Thumbs and Ammo posits the idea: would it be funny to replace guns with thumbs up in stills from movies?
YES!
Sculptures of Staples into Organic Forms
Artist Jerry Bleem uses found materials and thousands and thousands of staples which give them organic looking forms structure and hold them together.
"Ordinary, non-precious, discarded materials are what I most often use in my work. Botanic forms and the human body have strongly influenced my work. I also draw upon humanity's long history of making containers for both practical and symbolic purposes."
See also Hand-crafted Chaotically Organic Ceramics
Star Wars Parkour - Jedi Free Running
Who needs F/X?
Fun and stylish Star Wars themed parkour video.
Witty Wild Animal Photo Manipulations
French photographer Thomas Subtil has this witty and charming photo manipulation series "Hakuna Matata" with wild animals from Kenya as its stars.
See also Zoo Fashion Photos
My Pick - 5 Novels of Noteworthy Novelty
I have a short list of novels that I hold close to my heart, for their sheer imaginative bravery, for their expansive curiosity and confident communion with the reader.
I would love to hear your list of novels you love.
Sure it is a National Book Award winner, but Johnson's fierce, unrelenting imagination dashes any danger of it being broad or boring.
Tree of Smoke
Transporting the creator of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, inexplicably into our day, Millet begins a narrative, that like a rip tide, nearly invisible pulls you into deep water without your even being aware of it.
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
Taking a simple premise, that with instructions embedded in an alien communication, the Jesuit build and set out to meet them on their own planet. Sci-fi and fantasy with a tinge of high lit.
The Sparrow
The first of Mishima's final novel cycle (read about his ending here), it follows a pair of characters through generations as the symbolism of Buddhism becomes quite literal.
Spring Snow
Runaway Horses
The Temple of Dawn
The Decay of Angels
Ben Marcus' work is daringly conceptual that trust the intelligence of its reader with a type of storytelling unique amongst his peers.
Notable American Women
Paintings of Van Gogh Animated
An Italian designer and animator, Luca Agnani has created a short film, Van Gogh’s Shadow, with more that a dozen Van Gogh paintings with a touch of animation and movement.
Bodyscapes: Photos by Carl Warner
Using human parts to create stunning landscapes, photographer Carl Warner's project titled "Otherscapes."
See also The Form of the Body
Beer Labels Brought to Life
Trevor Carmick, a Boston-based video editor/graphic artist, has an amazing side project: Beer Labels in Motion, If only we could get these for real on the the labels. Only a matter of time, I am sure.
See also Hypnotic Animated GIFs
The Beauty of Sea Slugs from Alexander Semenov
We've seen some amazingly vibrant shots of jellyfish from Alexander Semenov, and here he brings us equally gorgeous sea slugs.
See also Gorgeous Underwater Photos of Vibrant Jellyfish
Top 5 things for July 2013
NSFW - Gorgeous 'Calligraphy on Girls' from Molotow Markers
A collaboration between Molotow Markers and Fierce Frog Films, brings us the calligraphy of Russian Pokras Lampas. Using script size and lettering density in response to the curves and contours of the models leads to some gorgeous patterns and gorgeous images.
Read more »
Cut Food Photos that Show You the Inside of the Food That We Never See
Showing cross-sections of popular food, Beth Galton's Cut Food uses gelatin in place of liquid to get this great, surprising and interesting point of view.
Read more »
Flowers X-Ray Photos - Two Ways
These two project ( by British photographer Nick Veasey; and Singapore-based Brendan Fitzpatrick) each have a stunning beauty. I love them each.
Read more »
Anxiety-Ridden Images from John William Keedy
John William Keedy‘s artist statement:
“It’s Hardly Noticeable explores the world of a character who navigates living with an unspecified anxiety-based mental illness. He negotiates situations constructed to highlight the impacts and implications of his differences on his thoughts and behaviors, and by doing so raises question of normalcy. Through constructed tableaus and metaphorical still lifes, the series reveals the relationship between reality and perception, and highlights issues of pathology while questioning stereotypes of normalcy.
