Ilya Breziniski, an artist in St. Petersburg, Russia, makes elegant tattoos using thousands and thousands of tiny dots, carefully arranged to show shading and form. His works are often everday objects posed in surreal worlds.
John Farrier's Blog Posts
(Photos: Dadara)
This past weekend at Oude Kerk, the oldest church in Amsterdam, the Like was laid to rest. Mourners carried a coffin shaped like a Facebook Like button to the church and marked its passing in a ceremony led by Eddy Reefhuis.
Why? It's a symbolic rejection of what is sometimes called "hashtag activism" or "clicktivism"--substituting online actions for offline activity. The organizers of the funeral reject the notion that clicking on a Like button constitutes doing anything productive. Here's their manifesto, which is an interesting read:
Not too long ago, this development led to a miraculous occurrence. A new technology turned the act of Liking into a commodity, hence into a symbolic totem and a new belief, at a time when faith in religion and our monetary system is crumbling.
At first these "Likes" seemed innocent. A gift bestowed upon us unconditionally and in overabundance. Sometimes the Likes would pile up like presents under a Christmas tree. But soon we started craving for more and eventually the "Like" became the opium of the masses. And now society has forgotten the real act of Liking. [...]
And instead of taking action to make change happen, our activism has been reduced and confined to the square inches of our computer screen activism has become clicktivism. We express our dislike of what is happening in the real world with a Like.
We as a society need to focus on real actions and intentions, rather than the symbolic reward bestowed on things by a mouse click. We must never forget that the real reward of Liking lies amongst ourselves and inside our communities.
NBC 12 News of Richmond, Virginia posted this photo shot by viewers Nancy and Joannie at the Virginia Center Commons on Thursday, September 11. The stars and stripes appear to waft across the evening sky.
Too good to be true? The news station responds to allegations of photoshoppery by writing, "We know the photographer and they sent a series of photos. It's authentic." Other commenters show their own photos of the cloud flag from different angles.
-via Twitchy
Some women like a man with a rich, full beard. This little girl is among them.
Bradley Bailey played peekaboo with his toddler. In the middle of the game, he paused to shave his beard. His daughter looked under the towel, expecting to find her father.
But he was gone! In his place was this horrifying, hairless monster.
-via Tastefully Offensive
[removed per request]
Redditor ShavenRaven writes, "People kept commenting on how much hair our baby son has, so naturally this was the next step."
They're appropriate for different developmental steps. He should start out as a mad scientist (we all go through that awkward stage), then have a rebellious year with the surfer haircut, then sell out and become a greasy banker.
Finally, he should stop caring and become the creepy old man, who looks like the happiest guy in this photo.
(Image: Disney)
In the 1930s, Walt Disney tried to make a film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Snow Queen," but never put it into production. It took his company 70 years to complete the project, which culminated in the hugely successful movie Frozen.
I have two young daughters, so it was inevitable that I would eventually watch Frozen. When I finally did, I was surprised to find that the main character is not Elsa, blonde-haired snow queen, but her sister Anna.
In a recent television special about the film, Disney's producers revealed another surprise about Elsa: in an earlier script, they had planned for her to be the main villain of the story. Kirsten Acuna writes for Business Insider:
Elsa's character looked completely different. She originally had light blue skin and short, spiky blue hair. She even had a coat made out of living weasels.
"Elsa was going to be the complete antagonist," says director and screenwriter Jennifer Lee in the book "The Art of Frozen." "They kept calling her the 'villain.' But there came a point where we said, 'We can't use that word anymore.' You care about someone who's been forces to hide who they are. Elsa's not a villain, she just makes some bad choices because she's in a very difficult situation."
The filmmakers decided to change Elsa after writing her signature song "Let It Go":
"We knew in this moment that she would go through a transformation," said Lopez. "From repressed to letting her powers out ... trying to get away from society and be who she really was."
-via 22 Words
In 2007, Seth Casteel photographed shelter dogs to help them find good homes. Since then, he's found his niche: dogs underwater. We've previously featured her series of dogs trying to catch balls underwater. More recently, he photographed puppies as they were dropped into pools. This was an opportunity for him to get some great shots. But, as he explained in an NPR interview, it was also an opportunity to teach dogs how to swim:
No. 1: swimming pool safety — super-duper important for all the listeners out there with their pets. So many people forget that our swimming pools, as much fun as they are, they are a danger, and they can be a danger to our children and to our fur children. And they will learn. I mean, a lot of these puppies I work with — for Underwater Puppies I worked with over 1,500 — all it took was just a few times, putting them in the water and teaching them where the exit is, and they figured it out.
