|
|
I’m sure you lot have seen the awesome work of trompe l’oeil (trick-the-eye) artist John Pugh before, you know: the guy who paints insanely realistic murals.
Well, here are a few more examples of this guy’s work: 3D murals painted on the sides of buildings. Incredible! Click each image for a bigger version in a new window/tab
 John Pugh - the man behind it all 
Main Street, Los Gatos, California . Even the woman peering into the ruin is part of the mural.
Taylor Hall, California State University, Chico, California. The Doric-style columns are actually nothing but paint.
Honolulu, Hawaii. This mural took two months of studio work to plan and another six months to execute with the help of 11 other artists. Featured are Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, and Duke Kahanamoku, the ultimate father of surfing.
This mural at the Cafe Trompe L’oeil, San Jose, California, is entitled “Art Imitating Life Imitating Art Imitating Life”. This customer doesn’t leave at closing time.
Twenty-nine Palms, California. Valentine the bull and a patient buzzard are waiting for the artist to awake.
Bay in a Bottle, Santa Cruz, California. The passerby is part of the mural.
Looks like a nice spot to rest your weary feet on a sidewalk in front of the Sarasota County Health Center, Florida.
“Slowin’ Down to Take a Look” in Winslow, Arizona. Yup – you guessed it: the reflection of the vehicle with the girl having a look is part of the mural.
—-
Somehow I feel that my crappy little stick figure drawings ain’t really gonna cut it. Call it a hunch.
I recently stumbled across a massive guide on the web entitled The (WU)ltimate 33-Part Guide to Abandoned Places. After my post a few months ago linking to a series of photos of an abandoned Russian military base, HERE, I realised by the large numbers of visitors to that post in particular that I’m not the only one fascinated by creepy stories and creepier photos of abandoned and desolate old towns, castles, forts, etc. A good old haunting never hurt anyone either. Well, it may have, but that’s besides the point.
And so, I think a fair number of you will probably want to head over to the guide and check it out. To give you an idea of what is covered, here are a few examples of some of the staggering number of categories (of which there are 33 in total. The title kinda gave it away, innit?):
7 Abandoned Wonders of America
7 Abandoned Wonders of the European Union
7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union
7 Abandoned Wonders of Asia
24 Abandoned Cities and Ghost Towns
24 Abandoned Buildings and Places
Abandoned Houses, Homes, Ghost Towns and Neighborhoods
Abandoned Institutions, Asylums, Hospitals, Hotels and Churches
Historical and Mysterious Shipwrecks of the World
Deserted and Converted Abandoned Missile Silos
Abandoned Theme Parks, Theaters, Schools and Pools
When you’ve got some (lots) of time to kill, read the full guide here: The (WU)ltimate 33-Part Guide to Abandoned Places.
So the eagerly awaited latest blockbuster (naturally) novel from Dan Brown is out from today.
I think it’s safe to expect utter chaos at many bookstores as everyone and their brother tries to get hold of it.
Product byline as follows (although not exactly choc-a-bloc with plot details, now is it?):
Six years in the writing, “The Lost Symbol” is Dan Brown’s extraordinary sequel to his internationally bestselling Robert Langdon thrillers, “Angels & Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code”. Nothing is ever what it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. Set over a breathtaking 12 hour time span, the book’s narrative takes the reader on an exhilarating journey through a masterful and unexpected landscape as Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon, is once again called into action. Expertly researched and written with breakneck pace, “The Lost Symbol” once again demonstrates why Dan Brown is the world’s bestselling thriller writer.
Some folks are even expecting the same sort of tourism effects as caused by the Da Vince Code at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, expect this time the action takes place in Washington D.C. as shown in the following article (originally from the Canadian Press):
Washington tourism launches ‘Lost Symbol’ website for Dan Brown book
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)
WASHINGTON — Washington is anticipating a flurry of visits from fans of Dan Brown’s new thriller, “The Lost Symbol.”
Fans of “The Da Vinci Code” novelist flocked to the Louvre in Paris and other sites in Europe that were featured in that book. One church in Scotland, the Rosslyn Chapel, saw a threefold increase in visitors after the book became a bestseller and movie.
Destination DC has launched a web page at http://www.Washington.org/lostsymbol to help readers explore some of the places and themes that are expected to receive attention from “The Lost Symbol.”
The Washington tourism agency launched the web page prior to the book’s release Tuesday, using places that were hinted at in advance publicity for the novel. The Capitol building is featured on the book’s cover, and the nearby U.S. Botanic Garden was referenced in a Today Show clue about the novel.
The novel’s plot was not revealed before publication, but the story is believed to be about Freemasons, the centuries-old fraternal organization. Other sites featured on the Washington “Lost Symbol” web page include an early 20th century Masonic stone temple at the corner of 16th and S streets, and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Va.
