Do you wish to learn how to be a Retronaut?

According to the creator of my major recent cyberspace discoveries, a Retronaut is defined as "someone who goes back in time using just perception". So, if you would like to take a trip to the past, you can just visit an adorable place with an adorable name - How to be a Retronaut.

Website's database is filled with "time capsules" which are packed with images, videos and articles on all sorts of amusing topics such as the first video game, anti-prostitution posters from WWII, first sci-fi film, evolution of the MGM lion, abandoned amusement parks and many many others. As soon as you pick your first capsule, the ride begins.

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from the time capsule "The longest photographic exposure"

This cyber time machine was built by Chris Wild, an ex museum curator who now digs out and shares with people the most fascinating parts of our history from public and private archives.
He's currently working on another project called Retroscope which will be launched later this year and which will allow us to see how any place in England looked at any point in time just by scrolling the time slider.
Something similar to this already exists for San Francisco. It's the Old S.F. website and I have to admit I love spending hours and hours exploring it. Below are the photos I found on Old S.F. of Fox Theater which was built in 1929. and closed and demolished in 1963.

Women posing as construction workers during the construction of the Fox theater
1929 June 1

Lobby inside the Fox theater
1929

Lobby of the demolished Fox theater
1963 Apr. 4

Fox Theater demolition, July 26, 1963
1963 July 26

Have a safe trip and I hope you find some interesting gems.

This world is extinct. You were too late. Was I?

I was so intrigued by the articles I've read about the game called "The GlitchHiker" that I felt a strong urge to download the game just to see what happens.

Here's the story....

GlitchHiker is the game developed by an amazing group of 6 people in 48 hours for The Global Game Jam 2011 in Netherlands. They made a game which consisted of two parts: first part was the game itself and the second part was the online internet server which they called the SYSTEM. When the event started, the SYSTEM had one hundred lives. Every time a player died, a life was deducted from the SYSTEM.

The game itself was sick. It was playable but it revealed glitches which increased in both intensity and frequency as time passed and as more and more players were losing lives. Players felt a strong desire to save the SYSTEM but the game was getting more and more sick and when the SYSTEM reached zero lives, the game died and it was no longer playable.GlitchHiker was extinct.

The fact that the game kills itself as its players flunk is so perversely attractive. I admire the concept. And the music by Rutger Muller is just incredible. 

So, if you are as curious as me, you can still download the game as I won't be revealing what happens if you do. ;)

oh jelly!

We all have a soft spot for jelly, right?

Recently I became obsessed with bananagranola's photo stream on flickr. Hidden among all sorts of wonderful photos of fascinating Japanese foods, these jelly fishes drew my attention instantly.

Goldfish Jelly

On my jelly adventure journey, I came across the name of Bompas&Perr , duo from London who have definitely taken the jelly thing to the next level. Their work is a combination of food, architecture and art. By promoting their architectural jelly installations at parties and events, they made a serious business out of this.

Gelatinous St. Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace in a bowl

Funeral Jelly Installation

But my heart is with Liz Hickok , an amazing artist who constructs her dramatic cityscapes entirely out of jelly. She first constructs scale models which she uses to make molds and then casts the buildings in jell-o. By adding a light from back or underneath, she manages to add a dramatic mood to her installations.  As Jell-O sculptures quickly decay, photos and videos are the only remains of her work.

San Francisco in Jell-O

Things We Forget

Some time ago, I discovered Things We Forget , spent hours and hours checking the history of the posts and today I'm a regular visitor. I found out about this amazing blog through another amazing blog and I'm most grateful for this discovery.
This blog is run by an anonymous Singaporean blogger and street artist who draws and then leaves post-it notes in public areas all over Singapore. His idea is to remind himself and people around him about things we all might have forgotten and share some positivity.

Go and remind yourself.

soft, friendly&suitable for all ages.

Florentijn Hofman is definitely not an average gallery-exhibited artist. He likes to pick different spots and different materials for his amazing installations which interact with the environments in which they are put. This Dutch artist has a strong wish to amaze and to make life little more fun.

His latest work is The Big Yellow Rabbit - a 13 meters high sculpture of a cuddly toy,  in Örebro, Sweden.

I have a special place in my heart for some of his previous projects such as The Fat Monkey- a giant monkey made entirely out of flip flops. The sculpture was made during the Pixel-Show Festival in Sao Paolo last year and flip flops represent 10 000 pixels.

And my ultimate favorite Florentijn's project is The Rubber Duck which traveled the world and as an artist says "knows no frontiers".

The Rubber Duck, Osaka

The Rubber Duck, Auckland

The Rubber Duck, Nürnberg

And I need to quote the artist on this again:

"The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!  ^ ^