Archive for May 7th, 2007
Very Creepy Vintage Advertisements.
Did you know that summer was the “smoking season”? Weirdomatic has this and many other really creepy vintage advertisements. The pig slicing pieces of salami from himself and the platinum eyelash extenders were my favorites. Link
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A Very Happy Wall Hook.
Self-adhesive wall hooks have been around for decades, but you typically don’t see suggestive ones for sale outside of adult stores. For some reason this set of wall hooks slipped past industrial giant 3M’s PR department and right onto Asian store shelves.
Maybe they’d just laugh over there, but in the U.S. 3M would probably be sued within a week. Link via StumbleUpon Buzz
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Bicycle Locks.
Being a bicycle officer means you never have to worry about having a bike lock.
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Ring of Fire.
Frodo meets Johnny Cash in this music video. Push play or go to Youtube. -via Exploding Aardvark
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Pneumatic Anatomica.
This poster explores the anatomy of Canis pneumatis, or the common balloon dog. Link -via Militant Platypus
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Still Life.
Still Life from JoshFlowers
Josh Flowers called people and asked them to share their memories of loved ones who were buried in the same cemetery. The result is the video Still Life. I now feel I would have liked these folks. Push play or go to Vimeo. -via Fuzzytopia
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British Schoolboy Uniforms.
Great Britain is the birthplace of the school uniform and over the years schoolboys have worn a wide variety of official school dress. These pages illustrate a selection of these uniforms and provide some details of their history.
Shown is the traditional bluecoat uniform of Christ’s Hospital School in Sussex. Link -via the Presurfer
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The Best Grassroots Movement. Ever.
The official McFLY 2015 project is a grassroots movement to get Nike to make available to consumers the futuristic-looking sneakers seen in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part 2. Since its launch in April 2007, the official McFLY 2015 project has garnered attention from Moviefone, Gizmodo Japan, Yahoo! Japan, Hypebeast, CNET, Rocketboom Weblog, Ars Technica, Radar Online, Arena Magazine, Adrants. Check out their website: McFLY 2015, the official home of the best grassroots movement. You can visit them on MySpace. And you can check ‘em out on Virb too. The post above was brought to you by the official McFLY 2015 project.
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10 Divinely Designed Churches.
Jesus Christ didn’t need fancy churches, but thank goodness that some people didn’t listen too well and built magnificent buildings to glorify God. Today, there are thousands of churches: some small and simple, whereas others are humongous and ornately decorated.
Let’s take a look at some divinely designed churches around the world, both classic and modern in style:
Las Lajas Cathedral
Las Lajas Cathedral (Image Credit: Jungle_Boy [Flickr])
Las Lajas Cathedral, side view from the bottom (Image Credit: julkastro [Flickr])
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Las Lajas, or the Las Lajas Cathedral [wiki] in Colombia, was built in 1916 on a site where, according to local legend, the Virgin Mary appeared. The story goes like this: an Indian woman named María Mueses de Quiñones was carrying her deaf-mute daughter Rosa on her back near Las Lajas ("The Rocks"). Weary of the climb, the María sat down on a rock when Rosa spoke (for the first time) about an apparition in a cave.
Later on, a mysterious painting of the Virgin Mary carrying a baby was discovered on the wall of the cave. Supposedly, studies of the painting showed no proof of paint or pigments on the rock – instead, when a core sample was taken, it was found that the colors were impregnated in the rock itself to a depth of several feet.
Whether true or not, the legend spurred the building of a gothic church worthy of a fairy tale.
Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia, always under construction (Image Credit: chrisjfry [Flickr])
A fantastic photo detailing the exterior of the La Sagrada Familia church
by Christopher Chan [Flickr]
La Sagrada at night (Image Credit: martinhughes81 [Flickr])
La Sagrada Familia [official site | wiki], or Catalan for "The Holy Family", is a yet-to-be-finished Roman Catholic basilica in Barcelona, Spain.
The church’s design is rich with Christian symbolism, with façades featuring intricate details describing the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most awe inspiring is the eighteen towers representing the 12 Apostles, 4 Evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and a central tower – the tallest of them all – representing Christ.
The construction of the Sagrada Familia basilica started in 1882, directed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who devoted his life to it. When people said that the construction had taken a very long time, Gaudí replied that he was building the church for God, and that his client wasn’t in a hurry. He then became known as "God’s Architect."
In 1926, Gaudí got run over by a street car. Because of his raggedy attire and empty pockets, no one wanted to take him to the hospital. Eventually, he was taken to a pauper’s hospital where no one recognized him until his friends found him and tried to move him to another hospital. Gaudí refused, saying that he belonged with the poor, and died a few days later.
