Ice floes on the Black Sea are scraping past each other, creating weird noises. If you couldn’t see the video, what would you guess is making the sound?

-via The Presurfer

Darth Vader — or, as I strongly suspect, a man impersonating Darth Vader — walked into the mayor’s office in Odessa, Ukraine last week. He cited a law that granted free land to any citizen who wished to claim it. Vader indicated that he planned to build some sort of spaceport or base and submitted an application. They gave him the usual bureaucratic run-around:

“The application has been registered and will be considered,” a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office told Reuters.

“We are not on the dark side, we are light-side people,” she added.

Link -via Flavorwire

Photographer Oleg Gordienko captured images of an amazing train tunnel in Ukraine. As you can see from his portfolio at the link, he’s used it as a romantic backdrop for wedding pictures.

Link -via My Modern Met

A group of artists in the Ukraine dive into the water of the Black Sea to compose paintings. With scuba gear, they can stay underwater for up to 40 minutes. During that time, they apply paint to canvases under challenging conditions. Watch the video at the link to see the artists at work.

They’re all seascapes. Can’t they get a model down there for some figure studies? Or maybe some good horse pictures. Those always look good in a home.

Link -via Geekosystem

“Virtually all of our people are talented. They can play guitar, sing or recite poetry. Today you may want to talk about art and tomorrow to read Faust,” said Peyeva, adding that the firm does not encourage binge drinking.

She said the service is enjoying strong demand, and that the firm employs a number of psychologists among its staff of boozing partners.

Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user katesheets used under Creative Commons license

This statue of a guardian type robot near Odessa in Ukraine is made from old, junked cars, among other things.  Apparently it was constructed by a logistics company called TIS (Transinvestservice) in order to serve as a signpost of sorts.  Now, instead of telling visitors to take a left at the 161km post, they can just say “Turn when you come upon awesomeness.”

Link [EnglishRussia]  I can’t find any source for the photo; if anyone knows who it belongs to, please let us know in the comments.

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who creates sand drawings in front of audiences. Here she is performing on Ukraine’s Got Talent:

Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman’s face; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a weeping widow morphs into an obelisk for an unknown soldier. Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes – with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene “you are always near”.

Link via TigerHawk

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lord_yo.

The city of Lvov in the Ukraine is home to the world’s largest crossword puzzle.

Clues to the crossword are scattered around the city’s major landmarks and attractions including parks, fountains, and theatres.

Although the crossword – which is 19 squares across and 34 squares high – is far too big to be filled in by hand, the artists responsible have come up with an intriguing way of displaying the answers.

When night falls, fluorescent letters placed inside every square are turned on, revealing the complete solution in a light glow

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Frau.