I must give credit to dbx1 (whom I don’t know personally) for getting around to this project before I ever got the chance, and doing a lovely job.
Bravo!
Year: 2008
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After setting eyes on this flickr set of the Marionette Museum inside the Hohensalzburg Fortress, I believe I can add Salzburg, Austria to my European destinations list.
Source: Curious Expeditions
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I never thought I’d see the likes of the Octopus Accent Lamp in the ultra classy Smithsonian Store. This overpriced treasury of worldly artifacts now caters to my love of marine invertebrates:
I love the product description: Normally shy, the marbleized amber art glass head of this charming cephalopod gently glows when illuminated. Resting on his intricately cast resin arms with antique bronze patina.
It can be yours for a mere $70. I would snag this in a heartbeat if the price dropped by about $60.
Clearly, they are venturing into the realm of highbrow kitsch. The discriminating collector can also purchase a number of very expensive, mildly terrifying Kewpie Dolls. My favorite among them: “Salon Girl.”
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Due to personal tragedy, I have to put this blog on a brief hiatus. I’m spending as much time as possible in the hospital with my mother as her long and difficult cancer battle comes to an end. Depending on the situation, I may start posting as a way to unwind. I’ll be sure to spread the word when things are up and running again.
In the meantime, my heart stays with the one who inspired a lifetime of creativity and compassion in me:
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The great folks at PES have done it again! This unique stop motion animation uses innovative materials to replicate various foods and cooking processes. Very clever! Have a look:
I recommend their other films as well.
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Kitsch and candy…does it get any better? Well, there’s kitsch IN candy, courtesy of photo prints by
Boopsiedaisy.
This one reminds me of those horrific “ball pits.” Even as a child, I thought these were the nauseating filth factories:
Her slightly disquieting combinations seems like the most logical thing in the world to me.
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I’ve actually embroidered a number of the subjects on Sublime Stitching in my own projects, but I’ve never sewed a sexy librarian (an image close to my heart since it celebrates the combination of femininity and intelligence).
I’ve done anatomical patterned stitching on Get Well gifts (back when I didn’t take any pictures of my crafts before giving them away), but kudos to their fine rendition!
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I am utterly confused as to how we consider ourselves the top rung of the evolutionary ladder when these creatures exist.
Water bears are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. They can survive temperatures close to absolute zero, temperatures as high as 151°C (303°F), 1,000 times more radiation than any other animal, nearly a decade without water, and can also survive in a vacuum like that found in space. -Wiki
Think of the big production involved in allowing a human to float through space…Tardigrades could just wander off the space ship naked and be no worse off for it. We would burn, freeze, mutate, dehydrate and in all other ways expire when exposed to a tiny fraction of what these little sweeties find quite comfortable.
Humbling, isn’t it?
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Fred Einaudi’s work gives me chills, in a wonderful way. The stories he tells do not always have a happy ending.
Some are deliciously creepy anachronisms:
All are worth a look.
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And my personal favorite (search no further for your Xmas tree, friends!):
The search was inspired by this io9 post about the differences between science and magic, and how the two have been blended in modern sci-fi.
My opinion on the science .v. magic question is most closely aligned with Ted Chiang’s statement in the article:
Roughly speaking, if you can mass-produce it, it’s science, and if you can’t, it’s magic. As an example, suppose someone says she can transform lead into gold. If we can use her technique to build factories that turn lead into gold by the ton, then she’s made an incredible scientific discovery. If on the other hand it’s something that only she can do, and only under special conditions, then she’s a magician. And I don’t mean that she’s a charlatan; she might actually be able to transform lead into gold. But scientific phenomena are reproducible by other investigators; they aren’t dependent on a specific person.
And my favorite quote: Magic is when the universe responds to you in a personal way.
A good portion of the science I’ll be using in my Behavioral Medicine practice was once cast off as mysticism. The difference? We’ve developed machines to “prove” and display these mystical concepts. Even as a calculating and logical human being, it always seemed arrogant that we tend to award credit ONLY to that which we can measure on our own instruments.
SheWalksSoftly 