Holy frick (on a stick with a brick) this is spooky! Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov has managed to combine old WWII era photographs with present day pictures to create a visual time portal. Using simple but effective Photoshop techniques in tandem with perspective-matching images, Larenkov was able to blend war-torn Europe, including famous cities like Saint Petersburg and Leningrad, into what we consider normal, everyday life. Above Georgy Zhukov of the Soviet Union glares into the camera standing on steps full of rubbish as tourists flock around him and his lieutenants, minding their own business. The gallery below contains a bunch more enhanced images like this one, so check ’em out. Want to see more? Head over to Larenkov’s website and get sucked into a whole ‘nother dimension.
Combining 35,000 photographs, stop-motion, and live projection mapping techniques, Chassaing takes us on a semi-trippy adventure through architecture and nature.
Remember that 45 gigapixel panorama of the Dubai cityscape I showed you back in early May? Well a new gigapixel photograph has arrived, dethroning the Dubai image as the world’s largest digital photograph. A whopping 75 gigapixel image, 360 degree panorama of Budapest is the new champ. The image was taken with two 25-megapixel Sony A900 digital cameras fitted with 400mm Minolta lenses and 1.4X teleconverters. And get a load of this: a printed version of the image measures at 15 meters long and the image file size is 200GB! But enough blabber. Head over to site the hosts the intertactive image. Click the top button on the control bar at the left to enter full screen mode, scrub around the enormous image using your mouse, and feel free to see what the neighbors are doing by using the zoom slider on the left. You see all those teeny tiny houses scattered in the image above? Thanks to the highly detailed nature of this image you can zoom all the way into them. Mind-boggling impressive, eh?
Peep this glorious couch inspired by the classic video game Space Invaders. Designer Igor Chak has outdone himself with this latest creation. The couch is all leather, features two glass surfaces, and is lined with memory foamed. The black-on-white color scheme and the wild shapes and spaces are excellent design choices if you ask me. I wish this were a real couch and not a mere concept…because I would have already ordered one by now. Check out more images in the gallery below.
Since Arrested Development executive producer and Narrator Ron Howard uttered the final line of the 2003-06 FOX series (“No, I just don’t see it as a TV series. Maybe a movie?”), fans of the cancelled cult hit have been yearning for an official press release stating that a movie based on the Bluth family is a-go. Though word has yet to escape from the mouth of a studio exec, AD creator Mitch Hurwitz has kindly updated fans on the matter. Hurwitz was on hand this week at the Television Critics Association press tour (touting his new FOX series Running Wilde, starring AD alum Will Arnett and David Cross) and he gave this straight answer to the press: “We’re writing it [the script]; we’re about halfway through.” He sounds very confident that the script will get picked up and things will move forward as planned. “We will make this movie. The only stumbling blocks will be scheduling. Everybody wants to play together.” That is true; virtually every actor from the ensemble cast has publically state they are willing and excited to reprise their roles for a movie. Hurwitz added, “It’s not going to be a big money maker. It’s going to be fun, like a family reunion.” That is exactly what I am expecting it to be, nothing more. To see Michael, George Michael, G.O.B., Buster, Lindsey, Tobias, Maeby, Lucille, George Sr., and Oscar together again, for one last hurrah, would be a wonderful treat. Oh, and who could forget…STEVE HOLT! The only information Hurwitz would divulge is that political references are being changed (from George Bush to President Obama) since the script was “started it awhile ago” and that “the Bluths may not be vacationing in the Gulf of Mexico anymore.” Beyond the rewrites, completing the script, and recasting the Uncle Mel character, “we have a clear path”, Hurwitz reassures. I will be keeping my ear to the ground with this one; as soon as a deal is struck with final script in tow you will be informed.
Before tonight’s episode of The Jersey Shore, MTV premiered the music video for Eminem’s chart-topping single “Love the Way You Lie.” Not only does it include Eminem spitting his game and Rihanna belting out the catchy hook, but Charlie from Lost and the hot chick from Transformers lend their acting chops to the powerful lyrics. Domestic violence is the theme, something that Eminem and Rihanna have experienced in their own personal lives. Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox make for an attractive couple in an over-the-top love/hate relationship. One second punches are thrown and in the next lips and tongues are interlocking. It all plays out very theatrically and I commend the effort put into it. Check out the music video above and share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Tonight MTV premiered the music video painting for Kanye West’s new single “Power.” Kanye started to hype the one minute forty-three second video/painting hybrid yesterday on his blog and Twitter account. He constantly made sure to specifiy that the final product would not be a music video but instead a “painting”. The video begins with a close-up of Kanye’s face with two lines of parallel pillars behind him. As the track plays, the camera slowly pans outward to reveal scantily-clad women donning horns, canes, and wings. Almost immediately you realize that this is not a traditional music video but instead a slow moving painting taking place in the clouds among angels and demons. After only one verse the video draws to its conclusion when the camera starts to sporatically dart around the scene. Then the mystical creatures disappear, two men fly through the air with swords aimed for Kanye’s head (and another one dangling above him through a halo ring), and the letters P-O-W-E-R filled with images from the video take over the screen.
Artist Marco Brambilla directed the video; he successfully invokes Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel, his source for inspiration, by placing historical characters and creatures in the neoclassical scenery. Kanye approaced Brambilla after watching his tremendous specticle “Civilization.” Click here for a brief behind-the-scenes look at the making of the “Power” video. (NSFW warning: It does contain minor instances of nudity.)
I have one word to describe what Kanye has done here: interesting. It’s definitely a bold risk for a music video for two obvious reasons. One, it’s not really a music video, it’s a “painting”; and two, it does not encompass the entire song. That said, the art direction is spectacular and the featured goddesses are a nice treat. I also like the way it was filmed; the slow panning, the quick darting shots, and the awesome illusion on the eyes that made it look like Kanye was moving ever-so-slightly towards us all made for a high value viewing. I am disappointed that “Power” will not be getting a standard music video that it so rightfully deserves. I’d almost rather purchase an enlarged poster of this living portrait than watch it in video form. But this is what Kanye wanted, and Kanye gets what Kanye wants. Unconventional as it may be, the “painting” proves to be stylistically impressive and easy on the eyes.
Rapper Lil Wayne might be in jail but that’s not stopping him from releasing new music. A track from his upcoming EP I’m Not A Human Being hit the ‘Net the other day and I’ve got it streaming down below along with a download link. Wayne doesn’t pull any surprises in “Right Above It”, but it proves he’s ready to bring his music back into the spotlight. The crazy cool beat and the feature by fellow Young Money pard’ner Drake really make the track shine. The EP drops on Weezy’s birthday September 27 in digital form only. He’s expected to leave jail in October, and you can anticipate production on Tha Carter IV to ramp up thereafter.
The Jackass gang is back, this time in EYE-POPPING 3D. Get ready to see some foul and painful stunts like you’ve never witnessed them before when Jackass 3D hits theatres October 15, 2010.
