Wisteria TunnelWisteria Tunnel In Kawachi Fuji Garden In Kawachi Fuji Garden, Japan
Art
Archived Posts from this Category
August 10, 2011
The video at the link below is strangely calming, and fascinating.
http://boingboing.net/2011/08/09/video-of-a-river-rock-balancer.html
August 10, 2011
August 4, 2011
I cannot omit a rather childish story which Vasari tells about the David. After it had been placed upon its pedestal before the palace, and while the scaffolding was still there, Piero Soderini, who loved and admired Michelangelo, told him that he thought the nose too large. The sculptor immediately ran up the ladder till he reached a point upon the level of the giant’s shoulder. He then took his hammer and chisel, and, having concealed some dust of marble in the hollow of his hand, pretended to work off a portion from the surface of the nose. In reality he left it as he found it; but Soderini, seeing the marble dust fall scattering through the air, thought that his hint had been taken. When, therefore, Michelangelo called down to him, ‘Look at it now!’ Soderini shouted up in reply, ‘I am far more pleased with it; you have given life to the statue.’
– John Addington Symonds, The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1893
That’s too good not to be true.
August 4, 2011
Go here
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7066/main.swf
and move your cursor around.
Then let it sit and watch the changes.
June 26, 2011
World’s tallest sand castle: 37-foot, 10-inches!
As you can probably imagine by looking at the photos below, Ed used more than just a sand bucket and shovel to complete his masterpiece, In fact, he needed the help of 1,500 volunteers, who worked a total of 2,500 hours turning 1.6 million pounds of sand into a record-breaking castle.
Work on the castle began on April 1st, and the completed structure was ready for official measurement seven weeks later, on May 20. According to Laura Ward, public relations official for Jarrett’s Castle, the work was initially supposed to be even taller, at 38 feet and 75 inches, but after a blue bird decided to scrape the top of the castle and meteorologists announced hostile weather conditions, the team hurried to get the sand castle certified before it got even shorter. Still, at 37 feet, 10 inches, Jarrett’s Castle is still easily the tallest sand castle in the world.
Via:
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/man-builds-worlds-tallest-sand-castle-again.html
June 15, 2011
May 23, 2011
Places I want to visit: Wadi Rum Resort in Jordan
Posted by Russ under Amazing, Architecture, Culture, TravelLeave a Comment
April 13, 2011
Incredible
Posted by Russ under Amazing, Art, Communication, Presenting Information, TechnologyLeave a Comment
March 25, 2011
Crocker Blocker Shocker!
Posted by Russ under Architecture, Attitude, Dumb, Freedom, Morality, RightsLeave a Comment
In 1878, railroad millionaire Charles Crocker decided to buy up the lots surrounding his mansion on San Francisco’s Nob Hill to improve his view of the surrounding vistas. He reached agreements with all the neighbors except for German undertaker Nicholas Yung, who refused to sell.
“I would have been happier than a condor in the sky,” Crocker wrote, “except for that crazy undertaker.”
His solution was pure spite: He built a 40-foot fence around Yung’s cottage on three sides, spoiling his view in hopes that he would sell. The fence can be seen behind the central mansion in this photo; only the chimneys of Yung’s house project above it.
“How gloomy our house became, how sad,” Yung’s daughter later wrote. “All we could see out our windows was the blank wood of the rich man’s fury. … The flowers in the garden all died, and our lawn turned brown, while inside the house everything felt perpetually damp.”
Yung held out nonetheless — according to some reports he mounted a 10-foot coffin atop the wall facing Crocker’s house — and the two maintained a senseless deadlock for years. Yung died in 1880 and Crocker in 1888; only then, when the mansion was sold to a new owner, did Yung’s heirs relent and sell their lot.
You didn’t mess with Chuck Crocker! But my sympathies lie with the Yungs.
Imagine Crocker trying to get his “spite fence” approved by San Francisco’s Planning Commission today.
Via:
http://www.futilitycloset.com/
March 13, 2011
March 13, 2011
Photos of 1906 San Francisco Earthquake — in Color
Posted by Russ under Art, PhotographyLeave a Comment
The first known color photographs taken after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 have been found by the Smithsonian’s American Museum of National History
Almost as interesting as the photos themselves is the incredible process by which they were produced:
The first color process Ives attempted to market was the Photochromoscope system. He employed subtractive color theory to record scenes with a one- shot stereoscopic camera. Ives’ camera system of mirrors and filters behind each lens split and filtered the light to create one pair of slides for each primary color of light (red, green, blue). The slides were bound together in a special order with cloth tapes into a package known as a Krőmgram. The Krőmscőp was the apparatus used to rebuild the image allowing the viewer to see in three-dimensional color.
Via:
http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2010/01/the-1906-san-francisco-quake-in-color.html
and
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/09/stereo-photographs-o.html
January 22, 2011
Mechelen, Netherlands
The late 17th century Stedenboek (book of cities) by Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit is one of the rarest map books in the world. Only four copies are know to exist and the finest version has been digitised and uploaded by the National Library of The Netherlands. [Flash and html formats are available]
De Wit was among the last of the renowned cartographers in what is referred to as theGolden Age of Dutch cartography. Common to all his work was superb engraving and exceptional colouring qualities that resulted in maps of unique beauty and historical interest.
Imagine trying to draw those curving streets without the benefit of an aerial view.
Via:
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/
December 17, 2010
A long-lost Roman statue buried for thousands of years has been unearthed by massive winter storms that have lashed the coast of Israel this week.
The mysterious white-marble figure of a woman in toga and ‘beautifully detailed’ sandals was found in the remains of a cliff that crumbled under the force of 60mph winds and enormous 40ft waves.
The statue, which lacks a head and arms, is about 4ft tall and weighs 440lbs. It was found at the ancient port of Ashkelon, around 20 miles south of Tel Aviv.
It’s always a delight to find that, in this self-consciously sophisticated age, there are still wonderful surprises waiting to be discovered.
December 16, 2010
Coolest stop motion video ever
Posted by Russ under Amazing, Amusing, Art, Entertainment, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a Comment
Especially for my friend Alex H., this is the coolest stop-motion video I’ve ever seen. Hard to believe it’s done with coins!
