Maria Sibylla Merian, botanical and natural history illustrator, was the first to record metamorphosis
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Inceptus: The Big Picture
This project by David Popa, located in the Bergsøyan Islands in Norway, is the continuation of a body of work using all natural, washable, biodegradable pigments with only the source water at the location.
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Tilt-Shift
The disaster in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station remains the worst in the history of nuclear power generation.
Off Grid Micro Hydro System
It literally produces too much power. Made in Canada.
via Memo Of The Air
Monday, May 30, 2022
Making A Greenscreen Dress
In the film and TV industry, backdrops of brightly colored fabric or paint, and a process called “chroma key,” are used to fake fantastical scenarios. Crescent Shay recently created a greenscreen dress and cloak, allowing her to digitally wear the dress in countless hues using special effects.
Via bookofjoe
Rotterdam Rooftop Walk
From 26 May to 24 June 2022.
(Image: MVRDV)
It's Manhattanhenge!
Every year, around the summer solstice, the setting sun gives New York City an incredible, natural show: it aligns perfectly with the Manhattan street grid, suffusing everything with beautiful light.
Infrared District
Financial districts are best known for concrete, steel, and glass but urban planners are beginning to introduce nature into their designs. An infrared walk in the La Defense financial district in Paris shows how this is beginning to change. Pierre-Louis Ferrer's infrared photography gives vegetal subjects a bright white aspect creating interesting images of nature encroaching on urbanism.
France Parkinson
A short video from organisation France Parkinson explores moments with the condition through the powerful medium of modern dance.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Nice To Meet You
Max the Moluccan and Q, a younger female Moluccan, meet in a pet store. The two Cockatoos sing, dance and throw an impromptu party to the delight of onlookers.
via Boing Boing
Sunday Links
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| My Garden With Evening Rolling In (image: Marilyn Bellamy) |
Stray In Kars is a short documentary that takes viewers to the ancient city of Kars where stray dogs roam, fight and and are occasionally interrupted by their human neighbours. It was shot in coordination with Stray, a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary by Elizabeth Lo.
Cathy Brenner: Can I bring the lovebirds, Mitch? They haven't harmed anyone.
Mitch Brenner: Oh, alright; bring them. House from Hitchcock's The Birds is for sale
Historic House Cats (via Everlasting Blort)
When I visit London I always prepare myself for sunny days by downloading some of Lady In London's free self-guided London walking tours with maps. Recently I chose Holland Park and a Thames Trail walk from Hammersmith Bridge to Chiswick. It is a great resource for exploring some of London's prettiest streets.
Aerial Photos of the Largest Aircraft Boneyard in the World
In 1924 a bankrupt businessman in Portugal launched an audacious international scheme to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. Devouring the Heart of Portugal
imagen: Turn any text into an image with Google's new AI tool (via Perfect For Roquefort Cheese)
The rise and fall of Toronto's classiest con man (via Strange Company)
This Human Skull Lamp should come with a nightmare warning.
Photos from the lawsuit over misleading fast food lawsuit Using undercooked meat in ads is one of the tricks stylists employ to make food look better.
"Love" Songs That Aren't About Love (Thanks Bruce!)
Fit for a troll? An unusual little riverside house in Bath. It's lovely and you could eat any billy goats that tried to cross the bridge.
Charles Wong - Photographs of San Francisco Chinatown 1946-1954 (video)
I want this. Who wouldn't? Dog Bed For Humans
When I was a young girl I read the Vicki Barr books about a glamourous sleuth/ flight attendant and I wanted to be her. On the Early Days of Life in the Sky as a Stewardess
20x200 sells Art For Everyone at prices for every budget.
Who's that behind those Foster Grants? Doggles in goggles
Wirecutter shares 52 of their product recommendations that have stood the test of time.
Artists 4 Long-Term Care is an art and storytelling initiative to advocate for residents and workers in long-term care facilities during the pandemic and beyond.
Death masks are a testament to the time post mortem of many of the world’s famous people.
The Bones in the Wall: An Edinburgh Castle Mystery
Cute as a button! Reebok's new Eames Classic Leather Shoes feature the famous Eames Elephant, which was originally a children's toy and stool.
OutHorse Your Email to Horses In Iceland, horses answer your emails when you're on vacation.
Wallace’s giant bee is the largest bee in the world, four times larger than a honeybee and measuring about the length of a human thumb and it is endangered. (Thanks Bruce!)Paul Spooner- Automata Artist
Paul Spooner's whimsical machines are brought to life by intricate arrangements of handmade cams, cranks, and other simple mechanisms.
(Thanks Bruce!)
