Belarusian industrial designer duo Maria and Igor Solovyov who represent Solovyov Design have created a fluorescent lamp in the shape of the human brain. Looks rather ghostly when lit.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
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Universal Wrapping Paper
The universal wrapping paper designed by Fabio Milito and Francesca Guidotti contains a word puzzle with hidden messages for different occasions. Simply locate the message you need and circle it with a marker. So clever.
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Reel Portraits by Erika Iris Simmons
Erika Iris Simmons’s incredible portraits made from cassette tape and film reels were featured in Amusing Planet in the past. At that time the artist didn’t have a proper website and as such, I was unable to determine the identity of the artist behind the art pieces. Now that we have discovered her, here is a brief bio of the artist and her work entitled “The Ghost in the Machine” in Erika’s one words:
My name is Erika Iris Simmons and I like to take things- random things- like what you would find at a garage sale or in a thrift store- and make them into composite art. Most of my pieces become portraits of people associated with the item I’ve chosen. I don’t really add any paint or pigments… I usually just take things apart and re-arrange them in weird ways, cutting away pieces when necessary. A lot of my art is made with cassette tapes and old film reels in a series I call “Ghost in the Machine.”
“The Ghost in the Machine” series was inspired by some strange ideas. How at one level we are cellular beings and another we are a single “self.” The single cassette tape I thought of as representing the mind. The tape ribbon represents our thoughts, the data within. Taking that data – those bits of memory – and rearranging them to form what we see as a face is my way of finding a “ghost in the machine.” I also liked the fact that when you look at a portrait like Jimi Hendrix out of a cassette tape, you can almost hear the music in your head – so your own “data” is responding to what you see.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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Where Children Sleep
American journalist Chris Booth and photographer James Mollison toured the world and took photos of children's' bedrooms and compiled them into a book Where Children Sleep. The differences between the sleeping spaces of children from different regions is striking. "I hope this book will help children think about inequality, within and between societies around the world," says Mollison in his introduction, "and perhaps start to figure out how, in their own lives, they may respond."
From Amazon:
Where Children Sleep presents English-born photographer James Mollison's large-format photographs of children's bedrooms around the world--from the U.S.A., Mexico, Brazil, England, Italy, Israel and the West Bank, Kenya, Senegal, Lesotho, Nepal, China and India--alongside portraits of the children themselves. Each pair of photographs is accompanied by an extended caption that tells the story of each child. Photographed over two years with the support of Save the Children (Italy), Where Children Sleep is both a serious photo-essay for an adult audience, and also an educational book that engages children themselves in the lives of other children around the world. Its cover features a child's mobile printed in glow-in-the-dark ink.
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Yoga Dogs by Dan Borris
Photographer Dan Borris came across his first Yoga Dog, Otis - a two-year-old English Bull Terrier - who loved to do yoga with his friend Joy. Joy would be practicing her yoga in the mornings while Otis wandered around her legs, stopping now and again to lick her face as she did a headstand. Slowly but surely Otis began to imitate Joy. At first he tried out simple poses, ones that came naturally to him. As time went on Otis's poses became more and more complex, until finally he began his own practice. While Otis himself wasn't captured on film, he did lead Dan on his path to finding other four-legged Yogis.
Dan Borris is now a full fledged Yoga Dog hunter who has created two calendars featuring his yoga practicing dogs for two successive years. Dan Borris has also recently published a book. (See yoga practicing bear).
Monday, March 28, 2011
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Upside Down House in Germany
Dirk Oster, an investor living in Hamburg, Germany, commissioned carpenters Gerhard Mordhorst, Gesellse Splettstößer and Manfred Kolax to build an upside down house (not the first), as an attraction for a local zoo in Getorff, Germany.
