Shainaf87

Even if you missed seeing Kara Walker’s 75-foot-long nude mammy-sphinx in person at the Domino Sugar Factory this summer, chances are you saw it on Instagram. Maybe with someone faux-tweaking a nipple or sticking a tongue out toward its colossal vulva. Very quickly, the work, A Subtlety, became the notorious ... More »

New.

Effing.

Beyoncé.

What else do we have to say??

[ Related: Taylor Swift Or Beyoncé? Who Is The Highest Earning Woman In Music? ]

Queen Bey will reportedly drop her next single on November 25th, to commemorate the release of Yoncé's Platinum Edition box set of her epic self-titled album!

But you can ch-ch-check out the video (above) to hear a sneak preview of 7/11 right now! OMG, what are you waiting for???

This feels all too familiar. Coming off of his second major knee surgery in as many seasons, Derrick Rose is having trouble staying on the court yet again. Two ankle sprains and now a hamstring have kept Rose out of half of the Bulls’ first 10 games this season. The buildup of minor injuries such as these is exactly what led up to Rose eventually tearing his ACL during the 2012 playoffs.

Ivan Kislov works as a mining engineer in Russia's Chukotka region, the environment of which is arctic tundra. To relax in his spare time during long shifts at work, Kislov says he likes to observe the wildlife, often capturing it with a camera.

Kislov tells Bored Panda that he photographs a lot of foxes, due to their curious nature, as they are willing to come close to him. He also shoots with wide angle and telephoto lenses to get a more intimate feel. 

See more of Kislov's wonderful photos at his website,500px site or on Facebook.

Via Bored Panda | Images: Ivan Kislov

Inspiration for Mara Hoffman's latest resort collection stems from a recent trip to Guatemala. The colors, textiles, and culture of Guatemala come to life in...

Make that….a Very. Tiny. Thanksgiving.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Hamsters

Emmy The Great - Swimming Pool 

Swimming Pool is the first single from her new S EP, out January 27th on Bella Union

While the report was upbeat, with a survey finding a big increase in the number of people who found a job last month, wage growth continued to drag.

yupitsrex:

tylerchokely:

dont push bitch

can we just acknowledge how smooth that trip was like he must be a professional tripper or something

Haul out the oil rigs, fracking can begin in Illinois.

THIS JUST IN from Dual Cuteporters Tracey M. and Erin D. This female pup (#681) was found September 30th, on Coastways Beach in Northern California between the San Mateo and Santa Cruz county line. WARNING: This is SO Cute- you should be sitting down. If you fall over from The Cute and smack yer head- not our fault. OK- proceed.

She is now at the Shedd Aquarium after a month-long stay at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Quoting ABC7, “On arrival at Monterey Bay Aquarium, ‘681’ weighed 1.0kg..”

“…which is tiny for a newborn sea otter, and she had been separated from mom for at least 16 hours,” said Karl Mayer, Animal Care Coordinator for the Sea Otter Program.

“This meant it was critical that we begin to get calories into her as quickly as possible.”

Photos from KGO-ABC7 in San Francisco.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Can't wait 4 ResQte Of The Wk, Sea Otter

Welcome to Midweek Madness, in which previously sentient humanity undergoes a series of arcane transubstantive rituals at the hands of the Lucky Charms leprechaun and ends up as a bunch of marshmallows floating in the amniotic milk at the bottom of the bowl. This week, a biographer threatens to spill all of Beyonce's secrets; booty-craving Taylor Swift fears being framed for murder; Scott Disick is in love with Khloe Kardashian; and you readers who wanted space breaks, you got em, babes.

Read more...

Did you vote yesterday? Are you under 30? Well, congratu-fucking-lations. You are among the few and the proud.

Read more...

Just a creepy, hair raising editorial by the ever so talented and imaginative Tim Walker to wish you all a happy Halloween! ...

sourcedumal:

Bitch shut it down

Watch the inimitable funk stalwart sit for not one but two interviews about his work and where it comes from. Along the way, he tells stories about his many decades in the music industry.

