Monday, March 11, 2013

5 MOST AMAZING EXOTIC BIRDS

 A truly magnificent sight, the Golden or Chinese Pheasant is another type of bird that catches the eye with a wonderful display of color. These are gamebirds, native to western China, although they have been bred in other countries like the UK, and are unmistakably lovely with a golden crest, rump and bright red body. When showing off to attract a mate, the male spreads his deep orange 'cape,' which looks just like a black and orange fan covering everything except the bright yellow eye. It is native to forests in mountainous areas of western China, but feral populations have been established in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.




 The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly colored bill. Also known as the Common Puffin, it is the only puffin species which is found in the Atlantic Ocean. The curious appearance of the bird, with its large colorful bill and its striking piebald plumage, has given rise to nicknames such as '"clown of the ocean" and "sea rooster." The Atlantic Puffin is the provincial bird for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.




 The Hoopoe, a colorful bird that is found across Afro-Eurasia, is notable for its distinctive 'crown' of feathers. It is the only extant species in the family Upupidae. One insular species, the Giant Hoopoe of Saint Helena, is extinct, and the Madagascar subspecies of the Hoopoe is sometimes elevated to a full species. Like the Latin name upupa, the English name is an onomatopoetic form which imitates the cry of the bird.




 The Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum) is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. It inhabits the dry African savannah south of the Sahara, although it nests in somewhat wetter habitats. They can also be found in marshes, cultivated areas and grassy flatlands near rivers and lakes from eastern Uganda and Kenya to South Africa. This animal does not migrate. There are two subspecies. The East African B. r. gibbericeps (Crested Crane) can be found from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda, where it is the national bird, and from Kenya to eastern South Africa. It has a larger area of bare red facial skin above the white patch than the smaller nominate species, B. r. regulorum (South African Crowned Crane), which breeds from Angola down to South Africa.




Peacocks are large, colorful pheasants (typically blue and green) known for their iridescent tails. These tail feathers, or coverts, spread out in a distinctive train that is more than 60 percent of the bird's total body length and boast colorful "eye" markings of blue, gold, red, and other hues. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches across the bird's back and touches the ground on either side. Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.


5 MOST UNUSUAL PLACES FOR A BIRD'S NEST


 Redditor gorbok writes that a friend of his found this on his car after he had left it in a parking lot for six days. What did he do with the bird and her eggs? The nice man decided to leave the car parked until the eggs hatch.



 Birds' nest on some traffic lights.




 A family of birds made a nest in a public ashtray in Wales. Though it's not the best place for young birds to start their life, some people took care of the improvised nest and left warnings for the smokers.



 Nest inside old shoes.


A mother thrush laid five eggs in the engine of a hired minibus at Claro Barracks, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. The Army had been renting the vehicle for 30 pounds a day and have to wait for the birds to fly the coop before they can return it; it has cost them about £1,000 so far.

5 MOST AMAZING 3D BODY PAINTINGS

 What's that? You always wanted a third eye? One or two in the back of the head would be super useful, but would you settle for one in place of your mouth? Probably not. Although, with this creative and creepy lip makeup by Swedish makeup enthusiast Sandra Holmbom, one could at least test it out. The illusory look for lips mimics an eye, allowing it to chomp away on whatever it is that you're eating. Thanks to the artist's intricately designed iris and delicately applied eyelashes, a slight part in the mouth adds to the mind-boggling effect that inspires a double-take and some fright in small children.



 Check out the hyper-realistic body art of Chooo-San. Using acrylic paint, 19-year old Japanese student and artist Chooo-San has transformed the bodies of herself and a handful of lucky volunteers into ones that appear to be from another planet. Bored with technology, she wanted to see how far she could go with creating eye-catching illusions in the real world, rather than relying on programs like Photoshop




 Camouflage body art.


 More of Choo San's work. What started as a way to procrastinate before her university exams (Chooo-San would start drawing eyes and other objects on her hands) has turned into very characteristic and viral drawings.



Alexa Meade is an artist who has developed a unique method for her paintings. From the initial image above it looks like your run-of-the-mill style of painting. Only when you understand what her technique is can you really appreciate her talent. She takes real people and applies acrylic paint to them in order to create 3D-2D scenes. While body painting is by no means new, what makes Alexa's work outstanding is how these scenes truly mimic a 2D portrait painting done in an expressive style


Friday, March 8, 2013

5 MOST CREATIVE WALL OUTLETS AND COVERS

 Here's a cool little project one Japanese man created to tastefully hide the power outlets in his home. It's a little sliding door made out of wood. Good idea for those rarely used outlets. He made a few different styles like the center-opening Shoji screen style and the single sliding solid door version above.



