Kurts90

Pairing GoPro’s with quadcopter drones is starting to really take off and the results are changing the way we experience and document events. Take this fireworks show, this is the closest you’ll ever get to live fireworks!

For those curious, the song is: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) by Arcade Fire.

With the ocean in sight, The Truffle is an unusual vacation home built within a rock. The inhabitable concrete stone is located in Costa de Morte, Spain and was designed by Ensamble Estudio in collaboration with Ricardo Sanz and Javier Cuesta. Its 25 square-meter minimalist decor has everything you’d need for a peaceful getaway, and includes a raised platform bed, modest bath, and built-in fireplace.

The most striking feature of The Truffle is its exterior, which simultaneously looks natural and man-made. It was fabricated by the architects in a tedious, multi-step process. First, they dug a hole in the ground and blocked out an interior space using hay bales. Concrete and later topsoil was poured around the bales to bury their work and let it dry. These steps were repeated until they had an enormous rock beneath the soil. Afterwards, it was exhumed from the ground.

With the giant stone extracted, there was little left but concrete and hay. It took a calf named Paulina a year to eat through the hay bales and clear the room. The use of this material not only provided generous snacking for the animal, but imprinted an interesting texture into the concrete. Its long stalks add a permanently rustic and cavernous feel to this coastal home.

Ensamble Estudio
via [Fubiz and ArchDaily]

In today's age of technology and internet culture, things like emojis, social media updates, likes and notifications, and Google services have become more familiar to many of us than picking up a newspaper or talking on the phone. Kiev, Ukraine-based artist Nastya Ptichek brings history and the modern age together in a tongue-in-cheek series called Emoji-Nation, which reinterprets classic artworks such Edvard Munch's The Scream using expressions associated with digital culture and computer technology. The resulting images provide clever and interesting commentary on the impact that technology and the internet have had on our lives.

Ptichek says, "[The project was born when] I realized that standard iOS emojis strongly resemble some well-known paintings of famous artists." In the first part of Emoji-Nation, she pairs old masterpieces with emoji representations. In the second part, she puts a social media twist on Edward Hopper's somber paintings.

After the Hopper set, Ptichek says the project “turned into a full concept of correlation between computer technologies and classic art.” Subsequently, in the third part, classical paintings are reintroduced as popular movie posters, mashing together such works as the film Kill Bill and the painting Judith Beheading Holofernes. In the fourth part, common social media problems and computer prompts are incorporated into famous artworks, presenting a humorous spin on many religious masterpieces. The fifth part comments on the huge presence of Google in our lives by incorporating its features and services in various artworks.

Fresh Guacamole is a 2012 animated short film written and directed by PES. With a running time of 100 seconds it is the shortest film ever nominated for an Oscar when the film was nominated in 2013 for ‘Best Animated Short Film’.

Fresh Guacamole was originally commissioned by Showtime as part of its “Short Stories” series. Be sure to check out PES on YouTube for more animated awesomeness.

Credits
“Fresh Guacamole”
Running Time: 1 min 40 sec
Written and Directed by PES
Animation: PES and Dillon Markey
Produced by PES and Sarah Phelps
Sound by PES
Final Audio Mix: Matt Hauser, Big Foote, NY
Filmed in Torrance, California

You might not realize it, but this house in Graceville, Australia was built from 31 shipping containers. The large freights are typically used to send goods overseas, but in this case they form a unique and modern living space. Todd Miller of the architecture firm ZeilgerBuild designed the three storey, 6,000 square-foot home whose backyard includes an outdoor saltwater pool. Both the interior and exterior are a nod to the industrial nature of the building's materials.

The facade features a combination of corrugated steel walls and street art. Graffiti spans nearly the whole side of the house, like something you’d see on a container if it were docked at a port. Here, it’s a planned detail, and this aesthetic is carried into the decor of the home. The family room displays graffiti work on a large canvas as it lives among a leather couch and antique sewing table. A long hallway spans the width of the building, and galvanized pipes sit opposite to the contemporary art that’s on the wall.

