Category: image odyssey

Google Image Odyssey: Sushi Cake

October 20th, 2008

I’m not sure if sushi maintains its status as the ultra chic cultural phenomenon it once was…but I personally don’t like it, and don’t mind if that makes me uncool. I will, however, eat any number of bastardized sushi-styled delicacies like this wonderful cake I saw on flickr:

…which led to me seek out other “sushi cake” photos.

Look how beautiful! I’d have to pass on the coconut parts though:

And leave it to the inimitable Charm City Cakes to create fantastic cake realism:

I am curious and slightly wary of this much black confection material (which I can’t identify, but my knowledge of culinary arts is limited):

And for a slight variation, this candy platter takes the prize:

As far as I can tell, the next two are made of real sushi. But I must give credit where credit is due for the amazing work that went into these displays:
Google Image Odyssey

October 11th, 2008

I plan to do a post on the art of pre-cinema projection shows, but I decided to do a google image odyssey for the word “phantasmagorical” in the meantime (yes, the informative post should come first, but when the image cravings hit…I yield).

Phantasmagoria definition

I spent a while trying to trace the following image on the source link, because whatever it is…I want to know more. I came up empty handed, so will have to appreciate the lovely photo on its own.

Something about the movement in this next photo reminds me of Oogie Boogie in the Nightmare Before Christmas. I mean that in a very complimentary way:

I’ve saved the best for last. The Todos Santos Chocolate and Confection shop in Santa Fe:

Any chocolate shop that can even remotely be described as “phantasmagorical” has my immediate attention and admiration.
Lard: A Retrospective

September 19th, 2008

It all began with this image, which I intended to post by itself:

Clearly, in days of yore, the streets teemed with giant pig-drawn lard buckets, spreading the joy of saturated fat. Ice cream trucks were a way off yet.

Unnervingly, the pigs mange to display the entire range of class division. The aristocrat on the right, no doubt schooling his piglet on the virtues of capitalism. Move up, and we find the bourgeois passengers, and the working class “drivers.” On the ground, poor laborers, harnessed and whipped into submission. And let’s not forget the ultimate unfortunates: the ones who actually ARE the lard. This is not just an ad…it’s a complete HOG SOCIETY (which I find sad, since one redeeming quality of hogs is their lack of class division).

But I digress. The ad above prompted me to go on a “vintage lard” google image odyssey.

Silver Leaf appealed to refined, distinguished types. But they had some competition from Snowdrift.

Some took a slightly less dainty approach.

And sometimes the need for lard was OLYMPIC!

Here’s a dish that would thrill the modern cardiologist: hot dogs, bacon and processed cheese, lovingly sealed into blocks with…you guessed it…lard.

I’ve saved the best for last. The ultimate irony: man uses a pig to make lard, and subsequently uses lard to make a pig.

I can almost hear the anguished spirit of the pigs cry out “We were already pigs! No rendering and rebuilding necessary! Why on earth did this seem like a good idea to anyone?”

On Wiki, you can find out more about lard than you ever cared to know.

You’re welcome. 🙂
Google Image Odyssey: Wunderkammer

September 1st, 2008

This image search was inspired by MoMa’s current exhibit Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities. I truly hope I can make it to MoMa before the show closes.

Vintage:

And some modern takes on the subject:

Rust, dust and dolls…

Cabinet of Sculptural Crochet!

I never realized that years before I knew what the word Wunderkammer meant, I was quite busy cultivating one of my own in the form of a very eclectic toy shelf (now packed with oddities of all types).

Traditionally…

Cabinets of curiosities (also known as Wunderkammer, Cabinets of Wonder, or wonder-rooms) were encyclopedic collections of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Modern science would categorize the objects included as belonging to natural history (sometimes faked), geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art (including cabinet paintings) and antiquities. -Wiki

Many of my hopeful travel destinations revolve around where I can find some of the best “Cabinets” in the world. I love the aesthetic of encased organized chaos.

I’d like to create some mini cabinets of curiosities to give away. They would make stellar gifts for about .00125% of the population.
Google Image Odyssey: “Science Magic”

July 9th, 2008

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.
Google Image Odyssey: Jello Dreams

June 23rd, 2008

I love google image searches more than I can possibly explain. I often entertain myself by typing a random combination of words and seeing what comes up. Today: “Jello Dreams.” Here are some highlights:

I wish all of my dreams looked like this…

Perfect at parties!

And my favorite: