Stephane Halleux’s sculptures feel like retrofuturistic illustrations come to life.
I know these will be a hit with the steampunk crowd (I may have mentioned some of my conflicting feelings about that term before, so it’s not one I use often).
The oddly proportioned vehicles and chairs are splendid…
I have some holiday themed images floating on my desktop right now, but lets have a look at some of the regular (if such a a word can be used in this case) first.
First, a new piece by Camille Rose Garcia, whom I’ve posted about here, here and here.
[Insert split personality joke for the following]
Damn right:
The perils of waiting too long…
I’m not sure if this is how the “birth” of ideas really works.
Artistically rendered territory of taste:
The “Autobeautifier:”
And for those who prefer to practice beauty techniques with their own hands…
A couple for the pessimists…
This image is actually a giant sea monster projectile vomiting thousands of human bodies. Whoa, indeed.
We’ll finish off with some beautiful projectile vomit by TYPOE
Sweet, decaying irony…
Did you ever have one of those days when you feel like the whole universe if flipping you off?
Let this remind us…STRESS: it’s never too early to start (or perhaps this is a label, referring to the role of the child in the family unit).
Rock(in’ knit) Lobster:
Long hair and bones…I relate (by Jessica Ward).
All heads must be watered regularly.
In poor taste? Perhaps. But I think it’s pretty funny (especially on those days when shopping seems like a real chore):
Two recent posts from the fabulous Surviving Sophia Walker:
For those who have not yet seen this amazing display:
I actually saw this sign in a doctor’s office. I want this printed on a T-shirt.
“If you are grouchy, irritable or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you.”
Very cool promo art for the band Dead Man’s Bones (love them!):
Retrofuturistic urban planning diagram:
Hmmm…what exactly is a gentleman to do in this scenario?
Over the weekend I got to see a rare Hans Richter film: Dreams That Money Can Buy.
The story involves a man who realizes he can see into the minds of others, and opens a business selling custom made dreams to troubled clients. Each customer encounter is followed by a surreal dream sequence.
My absolute favorite was The Girl With the Prefabricated Heart. I couldn’t find the entire clip without a remade score, but you can get an idea from this. If you enjoy strange dolls, and clever satire of consumerism and manufactured beauty, this is NOT to be missed:
Here is an abridged version with the original soundtrack. Click to hear its scratchy, vintage glory:
Although I adore most dark and unsettling things, I’m not a fan of theatrical haunted houses.
I tend to be put off by the live actors invading my space and relying on the cheap thrills of activating the most base human reflexes. It’s distracting and irritating. All I really want to do is enjoy the scenery, props and artistry of the whole thing. Really, get out of my face and don’t jump out at me…it just ruins the experience.
Here’s a novel idea for a haunted house that does use some of the aforementioned scare tactics, but has a different spin:
In this truly immersive experience, audience members are thrust into a beautiful and terrifying dreamscape of neo-Victorian elegance and phantasmagoric clockwork horrors. Once inside, audience members are separated, until one by one, they find themselves alone, lost somewhere within the three sprawling floors of Abrons’ majestic century-old playhouse. From there, they must choose where to go, exploring innumerable twisting hallways, looming balconies, and labyrinthine cellars. All the while, a whirlwind of mechanical apparitions, wraithlike sleepwalkers, and gear-powered beasts hurtle through corridors and lurk behind every corner and within every room.
Trailer:
Honestly, what I’d like to see more than anything else is a collection of still frames. I’m sure it’s a feast for the senses in there.
If anyone in NY goes, please tell me about your experience!
What a brilliant old ad campaign for the Sci-Fi Channel (before it became SyFy):
Yes indeed, monsters and aliens…humans can be frightening and cringe-worthy, can’t they?
I’m currently swooning over Datamancer’s Alchemist Keyboard.
The side lighting is wired into the scroll lock LED and turns on with a press of the scroll lock key. It is a USB keyboard, but because the lighting is hooked into the scroll lock function, this keyboard is designed for a PC, not a Mac. The function keys display the elemental symbols of the various metals used in the construction of the keyboard, as well as a few others. The tilde and number keys display the symbols for the sun, moon and the planets. The symbols for Earth, Air, Fire and Water are found on the arrow keys and the number pad uses stylized Roman numerals. The Enter and Shift keys are labeled with the symbols for Alchemical processes like mixing, stirring, combining, etc.
Datamancer is simply brilliant.
Tokyo DisneySea has opened up an attraction based on Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. The scenery is outstanding!
Riders travel through mysterious caverns to the Earth’s core as scientists aboard vehicles designed by Captain Nemo. After traveling through Nemo’s labs inside Mt. Prometheus, guests board “Terravators” to the facility’s base station one half mile below. In the base station is a communications center which is currently giving warnings of increased volcanic activity, but the scientist who mans it is currently away on a tea break. The riders then board steam-powered mine vehicles that travel through pre-drilled tunnels into the heart of the Earth.
I must say, I do love most things “steampunk” despite not being an intricately costumed member of the subculture.
I believe the plaque on the bottom of of this sign indicates a Coca Cola sponsorship (I remember seeing pictures of it in English)…kind of ruins the romance of the statement, so I’m glad it’s in Japanese here. I wouldn’t mind hanging this sign in my library.
See more pictures on Voyages Extraordinaires.
SheWalksSoftly 