Andrew.frampton

Most janitors are satisfied with keeping things clean. This junior high school custodian might be, too, but also has a hankering to do something else: Draw incredible pictures.

Spotted on a school cafeteria whiteboard, these awesome drawings depict things like Link from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Here's Midna and Wolf Link from Twilight Princess.

These aren't just eye candy! There's also a friendly reminder about recycling one's trash.

Bravo, Janitor Artist. Bravo. You've impressed more than the lunchroom. You've impressed the whole damn internet.

This was in the lunch room yesterday [)(-EY GURL]

the janitor at the junior high drew these in the cafeteria [Daves of Our Lives via Obvious Winner]

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Coupled is a series of prints depicting a somewhat complicated relationship between two (or more) objects, Created by Safwat Saleem

More than 120 000 protesters in 15 French cities against Taubira's law: Building up to the Mega-Demonstration on May 26 in Paris.  Demonstrations for alterity in marriage all over France, demonstration against austerity at the place de la Bastille, it seems that it's high time for the President to listen to the French people!  It is high time that this law, a law that wounds democracy and weakens families and children, be abandonned. The executive branch's strategy is clear and politically manipulative: mollify the people by delaying debate on assisted reproduction to start again when the political climate is sunnier.

From the beginning, our message has been clear: WE WILL GIVE UP NOTHING.

This movement was born of opposition to this law. It will not stop until the law has been withdrawn. We will relentlessly continue to warn the French people of the dangers of this law. And we will defend the right of conscience for mayors opposed to this law. We will express this resolve massively, determinedly, peacefully during the May 26 MEGA-DEMONSTRATION in Paris and during other actions, diverse, peaceful, and continuous, until we are heard by the government.

Because I swear it looks to me like she’s breathing out a word in water.  Exhaling liquid language.  The shot is by Francesca Woodman, an artist who died in 1981 according to this collection of her work at Fluid Radio.  Click through for some more fascinating images.

On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.

Warning: This is probably one of the most bizarre but strangely hilarious Kickstarter projects ever.

The Big-Ass Amazingly Awesome Homosexual Sheep aka BAAAHS is a giant mobile sheep that is part vehicle, “part penetrable sculpture, part socio-political statement, and part gay disco.” The 40-foot vehicle will contain a den, “a large sound system and a DJ platform.” Meanwhile the outside will look like the fluffy grazer with one entrance – the rear.

The project, which is seeking funding on Kickstarter through May 31st, was set up by a group of gays headed to Burningman where they hope to debut the sheep. But the project isn’t strictly for Burningman, the group hopes to bring the sculpture to other queer events around the nation, sharing the wealth with backers and onlookers.

The guys behind the project are a group of artists, engineers, architects, designers, and bears with two things in common: they are all queer and long-time burners.

Watch their quirky launch video below. And check out more at Kickstarter.

Ben Shapiro has a lot of opinions on Jason Collins and unfortunately someone asked him about them. That someone was right-wing master-baiter Piers Morgan, who invited the recently Bar Mitzvah’d conservative commentator  to discuss those opinions, to the chagrin of studly actor Chris Evans.

Upon Jason Collins’ historic coming-out, Shapiro took to the Twitter to decry the calls of heroism being lauded at the NBA center — a popular trend among straight white men who never had to come out as anything (other than assholes) in their lives.

Morgan then took Shapiro to task for his insensitive comments, at which Shapiro accused the Brit of hating America by thinking that we’re all just a bunch of homophobes. Imagine that. After the segment aired, Chris Evans, who has a gay brother, tweeted this:

I genuinely dislike @benshapiro

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) May 3, 2013

Shapiro, flattered and perhaps a little moist from the attention, tweeted this in response:

I don’t dislike @chrisevans. We can disagree on politics, agree that The Fantastic Four is a terrible movie, and still like each other.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 3, 2013

To which Chris responded:

And last time we checked, America: kind of homophobic. We’re not talking Uganda or anything, but since most LGBT people are still treated as second-class citizens, it’s pretty safe to say this isn’t a homosexual Xandau. You know, Canada.

Last year, Kotaku featured a Japanese "latte artist" named Kazuki Yamamoto. Taking inspiration from games and anime, he became famous for drawing characters in steamed milk. And now, he's doing that in 3D.

