A(n Unidentified) Giant Trunk

A GIANT TRUNK
Image from The World at Home, by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby, published by T. Nelson and Sons, London, 1888.

In this book written for 'young people' the species of tree isn't identified. We are told it's in a Brazilian jungle and fifteen 'Indians' can only just reach around it.
'A man can easily get lost behind such trees as these.
If he shouted at the pitch of his voice, his companions could not hear him ; and he might wander about till he died.'
Indeed he might although it's a somewhat non-specific and morbid thought for a kid's book!
[edited 17/8/8]
I expect some artistic license was taken with this illustration so I did a bit of research to see which trees could be the likely suspects. A species of the evergreen, Podocarpus possibly Capitulatis, Nemoralis, or Pratensis may be this tree. Images and descriptions at this site seem consistent with the illustration.

Vintage Cute Overload

Not accepted to the official CO site but meh.

Vintage LOLrus

Vintage LOLrus
digital file
2008

Original image of a walrus hunt from The World at Home, by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby, published by T. Nelson and Sons, London, 1888.

Labyrinth Ball 2008, photos

Last month we attended the Guild of the Golden Owl, annual Labyrinth Masquerade Ball. A huge improvement on last year in just the venue alone which was perfect for such an event. The Regal Ballroom is a gorgeous, classy, heritage ballroom, dressed in gold, cream and red with a soaring ceiling, and obligatory candelabras and crystal chandeliers.




More so than last year, people made quite an effort with their costumes. We hired ours. I was going to wear a huge white wig ala Marie Antoinette - it's something I've wanted to do since seeing the movie with Kirsten Dunst - which is why I went for a very plain mask. However I couldn't get the wig to cooperate with my mask on the night! I wasn't aiming to win the Best Dressed prize* although the wig might have helped get me nominated. I did get plenty of compliments nonetheless which was nice.




Musical chairs this year was bigger. There was no way I was going to play it in that skirt!

My dapper partner had been willing to wear his own snowy, faux, bouffant to match mine and had shaved off his side burns in preparation. I think he looked better without the wig anyway!





There wasn't as much Bowie played or Labyrinth soundtrack, and not all of the music was to my liking. Nonetheless I danced, and my skirt swished about in a bouncy way :)

The crew had put quite an effort together with the decor, staging an art show at the event, getting full colour flyers out. The nibblies were good too. Overall a fine night out I would recommend to anyone who loves the movie/relishes dressing up. I'm already thinking about what I'll do for my outfit next year!

*Thoughts on how to win the Best Dressed Prize at costume event
As someone who has awarded my own party guests with Best Dressed prizes I can tell you that making your own outfit goes a long way.
Attention to detail and a well coordinated outfit from head to toe shows you have put thought and effort into it.
If dressed as a character your cause may be supported by acting like the character.***
For a big event like this one you need to stand out from the crowd so avoid dark colours.
However:
you can accent dark colours with bold colour/sparkly**/furry trims etc;
you can compensate for an all dark outfit by going large.
Big hair/wig, head dress**, skirts, wings***, coat, and mask are some of the ways you can stick out a bit both literally as visually.

**Best Dressed Lady wore mostly black overlaying red with a lovely sequinned head dress featuring red butterflies.
***Best Dressed Gent was a bird. He was flapping about and hugging people :)

My jar of dirt is full of win.

Romping otters!

Fact for the Day
A group of otters is known, appropriately, as a romp.

from the
Website of the Day
Cute Otters

Zoobs Hand @ Socrates

Inspired by the Terminator hand from T2, made from Zoobs @ Socrates, Highpoint Maribyrnong [/plug] ;)

Of squid, snot and kidneys.

C/O The ABC News Feed

Giant Squid's public dissection performed yesterday @ Melbourne's Museum of Victoria

Quote of the day
From an ABC news article about the dissection, with regards to deep sea creatures:
"There's things down there where their entire bodies are made of snot, they've got detachable heads, their teeth fall out, they explode and they eat their snot jackets." Doctor Mark Norman
Cool and yech at the same time!

Headline of the Day
Surgeons pull kidneys out through volunteers' belly-buttons
Best quote from this article
'...a donated kidney must come out intact, "like a rose" ... Dr Gill said.'
My love is like a red red, uh, kidney.

Ghostpatrol - Street Artist

A Stalking Bear
Ghostpatrol
paper door art
At city end of Brunswick Street near Victoria Parade, Melbourne

Ghostpatrol is one of those artists whose work I loved at first sight, and upon seeing more of it love more still. His inspirations include puppetry, children's fairytales, Beatrix Potter, Star Wars, computer games, and characters from pop culture.

You can find his work both in galleries that market to the younger art buyer as well as in the street. His gallery pieces are both 2D drawings and paintings, as well as soft 3D sculptures. His recent works on arrays of pencils are unusual in that the pencils are used as a substrate. Some of his street art is small sticker art, often tucked away and carefully placed in an amusing fashion - a reward for the sharp eyed observer. Others like this brown paper installation, and spray painted murals are considerably bigger. The best areas of Melbourne to keep an eye for his street installations are Fitzroy and the CBD.

Cut Outs

We saw this today and I recommend it. You can also get a cute little button badge from it for free while you're there.

Cut Outs

Curated by Villain
@ Per Square Metre gallery
191-193 Johnston St, Collingwood, Melbourne
Show runs until 8th June

Over 30 artists participate in Villains latest show, CUT OUTS.
Using mediums of wood, metal, cardboard or other substrates and with no limitations,
the artists are free to explore this Cut Out concept.
Villain is taking this one to Per Square Metre gallery.

