Icy Beet Cake

*click* for entire cake
Panda Tai-Shan gets a cake for turning 4.

recipe:

shredded beets & beet juice, frozen.
add an apple, plus
bamboo shoots and leaves (ha!)

''Zoo nutritionists spent two weeks designing the one of a kind icy birthday treat .''

Two weeks and still he gets -cold beets-?
Lucky they didn't spend a month - the poor guy would've gotten a green turnip pie with a school-paste crust.

btw, At 4, Tai-Shan is now a "teen bear".


link: 10 pics of his b-day

Sandy Pants

...in a 'sculpt like a pirate' fest.

''Yo ho ho and a bottle of sand-glluuuue''
The 11th annual (world's largest) Sand Castle Festival is underway in Belgium this week. Weirdly, even though its in a seaside town, the event appears to be held indoors.


And this year's theme is pirates, so for inspiration the sculptors spent an entire day watching pirate films.


link: more pics via WCBS.

p.s... includes a sculpture of Michael Jackson(?)

Paperopolis

An 8 foot city made entirely of glue & paper.

Wataru Ito has spent four years crafting an incredible model city from paper - but now plans to burn it down. "When the exhibition is over I will burn the castle. I thought I could see it rising up from the ashes if I took a video and played it backwards."

Then he can call it 'iPhoenix', or 'XineohP'?

I hope he posts the video.


link: 11 photo slideshow

Mini Chainsaw Massacre

`
...what every office needs.



Watch a woman cut down the plant in her office!

But once we chop our office trees down, can we count on these guys (you know they're guys) to then invent a USB mini-wood-chipper? Or will we have to let the bits lay on the office carpet until they turn into mulch naturally?

p.s.
Does this fit somehow w/ yesterday's post re: tall trees?

p.p.s.
Real or no, here's the site: USB Chainsaw

Tall Trees Anyone?

This ad popped up yesterday:


Brings whole new meaning to 'tree huggers'...

just knew I'd find it on yourubes

more for shaving enthusiasts: chest, back,
hard way: guy shaves back w/ golf club.
not least: humor vid set to song 'short dick man'

Kingsize of Pop

Recently released photo of MJ's bedroom.
*click* to see close-up of the painting
Don't know what I expected he'd have over his bed...

MJ's 'apostles': Lincoln, JFK, Edison, Einstein (MJ) Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis, Little Richard. (He commissioned the painting from an artist that did others in his house) Why this eight?

Just can't wrap my head around it; how odd.

{article} Among the videos left piled high in Jackson’s cramped bedroom were documentaries on Bruce Lee and Adolf Hitler, a tv series, American Juniors, (teen talent show) and two self-help parenting videos.

Hopefully he bequeathed that last pair to his relatives.


orig link: more of MJ's house
link: more 'Last Suppers', just to compare

One last thing - who would be your apostles?

Land of the Rising Scooter

Yes, there's a little scooter under there...
...somewhere. *click* image to see underneath

{article} 'These Japanese junior hotrods look like big cruiser motorbikes, but are often nothing more than Yamaha Majesty or Honda Fusion scooters with various aesthetic and vaguely functional bits thrown on...'

Love the fact that they're 'low-riders'...
Japan must also be the Land of No Potholes.

link: with a few more

Elephant Buns

... race human 'hot dogs' to the finish.

3 human eating-champs: a pie guy, a hash guy, and a cranberry sauce(?) gal went all out ('all in?') in a hotdog bun contest.
They were smoked by 3 pack-it-in-derms. { article}

The elephants ate 505 hot dog buns in 6 min
The humans? Only 143 buns. Slackers.

''...elephants Bunny, Susie and Minnie - all in their 40s - ate at what appeared to be a leisurely pace from behind a table piled high with buns. They even paused to eat some bananas... 'which did not count towards scoring'

What really made me LOL? These are the same chowhound elephants that went on the lam in Toronto in search of snacks. Bunny & Susie's previous eating excursion took them to a grassy area and someone's front yard, leaving a trail of poo that was probably easy to follow... When the handlers were asked how to corral the escaped beasts?... they simply said 'Call them'. Sure enough, they came when called.

Wish I could get my old dog to do that.

The Eyes Have It

...and its kinda creepy.



But 15 - to - zero?... means it did its job.

Stoned Chefs

Notice something odd about the (from top)
pork belly, raw pork, crab bits, fried fish,



and oysters?...
At an expo in Ningbo this week there were 108 dishes on display, all made out of carved stone.
(Click images to see full tables)

Reminds me of that SNL skit where Kristin Wiig et al were eating 'Quarry' breakfast cereal...
'Its not grown - its mined!'
(couldn't find a video link to it, sorry!)

Piscatory Props

This piece is called 'Sushi Bar'...

*click* for a larger image

And this one is 'Modern Times'

No idea what this one is called...


Yes, those are real fishy fishes.

artist quote:

“My brother and I played with them like dolls. I loved to have a sardine or a mackerel in my pocket.”

Then artist, Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard, took a course of instruction in documentary photography in 1997, and she's been doing these ever since.

And her mother does the costumes.


via: Life in the Fast Lane

Art and the City

... with Bravo and SJParker.

(But hopefully Dr. Suess will reclaim that hat
... butterflies & an acorn cap, seriously?)

Just when you think we're running out of reality... the LA Times art blog reveals: "Bravo and Sarah Jessica Parker are launching an art-themed reality tv series", produced by SJP's co 'Pretty Matches' & the group that did 'Top Chef'.

The show (unnamed as yet) will have 13 contestants competing for a gallery exhibition, a cash prize and a sponsored national museum tour. The artists will create works in the fields of sculpture, painting, photography, industrial design, 'and more'. (Gee, does this format seem familiar?...)

For those brave and artsy types...
the open casting calls:

Los Angeles
10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 11-12
LA}{ART
www.laxart.org

Miami
10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 14
Fredric Snitzer Gallery
www.Snitzer.com

Chicago
10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 16
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Sullivan Galleries, 33 State St.
www.saic.edu


New York
10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 18-19
White Columns
www.whitecolumns.org

Not a lot of time to prepare, eh?
Good Luck!