» E-Mail This

Netflix Streaming can be overwhelming — so many options, yet so hard to actually find — and we here at Vulture have tried to make it easier for you with our weekly and monthly streaming video roundups. Now that Halloween is nigh, it seemed appropriate to weed through every single ... More »

In 1950, the New York Philharmonic music director Dmitri Mitropoulos led his orchestra half a dozen blocks south from its home at Carnegie Hall to the Roxy, a 6,000-seat movie theater better known for its ice-skating spectaculars and variety shows than for anything approaching high culture. Mitropoulos, eager to get ... More »

On October 30, 1938, Orson’s Welles presented an episode of the radio drama anthology The Mercury Theatre on the Air. The offering was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's 1898 novel The War of the Worlds. The broadcast went down in history, as there were some people who mistook the staged alien invasion for a news report. Neatoramanaut Ron Geraci’s mother remembers that broadcast from her childhood.

“I was little. If it was on Halloween in 1938, then I was four years old. I was little but I have some vivid memories from that night. We were in my grandparent’s farmhouse in Ferrell, New Jersey, and my grandmother and grandfather were listening to the radio as usual. Their names were Mary and George. They were my father’s parents. All of a sudden there was a lot of confusion in the house and the next thing I know we were down in the cellar. But it wasn’t a normal cellar, it was just a dug-out hole. It was all dirt. Not just the floor, everything was dirt. I don’t know what it was used for. I had never been down there before. I left that house in the fourth grade and I never went down there again. The house is still there.

“My grandpop didn’t tell us why he brought us down there, though I remember him saying something like ‘they were coming.’ It was dark except for one light, probably a gas lamp. I remember watching my grandparents talking while me and my little brother Billy sat there. Billy would have been about three. They couldn’t take the radio down there since there was no electricity, so it was quiet except for them talking. They were both telling us to be quiet, to not make any noise, though I don’t remember me or Billy saying anything.

But that’s only the beginning of the story. Her grandfather guarded the family with a shotgun, and they came up with an idea for protecting themselves from poison gas. Read the full story at The Minty Plum.-Thanks, Ron!

The back end

Since its first installment in 2004, the Saw franchise has depicted some of horror filmdom's most ingeniously grotesque murders. Here, four actors who met their ends at the hands of that demented moralist, Jigsaw, recount their experiences as part of Vulture's Horror Week.Mpho KoahoSaw III Koaho plays Timothy Young, a man who ... More »

by Monica McLaughlin

This ring, created by the great Art Nouveau designer René Lalique, was obviously commissioned by a sorcerer who would wear it while poring over alchemical manuscripts from the library of Dr. Dee. It's exquisite, of course, but also stupendously creepy. (Note: the Wartski site does not link to pieces directly, so click on “Jewellery” and scroll down.)

Featuring a central carved ivory face set in yellow gold and crowned with a cabochon emerald, the ring showcases the quality of workmanship so typical of Lalique jewels. Long, flowing hair of deeply engraved gold forms the shoulders of the ring, contrasting with the more formal engraved leaf patterns that run along the tops of the shoulders. Small accents of black enamel provide further contrast.

I often find relics haunting, and I like the fragile, almost hazy look of this late 1800s French relic pendant. A tiny relief of Mary has been carved out of meerschaum—a soft white mineral used for centuries to create carved pipes and, later, cigarette holders—and placed under convex glass. The glass heightens the three-dimensional appearance of the carving. The piece is set in brass.

This 15k gold memento mori stickpin features a skull with a hinged jaw, allowing it to be opened or closed. The three-dimensional effect of a slightly raised nasal bone and individually etched teeth (not to mention the gaping eye sockets) should combine to make him creepy, but instead he's kind of cute.

Circa 1900, this Art Nouveau "Bat Maiden" ring, by the French designer Charles Boutet de Monvel (1855-1913), features a glowing center opal flanked by two crowned and bat-winged female figures in gold with diamond accents.

