Judging by the title Jelliz et Gestes (Zellij and Gesture), its easy to assume that the focal point of Sonia Kacems latest exhibition is zellij, the tradition of enameled ceramic tiles associated

AS PORTENDED by the announcement of the premiere of Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon, it was the year of the long movie at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Indeed, as the full list of titles

Traveler Wears Five Pounds of Clothing To Avoid the Extra Luggage Fees at the Airport

Photo: Gel Rodriguez

Have you ever been at the airport and discovered that your luggage is over the weight limit? If so, you know that feeling of being totally flustered and faced with the prospect of an extra weight fee. Paying it might feel like your only choice, but not if you're Gel Rodriguez. She found a creative way around the weight limit, saved herself overage fees, and became a viral sensation in the process.

In 2019, Rodriguez was taking a flight from the Phillippines and was informed that her carry-on luggage was 4.4 pounds over the weight limit. Instead of paying the feewhich is never cheapshe opted to lessen her suitcase weight by wearing more than five pounds of clothing. This meant layering shirts on her shirts and pants over her pants. The multiple garments were so bulky that they wouldnt cover one another. Her last pair of pants, for instance, only meets her knees before there is just too much fabric to go up any further.

To commemorate this travel hack, Rodriguez posed for a picture at the airport. This photo went viral, with people lauding her for the idea. What a brilliant mind, one person commented. Thank you for the idea, another said.

But would she do it again? Probably not. It was really hot, Rodriguez said. I don't recommend other people do it. That's likely good advice. In 2015, James McElvar from the Scottish boy band Rewind tried the same thing (only with more clothing) and...

For IT, Jacob Kassays first solo show in Scotland, the front-door frame of Ivory Tars is plastered with two tiny adhesive labels, each marked with one of the titular letters in both a slanted print

72-Year-Old Graduates College and His 99-Year-Old Mom Proudly Attends the Ceremony

Learning is a lifelong journey. While some people go to college early, others have a different scholastic route. For Sam Kaplan, he spent 50 years out of the classroom before eventually finding his way back at the age of 68. After enrolling in Georgia Gwinnett College, he worked toward achieving a degree in Cinema and Media Arts. The now-72-year-old proudly crossed the stage on May 11 and was cheered on by his 99-year-old mother.

Kaplan graduated high school in 1969 and lived an entire life before going back to college. Not only did he become a father of five, but he also ran a cleaning service, and a telemarketing company, and even worked part-time as a taxi driver. He was inspired to return to school after hearing about a degree that involved script writing at Georgia Gwinnett College.

Although working alongside younger students was a big adjustment, he was able to find common ground with his peers by talking about personal goals and aspirations. When you ask a student about what they want and plan on doing and find out what they want to do with their lives; I think thats uncommon with a lot of kidsthey dont get that with people, Kaplan says. I think I have a good relationship with them. I got hugs from a lot of them on the last day of classes.

The graduation ceremony was made extra special by having his family present. Even Kaplan's 99-year-old mother came to see him receive his diploma. This is my first undergraduate degree, Kaplan explains. Im the first of my seven siblings to earn a degree. We definitely wish him all the best in his new endeavors!

Sam Kaplan enrolled in college when he was 68. Now 72 years old, he finally received his degree and his 99-year-old mother proudly attended the graduation ceremony.

Yellowpop, the leading purveyor behind LED neon art, just announced its upcoming collaboration with the renowned artist Futura 2000. The Yellowpop x Futura 2000 LED Neon Collection will be launching on June 8, offering five exclusive neon pieces named Atoms, Blokes, Tondo, Signatura, and Violent Treasure.

This collection beautifully showcases Futuras distinct abstract style and vibrant color choices, complemented by Yellowpops cutting-edge LED technology, resulting in captivating and unique art pieces. By seamlessly blending contemporary art with functional design, this collection will infuse any living or workspace with a touch of artistic flair.

Lotus Land 1. All images Lina Kusaite, shared with permission

I love spending hours in the art shop, feeling the surfaces of different paper and making connections with all information that I carry with me about the project, says Lina Kusaite, whose meticulous botanical illustrations range from book pages to expansive wall murals. Mostly focusing on commissions for clients like publishers and hospitality venues, the Brussels-based artist has a knack for collaborating with other designers to determine the scale and scope of an installation or a series of drawings. I always choose projects that speak to me (and) in one or other way resonate with my point of view, philosophy, and it challenges me, she says.

Kusaite begins by hand-drawing on paper, focusing on the lines and textures of different materials like graphite and ink. I choose paper and pencil or watercolorsor bothbased on the research and information gathered in the beginning of the process, she says. I start testing different combination, colors, lines. After having enough tests on paper, I scan everything and transfer it into Photoshop, where I start playing with digital tools. Sometimes, one initial drawing can produce hundreds of versions resulting from experiments with color and style, which often spawn new ideas and techniques for future projects.

