Run snail, run!
A chance earlier tube stop caused me to climb the 311 steps of Monument and catch the panoramic views down the Thames.
Our friend Flippycat has done it again… this time with a cascade of 60,000 dominoes (a personal record). It’s built from 60 walls of 990 dominoes each (plus a bit extra) — making a 14 foot long piece in over 8 days of work. And of course there were quite a few accidents making it, which every kid should see.
via BoingBoing.
Insane. Just insane.
I don’t know how you could stand the frustration of the bloopers involved in this set up. Hats off to ya!
An 86-year-old Yorkshire man, Brendon Grimshaw may have lived alone for many years on the tiny island paradise of Moyenne in the Seychelles in the middle of the Indian Ocean since he bought it in 1962 for £8000, but he is rarely lonely.
For Brendon has spent the years reintroducing the indigenous giant tortoise to Moyenne and now shares the island with 120 of the magnificent creatures, on one of the world’s smallest national parks.
The BBC’s Simon Reeve went to visit him.
Once a hideaway for pirates, the island is now a paradise of accidental conservation! But it took a lot of work in the last 50 years to change it.
He hired his own Man Friday, a Seychellois called Rene Lafortune, who helped him transform Moyenne.
Together they planted palm trees, mango and paw-paw.
They saved rainwater and pumped it up the hillside by hand, or rowed back to the main island to collect a barrel of fresh water.
It was backbreaking, exhausting work. ‘My hands were covered in blisters,’ said Brendon…
Slowly the trees grew and fruited, and eventually water, electricity and a phone cable were piped across from Mahe.
Brendon also encouraged around 2,000 native birds back to the island by feeding them. Fifty years very well-spent.
via Kottke.
What a hugely inspirational man. And what a life’s work to create his island.
Here’s Tito Puente rocking the Bronx with A Maria Cervantes on the vibraphone in 1945. And here he is again with the same song at the Montreal Jazz Festival almost 40 years later in 1983.
Go Tito!
Remember sound designer and composer Diego Stocco? He made music at the dry cleaners! And now he’s made a Burt’s Bees commercial with the help of trees and other things in nature. From his project page:
To celebrate Earth Day 2012 Burt’s Bees asked me to create a video performance in the style of my Music from a Tree. We thought to include as “instruments” also some of the ingredients used in their products, like honey, almonds, rice, and coconuts; also bees had a musical role in this piece. I performed the whole composition by playing these natural elements, no synthesizers, samplers or additional sounds have been used.
Despite it being an ad, it’s a really clear illustration of how you can get sound and music from anything, even if you’re out in the backyard “with nothing to do.” Go outside and make some music!
via SwissMiss.
Previous music + nature + commercial: the beautiful Touchwood SH-08C’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring from Japan.
Choon! Get your nature sounds on.