Standing on a pointed roof and supported by steel beams in the attic, the 23 feet tall house has an upside-down kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. Inside, everything from the fruit bowl, to sofas to kitchen sink are hanging over head. In total they screwed 50 separate pieces into the floor-ceiling, including beds, tables, a microwave and pictures. The heaviest piece of furniture was a 100lb wardrobe with mirror.
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Written Portraits by Van Wanten Etcetera
I have seen many paper sculpture (Peope Too, Cheong-ah Hwang, Bert Simons, Allen and Patty Eckman) and book art (Isaac Salazar, Robert The) before but nothing like Written Portraits
Written Portraits is an advertising campaign by Dutch agency Van Wanten Etcetera created to promote the Dutch Book Week organized each year by CPNB (Collective Promotion Dutch Literature). In this brilliant campaign books were carved in shape of the author’s face. The four authors chosen for Written Portraits are Anne Frank, Vincent van Gogh, Louis van Gaal and Kader Abdollah.
The Dutch Book Week is organized to promote Dutch literature, and each year a specific genre is profiled. This year’s feature is on autobiography.
Anne Frank
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Pollen Grains Under Microscope
Pollen or dust allergy is a nasty thing. Itching, swelling, runny nose are common. The worst of the affected can even succumb to seizures. But pollen grains are also the medium of reproduction in plants and under the microscope you can but only appreciate the beauty of it. This gallery features false-color scanning electron microscope pictures of pollen grains like you have never seen before.
A false-colour scanning electron micrograph of grass pollen grains, a major cause of hay fever
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Las Fallas, The Spanish Festival of Fire
Las Fallas is celebrated each year beginning the first Sunday of March in the Spanish city of Valencia to commemorate St. Joseph's Day, the Patron Saint of Carpenters. Las Fallas literally means "the fires" in Valencian. The focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots (“puppets” or “dolls”), which are huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè and plaster statues. The ninots are extremely lifelike and usually depict bawdy, satirical scenes and current events. A popular theme is poking fun at corrupt politicians and Spanish celebrities. The labor intensive ninots, often costing up to US$75,000, are crafted by neighborhood organizations and take almost the entire year to construct. Many ninots are several stories tall and need to be moved into their final location of over 350 key intersections and parks around the city with the aid of cranes on the day of la plantà (the rising).
The ninots remain in place until March 19th, the day known as La Cremá (the burning). Starting in the early evening, young men with axes chop cleverly-hidden holes in the statues and stuff them with fireworks. The crowds start to chant, the streetlights are turned off, and all of the ninots are set on fire at exactly 12am midnight. Over the years, the local bomberos (firemen) have devised unique ways to protect the town's buildings from being accidentally set on fire by the ninots: such as neatly covering storefronts with fireproof tarps. Each year, one of the ninots is spared from destruction by popular vote. This ninot is called the ninot indultat (the pardoned puppet) and is exhibited in the local Museum of the Ninot along with the other favorites from years past.
This gallery contains pictures from this year’s Las Fallas celebration.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
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One Dress, Different Styles – Ximena Valero’s Transformable Dresses
Mexican fashion designer Ximena Valero has been called the transformable designer by industry professionals for her amazing adjustable designs. Her creation OMG Reversible for instance, can be altered into at least 10 different styles within seconds.
I can’t say how happy women will be at the prospect of wearing the same dress over and over again, and God forbid, if one of her party friend finds out that she has been wearing the same dress since last spring! Husbands and boyfriends, on the other hand, will enjoy the frugality.
Valero’s transformable dresses can be bought at her website. Prices range from $175 to $499.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
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Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest 2011
Nine year old Sterling Brinkerhoff, from Benjamin, Utah, won the annual and 36th Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest on March 22 in Montpelier, Vermont. Brinkerhoff, who poses with his winning pair of rotten sneakers in the picture below, has won the grand prize of $2,500, a trip to New York City to see a Broadway show, the golden sneaker award and a year’s supply of much-needed Odor-Eaters products. Brinkerhoff's sneakers will also be enshrined in the Odor-Eaters Hall of Fumes.