Toadstone is a fairly unattractive brownish-gray stone that was traditionally believed to come from the head of a living toad, but it's actually a fossilized fish tooth. It was highly sought after for centuries for its so-called magical powers, which could apparently detect the presence of poison, cure snake bites, and treat kidney disease, epilepsy and various other ailments. Christopher J. Duffin, in a great article for Jewellery History Today (the magazine of the Society of Jewellery Historians), also quotes Albertus Magnus, a 13th-century Dominican friar from Cologne, and his recommendation that unmounted toadstones be swallowed—“to cleanse the bowels of filth and excrements”—and then later, uh, retrieved.
Toadstones were also believed to protect mothers from fairies, preventing them from stealing their children and replacing them with changelings.

How does one get a toadstone, you may ask? It's easy: According to Edward Topsell's The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents from 1658, all you need to do is place a live toad on a red cloth, wait until it belches the stone out, and then quickly grab it before the toad snarfles it back up again. Piece of cake.

Toadstones were usually cut in smooth cabochon form and set into rings. This ring is circa 1700, and features a high karat gold setting. A very similar ring resides in the Victoria & Albert Museum, and 14 toadstones were also found in the Cheapside Hoard.

Circa 1200 B.C., this bronze ring originated in Luxor, Egypt. Depicting a sacred asp, it was excavated in the 19th century, and was formerly part of the Baron Amherst Collection (click through to the Doe & Hope site for more on the provenance and Amherst himself).

Snakes were both revered and feared in ancient Egypt, and they appear throughout their mythology and ornamentation. 1200 B.C. places the ring in the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, a period that featured general unrest and decline, as well as around 4000 pharaohs called Ramesses (well, just Ramesses III through XI). Actually, since we're in a Halloween frame of mind, I should probably note that Ramesses III's mummy, which was discovered in 1884, was the inspiration for Hollywood’s infamous film mummies.

This creepy-crawly spider brooch, circa 1890, features a colored pearl body, cushion-cut diamond thorax, and cabochon ruby eyes. Rose-cut diamonds line the legs, and the piece is set in silver and gold.

I've featured a posy ring in the past, but this one has an unusual and fierce motto. Circa 1620, it states: Accvrsed be that wicked wicht that seeke to robb me of my right (Accursed be that wicked witch that seeks to rob me of my right).

Posy rings were usually presented to loved ones with secret messages of love and devotion engraved inside, but in this case the hidden motto was protective. It was essentially a good luck charm, acting as a talisman against witchcraft and reassuring the wearer of protection against anyone who would seek to harm their union. It's a fascinating and potent symbol of the widespread fear of witchcraft that existed in the 17th century.

Snakes, as shown above, have been featured in jewelry for centuries—sometimes loaded with symbolism, and other times simply decorative. Whether you like them in real life or not, their sinuous form often results in some exceptionally beautiful designs. This bangle bracelet is one of them. From a Philadelphia estate and up for sale in Freeman's November 3rd Jewelry & Watches auction, it coils around the wrist in 18k gold with green, white and red enamel.

Circa the 1940s, a sterling silver winged bat pendant with endearingly huge ears.

So, I don't know, maybe this is like a version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, except instead of an attractive dead sea captain, we have a ghostly floating package? Circa 1900, this Art Nouveau "erotica" pendant features a woman embracing exactly what you think she's embracing. The pendant (in gold with natural pearls and a small cabochon ruby) is also a locket, and may have been used to hold snuff.

This mourning ring doesn't mince words. In 18k gold with black and white enameling, it features a central panel that swivels, revealing a lock of braided gray hair under glass on one side, and the words "Prepare to Follow” on the other. The inscription engraved in the band states "Nath Hayward 0B 3rd Feb 1814 AET 73."

Depicting Medusa's head on bat's wings, this gilded silver Art Nouveau belt buckle was created by German designer Albert Holbein, and dates to circa 1900. According to the dealer, it's a variation on another design that was shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900.

