Intricate LEGO Diorama Recreates Scene from The Fifth Element
via How-To Geek by Jason Fitzpatrick
We love the complex creations LEGO fans make to honour their favourite scenes from movies and this one is no exception; the level of detail in this Fifth Element-inspired diorama is impressive.
Hit up the link for a pile of closeup shots.
Fifth Element Fhloston Paradise Recreated In LEGO [Geekologie]
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Friendship is protean – and vital. It’s the nectar of life. Who else is going to listen to you prattle on about your exasperatingly interminable divorce?... more
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Solar system forms “vortex” as it moves through space
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
You can stop it at 2m in, when ’Why is this important?” appears on-screen.
There is only one comment possible for this, “WOW”.
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Lamenting the loss of children’s chemistry kits
via Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
A New York Times piece on post-9/11 chemistry sets, modified for the age of lawsuits and terror-noia: “Basically, you have to be able to eat everything in the science kit,” says Jim Becker, president of SmartLab Toys, “who recalled learning the names of chemicals from his childhood chemistry set, which contained substances that have long since been banned from toys.” It’s a good piece, though Steve Silberman pretty much wrote the same piece back in 2006 for Wired Magazine.
If you’re into this as nostalgia, there are lots of cool vintage sets routinely available on eBay.
Here’s a neat mid-century specimen.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Automation and its discontents. There are few areas of life in which machines have not taken over. Benefits abound, but Julian Baggini is drawing the line at coffee... more
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Famous Moments in Music History as 8-Bit GIFs
via Flavorwire by Marina Galperina
Musician Joshua Carrafa's epic Tumblr project Music History In Gifs is nothing short of amazing… if you like music, GIFs, and bit art. We're literally torn between which amazing animated moment to spotlight here. The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show? Prince's famous transformation into a symbol? The Nirvana Nevermind baby? Metallica vs. Napster? Tupac against the world?
See our favorite GIFs in the slideshow below! including rickrolling
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How snowflakes get their shapes
via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Not all snowflakes are unique in their shape. There’s one fact for you.
And here’s another: The shape of snowflakes – whether individually distinct or mass-production common – is determined by chemistry. Specifically, the shape is a function of the temperatures and meteorological conditions the snowflakes are exposed to as they form and the way those factors affect the growth of ice crystals.
This short video from Bytesize Science will give you a nice overview of snowflake production and will help you understand why some snowflakes are unique, and why others aren’t.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Taken, made, jotted, foot, or head: Notes are necessary interventions between the things we read and the things we write. Geoff Nunberg explains... more
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Of Hobbits, Pixies, and Gnomes
via Britannica Blog by Kara Rogers
New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which makes ;made] its U.S. premiere on December 14, once again breathes visual life into those diminutive humanlike creatures of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Indeed, Jackson’s previous film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series was widely celebrated for its faithfulness to the characters – among them the humanoid dwarfs and elves – that had emerged from Tolkien’s unrestrained imagination.
Numerous other works of fantasy and fiction have featured small, humanlike creatures. The types of creatures that have been created are too many to list here, of course, but I would like to call attention to two in particular: pixies and gnomes. For, unlike Bilbo Baggins and company, the pixies and gnomes of fantasy and fiction often turn out to be deceptive and untrustworthy. Sometimes, they are just plain scary.
Pixie, illustration by W. Measom from the 1853 edition of A Peep at the Pixies by Mrs. Bray. Credit: Courtesy Folklore Society Library, University College, London; photograph, R.B. Fleming
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Surrey With the Fringe on Top: 1908
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Mackinac Island, Michigan, circa 1908
“New Mackinac and New Murray Hotels”
8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
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