You probably saw this propaganda photo from Iran last week, showing a quartet of dangerous-looking missiles simultaneously launching in a test exercise. It became immediately obvious to anyone with half a brain that the shot was Photoshopped, with an additional missile added for extra punch. Now Photoshop artists from around the Internet respond with some artwork of their own.

See the rest at DVICE. (via Cynical-C)

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven.  
2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.  
3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Logical analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.  
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.  
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical answers. What would you recommend to the Girl to do?

Well, here is what she did. The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."  Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't attempt to think. I would have taken the second option, but hers was most definitely better.

(Thanks, Phil!)

Like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Art by Vladimir Kush (Thanks, Bill!)

Improv Everywhere recruited 16 sets of identical twins for their latest project. Twice, they loaded the twins onto a subway train for the performance. Eight sets participated in the first outing, ten in the second, which is the one in the video. Get more details at Improv Everywhere. (via J-Walk Blog)  

 Have you ever wished you had your own private roller coaster? One you could visit anytime and not have to wait in line? Several people have taken that dream and made it happen. Read about them at mental_floss. Pictured is John Ivers' "Blue Flash" coaster.

Disclaimer: I wrote this.

See more ways to hide an elephant at Worth1000.

An elderly man in North Carolina had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back, fixed up nicely: picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.

As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence, and they all went to the deep end.

One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"

The old man frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked."

Holding the bucket up he said, "I'm here to feed the alligator."

You seem to have a bit of pork stuck between your teeth. Have some dental floss! This ad from Saatchi and Saatchi showed up in New York City. (via Unique Daily)

Holy cow, it was hard for me to type dental floss instead of mental floss!

Cracked presents the 17 top entries in their Photoshop contest If Tattoos Told the Truth. This one was #3.

While I was in a picture-snapping frenzy in Memphis, I came across this piece of graffiti in a ladies room somewhere. The sheer genius of the artist overwhelmed me.

You know how people tell a story, and by the time they say “to make a long story short...” and it’s already too late? It’s the same with written stories -they can always benefit by editing. Here’s a great idea -tell your story in one sentence. A true story. Those stories are at One Sentence. Some examples:

She realized I had lied about my "restaurant experience" when she saw her ceiling was dripping with balsamic vinaigrette.

If there was ever a good time to stop drinking, it was this morning when I woke up next to a woman in a giraffe costume.

If I had known I was going to accidentally turn my head to face yours at just the right moment, I would have chosen a much more romantic setting than a Walgreen's parking lot.

(Thanks, Bill!)

After disappearing from the internet for a few months, deputydog has decided to become a full-time blogger. His first act is to solicit designs for a new logo for his site through a contest at Worth1000. The winning logo will earn $400! He wants green for a predominant color, and if you use any capitals, you’ll probably be eliminated.

Don't you just love crop circles? The last couple of years we've seen some really imaginative ones... and some that make you just scratch your head and wonder what they were thinking. The stories we used to hear as kids were that aliens made crop circles as messages to spaceships flying above earth. I'm not even going to entertain those thoughts, because the real story is WAY more fascinating. Crop circles are an art form. Those who make them are artists. The medium is a bit weird, and viewing can be tough. The creation of such art is often illegal. Those who do it are dedicated, persistant, and serious as all get out. Read a bit about them at the Crop Circle Makers website. See some examples of their work. And read the story of the Circle Makers. Today, designing and creating crop circles is much easier with the help of autocad and other computer design program.

Nice Crop Circles

There are some standard steps in creating crop circles, and I've found a nifty how-to site.

Crop Circle Quest has some nice pictures of crop circles seen in Canada. If you liked those, here are some more pictures of circles.

Muppet fans will love this one, even if it was photographed in 1948.

Crop circles have even been used for advertisements.

You have to start somewhere, but I'd recommend learning from and with an experienced artist, because an amateur job might give aliens a bad name. What would Jor-El or Mr. Spock think of this lousy job?

You may want to display your sense of humor in a circle.

If you seriously want to read more about crop circles, go to The Adventure. It may take all day to read, but you'll be well-informed afterward.

