker send care packages of a different sort to soldiers in Iraq. Operation Happy Note began with one guitar sent as a gift to their son and grew from there, providing musical instruments to over 400 soldiers. They receive 3-5 instrument requests a day and Barb has quit her job to work on the volunteer project full-time. Guitars are popular and novices are provided with lesson plans. They’ve also sent out bagpipes.

Both the Seattle PI and the San Francisco Chronicle have just run articles on coyotes in their respective cities. Coyotes are proving to be quite adaptable to the urban environment, eating mainly rodents, though dogs & cats are frequent targets. Researchers discovered “at least a couple thousand” living in metropolitan Chicago. There are no official records but some in Seattle think the urban population has risen significantly. SF’s Golden Gate Park and other large green zones are likely home to at least half a dozen.