Miller does a great job of balancing the home’s cool-feeling industrial elements with warm and comforting woods. The white and gray steel is offset by a harmony of brown hues that are flooded with natural light. He employs different textures throughout the space that complement both the metal and wood, adding another level of visual complexity. Considering that shipping containers value function above all, it’s incredible to see their transformation into a luxury home.

ZieglerBuild website
via [Trendir]

Train graffiti isn't uncommon and is something that might not catch your eye. But if you were stopped at a train crossing, you’d surely notice this boxcar made to look like a giant Nintendo Entertainment System game controller. The painted car includes the large plus sign and bright red buttons we all know and love.

This impressive piece of graffiti is a slightly modified version of the console’s original controller, and was tagged by TEXER ALB. The real thing has two red buttons, not three like we see here. Each circle on the boxcar represents A, L, and B that corresponds to the tagger’s initials, hence the need for the additional button.

At least two Reddit users, Kgriffin88 and elsewhere1, have spotted TEXER ALB’s handiwork. It makes us wonder what other magnificent boxcar artwork we’ve been missing, and it encourages us to be on the lookout for more quirky cars like this.

via [Reddit and Laughing Squid]

Published last year (23 April 2013), Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work took an in-depth look at the daily routines of 161 of history’s most inspiring minds.

Data visualization artist RJ Andrews of Info We Trust created an amazing infographic of 16 of the 161 creative masterminds featured in Currey’s book.

The routines are fascinating. From the average number of hours slept, to the balance between work and personal life, the insights are both surprising and inspiring. Be sure to check out the original post on Info We Trust where you will find the full 3600 x 5400 resolution infographic.

You can also find Mason Currey’s book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work on Amazon.

OakOak is a street artist from Saint-Étienne, France (featured previously). What I love most about his work is the way it plays with its surroundings. The artworks are site-specific, fun and imaginative. Where others see simple cracks in the wall or shadows on the ground, OakOak envisions something different altogether.

Below you will find some of OakOak’s pieces since our previous feature in May 2013. Be sure to check him out at the links below for the latest.

After losing his job as a bond trader in Chicago, Brandon Stanton moved to New York and started a blog called Humans of New York (HONY) in the summer of 2010. As Stanton recalls:

“HONY resulted from an idea that I had to construct a photographic census of New York City. I thought it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants, so I set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map. I worked for several months with this goal in mind. But somewhere along the way, HONY began to take on a much different character.
 
I started collecting quotes and short stories from the people I met, and began including these snippets alongside the photographs. Taken together, these portraits and captions became the subject of a vibrant blog”

The wildly popular site now boasts a Facebook page with almost 4 million fans. The success has also led to a 304-page hardcover book that instantly became a #1 New York Times bestseller. The book features 400 hundred color photos, including exclusive portraits and stories.

Below you will find a follow-up to the Sifter’s original post last May. There are so many incredible and fascinating stories it was hard to limit to just the ones below. For thousands of more ‘moments’, be sure to check out Humans of New York at the links below.

I asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. He screamed: “A benny!” “What’s a benny?” I asked. “That’s his name,” said his mom.

“I was 35 when I met her. I was starting to think that there wasn’t anybody out there for me.”

“A coworker asked for my number the other day. My friends overheard and said: ‘He must have a thing for Indians.’ I was like, ‘Or maybe I’m just really f*cking cool.’”

“Do you remember the saddest moment of your life?” “When my grandmother died. I was nine. Besides my dad, she was the only one in my family who was like this. And she was the only other person who could give me any perspective on what it was going to be like, and how to handle it.”

“I want to be a singer, a president, and a tennis player.” “I want to be a president, a teacher, a doctor, and a police.”

“If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?” “I’d tell them the same thing I’d tell one person. That if you understand failure, you won’t be afraid of it anymore. Failure isn’t diving on your face, or hitting rock bottom. That’s just being human. You only fail when you decide to not try again. So it’s entirely in your control. Once you understand failure, it’s impossible to fail.”

