Tuesday, June 30, 2009

WHY HUMANS LOVE CATS

It takes a team of scientists to determine that one of the reasons we like cats is because we're suckers for cute features like large eyes, a snub face and a high, round forehead. The sight brings on an uncontrollable impulse to nurture. I said it before and I'll say it again, Nids Love Big Eyes.

Rudyard Kipling explains eloquently the bargain cats struck when they decided to stick around.

"He will kill mice and he will be kind to Babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone".

IT'S AN ART AND A SCIENCE


Ndebele art is being used to teach children the mathematica formalae found in geometry and trigonometry.

Monday, June 29, 2009

CHINA DISCOVERS IT HAS A HEART

Animal activists in China rescued 300 cats from a dealer planning to sell them to restaurants. The animals had been captured in residential areas.

SOMETHING FOR NOTHING



Look at this really brilliant cardboard furniture.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

ONE LUCKY LADY


Now this a cat lover's dream, Riana van Nieuwenhuizen lives with four orphaned cheetahs, five lions and two tigers.

Friday, June 26, 2009

GORGEOUS BEAUTIFUL PAINTED BUILDINGS

It's a good thing a picture is worth a thousand words, because all the words on this blog are Russian. Never mind, pictures of beautiful painted buildings speak for themselves, and they say "let's have more".

Also from Russia, how about these birdhouses on a balcony.

GET YER WORLD CUP HEADGEAR ON

I'm not a sportsfan, so the fact that my country is hosting the Confederations Cup right now and the World Cup next year fills me with overwhelming apathy. It does, however, bring out the great design that makes this country so special.

The makarapa is the distinctive hat worn at soccer events. All you need is a construction hard hat, and a bit of ingenuity.

The permutations are endless, take a look at these.

IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE TOO MUCH CUTE

Especially if it's handmade

Thursday, June 25, 2009

THE FOOD CHAIN GETS A YANK

Here a stingray escapes by flying over a whale. The whales have problems of their own, they're being attacked by seagulls.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

CE N'EST PAS UN SAC (THIS IS NOT A HANDBAG)

I’m not a shoe and handbag person, I find the whole notion of paying a small fortune for an “It-Bag” completely ludicrous. I love great craftsmanship, but forking over the deposit on a car for something to put around my car keys and cellphone doesn’t seem like a prudent fiscal move in the current economic climate.

Unless it looks like a bag made by Kathleen Dunst. They’re made of polymer clay.

Monday, June 22, 2009

BLOGGERS, ACTIVISTS AND CRAZEE CAT LADIES THIS IS FOR YOU


This is an amazing proposition : no government can successfully censor the Internet, because everyone wants to look at pictures of cute baby kittens.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

FRIGHTENING FURNITURE

You won't want to bump into this freaky furniture in the dark.

BIG UP FOR BEN TROVATO


This is the funniest man in South Africa (David Bullard? Whozat?). Ben Trovato letter to the lion killers association.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

INGENIOUS INVENTION - THE BOOKCASE COFFIN


If you really, truly can't face having the coffin in your living room (even covered in a doily), this is for you. Bookshelves you can use while you're living and when you pop off, your relatives reassemble the shelves into a nice coffin. No fuss, no waste, ingenious.

Great site Inhabitat, have a look at the tree furniture and the Barbie foosball.

Speaking of Barbies, have you ever seen a scan of the inner Barbie, you might be surprised.

KARMA IS A BITCH

Shouldn't laugh, but they were trying to kill a rhino.

STILL NO SARDINES

I FETCHEZ MY OWN

Friday, June 19, 2009

LION BREEDERS FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF “ABHORRENT”


photo

News today is that the lion breeders have appealed against the ban on canned lion hunting so they can keep the scam going until they dispose of the “stock” they have on hand. They are threatening to “dump” the cubs already in the pipeline and so take the entire South African tourist industry hostage to protect their own interests.

How the scam works is this : Poor country, dollars, piece of land out in the sticks and one or two lions. Ergo, large number of cubs lovingly cultivated until they are large enough to be released in an enclosure with a fat foreign tourist and a gun. The fees are astronomical, and in some countries, if the corpse is donated to a spurious museum, the hunter takes a tax break as well. The quality of the gene pool is of no consequence since they are being bred to be shot, so mothers are bred to sons with the only criterion being a lovely big mane that will look good on the wall. Hardly what one would call conservation!

If you think this sucks as much as I do, go here. The NSPCA agrees in theory, but often need prodding with a sharp stick before they do anything.

I say let's call their bluff, let them dump all those lion cubs, the people that care in South Africa will band together and find homes for all of them.

I'll take one or two myself. Sod them, greedy bastards. Find another line of work.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

CHIPMUNK NERDS

Chris McVeigh's photographs of chipmunks and Star Wars characters. Apparently there was little coercion involved, except for almonds.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

FRENCH ARTIST BRINGS BEAUTY TO THE SLUMS


This is just so wonderful French artist JR brightens up the favelas of Rio.

Here he weaves magic amongst shacks and trains of Kenya.

A DIFFERENT SORT OF ANIMAL


I've been hesitating to put this cute little guy up on my etsy shop, because it's very different from my other animals and it's not my own design. The clothes are, but the cow comes from a book called Soft Toys (you can find a copy on eBay).

Reason I'm doing this is my etsy shop has had a total of, yep zero sales.

So back to the drawing board. As they say "build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door."

