Forget Evel Knievel! He's got nothing on the world's greatest daredevil, Hammy the Hamster! (Yes, the same Hammy the Hamster that went organic a while ago). According to Spot Motorcycles:
... no hamsters were harmed in the making of this extraordinary movie. Hammy announced his retirement shortly after completing this jump but, like many other famous daredevils, may find the lure of the spotlight to be too great to sit on the sidelines for long.
Australian artist Brooke Bobridge, who is currently living in Bangkok, Thailand, took a series of graffiti by local and international artists imploring passer-bys NOT to feed the elephants. They want to discourage "elephant begging" where the pachyderms are used to part tourists from their dollars (or technically, bahts).
Link - via amy sol blog
We've featured the artwork of Kris Kuksi before on Neatorama (here and here), but I ran across this spectacular one, titled "The Recreation" while browsing Hi-Fructose Magazine's coverage of an art show at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, California.
Checkout the details here: Link | Then visit Kris' website for more amazing sculptures.
After that gosh-darn-they're-so-cute post about animal moms taking care of their babies, posted from the Upcoming Queue by smellslikepurple, I think Neatorama needs to provide a badly needed counterbalance.
So, with the help of National Geographic, here's Mother's Day Mayhem: 5 "Worst" Animal Moms. Take, for instance, the burying beetle mom:
She's a "bad" mom because ... she eats her young in a deadly game of musical chairs.
Burying beetle larvae typically move into a mouse carcass their mother and father have buried. The mother feeds her young by eating the carcass and regurgitating the mouse meat.
"The little larvae wave back and forth, begging to mom," said Scott Forbes, University of Winnipeg biologist and author of A Natural History of Families.
"The first ones get fed, but the very last one sitting there begging [after the portion runs out] gets eaten by the mother."
Give Mom a break, because ... burying beetle mothers are likely culling their brood to match the food supply. The beetles typically produce broods bigger than the carcass can support. A bit of strategic cannibalism boosts overall survival chances for the larvae left "standing" when the music stops.
Link (Photo: Gary Meszaros/Visuals Unlimited)
From Modern Mechanix, one of my favorite blogs, here's the Swami, a simple pattern you can cut out on a piece of plywood that will let you defy gravity!
As mystifying as the Indian rope trick, this magic marvel defies the laws of gravity.
PROBABLY Isaac Newton was right; but you couldn’t prove it with this gadget. It just seems to work contrary to all laws of gravity.
Swami, by itself, reacts like any other object: supported at one end only—it falls. But, add a fairly heavy belt, as shown in the photo, and it will not only stay up but actually take quite a bit of extra pressure to make it tilt down, even slightly.
We won’t tell you how or why it works. That is part of the mystery. Go ahead and make one and try to find out for yourself. You’ll be truly amazed.
This is SO going to my ever growing list of "to-do one day" projects: Link
Following a friend's suggestion, Jonathan Ryan made a Pandora station with artists and bands with foods in their names. Here's the result: Food Radio - via JonathanRyan
English painter David Hockney, who is considered one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century, has had his iPhone for only four months, but he has already turned it into a hi-tech canvas.
Beth Hale of The Daily Mail has the story:
... Speaking about it last week the artist, who thinks calling his work digital art is as absurd as calling traditional drawing pencil art, said: 'The computer is a terrific medium.
'You miss some things, you miss texture for example, but you gain a lot. In a watercolour, once you put things down, that's it. With this you can move things about, change, make them bigger and smaller.'
For the moment his computer-created art is being printed in limited editions, which will sell for thousands of pounds. That is considerably less than some of his more traditional paintings fetch.
Several thousand pounds for an iPhone doodle? I'm in the wrong biz: Link - via The Daily Dish
Chris of Cynical-C blog has a nifty series called You Can't Please Everyone. In it, he collects one-star Amazon reviews of classic movies, music, and literature.
Take, for instance, The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews. The movie won 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 1965. Adjusted for inflation, it made more than $1 billion in earnings since it was made ... yet, even it can't please everyone:
This movie was made in the sixties, we live in the 21st century, GET OVER IT!
I loved it when I was ten, but I think I’ve out grown it
When I see garbage like this, I finally understand what is wrong with the world. I watched this movie on a dare and was absolutely mortified!!!!! I would have given it negative stars if I could have. As an animal lover and vegetarian, I was especially offended!!! Anyone who is a fan of this series should run, not walk to the nearest Psychiatrist. You are in desperate need of having your head examined. And we as a society wonder why violence and seriel killers have become a part of daily life. Well, ladies and gentlemen I present to you Exhibit A…….
This movie should be called the Sound of Mucus. The only redeeming quality is that the family has to run from nazis.
See more of Cynical-C's You Can't Please Everyone series: Link - via kottke
I can't get enough of this: The Simpsons theme song, the a cappella version sung by Canvas. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Land-O-Links
Graphic designer and writer Megan Deal is moving to Greensboro, Alabama to build a design lab for young designers in Hale County, one of the poorest places in the United States. In preparation, Megan is selling everything that she owns at her project website, goodbyewafflemaker.com:
This site is one part stoop sale and one part personal experiment. The idea was born during the March 2009 session of Project M in Belfast Maine, where 12 people sat crammed around a corner booth at Rollies, fueled by rounds of Guinness and Leinenkugels. By ridding myself of these possessions, I aim to both lighten my travel load and remove the obtrusive clutter from my everyday life. Questions, comments, and/or suggestions regarding this project or M Lab are welcome and appreciated.
I won't pretend that I'm "with it" when it comes to comic books, but it was a complete surprise for me to find out that, starting in 2005, Marvel began issuing limited series of comics in which the superheroes are ... zombies! (Probably a better read than Spider-Ham)
Link to Marvel Zombie's official website | Marvel Zombies at Wikipedia
German urban art group Mentalgassi covers big glass-recycling containers on the streets of Berlin with something unusual: giant faces! The results are weird "metal heads" that creepily stare at you as you walk by: Link - via Wooster Collective
We don't know much about Mexican artist Chiara Bautista ("Milk" on MySpace) - but we sure know this: from Lucha Libre to science fiction, her artwork is fantastic!
You can view her latest illustrations here: Link - via Computerlove
I've been waiting for this post since our last one numbered 12,345 back in January 2008. It took us a a little bit over a year to post the remaining 7,655 posts reach 20,000 (that's an average of 17 posts a day!).
I'd like to thank all of Neatorama's authors, Upcoming Queue submitters, shop customers, and of course, all of you readers who make it all worthwhile!