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Friday, March 27, 2009

Nightmare Playgrounds, Part 3


"QUANTUM SHOT" #550
Link - by A. Abrams



When you are trapped in a nightmare, you might as well enjoy a swing and a kiddie-slide

As we mentioned in Part 1, these often hilariously ugly sculptural atrocities for kids are seen mostly in Eastern Europe and Asia, and are the results of either artists being lazy, on drugs, or sincerely believing in artistic expression but lacking skills to pull it off. The weird thing is, we really like to see such crazy playgrounds everywhere - yes, bring it on! - at least your urban landscape will turn from soul-deadening to mind-boggling.


1. Aaah! I hope this thing is not going to roll after me (like a wild unshaven Katamari)

Open the gates! Fun awaits "beyond thrice nine lands, in the thirtieth kingdom" (Russian idiom, written in the image below) -







2 - 20. Various awesome examples of Russian playgrounds, including the "Cheburashka" character, via


23. Pig? from Saratov kindergarten - photo by Tatiana Mitrofanowa
24. Wolf, threatening to sing (don't let him!) in playground in Tomsk - image via



25. "Swan Lake Ballet" by Mikhail Dronov, seen in Moscow - image via
26. Is this... Jar-Jar Binks?? - photo by Lyudmila Juhimec




27, 28 - Again, Cheburashka - and Dr. Aibolit "healing" animals;
Bottom image 29, 30, 31 - various abominations



32. Abandoned playground in North Chertanovo, Moscow - via

Mushroom Land! I like it -


33. unknown location

Japanese Manga Monster Land! (like it even more) -


34. image via

Drunken statue and his dog (turns out to be a memorial to Russian poet Sergei Esenin... come to think of it, an interesting, charming interpretation):


35. in Krasnoyarsk; image via

Many Soviet pioneer camps in the 1930s through the 1950s featured standard-issue pioneer statues, which since then fell in awesome disrepair (most often you'll see headless, limbless young athletes, spread all around the forested grounds) These statues stood often just outside children playgrounds.... see the one below, a tragic "love triangle" tale:


36.

This is a winner (Peter Straub, author of "Shadowland", take note!) - from Soviet pioneer camp Petrushkovo:


37. photo by KateLiby

Here are some kids that played in Soviet pioneer camps in the 1930s:


38. - photo by Nikolai Khlopov, via

Animals keep getting weirder (but why not? I ask you, why not). This cow is part of many wonderful cows installation in Madison, Wisconsin:


39. image credit: Masha Vodyanik


40. A goat in Nizhny Novgorod - image via
41. strange puppies hanging in a tree in one kindergarten




42-44, originals unknown

This cow stands near the sign "No Swimming" but conveniently has her eyes closed! -


45.

"Climbing structures" with wicked dark fantasy portals build-in inside, just possibly -


46.

The Swings!... of all sorts. Permanently frozen:


47. - spotted in Fira, Santorini island, Greece.

For the "frozen in time and morphed into bricks" kids:


48. - the bricks are actually an open book, in downtown Charlotte, NC


49, 50 - a space baby, and a pesky monkey


51. Dante Fascell Park in Miami, sent to us by Jay Zwelling

The Slides... Are Epic. They should definitely lead into some sort of alternate reality:




52-55. Hard landing guaranteed




56, 57, 58. - nameless place, a cannon in a forest, and a rusty elephant

Actual slide in Poland. Apparently, the designers did not mean anything bad, they just did not check out a particular angle...


59. image via

See the video (slide in action) and continue to the read the rest -


Link

So, you've seen how low in taste a slide can be, now feast your eyes on a good slide example: a giant robot "thing":


60.

