Suspension of Disbelief

Cloud Tree

2012-01-22T22:33:00.003Z

Origin unknown. via reddit

Fishing Under Ice etc

2012-01-03T21:17:00.002Z

Apologies for crappy music. The video is quite a bit of fun though.

As is this one, with better music (but likely to be fake):

Rainbow Fountains

2011-12-14T15:36:00.004Z

I was bored the other day so I went on flickr, typed "rainbow" and "fountain" into the search thing, pressed enter, and proceeded to sieve through roughly 7 thousand pictures of fountains with rainbows.

At the end I made a little selection of my favourites here.

And invited them and the best of the rest to this little group.

This is possibly the gayest thing I have ever done.

P.S.: a few other galleries I made in the past are gathering dust in the internet purgatory here.

cropped cycle

2011-11-16T00:51:00.004Z

"Iela Mari: The World Through a Lens, Babalibri, Milano, 2010 (Italian and English language). Catalogue for the first Italian survey exhibition of Iela Mari's work, held as part of The Bologna Children's Book Fair. An overdue study of her children's books, including sketches, prototypes, and edition variations, beginning with her first book from 1960 (in collaboration with her then husband, Enzo Mari). She currently lives in Milan."

via stopping off place

celery transportation system

2011-11-15T23:18:00.006Z

"A plant transportation system experiment with celery from The Little Kid's Craft Book by Jackie Vermeer & Marian Lariviere, TaplingerPublishing, NY, 1973"

via stopping off place

Santería

2011-11-15T02:07:00.002Z

Santería may be a load of old bollocks, but these illustrations of Orichas by Alberto del Pozo are an absolute joy to look at.

background & thoughtful analysis, as always, is readily available over at BibliOddysey

movement

2011-11-12T23:34:00.006Z

via

les femmes au visage caché

2011-11-12T20:23:00.003Z

via le divan fumeur bohemien

a mountain for the Netherlands

2011-11-12T19:38:00.004Z

via pruned

metamorphosen

2011-11-12T16:34:00.004Z

metamorphosen

Mirai Mizue

2011-11-12T15:06:00.005Z

CHAOTIC ORDER from MIRAI_MIZUE on Vimeo.

robotmafia tells us: "Mirai Mizue is a representative figure of the new generation of abstract animation in Japan. His films have been shown in more than 100 festivals in about 20 countries. His strong obsession towards cells forces him to draw every frame with surprising density. His rhythmical animation overwhelms viewers."

you can see a few more of his videos and follow his progress here

waterfalls flowing upwards

2011-11-12T14:34:00.005Z

via the award winning (congrats!) fogonazos

more:

Bonus:

Image Bonus:

rummaging around the net I found this picture from our old friend David Maisel which although completely unrelated reminded me of an upwards falling waterfall...

a gif for you

2011-11-12T14:19:00.002Z

Anyone there?

2011-11-11T13:39:00.001Z

How the hell do I make images show up bigger in this thing?

Inside Job

2011-11-11T13:11:00.005Z

The dead bodies of Aphids on a Virginia Creeper showing the tell-tale sign that a small parasitic wasp has been in the neighbourhood.

img source

Recreating space without the use of CGI

2011-07-11T10:18:00.001Z

i.e.: recreating space with dirty water.

Strange Encounter

2011-05-05T18:40:00.003Z

Tribes people, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. "I was shooting in Papua New Guinea for the BBC’s landmark documentary Human Planet. I randomly met these guys in the forest near a local singsing ritual. We couldn’t understand each other, and I don’t know anything about them, who they are, or where they came from..." Photograph by Timothy Allen, UK. Link.

Inca Archeological Site

2011-03-27T22:05:00.001Z

The Inca archaeological site of Moray. 13°19′45″S 72°11′44″W. Photo by Edgar Mazo. Via pruned.

Disassembled

2011-03-27T00:45:00.004Z

Todd McLellan takes machines apart and re-arranges the parts. Click on images to enlarge.

via things organized neatly

Perfect Reflection

2011-03-21T22:02:00.001Z

Skyscrapers Currently Under Construction

2011-03-21T20:02:00.003Z

These are skyscrapers currently under-construction around the world

No Comment

2011-03-20T13:01:00.000Z

via shizzle

Amazing Scenes

2011-03-16T22:11:00.005Z

Brilliant collection of classic movie gifs. If we don't, remember me.