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Oscar Ukonu's Hyperrealistic Portraits
Self-taught Nigerian artist creates his pieces with ballpoint pens.
via 3 Quarks Daily
A Building-Size Cat Photo
via PetaPixel
Man Wears His Trash
Environmentalist Rob Greenfield's video project Trash Me illustrates how much waste people produce in one month.
A sleeping elephant family
A year ago nine drones tracking a herd of elephants crossing through China’s south-western Yunnan province filmed them taking a rest.
Read more
The Beauty of Bali
Travel photographer Martien Janssen captured a series of Bali time-lapses from sunrise to sunset.
via PetaPixel
Friday, May 27, 2022
Stop Motion Animation Demo Reel
Laura Venditti is a stop-motion animator from Montréal. Check out this demo reel.
Ted Cruz Makes Machine Gun Bacon
For those who enjoy the taste of gun cleaner in the morning. Is this crazy? Yes it is.
via Boing Boing
Modified VW Bus
Viennese mechanic Kurt Kretzner modified this classic Volkswagen Type 2 T1 bus into a one-off all-terrain monster. It looks like it could handle anything Mother Nature pitched at it.
Musical Temple
The pillars of the 5oo-year-old Vijaya Vittala Temple in Hampi, India are meant to be played as percussion or wind instruments, transforming the sacred site into a musical instrument.
Read more: Boing Boing
The Many Colors of the Full Moon
In a lunar composite that took ten years to complete, Italian teacher and astrophotographer Marcella Giulia Pace captured all the different colors she observed of a full Moon.
Read more: PetaPixel
Thursday, May 26, 2022
There's No Place Like Court!
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| An iconic piece of film history is now contested property in a legal struggle. (image courtesy Bonhams) |
Sky Bridge 721
Sky Bridge 721 is the longest suspension walkway in the world. Strung between two mountain peaks in the Czech Republic, the pedestrian path stretches 721 meters and reaches 95 meters above ground at its highest point.
Luis Buñuel's recipe for a dry martini
This clip from "Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie" illustrates director Luis Buñuel's own recipe for a dry martini. It should be savoured,not gulped like a beer.
She Did What Her Conscience Told Her To Do
While working as a sign language interpreter at the Ukrainian state-run channel UT1, Nataliya Dmytruk became known for a live news broadcast on November 24, 2004, when she refused to translate the official script that announced Viktor Yanukovych as the winner of the presidential election. Deviating from the official script followed by the voice announcer, Dmytruk instead signed to viewers, "I am addressing everybody who is deaf in Ukraine. Our president is Viktor Yushchenko. Do not trust the results of the central election committee. They are all lies.... And I am very ashamed to translate such lies to you. Maybe you will see me again." - Wikipedia
The courts ordered a new election, and this time Yushchenko emerged as the undisputed winner. Her bravery inspired Ukrainian journalists to issue public apologies and promise to tell the truth and Dmytruk received several awards for her act of courage.
Paris 1920s
I probably post too many of these videos but I really like the feeling of travelling back in time that they evoke.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Nervous
In this 2021 animation by CalArts student Charmaine Ang an anxious wee pup is dropped off at doggy day care for the first time. (cool music by Kanoa Ichiyanagi)
Persian Demons
The Public DomainReview brings us watercolours from a manuscript written by an Iranian soothsayer which depicts demonic beings, archangels and animals associated with the zodiac. The pictures are accompanied with ritual prescriptions for dealing with the different creatures.
Gone But Not Forgotten
This short video shows the Nakagin Capsule Tower being assembled as a series of tiles and blocks. By the end, the white tower stands tall and in stark contrast to a sea of dark, grey buildings at night.
As the Nakagin Capsule Tower demolition continues, this beautiful video by Sho Ito is a wonderful way to remember Kisho Kurokawa’s mantra of metropolis as living organism: https://t.co/OSYF4ZEhP8
— Spoon & Tamago (@Johnny_suputama) May 9, 2022
pic.twitter.com/6U50maofLu
Anniversary Of The Very First Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever
The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever is an event where participants recreate the music video for musician Kate Bush's 1978 song Wuthering Heights. The first such event was organized by performance collective Shambush on May 25, 2013 in Brighton, England as part of Brighton Fringe arts event. The group put out an invitation to the Ultimate Kate Bush Event. About 300 people came dressed as Kate Bush and reenacted her performance (video below) with proceeds going to Sussex MS Treatment Centre.
Since 2016 the event has been held in cities around the world. The date of the event changes every year, but it is usually held in mid-July.
Here is the instructional video so that you can participate in a Kate Bush Event near you:
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Pellicci's In Lockdown
British painter Doreen Fletcher is interested in pockets of life that we ignore every day; places that are still or have been inhabited.