Some examples of grass-roots creativity from the Wild West:


61. Does it double as a mail box? We've seen worse. - 62. Beer caps get respect in Bavaria, Germany - image via


63. photo by Paul McLaughlin

Not at a playground, but close to it in a park - "The Mother" (Maman) installation in Paris, by Louise Bourgeois (more info):


64. image via

Also not playground, but so cool that I just have to include it (relax on this bench after playing around - but beware, time flows differently once you sit down...) -


65. Bench at the Dali museum entrance in St.Petersburgh, Florida - photo via

Very awesome steampunk horse:


66. unknown location

Androids and robots get into play:


67, 68. somewhere in Moscow

Back to the miserable grounds... Babushkas seems to like it:


69, 70

A murder scene -


71 - via

Sigourney Weaver in "Aliens"! -


72. (original unknown)

So... after all you've seen you still want to play and run around? Go ahead, make my day -


73. Seen in Moscow, in Sokolniki Park - image via)

READ PART 2 HERE ->
READ PART 1 HERE ->

Also read:
Abandoned Amusement Parks in Asia, Part 2

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Weird,Abandoned

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COMMENTS:

14 Comments:

Blogger John Kankley said...

It looks like the Manga Monster is crying.

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL @ phallic slide

___  
Blogger ediFanoB said...

I love your blog. I asked myself: Where do you get these terrific pictures from.

Your blog lighten my days!

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No. 11 (the concrete robot thing) is called Tilli-Willi. You can find it in a book by Alexander Melentyevich Volkov called "The Yellow Fog".

picture 1 , picture 2

___  
Blogger Alexandre G said...

Number 48 is a sculpture of children on a giant book in down town Charlotte. the sculpture is located in a park called the green.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98894271@N00/59412847

http://www.thegreenuptown.com/index.php

___  
Anonymous Raymond L said...

When I was growing up in the 70's, our nearby park near Los Angeles installed the "Giganta" robot slide. Very popular; it wasn't just fun to climb inside of...many an intrepid explorer climbed up the outside as well and would slide down the tops of the arms (very safe!)

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the Mushroom land thing is in Göteborg, Sweden. I vaguely remember this...

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

#47 is in Fira, on the island of Santorini in Greece.

___  
Anonymous WannaSmile.com said...

Wow...that's just freaky deaky!

___  
Blogger Rodrigo said...

Giganta reminds me of the Wicker Man.

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"24. Wolf, threatening to sing (don't let him!) in playground in Tomsk"

It is not so much a playground element, but rather a statue to a cartoon character. In the cartoon, the wolf was led covertly to a house to eat and drink, as a return gesture for the wolves previous actiones which led to the dog's being accepted back to the household after it had been kicked out for gross negligence.

having eaten and drunk a lot, whiule hidden under the table at a marriage party, the wolf said "And now I shall sing", and thus revealed its presence, to the dismay of the dog and those in the room.

___  
Anonymous the Raven said...

there was one of those big robot things in my local playground. wonderful structure, but they boarded up the head bit when i was young to keep kids from getting stuck/doing drugs up there and eventually tore the whole thing down. now the park is "safe," and i have to say, much less awesome.

___  
Blogger Carrie said...

I never get tired of looking at these.

___  
Anonymous Jenny said...

I´ve seen the spider in reallife thay had it in sweden for a while it´s really big but cool. :D

___  

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  • umm...you cant actually train fleas. they are all GLUED to said chariots and such. QI recently covered this topic on BBC one and its torture from the fleas point of view.
    so yeah, flea circus = glued fleas
    Read more

  • OTOH, fleas lack both a central nervous system and sentience, and are thus unable to feel pain or suffer. It's like arguing that a bacteria suffers when we take an antibiotic...
    Read more

  • Going through your fascinating post I couldn't help but think of the movie "Jurassic Park" and the scene in which park developer, John Hammond, played by Richard Attenborough, decries the breakdown of the park, dinosaurs running amok, his grandchildren unaccounted for, his incredulity at why things were going so bad, when it was after all only a giant flea circus like the one he had as a boy.
    Read more

  • Ahh!.. this made my day )
    Read more

  • I'm honored to be a part of this fascinating article! Thanks, Avi!

    p.s. Another glorious filmic flea was Marcello's trained assassin in City of Lost Children.
    Read more