The Caterpillar Illusion

2011-03-12T11:55:00.007Z

Birds that look like a caterpillar, a caterpillar that looks like bird excrement. Nature you weird.

Origin unknown.

All of 2010

2011-03-12T00:01:00.002Z

link

Sway with Me

2011-03-11T21:48:00.001Z

Whirlwind Art

2011-03-10T10:37:00.001Z

Before photoshop...

2010-11-05T01:00:00.000Z

The McGurk Effect

2010-11-02T16:05:00.001Z

Smith, String Quartet no. 2, "Nostalgia," Corrente, Del Sol Quartet

2010-11-02T12:29:00.000Z

Many thanks to papple for leaving this in the comments.

Are Are music

2010-10-16T14:09:00.001Z

Arvo Part

2010-10-16T14:02:00.002Z

There is something compelling about this video.

Little 'workshop' (?) from the man who gave us this:

The Ghost of Romantic Transceiver

2010-10-16T00:42:00.001Z

Glenn Gould

2010-10-09T22:56:00.005Z

Glenn Herbert Gould (September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the twentieth century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by a remarkable technical proficiency and a capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach’s music.

Gould is widely known for his unusual habits. He usually hummed while he played the piano, and his recording engineers had mixed results in how successfully they were able to exclude his voice from recordings. Gould claimed that his singing was subconscious and increased proportionately with the inability of the piano in question to realize the music as he intended. It is likely that this habit originated in Gould's having been taught by his mother to "sing everything that he played", as Kevin Bazzana puts it. This became "an unbreakable (and notorious) habit". Some of Gould's recordings were severely criticised because of the background "vocalise". For example, a reviewer of his 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg Variations opined that many listeners would "find the groans and croons intolerable".

Gould was renowned for his peculiar body movements while playing and for his insistence on absolute control over every aspect of his playing environment. The temperature of the recording studio had to be exactly regulated. He invariably insisted that it be extremely warm. According to Friedrich, the air conditioning engineer had to work just as hard as the recording engineers.The piano had to be set at a certain height and would be raised on wooden blocks if necessary. A small rug would sometimes be required for his feet underneath the piano. He had to sit fourteen inches above the floor and would only play concerts while sitting on the old chair his father had made. He continued to use this chair even when the seat was completely worn through. His chair is so closely identified with him that it is shown in a place of honor in a glass case at the National Library of Canada.

Conductors responded diversely to Gould and his playing habits. George Szell, who led Gould in 1957 with the Cleveland Orchestra, remarked to his assistant, "That nut's a genius."Leonard Bernstein said, "There is nobody quite like him, and I just love playing with him." Ironically, Bernstein created a stir in April 1962 when, just before the New York Philharmonic was to perform the Brahms D minor piano concerto with Gould as soloist, he informed the audience that he was assuming no responsibility for what they were about to hear. Specifically, he was referring to Gould's insistence that the entire first movement be played at half the indicated tempo. Plans for a studio recording of the performance came to nothing; the live radio broadcast (along with Bernstein's disclaimer) was subsequently released on CD.

Gould was averse to cold, and wore heavy clothing (including gloves), even in warm places. He was once arrested, presumably mistaken for a vagrant, while sitting on a park bench in Sarasota, Florida, dressed in his standard all-climate attire of coat(s), warm hat, and mittens. He also disliked social functions. He hated being touched, and in later life he limited personal contact, relying on the telephone and letters for communication. Upon one visit to historic Steinway Hall in New York City in 1959, the chief piano technician at the time, William Hupfer, greeted Gould by giving him a slap on the back. Gould was shocked by this, and complained of aching, lack of coordination, and fatigue because of the incident; he even went on to explore the possibility of litigation against Steinway & Sons if his apparent injuries were permanent. He was known for cancelling performances at the last minute, which is why Bernstein's above-mentioned public disclaimer opens with, "Don't be frightened, Mr. Gould is here; will appear in a moment."

In his liner notes and broadcasts, Gould created more than two dozen alter egos for satirical, humorous, or didactic purposes, permitting him to write hostile reviews or incomprehensible commentaries on his own performances. Probably the best-known are the German musicologist "Karlheinz Klopweisser", the English conductor "Sir Nigel Twitt-Thornwaite", and the American critic "Theodore Slutz". These facets of Gould, whether interpreted as neurosis or "play",have provided ample material for psychobiography.

