Jason Hackenwerth’s balloon sculptures are playful, dramatic and slightly indecent. Some of them can be worn; some of them fire unspeakable things. Ideal for adding a whiff of trauma to a child’s birthday party.

There are films of the sculptures too. (h/t, Coudal.)

Burn your guitars, the Optron has arrived. // All hail Mothra! Incomprehensible happenings in Japan. // Dr Manhattan’s penis is discussed at length. Oh, and the rest of the film too. // They come in peace, in puffer jackets. // Your very own Sarah Palin. // In unrelated news… // The Spirit. Ghostly cop, unruly dames. // The boombox backpack. // Styrobot. // The 2” cube PC. // Radar consoles we have known and loved. // Defunct spacecraft versus atmosphere. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus) // Space, as seen on TV. // Colours of the Moon. // Procrastination flowchart. (h/t, Coudal) // Moscow Zoo, 1920. // The photography of Josef Hoflehner. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Mr Shawn Lee and his Ping Pong Orchestra. 

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

(h/t, Coudal.) 

PETA wants ice-cream made with human breast milk. To spare those little cow teats. (h/t, Dan) // Woman trapped in home by giant pig. (h/t, Ace) // A house made of cellophane. (h/t, Coudal) // “Researchers have created a balloon-like membrane just one atom thick.” // Nanosoccer. // The shorter thesaurus. Big words made small. // Interstellar Sugar. Or some other powdery substance. // The bathtub planetarium. A partial success. // Handblown lamps. // McCain supporters visit New York’s Upper West Side. Umbrage ensues. “Nazi Germany!” // Great moments of symbolic failure. // When kickboxing goes horribly, horribly wrong. // “You use your left hand and yet you claim to hate Satan?!” // Designer yachts. // UPL8 TV. Stupefying stuff. // Rubik’s cube for the blind. // Tetrapod erasers. // Piano and light painting. // Hamlet and Facebook, together at last. // Chimps quite skilled at buttock recognition. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Mr Willie Dixon.

A few more ditties from the ephemera archives.

Grace Jones: The Apple Stretching. (1982)

Mohammed Rafi: Jaan Pehechan-Ho. (1965)

Charles Trenet: Boum. (1938)

Valaida Snow: I Can’t Dance (I Got Ants in My Pants). (Circa 1933-36)

Washboard Sam: Diggin’ My Potatoes. (1939)

Johnny Cash: One Piece at a Time. (1975)

Ray Charles: Night Time is the Right Time. (1959)

Sly & the Family Stone: Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). (1969)

Julie London: Black Coffee. (1960)

Penguin Café Orchestra: Music for a Found Harmonium. (1984)

Use them wisely.