Archive for March, 2009
6 Slightly Less Catchy Movie Posters
Movie posters go through countless revisions and redesigns before a final version makes its way to theaters and subways (and the internet .0001 seconds later) — here’s a look at several second-to-last drafts of some particularly memorable movie posters before they got the memorable taglines exactly right:
Beautiful and Creative Art of Paper Cutting
Some of the images below could add up nicely onto house siding.
Papercutting is the art of cutting paper designs. The art has evolved uniquely all over the world to adopt to different cultural styles.
Today, we showcase talented artists that create beautiful art by cutting paper.
Paper Art by Aoyama Hina
Beautiful paper art by Aoyama Hina, a Japanese artist living in France. [link]
Paper Art by Kako Ueda
Her hand cut paper pieces deal with the notion of nature/culture – how organic beings (insects, animals, human bodies) are made from nature but constantly influenced and affected by culture. [link]
Paper Art by Bovey Lee
Bovey’s paper cutout drawings seek to preserve, promote, and extend an ancient Chinese folk art through invention by adding personal and contemporary elements. [link]
The great Blue Hole in Belize
Find Cabo vacation homes for your tropical getaway.
The “great” Blue Hole on Lighthouse Reef Atoll is a popular diving spot off the coast of Belize. Visible in a flyover, the hole is about 1,000 feet in diameter and 412 feet deep. The late Jacques Cousteau and a filming crew explored the underwater cave whose roof collapsed about 10,000 years ago.
The Blue Hole is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which covers more than 200,000 acres.
There are many blue holes off the coast of Belize, but the “great” Blue Hole on Lighthouse Reef Atoll is the one most visible in a flyover–and the most famous one for diving. The hole is about 1,000 feet in diameter and 412 feet deep.
The Blue Hole sits on the Lighthouse Reef Atoll, about 50 miles east of Belize City.
The late Jacques Cousteau and a filming crew explored the underwater cave whose roof collapsed about 10,000 years ago.
Diving in the great Blue Hole requires advanced skills. Divers descend to about 135 feet to explore the exotic wildlife and underwater features.
Some divers tour the lip of the crater, according to the Belize Tourism Board, which is about 60 to 80 feet underwater.
Coral and fish inside the great Blue Hole.
Coral and fish in the great Blue Hole.
A type of parrotfish in the Blue Hole, part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which covers more than 200,000 acres.
A sponge on the reef in the Blue Hole.
Glimpses of the underwater world inside the Blue Hole.
Blue-striped grunt fish thrive in the waters of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which includes the great Blue Hole.
A diver with elkhorn coral in the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System.
Sea turtles ply the waters of the barrier reef, a series of coral reefs off Belize.
Japan Highways and Earthquakes
Japan has one of the most sophisticated urban infrastructure with modern engineering design. But still its some time no match for mother nature’s wrath. Here are some cool pics of devastated japanese roads after an earthquake.
1. National highway
2. Kanetsu Expressway in 2004
3. Hanshin Expressway in 1995
4. Again, Hanshin Expressway in 1995
5. Kanetsu Expressway in 2004
6. Kanetsu Expressway in 2004
7. Kashiwazaki highway in 2007
8. Rural Japan road in 2008
9. Kobe Japan in 1995
10. Kobe Japan in 1995
Qatari Building Makes Like a Techno-Cactus In the Desert
It looks like Bankok-based Aesthetic Architects have taken the old adage–”When in Rome, do as the Romans do”–to heart in its design of a new building in Qatar’s desert-like environment. In fact the firm is borrowing some key ideas from an expert desert-dweller: the cactus.
The entire structure greatly resembles a technologically-savvy cactus plant, and it’s being built for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. But the shape of the building isn’t really its secret. It’s the structure’s skin. Instead of going for an uber high-tech, environmentally nasty air-conditioning system, the architects are indulging in a little biomimicry. Specifically they’re borrowing an idea from the cactus stomata, the “pores” that the plants breath through: To cope with the arid, hot desert environment, cacti usually open these only at night when it’s cooler. Hence the MMAA’s new building in Doha will have a sequence of smart shutters over its entire bulbous exterior, and these will open and close automatically to keep the interior of the building within comfortable temperature levels.
The building will even have an attached “biodome” structure. This will be packed with plants, each busily converting CO2 into oxygen and adding to the overall “green” aesthetic. Of course the plants alone don’t do very much, and the environmental cost of keeping them watered and fed in an essentially alien environment makes the actual eco-friendliness of this part of the design questionable. Still, although the overall plan doesn’t appear to have the eco-credentials of the fabulous Azerbaijan Zira Island plan, with its zero carbon footprint, photovoltaics and water-recycling, it’s great to see a bit of ecologically-careful thinking employed in a nation with oil-based wealth.
Smallest Girl in the world due to Primordial Dwarfism
Kenadie Jourdin-Bromley weighed 2 lbs, 8 ounces when she was born in February 2003.
She was not expected to live more than a day, but she has survived. She continued to defy doctors expectations and at the age of 8 months, Kenadie was finally diagnosed with primordial dwarfism, a genetic condition that is believed to affect only about 100 people in the world.
She isn’t expected to grow past about 30 inches or weigh more than 8 pounds. Her special needs expenses are substantial. If you wish, you can help through a Paypal donation. Link . .
Photo Manipulations by Erik Johansson
Erik Johansson, a young talented artist from Sweden, creates remarkable images by digitally modifying photographs that he took himself.
For more creative work by Erik Johansson, visit alltelleringet.com
