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The town of Júzcar in the Spanish province of Andalucía got an offer they couldn’t refuse. Sony Pictures approached the village for an opportunity to promote the 2011 movie The Smurfs. Would the citizens be willing to have their whitewashed homes and public buildings painted blue? The local government would receive a nice cash payment, and the buildings would be painted twice -once blue, and then restored to their original white. It was a win-win situation. But… the villagers and tourists liked it so much that Júzcar will remain blue! See lots of pictures of blue Júzcar at Kuriositas. Link -Thanks, RJ!
(Image credit: Flickr user manuelfloresv)
The Marble Caverns, as the name translates to English, are in General Carrera, a lake that straddles the border of Argentina and Chile. The lake has thrown gravel against the blue marble cliffs for millions of years, gradually carving these beautiful grottos. See more pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend
(Image credit: Flickr member Nicolas Aracena)
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Photo: Johntrathome [Flickr]
You’re looking at the Blue City of Jodhpur, India. Why are there so many blue houses? Kuriositas explains:
It is thought that Brahmins – members of the priestly class – first took to coloring their houses blue (yet perhaps it should really be called indigo) to signify their domicile and to set them apart from the rest of the population. Soon, however, the rest of the population followed suit. History does not tell us which brave non-Brahmin was the first to do it, yet it happened and since that day the people of Jodhpur have steadfastly maintained this tradition.
Ask a local why all the houses are painted thus and the usual reply is that the color keeps the interiors cool and fends of mosquitoes. Yet if this truly worked then it would be quite likely that the whole subcontinent would be awash in various hues of indigo.
More likely is symbolism. Although an unscientific response, what answer would most give when asked the color of water? It is likely that the ubiquitous blueness of Jodhpur is an exuberant display of human resilience against the stark Thar desert which surrounds the town. Against the bleak backdrop of parched brown earth the blue city exerts itself magnificently.
You don’t see it as much today as you did when I was young, but occasionally you’ll encounter a woman of a certain age with white hair tinged blue or purple. What were they thinking? Jill Harness has the lowdown on why some elderly women have blue hair and why the phenomenon is “dyeing” out. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Roland Tanglao)
Lois van Baarle is a recent graduate of Utrecht School of the Arts, and the following is her thesis project. Her animation and drawing skills have been a part of her for most of her life, and this video captures her style well. Music & sound design is by Marcel Janssen. Trichrome Blue is also one of three films for a fictitious company whose mission statement could have been penned by Don Draper.
Trichrome Blue from Lois van Baarle on Vimeo.
Photo by Flickr user MelitaThis dreamy cave is Modra Spilja, The Blue Cave, located off the coast of Croatia. One of those hard-to-get-to locales, it is very much worth the effort to see the Bisevo/Balun Cove. The effect is caused by sunlight filtering in through an underwater opening from the sea, and reflecting off the limestone floor.
It has been there for ages, but wasn’t always accessible by raft:
Though Croatian fisherman have known of the blue cave since ancient times, it wasn’t until 1884 that a (relatively) easy entrance was blasted out with dynamite. Before this small hole in the side of the rock was opened, the only entrance into the cave was to dive underneath the rock wall in just the right spot.
Link with video.
Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News wrote that even though President Obama doesn’t like to reduce America into a collection of red states and blue states, he wore only red and blue neckties in his first 11 days in office. Is that just a coincidence?
Not according to science – Robert Roy Britt of LiveScience explains why in high-stakes politics and business, there are only two color of ties, red and blue:
Red and blue are also thought by psychologists to improve brain performance and receptivity to advertising. The new study in Science supports this idea. It also suggests nuances the president might want to know about, assuming one buys into the notion that presidential messages — delivered on television or on Capitol Hill — are essentially a form of advertising.
The study found that red is the most effective at enhancing our attention to detail, while blue is best at boosting our ability to think creatively.
"Previous research linked blue and red to enhanced cognitive performance, but disagreed on which provides the greatest boost," said study leader Juliet Zhu of the University of British Columbia. "It really depends on the nature of the task."
Zhu and colleagues tracked the performance of more than 600 people on cognitive tasks that required either creativity or attention to detail. Most experiments were conducted on computers with a screen that was red, blue or white.
Red boosted performance on detail-oriented tasks such as memory retrieval and proofreading up to 31 percent more than blue. For brainstorming and other creative tasks, blue cues prompted participants to produce twice as many creative outputs compare to red cues.
