Foot rest

I spotted this weird bench in the Czech town of Czesky Krumlov in 2008. First seen here.

Toblerone

Optical illusions of a different kind. The Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone has a trade mark logo that includes the famous Matterhorn mountain. Less obvious is that the mountain contains the shape of a bear, the symbol of the city of Berne in Switzerland where Toblerone is produced. First seen here.

Rubik salt and pepper set

I still remember struggling with these infernally difficult things in the eighties, but they do make lovely decorations - and useful appliances as well, as in this salt and pepper set. First seen here.

Sticky tape sculptures

Amazing stuff, surely. Artist Nathan M creates all kind of sculptures from.... sticky tape. First seen here.

Got milk?

The "Got milk" advertising campaign, relying on milky mustaches above the lips of famous people is at best dubious, at worst a nightmare. And this one featuring Elton John in clownsuit is amongst the very worst. First seen here.

Cave in

Another imaginative 3D side walk drawing. This msyterious cave world in London was created by world-class pavement artist Edgar Muller, and took him 5 days to complete. First seen here.

Greed

One of those (de)motivational posters that is really spot-on. Wonderful image, wonderful simple and effective caption. First seen here.

Geek wall clock

This is one for the mathematical buffs amongst the potential customers. First seen here.

Down under

One of those images that make you smile when you come across them. Very creative. First seen on Fukung, but as usual for Fukung I will not give a clickable link as that site contains very unsafe for work images as well (http://fukung.net/v/2211/ausstrallia.jpg).

Cutlery art

Interesting certainly, but not artistic enough for Art for Art's sake. Sayaka Ganz creates sculptures out of old plastic cutlery and utensils - to sometimes stunning results as in this fish. A recent suggestion by Jenny Downing. First seen here.

Relieved of duty

In the style of the world's most famous graffitti artist, Banksy - and quite possibly indeed by him. First seen here.

Mountainous sofa

What is it about chairs and sofas that tempts the worst designers in the world to have a go at it? I mean, can you even begin to imagine to put this in your living room? First seen here.

Tired art

Great sculpture, but in the end falling on the potpourri side rather than the Art for Art's sake side of my blogs. According to the Korean artist Ji Yong Ho, recycled tires based animal sculptures help capture the spirit of the animals because rubber is very flexible, like skin, like muscles. First seen here.

Alluvial Fan

Another magnificent satellite shot. A vast alluvial fan blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China’s XinJiang Province. First seen here.

Say cheeeeeeeeeeese

Photographers shooting a collection during New York Fashion Week got shot themselves. There is something intrinsically funny in seeing so many people trying to take the same picture. First seen here.

Granny 2.0

An image that I came across in Jenny Downing's Google Reader stream that made me chuckle. First seen here.

I'll be watching you....

What an adorable combination... pugs are amongst my favourite dog breeds, and turtles are our lucky animals. First seen here.

Exploding cabinet

Talk about having a conversation piece in your living room... The top six cabinets are wall mounted to a stunning overall effect. First seen here.

Confess!

I can't help it - I laughed. I am going to hell, right? First seen here.

Miniature skating

With the winter olympics in full swing, this is a good moment to post this particular image from the oeuvre of French photographer Vincent Bousserez - plastic miniature people in a life-like surrounding. First seen here.

Nature Magazine ad

This is a striking example of weird advertising placements that I had not seen before. You would have thought that someone at Nature would have noticed the somewhat awkward similarity in the back page advertisement and the front page photographs? Anyway, by now we know who the top dog is (and no bitch jokes please). First seen here.

Two-faced

A woman wore a mask on the back of her head at Weiberfastnacht (Women’s Carnival) in Dusseldorf, Germany, last week. Such a fun image. First seen here.

Got wood?

One of a series of special wooden benches in a link that Jenny Downing sent me last week. Love the free flowing feeling and intimate corners this creates. First seen here.

Levitation

It is amazing how a simple dark spot on the street can throw our brain into a loop, forcing us to think that this guy is actually hovering above the pavement. First seen here.

The year of the tiger

With the year of the tiger commencing, an appropriate post for today. I came across this one for the first time several months ago, when Jenny Downing sent me a link to this amazing body art by American artist Craig Tracy, but I decided against inclusion in Art for Art's sake. Perfect potpourri material though, and when I stumbled upon it on a different site more recently, I snapped it up. Most recently seen here.

Valentine's day 2010

Today is not only Chinese New Year, but also valentine's day. For the occasion, great heart-shaped umbrellas for that special walk in the rain with the one you love. First seen here.

The abominable snow men

Winter in Europe has been very cold this year. A testimony is this funny shot of a park in Moscow, populated by lots of smow men.... First seen here.

Shark!

Inspired by a link sent to me by Jenny Downing, I have decided that these imaginative 3D side walk drawings warrant their own category. Here is the first: the shark is well captured, but the implied motion of the bricks flying at you really make this picture pop out for a 3D effect. First seen here.

