The designers have named this spectacularly over-engineered cabinet the ‘Cubrick’, but that doesn’t even come close to doing this transforming masterpiece justice.
It looks like this fellow believed he could stop the train with the power of his mind, but at the last minute realized the train wasn't going comply with his command. He ends the performance by shaking his fist and uttering a curse at the disobedient train.
Melbourne based Illustrator & Designer Ken Taylor works primarily within the music industry and is predominantly well known for his striking rock posters. But today we like to focus on his poster work for the movie industry, where he’s also killing it. So here’s a collection with 16 of our personal favorites for you to feast you eyes on.
Brickshots is an app that allows you to upload a photo – which can be anything from a landscape image of your gerbil to a close-up of your German Shepherd – and view a detailed breakdown of every Lego brick you'd need in order to create a mosaic of it, followed by detailed building instructions.
Here's a quick demonstration from the team behind the app.
“There are three types of people,” astronaut Chris Hadfield told me. “-1, 0, and +1.” When a business fails it feels like a -1. When a relationship fails, often it’s because I’ve been a -1. Certainly stalking and begging and crying has made me a -1 many times. When I clam up in my shell, refusing to take responsibility, afraid to return calls, afraid to… Read More
Are you too young to remember the television series, The Wonderful World Of Disney? It ran once a week and you never knew what you were going to get. It may have been a classic Disney film, a live action tour of the Disney parks or a set of animated shorts.
If you've never seen the show, you're probably also unfamiliar with Donald In Mathmagic Land.
Sure the art and storytelling was as beautiful as you'd expect from a Disney production, but this piece was different from the others. Somehow it educated as perfectly as it entertained.
The first time I saw it I took mental notes and patiently waited a long, long time for it to air again. Each week I would pray to the programming gods for my wish to come true and one day it did. This time, I was ready with paper and pencil so that I could take actual notes.
During the cartoon I learned about Pythagoras, the golden ratio and the history of music. But to me, the most important lesson was on the game of billiards. I grew up with a pool table and I played a lot more than any kid should. I read my parent's books on the game, I drained the local library of what they had on the subject but this cartoon taught me more about the table and angles than any book ever could.
I think it was because in the story, Donald Duck himself was learning and playing the game with me. Because it took so long between viewings, Donald and I were evolving together.
And here's the thing...I guarantee that if you are not already an advanced pool player, you will become better just by watching this masterpiece. For me, it turned on a giant light bulb over my head.
See Michael, a passionate collector of artifacts and designer of unique puzzles, at Boing Boing's three-day extravaganza, the Weekend of Wonder, running Sept. 18-20. A weekend of workshops, tech demons and wild performances, there'll be plenty of fun surprises!
I remember running downstairs with my notes to try out the new concepts I had just learned. The angles of the game were no longer a complete mystery after experiencing this magical cartoon. I also found that the new knowledge could be applied to other games that dealt with spheres and angles like racquetball, squash and wallyball. In fact, getting better at that game had an upward spiral effect on other aspects of my life. That game, during difficult times was my best friend.
Once you've seen this animated short you will think about billiards in a whole new way. You may even see shots and angles in your sleep...not that I do.
If you haven't experienced Donald In Mathmagic Land, you don't have to hope and pray for it to be the episode of the week. Just go to Youtube and watch it now.
And if you ever want to play a few games, just look me up.
I'll be the guy at the table with the talking duck.
As part of a reference photoshoot for an illustration project by Warsaw-based creative studio Ars Thanea, a bouquet of roses was set on fire and photographed as they smoldered in the dark. The glow of the dying embers is strangely evocative, it would be amazing to see an entire series of different flowers photographed like this. You can see the final illustration and how they caught the images over on Behance. (via Boing Boing)
Home in on the history of American housing architecture with this groundbreaking survey of US house styles! From 17th century Postmedieval English abodes to 19th century Tudors all the way through the “McMansions” of the 1990s, this detailed diagram of hand-illustrated domiciles brings together 121 American houses in all, sorted into seven major categories and 40 subdivisions. Perfect for the walls of your own cherished nest, this history of habitation morphology reminds us that there’s truly no place like home.
In a recent episode of Numberphile, mathematician Alex Bellos demonstrates his custom-built elliptical pool table. The table can be used to demonstrate some interesting mathematical properties. In particular, it can be used to demonstrate elliptical focus points. When the ball is shot from the complementary focus point from the hole it should always go in, regardless of the direction of the shot.