How Much Do You Know About the Italian Renaissance? Test Your Art Knowledge [Quiz]

This quiz was generated with the help of ChatGPT. Content was then revised and fact-checked by My Modern Met.

The Italian Renaissance is one of the most studied eras of art history. And while most of us are familiar with big names like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, how much do you know about the nitty gritty of this cultural explosion? This week's 20-question quiz will put you to the test and ask you about artists, techniques, symbolism, and much more.

So dive in and test your knowledge to see how much you really know about Renaissance art. Remember, if you leave your email address, you can also get your results mailed to your inbox, along with further information about this incredible moment in history.

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Test Your Art Knowledge: How Much Do You Know About Impressionism? [Quiz]

READ: How Much Do You Know About the Italian Renaissance? Test Your Art Knowledge [Quiz]

We want you to pay close attention today, friends!

Because a bunch of AskReddit users were nice enough to share cooking hacks that they swear are gonna rock your world!

Are you ready to dive in?

Lets get it started!

There you go.

If your food is bland even though youve added salt then its missing acidity.

Lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar are easy additions.

Yummy.

I use soy sauce in a lot of stews and soups to help bring out savory flavors.

My minestrone, for instance, usually has some soy sauce in it.

Now Im hungry.

My wife browns the butter before she adds it to chocolate chip cookie dough and theyre the best freakin cookies Ive ever eaten!

Dont burn yourself.

Leaving a potholder on the handle of a cleaned cast iron pan to let anyone who might put it away know it may be hot as it cools down.

Ditto for any skillet that comes out of the oven after roasting or braising. A towel immediately goes over the handle to remind myself not to instinctively go for the handle.

Uh uh.

If a recipe says to saut onions and garlic together at the same time, DONT.

Do the onions first, and then add the garlic when the onions are just about done.

Garlic can be over sauted and it takes on a bitter flavor.

Makes it easier.

Prep everything first.

Have all of your veggies cut and ingredients ready. You will be more relaxed.

Clean as you go. Wash your dishes while waiting for your food to finish cooking. Less dishes to deal with at the end of the night.

Good advice....

Fascism is a word thats been used a great deal these last few years, says the article pictured above (scanned in full here at the Internet Archive). We come across it in our newspapers, we hear it in our newsreels, it comes up in our bull sessions. Other than the part about newsreels (todays equivalent being our social-media feeds, or perhaps the videos put before our eyes by the algorithm), these sentences could well have been published today. Some see the fascist takeover of modern-day democracies as practically imminent, while others argue that the concept itself has no meaning in the twenty-first century. But 78 years ago, when this issue of Army Talk came off the press, fascism was very much a going and fearsome concern.

Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II, writes historian Heather Cox Richardson. The mission of Army Talks, in the publications own words, was to help its readers become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.

Even if youre someone who isnt fond of dreary days, or maybe as a healthy fear of thunderstorms, theres a good chance you still enjoy taking a big whiff of the smell of those first raindrops on the breeze.

If youve ever had a moment of whimsy and stuck your tongue out to taste the rain, though, you know it doesnt taste good at all but why?

...

Premiering in April 1987, MTVs Headbangers Ball featured music videos from metal and hard rock bands of the 80s and 90severyone from AC/DC and Mtley Cre, to Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard and Twisted Sister, to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Van Halen. If youre jonesing to revisit some metal classics, youre in luck. Some enterprising soul has created a playlist of 1,215 music videos featured on Headbangers Ball. Watch them above. And all along, keep in mind, that the metalhead kids who passed their time watching these videos turned out alright in the end, largely becoming well-adjusted adults. Or so thats what retrospective scientific studies show. Enjoy

If you would like to sign up for Open Cultures free email newsletter, please find it here.

If you would like to support the mission of Open Culture, consider making a donation to our site. Its hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. You can contribute through PayPal, Patreon, Venmo (@openculture) and Crypto. Thanks!

via Brooklyn Vegan

Related Content 

1980s Metalhead Kids Are Alright: Scientific Study Shows That They Became Well-Adjusted Adults

Watch Heavy Metal Parking Lot, the Cult Classic Film That Ranks as One of the Great Rock Documentaries of All Time

...

Ladies and gentsits time for some REAL TALK.

Because AskReddit users officially went on the record and admitted whether or not they FART in front of their partners.

Are yall ready for this?

Lets dive in!

Never on purpose.

Not purposely.

I might have an accident every now and then.

Like lifting something heavy.

You bet.

But yes, yes I do. Were married.

