Saturday, May 30, 2009

Not Photoshopped: Li Wei’s Astounding Action Art [PICS]

hanging out with the wife and kid
All Images: Li Wei Art

As anyone who watched the opening ceremony of the recent Beijing Olympics will attest, China has been enjoying a burgeoning of the performing arts in recent years. One of the most striking artists to emerge from this thriving scene is Li Wei, who has become renowned for his arresting and seemingly gravity-defying photographic work.

sent over the edge

After dropping out of art school and dabbling in oil painting, Li decided to focus on action art because, as he puts it, only it “offers a chance to experience an action’s message through one’s own body.” Li threw himself (literally) into this medium of expression, staging stunts in which he captures on film exhilarating moments of apparently extreme danger.

hanging out

Li uses a mixture of props, wires, cleverly positioned cameras and good old fashioned acrobatics to achieve the astounding effects in his photographs. However, quite aside from the immediate ‘Wow!’ factor, his art also makes some penetrating statements about the difficulties, particularly lack of security, of living in the modern age.

take that!

In Li’s words:

“There is a feeling of losing a grip on things, an uncertainty about the morrow. It’s a feeling of hanging in the air, of having nothing firm under the feet. And even if the family is my priority and thus a key part of my performances, I wonder: How much are we able to put up with?”

reach for the sky

Judging from the invigorating sense of life that marks his work, it appears quite a bit. Check out Li’s website for more images and info on his works and technique. You’ll be amazed.

bolt from the blue

Sources 1, 2, 3

READ MORE - Not Photoshopped: Li Wei’s Astounding Action Art [PICS]

The Top 10 Hottest Women With Brains

This is every guys dream. A hot women with brains. Yes we like to see hot cheerleaders move their hot bodies at the football games and yes we love to see the hotties at the car shows but when it comes to relationships, we do want a girl that can use their heads.

Spike came up with a list of the top 10 big-brained beauties. I definitely agree with this list and this is why I kept it in the same order that they presented it. Except maybe Kate Beckinsale which I might of put in first but this would of been a conflict of interest. Reason been she’s my favorite actress.

10. Alicia Keys

1239153122831

9. Claire Danes

1239153126428

8. Danica McKellar

1239153127587

7. Jennifer Connelly

1239153131076

6. Asia Carrera

1239153124084

5. Famke Janssen

1239153128756

4. Cindy Crawford

1239153125278

3. Rashida Jones

1239153133495

2. Kate Beckinsale

1239153129886

1. Natalie Portman

1239153132276
READ MORE - The Top 10 Hottest Women With Brains

Handjobs For The Future!


I wonder if the world will ever come to this… Let’s hope it does though. In this video we see what would happen if handjobs (or sex) could save our future. Truly something the human race should look into.

READ MORE - Handjobs For The Future!

SethComedy : “Things You Never Hear”



This is the new video from Seth’s “cavalcade of cartoon comedy” series. It’s about things you never hear but that really are worth noting as things never said. I’d like to add a personal “thing you never hear”: “Boy that Stephen Harper is really doing a good job at running our country, I bet he’ll easily be re-elected” (just to sneak a political “zing” in there)

READ MORE - SethComedy : “Things You Never Hear”

3 Awesome Beer Commercial

Beer companies always deliver when it comes to commercial. I’ve selected 3 for today but I will search for more of these funny beer commercials.




READ MORE - 3 Awesome Beer Commercial

Hollywood’s 10 Hottest Women

Although there are a lot of really beautiful women in this world Hollywood is the place to find the most popular ones of course. I noticed that just saying the hottest women wasn’t the right thing to do since there are many hot girls that aren’t celebrities that should be on these lists.

So saying the Hollywood’s hottest women cuts it down to the ones we see all the time.

If you want to know why these women made the top 10 visit cineplex.com

10. Freida Pinto

freida-pinto

9. Angelina Jolie

angelina-jolie

8. Zoe Saldana

zoe-saldana

7. Kate Beckinsale

kate-beckinsale

6. Jennifer Aniston

jennifer_aniston

5. Penelope Cruz

penelope-cruz

4. Eva Mendes

eva_mendes

3. Scarlett Johansson

scarlett_johansson

2. Malin Akerman

malin-ackerman

1. Megan Fox

megan-fox

READ MORE - Hollywood’s 10 Hottest Women

BMW Owns Audi!

Doesn’t this make you go “ooooooooooooo”. Audi’s gotta be stinging, but it is their own fault, they’re the ones who put a personal attack on a fierce, direct competitor. This is what the transportation industry has come to, cut throat competition. They don’t have a choice anymore if they want us to support their cause and buy more cars. In this case though, Audi just got owned.
READ MORE - BMW Owns Audi!

Anatomically Correct Slow Jam

This song explains in a funny way a sexual relation. Thanks CollegeHumor!!

READ MORE - Anatomically Correct Slow Jam

A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes

To celebrate the recent 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we look at some of the many incarnations of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. At last count, over 70 actors have played the part in over 200 films. Here are ten

Silence is Golden
Significant for being the earliest American film adaptation of Sherlock Holmes back in 1916, actor William Gillette (1853 - 1937) portrayed the great detective in this silent film.

