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• The San Francisco Art House Project, An Initiative to Establish Live-Work Spaces for San Francisco Artists
• MinutePhysics Explains How to Find an Exoplanet
• 'Weird Al' Yankovic Performs 'Tacky' Parody Song About Terrible Outfit Choices on 'Conan'
• Illustrations of Iconic Television Show and Movie Character Costumes by Ryan Putnam
• The Chatillon Car Graveyard, An Eerie Collection of Vintage Cars Abandoned in a Belgian Forest
• Cosplay Music Videos From ConnectiCon 2014 Featuring Creative Costumes and a Breakdancing Captain Picard
• Oru Kayak, A 12-Foot-Long Kayak That Folds Into a Carrying Case
• Pneumatic Sponge Ball Accelerator, A 'DIY Particle Accelerator' Featuring 1,000 Sponge Balls
• Finely Detailed Fairy Sculptures Crafted From Metal Wire

The San Francisco Art House Project, An Initiative to Establish Live-Work Spaces for San Francisco Artists

The Montgomery Block art house in San Francisco

The San Francisco Art House Project is a new initiative that seeks to provide a place for artists in an increasingly unaffordable San Francisco through the establishment of live-work buildings specifically set aside for artists. The project’s creator, writer P Segal, suggests that individuals, non-profits, or for-profit companies could establish art houses as investments or outright philanthropy. People interested in supporting the project can find out how to do so on the project website.

Cities need artists. This city lost a fortune of creative energy. Returning artists to San Francisco is like replanting native plants and reintroducing indigenous fauna, restoring a balance in the human biosphere. Unlike some modern problems, this is one that can be easily fixed and perhaps made better than it ever was. The Art House Project proposes how this can be done, in a practical way that is a win-win for everyone.

photo via San Francisco Art House Project

MinutePhysics Explains How to Find an Exoplanet

MinutePhysics host Henry Reich explains how to find an exoplanet. Specifically, Reich covers how most exoplanets are discovered indirectly by observing their parent stars.

'Weird Al' Yankovic Performs 'Tacky' Parody Song About Terrible Outfit Choices on 'Conan'

“Weird Al” Yankovic performed his parody song “Tacky” on a recent episode of Conan. The track is a parody of “Happy” by Pharrell and features lyrics about terrible outfit choices.

The song is off Yankovic’s new album, Mandatory Fun, which released on July 15th. The album is currently available via Amazon.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Illustrations of Iconic Television Show and Movie Character Costumes by Ryan Putnam

San Francisco-based artist Ryan Putnam has created an illustrated series of iconic character costumes from such television shows and movies as Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Prints are available to purchase online from his personal store.

images via Ryan Putnam

via Creative Bloq, DesignTAXI

The Chatillon Car Graveyard, An Eerie Collection of Vintage Cars Abandoned in a Belgian Forest

photo by Theo van Vliet

The Chatillon Car Graveyard is a neatly arrayed collection of vintage cars abandoned in the woods near Chatillon, Belgium. The cars, originally some 500 in number, were supposedly left there by American soldiers who were stationed in Belgium after World War II. When the soldiers returned to the United States, they were unable to ship the cars, so they left them neatly parked in the woods.

Over the years the cars have dwindled due to cleanup efforts and scavenging collectors. The cars are faintly visible on Google Maps. For more photos see these photo sets by Rosanne de Lange and Stefaan Beernaert.

photo by Marcel Wiegerinck

photo by Theo van Vliet

photo by Marcel Wiegerinck

photo by Stefaan Beernaert

via Amusing Planet, Bored Panda

Cosplay Music Videos From ConnectiCon 2014 Featuring Creative Costumes and a Breakdancing Captain Picard

Cosplayers showcase the hard work that they put into dressing up as famous characters from TV shows, movies, video games, and more in these two music videos created by Beat Down Boogie at ConnectiCon 2014 in Hartford, Connecticut. The first video features upbeat cosplayers dancing and having a great time while the second video features a breakdancing Captain Picard (Star Trek).

Here are a few of the photos taken at ConnectiCon by Beat Down Boogie:

music by Glass Candy – “Iko! Iko!”

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Oru Kayak, A 12-Foot-Long Kayak That Folds Into a Carrying Case

The Oru Kayak is a 12-foot-long, water-ready kayak that can be folded up into a compact 33 x 29-inch carrying case for easy transport. The kayak, which is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, can be assembled without any tools in around five minutes. The Oru is currently available for purchase.

images via Reign23

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Pneumatic Sponge Ball Accelerator, A 'DIY Particle Accelerator' Featuring 1,000 Sponge Balls

The Pneumatic Sponge Ball Accelerator is an art installation by Berlin-based inventor Niklas Roy that features 1,000 sponge balls traveling through a series of pneumatic tubes inspired by particle accelerators like CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The tubes are power by household vacuum cleaners — which help the balls travel at speeds of around four meters per second.

As I'm a fan of science and physics in particular, I find it a pity that the current particle accelerators make the observation of the little speedy particles so complicated. This should be something that a broader audience can enjoy!

Roy is the self-described "inventor of useless things” behind such products as The Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine.

images via Niklas Roy

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Finely Detailed Fairy Sculptures Crafted From Metal Wire

photo by Jo Fitzpatrick

UK-based artist Robin Wight creates finely detailed fairy sculptures out of metal wire. He makes the sculptures out of three different gauges of wire (for the skeleton, flesh, and skin) in an arduous process that is usually customized to the client’s wishes and the location where the sculpture will be installed. Wight’s sculptures can be viewed at Trentham Estate in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

photo via Robin Wight

photo via Robin Wight

photo via Robin Wight

photo via Robin Wight

via reddit, Colossal

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