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

CLEAN-CUT SEEMINGLY-NORMAL KID ARRESTED FOR MUTILATING CATS

This is a very disturbing story because I think it happens more often than we like to admit. Animals are vulnerable and people are cruel and clueless

Sunday, June 14, 2009

AN EXTREMELY MINIATURE LABOUR OF LOVE

Nelson Mandela in the eye of a needle. Genius and patience from Willard Wigan

Friday, June 12, 2009

HOW I DESIGN AN ANIMAL TOY

Michaelangelo said that to sculpt a camel, you had to take away what was not a camel.

Unfortunately this doesn’t help much when it comes to toy design, because you never really know how it’s going to turn out until it’s finished. I don’t know how others do it, but I start with a blob and make it look more and more like a camel. It takes a long time because I find myself going through version after version with mixed results until hopefully I can find something that satisfies me. As the artist (not Michaelangelo) said, a work of art is never finished, it is abandoned.

I was extra happy when I heard about this software designed by the University of Tokyo, have a look at this clip, the accent is a treat. I was stunned by the software, it seemed to be able to do everything I do by hand, although I thought the animals had far too many small parts. They then showed the final result and, um, well, oh dear. It looked good in theory.

So back to the drawing board I was designing a leopard.

I normally recycle my flops, as much for the materials as to get rid of the evidence. I made this leopard a while ago, and although I sold a few, was never happy with it. I wanted a standing big spotted cat, so I added head and body gussets.

Legs too spindly, head too big.

Oops, this looks like a refugee from the planet Godzilla.

Alright, but it's not a leopard, it's a cheetah.

Most definitely a cheetah, but the feet are wrong.


In cheetah fabric, now it's leaning backwards.


OK, this is a cheetah, not a perfect cheetah, but more cheetah than blob. Cheetah enough to be abandoned for now. If you like it as it is, you can buy it at my etsy shop.

YAY SOUTH AFRICA GOVERNMENT

Best news this week is that the South African government finally.. finally ..finally banned canned lion hunting in South Africa. The guys who breed lions like puppies are up in arms, boo hoo, their livelihood is cut off, workers out of jobs. But seriously, shouldn't you be in a better line of work?

The law determines that a lion bred in captivity must be allowed freedom for 2 years before some fat tourist can shoot them from the back of a pickup. The breeders are demanding 2 days. They would, wouldn't they. They have 3000 "semi-tane" lions ready for slaughter.

The lion breeders are planning to appeal. They need time to offload all those semi-tame (and now useless) lions. Watch out for the Safari Club 50% off sale.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

ONE COW LEADS TO ANOTHER (T.S. Eliot)


Just kidding, it was Hemingway and he was talking about cats.

ANOTHER ASTONISHING LABOUR OF LOVE

This dolls house took 15 years to make. The library has 1000 separately bound books.

AN ASTONISHING LABOUR OF LOVE



I got this on an e-mail so I don't know where it comes from, and google came up empty, so you'll have to make do with this pattern for your bicycle seat. Or if it has to be a motorbike, there's this one.

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED


It's the limited edition Steiff Karl Lagerveld bear. However, I don't think that's Karl Lagerveld in the picture unless the Botox truck is standing out back.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

BIRD ATTACKS PEDESTRIANS

Shouldn't be laughing, but it's funny, a bird in San Francisco attacks pedestrians walking down the street.

FAFROTSKIES IN JAPAN

Fantastic word I've never heard before, fafrotskies are when things fall from out of the sky, fish, stones, and sometimes even blood and (gag) body parts! Then there were the tadpoles.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

MAKE SPACE IN THE FREEZER, THE SARDINES ARE READY TO RUN

Every year around June/July, millions of sardines strand themselves on Indian Ocean beaches, but nobody complains or tries to rescue them. Fish lovers descent on KwaZulu Natal to gorge on the bounty and fill up the fridge until next year. Dolphin, whale and shark all get their fair share.

Unfortunately, up here in Johannesburg, we have to be content with this ...

and watch it on TV.

CORNED BEEF

I didn't get this one at all. I was working on variations of cow+mealie.

Monday, June 8, 2009

I WANT ONE


I don’t usually approve of treating wild animals as pets, or worse, children, but this is really cute. And here’s the original YouTube item on this amazing creature.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

TS ELIOT DISLIKED COWS

"Their stupid gaze is hard to bear", he said.

He must have been having a bad day.

ROW BREAKS OUT OVER SHOOTING OF WHALES

The Sea Shepherds marine organisation have criticised the shooting of whales that beached off Kommetjie in the Western Cape, South Africa last weekend. Here's their side of the story. They're calling for a boycott of South African wine. I think this is a PR mistake because if there's one thing Capetonians like more than animals and that's wine.

Some local residents seem to agree that the shootings might have been a bit heavy handed

Saturday, June 6, 2009

CAT LADY


I can understand wanting to be a cat, but not look like one. Gallery of the Absurd

Friday, June 5, 2009

SPCA TO ASSIST SLAUGHTER OF 25 COWS FOR SA PRESIDENT PARTY

It's politically incorrect to say so, but I believe that some cultural traditions have had their day.

At least they're calling a spade a spade, slaughter instead of "cull" or "euthenase". Unfortunately by tradition, the bull is supposed to be slaughtered as he bellows in pain, which makes the SPCA's promise to ensure none of the animals suffer a little bit more tricky.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

SOME ANIMALS ARE FUNNIER THAN OTHERS

Some animals are just not funny, dogs aren't funny unless they're in a pratfall, dressed in a mortifying outfit or covered in whipped cream. icanhascheeseburger has millions more rabid fans than icanhashotdog will ever have.

Cows are funny and so are sheep, but insects and fish aren't. Polar bear, panda, meerkat, penguin funny, buffalo not so much.

Pigs are always funny and here's the proof.

What more is to be said about pigs and cats.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL

Art Installation by Bulgarian artist Pavel Koichev on a lake near Sofia. (AP).