Dave Murray’s Art is Viciously Fantastical

Dave Murray is a Chicago-based artist working in photography, sculpture, and digital media. Falling, Jumping, Mirrors, Office Plant, Shark, Cans, Skies, Stars, Frisbees, Bats, Ghosts, Boxes, Boulder, Rocks, Legs, Cones, Balloons, Mandalas, Skull, Cheerleaders, Sports, Politics, and much more. – via http://www.davidamurray.net/

I stumbled upon Dave, well not so much Dave, but his wickedly funny “Self Portrait as a Dinosaur with Dog”, on display at the School of the Art Institute’s Boomerang exhibition space on Wabash, between Madison and Monroe, in Chicago. 

“A” Train Dancers Bust a Move on the NYC Subway

The unexpected and spontaneous can often be a lot more fun than planned and calculated.  This is one of the reasons I love street art.  A chance encounter with a captivating image can be an enthralling experience.  Not limited to spray paint on concrete, street artists and performers share their talents in unexpected venues, as do these dancers on a New York City subway car.

Launch Party at World’s First Private SpacePort

Sixteen months after breaking ground in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the world’s first commercial spaceport “Spaceport America” celebrated this weekend with a launch party for the facility’s two-mile-long runway (watch the ceremony here).  A partnership between the State of New Mexico and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the spaceport has been providing commercial satellite launch services for the past few years, and will soon begin its much-anticipated space tourism flights, ferrying lucky (and wealthy) customers into suborbital space for a few minutes of weightlessness and a remarkable view of our planet.

Week’s 5 Most Popular Stories: Oct. 18-Oct. 24, 2010

 

Determined by your clicks!

My Brain is Ignoring My Nose! Kooky Song of Mind Blowing Facts

It’s Friday afternoon and about the right time for a bit of buffoonery.  I’ve called on farcical songster and today’s court jester, Jonathan Mann, to fire up his patented Songatron and spin us out an amusing little ditty.  Please note that it’s always my goal to make sure you learn something new when you visit, regardless of how idiosyncratic. 

What Jonathan has created for our enjoyment accomplishes both of our goals by giving you a few nuggets of titillating info and a smile on your face, both of which I encourage you share with friends this weekend.  Want more from the Songatron?  You can sign up here to receive Jonathan’s Song-a-Day via email.

Jonathan: “I stumbled on to a really wonderful thread on Reddit.com about the most mind-blowing facts people could think of. I collected a bunch of them and made this song!”

Share Your Most Extreme Moments with an Extreme Video Cam

Anyone watching the news coverage last week from the Chilean mine rescue, at some point would have found themselves inside the rescue capsule as it made its ascent up the tunnel to the surface.  You were there with the miners thanks to an amazing piece of video (which if you haven’t seen, watch it here) that was recorded on a very spartan, very rugged, and all around very impressive little digital video camera called the GoPro Hero.

Created in 2004 by a group of self-professed athletic super geeks in Silicon Valley, the GoPro Hero was originally designed for fellow amateur outdoor sports enthusiasts who needed an easy-to-use, wearable recording device, to capture then share with the world the crazy shit they do.  True to the original design’s form with their latest model, the new HD Hero 960 is

Chicago Highway Ripens Into Hothouse Vegetable Farm

Studio Gang made waves on the international architecture scene last year with their award-winning design for the new Aqua Tower in Chicago.  Like many of the firm’s previous projects, the Aqua was designed to foster a strong connection to the outdoors and the surrounding environment.  To this end, the building features outside terraces, integrated solar shading, and one of the largest green roofs in Chicago (btw, Chicago has more green roofs than any other major city on Earth).  Building on their environmental roots, the Gang has also developed a radical plan to incorporate sustainable produce gardens into densely urban environments.

Glowing LED Tattoos, The Next Big Thing in Body Modification?

 

Although they’ve seen a surge in popularity over the past decade, tattoos are basically created the same way they have been for eons.  Ink forced under the skin by a sharp implement.  Now, thanks to an international team of researchers, led by John Rogers at the University of Illinois, subdural illumination could soon be coming to a tattoo parlor near you. 

Week’s 5 Most Popular Stories: Oct. 11-Oct. 17, 2010

Determined by your clicks!

Clowning Around on an Innovative Self Balancing Motorized Unicycle

 

Friends, nerds, countrymen, lend me your ears.  More portable than folding bicycles and more respectable than (most) mopeds, Focus Designs‘ new Self-balancing Unicycle (SBU), keeps you upright and cruising with a similar accelerometer/gyroscope stabilization set-up as the Segway, and an innovative in-hub motor.

Scratching the Surface with Portuguese Street Artist “Vhils”

Only 23 years young, contemporary Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, chips away at established notions with his destructive approach to street art.  Reverse graffiti, architectural sculpture, creative vandalism?  Whatever you chose to call it, the images he scratches into building facades with jackhammer and pick are downright mesmerizing, haunting even.  Weather-worn faces gazing out from alleyways, lonely apparitions consigned to oblivion.

Christopher Walken Cooking Chicken and Pears

 

There’s really no commentary needed here.  It’s simply a joy to watch this man do… well, anything.  (watch the video after the jump)