Because Gaudí refused to work with blue prints, preferring to use his imagination and memory instead, construction of La Sagrada Familia was halted after his death. Part of the church was even burnt during the Spanish Civil War. Construction of La Sagrada Familia was restarted afterwards and continues until today.
St. Basil’s Cathedral
St. Basil’s Cathedral (Image Credit: kirkh [Flickr])
St. Basil’s Cathedral at night (Image Credit: rwike77 [Flickr])
As its name implies, St. Basil’s Cathedral [wiki] on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, is named after Saint Basil (who is also known as Basil Fool for Christ). The story goes that in the 1500s, an apprentice shoemaker/serf named Basil stole from the rich to give to the poor. He also went naked, weighed himself with chains, and rebuked Ivan the Terrible for not paying attention in church. Most of the time, admonishing anyone with name "the Terrible" wasn’t such a good idea, but apparently Ivan had a soft spot for the holy fool (as Basil was also known) and ordered a church to be built in his name after Basil died.
St. Basil’s Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, sports a series of colorful bulbous domes that taper to a point, aptly named onion domes, that are part of Moscow’s Kremlin skyline (although the church is actually not part of the Kremlin).
Oh, and Ivan the Terrible lived up to his name after he supposedly blinded the architect who built the church so he would not be able to design something as beautiful afterwards.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia (Image Credit: Sloppy Stephen [Flickr])
Simply a gorgeous night photo of Hagia Sophia (Image Credit: Qaoz [Flickr])
Technically, Hagia Sophia [wiki] (Greek for the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God) is no longer a church, it is now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It began its life as an early Christian church, then rebuilt as the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople, then a mosque when the city fell to the Turks in 1453 before it finally became a museum.
Hagia Sophia as we know it today was completed by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 537. When completed, the temple was so large and richly decorated that Justinian proclaimed "Solomon, I have surpassed thee!". It remained the largest church for one thousand years after it was completed.
Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture, with a large central dome and interior intricately decorated with mosaics, marbles, and stone inlays. The dome, often referred to as the vault of heaven, was a new architectural feature at the time, necessitating the invention of a new pillar support system.
Today, the restoration of Hagia Sophia is a delicate balance of restoring Christian iconographic mosaics under historic Islamic art, which would have to be destroyed to reveal the work underneath.
St. Peter’s Basilica
St. Peter’s Basilica (Image Credit: dionc [Flickr])
St. Peter’s Basilica at night (Image Credit: MichaelTurk [Flickr])
Cupola or dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (Image Credit: robert_562 [Flickr])
Ornately detailed interior of the St. Peter’s Basilica (Image Credit: scot2342 [Flickr])
The largest religious building in the world, not to mention the center of Christianity, I suppose, belongs in this list. St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is built over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, and is the largest church in the tiny country. It is truly immense: the church covers an area of 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) and has a capacity of over 60,000 people.
Before St. Peter’s Basilica as we know it was built, there was already a church there built in 324 C.E. by Emperor Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome. That church lasted for about 1,200 years until the crumbling structure was torn down to build the modern-day basilica. St. Peter’s Basilica was built by the who’s who of the Renaissance era: Michelangelo designed the dome, Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the main square, and Donato Bramante was the first architect of the church.
Notre Dame
Notre Dame HDR (Image Credit: Delox – :: SK :: EU :: [Flickr])
Notre Dame at night (Image Credit: Atoma [wiki])
Interior HDR of Notre Dame (Image Credit: mircea tudorache [Flickr]). [Update 5/9/07: Oops, not Notre Dame de Paris. It's Notre Dame in Montreal. Still, I left it up because it is quite a beautiful photo.]
Another interior picture of Notre Dame (Image Credit: eugene [Flickr])
South Rose Window of Notre Dame (Image Credit: robert_562 [Flickr])
Notre Dame de Paris [wiki] or simply Notre Dame is the quintessential example of Gothic Architecture. Construction of the church started in 1163, when Bishop Maurice de Sully decided to build a cathedral befitting his status as the bishop of Paris. Notre Dame was completed some 200 years later – one of the first European cathedrals to be built on a truly monumental scale.
A particularly striking feature of Notre Dame are its Rose Windows – massive (at the time they were the largest windows in the world) circular stained glass windows that depict scenes from the bible.
Legend has it that when Notre Dame’s bell "Emmanuel" was recast in the 1600s, women threw their gold jewelry into the molten metal to give the bell its unique ring.
