Snapshots of car journeys across America, from the 50s to the 70s, by Martin C Johnson and his wife.

(h/t, Coudal.) 

The new 122-second ad for Hovis. A journey home from the shops, through 122 years.

Agency: MCBD. The making of. More. (h/t, The Thin Man.)

Busy today, but I thought you might like to see this exploding banana mask.

You heard me.

Eye magazine now has a blog. Readers with an interest in graphic design and visual culture should pay a visit. Items there include my review of the Advanced Beauty exhibition. 

On completion, the Burj Dubai will reach an estimated height of 818m and be the tallest man-made structure in the world. In the image below, taken earlier this year, the tower is a mere 400m tall. It currently measures some 636m in height and is expected to be operational in September 2009.

More. Some punier buildings.

Steve Schofield photographs British science fiction fans who like to dress up.

I rather like the images, the discomfort and the hint of tragicomedy. But I’m less convinced by the predictable spiel about “globalisation and America’s ongoing ability to infiltrate all cultures via various channels of media.” Are we supposed to believe that these people are in some way being oppressed by international mass culture? Why don’t artists fret quite so much about the globalisation of, say, Chinese restaurants? Or doesn’t that count? And why does no-one want to dress up as Naomi Klein?

Via Coudal.

I’ve lifted these from today’s ephemera because they’re too good to miss. Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz make limited edition snow globes with a difference. Instead of the usual uneventful winter scenes, these six-inch globes offer glimpses of intrigue and alarming goings-on.

More.

Jason Tozer’s bubble photos. 

Behind-the-scenes. The physics. Via Coudal.

Ravishing Beasts is a site devoted to taxidermy through the ages. Of particular interest is the section on theatrical taxidermy, which includes such antiquated marvels as the Kitten Tea Party and Kitten Wedding. The latter is described thus:

Completed in 1898, “The Kitten Wedding” was Walter Potter’s last large work (although he was working on squirrel court scene before his stroke in 1914) and the only one in which the animals are dressed. The lady kittens have cream brocade gowns, frilly knickers, gaudy beads and earrings. The bride has a brass ring on her finger, and the groomsmen sport wild woolly heads and morning suits. The whole scene includes eighteen kittens with enormous, bulging eyes, a parson, an altar, and a rail.

Other oddities of note include boxing squirrels, hedonistic chipmunks and a menagerie of fraudulent beasts.

(h/t, Coudal.)

Ronnie Yarisal and Katja Kublitz’s coin-operated Passive Aggressive Anger Release Machine allows the user to select a china plate, a glass or an item of porcelain kitsch and reduce it, violently, to fragments and dust. “All you have to do is insert a coin, and a piece of china will slowly move forwards and fall into the bottom of the machine, breaking, and leaving you happy and relieved of anger.”

I suppose there’s always a chance the preferred item will be out of stock, or will fail to break on impact, or that the machine will jam when needed most and fail to refund a coin, prompting the frustrated user to shake and kick the machine, possibly to destruction. On reflection, that may prove an even better way of relieving stress. Or indeed of commenting on the duo’s art.

Via Quipsologies.