MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

My previous post on Creationism sparked some interesting discussions, both in the comments and over e-mail. I recently came across a very well done video concerning Creationism vs. Evolution (click on the “watch” menu at the top).

The animations and imagery in all of their videos are fantastic;incredibly beautiful no matter what you believe. I suggest you watch then in order - creationism, evolution, then duality. Let me know if you notice anything familiar.

Here are Shannon, Libby, and my pumpkins from this year:

I think they turned out pretty good. Not as good as some (especially these), but pretty good for us amateurs.

Mibi strikes again with some super-sweet graphics of our nation’s budget. You can download the 2007 and 2008 versions directly, but I must warn you they are massive.

Assuming that the defense needs of our country have changed dramatically over the past couple decades I see a LOT of fat that could be cut from military spending. Why the hell are we spending billions of dollars on things like the F-22A Raptor? It seems to me that the enemies we must now defend against are all human-based: terrorists, environmental imbalance, and ignorance. Wouldn’t this money be better spent on things like hiring translators, funding research, or improving schools?

On a side note, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while you might remember that I have posted about Mibi’s work before, when the latest graph depicted the 2004 budget.

I’ve seen simple baskets and bowls made from carved watermelon, but these examples really take the craft to an art form. My favorite is the old man’s face.

Mmm… they look good enough to eat. As much as I like the cold nip of winter (which still hasn’t shown it’s face yet this year), I love eating a big dripping chunk of watermelon on a warm summer’s day.

Sometimes a site comes along that just floors me with it’s creativity. Bembo’s Zoo is just such a site.

Once you enter the “zoo” you can click on any letter and it will spell out a animal’s name beginning with that letter. Then the letters start moving and multiplying, and before you know it the letters have formed a picture of that animal! What a fun site for kids and adults to explore and marvel at - I love it!

(sent to me by the talented, and recent new dad, Nate)

I recently discovered that Elaine Park, a classmate of mine from high school, has just launched a website to display some of her work.

While it has been almost a decade since high school I can still remember the photography and crafts she created back then; her talent was obvious to most who saw her pieces. She has a wide range of artistic skills, but she really shines when mixing organic with industrial.

Like most artists she also does commercial work; the result is still elegant and beautiful (even though it’s just an ad).

Graceful and gorgeous, this incredible staircase is everything architecture should be.

On the other hand, stairs like this would probably sap my productivity. Something inside of me would want to play, and I end up spending the rest of my afternoon watching marbles and matchbox cars as they glide along these smooth, curved stairs.

Time for something fun… how about a clock made out of people?

Yup, that’s fun. Enjoy.

(via Gizmodo)

Instead of the boring pie charts and graphs politicians usually point to, wouldn’t it be great to see detailed and beautiful political visualizations instead?

The artist, mibi, is currently working on a new version for 2007 that should be out shortly - it’s going to be even bigger and contain more detailed information. I’m in contact with the artist so I will post here as soon as the new version is available.

(via chrisamiller.com and deviantArt)