  • Whoa...I thought that all flea circuses were motorized...I didn't realize that some used actual fleas. Or am I right and just gullible?
    Read more

  • Ah-- and sad to say that you did not include my show in your roundup

    The Acme Miniature Flea Circus.

    http://www.trainedfleas.com

    I perform all around the country, have recently finished a successful run of performances in Chicago. (February 2009)

    (Articles linked to on my new flea circus review blog)

    http://www.acmefleacircus.blogspot.com including a couple of videos.
    Read more

  • Wonderful article! I was fortunate to see the Flea Circus at the Tivoli Gardens in 1962. The fleas lived in a box and were brought out for the show. They were then attached to the little vehicles during the show. We could not see the fleas, only the little vehicles which magically moved along on the platform.

    The wife presented the show to the audience, while the husband would go out to neighboring farms to find the fleas. He would feed them by rolling up his sleeve and give them a meal on his arm!

    After they divorced, the wife no longer continued the flea circus. She converted the performing space at the Tivoli to a "Mouse House" which consisted of a small village of buildings such as a school, several stores, homes and police station, etc. which were empty and the mice ran around, in and out of these small buildings.

    I brought my family to the Tivoli in 1978 and found the Mouse House after looking for the flea circus which was no more. There was a small set of bleachers where the audience could sit and watch this performance. It was a hilarious show watching the constant scouring around of the little mice., in and out of the buildings. I and my children were rolling with laughter.
    Read more

  • Anonymous - updated with your show! Thanks for the tip.

    Farmgirl, really enjoyed reading it. From fleas to mice, eh? Well, mice are more visible, I suppose.
    Read more

  • "Fleas fleas me, oh yeah, like I fleas you"... by The Beetles.
    Read more

  • Is this article an early April Fool's joke? I was always under the impression that flea circuses were faked, and wikipedia seems to agree with me...
    Read more

  • AJ - Wikipedia does not seem to agree with you, here is the link
    Read more

  • I really like the posters. They are modern but have a feel of antiquity.
    Read more

  • Anonymous: Yes QI did cover the topic but it was a bit biased and I think their main source of research was Wikipedia.

    Most fleas were wrapped with wire, not glued.

    Bloggadocious: A lot of people like that quote, lots of people use flea circuses in films.

    Farmgirl: That's a good insight into the Ellsie Torp and the Flea Circus and then Mouse House.

    You can see the Tivoli Gardens Flea Circus from 1956.
    Read more

  • I didn't think the Chernobyl pics would get on here too. If you look at them please join the forum aswell, we're really friendly...sometimes.
    Read more

  • Wow! These are funny and would certainly seem a challenge! Although the majority of them are not really designed for serious performance, one that is (and has been performed) is Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet, from the first series. It's actually a part of an opera 'Wednesday from Light'.
    See here:

    http://www.stockhausen.org/helicopter_intro.html

    for an explanation by the composer himself, and here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13D1YY_BvWU

    for part of the first performance.

    I watched a fascinating documentary of the rehearsals and first performance. Classical music now officially has no bounds!
    Read more

  • Thank you Perpetual Music Student (hope you mean "perpetual" in a good way)
    Read more

  • Isn't that Handel?
    Read more

  • No, Handel seem to look a bit different - link
    Read more

  • Check out this one: http://www.dofoundation.com/images/pvh.jpg

    At http://www.jurriaan-andriessen.nl/index.php?pageID=11 You can listen to this music under "portret van Hedwig beluisteren"
    Read more

  • Jeroen - fantastic! can't wait for next part to include it.
    Read more

  • Some of this notations- Yoko Ono's "Voice Piece for Soprano", a note for percussion, Takehisa Kosugi "+ -" - were performed by Sonic Youth on their SYR4 "Goodbye XX Century" album
    Read more

  • There is actually a totally restored tu-144 in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in germany, still a shame that the one in the article is just left there to decay.
    Read more

  • A french kiss is just called un baiser in french, or possibly un patin.