“Had cancer six times. Beat cancer six times.”

“I told her that if she wanted to start over, to meet where we first kissed. She was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago.”

“If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?” “In every situation, choose love.” “When is it most difficult to choose love?” “When it involves someone close to you.”

Normally I have to approach people for quotes. But this kid walked right up to me, held his certificate in the air, and screamed: “I played at Carnegie Hall!”

“If my battery wasn’t low, I’d pop this thing back on two wheels right now.”

“When he was dying, I said: ‘Moe, how am I going to live without you?’ He answered: ‘Take the love you have for me, and spread it around.”

“I’m 86. And that’s about enough. I’m ready to go.” “Aren’t you afraid of death?” “Why would I be?” “Isn’t that sort of a natural condition of living?” “Not when you miss your husband as much as I do.”

“I want to be an animal rescuer.” “Why do you want to rescue animals?” “Because they’re soft and cuddly.”

“Well there’s this girl that I’m friends with, and you know, I like her, but I don’t know if she likes me…” “Do you mind if I share that?” “I don’t know, if you share it, she might figure it out.” “She’ll definitely figure it out.” “… do it.”

“I lost my thumb in a freak playground accident when I was five. I was really insecure about it for the longest time, but eventually I just learned to have a sense of humor about it. Love your blog, by the way. I’d give it one-and-a-half thumbs up.”

“What’s the secret to selling cookies?” “Smiling.”

“I want to be a princess hairdresser.” “What’s going to be the hardest part about being a princess hairdresser?” “Cutting Rapunzel’s hair.”

“I wish I’d partied a little less. People always say ‘be true to yourself.’ But that’s misleading, because there are two selves. There’s your short term self, and there’s your long term self. And if you’re only true to your short term self, your long term self slowly decays.”

“I’m not too emotional of a guy. People say I have a good heart, but they’re wrong. I have principles. The heart is a fickle thing. There’s no way I can love everybody. So I’m not even going to try. But I can respect everyone whether I love them or not. And that I try to do.”

“I’ve been working for 45 years, and so has my wife. But we have no money. You know why? Because my five kids have two bachelor’s, a master’s, and two doctorate degrees. They are my wealth.”

“He’s wonderful in bed.”

She was collecting rocks.

[Photographs: Max Falkowitz]

It's a misty Wednesday afternoon and the pigs are hard at work. So is their porquero Juan Carlo, who's busy guiding them across this 1,700 acre farm to the land's choicest acorns. At sunrise, Juan Carlo rouses about 340 pigs from their farmhouse and sets them to work. At sundown he corrals them back to the ranch. This year marks his 25th on the job.

In a few weeks the pigs' work will be done: they'll be sufficiently fattened up from their grazing to be slaughtered, butchered, and turned into some of the most expensive ham in the world—at my local source, $220 for a hand-sliced pound. Why so much? Because it'll be jamon Iberico puro de bellota, acorn-fed pure breed Iberico ham, and sold under the Cinco Jotas (5J) brand, one of the oldest and most well-respected in Spain.

Acorn-fed jamon Iberico is intensely sweet. It's floral, earthy, and nutty like good Parmesan, with fat so soft it melts right in your mouth. For many ham lovers it's as good as good gets, and it never comes cheap.

This storybook-green plot of land, dotted with knobby trees and cooled by the breezy Iberian climate, is one of many across Spain and Portugal that raises pigs for Sanchez Romero Carvajal, the company that produces 5J ham. But all those pigs eventually make their way to a small town called Jabugo where hams cure in a 130-year-old cellar designed for the task. From start to finish, the ham-making process is simple: grant good pigs the freedom to be good pigs, let them feast on the land, then cure their flesh with little more than salt and air.

Porquero Juan Carlo and his pigs.

For most eaters, that's where the story begins and ends. But there's more to it—a process that blends unwavering tradition and modern technology to produce this sought-after ham. To share what work that involves, Carvajal invited me to tour their farms and ham curing facility. Though the visit wasn't all-access—there wasn't time to see the pigs' nurseries or the actual slaughter facilities, for instance—no questions were off-limits. Here's how it all happens.