The Rotten Sneaker Contest was originally conceived as a marketing gimmick, dreamed up by a Montpelier sporting goods store owner looking for a way to promote a new line of athletic shoes. In 1988, Combe Incorporated (the maker of Odor-Eaters products), stepped in and became title sponsor, raising the contest’s profile and lending it an air of legitimacy. Combe saw it as a unique vehicle for promoting Odor-Eaters insoles, powders, sprays and socks, all of which are designed to combat the embarrassing problem of foot odor.
3
Goat Dragging Festival
Goat Dragging or Buzkashi is a popular Afghan sport played on horseback in central Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, northern Pakistan, India and Kazakhstan. Buzkashi can be compared to the game of Polo – there are two teams and players ride on horses, just like in Polo, but instead of the ball is used a carcass of a headless goat or calf.
The goal of the game is to grab the carcass and then get it clear of the other players and pitch it across a goal line or into a target circle. Competition is typically fierce, as other players may use any force short of tripping the horse in order to thwart scoring attempts. The riders will carry a whip, often in their teeth, to fend off opposing horses and riders.
Riders usually wear heavy clothing and head protection to protect themselves against other players' whips and boots. Games can last for several days, and the winning team receives a prize, not necessarily money, as a reward for their win.
The calf in a Buzkashi game is normally beheaded and disemboweled and has its limbs cut off at the knees. It is then soaked in cold water for 24 hours before play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight.
Serious Buzkashi players train intensively for years, and many of the masters (called chapandaz) are over forty years old. Playing well also requires specially trained horses that sell today for as much as US$10,000-15,000.
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Iconic ‘Tennis Girl’–35 Years Later
Martin Elliott’s ‘Tennis Girl’ – as it is officially know - is a popular photo that has adorned the bedroom walls of countless teenage boys for the past three decades. The picture shows a young woman from behind walking towards the net of a tennis court, her hand reaching out behind to lift her short tennis dress and revealing that she is not wearing any underwear.
The photograph was taken by Martin Elliott in September 1976 at the now defunct Birmingham University courts at Edgbaston and features 18-year-old Fiona Butler, his girlfriend at the time. Miss Butler could not play tennis, had little interest in the sport and was just wearing her father's plimsolls for the shot.
Elliott went on to sell the image rights to Athena but retained the copyright, earning him an estimated £250,000 in royalty payments. Martin Elliot died last year at the age of 63.
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Subway Cars Dumped Into Sea To Make Artificial Reef
Photographer Stephen Mallon took photos of New York City's discarded subway cars as they are tossed into the ocean, over a period of two and a half years, for his photo series Next Stop Atlantic. The initiative, headed by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, has deposited hundreds of the vacant vessels in an effort to jump start a new reef 16 miles off the state’s coast.
The concept has already shown great promise, transforming “a barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog.” The reef is currently composed of 714 cars and continues to grow, creating “a thriving community in what was once an underwater desert”.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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Clever Shoe Designs by Kobi Levy (Part 2)
35-year-old Kobi Levy from Tel Aviv, Isreal, is a footwear designer who likes to give shoes an amazing transformation. A graduate from Bezalel academy of art and design, Jerusalem, Mr Levy has been collaborating with both Israeli and international companies in the past and present working on men shoe line. However, it his women shoe line that display his particular talent.
We have featured Kobi Levy’s shoes in the past. Be sure to check them out.
Slide
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
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Nuclear Reactor Cutaways
Now that the Japan incident has piqued the interest of the world in atomic energy, this is the ideal time to look at designs of some vintage nuclear plants around the world. This beautifully illustrated series of nuclear reactor wall charts was originally published in issues of Nuclear Engineering International during the 1970s and 1980s. The complete set of 105 reactor wall charts was assembled by Ronald Knief, a nuclear engineer from Sandia National Laboratories, and uploaded by the University of New Mexico.