Forget drawing flowers and leaves! What makes Yamamoto's milky coffee creations so much fun is how aware of geek culture they are. I mean, how many latte artists do depictions of Anonymous' Kim Jong-un parody?

When Kotaku previously showcased Yamamoto's work, we focused on his 2D latte art (such as above).

The latte artist has also produced some truly eye-popping—and adorable—three dimensional cups of java.

Below, you can see more of Yamamoto's 3D art.

george_10g [フォト増]

じょーじ [Twitter via DDN]

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

hahahah via lolhappens Created by sebastian millon

If I learned anything this past week, it's that some people will find any context in which an ethnic slur is not an ethnic slur, or will find some justification for its use, from the name of a video game to that of a football team.

Really, the reactions were almost swappable. In Washington, rumblings that the Redskins might relocate to a stadium in the city limits sparked a city councilman's call for the team to reconsider its nickname of obviously racist origin—and the usual backlash against it. In video games, a student project out of the Netherlands billed itself as "Starcoon," borne of an understandable language disconnect but one that still invoked a top-five racial slur in the company of "spade," "spook," and the big N.

"Starcoon," however, changed its name, recognizing the embarrassment it would inevitably suffer if the game became a success in an English-speaking country. Yes, right, the protagonist of the platformer is a raccoon. Unless the truncated word is preceded by "Maine" or followed by "hound" you will have a problem on this side of the Atlantic, and in this case, it sounded like a ridiculous sci-fi blaxploitation film starring Bull Connor as the villain. Wisely, the creators bailed on the original name, rebranding it as Curio's Starquest.

The reaction was depressingly predictable. We're told all the time that the average age of gamers is getting older, but their emotional maturity and concept of life in a pluralist society seems to be stuck somewhere around the freshman year of high school. On average, it's a demographic no more sophisticated than meathead sports fans. "Ever wonder why racial slurs for white people never caught on?" said this commenter in one of our posts on "Starcoon."

No. Please, enlighten us.

"Because white people have higher self esteem in regards to their racial identity."

Yes, that's it. After everything they've gone through, for all for which they have stood, and suffered, ethnic minorities are simply insecure. Once they get over that, hey, racial equality.

No, racial slurs against white people never caught on here because white people, through the laws, textbooks and periodicals they largely control, have a demonstrable, centuries-long head start on deciding what words get used, and how.

One of those uses is in professional sports, where white people have such "higher self esteem" that thousands identify themselves, as fans of Washington's football team (or of other teams in high school), with a straight-up racial epithet.

"Redskin nation." "Redskin pride." They smear on warpaint and wear headdresses and go to the games. Then, when someone points out how childish all this is, the official newspaper of white people writes a hoary defense of the right to use the word, a vortex of circular logic that reads like an email from your grandfather with FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD: in the subject header.

It doesn't matter if the entirety of an ethnic minority is or isn't offended by a word and it doesn't matter if you knew a black guy or a native american who has no problem with it. Good for him, though I doubt he actually exists.

It doesn't matter if a majority in a poll say they're fine with the name, and it doesn't matter that the word is inoffensive if it describes peanuts or potatoes. And "political correctness," the "liberal media," and every horseshit straw man you construct has nothing to say here.

What matters is that a billion-dollar business and its loyal consumers, in the year 2013, identify themselves with an insult. It matters that a term of derision, inferiority and hatred is being directed at the product on the field—by those who sell it and buy it. How is it different from "Washington Shitheads?" How is it even dignified?

That is why "Starcoon" changed its name. That is why the Washington Redskins should change theirs.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports and video games. It appears Sundays.

To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

This picture is making the rounds on Twitter and various other websites, and the dude doing double bottle work looks a hell of a lot like Jay Cutler. Those middle-American features could belong to anyone, but everything we know about Cutler leads us to believe that this is absolutely something he would do. We really want it to be him.

Read more...

Even celebrities went to high school, and some even attended the prom in their best formalwear -and had their pictures made. Politicians, sports stars, singers, and actors all appear in a collection of vintage and not-so-vintage prom pictures. This one shows drag queen RuPaul looking stylish in 1982. Love those shoes! See the rest at Flavorwire. Link

To mark the U.S. premiere of Iron Man 3 on Friday, Mondo will offers three limited-edition posters created by Phantom City Creative and Martin Ansin. As usual, they’ll go on sale at random times, so you’ll have to follow the boutique on Twitter.