Leaf carvings

Fantastic work by Chinese artists, who specialize in the craft of leaf carving - the cutting and removal of the leaf’s mesophyll to produce an artwork without cutting or removing any leaf veins. First seen here.

Anti gravity device

Simple - and yet simply genius. You can just imagine this combination spinning around yielding both an anti-gravity device and a perpetuum mobile. First seen on Fukung, a site so unsafe for work that I won't even link to it in a clickable way (it is fukung.net/v/1031/antigravitykitty.gif if you want to go there).

Chain mail cappuccino

What a funny image. A costumed reveler enjoyed a cappuccino at a shop next to Saint Mark’s Square during the Venetian Carnival Sunday. First seen here.

Flying 101

Kulula (South Africa's low fare airline) have recently released this fantastic new aircraft entitled Flying 101. Each part of the aircraft is labelled with humorous self-explanatory captions. First seen here.

Photoshopped? Think again!

Found in a great list of astonishing non-photoshopped images sent to me by Jenny Downing - and glad she did, because I had seen it before but had forgotten to bookmark it. What looks like two photographs put together is actually a single, untouched shot taken by Emily Hughes, the blonde on the left. The left side shows a mirror, reflecting Emily’s image back to the camera, and at right is her friend Alisha, seen through clear glass. An amazing result. Lately seen again here.

Obama sushi

Only in Japan: Obama sushi.... This special sushi roll includes shrimp, black sesame and fish paste. First seen here.

Panda helping panda

There is always something endearing to see cute animals almost act like humans. First seen here.

Mariah Carey all made up

Not artisitic enough for my main blog, but I want to show it here: artist Jason Mercier created this portrait of Mariah Carey using make-up and make-up utensils. First seen here.

Build Your Own bottle

These wine bottles by the Australian design firm TheCreativeMethod come with a DIY kit to create different faces on every bottle. Very creative indeed. First seen here.

Tiger scroll

With the year of the tiger starting a week from now, this particular animal is of course currently a popular theme in East Asia. This 200 meters long scroll featuring drawings of 2010 tigers was presented during the Shanghai Expo - a creation by Chinese artist Xiao Yanqing, known as the best tiger drawer in all of China. First seen here.

Some are more equal than others

The two thick black lines are equal size, no matter what your eyes and brain are trying to tell you. First seen here.

Miniature origami

In the end it is more crafts than art, but amazing it is. Origami artist Mui-Ling Teh makes small but perfectly formed paper creations so tiny that they can only be appreciated in close-up photographs. First seen here.

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was one of the best fighters in the Great War. It was one of the fastest aircraft around, outperforming any standard German type of the period. The S.E.5 was not as effective in a dog fight as the more famous Sopwith Camel, but it was easier and safer to fly, particularly for novice pilots. Entering the action in the spring of 1917, the S.E.5 (together with the Camel) was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 - and maintaining this for the rest of the war. Picture and information taken from here.

Pajama party poopers

During my many visits to Shanghai, one of the most charming habits I saw was that in the older neighbourhoods, people tend to walk on the street any time of day in their pajamas. Guess what? With the Expo2010 coming up, the local government is doing their utmost to ban this great custom. As someone once said: If people were not so busy trying to right wrongs there would not be so many wrongs to right. The mixed nuts here are the civil servants, not the pajama wearers. First seen by myself, post triggered by a recent item seen here.

You gotta carry that load....

This coconut gatherer was so desperate to get his haul to market in Mysore, India, that he stacked them on his three-wheeler. It even beats the images I took in Shanghai of bicycle riders carrying a shitload of boxes on a bicycle. First seen here.

Close your eyes...

Ooooooh... that feels good.... Japanese Macaque monkeys relax in the hot spring at Japan's Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park. First seen here.

Hope or hoop

A double take moment for Dutch like me - as the Dutch word for hope is in fact hoop. First seen here.

Funny money

Do you have change from one hundred trillion? A great overview of wonderfully weird money, mostly for real. First seen here.

You shall not pass!

I shot this unique face-like traffic blocker in a small town in the Czech Republic. It has appeared since in several blogs dedicated to the phenomenon of pareidolia, seeing faces in random places, including Faces in Places and Oddee. Original here.

Colourful sheep

Scottish farmer Andrew Jack has started to paint his sheep in bright red and blue colors to "spice things up" so people could smile on their way to and from work. They are sprayed with animal-friendly paint, something they don't mind at all, and they will remain colorful until sheared. First seen here.

Pet butt covers

Only in America - where else could someone think of a way to hide the open butt hole of some dog breeds from the easily offended public eye. The mind boggles. First seen here.

Profits

It is difficult to explain why such a simple situation and joke works so well, at least for me. I think it is the unexpectedness of the last window - you are expecting a different outcome, even though of course this is the logical conclusion. First seen here.