    Also, Hitler wasn't a vegetarian, that was just propaganda put about by Goebbels. This from the same site: http://everything2.com/title/Hitler%2520Was%2520A%2520Vegetarian
    Read more

  • hitler didnt only have one testical either.

    stephen fry and the QI research elves are more trustworthy IMO than the interwebs :)
    Read more

  • "What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France"

    Sorry, but it is totally wrong... We call it "baiser" or "patin" (but it's a kink of a slang expression).
    Read more

  • Powerless helicopters do not crash. They autorotate.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation_(helicopter)

    The longest autorotation in history was performed by Jean Boulet in 1972 when he reached a record altitude of 12,440m (40,814 ft) in an Aérospatiale Lama. Because of a -63°C temperature at that altitude, the engine flamed out and could not be restarted as soon as he reduced power. By using autorotation he was able to land the aircraft safely to the ground.[citation needed]
    Read more

  • Oh, but you did mention autorotation. I should learn to read faster and think slower.
    Read more

  • Speaking of the Mi-26 I really like the Mi-24, the Hind, cause it really has some charisma.
    http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-24
    Read more

  • Just as a note, the CH-47 is actually classified as a Medium Lift Helicopter, as was the Sky Crane. The military did develop one Heavy Lift helicopter, but I don't believe it went into production: The XCH-62. It looked like the child of a Chinook and a Skycrane.
    You can find info on it at:
    http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/h-62-pics.htm
    Read more

  • I apologize; the Sky Crane was classified as a Heavy Lift Helicopter. The XCH-62 was to be the next step up.
    Read more

  • As a helicopter pilot and DRB nerd, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this article.

    I also agree that it is a shame the Mi-12 is not still in use. If I was a dictator, I would totally fly in one of those.
    Read more

  • Yet another side note:
    Another interesting Big Helicopter was the AH-47, an attack version of the CH-47 which was loaded with more firepower than any one chopper should have. Check it out at:

    http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/chinook/gunsagogo.html
    Read more

  • No wonder the Rooskies went broke when they built every helicoptoric notion that came into their heads.
    Read more

  • The carter copter is in fact a gyrocopter with variable pitch blades. Gyrocopters differ from helicopters since the rotors are always in auto-rotation making them safer in an engine-out situation.
    Read more

  • While the Mi-12 is indeed cool (it's essentially two Mi-6 power units with a new fuselage) it had some pretty severe "ground resonance" problems -- vibrations due to the downwash were so severe they caused structural damage.

    As far as the Mi-26 is concerned, another way to visualize the size is this: the cargo bay of the "Halo" is the same size as that of the C-130 Hercules transport.

    Lastly, while you did include the Chinook, the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion/MH-53E Sea Dragon (Sikorsky S-80) has a higher payload, both slung or internal, and a higher top speed than the Chinook: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-53E_Super_Stallion
    Read more

  • "...this powerhouse could lift 26,000 pounds of cargo (12 tons)..."

    Should be 13 tons. Just thought I'd point that out.

    Interesting article!
    Read more

  • While not a giant helicopter per-se, one of the strangest experiments with cargo lifters was the helistat:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helistat

    Four helicopters were attached to a giant blimp. A disastrous crash at Lakehurst, NJ, pretty much ended the experiment.
    Read more

  • markj:

    Maybe not, check out the Boeing JHL-40.

    http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080708c_nr.html

    Agreed though, Frank Piasecki, who probably knows more about multiple-rotor helicopters than anyone really should have known better than to come up with something like the Helistat.
    Read more

  • And the BIG helicopter:

    http://www.daweidesigns.com/images/webpics/littleheli.jpg
    Read more

  • Why build BIGGER. The CH-47 can pretty much carry most anything the U.S. Army needs for field ops. The CH-47 airframe as been around now for forty plus years. Which might lend it to be one of the best designed rotor wing ships in the world. Nothing can do what it does better! Few can fly faster or higher. I am talking 14.000,00 Ft. mountain rescues. The Chinook can do that and more.
    Read more

