HOME |
RSS | 
Found at Wooster Collective: this creative (and non-destructive) street art by a mysterious artist who makes animals out of discarded plastic bags and ties them to subway grates. When the train rushes below, the puff of air makes the animal jump to life!
Link – via Today and Tomorrow – Thanks Lee!
Looks familiar? Maybe it’s because you’ve seen this post before on Neatorama: Shopping Bag + Subway Grate = Art?
Update 3/30/08: It’s “Air Bear” by Joshua Allen Harris – via Super Punch
The latest Cabinet of Curiosities blog carnival brings together all sorts of Steampunk wonders starting with the famous steam-powered wheelchair from Wild Wild West, the prop design one of the few great things about the film. Another such wheelchair is said to appear in the Weird West film Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western: Django, alongside mini-guns and Quentin Tarantino sporting a very odd accent
It seems a pity there aren’t more in real-life, which goes to underline how much there is left for people to give a good Steampunk mod to. After all we have Pimp My Wheelchair, and numerous examples, we just need to apply a dash of retro-chic.
Stephane Halleux’s sculptures (for more, click “chaises” in the menu of their site) certainly show there is a world of potential on the design front. We even have steam-powered prosthetics – we just need to make them look the part.
Previous Cabinet of Curiosities:
That should be enough, to keep everyone busy reading for a while.
After Bob of TheBobBlog saw a Park Planters pot by Tristan Zimmermann, retailing for $100 (or even higher), he decided that he could do one cheaper … with LEGO! Here’s Bob’s version, the LEGO Planter: Link – Thanks Bob!
Gideon Boomer‘s friend asked him to draw the X-Men character Wolverine, so he did. And now he can’t stop!
My friend Chuck made me draw Wolverine, so I did it and made him a mountain and an animal rights activist. One claw at the ready to slay those who would trespass upon his mammalian brotherhood. I guess it fixed or broke something in me cause now I can’t stop drawing Wolverine.
Here’s Gideon’s blog, documenting his one Wolverine a day journey: Link
Attorney Terrye L. Cheathem (really?) noticed that a niche that Hallmark isn’t serving, and decided to do something about it.
"With more than 2.5 million people incarcerated in the Unites States today, I saw that there was a tremendous need," she said.
Some express simple good wishes: "We are all praying for you while you do your time."
But most show a tougher sort of love. A Christmas greeting partly reads: "You had the choice to be ‘naughty or nice.’ And you chose … Oh well, now you have to do your time."
Cheathem said she came up with the cards when her brother-in-law served 11 months in prison. She said she went searching for the appropriate greeting card, but couldn’t find what she was looking for.
"There weren’t any cards on the shelf that said anything like,
‘Hey, you must make better choices,’" she said.
Her company, Three Squares Greetings, has the tagline of "Greeting Cards for Those Who Can’t Come Home" …
Link | Three Squares Greetings – via AdFreak
The above is a great example of collision between pop culture and conspiracy theories. An upcoming talk by Kenn Thomas, one of the more level-headed conspiracy theorists, looks at the links between a story written by comic book legend Jack Kirby, for the comic Race for the Moon, (above) and The Face on Mars – the story coming decades before the feature was discovered.
“When Steamshovel Press editor Kenn Thomas speaks on “JFK to UFO” at RetroCon, his prefatory remarks will concern “Jack Kirby, Conspiracy Theorist”. Thomas looks at the famous comic book artist’s interest in parapolitics as well as the possibilities that Kirby had back channel sources within the world of covert intelligence. Richard Hoagland speculated that the secret space program gave Kirby information leading to the artist’s 1958 comic book story, “The Face On Mars”–an anomaly that did not become part of the conspiracy lexicon until the Viking probe’s Cydonia photographs of 1976.
Thomas examines the history of this as well as Kirby’s prescient forecasts of American involvement in World War II and Vietnam; the use of conspiracy themes in his 1970s comics; and his documented involvement with a CIA rescue operation during the 1980 Iranian crisis.