A part of the collection is available for download, at high resolution, from this Flickr gallery.
Some of the cutaways has been reproduced here.
Gosgen, Daniken, Switzerland.
Monday, March 21, 2011
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Mass Pillow Fight in Berlin
Hundreds of young people assembled in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Sunday with the aim of breaking the world record for the largest pillow fight. The action which started almost abruptly at around 4 pm, took tourists, passersby and even the police by surprise as they were engulfed in a blizzard of feathers.
“This is complete chaos, I love it!” exclaimed Taichi Nagai, a visitor from Japan who had unwittingly walked straight into the action.
The event was organized with the goal of breaking the record for the largest pillow fight in history, currently held by a group in Somerset, England, which gathered 3,707 participants in 2008. Though official numbers for Sunday’s Kissenschlacht have not yet been released, more than 12,000 people responded to a Facebook event created by the pillow fight’s organizers.
As quickly as it started, the action ended soon thereafter. The mostly under 30 crowd dispersed after about an hour, leaving the Brandenburg Gate with a snow-like covering under the glow of the setting sun.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
1
Storseisundet–The Bridge to Nowhere
No, this is not a ramp to launch spaceships. It is a bridge on one of Norway's most scenic and popular tourist roads - the Atlantic Ocean Road (Atlanterhavsveien in Norwegian). The bridge named Storseisundet makes a sharp bend as it jumps over a number of small islands and waterways. The approach to the bridge looks scary as the bridge seems to end abruptly and as if any attempt to proceed would result into the vehicle flying out and dropping into the waters below.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
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Holi Celebrations Around The World
Holi, often called the festival of colors, is a spring religious festival celebrated by Hindus where people throw coloured powder and coloured water at each other and make merry. The festival is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and any country where there are large Indic populations.
The tradition of playing with colours on Holi draws its roots from a legend of Radha and the Hindu God Krishna. It is believed that young Lord Krishna was jealous of Radha's fair complexion. After questioning his mother Yashoda on the darkness of his complexion, Yashoda, teasingly asked him to colour Radha's face in which ever colour he wanted. In a mischievous mood, Lord Krishna applied colour on Radha's face, hence the tradition of applying color.
Below are pictures snapped yesterday on the eve of Holi in different parts of the world.
Devotees at the Swaminarayan Temple celebrate the Holi festival of colours with Indian heir to the Swaminarayan Temple, Lalji Maharaj Shri Vrajendraprasdaji Maharaj (unseen) at Swaminarayan Temple in Kalupur, Ahmedabad.
Friday, March 18, 2011
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Tashirojima - The Cat Island of Japan
The Cat Island, officially called Tashirojima, is a small island in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, that is inhabited by more cats than people. The island has become known as "Cat Island" due to the large stray cat population that thrives as a result of the local belief that feeding cats will bring wealth and good fortune. The cat population is now larger than the human population on the island.
But Tashirojima doesn’t have too many humans to begin with. There are approximately 100 residents on Cat Island, and most of them are over 70. One person is 37, and everybody else is over 60 years old. With more than 50% of the population being over 65 years of age, the survival of the island is threatened. It won’t be long before the four footed animal end up being the only living being on the Cat island.
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Celebrity Portraits Drawn Using Circles
Belgian artist Ben Heine, better known for his clever series Pencil Vs Camera, has created a new and pretty unique technique he calls Digital Circlism, where he creates portraits of celebrities from thousands of colored circles.
I usually apply each digital circle individually on a black background with a sharp round brush in Photoshop CS4. I usually make bigger circles in the lighter areas of the subject and smaller circles in the darker places. This gives more volume and a 3D illusion. There is no limit, it's a new technique and I think there is much more to do with it.
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Rocky Attractions of Norway
Norway’s rocky coastlines is home to three very spectacular rock formation that draws thousands of rock climbers and adventurous tourists world over each year. Apart from the thrill of climbing, these places offer a view that words cannot describe.