Behind the Label

In the world of Spanish ham, there are two premium classifications: Iberico pigs and acorn-fed pigs. Unlike white pig breeds such as Serrano and Duroc, black-skinned Iberico pigs are descendants of the Mediterranean wild boar, and are colloquially called pata negra ("black foot") for the hoof that accompanies each ham. They're athletic animals, runners and rooters, and thanks to the structure of their intramuscular fat, their meat is more flavorful, juicy, and distinctive.

Iberico pigs are expensive. They have smaller litters, yield less meat per head, and take time to mature, which is why many ham producers around Spain cross-bred them with other varieties. Up until recently, ham made from pigs that were as little as half-Iberico could be sold as jamon Iberico, but new legislation now requires Iberico ham to be labeled according to the percentage of the pigs' Iberian ancestry. 5J is one of the few brands to exclusively use pure Iberico pigs.

Then there's the acorns, the bellota, which fall from oak and cork trees from early October to early March on the farms where the pigs are raised. They're high in fat, a large percentage of which is unsaturated oleic fatty acid, and eating them is what makes the pigs' fat so soft and creamy, on the verge of melting at room temperature. Acorns also contribute to the ham's nutty flavor and aroma, as essential to the product as the meat itself. Of all commercially raised Iberico pigs, only 5% are both pure breed and acorn-fed.

From Piglets to Porkers

Spanish ham culture has a vocabulary all its own. There are porqueros, not shepherds; pigs are "sacrificed," not slaughtered; and the farms where they're raised are called dehesas.

The dehesas are a national treasure: each one to two thousand acres of forest partially converted to pasture, often hundreds of years old, with rolling grassy hills amidst crops of acorn-producing oak and cork trees. Just as acorns are an essential ingredient to the ham, so too are the dehesas. These pigs need to run around all day, over the hills and through the woods, for their muscles to develop and for the ham to taste the way it does.

Over 18 to 24 months, the pigs will root around the dehesa, grazing on grass, mushrooms, bugs, herbs, whatever they can find. Come October all through March, the montanara, or acorn-dropping season begins, and the pigs march into action. Fatty acorns are the pigs' favorite food, and with a mandated five acres of dehesa per pig, there's plenty of room to look for them. By the pigs' second montanara, they'll have feasted enough to reach their kill weight, about 360 pounds.

Managing the pigs isn't just left to nature. Carvajal inspectors pay anonymous visits every two to three weeks to check on their treatment and diet. They also sample the pigs' fat to analyze its oleic acid content—too little and the pigs won't meet quality standards, too much and they'll be impossible to cure into ham.

You may have heard that pigs are as smart or even smarter than dogs. On the dehesa they behave more like sheep dogs than sheep. Curious about newcomers, they'd inch closer and closer to me, some even posing nicely for the camera, before bolting away. Unlike livestock domesticated into complicity, these wild boar descendants stay smart.

The Long Cure

The curing facility in Jabugo is over 100 years old: part modern office space, part ancient farm house. In one courtyard you can still see hundreds of hooks on the ceiling from when ham was cured out in the open. These days they rest in a sprawling brick-walled cellar.

Before they get there, the pigs must be slaughtered. They're knocked out with CO2, and once a pig is deemed unconscious by a vet, a worker slits the artery along its throat until it bleeds out. Legs, loins, and shoulders go toward making Carvajal products, and the remaining fresh meat is sold to Spanish restaurants. The ham-bound legs are then skinned, salted, rinsed, dried, and sent to the curing cellar, where they'll remain for about a year and a half.

See those hanging bits at the top? All ham.

Carvajal's 130-year-old cellar is an underground city of ham; step downstairs and you're slapped with an aroma that's something like rising bread, aged cheese, and your deli's cured meat display—multiplied by the 40,000-odd hams inside. With little signage it's a marvel anyone knows their way around. "Don't worry," an employee tells me, "I get lost in here all the time."

