Vintage Japanese Illustration

I found Kogundou on Twitter. The text is all in Japanese but there are many lovely images from old books, most of which seem to be children's books.

Artist Terence Cuneo

Another artist I discovered on Twitter: Terence Cuneo. I especially like his train paintings. Sadly, it looks like there are no prints available.

Daniel Merriam, Artist

I'm just going to leave this here so I don't lose it or forget about it though right now I don't know how I could possible forget about the lovely art of Daniel Merriam. I especially love the ones of fanciful Victorian houses and I so want to live in the pink one.

Disappointingly, there is nothing in the Shop yet. I want prints; I want a calendar; I want a mug!

Just Some Links

From Planet X - Image on one of my favorite Tumblrs. I like how it looks barely sci-fi at all, almost like just an ordinary wildlife picture, until you really look. And even then it could just be prehistoric art.

Jennie Wilde - "Forgotten" artist.

"Ugly Boxes" - This is hilarious. I love when managers think they know more than everyone.

Weird Inventions - I have seen the solar t-shirt before and that's not so crazy. The rest though are like "Wut?"

19th Century Folding Bathtub - A fascinating piece of furniture.

Weird Retro Bathtubs - Possibly NSFW?

Edible Dresses - ...... Nope, I won't go there.

The Phrontistery - Yes! I'm going to be spending a lot of time on this site.

This 'n' That

Occasionally I come across a website with a name that I find ridiculously appealing. It's even better, of course, when it turns out to be an excellent website. That is the case with Awkward Botany. Someone on Twitter linked the Seed Oddities article, which was very interesting.

There are several interesting articles on Atlas Obscura. A 1930's House of Tomorrow is for lease, but the new tenant will have to restore it. I would like to see pictures when it's done. And The Exotic Pepper Project! I am low-level excited about this. I hope the Pumpkin Habanero makes its way to my neck o' the woods before too long.

The Public Domain Review is a great history/literary site that I really want to make more time for.

100,000 Stars looks like a fun, scientific thing to play with.

In praise of autochrome. These old color photos are lovely.

Stuff Seen on Twitter

Beautiful, colorful art by Iris Scott.

I love these rain photos. They almost look like paintings.

This 1920's hair dryer:

I sort of want it. Not to use but just to have people walk into my house and say, "What the hell is that thing?!"

This must read article about "cultural appropriation". This subject ("cultural appropriation" but involving a different culture) came up a few months ago on one of the sewing blogs I read and a lovely woman of color said pretty much the same thing. We often make the mistake of forgetting that people of other cultures have differing opinions within their culture just as much as we do. Just be respectful. That's all you need to do.

Umbrella street, Portugal:

A disturbing short story about smart homes. I'm not a big fan of most "smart home" technology. I find all of it unnecessary and some of it just a little creepy. This story is also anti-GMO which I am not so that part of the story annoys me a little. I suppose bad things could happen but I think the potential for disaster is exaggerated.

And another artist, Tomasz Alen Kopera.

Just a Few Links

Subway Sketches - Detailed sketches of New York City subway stations. As always, it makes me a little sad that architects and builders don't bother to add decorative details to things - even the most utilitarian things - the way they used to.

Strange Company - a blog dedicated to weird history

Victorian Trade Cards - Interesting, odd, and in some cases offensive, Victorian advertising

Frank Kunert Art - Photos of surrealist miniatures

Sketchbooks - Wonderful.

Random Linkage

World Wide Weirdies - Sounds like a take-off on the World Wide Web but these are actually from the 1970s.

Wooden Money - but no wooden nickels

Embroidery Portraits - Wow!

Creative Hyphenation and places your mind goes

Colorful Houses of South India

Customer Stories - I never get tired of these. I just keep reading and going, "What the hell was wrong with that person?" My fantasy is that some of the bad customers will read these, recognize themselves and feel shamed. (More likely they would get angry but I did say it's my fantasy.)

Car in Space - No, not that car. This is another blast from the 70s.

The Secret Teachings of All Ages - Hmmmm... I must explore this sometime.

Just a Few Links

Long Reads - I discovered this excellent site via Twitter. It has longish articles on a variety of topics.

Henry Darger's 15,000 Page Novel - I have a strange thing for big books. I have actually read books because they are long. But a 15,000 page novel? Well, yes, I want to give it a try. I probably will never get the chance though. I have checked both Amazon and Project Gutenberg. [Sad, pouty face]

Snow Sculpture Battle in Tokyo - Nice, lots of Star Wars stuff.

Vintage Store Front Mosaics - I love these. It makes me sad that nobody does this anymore and few people are interested in saving the ones that still exist.

Random Linkage

Library of Babel - Weird. I like the minimalist design of this website. If nothing else you could use it as a soothing escape from all flashy, noisy websites that are always trying to get our attention.

Stuff You Do While Sleeping - Nothing surprising; I already knew about all of these but there's a really cute kitten at the top of the page.

Top Films About Time Travel - I have seen several of these. I'm not really a fan of the concept of time travel but sometimes it makes a good story.

33+ Reasons You Should Be Following Nathan Fillion on Twitter and Instagram

Dr Alesha Sivartha’s Book of Life - Illustrations from the 1898 book The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man

The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel - WANT! But not at that price. (~sigh~ Sometimes being a cheapskate is hard.)

Miniatures - Everyone has been sharing this on Twitter and Facebook so you've probably seen it already but I just have to say, one more time, this is amazing!

Random Linkage

Bartending in Antarctica

Mian Situ - Wonderful, interesting art. (Warning: the "Other" section contains NSFW images.)

Information is Beautiful - Great website. Informative charts.

Excellent Idea - Would probably never fly in the U.S.