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| Pellicci’s in lockdown 2021 |
I have fond memories of the madness that is Pellicci's but I think I'd love this painting even without the memories.
When NASA gave spiders drugs, 1995
In April 1995 a NASA tech briefing “Using Spider-Web Patterns To Determine Toxicity” was published. It examined the effect of various substances on spider web patterns.
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The article noted: “It appears that one of the most telling measures of toxicity is a decrease, in comparison with a normal web, of the numbers of completed sides in the cells: the greater the toxicity, the more sides the spider fails to complete.”
Succulents That Look Like Real Stone
Lithops is a genus of succulent native to southern Africa. Nicknamed living stones, they bear a resemblance to smooth pebbles.
This Week's Cover - New York Magazine
New York Magazine has published a dynamic online directory guiding readers in need to abortion services and expert-vetted information. It will be updated as new laws further restrict abortion access. They have removed their paywall from this and other stories about finding abortion care.
Monday, May 23, 2022
A Lovely Day In London
A sunny day with a gentle breeze stirring the light fixtures at the Commercial Tavern in Shoreditch. It's a favourite of mine.
Japanese Retro-Futurism
More Than 100 Young Crocodiles Hop On Pop
Photographer and conservationist Dhritiman Mukherjee captured these striking images of a father swimming through the murky river in New Delhi with more than 100 young clinging to his back. Measuring 16 to 17 feet long, the male likely was carrying the offspring from 7 to 8 female gharials, which lay anywhere from 20 to 95 eggs each year.
Read more: this is colossal
Procession - Hew Locke
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Images: Marilyn Bellamy
How to play "Happy Birthday" Like Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Bach and Mozart
Nicole Pesce was inspired by Victor Borge.
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Sunday Links
For the first time in many years, there will be no Sunday Links today. I am in London but, as usual, have been gathering links all week. My glasses were crushed in the reclining seat mechanism on the plane on the way over and I have been using my prescription sunglasses and a pair of my husband’s readers to see. I have been blogging on my phone which is an ordeal. Today I was testing the hyperlinks to the twenty draft items. One was not working. When I removed it I accidentally removed every hyperlink. Yikes! But I laboured on and managed to retrieve all the links. I was elated! Unfortunately there was on internet disruption before I saved the latest draft and my post was once again linkless. I give up. So sorry.
(If you like you can check out a few of my photos of London on Instagram)
Saturday, May 21, 2022
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (whole film)
This 1987 documentary by director Kazuo Hara centers on Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of Japan's campaign in New Guinea in the Second World War, and follows him around as he searches out those responsible for the unexplained deaths of two soldiers in his old unit. (I know most of you won't have two hours to spend watching this but it's a good film.)
Friday, May 20, 2022
A Baby Chimney Sweeper (1933)
This three year old probably thought it was a lark to accompany his daddy to work but traditionally chimney sweeps were purchased from their poverty-stricken parents by a master sweep and lived a life that was brutal and short. A bill was passed in September 1875 which put an end to the practice of using children as human chimney sweeps in England. Read more here
Well Of Hell
Folklore says the giant hole in the Al-Mahra desert in Yemen is a place where demons live. On September 15, 2021, a group of cavers became the first to reach the bottom of the hole.
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Malcolm Mclaren Presents Double Dutch
From Malcolm Mclaren's groundbreaking album Duck Rock. Dredged from the NOTL vaults.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
An Election Entertainment
I accidentally visited Hogarth’s grave today and, because Ontario is in the midst of an election, I thought I’d post one of his series of four oil paintings that illustrate the election of a member of parliament in Oxfordshire in 1754. His opinion was not positive.
‘An Election Entertainment’ by William Hogarth, the first of the four paintings that make up ‘The Humours of an Election’ (1755), held by the Soane Museum:
‘An Election Entertainment’ by William Hogarth, the first of the four paintings that make up ‘The Humours of an Election’ (1755), held by the Soane Museum:
Catwoman vs. the White House
In this documentary director Scott Calonico brings to life a time when the actress Eartha Kitt was retaliated against by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Nevertheless she persisted.
Mary in The Void
I have had a longtime interest in Marian apparitions, probably stemming from my early Catholic School education. I really like this collection of Italian ex-votos from the late 19th to early 20th century that depicts the Virgin Mary appearing at scenes of people falling from buildings, scaffoldings or trees.
The Cursing Mommy Makes A Gimlet (A repost from 2010)
It's almost warm enough for sun porch cocktails so I thought I'd repost this. She's making a gimlet. This is hilarious:
"I use Rose’s Lime Juice. It’s perfect for gimlets, so I always keep a few extra boRead more herettles in reserve in case I run out, as in fact I did just a few minutes ago when I mixed the drink I’m finishing now. The backup bottles, which are down here on the bottom shelf of the liquor cabinet—don’t tell me they’re not here. Please don’t fucking tell me the Rose’s Lime Juice is not fucking here. If Larry took my last spare bottle to use in his fucking Sno-Kone machine, by Christ, I swear I’ll—oh, thank God. Here it is, back behind the Kahlúa and the walnut liqueur."