ADNATE ASH NOLAN ASKEM CLAUDIO MANTUANO DABS DEAM
DREWSTER DVATE GHOSTPATROL ITCH JASON JACENKO JORZZ JUNIOR
KID ZOOM LOUNGE KAT LUKE FELDMAN MEGGS MEPHISTO JONES MISO
MOTHRA MYLA PHIBS POISE PORE REKA SCOTT JANSEN SEAN KELLY
SEAR SEEKAYAM SIDE PROJECT STINK SUBWAY SUDS ZODE

Giant Microbes

Giant Microbes must be the most clever idea ever for plush toys. Not only are they playful and cute, they are educational with a scientific angle. Each one comes with information about the microbe and a picture. Doctors and teachers use them as educational tools. There's nothing else like them and unfortunately you can't get them all over the world. :(

I had not visited their site in a while so I was happy to see they are still going strong and have expanded their range. Now you will find them grouped by type there are that many. You can still get the classic Giant Microbes in the Health group, the Common Cold, The Flu etc. Giardia is a Malady and a favourite of mine. I think it's cool you can buy Scum (Biddulphia)

There has been some artistic license taken, while still maintaining the correct forms and proportions. Most notable, clever and amusing are in no particular order:
Flesh Eating bacteria with embroided knife and fork;
Chicken pox resembles a chicken because of the colours chosen;
Heartworm has a collar with an embroided heart tag;
HIV wears a red ribbon;
MRSA, a Superbug, has a cape!


Right now I've got this one in my system:


As opposed to this one:


Here's an informative article which answers the age old question
What's the difference between the Common Cold and a Flu?
So having read this and visited the link, the next time you feel ill - with snottiness and so forth - you will not only know what ails you but now you have an idea of what the little bugger looks like!

Splendid nudibranches

Check out the amazing nudibranch (pronouced nood-ei-brank) photographs at National Geographic online.

A variation on a sea slug - technically they aren't sea slugs - their ancestors were snails. You could think of them as emancipated snails who shed the oppression of shells in favour of flamboyance and toxins. Hot damn, they're proud of it! :P

What curiously splendid creatures they are, with such gorgeous colours and baroque shapes. Note how small many of them are. So fantastic if you didn't know they were real you would think an artist dreamed them up and sculpted them in ceramics, or built them in a computer.

My favourites are:
Chromodoris dianae (4th image)
Flabellina exoptata (8th image)
Hypselodoris sp. (2nd of the second white background grouping)
Chromodoris sp. (as featured on Cute Overload aka 'Pimp Slug, McSluggersons' 4th last)
Mexichromis mariei (last)

Read the accompanying NG article here.
See more images, learn more about nudibranches, in the NG video here.

Bottled water

I'd always suspected it was a bit wasteful to keep buying bottled water instead of refilling a bottle - even a 'disposable' one - with tap water several times.

This article at Smithsonian magazine online is an eye opener.

You don't realise how much extra water goes into making that bottle of water for you or how much energy is consumed both in making the bottle and transporting it to you. The reality is, most tap water is fine to drink and it actually doesn't taste much different, particularly if it's cooler than room temperature (pop an ice cube in there). The key to reusing any bottle is to wash it out with warm, mildly soapy water regularly - if not everyday - and let it dry out completely.

Guild of the Golden Owl

As I wrote previously I would provide an update on the 2008 Melbourne, Labyrinth Ball. There is now an official website so you can find all you need to know there.
Guild of the Golden Owl, the official Melbourne, Labyrinth Masquerade Ball website

I <3 beautiful scientific illustrations

C/O the Flying Trilobite blog, beautiful scientific illustration by Emily S. Damstra.

Diamonds are a gull's best friend...

Isn't this a cool image? Why do I think so? I think it's because it's a bit artsy, like some of the taxidermy art I've seen but it is also commercial. It's elegant and beautifully monotonal despite being a colour image.



I loathe obvious, groan worthy, was-that-supposed-to-be-funny? puns as much as the next person who prefers a higher form of wit. However, this one popped into my head after deciding today that I would finally post this ad I found in a French fashion magazine. This is after having it displayed near my desk for months. I don't normally think in puns or I would have thought of it as soon as I saw it. That's my defence and I'm sticking to it!

[edit 05/06/09]
Having just checked out this particular series of Peter Lippmann's work I am now wondering if this is one of his or was inspired by it?

Nom, nom, nom, nom!

It's a squirrel shaped nut cracker. I found it in a UK magazine and used it to create this macro.

Post Secret

Post Secret
It wasn't published so I have posted it here.

Kukuxumusu stationery

Long time readers of this blog may recall my adoration of the Spanish Kukuxumusu brand. It means 'kiss of the flea' in Basque, and is pronounced Coo-coo-choo-moo-soo.

A couple of days ago I discovered a store near me that stocks Kukuxumusu stationery (more instore), and a lot of it was on sale. I was stoked and have since bought 7 items, some for a gift but mostly for ME! Whee :D

Don't have a credit card, not in Spain, not in Melbourne, and don't have anywhere near you that sells it, but want something Kukuxumusu? Visit their website and choose from a wide range of free downloads including screen savers, a desktop theme and lots of nifty wallpaper.

Stationary versus stationery

Here’s an easy way to spell the right word when you mean it. All my life – this is no exaggeration – I’ve never bothered to ensure the difference. Today I thought ‘Hell with it, I’m off to Borders to locate a dictionary and get this sorted once and for all!’

Stationary is an object that is not moving.
Stationery is office supplies, Smiggle stuff and Streamline staplers*.

Now, how to remember the difference?
E for eraser (and easy!).
Or you might prefer:
A for airport full of stationary aeroplanes.
So now we have no excuse to get them muddled ;)


*Judging by Milton from Office Space, they must be bloody good staplers…Love that movie.