Fran's Restaurant in Toronto was a regular haunt of Gould's. A CBC profile noted, "sometime between two and three every morning, Gould would go to Fran's, a 24-hour diner a block away from his Toronto apartment, sit in the same booth, and order the same meal of scrambled eggs." Link.

Bonus:

Missing Water Block

2010-10-08T08:07:00.002Z

shared by Kim Bordons

Volcano

2010-09-27T20:05:00.000Z

Love & Theft

2010-09-26T15:55:00.001Z

Circular Mill

2010-09-13T23:13:00.004Z

"An ant mill is a phenomenon where a small group of army ants separated from the main foraging party lose the pheromone track and begin to follow one another, forming a continuously rotating circle. The ants will eventually die of exhaustion."

via reddit

Esther's Package

2010-09-09T18:49:00.001Z

Cyclops Turtle

2010-09-01T22:48:00.001Z

Adorable.

Apologies for the music. You may want to turn it off.

Propeller Effect II

2010-08-30T16:35:00.001Z

Remember this? Now we have a video.

Ad Infinitum

2010-08-22T22:01:00.002Z

via fogonazos

Stick with it

2010-08-19T00:27:00.000Z

via pbs.org

Four-Handed Tico Tico

2010-08-12T10:58:00.001Z

And... we're back!

I am still here

2010-07-04T23:48:00.001Z

Just taking a little breather.

This is how a triggerfish eats

2010-06-30T20:58:00.000Z

Link.

Blast

2010-06-16T23:56:00.001Z

Upside Down Starfish

2010-06-03T19:27:00.001Z

Guzheng

2010-05-31T01:55:00.002Z

Birdman

2010-05-13T00:21:00.003Z

A modern day Moondog.

Mindfeck

2010-05-11T20:58:00.002Z

Mountain Man

2010-05-08T10:19:00.003Z

Mountain Man

No Comment

2010-05-01T01:37:00.000Z

Eyjafjallajökull Shockwaves

2010-04-26T11:17:00.003Z

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

2010-04-21T00:37:00.002Z

"Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou is a nun currently living in Jerusalem. She grew up as the daughter of a prominent Ethiopian intellectual, but spent much of her young life in exile, first for schooling, and then again during Mussolini's occupation of Ethiopia's capitol city, Addis Ababa, in 1936. Her musical career was often tragically thwarted by class and gender politics, and when the Emperor himself actually went so far as to personally veto an opportunity for Guèbrou to study abroad in England, she sank into a deep depression before fleeing to a monastery in 1948. Today, she spends up to seven hours a day playing the piano in seclusion."

via boing boing

buy here

Lift Off

2010-04-19T02:06:00.002Z

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

As with all videos posted here do watch this full screen.

Blood Falls

2010-04-18T22:10:00.005Z

"Roughly two thousand years ago, the Taylor Glacier sealed beneath it a small body of water which contained an ancient community of microbes. Trapped below a thick layer of ice, they have remained there ever since, isolated inside a natural time capsule. Evolving independently of the rest of the living world, these microbes exist in a world with no light or free oxygen and little heat, and are essentially the definition of "primordial ooze." The trapped lake has very high salinity and is rich in iron, which gives the waterfall its red color. A fissure in the glacier allows the subglacial lake to flow out, forming the falls without contaminating the ecosystem within."

via Atlas Obscura

previously

Tadanori Yokoo

2010-04-18T19:30:00.000Z

Illustration by Tadanori Yokoo

via the cabinet of the solar plexus

Music from a Bonsai

2010-04-18T16:16:00.001Z

Diego Stocco - Music From A Bonsai from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Mirrors

2010-04-18T16:04:00.001Z

by Olafur Eliasson

Sonar

2010-04-18T11:28:00.001Z

Zellen

2010-04-18T11:17:00.005Z

Top down photographs of German prison cells by Juergen Chill.

via ektopia

Unpronounceable Fire

2010-04-18T03:05:00.003Z

Delia Derbyshire

2010-03-06T00:29:00.003Z

"Delia Derbyshire was born in Coventry, England, in 1937. Educated at Coventry Grammar School and Girton College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a degree in mathematics and music.