At the end of the 18th century, during the French Revolution, the church was ransacked, its treasures plundered and many of the statues of saints were beheaded. Notre Dame was dedicated to the Cult of Reason and then the Cult of the Supreme Being – for a while, it was even used as a barn!
In 1831, Notre Dame was made famous by Victor Hugo, who wrote "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," about Quasimodo, a hunchback bell ringer who fell in love with the Gypsy Esmeralda. The popularity of the book spurred a gothic revival in France and helped the restoration of the cathedral back to its original splendor.
Hallgrímskirkja
Hallgrímskirkja (Image Credit: Andreas Tille [wiki])
Hallgrímskirkja [wiki] (Icelandic for the Church of Hallgrímur), the tallest building in Iceland, is named after Hallgrímur Pétursson, a 17th century poet and clergyman.
The church’s unusual design (some had likened it to a rude hand gesture) is supposed to represent volcanic columns rising between the steeple tower – a reference to Iceland’s many volcanoes.
The iconic building looks like it belongs in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Indeed, many aspects of Tolkien’s work was inspired by Norse mythologies and many of the fictional names in the book are Norse in origin, although there is no reference that Hallgrímskirkja served as a model any of the towers in the book.
Jubilee Church
Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church (Image Credit: alaninabox [Flickr])
Back view of the church (Image Credit: alaninabox[Flickr])
You can’t miss the distinctive curved walls of The Jubilee Church [wiki] in Tor Tre Teste, Rome. It was designed in 1996 by architect Richard Meier, who said that the modern-styled church is the "the crown jewel of the Vicariato di Roma’s (Archdiocese of Rome) Millennium project." And right he was!
The curved walls not only serve the engineering purpose of minimizing thermal peak loads in the interior space, they are also a religious methapor:
Three circles of equal radius generate the profiles of the three shells that, together with the spine-wall, make up the body of the nave. While the three shells discretely imply the Holy Trinity, the reflecting pool symbolizes water in the ritual of Baptism.
Notre Dame du Haut
Notre Dame du Haut or Ronchamp (Image Credit: jimgrant [Flickr])
If there was a church modeled after Elvis’ hair, Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut is it. The pilgrimate chapel is located in Ronchamp, France. Indeed, it is more famous than the little town that most people simply call the structure itself Ronchamp.
The cleverness of unusual design of the billowing concrete roof is apparent when it rains: water pours off the slanted roof onto a fountain, creating a dramatic waterfall.
Although quite different from his usual design, Notre Dame du Haut is considered one of Le Corbusier’s finest work.
The Crystal Cathedral
Crystal Cathedral (Image Credit: richmanwisco [Flickr])
Interior of the Crystal Cathedral, notice the giant organ (Image Credit: Wikipedia)
Another view of the interior (Image Credit: Savannah Grandfather [Flickr])
The Crystal Cathedral [official site | wiki] is neither made of crystal nor is it a cathedral. Nevertheless, the Christian megachurch in the city of Orange Garden Grove, California, is one amazing church.
Built by "The Hour of Power" televangelist Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller (who started out with a "drive-in" church located in an actual, old drive-in movie theater!) and his wife Arvella, and designed by architect Philip Johnson, the church is made almost entirely out glass with a web-like framework of steel.
From the outside, the Crystal Cathedral is shaped like a giant four-pointed crystal star, with the main "cathedral" rising 12 stories above the ground, featuring a mirror-like exterior composed of some 12,000 panes of glass. The view is even more amazing from the interior, where the transparent glass lets in the surrounding view, sunlight and the sky.
The Crystal Cathedral also has one of the largest pipe organs in the world, called the Hazel Wright Pipe Organ, with 5 consoles controlling 270 ranks, 31 digital ranks, and more than 16,000 pipes!
Bonus: Darth Vader Grotesque
Waaaay up near the top of the tower of the Washington National Cathedral, there is a carved grotesque (a structural element to deflect rainwater from the building, similar to a gargoyle) shaped like … Darth Vader!
How did the Star Wars villain get there? Turns out in the 1980s, the Cathedral sponsored a sculpture design competition for children. Four winning designs were chosen: a raccoon, a girl with pigtails and braces, a man with large teeth and an umbrella, and lastly, Darth Vader.
If you must know, the Darth sculpture was proposed by Christopher Rader of Kearney, Nebraska.
Bonus: The Abston Church of Christ
Amy Hughes’ LEGO Church
Computer programmer Amy Hughes built a fantastically detailed 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches miniature church out of LEGO, called the Abston Church of Christ.
Why Abston? That’s because LEGO is made out of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). It took her over a year to build the church.
