take a look at this brilliance..



nice furniture huh?

well this is actually outdoors. it’s called the stadtlounge (city lounge) and it’s situated in the centre of st.gallen in switzerland. here are more photos. remember, this is outside, amongst the buildings in the city centre.




and in the daytime…





fucking brilliant.

this ‘look’ was the result of a design competition to create a ‘public living room’ in the financial district of the area and since 2005 it has stayed, the red ‘carpet’ seemingly flowing over all furniture, roads and even some fake cars littered around the streets.

if only all local governments were this adventurous.

(pics from here and here)

(these are actors i believe to be the top 5 extreme method actors alive today due to techniques / preparation methods i’m aware of. please note, before you start sending me hate mail, these are deliberately male-only. i’ll probably do another post just consisting of actresses at a later date).

first off, i’ll give you my take on ‘method acting’ as there seems to be a few different explanations around. by method actor i mean someone who doesn’t simply learn some lines, turn up on set, read those lines in front of camera with little conviction, get changed and then go home with a fatter bank balance. i’m talking people who, as soon as they’ve signed up for a part, dive head-first into the experience, research every possible angle, live and breathe the character throughout the production, go to extraordinary lengths to try and understand the part they’re playing, change their outlook on life purely for the movie, even drastically change their appearance to understand the reaction of others and generally try to become something as close to the scripted character as they possibly can in order to be utterly convincing.

or as ian mckellan would put it…

anyway, here’s my take on the top 5 extreme method actors alive today.

1. daniel day lewis

it was a tough choice for the top spot, the obvious winner being de niro. however, i can’t think of an actor alive today who puts as much effort into the preparation or is able to become a character as naturally and powerfully as day lewis. even if the film sucks slightly, it’s watchable due to his performance.

it seems that mr day lewis is unable to start filming a movie without having physically or psychologically battered himself through some kind of intense preparation. he’s one of the less prolific actors of the world and it’s easy to see why. if i was going to put myself through the same kind of shit before every job i’d want a couple of years off in between projects too.

method acting madness:

- the boxer: trained for 18 months with former world champion barry mcguigan who later said that day lewis could definitely have been a professional boxer.

- the crucible: etched tattoos onto his own body.

- gangs of new york: in preparation for his role as bill the butcher daniel day lewis actually took up an apprenticeship as a butcher and during his breaks during filming would frequently sharpen his butcher’s knives. he was also diagnosed with pneumonia on set after continuously refusing to wear warm coats as they ‘wouldn’t have existed in the 19th century’.

how to own the screen…

- my left foot: during filming as paralyzed christie brown, daniel day lewis refused to leave his wheelchair between scenes in order to truly experience the problems associated with the character’s condition. his constant refusal to break from characted also earnt him 2 broken ribs, a result of his hunched position in the wheelchair.

- last of the mohicans: lived in the wild for 6 months, learning to survive on the absolute basics.

- in the name of the father: after taking the part of a prisoner, day lewis lived in solitary confinement at a disused prison.

2. robert de niro

in his prime he was a powerhouse and seemed immune to having a bad day at the ‘office’, however these days he seems to be coasting to retirement and i for one can’t think of much to shout about since heat in 1995. even so, his back catalogue is so strong that he easily makes 2nd place.

method acting madness:

- new york new york: learned to play saxophone for the part of jimmy dallon. due to his comittment his playing apparently reached ‘virtuoso’ standard.

- deer hunter: lived amongst steel workers in ohio for months.

- raging bull: trained so effectively to play boxer jake la motta that he was reputedly among the 10 best middleweights in the world, with la motta himself declaring, “there’s no doubt he could have been a pro“. he then put on 60lbs to play an ageing la motta during filming.

- cape fear: had his teeth ground down by a dentist to fit the part.

- godfather, part II: lived in sicily whilst learning to speak sicilian fluently to play vito corleone.