Thick brick walls, a breezy, hilly climate, and a stable population of ham-friendly microorganisms are most of what the meat needs to finish its journey into ham. Skilled specialists monitor the cellars at all times, noting fluctuations in temperature and humidity, but their adjustments are amusingly low-tech. Need to change the temperature? Open or close a window. Air too dry? Spill some water on the floor.

It's more complicated than that, of course—hams too close to a window may get moved if they dry out too quickly, and the legs are regularly rubbed down with oil to prevent insects from taking up residence—but the most vital and final measurement Carvajal takes is very much a human one.

Before any ham leaves the cellar, it gets a sniff test. A trained nose can purportedly detect 100 aromas from a premium ham, some sweet, some meaty, some nutty. Different regions of Spain have their own hammy terroir, and even different cuts of the same leg bear unique aromas.

A mere eight noses are charged with inspecting all the hams. The job is so specialized that one ham sniffer, a third generation Carvajal employee, isn't qualified to sniff cured loin (another 5J product) because the aromas are too different. (That's his father's job.)

With a short, stubby needle called a cala, the ham sniffer pokes down to the bone, quickly takes a whiff, and covers the breach with a smear of fat. There's just a second or two to detect the balance of sweet, earthy, fermented, and floral aromas that signal a well-cured ham, and only a ham that passes the sniff test in four inspection sites makes its way out the door. If anything goes wrong, the nose knows.

Even for ham-loving Spaniards, 5J ham is a luxury good, which is why Carvajal also sells a more affordable ham under a Spanish-only brand called, eponymously, Sanchez Romero Carvajal. It's made from the same pigs and cured in the same cellar, just not held to quite as stringent conditions. Only at the cellar do quality control experts decide which hams get the 5J label and which ones don't.

To Market, to Market

From there the ham moves on to a grateful world, though in truth many whole hams have already been spoken for by bars, restaurants, and large-scale clients that reserve them while they're still aging. Jamon Iberico shouldn't be sliced by machine—the soft fat would sheer out and the lean, bony legs make horizontal slicing difficult—so when Carvajal sells whole hams to a new restaurant or store client, they also provide training in how to slice the ham by hand. (You can see a good introductory video here.)

The company also employs 60-odd expert carvers who fabricate all of its pre-sliced packaged ham. Like cutting fish for sushi in Japan, carving Spanish ham is an artisan job of its own. The perfect slice is nearly see-through, small enough to eat in one bite, and carved at a level angle to get the most consistent and efficient slices from the ham as possible.

Remember how expert ham sniffers can detect four different aromas from the same ham? You may not be able to pick up on all the nuances, but it's easy to see that different cuts of ham look and feel different, from the maza's clean striations of fat to the ribeye-like marbling of punta—or the hard-to-reach "butcher's cut" of the ham, the chewy, flavor-packed cana near the hoof. A skilled carver knows how to make the most of them all, mixing up a plate of ham with multiple cuts for contrast.

Which brings us back to where we started: why does good jamon Iberico cost so much? It's more than the expensive pigs, spacious farmland, or acorn-rich diet. It's more than the time and investment needed to prepare and cure hams properly, or the laboratory science and quality control behind the scenes.

Carvajal also sells cured loin and shoulder products.

At the end of the day the question comes down to scale—how much can you produce when every step along the way is so labor-intensive? What substitute is there for highly trained specialists who in some cases are born into the job?

Good pigs, living and dead, need time. And as with plenty of other luxury goods, there's a choice to do something fast or to do it right. Fortunately for us (and the pigs), there are still some people more interested in the latter.

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the New York editor and ice cream maker in residence at Serious Eats. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

Disclosure: Sanchez Romero Carvajal arranged for this tour.

Um, wow. I don't know if it's the song selection or because it's in black and white or the fact that everybody in this video is so attractive, but what started out as incredibly awkward—seeing two strangers meet each other and kiss—turned into something pretty damn beautiful. The premise of the video, called First Kiss and directed by Tatia Pilieva, was to get 20 strangers and have them kiss each other for the first time. It gets electric.