Trolltunga
Trolltunga is a piece of rock that juts out horizontally out of the mountain above Skjeggedal in Odda, Norway, like a tongue sticking out from the mouth. The name literally means "Troll's tongue" in Norwegian. Beyond the ‘tongue’ is a sheer vertical drop of 350 meters to the waters below.
There are both stairs and a path that leads up to the first 950 meters, and from there marked hiking trails lead visitors the rest of the way. Previously a trolley car starting at the base of the mountain used to take visitors to a height of 950 meters. They are not functional now.
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The Hole In The Lake
The hole you see below in the Ladybower Reservoir, Derbyshire, England is reportedly the world's largest Bell-mouth spillway. Spillways are structures used to provide for the controlled release of water from a dam or levee into a downstream area so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy the dam. Such spillways are common in many man made lakes such as the Ladybower Reservoir.
The Ladybower Reservoir is provided with two Bell-mouth overflows (locally named the 'plugholes') each having inlet diameter of about 80 feet which tapers to about 15 feet at its exit located at the base of the dam.
The reservoir is a popular tourist location for the scenic beauty it provides. The presence of two large holes in the reservoir helps as it offers a curious sight.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
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Mills & Boon Covers Recreated
These self portraits recreating covers from the popular romantic and often cheesy Mills & Boon series were done by Alex Holder and Oli Beale. Great costume, perfect posture and wonderful backdrops. Pity, they did only three.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
1
Inside a DVD Manufacturing Plant
Here is tour inside a DVD manufacturing plant in Kazakhstan. The images and text for this gallery has been sourced from English Russia.
0
Stunning Three Dimensional Graffiti Art
These looks like computer generated 3D graphics, but they are actually hand painted graffiti by artist Peeta.
0
Before And After Satellite Photo’s of Japan’s Earthquake And Tsunami
These photos provided by the GeoEye satellite imaging company shows what Japan looked like before the earthquake and devastating tsunami and after.
Fujitsuka in the Japanese port city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
1
Photorealistic Oil Paintings by Diego Gravinese
Diego Gravinese was born in La Plata, Argentina in 1971. His work has been shown internationally over the past 15 years in New York, Paris, Madrid, Turin, Buenos Aires, Chicago, and Los Angeles. He worked with Ruth Benzacar and ZavaletaLab galleries in Buenos Aires and with DeChiara gallery in New York. He currently lives and works in Buenos Aires.
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Strange Items Confiscated at Kennedy Airport, New York
These images are from a set of 1,075 photographs of items detained or seized from passengers or express mail entering the United States from abroad at the New York airport. These photographs were taken at both the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Site and the U.S. Postal Service International Mail Facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, by American photographer Taryn Simon for her book and exhibition ‘‘Contraband’’.
The items ranged from banal bags of nuts to a falcon corpse from Indonesia, Fake Louis Vuitton handbags, steroids from Pakistan and counterfeit boxes of Viagra from China. Some items turn up again and again: sexual stimulants, counterfeit luxury goods and drugs. (See Unclaimed Baggage Center: A Retail Store of Lost Luggage)
Says Ms. Simon,
I think it’s a depressing reflection of what everyone is chasing — all these forms of escape that create quite a flat representation of human desire in all corners of the world.
Taryn Simon has meticulously cataloged every item alphabetically for the 500-page book, “Contraband,”. Below is an excerpt of 45 images taken from her website.
Friday, March 11, 2011
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Frying Pan or Alien Planet?
Upon first glance, the photographs in Christopher Jonassen‘s “Devour” project look like they may be pictures of alien planets. But the truth is much closer home, or rather the kitchen. What these pictures actually show are the bottom of worn out frying pans shot against a black backdrop. Very clever.
0
Agelio Batle's Graphite Sculptures
San Francisco artist Agelio Batle makes beautiful, smooth and stylish graphite sculptures. His work features delicate roses, shells, feathers and leaves - each piece hand-sculpted and hand-polished.
