Farmers in Nuanquan, China, too poor to afford fireworks to celebrate the new year, instead melt down scrap metal and hurl it against a wall, creating a brilliant spray of sparks and molten iron. Their only protection is a sheepskin coat and a hat. [video]
French composer Pierre Bastien builds small mechanical musical devices, which click and whirr and play somber melodies on keyboards as he follows along on his muted trumpet, occasionally reaching over to adjust a lever or attach a new part. It’s an intimate and introspective affair.
Dmitry Maksimov works in a variety of styles and media, but I’m most fascinated by his photo illustrations that show small characters going about their mysterious business in realistic settings with narrow depth-of-field. It’s a fleeting glimpse into a cute and spooky world. Visit the artist’s site (it’s in Russian, but just scroll down for the images).
“In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon’s every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit, and timeless message.” Watch on YouTube
Researchers at automation technology company Festo have developed what just might be the Best Robot Ever. They’ve made a version that swims in the air using helium and lightweight tentacles, as well as one that swims underwater. Totally mesmerizing – check out the video!
Indonesian photographer Rarindra Prakarsa conjures magical vignettes of misty rainforests, with sunbeams peaking through to illuminate his characters from behind like scenes from a fairy tale. I suspect there’s more than a little photoshopping going on here, but the result is breathtaking.
Martin Amm specializes in nature macro photography. This photo of fly beaded in morning dew (a small section of which I’ve cropped below) is my favorite shot, but you should check out his whole gallery.
This is just too cool for words. One winter day in New York City, 207 people casually wandered into Grand Central Station. At exactly 2:30 pm, they all froze in place like statues, confusing the many bystanders and official-looking people around them. Exactly 5 minutes later, they all continued on with their business as if nothing had happened.
The performance was organized by a group called Improv Everywhere, which has pulled off many such stunts over the past several years. The photos, obviously, don’t do it justice – so be sure to watch the video to get the full effect.
Will Ashford takes pages from old books and creates new works of art, obscuring or emphasizing certain words or letters through the use of inks, pencils, and translucent colored vellums.
In Hungary during World War II, vinyl for making records was hard to come by. So some clever folks used discarded medical X-ray film instead. Jozsef Hajdu presents some fine examples.