I wasnt about to spend the rest of my life hiding a very natural bodily function.

He also knows that I poop.

Classy.

No.

I fart behind my partner, so it sneaks up on her.

Lets drop the act.

My wife of 10 years still likes to pretend like she doesnt fart.

Im almost offended by it. I mean I dont expect her to act Terrence & Phillip style around the house, but Ive seen babies escape her vagina in graphic detail, I dont think we need to act like shes immune to human bodily functions.

Personally Ill attempt to quietly fart, and if she notices shell make a face but otherwise be ok. I have some stomach dramas and if I dont release gas I tend to get real bad stomach cramping.

I guess personally with marriage I feel like we should be free to act like nobodies watching. It feels like a waste of energy being all private about things.

Weird love.

I dont have a dog so we blame it on ducks.

We also do not have ducks.

We are weird.

LOL.

Yes.

Sometimes I do it by accident, sometimes I do it intentionally.

When...

THE VISIONARY American moving-image maker Ken Jacobs has created an extraordinarily large body of work that is at once varied and obsessive. The task of exhibiting a selection of close to seventy

STANDING IN THE AIRY GALLERIES of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art on a brisk Thursday morning in March, I thought of the famous Rilke poem The Panther: > From endless passing of the

Cool blues and vivid oranges, the colors of seas and sunsets, offered moments of sumptuous splendor in Eileen Quinlans The Waves, an elegantly austere show of eighteen primarily abstract photographs.

Just a handful of the fourteen paintings in Josephine Halvorsons Unforgotten called on trompe loeil conventions. But with the show following hard on the heels of the controversial Cubism and the

The endless courage of trans and queer people to make themselves seen and heard within this fucked-up and increasingly fascist chapter of our shared history is nothing short of miraculous. Make Me Feel

The collaborative exhibition A redistribution by Mitchel Cumming and Kenzee Patterson combined the artists distinct practices with aplomb. Patterson often makes art out of unorthodox materials and

How can we take pleasure in beauty, knowing the cruelty that goes on all around us? In this exhibition, Melvin Edwards asked this question in earnest, seeking an answer in the foundational American

When Germaine Kruip came across the work of Laura Grisi in early 2022, she was struck by the affinities between their respective artistic practices. They were born a generation apartGrisi in Greece in

Protean artist Camille Billops (19332019) is perhaps best known for Finding Christa (1991), a film she codirected with her husband, historian James V. Hatch, about her decision to give up her four-year-old

In Japanese folklore, the ungaiky is a demonic mirror that bewitches with its reflections. But there is disagreement about what it actually does. Some say it shows phantasmagoric and shifting illusions

Do you remember the first time you looked out of the window of an airplane? Perhaps a childhood experience of looking down on clouds, your visual acuity sharpened by adrenaline, to gaze at endless fields

Conceived as altarpieces for the baroque church of San Giuseppe delle Scalze a Pontecorvo in Isabella Ducrots hometown of Naples, the three larger-than-life works on paper presented as part of the

In his critical text for Lucia Kochs exhibition Crte (Section), Francesco Perrotta-Bosch emphasizes that the artist works with rubbish: The raw materials that are the subjects of her photographs

Pilvi Takala seeks honesty in Marc Augs non-lieux: those purposive spaces we visit but in which we never dwell. While a place serves as a conscious refugea mold for collective identitya non-place

The viceroys of Peru, rulers from 1543 to 1821, were depicted in official portraits following very rigid models to highlight political power and emphasize theatricality. Unlike many other cultural

Zhang Xiaogangs exhibitions can feel like a dream loop in which you keep entering the same room only to find the furniture has been rearranged. For the past three decades, his paintings have consistently

T. Vinojas stitched-textile landscapes might come across at first as ordinary maps, but on closer inspection they unravel the violent history of ethnic cleansing and civil war in northern Sri Lanka.

Curated by Joo Mouro and Lus Silva, Jonathas de Andrades exhibition Eye Spark opened with Looking for Jesus, 2013, twenty photos taken in Amman of male passersby whom the artist asked to offer

Material talks, the Canadian sculptor Liz Magor has said, and in The Rise and The Fall, an exhibition of ten works spanning 2017 to 2021, its true. A panoply of sculptural assemblages large and

INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN artificial since people invented a word for it. How could a single term accommodate attributes as far apart as knowledge retention and logic, organizational skills and

Born in 1950, at the height of the baby boom, Bonnie Lucas developed a feminist aesthetic that was undoubtedly influenced by saccharine depictions of postwar domesticity alongside the dramatic rise of

WITH THE PASSAGE of Floridas Dont Say Gay law restricting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, and with the recent wave of acutely transphobic legislation throughout

