Poaching eggs rarely pops up on the list of fun things to do. Neither does trussing a chicken, or making ice cubes. And flipping bacon rarely elicits giggles. Fusionbrands‘  brightly colored, stylish silicone products could turn mundane kitchen duties into conversation starters.  The stuff is flexible, rubbery, heat-resistant to 675 degrees, dishwasher safe and, well, cute. Their poach pods (above) first caught our eye. They are lovely and float in boiling water to easily poach eggs. Two are $10.

Fusionbrand’s other stylish, sturdy stuff (you can toss all of it in the dishwasher):

The orange “tenderpress” (above left) to flatten or tenderize meat without pounding or stabbing or having chicken bits fly everywhere, $18. The “foodloop“ (15 inches long, $10, above right), (more…)

The problem with lipstick is that it doesn’t really stick. All it takes is a cup of coffee and that beautiful burgundy you carefully applied is erased. Lip stains have been around for a while, but they’re enjoying a resurgance in some of the most popular make-up lines, primarily because lips (and cheeks) really do absorb the stain, and the tint lasts longer. It eventually wears away, but not as quickly as lipstick. One of the early popular stains is Benetint by Benefit ($28). The rose-colored liquid in a bottle is a sheer tint for lips and cheeks. Benefit also has a lip balm stain ($20) that’s thicker, and a convenient Benetint Pocket Pal ($20, pictured) that has a double-wand approach with lip stain on one end and a thick clear gloss on the other. Laura Mercier has a stain that comes in six shades that is also a little thicker in texture (like a gloss), for $20. Stila has two types of stain, both in a pen-like form: the cherry crush or the lip rouge, which looks and feels like a magic marker ($20). Then there are lots of other stain-makers: DuWop (which also is a lip plumper), Tarte (also a plumper), TheBalm’s Stainiac in three shades, Laura Geller, DKNY, Vincent Longo, Nars and more. A word of warning: be careful with the stains that are in liquid form. They, well, stain - more than just your lips.

For every Olympic games, there are Olympic pins. For collectors, the buying, trading and selling of them is  as competitive a sport as any beach volleyball game, and it’s been going on since 1896. The pin trade, an obsession for some, is labeled the “unofficial Olympic sport.” In Beijing, pin sellers have set up shop at the Olympic Expo in the Beijing Exposition Center and in the Coca-Cola sponsored pin-sales center. There are new pins and old ones from previous games, common pins that are handed out by sponsors to anyone and more valuable pins, such as those given to athletes and officials. Most pins are inexpensive - $4 to $10. Now you can join the frenzy by getting some Beijing pins. A page on the Beijing site gives the history of the pin frenzy and describes the “pindemonium” going on there now. The official U.S. Olympic Shop has an assortment of pins for sale, such as a ceramic Beijing logo pin or a YingYing mascot pin, each for $7. NBC’s Olympic online shop has pins, like a gymnastics mascot pin for $8 (pictured) and a rickshaw pin for $6. The Olympin Collector’s Club site has lots of advice and pin facts: there’s even a club member blogging from Beijing. After the official sites, you’ll have to turn to pin-selling retailers, such as Greekshops.com, Collectpins.com (where a USA/China flag Beijing pin is running $8.95), Discountpinstore (they’ve got a set of opening and closing ceremony pins for a pricey $24.89) and Athenspincollection, where you can find individual sports pins, such as a soccer pin for $8.95. When the games end, start looking on Craig’s List and eBay for the special pin you covet.

A few months back, Rolling Stones fans lucky enough to live near an IMAX theater got the treat of seeing the legendary band on a 50-foot-plus high screen — a format that was almost enough to capture the still phenomenal physical presence of Mick Jagger (pictured with bandmates). Now that movie, the Martin Scorsese concert film Shine a Light, is available for the home-theater equivalent of IMAX, Blu-ray, making it the most rock-and-roll flick on the format of the summer, at least until The Doors arrives in August. There’s plenty of other new music on standard DVD, of course, from Bob Dylan and The Clash’s Joe Strummer to The Smiths and newcomer Amy Winehouse. The musical double feature of the moment, though, is as far from the Stones as can be: the raunchy Oingo Boingo cult favorite Forbidden Zone (newly colorized or in the original black and white) and the disco-on-skates cornball extravaganza Xanadu (recently turned into a hit Broadway musical) — both of which involve true-love-inspired trips to the Underworld and a lot of very peculiar song-and-dance routines.