Lost and Found
This 1922 version starred John Barrymore as Holmes and Roland Young as Dr. Watson. Despite believed lost for decades, much of the film finally resurfaced in the mid-1970s and was restored by the George Eastman House. Furthermore, the movie features future MGM star William Powell in his first ever screen appearance playing the part of Foreman Wells.

Dynamic Duo
The pairing of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson in the 1939 version of Hound of the Baskervilles was originally envisaged as a one time deal for Twentieth Century Fox. Indeed, the studio apparently had such little faith in the project that the main billing went to Richard Greene, the film's romantic lead, and a major star at the time. But when it became an unexpected hit, Fox wanted to cash in and asked them to reprise their roles. The pair would star in 14 Holmes films together, but 12 were for Universal Pictures.

So Good They Made It Twice
Twenty years on, another version of Hound of the Baskervilles hit the silver screen; this time starring Andre Morell and Peter Cushing. There's a definite British horror feel to the backstory of this one: it was made by Hammer films (who would often cast Cushing in their schlocky pictures), the exterior of Baskerville Hall is clearly recognizable as Dracula's castle in Dracula (made the previous year) and also stars the man who would become forever associated with the infamous vampire, Christopher Lee.

Doubling Up
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother was a 1975 Anglo-American comedy featuring the likes of Gene Wilder (also making his directorial debut), Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise. Wilder plays the hero Sigerson Holmes, brother to Sherlock "Sheer-Luck" Holmes. Jealous of his famous sibling, Sigerson teams up with a Scotland Yard detective (Feldman) to solve a case that Sherlock is apparently unable to solve.

Young at Heart
Hollywood most certainly had a helping hand in Young Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, the 1985 film portrays a young Holmes and Watson meeting and subsequently solving a mystery together while at boarding school. But as Conan Doyle makes abundantly clear in the first novel (A Study in Scarlet) that Holmes and Watson had not previously met, diehards don't hold this movie in the same regard as some of the others.

Turning the Tables
The 1988 British comedy Without A Clue featured two of the nation's best loved actors, Michael Caine and (Sir) Ben Kingsley. The admittedly novel premise is that Holmes is a fictional character created by Watson (Kingsley) to allow him to solve crimes incognito. But when the public yearns to see Holmes in person, he hires an alcoholic unemployed actor Reginald Kincaid (Caine) to play him. Inevitably, "Holmes" hogs the limelight but (spoiler alert!) the pair must work together to solve a mystery for the Government. Needless to say, this picture wouldn't trouble Oscar.

The Play's the Thing
Sticking with the Brits and actors Jeremy Brett (left) and Edward Hardwicke played Holmes and Watson in a stage version of Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in 1988. Only a six-week run had been anticipated, but it instantly took off to rave reviews and would play to full houses for a year before embarking on a national tour. Many consider Brett the definitive Holmes.

LA Story
The Crucifer of Blood was originally a play that was adapted from Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four. It played on Broadway, London and Los Angeles. While in LA, Charlton Heston played Holmes (interestingly, one of the most famous ever Holmes's, Jeremy Brett, played Watson in the same production) and Heston went on to star in this 1991 TV movie.

Coming Attraction
Set for release on Christmas Day, 2009, director Guy Ritchie helms the latest version of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role alongside Jude Law (left) as Watson. Apparently, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country. Expect thrills, spills and the words "Elementary, My Dear Watson" to crop up as a new generation get introduced to one of literature's most famous creations.
READ MORE - A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes

What Is the Most Poisonous Chemical Compound?

When you get right down to it, everything is poisonous. Water will kill you if you drink too much of it. Oxygen is a deadly poison, yet we need it to live. However, there are some chemicals that we are better off not encountering. Here's a list of the most poisonous chemicals known. Keep in mind, toxicity varies from one species to another (i.e., what may be poisonous for a mouse may be more/less poisonous to a human) and within a species (i.e., age, sex, genetics all affect susceptibility to a toxin). I've listed the name of the toxin, its source, approximate average lethal dose per kilogram of body weight (LD50), and the species.

1. tetanus
1 nanogram/kg
mouse, human

2. botulinal neurotoxin (bacteria)
1 nanogram/kg
mouse, human

3. shigella (bacteria)
1 nanogram/kg
monkey, human

4. palytoxin (coral)
60 nanogram/kg
dog (iv)

5. diphtheria (bacteria)
100 nanogram/kg
human

6. ricin (from castor beans)
1 microgram/kg
human

7. aflatoxins (mold which grows on nuts, legumes, seeds)
1-784 micrograms, depending on type of aflatoxin
duckling (oral)

8. shigella (bacteria)
1 microgram/kg
mouse

9. saxitoxin (shellfish)
3-5 micrograms
mouse (iv), about 50x higher dose orally

10. tetrodotoxin (fugu pufferfish)
10 micrograms
mouse (ip)

11. diphtheria (bacteria)
1.6 milligram/kg
mouse

Sources:

Merck Index, 11th Ed., S. Budavari et al. (editors), Merck (1989) ISBN 911910-28-X
READ MORE - What Is the Most Poisonous Chemical Compound?