Ho Tsz Lam | Twins

From the creator:

A pair of twin sisters, each possesses one of two identical teddy bears. One day, one of the elder sister hugs the younger sister before heading off along a small path in front of the house with her teddy bear. The younger sister decides to bring her own teddy bear back to her sister’s – so that the two bears can reunite. In the end, although the younger sister is still alone, she at least gets the pair of teddy bears accompany each other. The moment she sees the two teddy bears embracing, she knows she has grown up.

Ho Tsz Lam via Kuriositas

Tickle Me Rob

Toronto budget chief Frank Di Giorgio Mayor was aghast upon learning

this photo of him with Rob Ford went viral.

Source

Well, it made me laugh.

Rino Stefano Tagliafierro | Beauty

Animator and filmmaker Rino Stefano Tagliafierro has always found the intensity of the emotions he encounters through classical paintings unmatched by other artforms. And when he sat down to craft his latest short film, Beauty, he sought to convey the emotional impact of that artwork on him to an audience who might not be otherwise moved.

"The idea of Beauty is born from the desire to (convey) the main emotions that every person encounters throughout his life path," says Tagliafierro. "Classical art has always attracted my most intense emotions, so I decided to (let it) represent them."

The resulting project, Beauty, is a tour through the human life cycle--from birth to death--that draws on those classical paintings to tell that story in an absorbing way. By adding subtle animation to the artworks he chose, Tagliafierro actively depicts the motion that's only ever implied in the original pieces. The result is a stunning, haunting series of moving images that makes the work feel alive in different--often surreal--ways.

Hypnotic. Disturbing. Gorgeous.

More at Fast Company

Reddit | Glitch In The Matrix

Everyone has had an odd experience or two or three. A Glitch in the Matrix is a reddit site that collects stories about anomalous experiences. Named after the deja vu scene in the first Matrix movie, a glitch, also known as a Fortean phenomenon (Forteana), is an occurrence that seems to bend reality and defy the laws of physics.

3-D Print Your Fetus

From the 3-D Babies site:

Your pregnancy with this child is a once in a lifetime experience. Recall those feelings with your own 3D Baby.

At 3D Babies, we create an adorable baby figurine resembling your baby's facial features and body position.  We use your 3D/4D ultrasound images or newborn baby pictures to create a unique artistic representation of your baby using the latest computer graphics and 3D printing technology.  This is a great way to share the excitement of your new baby with family and friends.  Your 3D Baby will be a treasured family remembrance of your pregnancy and new baby.

Only $600.

Link via FastCoDesign

David Thorne | Dear Neighbour

Click image to enlarge

Read the entire exchange between Mr. Thorne and his neighbor Justin at 27b/6.

BOLO Dorothy Gale

Rick Polito | Source | Via FB

MLK Day 2014

Introvert

Roz Chast in the New Yorker | Via FB

Hide And Seek

More at Pleated Jeans

Snow Day

YouTube

This is how Ms. Lanny-yap feels this morning! There's really not much snow and the forecast calls for sun later in the day, but it's enough to close down the schools and most workplaces here in Baltimore.

Teamwork

Thanks, Lynne

New Year 2014 | We Are Not Amused

Source

Angry Woman Stabs Man With Ceramic Squirrrel

South Carolina authorities say a 44-year-old woman angry at a man for returning home without beer on Christmas beat and stabbed him with a ceramic squirrel. 

The Charleston County Sheriff's office says in a report that deputies found a man covered with blood when they arrived at Helen Williams' North Charleston home early Wednesday. She told investigators the man fell and cut himself, but couldn't explain why her hands and clothes were also bloody. Deputies say the man said Williams was so angry when he returned without beer because stores were closed on Christmas Eve that she grabbed a ceramic squirrel, beat him in the head, then stabbed him in the shoulder and chest. 

Williams was in jail Friday and charged with criminal domestic violence. It wasn't known if she had a lawyer.

HuffPo

David Sedaris | SantaLand Diaries

YouTube

Merry Christmas from Ms. Lanny-yap with many thanks to Mr. Sedaris and This American Life. 

See Who Shares Your Birthday

Click image to enlarge

Via FB

SNL | [Do It On My] Twin Bed

YouTube

From the Saturday 21 December 2013 show.