Office organizers with style and a green streak should take a look at a new line of goods from design giant Herman Miller: The Teneo storage system was designed by Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck (Birsel was just honored by the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design) and has earned the Silver “Cradle to Cradle” eco-certification, partly thanks to the recyclability of most of its components. Designed in modules that can be combined to fit the storage needs of workspaces both large and small, Teneo lets users decide how many shelves, drawers and mini-closets they want. It also offers a pleasing array of surface materials — from metal and wood veneer to felt and cork — and encourages customers to mix and match using an online Color Tool to visualize choices. Pricing varies, depending on finishes and options; a thorough price breakdown can be downloaded here. Teneo is availabe through Herman Milller dealers; to find a dealer in your area, enter your state or Zip code here.

I’m always a little wary when a handbag designer launches a “for Target” line, because no matter how adaptable-for-the-masses the styles might be, the necessity of using cheap materials to keep the costs on “Target” kind of spoils the package. Devi Kroll’s line was likable, but way too pleathery, and when “for Target” is emblazoned on Loeffler Randall’s handbags, the intent of finding something chic on the cheap is defeated. But the megastore has managed to pique my interest again with a promising line from Botkier. I’ve been stalking Botkier bags on eBay ever since my fashion-mag editor friend came home with a teal leather satchel two years ago. The strategically studded hardware and the delicately laced fringe are the perfect yin and yang, a winning combination of tough and chic. The flagship label’s fall 2008 collection showcases fluttery fringe, burnished metallics, and the signature Botkier hardware juxtaposed against buttery, rumpled leather, which I totally heart. Botkier’s incarnation of for-the-people couture (at a tenth of the couture price) actually manages to spark some style possibilities. The crackled patina of the gold hobo (pictured) blurs the line between real and PVC, and for $50, I don’t have to stalk it on eBay. A fuchsia bucket bag ($40) deftly approximates patent leather in a shape and style that’s a cookie-cutter version of some top-of-the-line models. The white python-patterned hobo ($40) may even prove to be a better alternative to leather - easier to clean or at least less painfully costly to replace than the real thing. That said, not all styles hit the mark: A too-plastic- looking black satchel falls short, and a shimmery-rose wristlet is nothing special. But with some careful editing (and removal of those Target-logo-shaped charms), Botkier’s new line could offer up some winners.

What do you get the science fiction fan who has everything, up to and possibly including a $50,000 life-sized Robby the Robot replica? The fine folks at Boing Boing Gadgets, who are fascinated by what the futuristic world looked like to designers in the fifties, spotted a creation right up their alley. Available through the professional glass blower Jeff Burnette’s Joe Blow Glassworks, they’re whimsically beautiful Raygunz — ray guns that are so colorful you’d hate to imagine them being used to make an old black-and-white Buck Rogers movie serial. Each is made of clear blown glass with bits and strands of colored glass attached and silvered highlights to make the whole thing more gun-like; they don’t light up or make sounds or anything, but when they look this cool, who cares? An assortment of the glass creations can be seen here — since each is a one of a kind creation, you’ll have to contact the artist to request a price.

When it comes to the continuing creep of advertisements in public space — from movie theater ads and motorized billboards to the obnoxious gas-pump recordings that turn an already wallet-squeezing trip into something even less pleasant — I’m firmly in the anti-proliferation camp. I don’t want to live in the world of Minority Report, where sensors read my identity and beam personalized ads at me on the sidewalk. Still, it’s hard to be 100 percent annoyed at the developers of FogScreen, a new kind of projection system that uses tap water and ultrasonic waves to throw an image onto a curtain of “dry fog.” For one thing, it’s scientifically neat and pretty cool to look at. For another, it seems tailored for use in places — night clubs, convention halls, et cetera — where people are actually hoping to be bombarded with commercial messages. Then again, few technological innovations stay contained once advertisers decide they’re useful. If these walk-through fog messages start trying to sell me soda at the airport, I’ll start shopping for portable dehumidifiers right away. Until then, party-throwers with cash to burn can add some dazzle to events by renting the projectors here.