  • you missed the weird and wonderful syncrocopters
    Read more

  • Verry nice job you did on this. Mi-12 is hot!
    Read more

  • one of the giant Mil V-12 was recently converted to a flying hotel, chek this out:

    http://hotelicopter.com/
    Read more

  • WOW ! The Soviet ones are huge ! Great post. Thanks.
    Read more

  • The office I work in has certification oversight of Columbia Helicopters and a couple other big players in the heavy lift market. We had a poster size print of the Columbia helicopter pulling the barge in the office, amazing to see.
    Read more

  • Is that the captain seat of V-22 Ospray is the right the left?
    Read more

  • Thank u very much. Great post.
    Read more

  • If you're going to mention Soviet stealth choppers, you should at least mention the Comanche on the U.S. side.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAH-66_Comanche
    Read more

  • The Ka-58 listed in your post was a fake. The original was a scale model created by Italeri in the 1980s. The molds were later acquired by the Russian manufacturer Zvezda. The design has since appeared in various computer games, and the Kamov bureau added it to their products page as a joke.
    Read more

  • The same Nazgul sits in Salzburg, Austria.

    (btw, I think it's indeed Imperator Palpatine ;))
    Read more

  • Picture 85 (More milking):

    The location is Treviso, Italy.
    Read more

  • Image #9 was of the sculpture of Alison Lapper, which was displayed on Trafalger Square's (London) 4th plinth for a while:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper#Marc_Quinn_sculpture
    Read more

  • #39 is in Raffle Place, Singapore
    Read more

  • #27 is Baron Münchhausen, pulling himself and his horse out of the swamp by his own hair...
    Read more

  • For your future issues:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/1234902886/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/3119404043/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/2509692144/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/3159050142/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/280527127/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/829260349/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/markb120/286680290/
    Read more

  • Once I would open the big wallet in Melbourne. It lies in front of a bank. But they locked it safely ... *ç%&$!!/*
    Read more

  • #58 is definitely an HR Giger ,a href="http://www.authenticsociety.com/img/hrGiger.maske.jpg">creation/a>.
    Read more

  • #54 is in Stockholm, Sweden.

    Nice blog!
    Read more

  • So creative and weird!!!
    Read more

  • #64 is a Jens Galschiøt sculpture "Survival of the Fattest", which resides in Ringkøbing. But attends UN meetings, a powerful statement about the rich western world vs the poor third world.

    http://sculptures.aidoh.dk/index.html?&view=list&lang=uk&year=0&arttype=0&motive=4&material=0&sizecat=5&availability=0&view=list&order=2&rpp=15&start=0&ID=341
    Read more

  • gigantic impaled beetle:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/viejito/179747777/
    (by Jan Fabre, in Leuven, Belgium)
    Read more

  • #45 is in Malmö, Sweden at the Triangeln square. It's ghastly!
    Read more

  • 27 is Baron Münchhausen, getting himself and his horse out of a swamp by pulling his own hair.
    Read more

  • No 62. is in Sarajevo, and it is kind of hommage to a bicycle, main form of transportation during the 92-95 war.
    Read more

  • Amazing sculptures!

    In 2005 they designed a monument for Prince Bernhard , in memory of the deceased honorary citizen of Wageningen in WWII. The statue, called Freedom's fire, was in the shape of a penis, and caused a lot of commotion.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansbotje/62148772/

    The different parts are actually erecting.
    Read more

  • #58 is a sculpture by Swiss artist called H.R. Giger and is called Birth Machine Baby. I'm not sure where it is.
    On the other hand, good selection and again a great post! Keep it up!
    Read more

  • #54 is located in Stockholm, Sweden, right outside Berzelii Park. It's really awesome - the first time I saw it, from behind, I thought it was a real person.
    Read more

