Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Monsters in Mid-1870s Japanese News Prints.

'For a brief period in the mid-1870s, artistic woodblock prints known as "newspaper nishiki-e" were a popular form of mass entertainment in Japan. These colorful prints fed the public's enormous appetite for sensationalism by retelling shocking stories culled from the major newspapers of the day. The Meiji government swiftly cracked down on the publishers of these "unofficial" sources of information, causing them to disappear as quickly as they had appeared, but not before hundreds of issues had been published and circulated around Japan. While newspaper nishiki-e most often retold stories of scandalous or heinous crimes, they occasionally presented accounts of monsters, ghosts and mysterious happenings, such as the ones included here. '

Vintage California Sardine Can Labels.

50 Beautiful Movie Posters.

Wooden Wall-E Sculpture.

Poetry for Primates.

'... But research at the Great Ape Trust using the sign language Yerkish reveals the primates are capable of far more linguistic sophistication. Primate Poetics sets out a manifesto to enrich this new language, starting, ambitiously, with a translation of the epic Gilgamesh...'

Grace Chang.

'In the 1960s and 1970s Hong Kong had a thriving film industry, dominated by studios such as Cathay Studios. One of Cathay's most fabulous stars was Grace Chang (Ge Lan), referred to by some as the Marlene Dietrich of Hong Kong Chinese cinema. Her greatest hit was The Wild Wild Rose (Ye mei gui zhi lian), based on Bizet's Carmen. The showstopper is her version of Habanera (YT). '

Tourists as Subjects.

'When traveling, do you wait for fellow tourists to get out of the way before taking a picture? Why? If you're trying to communicate the experience of being in a place, aren't those mobs of tourists part of the experience? The more despoiled by tourism a place has become, the more important it is to capture a big tour group clogging a passageway. '

First Day of School.


'Welcome to Newarkology, a page dedicated to the exploration of New Jersey's greatest city. From Woodside to Weequahic and from Ivy Hill to the Ironbound, come see what a fascinating place Newark is. Click on sections of the map below to be taken on a tour of any city ward you want.'

American Civil War Trading Cards.

Amy Stein Photography | Domesticated.

Humans and animals juxtaposed.


Small Gallery of Francis Bacon's Paintings.

Astro Pics.

Moons, Rings, and Unexpected Colors on Saturn.

The Crown of the Sun.

M110: Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Querying the Hive Mind.

'What are a few significant things you wish you did when you were younger that you believe would have helped better preserve your mental and physical health? What are a few significant things you did do in the past that you now see paying dividends?'


'I've had this unbearable pastoral fantasy for a few years now where all I want to do all day is make pretty things in the comfort of my own home, at my own pace, and have plenty of time and natural space to roam around in rather than work. How do I deal with this? '

'Recommend me some great examples of magical realism, please! Books, movies, whatever.'


'How do you learn to choose others when you've always let others choose you?'


'What do I need to know before buying a white dress shirt? '

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