Another form of talisman, Bavarian "charivari" amulets were believed to protect and bring success to hunters. Wearing a charivari—traditionally hung from a chain attached to the hunter's belt—was seen as a way to magically gain the attributes of the animal, making it easier to catch or kill. Gruesome, I know, but I can see how carrying a protective charm might be an appealing option when facing the forest alone.

Bits of antler, teeth, claws, the jawbones of small predators, and even the pincers of stag beetles were used in charivari pendants, and they're still worn today as an accessory to traditional lederhosen. You can see some more examples here.

This charivari dates to around 1901-1909, and features the jaws of what was probably a weasel or a stoat. It's set in German silver (which is not actually silver, but an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel), with an acorn and leaf detail on the top.

Another relic! This pendant is Portuguese, circa 1780. It's made of carved boxwood and gold, and features a tiny figure of St. Anthony. The Catholic Church has always used symbols to identify saints, so this little guy can be identified as Anthony by his robes (he was a Franciscan friar) and the child in his arm, because he’s usually depicted as holding the baby Jesus. The coffin-shaped box is a nice little touch.

This 19th century memento mori ring showcases a tiny skull hovering beneath rock crystal—a constant reminder to the wearer of his or her mortality.

Circa 1900, a beautiful little 14k gold Art Nouveau owl pin, with opal eyes and outstretched wings.

This piece is sold, but I'm including it because it's beautiful and OMG THE TINY OWL. Circa 1910, it's a Jugendstil—a.k.a. German Art Nouveau—silver and gold bat pendant, created in the style of designer Georg Kleemann (1863-1932). It is set with opal, moonstone, pearl, amethyst, lapis, turquoise, ruby and diamond, with touches of enamel. That owl!!!

I saved the best for last! This is a contemporary brooch by Spanish designer Andrea Coderch Valor. Made of silver, copper, steel and a plastic doll, the piece is part of her aptly named "Hieronymous Bosch" collection. It will haunt your dreams. Enjoy!

Previously: Hippocampi, 18th Century Febreze, and a Circus You Can Wear

Monica McLaughlin tweets about ridiculous old jewelry and other random nonsense at @rococopacetic. She also wants to mention: If you're in the New York area, don't miss the new "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibit examines the development of mourning fashions and rituals through the 19th and 20th centuries, including clothing, jewelry and other accessories. Good stuff! The exhibit opened on October 21, and will run until February 1.

11 Comments

So you’re a caregiver and ya gotta give these Adorable Pandas their daily squirt of medicine or vitamins or something. What do you do when they decide to gang up on you?

You HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE.

From Kristin W. “Sending along a video of a zookeeper trying to give medicine to two pandas. And I thought giving medicine to my cat was difficult!” As seen on Metro UK.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Hoomin Interaction, Pandas

chadleymacguff:

natural selection

First, Iowa cops blew out her tires; then, they held her at gunpoint for speeding to the hospital to give birth.

Ben Kohnen told WHO-TV that when his wife, Rachel, went into labor with her fourth child on Tuesday, something was different.

“She says, this is not like the others, this is happening right now,” Ben Kohnen explained.

He admitted that he was going about 30 miles over the speed limit when Manson Police officers tried to pull the couple over.

“He starts following me and he turns on his lights an my wife says we can’t pull over. The baby is coming now,” Ben Kohnen recalled.

Rachel Kohnen said that she told her husband not to stop.

“I think I was screaming, ‘ Oh dear God, we can’t have the baby in the car,’” she said.

The couple called 911, but acknowledged that it was probably difficult for dispatches to understand the expecting mother between contractions.

And as the couple approached the outskirts of Fort Dodge, officer were prepared to use force.

“They had thrown out the tire spikes and so all four tires, I run over those and all four tires go flat,” Ben Kohnen said.

The couple said that they were both forced to the ground and held at gunpoint.

“I was in the middle of the highway having contraction with guns pointed at me,” Rachel Kohnen noted.