Goldfish - a little cooler than your average fish

I think I want to turn the swimming pool into a piece of art work. But I won't choose just any old piece of artistry... I want realistic goldfish painted by Riusuke Fukahori. This guy is amazing. I watched all the available footage with his techniques - jaw-dropping. 

Painting each layer on resin to make gorgeous 3D sculptures. You can peruse Fukahori's masterpieces of fishiness in the ICN Gallery through Dominic Alves' flickr gallery. They are all beautiful. Wish I had them all...

(image from Alchemist & Co)

...hmmm 

I have NO idea where to put them all...

Novelty food

I'm sure everyone knows about Japan's venture into creating square watermelons. Of course, they succeeded in this. The novelty of having a square watermelon is not lost on me... they're much easier to stack.

There are actually a LOT more deliberately, oddly shaped fruits and vegetables. Again, in Japan, a farmer produced a heart-shaped watermelon some years ago. I can imagine how these would have been popular around Valentine's Day.

Another shapely Japanese edible are these star and heart shaped cucumbers.

In China, a farmer made Buddha-shaped molds and fastened them over the growing fruit on his pear trees. The result was ... well, different. I think it would be like biting into a juicy, pear tasting baby. A tad disturbing, yes.

To top it all off, it's not just Asiatic countries which have taken a liking to making strangely shaped fruit and veg. Disney World in Orlando, USA, have jumped on the "vege cart", so to speak. To incorporate a little more Disney cheer into your life through food, pumpkins are produced with the likeness of Mickey Mouse!

Jelly is AMAZING!

I have discovered jelly art! It's always been there but I haven't paid it much attention until now! This is one of the coolest desserts you could make -ever-. I want to make these so bad, but leaving me in the kitchen with a rather large needle with coloured gelatin is the worst thing anyone can do (not that I'd consider injecting jello; but more because I'm exceedingly uncoordinated and I do want to keep my eyes puncture-free). I've found HEAPS of footage on YouTube under "Gelatina Encapsulada" and "Gelatina Artistica"; some pretty awesome DIY clips too.

image from Jellyciuos Creations

If anyone manages to make these (and it's their first attempt) I'd love to see photos! Post a link in the comments or IM me (or FB me if you're on my friend's list - if you're not, then !!YAY!! You're the <5% of people who read this and weren't forced to as a "friend's obligation").

The future looks tastefully goopy

Look at this fridge! LOOK AT IT! I'm so impressed by this that I looked at my relatively new double-door stainless steel fancy fridge/freezer and sighed with pity. It was great fridge until I discovered the joy of preserving my groceries in lime green biopolymer goop. If only... I'd met goop fridge first, this wouldn't hurt so much.

The designer, Yuriy Dmitriev, is one clever cookie with a brilliant imagination even if I do have to wait until 2050 to purchase one. Oh yes... I will be elbowing my way to the front of the line that day, little 70+ year old me.

Oh my goodness... this is my 100th post!!!

Museum in a Jar

I draw your undivided attention onto this SPECTACULAR piece of art by Japanese, Akinobu. He makes the most amazing scenery and objects and literally bottles them... in TINY JARS! I found him [Tiny World in a Bottle] on Etsy by accident (as all great discoveries are made) and have fallen in the deepest of affections for his miniature masterpieces.

Bony fish

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Fossilised Pteranodon

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Fossil Stegosaurus

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Fossil Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and Apatosaurus

Please, check his work out.

There's a number of them for sale; ranging from $23 to $70 USD. All beautifully crafted by an artist with wonderful talent.

Taburin is a God among palaeo-sculptors

Taburin is a Japanese sculptor with a keen interest in dinosaurs. His motto behind each beautiful sculpture (which has definitely caught my eye in the detail) is: "To make as accurately as possible". His dinosaur skeletons are made primarily of pine and Japanese chestnut wood. I am in AWE of this man!

Tyrannosaurus (right) with Spinosaurus (left).

I couldn't make this post without adding T.rex :P
The skeletal "remains" of a Nigersaurus.

Protoceratops and Velociraptor "Fighting Dinosaurs" - in their final moments!

Carnoturus skull with hand for scale

A Gorgosaurus in the process of construction and then the final product

The making of Diabloceratops.

I love you, Spike

Stegosaurus Week (13th Sept to 19th Sept) is coming to a close, and I haven't made a single mention about the Stegosaurus.

For those who don't know, Stegosaurus was a herbivour which first appeared in the Jurassic (and probably had epic battles of survival against Allosaurus). The most commonly identified of the Stegosauridae family is most likely Stegosaurus stenops, since nearly everywhere I look (if you're searching for dinosaurs as much as I am), S. stenops is almost like the posterchild for what a Stegosaurus species is characterised for. It was short and stocky, but with large plates and typical 4 spikes on the end of the tail. Although, it wasn't the largest stegosaurid, it does seem to be the most common species.

So why is Stegosaurus so awesome??
Besides the clearly lethal set of tail-spikes Steg sported, and the pretty cool looking fashion statement they made during the Jurassic with their plate(-like Mohawks), there is one really awesome thing about Stegosaurus:

It had a "second brain"; near the base of its tail used for controlling reflexes in the rear part of its body. The "brain" in the hip region was not made of brain tissue, but instead, a complex nerve centre; the "sacral plexus." It was a secondary control center for the spinal cord. So despite the obvious tiny size of Stegosaurus' brain, and the possibility that it may have lacked intelligence, didn't mean it wasn't cleverly designed for its time in an evolutionary time-frame.