- taxi driver: worked 12 hour shifts as a cabbie for 3 months prior to filming in order to prepare for the role of travis bickle.

bob de niro and jack nicholson on method acting…

3. christian bale

christian bale’s track record is pretty solid, plus the fact that he starred as a kid in empire of the sun, one of my favourite childhood movies. in the past 10 years he’s also seemed to pick better and better roles, each film being extremely watchable, and when it comes to the preparation, not many people make more of an effort than bale…

method acting madness:

- the machinist: to play trent reznik bale studied insomnia for months. he also slept as little as possible throughout the shoot to understand the condition to a greater degree and during the few months prior to the project he lost 63lbs before the director and his doctor stepped in to stop the madness.

- american psycho: as soon as he found out he was to play patrick bateman he started visiting the gym every day to gain the physique needed, this carried on throughout filming: after every session on set he went to the 24hr gym and earned the nickname ‘robo-actor’ amongst the cast and crew. he also refused to socialise with anyone to keep the attitude.

- batman begins: following the machinist, bale gained 100lbs and converted it to muscle through visits to the gym and martial arts training. during preparation and filming (including all press and interviews) he also refused to drop the american accent.

4. forest whitaker

until recently, forest whitaker wasn’t considered a force to be reckoned with in film. for most it was his role in ghost dog: way of the samurai that caught the attention of the public, but whitaker had already starred in some big films: the color of money, platoon, good morning vietman to name a few. since the start though, he’s always been fully prepared for every role…

method acting madness:

- ghost dog: studied eastern philosophy intensively and meditated at every opportunity.

- the last king of scotland: holy shit - in order to play the part of dictator idi armin, whitaker studied all of amin’s recorded speeches, put on 50lbs, met and lived with amin’s family, colleagues and victims in uganda, learnt to speak swahili fluently and mastered the accordian. he was rewarded with an oscar and rightly so.

- bird: to play charlie parker, forest whitaker decided to shut himself off in a los angeles apartment with a bed, couch and saxophone until he could play the instrument.

5. adrian brody

he may not choose the most successful of films (box-office wise) to star in but he’s always consistent with his acting…

method acting madness:

- the jacket: to prepare for scenes in a mortuary drawer, brody spent hours on end in a ’sensory deprivation chamber’, taking on quadruple sessions at a time, then during filming breaks he asked the director to keep him locked in the actual drawer on set. he also kept on the straightjacket as often as possible in between takes and refused to speak to anyone.

- the pianist: in order to play the polish pianist who had everything taken away by the nazis, brody sold his apartment and car, got rid of his mobile phone and learnt to play chopin on the piano perfectly.

- oxygen: demanded that real braces be attached to his teeth rather than prosthetic ones for the filming, to find out afterwards that they needed to be ripped off.

until a few days ago i didn’t really appreciate treehouses. sure i played in a couple when i was younger and i wanted to live in the ewok village for a couple of days but since the age of 14 i just assumed they’d always remain the same.

now i actually want to buy/build one and raise a family in it. sod houses, i’m retiring in a treemansion 100ft in the air with a slide down to the ground.

treehouses are the future.

(click on pics for mightier versions)

nicholas von der bosch’s treehouse project



this spherical motorised treehouse is one of the best things i’ve ever seen.

i’ve searched high and low for information about the project and emailed the contact in the video but to no avail, all i do know is that the genius behind it goes by the name of nicholas von der bosch and the sphere exists/existed in westfalen, germany. anyone know anything else about it?


free spirit spheres



sticking with the spherical theme, these incredible looking beauties are called ‘free spirit spheres’ and are handcrafted by a guy called tom chudleigh up in canada. the spheres consist of a wooden frame and skin, all of which is then covered by a ‘woven fibreglass roving set in epoxy’ - this gives it a varnished look. they’re even ‘wired up for power, sound and telephone’.



for the largest version (which has 3 beds, microwave, sink and fridge), prices start at $150′000. you can even rent them out for a weekend.

wow. check out the website here for a lot more info, photos and prices.

