Giant Straw Animals from Japan

When someone says giant animal from Japan, my first thought is Godzilla. However, these giant straw animals, courtesy of the mad geniuses at Bored Panda, are just as cool. And they don’t trample Tokyo.

“Fall is a season of harvesting, and festivals to celebrate it are currently taking place all over the world. In Northern Japan, the Wara Art Festival recently rang in the September-October rice season, and it’s a wildly inventive and fun way to repurpose rice straw left over from the harvest.

Wara Art Festival has been taking place in Niigata City since 2008, where it began as a creative collaboration between the city’s tourism division and the Musashino Art University. Rice straw was once widely used in Japan to produce various goods, such as tatami mats, but has now been replaced by wood and plastic in most instances. The students of Musashino worked together to fill the fields of Niigata with giant animal sculptures made of bound rice straw, and they’ve been doing it every year since then.

Check out the best displays from the 2017 festival below, and definitely put a trip to Japan on your fall to-do list for next year.”

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Image credits: Wara Art Matsuri

Intentionally Bad Designs

I love good design. And it takes a good designer to create intentionally bad designs. Thanks to Katerina Kamprani and the mad geniuses at Bored Panda, you can see what I mean.

“The Uncomfortable” is a collection of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects by Athens-based architect .

While most of product designers are often trying to make objects as useful as possible, Kamprani here does the exact opposite trying to discover the best way to annoy everyone with her creations.

#1 Engagement Mugs

#2 The Uncomfortable Mug

#3 Hourglass Salt & Pepper Shakers

#4 Long Mug

#5 Thick Fork

#6 The Uncomfortable Teapot

#7 Concrete Umbrella

#8 Triple Door

#9 The Uncomfortable Fork

#10 The Uncomfortable Champagne Glasses

Good Times at San Diego Comic-Con 2018

1. Arriving at the Convention Center
   
2. Horrific tooth creature from Channel Zero: Candle Cove
   
3. Amazing Lord of the Rings models from Weta
   
4. A stylized Gandalf
   
5. The Moose from Chappie resin kit by Weta
   
6. Alita Battle Angel
   
7. One man’s interpretation of Edna Mode
   
8. Cuphead figures
   
9. Star Wars trooper
   
10. Scary creatures from Sideshow Collectibles
    
11. Warhammer Space Marine Blood Raven
    
12. Terrifying evil Batman and Robins
    
13. Alien vs. Predator
    
14. With NY Times bestselling fantasy author Todd McCaffrey
    
15. Bioware power armor suits
    
16. With children’s authors M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
    
17. With children’s editor/author Ed Masessa
    
18. Author collaboration panel with Jenni Holm, Matt Holm, M.T. Anderson, Eugene Yelchin
    
19. Mars panel with astronaut Leland Melvin and The Martian author Andy Weir
    
20. Stargate cosplay
    
21. Cosplay knights
    
22. Comics panel with Stan Sakai, Cecil Castelucci, and Sergio Aragones
    
23. YA/MG Fantasy panel with authors Tomi Adeyemi, Daniel Jose Older, Victoria Schwab, Kiersten White, and Maggie Steifvater
    
24. Apocalypse panel with authors Cory Doctorow, Scott Westerfeld, and Andrew Smith
    
25. Flame Princess cosplay
    
26. With NY Times bestselling authors Peter Clines and Jonathan Maberry
    
27. Fearless women author panel with NY Times bestselling fantasy authors Rachel Caine, Seanan McGuire, Susan Dennard, Victoria Schwab, and Laini Taylor
    
28. With NY Times bestselling author Nancy Holder
    
29. Star Wars cosplay
    
30. Giant Boba Fett display
    
31. Animatronic Deadpool’s Super Duper Dance Party
    
32. South Park characters. Kenny lives!
    
33. Pacific Rim
    
34. Dragonball Z
    
35. Dragon cosplay
    
36. Self-deprecating Deadpool advertising on toilet seat covers
    
37. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein panel with Jonathan Maberry, Kiersten White, and Merrie DeStefano
    
38. Frankenstein takes the cake
    
39. Academy Award winner Sir Richard Taylor (The Lord of the Rings) sculpting in clay.
    
40. With co-panelist and NY Times bestselling fantasy author Laini Taylor
    
41. With co-panelist and NY Times bestselling fantasy author Livia Blackburne
    
42. With co-panelist and NY Times bestselling fantasy author Maggie Stiefvater
    
43. With co-panelist and NY Times bestselling fantasy author Kevin Hearne
    
44. Our fantasy literature panel packed the room
    
45. Huge Hot Wheels cars
    
46. Life-sized LEGO Aquaman
    
47. Life-sized LEGO Thanos
    
48. Mantis photobombing the Power Rangers
    
49. Personalized Magic the Gathering cards
    
50. Dungeons & Dragons panel with Naomi Novik, Delilah Dawson, Kevin Hearne, Ray Feist and R.A. Salvatore
    
51. Trump’s Titanz standee
    
52. Game of Thrones cosplay Iron Throne wheelchair
    

53. Children’s Literary Agent panel with Taylor Martindale Kean, Tim Travaglini, Jen Baxter, Kari Sutherland, Thao Le

54. Fantasy Literature panel with Victoria Schwab, Livia Blackburne, Maggie Stiefvater, and Kevin Hearne (Laini Taylor not shown)

Modern Disney Princesses

There seems to be endless fascination with the Disney princesses. Thanks to Fernanda Suarez ad the mad geniuses at Bored Panda, you can see a modern take on them.