In 1959, on approaching Decca records, Delia was told that the company DID NOT employ women in their recording studios, so she went to work for the UN in Geneva before returning to London to work for music publishers Boosey & Hawkes.

In 1960 Delia joined the BBC as a trainee studio manager. She excelled in this field, but when it became apparent that the fledgling Radiophonic Workshop was under the same operational umbrella, she asked for an attachment there - an unheard of request, but one which was, nonetheless, granted. Delia remained 'temporarily attached' for years." Link

For more on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop watch Alchemists of Sound in full.

Today, we did Karate.

2010-03-01T03:38:00.003Z

"La vie dans les camps et sur le bord des tentes n’est pas juste misère et désolation. Les gens s’occupent, les enfants se cherchent des occupations. On rit aussi. Les jeunes rap, chantent. Et on fait du karaté à Ste-Thérèse." link

The Acrobatic Fly

2010-02-28T03:19:00.000Z

Points of View

2010-02-20T03:02:00.016Z

The Nazca lines, US style.

2010-02-18T23:36:00.003Z

"In the desert 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles is a suburb abandoned in advance of itself—the unfinished extension of a place called California City. Visible from above now are a series of badly paved streets carved into the dust and gravel, like some peculiarly American response to the Nazca Lines."

Link.

Please Vote For Me

2010-02-13T00:40:00.005Z

Wuhan is a city about the size of London located in central China. It is here that director Weijun Chen has conducted an experiment in democracy. A Grade 3 class at Evergreen Primary School has their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor. Eight-year-olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents.

Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. The purpose of Weijun Chen's experiment is to determine how democracy would be received if it came to China.

Galleries

2010-02-11T22:54:00.005Z

I created a few galleries on flickr this past week, mostly relating to themes I have toyed with on this here blog. You can see them all here. I hope you like them.

Black Hole Tour

2010-02-10T22:58:00.002Z

file under science-~~fiction~~

Umi-bōzu

2010-02-10T22:00:00.000Z

"Umi-bōzu are giant black bulbous beings that live in the sea. Sometimes they have glowing eyes and a beak, and other times they have no facial features at all. To survive an umi-bōzu encounter at sea, one should remain quiet and look in the opposite direction. Speaking or looking at the creature may send it into a rage — and that usually ends in tragedy." link

Ants + Time-Lapse

2010-02-10T01:09:00.006Z

Cloud Factories

2010-02-08T14:19:00.001Z

Cloud Factories.

Deadly Doilies

2010-02-03T15:30:00.003Z

Laura Splan's doilies:

"The design of each doily is based on the structure of a different virus." Pictured above from top to bottom are Influenza, HIV and Herpes.

previously

Yosemite Horsetail Fall

2010-02-02T00:29:00.004Z

"Horsetail Fall, located in Yosemite National Park in California, is a seasonal waterfall that flows in the winter and early spring. The fall occurs on the East side of El Capitan. There are a few days every February where this fall is lit up by the setting sun and reflects a bright orange."

Alternative image.

Not to be confused with the Yosemite Firefall, which looks exactly the same but is completely different.

via reddit

Clouds over Denver

2010-02-01T00:13:00.000Z

Looks like the citizens of Denver, Colorado, got one hell of a sunset sometime in 2008.

See the hole set of pictures by april cakes here.

I PuT a SpElL On YoU

2010-01-30T02:33:00.003Z

via my bro

BONUS: alt version via the comments:

New Techniques

2010-01-27T01:23:00.002Z

How would someone play the guitar if they'd never seen one being played before? Maybe something like this?

(Not saying that's what happened here, because it isn't. This is just an wonderful display of skill and imagination.)

via reddit

Hi,

2010-01-26T04:40:00.002Z

I hope you are well.

Here is an elephant dressed up as a butterfly. I found it here.

Think I should probably go to bed now.

Vanishing Point

2010-01-25T22:13:00.001Z

Chris Morris

2010-01-25T16:23:00.004Z

Together with Armando Ianucci, Chris Morris is the best satirist in the UK right now, taking aim particularly at the workings of the media, politicians, and the moral codes of the day. This short piece is a fine example of his work:

He has now completed a film about a group of Jihadists in the UK which is bound to offend just about everyone. And I for one canot wait to see it. You can watch a short clip from the movie here.

