If you’ve ever wanted a cabinet with secret compartments — and we’re talking about a lot of secret compartments here — then you’re going to like videos from the Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens exhibit that was at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important product from Abraham (1711—1793) and David Roentgen’s (1743—1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size.

In addition to the Secretary Cabinet above, there’s also a writing desk, a rolltop desk, and an automated Marie Antoinette music player.

via Doobybrain.

In this 2012 viral video out of Sabadell, Spain, a street musician plays Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. And then something starts to happen… 

Thanks, @kvetchup.

Top Secret Drum Corps is a precision drum corps based in Basel, Switzerland. With 25 drummers and colorguard members, the corps became famous for its demanding six-minute routine performed at the Edinburgh Tattoo in 2003. With its invitation to Edinburgh, Top Secret became one of the first non-military, non-British Commonwealth acts to perform on the Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle.

via Daily Picks and Flicks.

Ice crystals form on a soap bubble at -30c in Northern Sweden.

via Daily Picks and Flicks.

Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah on a glass harp — crystal glasses filled with different amounts of water — played beautifully by a street musician in Prague. You can see and hear more of his work here and here.

Archive links: more glass harp and some handbells!

Thanks, @ericjkort.