alnwick gardens - biggest treehouse in the world



this monster of a treehouse is worth a whopping £3.3m.

it’s situated in alnwick, northumberland and contains a shop, restaurant and private dining room. i’m not too sure about this ‘treehouse’ - it’s elevated above the ground and there’s a lot of wood around but the bigger they get the less magical treehouses seem to look.



world’s highest treehouse



talk about bare-bones. this treehouse, the highest ever, consisted of 2 platforms suspended more than 200ft above the ground and was used for 5 months from the end of 2004. it was inhabited by enviromentalists in tasmania’s styx valley forest (home to the world’s largest hardwood trees) and could house 6 people in tents along with a kitchen and washroom.

the protesters were hoping that the treehouse would go some way to stopping logging in australia.

coolest treehouse ever?





this is 4treehouse, possibly the sleekest treehouse ever created.

it was made in 2003 by lukasz kos, at the time a masters degree student at the university of toronto and the slatted masterpiece has been built around 4 trees. as you can see above, when it gets dark the whole thing resembles a huge lantern.

incredible.

green magic resort, north kerala



in the past 10 years there’s been a huge increase in the amount of ‘treehouse hotels’ cropping up all over the world as people realise that treehouses can actually be extremely liveable environments as well as stunning to look at. the photos above are of a frikkin’ stunning treehouse at the green magic resort in kerala, india. the 90ft high accomodation can be reached by using a brilliant water-lift.

the independent’s ‘5 best treehouse hotels’ can be stared at here.

papua tree people



of course not every society sees houses made of brick as the norm. the photos above are of houses in papua, apparently the korowai and kombai tribes are forced to live in treehouses up to 40ft above ground level as a result of mosquitoes and ‘age-old rivalry’.

the fact that they can manage to build houses that high and keep them from falling is astounding.


takashi kobayashi



the amazing treehouse above was created by takashi kobayashi, one of japan’s leading treehouse creators, for a nescafe commercial and still stands in hokkaido.

you can check out his other treehouses on his website and read a nice article and interview with him here.

treehouses of the future




in the future you’ll be able to download porn straight into your brain simply by thinking the word ‘filth’ - fact.
you’ll also be able to grow your own house thanks to these chaps.

the project is called ‘fab tree hab’ and each of these houses will take around 5 years to grow, the result being a living, breathing house with tree trunks for ceilings and weaved roots for walls.

the science behind this absolutely baffles me so i’ll let you read more about it at popular science. there’s also a short video below…



extras:

- check out the treehouse guide for a database of thousands of reader-submitted treehouses across the globe.
- there’s a nice timelapse video of an old-fashioned treehouse being built below:



- click on the photo below for ‘extreme treehouses’ at popular mechanics.



- fancy paying someone to build a treemansion for you? treehouse company look like the guys to call (they were responsible for the largest in the world) as long as you’ve got some cash spare.

- treehouse by design is a great blog about all things treehousey with guides, photos and videos.

- treehouse area is another good site but it concentrates more on the construction side of treehouses.

(i’ve now added ball lightning and fire rainbow to the list, you can see them at the bottom)

obviously, rainbows aren’t the only brilliant natural phenomena on earth. below are some optical phenomena, atmospheric phenomena, electrical phenomena and natural optical illusions and they’re all incredible for one reason or another.

if you know of others worth a mention, let me know and i’ll add ‘em.

green flash



a green flash is a natural optical phenomenon and can be sometimes seen above the sun as it sets or rises. the reason for this event lies in refraction of light in the atmosphere (read more here).



i’m yet to see a decent video of a green flash so won’t even bother posting a shit one. instead, you should visit this website and learn using your mind.

crepuscular rays



crepuscular rays are shards of sunlight that shoot out from behind objects that cast a shadow, usually trees or clouds, causing columns of light to eerily light up the landscape.

check out the short clip below. a road never looked so attractive.