P.S. Noir writer, Raymond Chandler, no stranger to the world of alcoholic beverages, agreed that only Rose's lime juice will do: "a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's lime juice and nothing else" (Terry Lennox in Chandler's The Long Goodbye).
Monday, May 16, 2022
Billions of Synchronous Fireflies
Photographer Sriram Murali, is an expert in light pollution and fireflies. In April he visited the Anamalai Tiger Reserve in India to observe the synchronized flashing of fireflies.
from Sriram Murali on Vimeo.
Read more: PetaPixel
The Interlace
The Interlace residential development in Singapore is composed of thirty-one apartment blocks, each six stories tall, stacked in a hexagonal pattern to form eight large courtyards. Designed by The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), it was awarded the World Building of the Year title at the 2015 World Architecture Festival. It provides affordable accomodation for a wide range of people.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Sunday Links
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| To see what’s really going on, it helps to get close: A Messy Table, a Map of the World (NYT interactive) |
I want umbrella wings!
What if D-Day Failed? In Undelivered President Biden's speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum builds an alternate history through the speeches leaders never had to make.
“Alexander, now you must give up attempting the impossible, or you may lose your life in attempting to explore the deep.”Alexander in the Bathysphere
Layers of London is a map-based history website developed by the Institute of Historical Research. (via Perfect for Roquefort Cheese)
Good advice: Andrew Carnegie famously suggested his epitaph should read: "Here lies a man who knew how to enlist in his service better men than himself."
"Computers in the future will weigh no more than 1.5 tons." Popular Mechanics, 1949 7 tech predictions that were way off the mark (via Things Magazine)
One million deaths A timeline of the lives lost to Covid-19 in America.
The Coolest Doorway in Paris (It's fabulous. I've seen it)
“If someone could figure out how to make hot dogs taste like crawfish dogs, he could bring back baseball” Eating Crawfish in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
Train Set - some of the most ambitious, fascinating, and downright crazy trains that the world has ever seen. (via Perfect for Roquefort Cheese)
A few sentences on every Thomas Pynchon novel to date
Podcast: Atlas Obscura visits Le Jardin d’Agronomie Tropicale, a garden park in Paris, France, which contains the ruins of a colonial exhibition from 1907.
Ingenious! These Inexpensive Adjustable Buttons Make Your Pants Fit Better (NYT Link)
Saturday, May 14, 2022
The Gardener
The Gardener is a 2017 documentary about Frank Cabot's quest for perfection at Les Quatre Vents, his twenty-acre English style garden and summer estate in the Charlevoix Region in Quebec. I haven't seen the film but the trailer is stunning.
The Gardener is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Friday, May 13, 2022
Would A Woman Make a Good President?
A clipping from a November 1963 issue of the Minneapolis Tribune asked people, “Would a woman be a good president?”
Via Vintage Everyday
Trinity
Trinity, Nfld is one of my favourite spots. I have fond memories of sitting on the deck of that red building with a glass of wine.
 Trinity Tessa May 2004 |
Bitcoin City
Bitcoin City, in El Salvador, was designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero. The cryptocurrency-funded project is made to look like a Bitcoin. The model below shows a golden city radiating out from a central plaza with the bitcoin logo.
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| Photo: @nayibbukele/Twitter |
CG Train Station
This photorealistic CG train station, created by artist Lorenzo Drago, is based on a real-life train station in Toyama, Japan.
via The Awesomer
Time is Nothing
Ten years ago photographer Kien Lam quit his job. Over the next 343 days he visited 17 countries and took 6237 photographs from which he created this lovely timelapse.
via Kuriositas
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Lace -Wing Bug
The wings of the Stephanitis Typicus look like stained glass. During another season I might marvel at its beauty but at this time of year I am grateful that this destroyer of plants is limited to Asia and the Pacific region and will not be munching on my flowers.
How To Pick Up A Duck
I'm sharing because one never knows when this information might come in handy.
We Call Him Super
Roughly 50 million Americans are thought to believe in ideas associated with QAnon, a conspiracy theory centered on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q".
It is a movement built on anger and resentment and I cannot understand how any reasonable person can believe this collage of conspiracy.
(via MetaFilter)
1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost
Vintage Everyday has posted a set of beautiful photos of the 1909 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost. It was built before the brand's famous Flying Lady hood ornament was created (as you can see in 3rd image).
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