Monday, March 31, 2014

200-year-old Jewelled Automated Caterpillar


This automated caterpillar, made around 1810 by Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet, uses a hidden clockwork mechanism to crawl just like a real caterpillar. Its body is made of gold, decorated with coloured enamel and studded with seed pearls, rose diamonds and rubies. It's expected to fetch up to $200K at auction.



More: Mail Online
Via

The Paint Chip Series

Colorado based artist Shawn HuckinsThe Paint Chip Series uses the familiar paint card format to explore color choice and its meaning in our daily lives.



Fry Stand


Plaid Skirt


Deep Snow




More: Art Soul

Via

1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster



On March 30, 1914, 132 men left the SS Newfoundland to hunt seals and became caught in a sudden blizzard while out on the ice. Only 55 survived.This short animation is a remarkably vivid account of the tragedy.

NFB

Eat the World



This video tutorial will show you how to bake the concentric layer cake used in both the Earth cake and Jupiter cake below.



Link
Via

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Movies In Color

Movies In Color is an excellent website featuring stills from films and their corresponding color palettes.



Federico Fellini Week
Fellini’s Casanova, 1976
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno




Request Week #12 - mikelitoriz
House of Flying Daggers, 2004
Cinematography: Xiaoding Zhao
Via

Wheelchair Protest


Protesters in Lisbon, Portugal occupied all the parking spaces on a busy street in Lisbon with wheelchairs and put notes on them saying "be right back" "just getting something". It's a very effective method of showing inconsiderate drivers what it feels like not to be able to park.



Link

Via

The Rise and Fall of Professional Bowling

“He’s probably been whipped around a school yard by a bully sometime, but put a bowling ball in his hand and lookout, he’s Superman. If this doesn’t get your heart pumping, I doubt there’s much that will.”  -- Newscaster Nelson "Bo" Burton Jr. on bowler Bob Benoit (1988)

There was a bowling alley across the street from my grandmother's house in Ville St. Pierre when I was in elementary school. The boys I liked worked as pin boys and I whiled away many weekend afternoons bowling a set and lingering over a Coke, thinking I looked like the babes below. In reality I was a skinny little kid.

Image Source: Reminisce
In the heyday of the sport professional bowlers made twice as much money as NFL stars. Shows like ABC’s Make That Spare attracted scores of viewers and bowlers were celebrities. Today "pro bowlers supplement their careers with second jobs, like delivering sod, or working at a call center. They share Motel 6 rooms on tour to save on travel expenses, and thrive on the less-than-exciting dime of beef jerky sponsorships."

Do you miss the golden days of bowling? Take heart, my son and his friends have recently discovered the sport so there may be a bowling renaissance on the horizon.


More: Link

Via 

The Essence of a Teapot

The Fif-TEA exhibition celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Craft Alliance in St. Louis. 50 artists created one of a kind teapots made of clay, metal, glass, wood, and fibre with a cup to accompany each teapot.



Christa Assad
Super Transformer Teapot, 2011
17.5" x 17.5" x 7"
Porcelain, underglaze, glaze


Debora Muhl
Nesting Teapot II #1344, 2011
13.5 x 22 x 17 w/ branches
Coiled sweet grass


Kate Anderson
SUMMER TEAPOT / back – David Hockney, 2013
7.75" x 11.75" x 2"
Knotted linen, stainless steel, wood   
More: Design Observer

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Tragedy Series

Benjamin Dewey's brilliant Tragedy Series tumblog consists of "depictions drawn from regrettable accounts of the less fortunate for purposes of instruction; so that one may avoid similar missteps."









Another contribution from Bruce.

Paulette Tavormina's Still Life Photographs

NYC photographer Paulette Tavormina's still lifes look like old paintings. Her background as a food stylist in Hollywood definitely informs her work.



Lemons


Flowers and Fish


Tulips
Artist's site
Thanks Bruce!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Where Children Sleep

When my younger son was starting kindergarten his teacher came for a home visit and asked to see his room because she knew that a child's space reveals a lot about the youngster she would be teaching.

Photographer James Mollison created Where Children Sleep, a collection of stories about children from around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms.

Bilal, 6, Wadi Abu Hindi, The West Bank

Bilal, 6, Wadi Abu Hindi, The West Bank


Joey, 11, Kentucky, USA

Joey, 11, Kentucky, USA


Indira, 7, Kathmandu, Nepal




Indira, 7, Kathmandu, Nepal

Inside the book, each pair of photographs is accompanied by an extended caption that tells the story of each child.
Link

High-Rise Apartment Building Inspired By The Shape Of A Tree





This high-rise apartment building in Montpellier, France, uses strategically placed balconies and shades to give residents the maximum outdoor space without blocking views or taking up too much room on the ground. OXO  architecture firm worked on the project with Sou Fujimoto and Nicolas Laisn Associates and were inspired by the shape of a tree. The architects used a smaller footprint for the base and “leaves” expanding outward on higher floors.











 Link

Holiday Home Built By Architects With Some Help From Paulina The Cow

Ensamble Studio created this tiny home to be rustic, but modern, from the ground up. It was important to choose the right location, building materials and hay for this project.The hay was for Paulina the cow.




The house began with  stacked hay bales that were covered in concrete then buried in soil. When it was uncovered Paulina got to eat the hay that was inside the structure. It took her a year to get through it.