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
When I get my paws on it I’ll let you know what it’s like.
Or if you want to beat me to it: Then click HERE to get your copy from Kalahari.net
Or HERE to buy it from Amazon.co.uk for only £4.99. Bargain!
Clearly some folks are way ahead of us. Here’s a review from someone over at Cracked.com who got his hands on a copy and immediately proceeded to skim through. Click HERE to read it.
Are you cranky? Yes?
Do you hate everyone and everything? No?
Okay, do you at least find that everyone and everything manages to piss you off at least some of the time? There we go…
Some clever (cranky) sod has gone and documented all those items that you hate, we hate, everyone hates on his site (very slyly) called The Ultimate Hatelist.
If it had the chance to piss you off, chances are it’s on the list. Brilliance! Go have a look. I have spoken.
Not that I hate anything… coz I’m like, chilled, Bru.
Schweet.
Are you “That Guy”? If in doubt, then check You Might Be That Guy If… You know, just to be sure…
Here’s one example… cough cough Jerry cough cough:
You might be “That Guy” if you yell “get in the hole” at a golf tournament: “
Whether it’s the first tee at the Masters or the seventh hole at Adventure Landing Miniature Golf at the Jersey Shore, “That Guy” will be there. It could be a tee shot on a 650 yard hole or a two foot tap in putt, “That Guy” will be there. It could be the world’s toughest tournament – “Held in Socorro, New Mexico, the tournament consists of exactly one hole, and the target is a 50-foot circle… The tee to that hole is 2,550 feet up the side of a mountain, and nearly three miles from the green.” – “That Guy” will be there. It may even be one of, if not the, world’s most difficult holes in golf – “The course’s so-called ‘Xtreme 19th’ hole is a par 3 – a par 3 whose tee is atop a cliff on Hanglip Mountain, more than 1,400 feet above a green carved like the continent of Africa. You’ve got to take a helicopter to get to the tee box, and from there it’s more than 630 yards to the pin. Once you tee off, it takes nearly 30 seconds for the ball to hit the ground.” – and “That Guy” will be there.
Regardless of the difficulty of the shot or the hole, “That Guy” will be the one on the golf course yelling “get in the hole!” It doesn’t matter that there is no plausible way due to the laws of physics and thermodynamics that the ball could even conceivably go in the hole. Most sources found say the chances of hitting a hole in one are approximately 3,000 to 1 for a Tour player, 5,000 to 1 for a “low handicapper,” and somewhere around 12,000 to 1 for an “average player.” But when you’re “That Guy,” you can’t be bothered by minor details like physics and statistical analysis.
Then why does “That Guy” do it? A rather simple explanation is that he just wants to be “That Guy” and hopefully hear himself on television. Another more plausible explanation is that after putting on his best argyle socks, tight brightly colored slacks, polo shirt, and golf club manufacturer visor; sitting next to the green in the grandstands in the direct sun for eight hours without moving suffering from the onset of heatstroke; and drinking his fifteenth MGD (the official tournament sponsor), there’s not much “That Guy” can do but yell “Get in the hole!”
—-
Awesome. 10 points per post. Loving that site!
Plenty more where that came from: You Might Be That Guy If…
Found a cool blog you lot need to check out entitled: Stuff Rich People Love. Every day or two the author, Chas Underwood III (Classic!), writes a new post about yet another item that rich folks want / need / obsess over.
The results are seriously funny, very true and makes one realise two things:
1. The rich are ever so slightly eccentric;
2. I need to win the lottery, so I can be eccentric too.
Here’s an example of one of the posts:
Rhinoplasty
Price: $8,000
Nose jobs are as common among the rich as coke addictions among strippers; everyone has had one or will get one soon. Rich people love plastic surgery and it is nose jobs that are most common. I know what you are thinking, what about liposuction, stomach stapling, tummy tucks, chemical peels, lip enhancement and breast jobs? All of these are important to rich people and they help reconstructive surgeons pay for lavish mansions, luxury cars and iridescent dress shirts that say I’m a dick with a fat wallet. While these procedures are the bread and butter of any good practice, the nose job plays the central role.
Rhinoplasty is a gateway procedure. Just like marijuana, weed, Mary Jane or grass will inevitably lead to heroine, acid, cocaine and meth addictions, nose jobs tell young girls that anything can be fixed by going under the knife. Once mommy and daddy give the nod to getting that unsightly bump removed from their little princess’ nose, it’s on. The flood gates open and there aren’t enough Dutchmen with fingers to plug the proverbial hole in the dyke. It all seems innocent enough at the time, after all, everyone is doing it and since the botox Mom looks happy all the time…it’s “like she can’t not smile!”