How does central intelligence shape our view of conspiracies in the popular culture? “
Does this mean the CIA know we are about to be visited by 2,000 feet tall alien Gods? Or Devil Dinosaurs?
This has done the rounds for while, since Hoagland first suggested it, and I do hope there is more evidence to back this up, as the obvious problem with the theory is that the face is vertical, not horizontal. Still spooky though, but perhaps more a testament to Kirby’s vision and skills, as well as his massive output – some estimates suggest he produced 25,000 pages.
The Iranian crisis story mentioned can be found in a long article at Wired.
Via – Nick Redfern.
This is Simon White, who is selling his Tardis for a novel reason:
Dr Who and his materialistic obsession with it represents the “greatest lie that Satan ever told” according to Mr White.
…
“I had to retire early from my job as a nurse at the Royal United Hospital in Bath in 1998 because I was suffering from bipolar disorder.
“I turned to drink and became an alcoholic and the Dr Who obsession was the only thing that kept me going. I wouldn’t have given it up if you’d have put a gun to my head.”
Having discovered Christianity Mr Smith has renounced his old life and is putting the whole collection up for sale in local trade magazines and on eBay.
He said: “God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who, materialism and alcoholism.
One man’s conversion on the road to Damascus (or Gallifrey?) is another man’s gain, as I’m sure there are plenty of Doctor Who fans that would be happy to give the Tardis a happy home.
A Korean drummer steals the show. Unfortunately, there is no information about the name of the band. Maybe someone else knows?
Link [YouTube] – via Videofeber
New homeowner Wayne Berkowitz heard cat noises from inside the drywall of his house. Workers spent days tearing out the new walls and ceiling to get the frightened cat out. Link -via Metafilter
Jedi Master Jonba Hehol was one of the founders of the UK Church of the Jedi. His friends and family know him as 36-year-old hairdresser Barney Jones. He was giving a TV interview in his back yard last week when a man wearing a Darth Vader helmet and a black trash bag leapt over the fence and began attacking him!
Wielding a metal crutch – his lightsaber presumably being in for repairs – the Sith Lord proceeded to lay about his opponent, whose Jedi powers proved inadequate for the task of defending himself.
After besting Master Hehol in single combat, Vader, who The Sun reports was under the influence of alcohol, went on to assault the camera crew and a hairdresser.
Police are investigating. Link -via Arbroath
A video clip of an elephant painting a self-portrait. Fake? You be the judge. Or just sit back and relax, and enjoy the video.
Link [YouTube]
Link to larger version here.
Here’s a less orderly way to park cars.
Dark Roasted Blend welcomes guest blogger M. Christian as he profiles six very scary animals that you might not even see before they kill you!
As anyone who has studied nature can attest, the world and all its creatures (great as well as small) really are out to get us. Some of their attacks are easy to defend against, and we – in general – know how to survive them. Yet there are creatures on this globe that can snuff us out like a cheap candle in a stiff wind.
Pictured is the yellow-banded poison dart frog, which exudes a slime that can kill you just by a touch. Link
What would a game of baseball look like if none of the players take steroids? Here’s what Bizarro thinks:
For more Bizarro, check out Dan Piraro’s website and blog.
Photo: PhotoFusion [Flickr]
Nah, that’s just some clever (manual) photographic manipulation by Robert Stirrett:
Zebras on plains, lush golf courses, sandy beaches in Africa… all fused with
the iconic skyline of Toronto?Toronto photographer Robert Stirrett uses scissors on actual prints to cut and paste, effectively transforming the city’s skyline, mashing it up with exotic places he’s traveled to over the years.
Link | See more of his work here: Link [Flickr] – Thanks Jerrold!
Jealous that your co-worker is leaving on a vacation while you’re stuck in the office working? Here’s snarky little how-to video on how to grow grass in your co-worker’s keyboard.