“In recent years, we’ve seen quite a few reimagined ‘modern’ versions of the Disney princesses we grew up loving and admiring. This latest interpretation by Chilean digital artist Fernanda Suarez, however, might be the fairest of them all.

Starting with Snow White back in July, Suarez has gone on to illustrate 7 classic princesses in hip, present-day fashion. These sketched-up smoke shows look like they follow Luxy Hair tutorials on YouTube and shop for clothes at Forever 21. They probably post selfies with their ‘princes’ on Instagram and all agree that NAKED2 is the best eyeshadow palette. Oh yeah, they probably also campaign non-stop on social media for the equal rights of dwarfs, marine wildlife, and big cat conservation.”

#1 Mulan

#2 Belle

#3 Jasmine

#4 Ariel

#5 Pocahontas

#6 Snow White

#7 Cinderella

Graffiti is Art

Sometimes graffiti is vandalism. Other times it beautifies and amuses. Thanks to Tom Bob, Monika, and the mad geniuses at Bored Panda.

“American artist Tom Bob is running loose in the streets of New York, and let’s hope nobody catches him.

Using street “furniture” like poles or electrical terminals, Tom creates colorful and whimsical pieces that interact with their surroundings. From turning a sewer into a frying pan, to transforming gas meters into quirky lobsters, Tom Bob is making the city a much happier place for everybody.”

World’s Tiniest Disney Princesses

Some people can’t get enough of Disney princesses. But these are the smallest (and cutest) I’ve ever seen. Thanks to Karen Marie/Belly Beautiful Portraits, Genevieve Shaw Brown, and ABC news.

“No doubt these tiny babies will always be precious princesses to their parents, but now they have the photos to prove it.

Disney’s “amazing tales of love and heroism have always been an inspiration to me,” California-based photographer Karen Marie told ABC News.”

Marie decided to let her favorite Disney films inspire her work, putting out a call for newborn babies for a princess-themed photo shoot at her Belly Beautiful Portraits studio.

Six babies participated, all of whom were about two weeks old at the time of the shoot, Marie said.

The studio decided which baby would be dressed as each princess before they arrived.

Marie and the babies’ parents were surprised to find that the portraits now are being enjoyed and shared by people around the world.

“I hope it’s because I captured a small portion of the Disney story in each image and that people see the beauty in what I was trying to create,” Marie said.

Marie, who has been a maternity and newborn photographer for more than a decade, said this shoot was special.

“I love seeing the parents doting over their babies dressed as princesses and their reactions to my finished work,” she said.

The babies’ gowns were created by Sew Trendy Accessories and are now available for sale, so parents can create their own Disney princess-themed photo shoots if they choose.

Marie said she has plans for additional Disney princess- and heroine-themed photo shoots in the future.

Owl-Shaped Cabins

From where does inspiration come? What causes someone, perhaps sitting drink a cup of tea, to decide it would be fun to build an owl-shaped house? I have no idea, but I’m glad it happened, thanks to the mad-geniuses at Bored Panda.

“An adorable cabin built to resemble three forest owls is now ready for campers in the Bordeaux region of Southwestern France, and it costs absolutely nothing to stay the night. It’s part of an initiative encouraging city dwellers to get off the grid and experience nature, and we can’t lie – we’re dying to go for it!

The plywood shelter contains three floors, circular white beds, and an adjoined boardwalk overlooking nearby wetlands. Dubbed Les Guetteurs (“the watchers”), the timber strigidae were designed and constructed by contemporary art producer Zébra3, a project commissioned by artist-architect collective Bruit de Frigo as part of their Refuges périurbains (“peri-urban shelters”) campaign.

If you’re planning a trip to Bordeaux in the near future, you can book your free stay in Les Guetteurs – or one of the many other unique camping structures in the area. Honestly, who wouldn’t want to give up electricity for a few days to live inside a wooden trio of owls?”

Image credits: Bruit du FrigoImage credits: Bruit du FrigoImage credits: Bruit du FrigoImage credits: Bordeaux MétropoleImage credits: Bordeaux MétropoleImage credits: Bruit du FrigoImage credits: Bordeaux MétropoleImage credits: Bordeaux Métropole