Because a traditional game of pool would be impossible to play on the table, Bellos also invented a game called “loop” which uses the table and four balls to make the most out of the table’s unique properties.
Architect David Craig and Dublin Design Studio have launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter for Scriba - a stylus designed with the input of hundreds of illustrators, designers, architects, animators, artists, mobile workers and tablet users that aims to make sketching for architects and designers more natural than ever.
Courtesy of Dublin Design Studio
The design avoids the traditional approach to styluses, realizing that a digital tool should do more than emulate pens or pencils. With no buttons, the user controls line weights and program functions with their grip. The ergonomic body, after countless 3D-printed prototypes, sits comfortably in one’s hand, reducing fatigue. Scriba has a battery life of 35 days of constant use, or 6 months on standby.
Courtesy of Dublin Design Studio
Read more about the design here, and help fund the project here.
If you spend enough time at your desk, you’re going to start noticing little aches and pains in your shoulders, wrists, and forearms. It’s tough on your body to be doing the same repetitive motions over and over again, especially when you aren’t at the optimal angle. If you have a proper chair, desk height, and support for your arms you should be alright, but making your setup to your exact specifications can be difficult.
If you already have a proper seat like the Zody chair, and a sweet desk, then all you need is a way to support your arms. This Ergo Adjustable Armrest can help you out as it can support up to 24 pounds on its aluminum alloy body. There are three pivot points and two adjustable hinges to make sure you’re all comfy cozy. This should relieve the pressure on your wrist, arm, shoulder, and even your neck. The forearm support is padded, so you won’t need to worry about a hard surface cutting into you over a period of time, or having your arm stick to a plastic or metal surface. Not to say that it won’t happen, but at least it will be on a pillow rather than a hard surface.
There is a built-in mousepad, but it seems relatively small, making this setup better suited for an office setting. Seeing that this is a clamp, you’ll need to be mindful of the fact that this will only fit desks that have a thickness of 3/8 to 1 and 7/8” thick. It’s not terribly expensive at only $52, but whether or not it will be what you need to make your station more comfortable is up to you.
YouTube musician Nikola in the Pond has a ton of attractive friends and while she loves all of them, it can be a little difficult relating to their lives. Luckily she has a healthy sense of self-deprecating humor to get through the day.
Imagine a wall full of circular holes, that circles can keep walking in and out of with no difficulty.
Now imagine that the triangles manage to get the resources together, after years of not being able to fit through the circle’s holes, to drill a single triangle space into the wall.
Now imagine that the circle — who previously supported the triangle’s efforts because they are well-rounded (har) and value equality — comes along and sees the construction project. But instead of being happy, they get angry.
“Well, I won’t be able to fit through your hole!!!!” the circle cries.
“I helped you get the drill!!!!” the circle shrieks.
“Make it fit me too!!!!” the circle demands.
The triangles, barely holding it together enough to get a triangle hole together, stare at the circle in confusion.
“You have all the holes you need,” the triangles explain. “This is for us. You don’t need to fit through our hole, too.”
“YOU’RE BEING UNEQUAL AND HURTING MY FEELINGS!” the circle wails. “I DON’T SUPPORT YOUR HOLE IF IT DOESN’T FIT ME TOO. GIVE ME MY DRILL BACK.”
“It’s not your drill, it’s our drill. You helped us get it, because you said you cared.”
“I ONLY CARED WHEN I THOUGHT YOU’D MAKE A HOLE EVERYONE COULD FIT THROUGH. YOU’RE PERPETUATING INEQUALITY!!!”
“Why is it up to us, the small group that has never been able to fit through the wall at all, to make a hole everyone can use? Why isn’t it up to you, the people who have been able to cross back and forth at will for years? We just want to see the other side; why are you yelling at us?”
“I DIDN’T ASK TO BE BORN A CIRCLE, OMG. I’VE HAD TO WORK HARD ALL MY LIFE TOO. YOU’RE JUST BEING BIGOTED AGAINST ME BECAUSE OF SOMETHING I CAN’T CONTROL, JUST LIKE EVERYONE IS AGAINST YOU.”
“You are interfering with our project and asking us to comfort you while we’re trying to make progress. Please leave.”
“I’m going to tell everyone about this,” the circle warns. “Nobody will support you now.”
“Apparently nobody ever did,” the triangles sigh, getting back to work.
We got our first glimpse of the live action Attack On Titan movie back in March , and now, there’s a full trailer of the film on the web. It’s big, intense and very, very exciting to see.