1
The Crazy Camera Van
One night In the fall of 1993, a guy named Harrod Blank had a dream in which he covered his car with cameras and then drove around and took pictures of people on the streets. When he woke up the next morning he decided to build such a vehicle in reality. With the help of Dan Lohaus and some other friends, Harrod spent the next two years designing and building the van. With a lot of trial and error, the van was completed in 1995 and made it’s debut voyage in April.
The front of the Camera Van features every Polaroid camera ever made. The driver’s side of the camera has Kodak Instamatic Cameras arranged to look like a giant Instamatic Camera. The back of the van has two monitors that play a repeating slideshow of the Camera Van’s photography. The passenger side has a giant film strip created using four color monitors.
1
Japan Earthquake And Tsunami in Pictures
A powerful earthquake measuring 8.9, with an offshore epicenter 373 km from Tokyo unleashed a wall of water 23-foot high that slammed against Japan's eastern coast today, killing at least 60 people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast. The earthquake was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
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Political Satire at German Carnival 2011
Cologne is one of those cities that holds two carnivals each year. The one, which is currently underway, starts in February-March and the other is held in November.
The highlights of the carnival on the western German city of Cologne include marching bands and dancers that parade down the streets throwing confetti, sweets, flowers, and toys. And of course, the floats. The elaborate floats often show caricatured figures mocking politicians and other personalities. Below are some images from this year's Carnival.
Caricatures depicting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Abdullah stripped naked by Wikileaks' scandal
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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Movie Bar Code Compresses Entire Movies Into Barcodes
Movie Bar Code is based on a simple but amazing concept - take every frame in a movie and compress it into a line. Then put them next to each other and you get a barcode of the movie. Movie Bar Code is brilliant because it gives an interesting perspective into the color palette used by different movies.
As website FlowingData observes, it’s even possible to determine when a particular scene in the movie begins or ends from the barcode, as noticeable in the barcode of the movie The Matrix (above). You can tell when they're in and out of the system.
Below is a collection of images taken from Movie Bar Code. Checkout the site for more.
3
Jewelry Made From Barbie Doll Parts
I’m not sure why but Barbie dolls have often inspired creativity. Designers have went on to plug them into soccer tables or create macabre photo series. There is even a beauty contest for the most beautiful Barbie doll held annually in Venezuela. Then there is Margaux Lange’s jewelries. This New York designer creates jewelry pieces from the Barbie doll and her boyfriend Ken. Pendants, earrings and brooches are available on Etsy at prices ranging from $150 to $650.
0
The World’s Most Famous Brain
The brain pictured below is considered to be the world’s most famous brain. It belonged to a man named Henry Gustav Molaison, known as “Patient HM,” who had a memory that lasted only a few minutes as a result of brain surgery conducted in 1953 that was intended to stop his severe epilepsy.
Mr Molaison’s brain sits in a plexiglass mold waiting to be embedded in gelatin, frozen, sliced, dyed, mounted, and finally scanned.
Henry Molaison was born on February 26, 1926 and suffered from intractable epilepsy that has been often attributed to a bicycle accident he suffered at the age of nine. Mr Molaison suffered from seizures for many years, before being referred to a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital, for treatment.
Henry Molaison underwent surgery in 1953, which although cured his epilepsy, destroyed his ability to create new memories - a condition known as anterograde amnesia. Henry Molaison lived for 55 years after his surgery without being able to form a single new memory and in that time was thoroughly studied by the scientific community for his condition.
3
Floating House From Pixar Movie ‘Up’ Recreated in Real Life
The folks over at National Geographic have built a house inspired by the Pixar movie Up! that can really fly. Using 300 helium-filled weather balloons, a team of scientists, engineers, two balloon pilots and dozens of volunteers, have managed to get the small house 10,000 feet into the air. The 4.8m x 4.8m x 5.5m house built from light-weight materials flew across California's High Desert for about an hour with two people inside, just like the Disney Pixar film.