Some doctors will outline the risks and do a psychological assessment of their patient before loosing the anesthetic but they are called unemployed surgeons. Ask too many questions and patients will sashay down the street to a clinic where people in white coats make them feel good about themselves, not probe about “issues”. In fact, nose jobs are so prevalent and accepted that you can’t walk down Rodeo Drive in broad daylight without seeing newly bandaged noses. In as little as two hours, rich people improve their lives immensely and develop a renewed outlook and a sunny disposition for weeks to come. That is, until they notice an eyelid droops, one earlobe is lower and exercise is hard. Please daddy, just one more?!!
Go check it out: Stuff Rich People Love. I have spoken.
Oh, and by the way: wanna join the ranks of the rich to win a fortune, thereby allowing this guy to write about YOU? Then click here to get your lottery tickets. And if you win, you sooooo owe me an Aston Martin. Just a heads up.
As mentioned in a previous post on Saturday (here), I have finally got around to watching the TV series Entourage. I have become hopelessly addicted to the series, almost to the point of calling in sick at work to continue watching what this lot get up to, as this whole having a job thing is seriously starting to interfere with my television watching.
I even declared it to be the best series ever. Why, I even awarded it an almost unheard of full 20 points! I am therefore forced to bring to your attention a blog post I saw today which seems to disagree with me. I know: the horror!
I have cut and paste this from a site called Tasty Booze:
—–
“I had such high hopes for this season of “Entourage.” Even after this video ripped the show for having boring and repeating plot lines, I still had faith that they would turn things around this season. After two episodes, people are back to hating “Entourage,” as well they should be.
All this hate comes from a conversation in the second episode about Knocked Up – you know, the movie where Katherine Heigl sleeps with Seth Rogan and gets pregnant. Yeah, the movie that came out more than two years ago! Apparently the guys are fixated on whether or not Seth Rogan was good looking enough to get a girl like Katherine Heigl. The conversation continues throughout the whole episode as Turtle polls every girl about their willingness to sleep with Seth Rogan.
To me, it sounds like there might be some jealously on the side of the writers of “Entourage.” Are they jealous of Rogan’s success? That Knocked Up was a legitimately funny and successful movie? Or are they setting up a story line for Rogan to appear in an upcoming episode of “Entourage”? I think it’s funny, because Turtle’s character is essentially a shorter version of Rogan in Knocked Up. And if we all have believed that the Heigl/Rogan pairing could work, what about the ridiculous pairing of Turtle and Jamie-Lynn Sigler that’s currently happening on “Entourage”? Oh yeah, it’s also happening in real life too – does that make it harder or easier to believe?”
Original Post URL: http://tastybooze.com/2009/07/hey-entourage-stop-sucking/
—-
Now I’m still only midway through series 3, and so far stand by my original declaration of it being the best series ever, which is kind of bad news for the Tasty Booze reviewer, as we all know: what Stu says is law. He has after all spoken.
I know, what will they do?
I sincerely hope I don’t have to eat my words once I reach season 5, but if I do, I will eat humble pie and admit I may have been mistaken. However, don’t hold your breath: I have faith in the show. Plus, I’m never wrong (although I imagine my girlfriend will probably tend to disagree).
We’ll see. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve seen it, and with the rate at which I’m currently devouring the episodes, it shouldn’t be long!
Image Source: imdb
No posts for 3 days now. Any idea why?
Did you even notice?
My lack of interest in updating here has got a fair bit to do with me finally listening to pretty much everyone and giving the TV series Entourage a bit of a watch.
Well that was the end of free time as we’ve come to know and love. I am completely and utterly addicted to the show.
Expecting to kill about half an hour, I popped the DVD into the player, hit play and… 12 episodes later decided the chirping birds outside the window indicated that it was probably bedtime.
If you are that one remaining person on the planet who has not yet seen the series, may I suggest that you get with it and go buy it – don’t bother renting when you can own it, as I can assure you that you’ll be watching it again. Trust me.
You see, now that I am a convert (only a miniscule 5 years after the show debuted) I get to be a smartass and deride those who have yet to experience the hilarity of Turtle, Eric Murphy, Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase and Vincent Chase, played in turn by Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Adrian Grenier.
The constant big-shot guest appearances are pretty cool too – there were lots, but of course I’m only going to mention my favourites: Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson and Holly Valance. And of course pretty much the entire cast in the episode at the Playboy Mansion. Hot, hot, hot and hot multiplied by lots.
To sum it up VERY briefly:
Vincent is a pretty-boy bit shot movie star.
Eric is his best mate & manager.
Turtle is… umm… not really sure. Kinda like a gopher, as he tends to get all the odd and far less glamorous tasks. And is hilariously terrible when it comes to chatting up the ladies.