Playlist of the Lambs - I always knew Hollywood had that one wrong. (and yet, they will keep doing it)

Japanese Illustrated World Map, 1930's

Simona Ceci - Beautiful fantasy art. I absolutely love these.

Random Linkage

The Miss American Vampire Contest - a weird beauty pageant from the 70s

Greg Van Dye - very colorful landscape paintings

Cultural Snow - an interesting looking culture blog that I must take time to explore sometime

Harrison Ford Halloween - a few of Harrison Ford's Halloween costumes from the past few years

Hedgehog Goes Camping - cute

Leila Jeffreys - lovely bird portraits

Gentleman's Surprise Chair - plus 12 more beautiful and interesting items. I have seen pictures of this chair before and I want it.

Karen Knorr Photography - Beautiful animal photos in ornate interior settings. I love these.

The Real Mata Hari - Another case of what "everyone knows" being not true.

Random Linkage

Books in Books - 12 novels that mention lots of other books. I think I want to read Among Others just based on its hidden reading list.

Subway to Nowhere - If this was in the U.S. within a couple of months there would be a 7-11 and half a dozen fast food places nearby. In America if you build it they will come.

Ingo and Friends - Gorgeous photos of a German shepherd and his owl friend. Seriously, I can't tell you how much I LOVE these.

Pizza Forward

Museum Twins

Love and Skeletons - Oh those prudish Victorians! NSFW

And finally, the solution to all problems:

Random Linkage

Precontinent - Jacques Cousteau's underwater habitat. I don't remember if I've ever heard of this before. I used to watch the Jacques Cousteau TV specials when I was a kid so I probably saw something about it once and just forgot.

NASA's Retro Space Travel Posters - I'm sure you've seen some of these before. They've been around for a little while and they seem to be popular but I wanted to put a link here mainly so I can find them again myself.

Retro sci-fi covers featuring impractical female attire

Hairy Selfie Nails - OMG! I can't even!

Yann Souetre - Science fiction art. Fascinating images.

Fungus Arrangements - Photography. Colorful arrangements of mushrooms.

Star Wars Galaxy Necklace - The planets and spaceships from Star Wars, including the Death Star, on a necklace

Quarter Trick - Useful tip

Pink Floyd Household Object Project - I haven't listened to these videos yet.

Woodland GIFs - These make me feel peaceful.

Random Linkage

Dripping glass tables - I would call them sculptures. I don't see how you could use them as actual tables but they are cool looking.

Vault of Retro Sci-Fi - Art, photos, and GIFS

Beyond Paper - 13 creative maps

Yana Movchan - Beautiful art. I LOVE these. Lots of flowers and cats; also other animals and a few portraits.

Places - A computer program designed to recognize attractive landscapes

100+ Tumblr Cat Posts

Walden - a slow computer game

This is Gonna Get Ugly - Clever, funny, and weird ad campaign.

Lego Building Guides

Queen Victoria's Stalker - Fascinating story of a boy who hid out in Buckingham Palace

Random Linkage

Starfleet Academy - It's a real place and you can take a tour! But you might be disappointed when you find out what it really is.

Artist Rick Stevens - I love this. Abstract and not quite abstract?

Language Links - A long list

Scardy Dog - Lots of pictures of dogs being afraid of things. Vacuum cleaners are a common fear and far from the silliest.

Tender Wings of Desire - OMG! Someone please tell me this is not real.

Digital Pin-Ups - I suppose that, as a woman, I'm supposed to be outraged about stuff like this but I like pin art. I can't help but appreciate the silliness and ridiculousness. These have a bit of a retro feel but at the same time modern and twisted. NSFW?

Sarah Forbes Bonetta - Interesting, little known history

The Orville - A Star Trek parody series. I'll decide later whether I love it or hate it. Of course you know if it's good Fox will cancel it after only 14 episodes.

Beautiful Tables

Train and Rail Yard Art

Random Linkage

Rubik's Cakes - a cute party idea

Hidden Haikus

Artist Will Wilson - Portraits, still life, animals, and more

Six Pie Recipes

Colormind - I haven't taken the time to play with this yet but it looks interesting.

Glass house - Beautiful! Definitely do not throw stones.

Candy Geode - You'll need a few friends to share it with.

Planet Building Blues - An interesting blog if you have time to do some reading.

A Few Things

Turkish artist Huseyin Sahin creates beautiful, surreal scenes using photographs.

I just discovered Factinate this morning. As always, be skeptical of any "facts" you read on the Internet but this does look interesting and I noticed that they did get at least one thing right that often misleads people, about life expectancy in ancient times and how it's skewed by the higher number of infant and maternal deaths.

Black and WTF is a Tumblr devoted to odd old black and white photos.

I made this raspberry sour cream pie. I halved the recipe to make only one pie.I wouldn't say it was the best pie I've ever tasted but it was yummy and I will be making again sometime.

Random Linkage

Clouds - This guy says we should spend more time talking about clouds. It does seem like a better topic for conversation than most I have been hearing lately.

Spiritual Perception - A beautiful surreal art Tumblr. Beautiful! I am so in love with this site!

Kawaii Monster Cafe - Not very monstrous. A colorful and fun Japanese cafe.

Ambiguous Abbreviations - Or perhaps one could say, unfortunate.

Food Carving - Artist plays with food

Ted Wilson Reviews the World - A hilarious review of butter.

Russian Fairy Tale Portraits - Beautiful portrait photography.

Real photographs that look like paintings

Village of Flowers - A Polish village with flowers painted on everything. Wonderful!

The Turban Trick - an interesting bit of history

Ambient Geek Sleep Aids - Background noise from science fiction movies and TV shows

Miniature Environments by Song Kang - Fascinating sculptures

Animusic