Click on Continue reading to see more photos from the series.
(Photo: the offices of the Free NK Newspaper by Thomas Hjelm)
Communities of Korean immigrants can be found across the world, but few of them from North Korea because it's hard to escape from that country-sized prison.
About 20,000 Korean immigrants live in New Malden, a suburb of London. Approximately 600 are from North Korea, which is among the highest concentrations of North Korean refugees anywhere in the world. In Europe, New Malden is the closest thing to a "Little Pyongyang." Roxy Rezvany of Vice visited New Malden and interviewed several of the North Korean residents.
(Photo: a North Korean/South Korean vocabulary crib sheet)
One of the more interesting parts of Rezvany's article was about the Korean languages--plural. Since the country was divided after World War II, North Korean has become noticeably different from South Korean. She quotes Joong Wha:
“In North Korea we used a lot of foreign words from Russia, Japan, and China,” he said. “But there was a [regime] movement called the ‘Making Our Own Language Alive’ movement. Through that we got rid of all the foreign-influenced words. All the words [North Koreans] use now are ‘pure Korean,’ so my generation learned these pure words. Therefore, when I converse with South Koreans and they use these words influenced by English, I sometimes don’t understand what they mean.”
-via Marginal Revolution
Noah Scalin, an artist in Richmond, Virginia, is endlessly inventive in his choice of materials. We've previously seen him build skull art every day for an entire year, funny faces with food on plates, and a portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson out of electrical sockets.
For his latest, project, Scalin is using matches. He's created portraits of five scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project, including the above image of Albert Einstein. After making each portrait, he ignited them, which is perhaps a reference to the fiery weapon produced by these scientists.
Scalin's series is currently on display at the Krause Gallery in New York City.
(Image: Mathieu Parent)
(Image: Xum Yukinori)
(Image: Nick Perks)
If you're a full-time superhero, you probably don't have time for a regular full-time job. You'll need another source of income. Or perhaps you're already rich, but would like to make more through good merchandising. Either way, celebrity endorsements may be a way for you to make some rent money.
Every week, Comic Book Resources hosts The Line Is Drawn, a theme-based art contest for comic book artists. This past week, the topic was superheroes doing commercials. You can view all of the contributions here, including Thor selling Craftsman tools and Power Girl selling Wonderbras.
-via Geek Tyrant
Don't be that guy. Your freshly washed, waxed, and buffed palomino is pretty. The new rims sparkle like stars. You don't want it dinged when someone else climbs off his horse. Still: you get only one spot at the hitching post. One. That's it.
-via Pleated Jeans
(Photo: Nik Runs the World)
This is Nikolas Toocheck of Pocopson Township, Pennsylvania. He's only 11 years old, but has already run a marathon. In fact, he's run several of them all of the world, including 2 in Antarctica. He's the youngest person to have run marathons on every continent on Earth.
He earned that title earlier this month after running a marathon through the Caucasus Mountains in the Republic of Georgia. Only 450 people have also run "seven on seven" and most of them are in their 40s or 50s.
Nikolas started running when he was 6 and his father was training for the Air Force Reserve. He jogged with his father, then ran 5k races with him, then full marathons.
He runs because it's fun, but Nikolas also raises money for Operation Warm, a charity founded by his grandfather in 1998. This non-profit donates coats to needy children in the United States.
-via Huffington Post
(Pikachu by Charaben Mania)
(Chickens by akinoichigo)
Which came first--the Pikachicken or the egg? We may never know, but we can be sure that these eggs are as cute as they are delicious. Rocket News 24 rounded up 16 adorably crafted hard boiled eggs made in Japan. They include cows, bunnies, pandas, and strawberries.
(Photo: Simone Aumair)
(Photo: unknown)
If your horse is going to be well-dressed for the Halloween party, it's time to start making plans. Avery Clements of Distractify has 26 photos of costumed horses that may give you a few ideas. They include a John Deere tractor, Gary the Snail from SpongeBob SquarePants, Batman, and Gene Simmons from KISS.
-via Jonah Goldberg
(Photos: Braun)
According to legend, Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance artist and ninja turtle, once said that the task of a sculptor is to find the sculpture within a block of stone, then just clear away the excess stone.
Ladies and gentlemen, in Daniel Johnson, the British hair stylist, we have a modern Michelangelo. Look down at your own chest hair. Within it lies a beautiful work of art. All that is necessary is to eliminate the excess hair.
As a promotional activity for Braun, the electric razor company, Johnson shaved the images of famous skylines into hairy chests. Pictured above is New York City.
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