Link

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Vintage Chicago

This film takes you on 32-minute tour of 1940s Chicago sponsored by the Board of Education with footage of everything from the glamour of the Wrigley Building to the manufacturing plants of the South Shore. Street scenes are interspersed with dramatic aerial footage shot from United Airlines planes.



Via The History Blog

Do It Yourself Big Mac

Dan Coudreaut, McDonald's executive chef (who knew they had one?) shows you how to recreate the Big Mac experience in your own kitchen.



Why did they do it? McDonald's isn't worried that you could make a cheaper hamburger at home. They know that their customers either don't think they have the time to, can't be bothered, or are on the move so they won't lose business by sharing the recipe.


Via The Ethical Adman

Ernest Goh's Glamour Chickens


Who knew that chickens participate in beauty pageants in Malaysia? Singaporean photographer Ernest Goh captures striking images of ornamental Ayam Serama chickens which are bred for their gorgeousness.



Via

Piip-Show

Photographer Magne Klann's "Piip-Show" project is a live broadcast that follows wild birds (and squirrels, as they visit a specially constructed bird feeder modeled after Java, a popular Oslo coffee shop.







More at Junkculture

OMG who stole my ads?

French artist Etienne Lavie imagines what the streets of Paris and Milan would look like if advertisements were replaced with classical paintings.





Fourth-Century Labour Contract



The partial papyrus document above is a labour contract dating back 1600 years. A guard was hired to protect a vineyard in Egypt, a difficult job because thieves beat watchmen in order to the fruit.  Kyle Helms of the University of Cincinnati deciphered the ancient Greek text:

“I agree that I have made a contract with you on the condition that I guard your property, a vineyard near the village Panoouei, from the present day until vintage and transport, so that there be no negligence, and on the condition that I receive in return pay for all of the aforementioned time…”
More at Archaeology Magazine

Palmerston Island, A Tiny Paradise.

William Marsters and his brood. Photo credit

Want to get away from it all? I suggest Palmerston Island, a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean that was discovered by James Cook in 1774. It consists of a number of sandy islets on a ring of coral reef enclosing a lagoon.

Photo Credit

The island was uninhabited when it was chanced upon in 1860 by William Marsters, a carpenter and barrel maker of a whaling ship that frequented the Bay of Islands. Three years later he returned with a wife, the daughter of the chief of another Cook island, and her two cousins with the intention of permanently settlement on the island. Marsters and the three women had 17 children whose descendants make up the present population of Palmerston. Today, Palmerston has 62 inhabitants, all but three are descended from William Marsters.

Photo credit

It looks like a little piece of paradise.

Read more at Amusing Planet  or find out about visiting Palmerston 

Thanks Bruce!

Sister Nancy -- Bam Bam

I love this!



Via

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Everything You Hate About Advertising in One Fake Video

You've seen all of this footage in ads from major brands but perhaps you haven't thought much about how these ads seek to manipulate you.



More at Adweek

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Hold the Ketchup

I don't blame these newcomers if they prefer to cook their own.


This 1977 short documentary by Albert Kish is about newcomers to Canada and what they eat. Funny, mouth-watering and visually delectable, it takes us into the specialty food shops where the ingredients are bought, and into the homes where the food is prepared and served in the traditional way.

NFB

Monday, March 24, 2014

Grandmothers Posing with their Signature Dish

In his project Delicatessen with love Italian artist Gabriele Galimberti asked grandmothers to prepare their signature dishes. 

Photograph by GABRIELE GALIMBERTI
Website | Riverboom Publishing


Photograph by GABRIELE GALIMBERTI
Website | Riverboom Publishing

Photograph by GABRIELE GALIMBERTI
Website | Riverboom Publishing

More at TwistedSifter
Thanks Bruce!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Kaleidoscope Mosque

Image: Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji

The Nasir al-mulk Mosque in Shiraz, Iran, was built from 1876 to 1888 by the order of one of the Qajar Dynasty lords and was designed by Muhammad Hasan-e-Memar and Muhammad Reza Kashi Paz-e-Shirazi. Entering the building is like walking into a kaleidoscope. The effect is created by sun shining through the stained-glass windows.

Image: Abbas Arabzadeh


More at My Modern Metropolis
Thanks Bruce!

Pickle Power

Culinary duo Bompas & Parr knew the time had come to create the world’s first gherkin chandelier.



NOWNESS

Via

Joe Strummer’s Handwritten Lyrics For London Calling 1979




Joe Strummer’s handwritten London Calling lyrics on display at the Black Market Clash exhibition, 20 September 2013.

Link

Via

Saturday, March 22, 2014

A Drone At The Opera Garnier

A drone filmed the interior of the Opera Garnier, including the magnificent Marc Chagall ceiling. This video is a preview of a documentary, directed by Laurence Thiriat that will be released in September.



Link
Via

1928 Gibson Nick Lucas Special

This1928 Gibson Nick Lucas Special has the gloss black finish and ebony fretboard that Lucas specified for several of his personal instruments. What makes it really special are the decoupage pinup girls strategically placed over the guitar’s body and neck. “Nick’s Bordello” replaces “The Gibson” logo that normally would appear on the headstock, referring possibly to its original Nick Lucas namesake or perhaps an obscure house of ill repute in New Orleans, where this guitar allegedly originated.

It's on the auction block and it's value is estimated at $35,000 -$45,000 with bids starting at $17,000.






Find out more here 
Via Duck Soup