  • heres one in motion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMIkDT7Dhw

    its on cuba street in wellington nz.
    apparently elijah wood pissed in it (along with a lot of other drunk people on any given night)

    the water goes everywhere and its constantly breaking!
    Read more

  • #84 - I recognized the robot from the Ghibli/Miyazaki animated film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". It seems to be in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan.

    http://www.tautoz.com/ghiblimuseum/
    Read more

  • #61 is in Nuremberg, Germany

    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/11278107
    Read more

  • 83

    "Fontana delle tette" in Treviso North East Italy
    Read more

  • great selection, I am amazed you keep coming up with these great posts.
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  • #58 is indeed Giger, and is in front of the H.R. Giger museum in his birthplace of Gruyere, Switzerland.

    http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/index2.php

    I was just there this summer - the cafe across the lane from the museum is super freaky too:

    http://www.hrgiger.com/barmuseum.htm
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  • #2 are the Molecule Men by artist Jonathan Borofsky. We have a similar statue in Berlin.

    We also have this cooking robot. ;-)
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  • I'm pretty sure I saw #58, the Giger piece, at his museum in Gruyere, Switzerland.
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  • #78 Dead Bull and #79 Worshiping McDonalds are so obviously photoshopped. Why include them?

    Otherwise another great drb post.
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  • 26 is in Petrozavodsk, Russia
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  • The Sharks are all from San Jose, California not Los Angeles... they were part of a fundraiser and represent local support for the NHL San Jose Sharks!
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  • But where is #57 from? I have to know!

    Now holding my breath...
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  • I've seen a similar statue to 18 in Salzburg, here's a link to a picture i scrounged up from the internets:
    http://damiandaily.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/salzburg-statue.jpg
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  • I must admit, every time I come home to England through Scotland, (I work in Kilbride but live in Leeds) I see the Angel of the North, and it just makes me feel like I'm home again. It's a sight for sore eyes, and no matter how long I'm away, I love coming back, just to behold that sight.
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  • By the way, thank you Avi for another great addition to DRB.
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  • the walker vitoria spain.
    http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&q=caminante+vitoria&m=text

    also in the same city
    battle of vitoria monument
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynth/2342590565/

    this one is called by people el torero.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/luismi_sanz/3276569390/sizes/l/
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  • I believe "weird face" 55 is poet Boris Pasternak. You know, "Doctor Zhivago" and so on. ;-)
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  • #37 in not Illustration to the "Fox and Crow" fable, but a monument to the cheese "Дружба" (Friendship).
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  • You should add "city without a heat" its a statue in rotterdam in rembrance of the WWII bombing.
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  • and by heat I mean heart and by rembrance I mean remembrance.
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  • nr.10 the thumb is also in Denmark, beit an original i'm not sure, but it's in Louisianna museum.
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  • My votes are for 3, 4 and 64.
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  • Oh you guys would gonna love Vigo, Spain! :DDD

    Awesome weird statues everywhere! :D

    Some examples:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/leorolim/sets/72157609488597111/
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  • hehe, #3 & #4, a match made in, er, bronze
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  • nice little ice-cream in cologne germany:
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Oldenburg_claes_eistuete_koeln.jpg/399px-Oldenburg_claes_eistuete_koeln.jpg
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  • I'm not sure why you have the "maddeningly bizarre" part in the title. Why would this make you angry? That's a weird choice of word. But I enjoy the big grouping of public art. Some of it is awesome. Some of it is bordering on dysfunctional (what's with all the urination?)