 Mouse hole outlet cover.



 These creative wall stickers are good to give a humorous look around the wall sockets. Designed by artist Adrien Gardère, these stickers give different impressions to regular sockets and make them more amusing.


 Those modernist lines and homogeneous planes that designers and critics rant and rave about were once considered bleak, boring and oversimplified by the design community. That same tendency, however, to celebrate function and use it to drive form is readily apparent in this creative wall of sockets – a way of wallpapering that gives greater control to users and reveals what we usually hide. 


Gangnam Style Power Outlet.


Thursday, March 7, 2013

5 MOST COOLEST CAMPING TENTS




 Curl up with a good book and enjoy the ... outdoors with this cleverly printed Fully Booked tent by Jack Maxwell



 Anybody trying these outdoor gadgets might want to bring a pair of curtains. Although they look and feel more like giant goldfish bowls, these latest inventions are actually totally see-through inflatable tents. With incredible panoramic views of the surrounding countryside, the bizarre transparent structures are designed to get people as close to nature as possible. However, they are far from the traditional camping trip – decked out with wardrobes, shelves and electric lights, the bubbles look more like a movable hotel room than a regular tent. Launched in 2010, the structures can be hired out at sites across France for around $543 pounds a night.



 This might be the closest we'll get to owning a Dharma van. The big problem is that you can't drive it, and that's because it's a tent. Coolest. Tent. Ever. The scale replica of the original 1965 VW Type 2 Campervan has now been licensed by Volkswagen for the first time. It's available in yellow, red or blue, and is certain to stand out from all other tents. It's large enough to stand up in, and contains two zip-separated double-size rooms, each one sleeping 2 people.


 Cut slices of fresh bread and butter. Layer on cheese, tomato, cucumber, lettuce and mayonnaise. Then carefully add in two fun, outgoing people. The Earl of Sandwich would most definitely approve.




The designers at FieldCandy think that tents should be more than functional. They should be funny, too! The firm offers dozens of different designs, including this one called "Get a Room!"

5 MOST COOLEST AQUARIUMS

Dance floor Aquarium

 There are many bars around the world that are built around an aquarium, but not so many where the dance floor is a giant fish tank. In Austin, Texas, this cocktail lounge is called QUA Bottle Lounge. The dance floor is filled with sharks.




Bathroom Sink Aquarium

 There is something calming about watching tropical fish swimming, and the tank is a great focal piece. You usually see the tank in living and family rooms, but what about the bathroom? Intalbrass' Moody Aquarium Sink will liven up boring routines like washing hands and brushing teeth.



Nike Aquarium

The W+K Tokyo Lab is known for their out-of-the-box thinking and progressive campaigns, so it comes as no surprise that they reworked the classic Nike sneaker into a fish tank. Complete with three gold fish and a faux tree, the shoes feature a fully visible water unit sole and were crafted for the Nike 78 project. The Nike 78 project set out to pay respect to the Swoosh Company by crafting their sneaker models into other works of art as a nod to Nike's innovation.




Frozen Aquarium

This is a very cool aquarium. So cool, in fact, that it's frozen! This crazy tourist attraction is a frozen aquarium located at Kesennnuma Port in northern Japan.

Octopus, crab and other fish are flash frozen and displayed in large, clear blocks of ice. Aquarium-goers can observe over 450 marine specimens contained in about 50 ice cubes at the aquarium, where room temperature is kept at a very chilly negative 20 degrees Celsius.




World's Smallest Aquarium

This is the world's smallest working aquarium, which holds just two tea spoons of water. The miniature wonder, which is made of glass and measures just 30 mm. wide by 24 mm. high and 14 mm. deep, can be held in the palm of your hand. It is so small there is only room for these tiny zebra fish.

5 STRANGEST BRACELETS

 This bracelet is a little shocker for your wrist that will definitely attract much attention, and not only on Halloween.



A fashion statement for the metric lovers out there! A seriously hip bracelet made out of high grade stainless steel. Metric measurements are etched on the outside while an English ruler is cleverly hidden on the inside.




 It may be a little odd to be wearing a skeleton's hand around as a bracelet. Maybe you like it because it is morbid or maybe you like it because it makes you feel needed. Either way it is just plain weird.




This cuff is made with polymer clay and painted with acrylics. It has the face of a weird human-frog hybrid looking thing with a set of plaque-covered chompers.


It's a modular bangle meant for displaying your favorite insects. There are air-holes so they can remain living while you wear them! 