For the first time since its discovery in 2011, this ornate 1,000-year-old Viking sword is being shown to the public. Dating back to the final days of the Vikings, it has been linked to battles in England.
Artist Calvin Seibert (previously) recently completed a new series of his geometrically precise sand castles on the beaches of Hawaii. A professional sculptor, Seibert seems to borrow angular ideas from Bauhaus architecture or the flair of Frank Gehry. How he’s able to control the sand so perfectly is anyone’s guess, it certainly puts my traditional upside down bucket method to shame. You can see more of his work over the last few years here.
Digging through electronic refuse and found metal in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, Cyrus Kabiru refashions found materials into different wearable forms. Often these take the form of flamboyantly composed glasses, large eyewear that can often mask the entire face.
Kabiru explains that his glasses obsession started at a young age, and blossomed as his father crushed his dreams of owning his own pair. “When I was young, I used to admire real glasses but my dad was a bit harsh and he never wanted me to have real glasses. That’s the reason I started making the glasses.”
His creations situate themselves in several different areas of art, shuffling between performance, sculpture, and fashion—embodying the playfulness of the youth generation in Nairobi. “When you walk in town and you see someone with my glasses, the glasses will [get] all your attention,” said Kabiru. “If you have any stress it is like a therapy.”
In addition to his found object sculptures and glasses, Kabiru is a self-taught painter, his subject matter being humorous portrayal of contemporary Kenyan life. His most recent series uses thousands of bottle caps sewn together to depict African nature. “I really love trash. I try to give trash a second chance. I change it to be something else, which is like it will stay for more than 100 years now.” (via prosthetic knowledge)
While a golden brown lawn is seen as a badge of honor to some residents of drought-stricken California, in fact, they are doing more harm to the environment than good, says UC Agriculture and Natural Resources turf expert Jim Baird. [...]
maintaining lawns rather than letting them die or replacing the grass with synthetic turf, concrete or so-called drought-tolerant plants offers important ecological services. [...]
“The more we let our grass lawns die or go away, the hotter it's going to get”
For more on the ongoing struggle through California's historic drought:
The more we learn about undersea volcanoes, the more we realize that life can thrive almost anywhere. Now, an Australian research vessel has discovered a new kind of fish living in volcanoes off the coast of the continent. It’s called a scaleless blackfish and it’s adorably ugly.
Since January, Tabby the cat has returned to her family's home in Canada five times with a square patch of fur shaved from her body. The family is mystified, and when they told neighbors about it, one of the neighbors reported that his four-year-old cat Twilight has received similar treatment.
People have also suggested that it may be that Tabby is ripping her own hair out, or perhaps it’s pesticides being used on neighbouring lawns that cause her hair to shed, but Yarjau thinks those theories aren’t sound, based on the precision and meticulousness of the hair loss.
“It’s a pretty clean shave,” she said. “They did a pretty good job holding my cat down. It must’ve been, like, a two man job.”
Pesticide or self-grooming also wouldn’t explain the cut nipples discovered after this most recent experience.
Yarjau also feels whoever is doing it must get some kind of sick pleasure out of it.
Awesome Movie Posters | #1045
Beautiful Movie Posters | #1173
Awesome illustrations by Matt Taylor
“There are three types of people,” astronaut Chris Hadfield told me. “-1, 0, and +1.” When a business fails it feels like a -1. When a relationship fails, often it’s because I’ve been a -1. Certainly stalking and begging and crying has made me a -1 many times. When I clam up in my shell, refusing to take responsibility, afraid to return calls, afraid to… Read More
Artist Wojtek Kowalczyk, as his beautifully hand-drawn bio shows, is an artist from Krakow, Poland. His Facebook page is regularly updated with new works, and I'm most enchanted with the monochrome works shown here.
See Michael, a passionate collector of artifacts and designer of unique puzzles, at Boing Boing's three-day extravaganza, the Weekend of Wonder, running Sept. 18-20. A weekend of workshops, tech demons and wild performances, there'll be plenty of fun surprises!
The first time I saw it I took mental notes and patiently waited a long, long time for it to air again. Each week I would pray to the programming gods for my wish to come true and one day it did. This time, I was ready with paper and pencil so that I could take actual notes.
I came across a design for a chandelier made from test tubes that were filled with colored water, so I decided to make my own version of the project.
Since January, Tabby the cat has returned to her family's home in Canada five times with a square patch of fur shaved from her body. The family is mystified, and when they told neighbors about it, one of the neighbors reported that his four-year-old cat Twilight has received similar treatment.