Read more...

It doesn’t get more candid than this. And for those curious, it’s beans on toast :) The little brother took that fall like a champ! I’m sure they’ll both be okay :)

There are plenty of reasons to ask for a window seat. For starters you can lean on the window if you want to sleep, and you never have to get up for someone else! But it’s what’s outside of that window that is most compelling. The world is a wonderful place, one that looks entirely different from above. From sunrises and sunsets to landscapes, cityscapes and all kinds of cloud formations in between; there’s beauty out there as far as the eye can see.

Here are 27 reasons you should always ask for a window seat.

The Dutch didn’t always have the cycling infrastructure that is so heralded today. It took a fascinating series events to transform the Netherlands into not only the country with the most cyclists, but also the safest place for cycling in the world.

The author of the video also wrote a blog post that expands on the video and the protests along with additional photos and info.

In 1999, Steve Fugate lost his son to suicide. A few years later, he lost his daughter to a drug overdose. At sixty-four years old, he has walked across the United States seven times to raise awareness for depression and suicide and to inspire people he meets to ‘love life’. After fourteen years and 34,000 miles of walking, Steve continues his quest to heal his heart and the hearts of those in need one step at a time.

Follow Steve on Facebook: facebook.com/lovelifewalk
To learn more: lovelifewalk.com

Film by Cyrus Sutton
Sound Design by Hugh Sandys
Korduroy Production

As many of us bide our time with ice, snow, and unpleasant temperatures, it’s fun to daydream about exotic vacation resorts. The Lion Sands Game Reserve, located at the Sabie Sand Reserve in South Africa is the perfect escape. Here, you observe amazing wildlife like lions, hippos, and giraffes as they roam free in their natural habitat, all while staying in luxury accommodations with breath-taking views.

Lion Sands offers guests the opportunity to stay in their choice of five lodges and three tree houses, each with its own unique experience. The lodges have spacious rooms with private decks that overlook gorgeous sights such as the Sabie River and Kruger National Park. For the more adventurous traveler, the tree houses provide the opportunity to sleep under the stars. As the sun sets and the South African night comes alive, their minimal amenities (including no electricity) make you feel that you are truly one with nature.

This vast landscape is ripe for exploration, and Lion Sands provides a number safari options and guided tours based on your interest. In addition to seeing beasts roam wild, the resort includes amenities such as spa services, fine dining, and swimming pools. This stunning place with its incredible natural backdrop is no doubt a resort of our dreams.

Lion Sands Game Reserve website
via [The Coolist and Bless This Stuff]

Earth’s population recently surpassed 7 billion people and that number is still growing. To comprehend the composition of our species 100people.org sought to help people, “better understand the complex issues facing our planet and the resources we share by framing the global population as 100 people”.

Below I have compiled the statistics on 100people.org into 14 image macros that will hopefully help you visualize and understand the Earth and the people who inhabit it.

If you would like to see the sources of the statistics below, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for the websites used for each statistic.

After getting a glimpse of medical professional-turned-photographer Weerapong Chaipuck's stunning series of travel and landscape photography, we knew we had to share a little bit more from his growing collection—ones that have more of a personal touch, featuring the wonderful people he's met along his travels. The Thai photographer's images offer more than just aesthetically pleasing views of nature. They present depth in both the rich landscapes and diverse people within each environment.

Traveling around Thailand and beyond (to China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India), Chaipuck manages to take a peek into the lives of ordinary villagers in fairly remote areas. Rather than hitting up the most touristy spots, he dives deep into each country's rich culture to document their realities. Along the way, he's been able to share images of traditional fishermen who work with birds to catch their prey, local flower vendors that sell their merchandise on worn boats as they drift across lakes, and farmers and foragers who work tirelessly to put food on the table in their modest homes.

