Thumbs and Ammo posits the idea: would it be funny to replace guns with thumbs up in stills from movies?
YES!
Da Nang's Firebreathing Dragon Bridge
On the 38th Anniversary of the liberation of Da Nang City in Vietname, this 666 meter long, 37.5 meter wide fire-breathing dragon bridge across the Han River opened to the public.
15,000 Philips LED lights means that it can change to an array of vibrant colors, and of course it spits fire and water on command.
Using the Blackmagic Camera: The Quiet City – Winter in Paris
American Andrew Julian uses the astounding Blackmagic Cinema to capture, in moving and gorgeous detail, his recent trip to Paris. "The Quiet City ."
my 5 - Books of Poems I Love: Talking 'bout My Generation - Gabrielle Calvocoressi
I was so excited to be asked to think about and then offer “5 things” for this wonderful project. I thought about poets like Bisop and Frost who changed my life and the way I wrote. I thought about Albums like Coltane’s Transitions or Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours that are currently helping me re-imagine what my work might look like. I thought about making a list of friends and kind people who are always giving me the opportunity to wonder at my good fortune (that list would have gone on for days). It’s hard to pick 5 things and yet it’s such a pleasure, as well. Here are 5 books by poets of my generation. They inspire me with their risk and generosity and intellectual rigor. They seem to me to be the work of artists & intellectuals with a sense of adventure and responsibility. In the case of Sean Singer, there is the great lesson that perhaps the great book you haven’t read is still waiting to find a home and how one needs to be the kind of citizen who fights for the things they love. Here are 5 (and I could go on and on) books from my generation. I’m excited to be growing up with all of these folks.
5. Honey & Smoke by Sean Singer
(Ryan's note: Gabrielle's pick isn't published yet, but here is Sean's 2001 Yale Series of Younger Poets winning first book, Discography )
Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the author of The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea. 2005) and Apocalyptic Swing (Persea. 2009), which was a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Award.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including a Stegner Fellowship and Jones Lectureship from Stanford University, a Rona Jaffe Woman Writer's Award and a fellowship to Civitella di Ranieri in Umbria. Her poems have been featured in the Washington Post and on Garrison Keillor's Poet's Almanac and in numerous journals. She also writes the Sports Desk column for The Best American Poetry blog (http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/sports-desk/) and is the Virtual Editor for Broadsided Press. She tweets @gabbat, @broadsidedpress and may be writing her third book @caracaraoriole. She is on the advisory board of The Rumpus' Poetry Book Club (http://therumpus.net/the-rumpus-poetry-book-club/). She lives in Los Angeles and is the poetry editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books (http://www.lareviewofbooks.org ).
We are revisiting the original post, published last year, with our new format.
Discarded Stuff becomes Stunning Sculptures
Plastic stuff is seen as entirely disposable, barely worth anything, and certain not deserving of our attention or respect. Unless of course you listen to the Shinto thought that ALL objects have a spirit. Artist Sayaka Ganz seems to exhibit this thought in these provocative and beautiful sculptures made of discarded plastic.
NASA Best of Satellite 2012
Like a "Now That's What I Call Music" but for Satellite imagery of the Earth, brought to you by NASA.
NASA Best Satellite 2012 first appeared on 5thingsilearnedtoday.com
Arctic Magic Timelapse
Illustrations of Animals Containing Landscapes
Watercolor artist and illustrator Daniel Mackie’s takes a simple idea, using the shape and form of animals as the frame for wondrous landscapes. Wondrous!
Timelapse Earth
This Hi-Def timelapse of Earth from the International Space Station not only makes gorgeous use of publicly available photography, but photographer Bruce W. Berry brings a cinematic eye and the sensibility of a poet-explorer, tinkering with the timing of the frames to give us a sense of the actual speed one experiences as a crew member.
Abandoned Amusement Parks
Creepy and sad.
Gulliver’s Kingdom in Japan. Located about 2.5 hours outside of Tokyo, the amusement park closed in 2001 due to low attendance. It was demolished in 2007. Photo: Old Creeper
Spreepark in Berlin. It closed in 2002. Photo: Afar
The Comet Rollercoaster at Lincoln Park in Massachusetts. It closed in 1987 and the coaster was torn down in 2012. Photo: Frank C. Grace
Disney’s Discovery Island and River Country Water Park. The 11.5-acre property was closed in 1999. Photo: www.insidethemagic.net
Six Flags New Orleans was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and never reopened. Photo: Wikimedia.org
Chippewa Lake Amusement Park in Ohio. It closed in 1978 and was razed in 2009. Photo:www.abnf.co
Amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine. Its grand opening was scheduled for May 1, 1986; it opened for only a few hours on April 26 before the town was evacuated due to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion. Photo: Noah Goodrich
Gulliver’s Kingdom in Japan. Located about 2.5 hours outside of Tokyo, the amusement park closed in 2001 due to low attendance. It was demolished in 2007. Photo: Old Creeper
Himalayan Timelapse
12 different spots in Ladakh, a Himalayan region: Pangong Tso lake,Tsomoriri lake, Kargil, Leh, Khardungla Pass, Nubra Valley, Diksit Valley, Likir Monastery, Chang La Pass and Moonland.
POTD - to reverse time by Jessica Ceballos
to reverse time
I hardly remember
what 2 a.m. looks like. At 2 a.m.
his delicately hungry hallways
echoed my words. Words woven
onto autumn leaves, held together
by weathered branches.
At 2 a.m. arctic whispers
felt along my spine;
reminders that I loved wrong,
what felt right. Snow too soon melting,
lakes become warm waters
of regret to bathe in.
How I miss being awake at 2 a.m.,
naked with feeling,
chasing the sun...
I'd rather be there
than here, at 9 p.m.
wondering where 2 a.m.
has gone.
Ceballos also is a driving force in the poetry community of Los Angeles, hosting two regular poetry readings a month:
Bluebird Reading Series
2nd Sundays of the Month
at Avenue 50 Studios in Highland Park
The Great Beyond
3rd Sundays of the Month
in Venice
More at JessicaCeballos.com
Hyperphoto: Surrealism in Duplication, Juxtaposition and Recomposition
French artist Jean-François Rauzier's "Hyperphoto" uses duplication, juxtaposition and recomposition to make these immersive and wildly imaginative images.
See this post on 5 things i learned today
Dubai: Cloud City [timelapse and photos]
German photographer Sebastian Opitz, who has lived in Dubai for the past four years, took these astounding photos from the 85th floor of the Princess Tower, a 101-tall residential tower near the city’s marina.
Chalk Stop-motion Tetris
Artist Chris Carlson created this awesome stop-motion Tetris game. He is known for his 3D chalk drawings, plenty of which are available on his Tumblr.
Light Trails in the Sky
Kevin Cooley's awesome long exposure photos of airplane trails, Nachtfluge
Holi Festival of Color
We took a look at the Festival of Color last year, and glad to see it again.
Under Waves
I never get tired, especially as summer approaches, of these under wave photos. Here is a great set from Mark Tipple.
Giant Land Art Portrait
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, a land artist, carved this enormous (200 yds) woman's portrait outside of Amsterdam in support of the Dutch feminist organization Mama Cash.
Shakespeare Figures Converted to Gorgeous Graphs
The bard has coined a vast number of figures of speech that are central to our modern English. So many in fact that we don't often remember that they are figures of speech. Well, this NYC designer, Nicholas Weltyk, designed these three stunning charts to reinvigorate the quotes with meaning, perhaps helping us see them anew.
Reminds me very much of the rap represented in mathematical charts and graphs from years ago. Much prettier though.