Sarah Schoenfeld | All You Can Feel

Caffeine

Ecstasy

Heroin

Speed

Ketamine

Whether you’ve tried mind-altering substances or not one thing remains true: we all have an idea of what a drug feels like, be it imagined, anecdotal, or from direct exposure. So what might the effect of a drug look like? That was the question asked by artist Sarah Schoenfeld who had ample exposure to the realities of drugs while working in a Berlin nightclub. To answer the question she converted her photography studio into a laboratory and exposed legal and illegal liquid drug mixtures to film negatives. The resulting chemical reactions were then greatly magnified into large prints to form a body of work titled All You Can Feel.

These final, otherworldly images of heroin, cocaine, MDMA, and other substances explore a relationship between photography, alchemy, pharmacy and psychology. One can’t help but draw parallels between Schoenfeld’s photos and the perceived effects of various narcotics ...

All You Can Feel | Colossal

An Engineer's Guide To Cats 2.0

YouTube

Two professional engineers update an earlier video tutorial about cats. This is a sequel to the original video "An Engineer's Guide to Cats" released in 2008.

Paul Klusman's Channel

Arson Is A Christmas Tradition In Gavle, Sweden

Before

After

Each year, a towering Yule Goat is constructed for the holidays in Gävle, Sweden. But more often than not, the Gävle Goat — or Gävlebocken as it is called in Sweden — doesn't make it to Christmas. Since it was first built in 1966, it's almost annually been burned, although arson isn't its only misfortune.

Here's a timeline of the rise and fall of the Gävle Goat by Atlas Obscura's graphic designer Michelle Enemark

Follow the destruction by clicking on the image or click on the link for an interactive graphic

Atlas Obscura

Thanks to Mr. Lanny-yap

Merry Anti-Christmas | Rare Exports

YouTube

The Santa Claus/Krampus origin story crossed with "The Thing." My new anti-Christmas favorite.

Alvise Avati | Beans

YouTube | io9

For tomB

Anti-Barbie | Feral Cheryl

Here she is, the anti-Barbie, fresh from the rainforests of Northern New South Wales, Australia. This 34 cm vinyl doll runs barefoot, dreadlocks her hair with coloured braids and beads, wears simple rainbow clothes, has piercings and a range of tattoos, and even a bit of natural body hair.

Feral Cheryl is modelled on the green extremists, known as ‘ferals’ from Australia. In contrast to the ‘fashion doll’ mentality, Feral Cheryl does not have an extensive wardrobe, or high heels, or swimsuit, or gym gear, or wedding dress or cheerleader outfit. She needs no sports car or hairdressing salon, no disco stage or shopping mall. Her motto is "Live Simply, Run Wild". Her only accessories: a bag of home grown herbs*, a sense of humour and a social conscience.

Each Feral Cheryl doll is individually crafted with a variety of coloured beads, bindis and a range of tattoos, so there are no two exactly the same.

More at Meet Feral Cheryl

Mr. Carson Has A Christmas Message For You

YouTube | Gawker

A dirty, bedraggled and beaten down Santa Claus — played by everyone’s favorite butler, Jim Carter of Downton Abbey fame — announces the end of Christmas due to global warming and oil drilling in the Arctic.

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

Source

Silverstein | The Thinker Of Tender Thoughts

Click image to enlarge | Source

New Model Uses "Effective Distance" To Show How Contagions Spread

YouTube | Laughing Squid

[This video] shows how a hypothetical epidemic spreads from Atlanta to the rest of the world via the global air transportation network. It is based on the research of Dirk Brockmann and his fellow researchers at Humboldt University in Berlin, who have developed a new model for understanding the spread of contagions that is based on “effective distance.” In the simulation, the disease spreads rapidly to airports connected to Atlanta. So from an effective distance standpoint, Paris might be closer than a remote town in Montana (when geographically the opposite is true.)

Your Elf Name Is ...

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh | Stop Telling Women To Smile

For many women, just walking down the street can mean being subject to harassment by men—from subtle comments to overtly hostile remarks. Back in 2012, fed up with such treatment, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, an oil painter by trade, decided to speak out: She produced an illustrated self-portrait with a caption—"Stop Telling Women To Smile"—and plastered copies all around her Brooklyn neighborhood. Since then, Fazlalizadeh has created countless posters, literally taking to the street to combat sexist harassment. Each piece features a different woman, with a caption that reflects her own experiences with public harassment. With $35,000 raised on Kickstarter, Fazlalizadeh has now taken her project, named after that first caption, on the road. In January, after traveling to Chicago and Boston to interview women there about how they experience public space, she'll be heading to the West Coast.

Read more at Mother Jones

Thanks, Ellen

Happy Thanksgiving

Source