Weerapong Chaipuck on 500px

If you love riding bicycles and eating pizza (and let’s face it - who doesn’t?) then DOIY’s Fixie Pizza Cutter is made with you in mind. The Barcelona-based company designed a miniature bike that also cuts your pie into neat slices. This whimsical utensil is modeled after a fixed-gear cruiser, and comes complete with tiny handlebars, a seat, and two stainless steel tires that rotate and double as razor-sharp slicers. The watermelon and bumblebee color combinations divide your pizza in style as the fixie easily glides through cheese, toppings, and crust.

Products like the Fixie Pizza Cutter make ordinary tasks entertaining. Their functional and fun designs ask us to embrace the light-hearted side of things. DOIY produces an abundance of other objects that they call “happy design gifts,” which, like the bikes, also marry practicality and humor. Their other amusing items include ear-shaped pencil sharpeners, Foosball drink openers, and Polaroll, a camera that doubles as a toilet paper roll holder.

DOIY website
via [designboom]

When parents Lilly and Leon moved from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia they found themselves with two things:

1. A lot of cardboard boxes from the move
2. A newborn baby named Orson who is now 10-months old

With their social lives ‘drastically altered’ the couple decided to make the most out of their household weekends and Cardboard Box Office was born. Starting in September, the couple have recreated a movie scene each week with cardboard and household items. While the two of them are featured in each portrait in a supporting role, the star of each recreation is their adorable son Orson.

Each week you will find the latest reenactment on their Website, Twitter and Facebook pages. What a fun and creative way to spend time with your family!

[via BuzzFeed]

In an incredible, ongoing series of self-portraits, Spanish artist Eloy Morales explores tones and tonal transitions. What first appears to be photographic self-portraits is actually hyperrealistic oil on canvas paintings. Most are larger than life and Morales also paints a variety of subjects that includes family and friends. You can see many more artworks on his website.

If you’re interested in learning a bit about his process, be sure to check out the video at the bottom of the post.

[via Ignant]

Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov have gained a lot of notoriety with the video above this week (posted yesterday on the Sifter).

The video, released on Wednesday February 12, 2014, has already been viewed over 8 million times. It shows the duo (who together are OnTheRoofs), climbing the still under-construction Shanghai Tower. Upon its completion in 2014, it will stand approximately 632 metres (2,073 ft) high and will have 121 storeys. Following its topping out on 3 August 2013, it became the tallest building in China and the second-tallest in the world, surpassed only by the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates.

Raskalov says the pair started their ascent on January 31st, which not coincidentally was the first day of China’s Lunar New Year, a major holiday in China. It took them about two hours to get to the 120th floor by foot and then they spent an additional 18 hours on top of the building sleeping and waiting for better weather.

While the video above documents their ascent, both are keen photographers and took the time to capture some amazing shots of the bustling metropolis below. To see the rest, visit their respective blogs here and here.

Internet superhero Casey Neistat is well-known for his entertaining videos and amazing workshop/studio.

During the most recent snowstorm in New York City, Neistat decided to go snowboarding… on the streets. Dangerous? Sure. Illegal? Quite likely. Awesome? Most definitely.

Vienna-based Austrian designer Klemens Torggler has crafted a revolutionary piece of architecture that allows one to enter and exit a room by shifting a multi-panel door, known as Evolution Door, to an adjacent position without a floor track. Instead of having to install additional components for a door to slide across, Torggler's door offers a flipping method that is altogether aesthetically pleasing to the eye, space-conscious, and entrancing to watch.

The designer's product provides a brand new outlook for something as conventional and universally recognized as a door. Gaining access to a room is turned into a kinetic art form. The door, which is currently just a prototype, is working out multiple design elements that address everything from appearance to functionality. Torggler has already equipped his invention with soft edges to account for hands that may accidentally get caught between the panels as they flip into their next position.

Check out the video, below, for a quick demonstration of the door opening and closing.

Klemens Torggler website
via [Gizmodo, Colossal]

Torino-based photographer Elio Pallard whimsically re-imagines clouds as a variety of wondrous landscapes in his series titled Playing with Clouds. The photographer offers new perspectives with his manipulated cloudscapes that transform the cotton ball-like puffs in the sky into magical mountains, fluffy waves, and billowing blankets of snow.

