Boston-based artist Jake Fried creates mind-blowing short animated films. What’s really impressive is that Fried’s surreal creations are built of layers of coffee, white-out, crayon and ink. My favorite film is the award-winning “Deep End” . You’ll want to view it more then once and then visit Fried’s website to see more of his magical “moving paintings”.
Liverpool, England has the John Lennon International Airport and now Birmingham is seriously considering a proposal to rename Birmingham Airport after the inimitable Ozzy Osbourne. This unlikely idea for the “Ozzy Osbourne International Airport” comes from Jim Thompson, the director of Big Bear Records and the man who “discovered” Black Sabbath.
This seemingly farfetched plan actually fits quite well with the city’s destination Birmingham tourism campaign that hopes to increase visits by music fans. Stranger things have happened with airport renaming. After all, Washington D.C. rebranded its airport after another notorious fiend.
For You The Traveller: A Human Guide To The World is a unique hand-bound travel guidebook. In fact, it’s more like a directory of bighearted folks who will act as ports-of-call to travelers passing through their country and bearing the guidebook. These hosts are scattered across the world from Europe to South America to Africa and beyond. They live in cities and rural areas alike. They are metalworkers, scientists, builders, farmers, ecologists, urban designers, musicians, shipwrights, leatherworkers, political analysts and many other things. Some are old, others are young. What they have in common is that they are interested in meeting travelers. If you share yourself with them, they will share their shelter, philosophy, and homes with you.
For You The Traveller provides host’s names, stories, telephone numbers and hand-drawn maps to help you on your way. The book is currently available only in a strictly limited edition of 200. Each edition has been printed on recycled paper, hand-bound in oak and covered in recycled rabbit fur. For You The Traveller is the first book by artist Nabil Sabio Azadi. All profits from sale will be donated to Nouvelle Planète to fund the construction of five footbridges in the rural villages near Ambano, Madagascar. These footbridges will provide the villagers with safe passage to nearby townships in all weather conditions, allowing them to earn a living and send their children to school regularly.
If you’re curious, check out Azadi’s website here.
Based on reddit posts, the ever clever folks at Buzz Feed have compiled this hilarious set of quintessentially British “problems”. If you’ve ever spent time in the UK, these images will resonate for you. If not, just have a laugh. I have to admit that during my early visits to Britain the sentiments expressed in the final graphic went right over my head, but I can recognize an insulting toff most of the time now.
Ian Strange (aka kid zoom) is an Australian-born, New York City-based street artist who has been “disrupting” advertising displays in major cities around the world since 2007. Specializing in bus shelter advertising, Kid Zoom uses his insightful aerosol interventions to skewer big corporations by improving on their expensive advertising campaigns.
Colin Grey is a New Yorker who is now based in Britain. His Youtube channel is a treasure-trove of information on politics, geography, history and science. Quite a while back, we posted one of his clever videos on London. But this video explaining the complex linguistic distinctions that surround the country we know as the Netherlands is his best yet.
For a few years, satellite radio listeners were treated to the wonderful, eclectic Theme Time Radio Hour hosted by the one and only Bob Dylan. One year he shared an amusing “Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions” list. Now, thanks to the YouTube, we can enjoy Bob’s quirky list each and every New Year. Have a listen:
Voyage is a simple, but appealing project created by partners in the design firm Aether & Hemera of Newcastle at London’s trendy Canary Wharf. Artists Gloria Ronchi and claudio Benghi launched a vivid, tiny fleet of 300 polypropylene boats illuminated by colorful LED lights.
The creators hope that their vision will “provoke memories, explore aesthetics, and elicit feelings of connective human experience.”
h/t to reader Evan Smythe — images ©Sean Batten & Ian Docwra
The installation will be in place until February 15, 2013.
On December 20th, the Pew Research Center‘s Internet & American Life Project released a thought provoking study of “Reading habits in Different Communities” in the United States.
It appears that only 78% of Americans ages 16 and older report reading a book in the past 12 months. While urban and suburban dwellers report that 80% have read a book, only 71% of residents in rural areas have done so.
At least the survey shows that 58% of U.S. adults still have a library card, although that figure drops to 48% in rural areas.
This excellent infographic sums up the findings quite well and you can read the entire report at the Pew website here.
Anyone who uses public transit, especially subway systems, knows that artfully designed and decorated stations make travel less tedious, and even enjoyable. Metronapoli, in Naples Italy, has taken this notion very seriously and has initiated a long-term project called “Art Stations” to make public transit stations more attractive and to give riders the opportunity to experience contemporary art.
So far, there are thirteen “Art Stations” in Naples with original art work and designs by ninety international artists. Each station is the province of an individual architectural firm, with a discrete sensibility and aesthetic.
You can see images from all thirteen stations at the Metronapoli website.