No words whether the keyboard is usable afterwards, so be prepared to have to buy him or her a new one if you do this. And don’t blame us, mmkay?
Hit play or go to Link [Howcast video] – Thanks David Horowitz!
We posted a whole bunch of panorama photography on Neatorama but never a video one (Ooops, apparently we had! I don’t even know what’s been on my own blog … Thanks Neatorama Fan!). Here’s a technical tour de force, a video panorama of a street in Prague, by our pal and panorama guru Jeffrey Martin of 360cities.
After the clip starts, click your mouse anywhere in the video and drag it left and right and you’ll see what I mean.
I don’t know why it’s so interesting, but it is: Here’s a time lapse of a tear down and a modular build of a house damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
No words on how many days it took to tear-down and build (the whole project took 8 months, but that included the time it took to get permits, utility hookups, etc.)
Link [embedded brightcove Flash video] – Thanks Betsy!
We posted a story about the Tetrius Puzzle Game Magnet, but perhaps it’s more fun just to make your own. Geek Crafts tells us what you’d need:
* wooden cubes – $2.99 at Michael’s for 42 cubes
* glue – I used some wood glue I had on hand
* magnetic adhesive sheets – $1.00-$1.50 at the dollar store or Michael’s – I used some I had on hand
* spray paint – could be $1.00 per can if you have to buy them – I used paint I had on hand
Link – Thanks Geek Crafts!
Comments Off
When Neatorama reader Yoshi Hashimoto (Thanks yoshi!) submitted this YouTube clip, it was like a blast from the past for me. See, I grew up in Indonesia and what the clip shows is a trained monkey in a traditional (and disappearing) kid’s show called "Topeng Monyet."
Topeng Monyet means "Monkey Mask". It’s a traveling one-man (and one-monkey) circus show. He yells out "topeng monyet" while wandering the streets in a residential area, and you can call him to perform at your house. In a typical show, the monkey is the star: it rides a wooden bicycle, walks around holding an umbrella, wears a mask, and so on.
Topeng monyet monkey riding a wooden bicycle. Photo: Harisichwan [Wikipedia]
As you’ll see in the clip, the bicycle has been "upgraded" to a mini motorcycle. The monkey is even smart enough to wait for a break in traffic before zooming about.
As a kid, it was a neat treat to see a topeng monyet show. Whenever my parents called one, the neighborhood kids would gather around to watch. But looking back on it as an adult, I realized that it was a sad deal for the monkey. I don’t know how it was trained, though I suspect with a lot of beatings, and when it didn’t perform to expectation, the guy would yank the chain hard. (If you watch the clip carefully, you’ll see that the monkey is on a very long chain).
This type of show is disappearing in Indonesia. I don’t know the reason, maybe it’s harder to get a monkey or maybe the city government frowned on the practice. Maybe it’s a health scare (monkeys carry rabies and Herpes B, and they’ve been known to scratch or bite spectators).
Lastly, here’s a clip of a more "traditional" topeng monyet show:
Social worker Julio Diaz was walking to a diner in the Bronx when a teenager pulled a knife on him. After handing over his wallet, Diaz offered the mugger his coat as well. The teen was even more surprised when Diaz asked him to join him for dinner.
“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.
After they ate, Diaz told the teen he’d have to pay for dinner, since he didn’t have his wallet. The teen handed the wallet back, and Diaz gave him twenty dollars, although he did ask for the knife, which the teen handed over.
“I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”
Listen to the entire story at NPR. Link -via reddit
This barbecue has a better attitude than the Angry Barbecue. From GeekFlirt. -via Reddit
| FEATURED ITEMS FROM THE NEATOSHOP | |
 |
Mustache Bottle Opener |
 |
My Cryptozoological Family - Family Car Stickers |
 |
Zombie Hand Bottle Opener |
View more: New Items &
Best Sellers |
|