Read More »
POTD - Viking Ships in Los Angeles by Brandon Brown
"Each time I cup your face in my hand, I know that I’ll be with you
as my hair grows longer and my clothes become old."
Read more »
The Sky Behind: Photo Project from Manuel Cosentino
Italian photographer Manuel Cosentino returned to photograph the small building from the exact same location for nearly two years for his Behind a Little House Project.
Hypnotic Art GIFs
UK-based artist and graphic designer Mat Lucas runs a Tumblr of experimental art called 89—A.
See also Awesome Animated Nature GIFs
Sad Spaghetti Monster
French artist Theo Mercier's piece, entitled Le Solitaire. Not really spaghetti, but instead silicone coated cords and two large, blue eyes
"He one who is showed, who is watched, he is unique and alone because he is a monster. It tells a lot about the idea of exposure."
Bokeh Explosions
Creating bokeh (ボケ) while shooting fireworks sure is gorgeous.
See also Long Exposure Fireworks
Astounding HD of Plants and Insects Magnified Thousands of Times
German photographer Stefan Diller has created HD footage with microscopic images of plant and insect life. The tech, nanoflight, is “a revolutionary new way to visualize structures of the microworld,” and can" move a virtual camera in eight degrees of freedom around the specimen.”
97 Year Old Master of MS Paint
From the video page:
Hal Lasko, better known as Grandpa, worked as a graphic artist back when everything was done by hand. His family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint long after he retired.
Now, Grandpa spends ten hours a day moving pixels around his computer paintings. His work is a blend of pointillism and 8-Bit art.
Meet 97-year-old Hal Lasko, The Pixel Painter.
POTD - Viking Ships in Los Angeles by Brandon Brown from Poesia Para La Gente
photo by flickr/purplesnail
Viking Ships in Los Angeles
The simple have their slogans, and the wise their proverbs.
A builder has wood, rough and lifeless in piles.
My eyes, they have your eyes. My breath mixes with your breath.
Once, we drew a map to your house on a brown paper napkin and sailed
through neighborhood alleys like Viking ships
until we reached your staircase, its flickering light bulb
suspended above us like some artist sketched it
over our heads to show everyone that our brains were full
of ideas. Really, we were just dreaming of buried treasure
and our hands on each other’s bodies,
tracing one another’s mouths with our tongues. Here,
on these same steps, our fingers now have
another set of fingers to hold and study like hammers or worn-faced coins.
And it’s here where I have built for us a tower,
one that stretches up from the planks of the creaking deck under our feet
so that when you and I scale it, we can look out
over all the familiar houses, yapping dogs and divorcees sunbathing in their backyards.
Each time I cup your face in my hand, I know that I’ll be with you
as my hair grows longer and my clothes become old. I know
that if you leave your body before I leave my body, I’ll carry you down
from our perch like wood from the pile, polish two coins
with my trembling fingers, and rest them on your eyes as you begin
to float down the tar-black river on a bed made of flowers and sticks.
I had the privilege of meeting Brandon (@yourmoneyisours ) during our Poesia Para La Gente on the LA Metro. He read a number of poems, but this one, read at edge of the pond in Macarthur Park just lit us all up. He was gracious enough to let me publish it here on 5 things.
The links directly to Brandon reading his poem: on Vimeo
Below is the whole video (his poem starts at 22:35)
Timelapse of the Dakota Night Sky (and Wyoming's Devil's Tower)
Randy Halverson shot this amazing nightsky timelapse in South Dakota and in Wyoming near the Devil's Tower. Just stunning.
Sea Urchin Sculptures Made of Colored Pencils
Artist Jennifer Maestre cuts 1-inch sections of the colored pencils , drills a hole in them and strings them together like beads.
Pause: A series of Breaths
Pause is a series (up to #14 at the time of this post) of 60 second videos; gorgeous and stunning.