5 MOST EXTREME CULTURAL BODY MODIFICATIONS


It is impossible to say who the first people were with stretched ears, or why they did it. Today, many cultures (including our own!) practice the art of ear stretching for many different reasons. Religion, coming of age ceremonies, warding off evil, sexual enhancement and physical beauty are common motivations. However, that just barely scratches the surface as there are many other reasons, as well. People all over the world still practice ear stretching. From the Masai tribes in Kenya to the Huaorani tribe in the Amazon Basin, stretched ears are still a common sight. It is a fascinating testament of human culture that a Western youth can walk into a piercing shop to select stretched ear jewelry while a Hmong youth in Thailand selects from an array of silver tubes.



The lip plate, also known as a lip plug or lip disc, is a form of body modification. Increasingly larger discs (usually circular, made from clay or wood) are inserted into a pierced hole in either the upper or lower lip, or both, thereby stretching it. Archaeological evidence indicates that labrets have been independently invented no fewer than six times, in Sudan and Ethiopia (8700 BC), Mesoamerica (1500 BC), and Coastal Ecuador (500 BC). Today, the custom is maintained by a few groups in Africa and Amazonia.

In Africa, a lower lip plate is usually combined with the excision of the two lower front teeth, and sometimes all four. Among the Sara people and Lobi a plate is also inserted into the upper lip. Other tribes, such as the Makonde, used to wear a plate in the upper lip only. In many older sources it is reported that the plate's size is a sign of social or economical importance in some tribes. However, because of natural mechanical attributes of human skin, it seems that the plate's size often just depends on the stage of stretching the lip and the wishes of the wearer.



For some people, this would be totally extreme, but for local Thais, this is completely normal. They ignore the pain because this ritual is a rite of passage to adulthood. This is an annual ritual performed in public to announce to the whole world that they have become adults.

The vegetarian festival in Phuket sees a great deal ofdevotional activities in the Chinese communities. Trance and heavy piercing are part of the tradition. This festival is held on the Southern Thai island of Phuket every year in October. Most impressive are the processions that are held almost every morning during the ten days of the festival. The processions feature devotees of the different city shrines which act as "mediums" for the Chinese Gods. Some of the mediums put sharp objects (mostly metal objects) through their cheeks as an act of devotion for themselves and for the whole community. Other rituals that are performed include walking barefoot over hot coals and ascending ladders with bladed rungs.

All the mediums act involuntarily while in a trance, which allows them to endure the long piercing sessions. Although the wounds are said to be healed completely after the service, scars accumulate on their faces year after year.




The Kayan women of Northern Thailand are known for the exquisite and incredible brass coils they wear around their necks. They are often called the "long necks" or the "giraffe women" by outsiders and can wear up to 25 coils, which many never take off.

Myth has it that the women will break their necks or be unable to support them if the coils are removed but this is simply not true. Maeneng, above, is the matriarch of her village, and while she is the only one to wear 25 coils, she often helps adjust and repair the coils of other women.

Children are often given their first set of coils at age 5. This consists of a set weighing about 4 1/2 pounds, then new rings are slowly added. In actuality, the Kayan women do not have their necks elongated; instead, it works in the other direction. As the weight of the coils press down, the clavicle is lowered, and with each addition to the neck rings it falls further, compressing the rib cage as well. The shoulders finally fall away to give the appearance of an elongated neck.



Most Dinka boys and girls don't cry when the local sorcerer takes a red-hot knife to their dark faces. If they wince or cry or react to the pain they will lose face in the community, so it's best to sit through the process in peace. Facial scarification is practiced throughout Sudan, and various marks across the faces of tribesmen give identity to the tribe and beauty to its women.

Men of the Dinka tribe in South Sudan scar their faces with three parallel lines across the forehead in a rugged display of courage to the tribe. Dinka boys receive their scars around adolescence to mark the transition to manhood, when they take the responsibilities of the other men in the nomadic tribe.

5 COOLEST PHOTO YOU WONT BELIEVE ARE NOT PHOTOSHOPPED

Sleeping on Heaven.


(The left-hand side is a mirror, and the right-hand side is clear glass, with another girl standing on the other side).


This definitely looks photoshopped but actually it's a life-size photographic work based on the original building in Paris, printed on canvas, enhanced with bas-relief. It shelters the renovation of an Hausmannian building during the year 2007. The project is named"39GeorgeV" is an urban surrealism manifesto.


Apparently, the model was just jumping!


Adventures of Mr. Fly (although not photoshopped we must tell you the fly is dead).


Tuesday, February 5, 2013