The houses there are entirely painted with adorable designs which are entirely different from what I'd associate with russian suburbs. What I really adore about Russians is their ability to improvise.
Here is a picture and a link to a site with more photos, but unfortunately the comments there are cyrillic so I didn't find out much.
© Oregon State University
Did you ever try to get a clear answer from a lawyer or politician? Well, no matter if you tried or not, you probably know the saying that "you might as well try to nail a pudding to the wall". Or depending on the country you live in, maybe try nailing jelly or jello to the wall … in Germany it is pudding.
And here is a guy (via neatorama) who actually tried it, documented all the steps and then answers the burning question if this saying in essence (backed up by practical evidence) means that is easy, hard or impossible: Link
My favorite is still the one from Helsinki, but this one is nice too, especially if you understand German.
]]>This is why I'm offering the following video, about a man who does something which seems to be called Contact Juggling. It looks beautifully unreal and the music is great too …
]]>BoingBoing linked to Polar Inertia today, with photo series by Christopher Herwig, documenting modern society. I'm just beginning to explore the site, but the series which was featured on boingboing, is one that I that I find particularly intriguing.
(image © Christopher Herwig)
I think you won't be able to guess what this is. It is not a Bauhaus art installation, but a bus shelter from the former Soviet Union.
The roadside bus stop serves a simple purpose – to show where the bus will stop and to provide some comfort and shelter for waiting passengers. One would think that the Soviets would have come up with one universal design for this community structure – simple, functional and cheap to mass produce. However, in many instances this was not the case, much time, effort and imagination went into many roadside bus stops. The sky was the limit with different shapes and design– blocks, domes, columns, towers, A-frames and archways, even ones shaped like birds, yurts and hats. If the bus stop was less bold and daring with its architectural design then the creators would often attract attention with decorating the structure with murals or mosaics. The themes that these decorated bus stops took usually varied depending on the region, often reflecting the local culture, history, or industries.
If you check the phots, make sure you view the whole series as some of the shelters may not be so stunning individually, but seeing the sheer creativity and variety is nothing but stunning, especially because of the eerie contrast of this variety in a society which would be associated with conformity and architectural blandness compared the uniformity of bus stops in western society, which focuses so much on individuality: Soviet Bus Shelters
I also like his series about Indian Rikshaw Mudflaps, which is also about overflowing creativity in transportation.
]]>Speaking of playfulness, I just found a video of a rabbit which implemented payfulness in quite a bold way.
Well, ever since Monty Python's movie Holy Grail it is well known that rabbits are deady and bloodthirsty creatures (movie scene).
One may have taken that as a typical exaggeration by Monty Python, but now a fearless and agressive rabbit has been spotted and filmed.
(Found on haha.nu (which is one of my favorite blogs, because I always find light and amusing stuff there to distract me from thinking deep thoughts :-))
]]>The results are eerie but also entertaining and exhibit an amazing mastery in photoshop given that missing parts, e.g. background in a place where a human body part was, need to be repainted in a realistic way.
And in a way this is strangely inverse to nude art and porn. In those you see people without clothes, here it is the opposite.
]]>
I'm a great fan of animation movies so this gives me a great excuse to post it here (not that I need any) together with the opportunity to create some insight, especially because the movie is quite powerful (according to haha.nu it was nominated for the Oscar in 2002).
(Warning: some blood and violence involved.)
This particluar picture and link however is about young penguines living in a marine center in New Zealand and about the blue shoes they got (and why): Happy Feet
As the name for that Flick pool says: Too damn cute!
(And how nicely the colors match those of this website :-))
Read more!