By placing silhouettes of adventurous (usually out-of-place) figures into each cloud portrait, Pallard creates clever scenes that tap into his imagination. He uses the shape and tone of clouds to replicate other topographical textures in the world. The warmth of the sun's light also adds a transformative quality to the creative images, allowing the photographer to play with the idea of heat. Whether it's mimicking the hot Saharan sand dunes, where nomads and camels travel for ages across, or the fiery blast of a spaceship exiting Earth's atmosphere.

Elio Pallard website
Elio Pallard on Flickr

Alberta, Canada-based landscape photographer Paul Zizka has embarked on a new way to capture the absolutely breathtaking natural environment that surrounds him in the Canadian Rockies. Instead of simply snapping shots of the environment, the photographer prepares his camera on its tripod, sets the timer, and quickly runs into the shot for a spectacular selfie.

Unlike other typical selfies, often presenting a low-quality image of someone with their extended arm holding onto the photographing device (most likely a phone), Zizka's images are first-rate photos of man and nature. He shares the spotlight with the landscape, usually serving as a secondary subject himself to the magnificence of the environment. His silhouette sits peacefully below the Aurora Borealis, allowing its green and purple hues to captivate viewers.

Zizka says, "I never get tired of shooting the aurora borealis, and a lot of my favorite self-portraits were taken during particularly intense northern lights displays… The aurora has an amazing way to renew itself and show ever-different combinations of color and textures." He adds, "My hope is that through my photography people will rediscover the precious connection they can have with the wonders of our planet.”

Paul Zizka website
Paul Zizka on Facebook
via [Co.Design]

Designers Kyuho Song and Boa Oh have developed a solution to having no electrical power source to plug into on the go. While our advancing technology provides countless benefits, it has also added to our modern day inconveniences. One such annoyance that nearly everyone can relate to is having your phone die on you with nowhere to recharge it. Luckily, Song and Oh have designed the Window Socket—a small, readily available, portable solar-charger.

Equipped with a solar panel and suction cup, this product is ideal for use on windows in offices or planes, but could also function while out in nature. The Socket converts the collected solar energy into electricity that can then actively charge any of your handheld devices. It also acts as a backup battery to have on hand for instant recharges.

Since this project is still in the developmental phase it takes up to 8 hours for the device to reach a full charge, making it rather impractical. However, the designers are working on the product in hopes of improving its efficiency and one day making it available to the general public.

The Black Desert House is a minimalist getaway designed by creative director Marc Atlan in collaboration with architecture firm Oller & Pejic and interior design company Moderne Builders. Located just thirty minutes outside of Palm Springs, the incredible landscape boasts the untouched environment of the Mojave Desert. The architecture serves as a contrasting staple in the deserted area that oddly complements its surroundings.

The sleek design of the modern house is the polar opposite of the natural landscape it is embedded in, making for an intriguing cooperation between nature and manmade home. Despite their great differences, the team behind its concept and construction were thoughtful enough to allow the spectacular views of the landscape to beautifully translate within the home through its enormous glass windows and sliding doors.

Indoors, all the basic amenities are available, including three bedrooms and a dining room. Outdoors, there's a central courtyard, a terraced patio, and a black-tiled pool. The house provides the comfort of a home in the scenic environment of a retreat. The project's statement reads: "The exceptional quality of silence is unparalleled and the beauty of the dark night sky borders on spiritual. Five minutes from civilization, the site nevertheless gives the sensation of being beyond time."

The Black Desert House website
via [designboom]

Humans are an industrious lot. When we need to make a ‘lot’ of something, we figure out a way to do it cheaply and efficiently. Below is a compilation of animated gifs that show how everyday products are made (some more delicious than others). We even venture outside of the factory to appreciate the effort that goes into making a commercial or stop motion animation.

Now excuse me while I go buy a box of ice cream sandwiches.