Then there’s Johnny Drama, Vincent’s brother, the washed-up former Melrose Place actor desperate for his next acting gig.
Also, let’s not forget Vincent’s rather sleazy agent Ari Gold, expertly played by Jeremy Piven.
I could go on and on, but just go get the DVDs and watch this bunch go about their daily lives in L.A. trying to get Vincent his next big acting job and living off his success. It’s awesome. And there’s loads to watch too – I see the 6th season started this week in the US.
Awesome. 20 points to everyone involved.
I have spoken.
I assume you lot have seen the TV series “How I met your mother“. I therefore assume you are familiar with the character Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris), the hilarious, womanising eternal bachelor, obsessed with “suiting-up” and announcing that virtually everything is “going to be legen…dary”.
Well, he and co-author Matt Kuhn have released a book of rules and regulations known as “The Bro Code”. All the basic tenets and rules of Bro-dom have been recorded in one book, a sort of guide for Bros, if you will.
To get an idea of what it’s all about, the publisher’s description sums it up pretty well:
“Everyone’s life is governed by an internal code of conduct. Some call it morality. Others call it religion. But Bros in the know call this holy grail the Bro Code. Historically a spoken tradition passed from one generation to the next, the official code of conduct for Bros appears here in its published form for the first time ever. By upholding the tenets of this sacred and legendary document, any dude can learn to achieve Bro-dom.”
The usual “About the Author” blurb from the back page is written by the Great Barney himself:
“Barney Stinson is a handsome and available Renaissance man best known for blowing up the blogosphere with www.barneysblog.com. Barney plays 83 different musical instruments, holds the record for the most weight ever calf-pressed, has flown a fighter jet around the world blindfolded, ranks first in the world in laser tag and good looks, invented that chariot thing for crippled dogs, and currently serves on the board of a Fortune 500 company, which is why he probably won’t return your calls.
As mentioned in the above blurb, further classic reading from the noble and wise Barney can be found on Barney’s Blog. Definitely worth heading over there for a look.
There is even a Wikipedia page devoted to the character of Barney. Have a look by clicking here.
It is definitely one of the funniest books around, and I implore you to read it for those laugh-out-loud moments that virtually every page will ensure.
And I because I feel the need to share Barney’s wisdom with y’all, here are a couple of links for if you wish to get yourself a copy of this legendary tome:
To purchase this book from Kalahari.net, click here, or simply click the cover image above.
To purchase this book from Amazon (UK), click here.
It’s legen… dary!
UPDATE: 12 December:
Read my new post on Barney Stinson / The Bro Code by clicking HERE.
So I got an email earlier today from Google Adwords offering me free advertising worth R1000. And in case you’re wondering, this really was from Google, not one of those “buy Acai berry from this Canadian Pharmacy and grow 4 inches and make a zillion dollars a nanosecond (mailed from: honest_bob@google.com) and despite the ‘from’ Google address still ending up in the ‘spam’ folder.
So figured I’d give it a shot. You know those little ads down the side in Google with “Sponsored Links” or words to that effect when you search? Well, I’m giving that a shot, coz it’s free, and well, I’m a cheapskate. Now I’ve gotta come up with keywords to make it appear. Any ideas?
I’ve hit a blank. How about some completely random ones and we’ll see how much traffic I get…
Suggestions:
Girl ninjas (silently making you sandwiches)
Vernon Koekemoer (he are well kief, China, and will moer jou in die bek)
Mielies (Dis mos mielies)
Your mom (Belter of the week 12)
Hippies (Get a job, a bath and a haircut)
Your sister (Belter of the week 13)
Wolverine (coz he’s made of like… adamantium cuzzin)
Rave music (Let the mirrorball govern your soul doef doef doef oontst oontst doef)
Cheetahs (Like leopards, but less hardcore)
Mountain Bikes (Coz road-cycling is for sissies)
Male grooming products (For road-cyclists; see above).
That should about cover it for now. Will let you know how it goes.
Because you care.
Yes you do.
Admit it.
Told you so.
Who’s your daddy?
|
|
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=40d3052d-3a8d-4624-8a8c-33c50625efb1)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a92ddaf8-5487-4523-89b3-35cc43707190)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d13e83c5-7b6f-4b7b-aacb-9e5ed0e3d031)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5f33136e-e615-4a54-8bbe-ba393cbf50b1)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1e3c5bfb-fa58-4767-b86a-2a3112e985db)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=38e0910e-9c2a-42b5-a646-94974aa74ff8)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a74e9269-fdfe-4cbd-81fe-66aeb0e102b3)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=25a9a851-0edf-4007-9314-bd5673336755)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=df9ca26f-86e1-4634-840c-96e9ecc692fd)
