When one purchases a soft drink from a convenience store, one frequently has the choice to buy one in a bottle or in a can.
An ordinary-looking drink can.
An ordinary-looking drink bottle.
What’s this?
I don’t understand this confusing world anymore!
When my cousin and I visited Beijing a couple years ago, we came across this monstrous hybrid of a beverage container while going about our business. Naturally, we were compelled to buy one, and try it out. It turns out that Glinter, the soft drink that comes in the bottle-can/can-bottle (cottle? ban? bancottle? cottleban? Dear-god-what-is-this-world-coming-to-container?) is a fairly ordinary-tasting concoction. I say “ordinary-tasting” because I don’t much remember what it tasted like, though probably something much like Sprite or 7-up, but perhaps (judging by the image on the…packaging) more orangey. (A web search tells me that this soft drink is from Malaysia. I won’t link to it, since it plays music, and I hate when websites play music. But feel free to google it. If you dare.)
This week’s friday foto finder theme is “novelty.” My kids end up getting all sorts of cheap novelties from birthday parties and things, but mostly they are pretty uninteresting. (Can novelties get old? Yup, I think so.) But rather than dig out some plastic doodads, I thought I’d share these photos I had of something I found to be pretty novel.
Speaking of novel, when I asked John what the phrase “the frankenstein of beverage containers” evoked for him, he replied, “you’re talking about the Vessyl, right?” Of course, not knowing what the hell he was talking about, I thought he said “vessel.” But it turns out that the Vessyl is a weird cyber-monstrosity of a beverage holder. It’s a cup that, using advanced technology, tells you what beverage is in it. Or, as ValleyWag puts it, it is “the $200 smart cup that helps dummies remember what they’re drinking.” That is certainly…novel. (I wonder why they didn’t call it the iCup?)
And speaking of novel gadgets that actually are a bit more appealing (at least to me, seeing as I can usually remember what drink I’ve poured), have you seen this pen that can scan objects for color and mix inks to match them? I don’t really have a use for such a thing, but it does sound like it would be fun to play with.
To see what other novelties have been shared this week, or to share photos of your own novelties, pay a visit to the fff blog.
collecting tokens 
Your posts always or usually make me laugh out loud. How far fetched can you get containers that let you know what you are drinking. Can you ask it A question, like is my drink. Got to stop and go on with more Open Studios prep. Thanks for the comedy relief.
Glad to have made you laugh, Mom!
That is not only novel, it is downright weird. Very much an “Escher” peice :)
Yes, I suppose Escher would probably have chose to purchase his soft drinks in this sort of container!
I think that drink container just broke my brain.
I hope your brain is healing, Sally!
I laughed so hard at “cottle? ban? bancottle? cottleban? Dear-god-what-is-this-word-coming-to-container?” Long, and audibly.
I must have encountered this bizarre hybrid before, though, because when I saw the photo I thought, “I wonder if it’s Asian.” It must have been something we saw on our travels.
Aw, thanks, Lisa! I enjoy making people audibly laugh. (Especially people beyond myself. Because I have indeed been known to make myself laugh.)
I make myself laugh too. Sometimes I think I must be super lame to find myself so amusing. Then I think, “Who cares? I have more fun this way!”
I am amazed by all that you share in this post. The weird can/bottle. The vessyl. The fact that you know about these novel items. I’ll never look upon beverage containers the same way again. :-)
You make me feel like a magician or a circus ringmaster, Ally Bean! I am happy to have brought a little bit of amazement and wonder to your day.
Being from Malaysia, I looked at that “frankenstein of beverage containers” and thought… so what’s the big deal?!
Actually, I’m more bemused by the drink’s brand name – glinter: a cross between glint and glitter? What does that have to do with liquids? (OTOH, I don’t bat an eyelid at drinking Pocari Sweat…)
Ha! I actually expected you might know these containers, YTSL, especially once I discovered that they are from Malaysia. Hopefully you are just as amazed and entertained at the amazement and entertainment of those of us for whom the containers are novel as we are amazed and entertained by the containers themselves. (Next up, I will be sure to write about the frankenstein of utensils. Behold the monstrous hybrid, the spork!)
For me, the name glinter adds to the mystique. I think that’s why I was disappointed that it tasted so very ordinary. I wanted magic! (And yes, Pocari Sweat is a name that might raise an eyebrow in some parts of the world.)
That’s an interesting drink container! Love your word creations. :D Ever since we had to pay deposit on cans etc, cans have more or less gone from the shops. You can still get them, but I can’t remember the last time I actually saw one.
Appreeciate you blogging this