    Oh, and I agree - lose the photoshopped stuff. There's only two of them, and the serve no purpose to include in there.
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  • oh melbourne onesss ^^
    the purse is coollll its on the shopping strip in melbourne called bourke st
    when i was really young, i used to love those skinny dudes, people used to put gummy rings on their fingers and sometimes cigarettes in their mouths, but now when someone does it, homeless people steal them !! :(
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  • Hi Avi, No.12, the Angel Of The North, in Gateshead UK, is by Anthony Gormley. Check out his site here: http://www.antonygormley.com/home.html
    My favourites by him are, 'Another Place' - men standing on the beach at Crosby,Liverpool, and 'Sound II', which stands in the often flooded crypt of Winchester Cathedral.
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  • The crane in Wateringen, Holland was first build in front of the `zeeman` (underwear distributor` building in Alphen aan den Rijn, Holland. It was build in the middle of a pond. used too see it everyday on my way to work. Cool too see it back on the internet
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  • 30 is Pushkin
    31 is Yevgeny Leonov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Leonov) - his character from "Gentlemen of Fortune" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068519/)
    The person on 32 is actually Yuri Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow (the sculpture by Tsereteli is indeed called "A Street Sweeper")
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  • #78, the bull lying down in Manhattan, is definitely a Photoshop. That picture was taken at the almost-very-bottom of Broadway where Wall Street begins, called Bowling Green. There IS a sculpture of a bull at Bowling Green, but he's standing confidently and isn't knocked over -- unless there's been some vandalism since I left NYC six months ago.
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  • Wow, I really would like to structure a world tour around this post! But since I'm broke, thanks for the virtual tour.
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  • No.16 & 20 - Statue of two pissing men in the heart of Prague. There is also a phone number which you can text and they piss the message into the water.
    Btw, for the next part I suggest David Cerny's babies on the Zizkov TV Tower. Also quite weird.
    Keep going, DRB! :-)
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  • Nº 35 in Barcelona Spain
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  • Try this awful one in Prague. Pics 22, 23 and 24.
    http://haha.nu/funny/strange-statues-around-the-world/
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  • Actually, 22, 23 and 24 down in the Around the World section. My apologies.
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  • The pod photo looks a lot like a compact version of Monsanto's "House of the Future" that Disneyland had back in the 1960s.
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  • That pod is actually the six shell bubble house, or "Bulle a six coques" by jean maneval, only 30 or so were made and scattered in the foothills of the french pyrenees. I must have one, even if it means building it myself! (see here http://davidszondy.com/future/Living/bubble.htm)
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  • You should include this one
    http://englishrussia.com/?p=2307
    2 bullets fired in 1857 collided mid air!!! then they were found agin in 2008 over 150 years later!! Imagine the odds.
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  • I think the satellite picture is a bit out of proportion. According to that picture those satellites are the size of Paraguay. I do believe the largest one out there is the size of a school bus. Artistic/journalistic license perhaps.
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  • The submarine collision isn't really that surprising. It's fairly commonplace for more than one nation to be tracking the same events or unknowns at the same time, and that means multiple subs will be operating in the same waters. Unfortunately, the need for stealth means that it's more likely that such collisions will occur.
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  • what satelite picture? I don't see any pictures comparing the satellites size to earth...

    If you close one eye and put your hand over the other, your hand will be larger than your visual perception of the universe, but i believe the largest hand i ever saw was the size of compact car.
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  • If the Tunguska event was delayed by several hours, The Earth would not have been hit ... if you want to re-aim that rock, you have to remember that the Earth is a moving, as well as rotating target.
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  • Actually a collision would not have detonated the warheads, outside of a very specific arming and detonation sequence their specifically designed remain inert (even break if necessary) just to prevent that very thing.
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  • "Close call for Europe -
    Interestingly, had the meteorite struck 4 hours, 47 minutes later, based on the rotation of the earth, it would have hit St. Petersburg, the nation’s capital, rather than some remote area of the country."

    When did the Capital of Russia move from Moscow?
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  • The capital didn't move from Moscow, it moved to Moscow. In 1918. Smartass.
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  • HI, the link to the Robert Byron gallery is not working. This sound very interesting. Anyway to fix it? I checked the website but it seem confusing to me.

    cheers
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  • Hi, i managed to find it. I should have been more patient :

    http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/SearchExecXC.asp
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  • The Obama portrait is by none other than the great Alex Grey who has been the artist most synonymous with the band TOOL.
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  • I think Robert Byron’s photo is actually of Gosprom Building in Kharkov, Ukraine
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