The project is part of a wider Nat Geo series called “How Hard Can it Be?” which will premier this autumn.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
1
Cartoon Characters in Old Paintings
We were amused when Indonesia photographer Agan Harahap manipulated old war photos to insert superhero characters into them. Now an unknown artist has produced a hilarious series where he mixed cartoon characters into old paintings by renowned artist of the Victorian era.
2
Then And Now: Celebrity Comedians
Remember the fantastic photo series by Irina Werning where old photographs of kids were faithfully recreated with the same person, now grown up? Well, the Guardian has turned up with a series of it’s own. While Irina Werning took pictures of common people, the Guardian photo series is based on celebrity comedians. Let’s looks at them.
Alan Carr. I’m about a year old, and my mum had the picture done in a department store in Weymouth.
0
Butterfly Exhibition at RHS Garden Wisley, UK
The Royal Horticulture Society is holding a butterfly exhibition at Wisley, Surrey, UK, until March 6, that is, tomorrow. The Garden of Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, Surry, just south of London is one of the most popular botanical gardens of Great Britain.
Peleides Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides) - a huge butterfly from South America with a wing span measuring 7.5 to 20 cm.
1
Restaurant Sells Breast Milk Ice Cream. Gets Confiscated
Under the brand name of “Baby Gaga”, an ice-cream parlor called Icecreamists in London's Covent Garden is selling human breast milk ice-cream for £14 a scoop. The breastmilk is purchased from lactating mothers, pasteurized and then blended with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest, which is then freshly churned into ice cream. A costumed Baby Gaga waitress serves the ice cream in a martini glass filled with the breast milk ice cream mix. Liquid nitrogen is then poured into the glass through a syringe and it is served with a rusk.
Authorities however, are not pleased. Local government officials had the ice cream confiscated following complaints from the public over whether a shop should be selling edibles made from other people's bodily fluids and awaiting guidance from Britain's Food Standards Agency.
Friday, March 4, 2011
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Ghana–The Electronic Dumping Ground of the World
Where does electronic waste generated by the first world countries end up in? Ghana, and many of the third world countries like China, Nigeria, India, Vietnam and Pakistan – but mostly Ghana. With hundreds of millions of tons of waste shipped each year, Ghana’s illegal e-waste trade is shaping up as an economy of its own.
The Agbogbloshie dump in Accra, Ghana, is the largest electronic wasteland in West Africa. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah. About 3000 people work in Accra and making a living by selling scavenged metal from electronic equipment. Old TVs, computer monitors, hard drives and keyboards are dissected for any reusable parts like lenses from the disc drives and circuit boards, and with global scrap prices soaring, metals are in high demand. Wires and printed boards are burnt to extract copper and other precious metal.
2
Spongebob Squarepants is Actually a Terminator
Who would have thought that Spongebob Squarepants is actually a Terminator in disguise? Flickr user rack911’s lego creation was successful in revealing the true identity of the Nickelodeon's character. In hindsight, one have to wonder what took people so long to discover that dirty lump of floor scrub is a machine sent from the future to hunt down John Connor. After all, who has seen a talking piece of sponge?
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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Miniature Street Art by Slinkachu
Slinkachu is a London-based artist who creates very small street-based installations and then photographs them: from far away and up-close. Slinkachu uses tiny human figurines from model train sets, modifies them and places them in real urban situations, capturing them sight-seeing, camping, boating, fighting and dying.
Slinkachu’s street installations are so tiny that you could easily walk right past one of them and not know it's there. "His people are often trodden underfoot," says Claire Mander of the Andipa Gallery. "But he's urging us to look more closely at our environment. The seeming glibness of the works cuts to the heart of the idea of being small, insignificant, a loser compared to more successful people."