Bonus: The Dog Chapel
Stephen Huneck’s Dog Chapel, complete with statue of a man walking his dog
After his dogs (and loving wife!) helped him recover from a serious illness that doctors thought would kill him, artist Stephen Huneck decided to build a chapel in honor man’s best friend.
Huneck built the dog chapel on his mountain-top farm in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Inside, there are four pews with dog sculptures, a fantastic dog stained-glass window and other interesting dog-themed arts.
Let me be the first to acknowledge that this list is far from complete. There are hundreds more of magnificent churches around the world. If your favorite church is not included, it is not a slight – please leave your suggestion in the comment section.
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It Worked ... Too Well!
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The following is reprinted from Bathroom Readers’ Institute’s 17th edition Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader book. The old saying “the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry”comes from a line by Scottish poet Robert Burns. It means that no matter how well a project is planned, something may still go wrong. In the case of these plans, what went wrong was…they worked. Wild Turkey in California
IT WORKED…By 1969 there were enough turkeys for a regular hunting season. By the 1980s, there were tens of thousands of them. …TOO WELL! In 2003 California officials began introducing programs to get rid of wild turkeys. There were more than a quarter million of the birds living in the state, and they were wreaking havoc. Biologists said they were invading habitats of native birds, consuming endangered species of plants and animals, damaging crops, ruining gardens, fouling backyards—and sometimes even attacking children. Klum to Model Swimsuit for H&M
IT WORKED…The Klum ads became one of the most successful advertising campaigns in the country’s history. H&M reported huge sales. …TOO WELL! More than half of the posters were immediately stolen. Not only that, people smashed display cases to get them. JC Decaux president Hans-Peter Bischoff said, “We put up 750 small posters, and they were all gone within a few hours. It’s madness.” The company had to hire guards to protect the display boxes while they figured out a solution. The solution: H&M started giving the posters away for free. Sunscreen Ad Campaign in Australia
IT WORKED…National health associations credited the campaign with making sunscreen usage a normal part of life for many Australians, saving countless lives. …TOO WELL! In 2000 officials announced that nearly 25% of Australian adults were vitamin D deficient. How do you get vitamin D? Primarily by exposure to sunlight—the skin produces it in reaction to the sun’s rays. Lack of the vitamin can cause a host of health risks, including osteoporosis, and is believed to be linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Boost the Economy with Credit Cards IT WORKED…The nation’s economic growth climbed by 10% in the first year alone. …TOO WELL! By 2003 the average South Korean worker had four credit cards and consumers had rung up more than $100 billion in debt. There were so many unpaid credit card accounts that the nation’s largest credit company had to stop issuing money from their ATMs and had to get an emergency loan just to stay afloat. Credit card debt was also blamed for a rash of suicides, thefts, kidnappings, and prostitution cases. “Koreans ate a poison pill,” economist Kim Kyeong Won told Time magazine, “It tasted sweet at the time, but was still poison.” Reprinted from Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader. ©2004 by the Bathroom Reader’s Press. |
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The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader, a fantastic book by the Bathroom Readers’ Institute. The 17th book in this the Bathroom Reader series is filled to the brim with facts, fun, and fascination, including articles about the Origin of Kung Fu, How to Kill a Zombie, Women in Space and more! Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!
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THE PLAN: In 1959 a program was started to aggressively introduce wild turkey populations to California. Officials hoped having the game birds would mean big revenue from local and out-of-state hunters. 
THE PLAN: In May 2003, German advertising firm JC Decaux presented fashion chain H&M with a marketing plan for a new line of bikini swimwear. The idea was simple: plaster the country with posters of German supermodel Heidi Klum wearing the sexy swimsuits.
THE PLAN: After a hole was discovered in the ozone layer above Australia in the mid-1980s, the government began aggressive ad campaigns to warn people about the risks of getting too much sun. The ozone layer acts as a filter against the dangerous ultraviolet rays in sunlight, and the country already had the highest skin cancer rates in the world. One of the most popular campaigns was “Slip, Slop, Slap”: “Slip on a shirt, Slop on sunscreen, and Slap on a hat!”
THE PLAN: To get its citizens to spend money, and thus boost the country’s faltering economy, in 1999 South Korea instituted a program making it easy for anyone to obtain a credit card. 
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75-year-old at the North Pole.
When Barbara Hillary heard that there had never been a black woman at the North Pole, she took that as a challenge. So on April 23rd, she set off on skis with two guides and became the first -despite the fact that she is a 75-year-old cancer survivor who’s never learned to ski til preparing for this trip! Link -via Fark
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