CROP CIRCLE MEANINGS
If crop circles are supposed to be a messages (like billboards) to UFOs, what do they mean? Top possible translations:
15. "Got Milk?"

14. "Last Planet Before the Skyway"

13. "Clean Restrooms, 12 Miles"

12. "When in Southern California, Visit Universal City"

11. "Neptune Starbucks, Open 'Til Midnight"

10. "Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity", Only at Intergalactic House of Pancakes"

9. "McDonald's Next Exit, Mothership Drivers Eat Free"

8. "Marvin the Martian Was Here"

7. "Sigourney Lives!"

6. "Honk, if You Love Shatner"

5. "For a good time, call Jolly Green Giant ... 555-NIBLETS"

4. "'Star Trek Nemesis,' 12 / 13 / 02"

3. "Gort! Klaatu barada Hooters!"

2. "Welcome to Earth: An AOL Time-Warner Company"

And the number one translation of alien crop circle signs:

"You Must Be This Tall to Invade"

Thought for today: If aliens would consider us insane when they see crop circles, what could they possibly think when they see football?

This post originally appeared on November 9, 2005.

humor jokes video funny crop circle crop circles humor UFO funny weird

It ‘s such an old cliche: I don’t know art, but I know what I like. Sure, you feel that way yourself. There’s really no reason to argue about what is art and what is not, because if enough people like it, it becomes art, whether you agree or not (and whether any talent is involved or not). But that doesn’t mean we can’t make fun of it anyway. 

My Perfect Post Award for the month of January  goes to Old Guy’s
Treehouse for the story of The Little Red Shoes. He was inspired to write this when he saw the picture of an antique glass knicknack shaped like shoes. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it... it’s a work of art. You can see all the Perfect Post Awards for January at Petroville and at Suburban Turmoil. And you can sign up to give your own award next month!



Men on Art

The Museum of Bad Art. (via b3ta)

25 Secrets of the Mona Lisa.

Watch a digital artist at work.

Chopper Reed evaluates art. Audio NSFW.

Who painted this picture, and artist or an ape? I only scored 67% on this quiz! (via the Presurfer)

What would those classical sculptures look like in color? Surprise, many of them were probably in color when they were unveiled! Listverse has photos of ten classical statues as they are, and as they have been recreated in color. (via Cynical-C)

B3ta Photoshop Challenge: Extending Album Art.

The drawing of a face that survived all these years. Be sure to read all three parts of this, because it just gets better as you go.

Da Vinci’s The Last Supper has been rendered as a 16 billion pixel digital image. It may take a while to load, but you can really zoom in on this one!

Evolution of an Artist.

16 Post-It Note art projects. It’s amazing what you can do with too much free time and a closet of office supplies.

THEFT

(via Phil’s Phun)
A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre. After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.

When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and the make such an obvious error, he replied,

"Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings. I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."

(And you thought I didn't have De Gaulle to tell you this one!)

Well, I figured I have nothing Toulouse.

Three Black Men

At the National Art Gallery in Dublin, a husband and wife were staring at a portrait that had them completely confused. The painting depicted three black men totally naked sitting on a park bench. Two of the figures had black willies, but the one in the middle had a pink willie.

The curator of the gallery realized that they were having trouble interpreting the painting and offered his assessment.
He went on for over half an hour explaining how it depicted the sexual emasculation of black men in a predominately white, patriarchal society. 'In fact,' he pointed out, 'some serious critics believe that the pink willie also reflects the cultural and sociological oppression experienced by gay men in contemporary society.'

After the curator left, an Irishman, approached the couple and said, 'Would you like to know what the painting is really about?'

'Now why would you claim to be more of an expert than the curator of the gallery?' asked the couple.

'Because I'm the guy who painted it,' he replied. 'In fact, there are no black men depicted at all! They're just three Irish coal miners. The guy in the middle went home for lunch.'

Previously at Miss Cellania: Art, Art Class, and Art Show.

Thought for today: I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. -Vincent van Gogh

humor jokes video funny art artist painting