Toddler fools the art world into buying his paintings

To the untrained eye, they appear to be simple daubs that could have been created by a two year old. Which is precisely what they are.

But that didn't stop the supposed experts falling over themselves to acclaim them. The toddler in question is Freddie Linsky, who has fooled the art world into buying and asking to exhibit his paintings.

One creation of random red and green splodges called Sunrise was captioned: "A bold use of colour. Inspired by the 'plein air' habit of painting by Monet, drawing on the natural world that surrounds us all." And his black scrawlings in a work entitled The Best Loved Elephant are captioned:

"The striking use of oriental calligraphy has the kanji-like characters stampeding from the page, showing the new ascent of the East. It is one of Linsky's most experimental works." » Read the full article here.
Via Across The Board

Some people get really excited about firemen.

Via Across The Board

Shit, another pothole.

Via Across The Board

Wheelbarrow Race!

Snow Plowing Train

Fat Cat Survives 19 Days With Peanut Butter Jar On Head. No Longer Fat.

In a bizarre example of a cat’s nine lives, a fortunate feline survived nineteen days with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head. While no exact details are known as to how the jar found its way there in the first place (cats like peanut butter?), we’re pretty sure Jiffy will be off the menu from now on.

"We tried to get her, but being the type of cat you can’t catch, she kept running and hiding,” said Doretha Cain, Tabitha’s mother. The family saw the cat several times with the jar on its head and tried in vain to catch it. But after not seeing the cat for a week, the Cains feared the worst.

“I thought she was going to die with that jar on her head,” said Tabitha Cain, 25.

They found the once chubby cat on Wednesday, too thin and weak to flee. They caught her with a fishing net and used some oil to get the jar off her head.

I know the situation for both the animal and the owners must have been terribly traumatic. But after the fact, it’s pretty funny to think about a cat running by with its head in a peanut butter jar. Yea, I’m going to hell.

Baby Accidentally Flushed at Birth

A 36 year-old woman accidentally gave birth yesterday in a train traveling from Tai Dong to Tai Pei. The nine month old pregnant woman was in the bathroom when her baby was born and accidentally flushed down the toilet.
When the train reached the next station, an hour and a half later, the rescue team arrived and got to work. They immediately sent the mother to the hospitol while they tried to pull the baby from the toilet bowl opening. Due the the babies fading condition, they finally decided to saw the pipe in half and rescued the baby. She was born weighing 6.6 pounds and is now in stable condition. » Article here
Courtesy of Across The Board

Hi Mom!

Thanks to Across The Board

Remember when Walkman's were cool?

Thanks to Across the Board

Mini Planets

I first saw these being made 2 years ago off of several Flickr page groups, and now this simple panorama photo + Photoshop filters process has blown up into a phenomenon that challenges digital artists to create many different styles at high resolutions with seamless stitching. Click image above to see one such collection.

Here's Alexandre Duret-Lutz awesome Flickr archive.

Rob Park has a tutorial here, using a series of different tools and plugins to create "straighter" panoramas like these. This has gradually formed into its own artform, and many are adding more artful style and sophistication to the concept.

Converting the panorma into a planet can be done in several different ways. Dirk Paessler posted a tutorial showing how you can use the "polar coordinates" filter of your photo editor (The Gimp has one), and of course Photoshop has one too.

Other sources include Create Your Own Planets with a little help of this Flickr group tutorial. This group pool also has awesome samples of what type of world you can create. The Polar Panoramas group has even more samples to go through. Enjoy!

Total Recall

In case you were wondering...

The Highest Paid actress' in Hollywood (per movie):

1. Reese Witherspoon — $15 million-$20 million
2. Angelina Jolie — $15 million-$20 million
3. Cameron Diaz — $15+ million
4. Nicole Kidman — $10 million-$15 million
5. Renee Zellweger — $10 million-$15 million
6. Sandra Bullock — $10 million-$15 million
7. Julia Roberts — $10 million-$15 million
8. Drew Barrymore — $10 million-$12 million
9. Jodie Foster — $10 million-$12 million
10. Halle Berry — $10 million

Embarassing?

kokiriko bushi