La Mano del Desierto

2010-01-25T00:07:00.003Z

"The Mano del Desierto is a large-scale sculpture of a hand located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The sculpture was constructed by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. The work has a base of iron and cement, and stands 11 metres (36 ft) tall." link. more pics.

via artificial owl / ektopia
image source

Sunset from Mars

2010-01-25T00:00:00.001Z

Captured in 2005 the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. link.

via pruned

James Randi The Bullshit Hunter

2010-01-24T17:39:00.003Z

The James Randi Educational Foundation currently offers a $1,000,000 reward to anyone who can prove to have paranormal abilities.

Library of Dust

2010-01-23T15:15:00.004Z

"Library of Dust depicts individual copper canisters, each containing the cremated remains of patient from a state-run psychiatric hospital. The patients died at the hospital between 1883 (the year the facility opened, when it was called the Oregon State Insane Asylum) and the 1970’s; their bodies have remained unclaimed by their families."

via BLDGBLOG

La Puerta

2010-01-23T09:00:00.000Z

Clever stop motion video by Sam3 and Limow

Frozen Puddles

2010-01-20T23:18:00.003Z

shared by zsaj

The other day I stumbled on the above picture of a frozen puddle on flickr. I liked it so i thought I'd look for more, and found loads of them, so I started collecting them in a group, and let's just say that I got a bit carried away...

People in Order

2010-01-20T18:28:00.001Z

Castles Beneath Cities

2010-01-18T14:14:00.004Z

"Castles Beneath Cities" by Brad Downey.

There is a world of Princes, Wizards and Dragons beneath our cities.

Either that or the rats are starting to get a bit cocky.

via a desgana

Puttin on the Ritz

2010-01-17T17:28:00.003Z

BONUS: (thanks detarkin)

Ghost Furniture

2010-01-15T17:24:00.003Z

"Chaises à Calke Abbey par Tom Mannion
Dans les bureaux de la maison Martin Margiela, via Café Mode
A l'ambassade d'Autriche à Paris, par Eugène Atget. "

Post shamelessly stolen from the magnificent Le Divan Fumeur Bohémien

Magnetism

2010-01-15T00:47:00.001Z

Visualisation of magnetism by Caleb Charland.

via gizmodo / today and tomorrow

Insular

2010-01-13T23:02:00.003Z

Insular by Kate MccGwire. Created stacking 50 layers of paper and burning through them.

via moon river

Thank You Lhasa

2010-01-12T02:31:00.007Z

May you rest in peace.

Lhasa de Sela - September 27, 1972 – January 1, 2010

A Room with a View

2010-01-11T14:27:00.016Z

Abelardo Morell teaches photography at the Massachusets College of Art and Design. In order to show his students how a camera obscura works he would turn his class into one. It wasn't long before he started doing it in places other than the class, and taking photographs of the results. He creates the projections by covering the window with thick black plastic and leaving a small hole through which the image sneaks into the room and projects itself, upside down, on the opposite wall. (You can see the covered up window in the mirror of this photograph).

I guess the next step is to create photosensitive wallpaper so you can inmortalise the view from your window inside your room. Forever.

In his more recent work he has started taking color photographs to great effect. Strangely some of these are not upside down.

I'm particularly fond of the two sets of shots below showing the same view at different times of the year.

I'd seen Mr Morell's work some time ago and always meant to post it but never got round to it. You can see the rest of his work on his website. My memory was jolted by today and tomorrow's post on the work of James Nizam, who uses the same technique to create the images from inside abandoned houses:

Lovely stuff.

The Mona Lisa Curse

2010-01-11T02:57:00.004Z

Christine Nguyen's netherworlds

2010-01-08T22:09:00.005Z

Christine Nguyen combines original photography, real objects and a salt crystalising process which create these nether-worldly results. they deserve to be seen big so feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge.

And if netherworldly doesn't exist as a word, it does now.

via moon river

Timelapse - Smoke from Los Angeles Wildfire

2010-01-07T18:45:00.003Z

Timelapse - Los Angeles Wildfire from Dan Blank on Vimeo.

Actual time: 40 minutes. Music by Brian Eno.

via minutiae

No Comment

2010-01-07T18:12:00.001Z

shared by stevesachs