The Toronto-based Phantom City Creative previously produced a Captain America poster for Marvel’s The Avengers. Their Iron Man 3 print, which appears to feature all of Tony Stark’s armors, can be purchased for $45.

A veteran of Mondo’s film-poster offerings, Martin Ansin last year created a Thor print for The Avengers. His Iron Man 3 poster comes in two flavors: a 450-copy gold version ($50), and a 200-copy silver version ($75).

By Phantom City Creative

By Martin Ansin

By Martin Ansin

Pogo and SpongeBob team up:

(Credit: MFA Blog)

A New York City elementary school became the first public school in the nation to go completely vegetarian when it stopped serving meat in its cafeteria this year.

Flushing’s P.S. 244 consists of about 400 students between kindergarten and third grade. And the staff say that the school lunches — which include options like black bean quesadillas, brown rice, falafel, roasted red potatoes, and tofu — are a hit among those young kids, some of whom have started requesting similar foods at home:

“It’s been a really great response from the kids, but they also understand it’s about what is the healthiest option for them,” principal Bob Groff told ABCNews.com. “Because we teach them throughout our curriculum to make healthy choices, they understand what is happening and believe in what we’re doing too.”

When the school opened in 2008, they started serving vegetarian meals three days a week. The campus became a vegetarian test kitchen for the city, Groff said. [...]

The recipes were a hit, Groff said, prompting the school to expand its meat-free meals to four days a week and then adopting a 100 percent vegetarian kitchen in January.

“The big thing I would like people to know is, this isn’t just about a vegetarian menu,” Groff said. “It’s about living a healthy lifestyle and educating students on what options are out there.”

When P.S. 224 first opened, school officials noticed many students bringing their own vegetarian lunches from home, inspiring administrators to experiment with some meat-free menus. Now that the cafeteria is totally vegetarian, students are of course still welcome to pack lunches that include meat. The cafeteria food adheres to the USDA’s standards for school lunches, so students receive the recommended levels of nutrients and protein.

School cafeterias have become critical battlegrounds in the fight to address childhood obesity, which has reached epidemic levels in the United States. Encouraging healthy eating habits among younger children has been a particular area of interest for First Lady Michelle Obama and her ongoing “Let’s Move” campaign. But public health policies in this space have been met with significant resistance, both from powerful food corporations and from conservative critics of government overreach. Significantly, however, the cities with the most aggressive nutrition policies are the same ones that have seen the biggest drops in their childhood obesity rates.

Vegetarian options tend to be healthier in part because of the health risks posed by the U.S. meat industry. Over half of the meat sold in this country contains bacteria that can’t be treated with antibiotics. Chicken and ground beef are the two most dangerous types of meat, since they’re most likely to send Americans to the hospital with a foodborne illness.

Naki’o lost all four of his feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home. Now Naki'o is a prosthetically enhanced super-animal with awesome superpowers like TURNING YOUR COLD, STONY HEART INTO A MUSHY PILE OF RAW EMOTION.

Read more...

We've seen extreme Bloody Marys before, but this one from O'Davey's Irish Pub in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin advances human gastronomy into previously unknown territory:

This ultimate hangover cure is topped with an extensive beer chaser consisting of pop corn, bacon, peanuts, beans, sausage, pretzel, sliders, a pickle and (this is Wisconsin after all) a cracker and cheese curd. Plus a Brewers flag. 

"That's amazing. I'm coming to America just for these," a reader remarked in the Reddit forum. 

An Australian commented: "As an Aussie, I can't help but look at that and think... 'Is this actually a thing??' Are you serious? You can actually order that?"

USA! USA! USA!

Link -Thanks, Jill Harness!

(Photo: Gitte Lassby/Journal Sentinel)

Submitted by: Unknown

Maryland became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty Thursday, as Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed the bill he vied for into law. The law will not affect five prisoners currently on death row, but O’Malley will consider whether to commute their sentences, according to the Associated Press.

While Maryland is the sixth state to eliminate the penalty in as many years and the first to do so south of the Mason Dixon line, other southern states are headed in the opposite direction. Florida just passed a bill (not yet signed into law) to speed up the death penalty, with legislators saying, “this is not about guilt or innocence,” while Mississippi is slated to execute an inmate next week without having tested available DNA from the crime scene. Nonetheless, the general trend away from the death penalty may have constitutional implications.