mirages



another of the more common optical phenomena, mirages are caused by refraction.
there are also 2 types of mirage: inferior and superior. with an inferior mirage, the actual mirage is mirrored from above (e.g. seeing the sky on the road). with a superior mirage, the mirage image appears above the true object. these are less common.

a more detailed eplanation can be digested here.

below: an example of an inferior mirage



sprites

sprites are relatively new discoveries and are still the subject of much scientific debate. along with blue jets and elves they form a group of occurences named transient luminous events and are electric discharges that occur high above active thunderstorms.

best of all they look like some kind of massive electrical jellyfish.



due to the fact that these events only last for milliseconds and aren’t exactly easily spotted, there are very few videos to watch. the youtube clip below was captured using an image intensified camera, bear in mind that the brightest parts of the effect are around 70km above land.

alternatively go here and watch an amazing clip in colour.



- more on this phenomenon here.

gravity wave

‘In a gravity wave, the upward moving region is the most favorable region for cloud development and the sinking region favorable for clear skies. That is why you may see rows of clouds and clear areas between the rows of clouds. A gravity wave is nothing more than a wave moving through a stable layer of the atmosphere. Thunderstorm updrafts will produce gravity waves as they try to punch into the tropopause. The tropopause represents a region of very stable air. This stable air combined with the upward momentum of a thunderstorm updraft (trigger mechanism) will generate gravity waves within the clouds trying to push into the tropopause.’ - from here.

that’s exactly what i was gonna say.



the photo above shows atmospheric gravity waves as seen from space. the amazing timelapse video below shows the phenomenon from ground level in iowa.



halo / sundog



the incredible halo in the photo above is a 22 degree sun halo and is one of the more common atmospheric phenomena, apparently caused by refraction in the hexagonal ice crystals in the air. sun dogs (aka parhelia) are the brighter parts of the halo, usually seen on each horizontal point.

there’s a more detailed explanation, with diagrams, here.




aurora borealis



mainly thanks to youtube this phenomenon has gained a huge amount of coverage in the last couple of years. even so, it’s not something you could ever grow tired of watching. if you’ve never seen it, watch the video below.



the explanation?

‘The sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions) that travel out into space at speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometres per second. A cloud of such particles is called a plasma. The stream of plasma coming from the sun is known as the solar wind. As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere, the section of the earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 600 kilometres above the earth’s surface. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras, northern and southern.’ - from virtual finland

brocken spectre



see the halo in the photos above? the shadow in the middle is actually cast by the person taking the photograph at the top of the hill, the effect a rare one that goes by the name of brocken spectre. in order to create this effect you must be looking down into mist from the peak of a hill with a low sun behind you.
simple stuff.

the guy in the video below managed to catch a rare glimpse of the effect on film. it occurs about half way through.



moonbow



moonbows are the darker, less frequent relative of our old favourite, the rainbow. the ingredients needed: a very bright moon, rain and some luck.

there’s a brief article from new scientist here and a grainy video clip below.



gravity hills / electric brae

a slightly different ‘phenomena’ from the rest, the electric brae in maybole, scotland is one of a number of locations throughout the world known as ‘gravity hills’. it’s a stretch of angled road where vehicles ‘mysteriously’ roll uphill, the real explanation owing to the fact that the surrounding landscape sits in such a way as to give the illusion that the road is sloping in the opposite direction. i’ve personally been to the one in the clip below and it’s pretty fucking weird even if you know the reasons behind it.



at this wiki page there’s a list of all known gravity hills in the world.

ball lightning

ball lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that is still disputed by many people, mainly due to the lack of quality footage and research, but also because of it’s behaviour. rather than striking quickly, ball lightning can apparently last for a much longer time. there’s a brilliant page dedicated to the phenomenon here.

the video below shows a mean looking storm, the ball lighting appears about 2 minutes in. it’s well worth a look.



circumhorizon arc/fire rainbow

‘The arc is a very large halo and is close to, and parallel to the horizon. Usually only fragments are visible where there happen to be cirrus clouds’.