Slinkachu says: "One of my pieces, a miniature cash machine with a figure withdrawing money, lasted three months, which I think is probably a record."
Slinkachu’s installations have turned up all over Europe in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Manchester and Stavanger in Norway.
0
Muhammad Ali’s Sculpture Made From Sand Bags
LA-based artist Michael Kalish created this impressive three-dimensional sculpture of three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali using 1,300 punching bags, 6.5 miles of stainless steel cable, and 2,500 pounds of aluminum pipe. The 22-foot-high installation is reported to have taken three years to complete.
An array of custom-made, teardrop-shaped speed bags suspended in midair that, from just one vantage point, align themselves to reveal an image of Ali’s face. The installation is slated to go on view in March at LA’s Nokia Plaza. At the unveiling ceremony, Muhammad Ali is supposed to hang the final bag.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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Space Shuttle Discovery's Last Mission
The Space shuttle Discovery blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its final mission to the International Space Station on February 24. Prior to this mission, Discovery had flown 38 flights, completed 5,247 orbits, and spent 322 days in orbit, logging a total of143 million miles. Discovery is the orbiter fleet leader, having flown more flights than any other orbiter in the fleet.
Discovery's launch last week will be followed by the space shuttles Endeavour in April and Atlantis in June. When Atlantis makes its return to earth this summer, it will be the final time a space shuttle will enter earth's atmosphere, as the program is to be dismantled. Discovery's launch has been called "the beginning of the end of the U.S. space-shuttle program" by The Chicago Tribune.
The following images from the final mission were released by NASA.
This view of the aft portion of the space shuttle Discovery was provided by an Expedition 26 crew member during a survey of the approaching STS-133 vehicle prior to docking with the International Space Station. As part of the survey and part of every mission's activities, Discovery performed a back-flip for the rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
4
Shocking Pictures Show Consequences of Drug Use
A new anti-drug campaign that shows disturbing before and after photos of drug users’ faces, may succeed where others have failed, grabbing teens’ attentions by appealing to their vanity. The pairs of mug shots, which graphically display the damage drugs can do to the face, were collected by the sheriff’s office in Multnomah County, Ore.
The photos are part of a 48-minute documentary called “From Drugs to Mugs,” created by Deputy Bret King. King hopes that the documentary, which is available on a DVD along with a CD of mug shots, will help scare kids straight by showing them concrete evidence of damage that can occur within months from using meth, heroin or cocaine.
The most stunning feature of the photos is how quickly the face is damaged. Faces that were normal, even attractive, metamorphose over years, and sometimes just months, into gaunt, pitted, even toothless wrecks.
A. Thomas McLellan, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Solutions at the University of Pennsylvania, explains, “Meth can cause small blood vessels around the face to constrict. So consequently, the gums shrink as they do in old age. The teeth that remain can become discolored and black.”
2
World’s Hairiest Girl Celebrates Guinness Title
Supatra Sasuphan from Bangkok was previously shunned by her classmates and called her by names such as "Wolf Girl" and "Monkey Face". But now she finally has a reason to celebrate. The 11-year-old was awarded the title of "World's Hairiest Girl" by the Guinness World Records.
"I'm very happy to be in the Guinness World Records," she told the Daily Mail. "A lot of people have to do a lot to get in. All I did was answer a few questions and then they gave it to me."
Supatra says she became very popular at school following her Guinness recognition. "Being hairy makes me special," she said. "This the happiest day of my life!"
Supatra is one of just 50 known sufferers of Ambras Syndrome - caused by a faulty chromosome - to be documented since the Middle Ages. Before the disease was understood, sufferers were branded 'werewolves.'
She has thick hair growing over her face, ears, arms, legs and back. Doctors tried to remove the hair with laser treatment when she was two-years-old but despite numerous sessions it kept growing back as thickly as before. Supatra's hair has got increasingly thicker as she has grown up so her mother has to cut it back regularly for her.
Her father hopes that someday she will be cured.
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