Relentless

Dolphins surfing? Naturally.

It is not only our prized Artists that are worthy of media attention and that of millions of fans. The driving force of big the waves has enticed even some of the ocean’s inhabitants.

Dolphins are widely recognized as some of the most intelligent water mammals, and to a lesser extent – as great surfers. Even though it is an extremely rare phenomenon, dolphins do tend to try and catch the odd wave. Scientists attribute this behaviour to a habit left over from their early days, when as youngsters the dolphins would swim in their mothers’ ‘slip stream.’

A film on paper and in 3D, and guess what - it’s not Avatar.

How often is it that we see a film turn into a book? It only really appears to work the other way around.

But architect Johan Hybschmann has done his best to reverse this misconception. He drew inspiration the film “The Russian Ark” - a single-camera 90-minute tour of the majestic St. Petersburg Winter Palace in glorious slow motion.

Committing this lengthy, ponderous cinematic affair on paper sounds flatter than an A4, and would demand the literary attention to detail of Nabokov to be put to words. Thankfully, we are spared all of this, because of the creator’s architectural flair. Mr. Hybschmann has rendered the key scenes as lazer cut-outs in the pages of the book. The result is an oddly cinematic take on the original in spectacular detail, a level of simple ingenuity no 3D film technology can achieve.
 

The UK government has just released years of UFO files.

Feast your eyes on years upon years of UFO sighting reports.

The accounts range from the quite legitimate to the truly bizzarre, as one would expect from the nature of the subject matter.

Going through this (trust us, it's time well spent) explains the ambivalence of opinion on the subject. For every credible letter there are ten bizzarely illustrated encounters, suspiciously consistent with dated sci-fi films. The only difference is that these reports are far more interesting than the grand majority of sci-fi.

After all how many films carry the MoD seal? That's what I thought. For more info, go straight to the source: http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

The world's best and brightest currencies.

You don't have to be an aspiring millionaire or a financier to be passionate about money.

The collection and scholarship of currency is pretty much a discipline in its own and it is called numismatics. We would dismiss it as perhaps one of the most boring things to get involved in, if it weren't for some of these spectacular finds we came across.

Who knew that hidden gems like the George Best fiver, and Zimbabwe's one hundred trillion note existed? Currency seems to be a strange documentary format for big, historical figures and events.

In the case of Mr. Best - a legendary and conflicted footballer, in Zimbabwe's case - a nation under tremendous economic strain, and in the case of the Polish zloty - the nation's treasured composer and pianist - Frederic Chopin. 

This is just a snapshot, though. There is an entire universe of designs and denominations out there, Google it at your own peril. Or just go to some of the meatier examples at darkroastedblend.com

Andrew Zuckermann's oddly fascinating bird portraiture.

Andrew Zuckermann is a brave man. It takes a special kind of courage to remain calm and collected, whilst composing a perfect portrait photograph of an emu, staring straight at you.

Emu, for the record is Australia’s largest bird, and just one of tens of bird species that Mr. Zuckermann has photographed for his most recent book, simply titled “Bird.”

On paper (or screen) this sounds utterly unexciting – the subject matter is set against a clean white backdrop and photographed with a state-of-the art camera. Nothing special, until you actually witness the simple, concentrated beauty of these fabulous animals. It’s like staring nature in the eye. Or a big, hairy Emu.

For more high-resolution photos and some behind the scenes action, go to Andrew’s website.