top 5 ‘deserted city’ scenes in film

there’s a relatively easy way to give the audience a chill during a film: slip in a shot of a deserted city centre, a city centre that’s notoriously busy in real-life, the scene preferably culminating in the camera panning out to prove the crew didn’t just manage to clear 10ft of road for 5 seconds.
it’s […]

deceiving reflections

(click for massive version)

a stunning photo of tokyo from inside a skyscraper.
(the photo was sent to me by ‘gummy’. cheers to ‘anewname’, the photo now links to the source’s flickr account)

optical illusions and architecture

some of these are deliberate, others aren’t.
however each illusion relies on some form of architecture and all create an effect which deserves to be mentioned.
1.
this incredible picture was captured by a flickr user in california whilst at work. a fog descended just as the sun set behind the building in shot. the result - one […]

isamu noguchi’s incredible fountains

most of you will have seen one of these giant tap illusions before..

they can usually be found in waterparks around the world, surrounded by young kids attempting to destroy the hidden pole that holds it up.
well late japanese-american architect isamu noguchi took this family favourite one step further and created an incredible looking set of […]

how to navigate a multi-mini roundabout

this is an actual roundabout in swindon…

it’s called a multi-mini roundabout and was designed in order to defeat congestion problems and lower the amount of accidents that were occuring when it was an unsafe, normal roundabout. it gives me a headache just thinking about giving way to that many streams of traffic.
it’s ok though, i […]

ingenious flood management

this is engineering and construction at it’s best: the smart tunnel (stormwater management and road tunnel).
in order to combat regular flash flooding in kuala lumpur (sometimes twice yearly) caused by two overflowing rivers in the north of the city, engineers decided to construct a huge stormwater tunnel to drain the water from it’s source […]

city lounge

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 […]

it’s all about the timing

for some reason i’m always impressed by synchronization/mass-choreography on film.
so i thought i’d share some of my favourite videos that display some kind of awe-inspiring timing or planning.
tracy thorn video:

starlings swarming:

synchronized swimming:

synchronized fireworks display:

the mass games:

samsung dance:

red arrows flying display:

incredible timed driving:

xmas lights:

group popping locking:

trained goldfish:

synchronized trampoline:

the best ever hoaxes

everyone loves a good hoax, as long as they aren’t the victim, and some people seem to take great pleasure from planning ‘em.
here’s a collection of some of the best.

the yes men - dow chemical hoax
‘On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal chemical disaster, Andy Bichlbaum appeared on BBC World as “Jude […]