Back in the 1990s, when being a homo still held out some promise of a radical existence, when the underground was still alivethough, unbeknownst to most of us, in its pre-internet death throesthe

Limned by reflections of a low sun off the Hudson River, the Kitchens temporary gallery at 163B Bank Street in New York offered a perfect foil to the black-box ambience of the institutions permanent

The past decade or so has seen a concerted effort to retrofit a national art-historical narrative for the United Arab Emirates. It began, as these things tend to, with menwith Hassan Sharif and other

MY FRIEND BLAINE sends me the link to a website boasting a heretofore unimaginable feat: See any girl naked. The so-called deepfake generator invites you to upload any image of a clothed woman. Using

The art of Noah Purifoy (19172004)political, avant-garde, outsiderdefies easy categorization, as did his way of working. In an essay for the catalogue that accompanied Junk Dada, Purifoys 201516

Jerry The Marble Faun Torre is an artist and writer who lives in Sunnyside, Queens. Torre received his nickname when he was a teenage handyman at Grey Gardens (the artist appeared in the legendary

Why is homemaking not a subject fit for art? When Margaret Rasp raised this question in the early 1970s, she was ridiculed by her colleagues, and not only the male ones. Women, too, shook their heads.

A storyteller tasked with transmitting oral folklore instead narrates the plot of a classic Bollywood film. A lions head mounted on the wall like a hunters trophy turns out to be papier-mch. Ceramic

The high-ceilinged halls of Bergen Kunsthalls 1930s functionalist building recently housed another, quite different take on functional architectureone conjured by American artist Oscar Tuazon. Having

MOTHERHOOD IS TRENDING in the art worlda renaissance, if you will, not seen since . . . well, the Renaissance. Long considered a career liability for young artists and art workers, motherhood has

A number of the deeply political and at times terrifying images that appear in this early-career retrospective, Mike Henderson: Before the Fire: 19651985, were painted by the now seventy-nine-year-old

BORN IN 1956, artificial intelligence is, demographically speaking, a Baby Boomer. And, like many of that generation, it was often inclined to overoptimism, promising more than it could deliver. The

One noticed the vibrant colors through the windows of the ground-floor gallery before even entering it: light pink, dark blue, ocher, emerald, violet. Andreas Duscha approaches photography conceptually,

Lets begin with the drum, but move away from it, bit by bit, until all that is left is the feeling of its presence in the room. This wall text, written by Anthony Huberman, the CCA Wattis Institutes

Buck Ellisons shrewdly destablizing Little Brother, the most recent installment of his ongoing conceptual deep dive into the construction and presentation of white privilege, took as its subject Erik

An aristocrat by inheritance, an anarchist by conviction, a seducer by nature, and a wanderer by vocation, Kati Hornaas eulogized by artist Juan Luis Dazwas born Katalin Deutsch Blau on May 19,

While preparing the Eleventh Berlin Biennale, 2020, one of its curators, Agustn Prez Rubio, stumbled on an artists book by Galli, leading to her inclusion in the exhibition. Born in 1944, Galli is

Markus Brunettis photographs depict the facades of Europes sacred architecturesynagogues, monasteries, and cathedralsall of which have managed to live through, to paraphrase James Joyce, the nightmare

Rich brocades embellished with labyrinthine beadwork, florid bouquets of antique buttons and glittering swaths of sequins, mythical figures and ancient symbols gloriously wrought by an unrepentant

her solo show Whiteface, white South African artist Candice Breitz brought together many examples of whats been dubbed white fragility, a range of emotional defense mechanisms that deny the reality

WHAT IF WE BEGAN the story of digital art not with a screen but with a canvas? In the first room of the exhibition Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 19521982 at the Los Angeles County Museum of

Photo Credit: TikTok

Listen up, friends

Because today youre going to hear an important Public Service Announcement about something that you probably havent thought about much before.

Its commonplace for people to release a large group of balloons into the sky to commemorate a loved ones passing or to honor an anniversary.

And a woman took to TikTok to rail against what she sees as a dangerous practice.

Photo Credit:...

If youre like me, you only have a passing understanding of this whole crypto thing is, how to use it, and what the global ramifications of its existence might be.

There are other types of folks, though, who have been all in since its inception and I would think this man falls into the latter category.

Nadeam Nahas resigned from his job at the high school in a small Massachusetts town in March of 2022, but since then, has allegedly been running a cryptocurrency mining operation out of their crawlspace.

Image Credit:...

Last Tuesday, May 23, Adobe debuted a brand-new Photoshop tool called Generative Fill, which allows users to directly modify their images through text prompts or extend the background of a visual. The tool, powered by the companys new AI software called Firefly, is accessible during its beta testing through the desktop app. Online, some art history lovers are having a blast expanding their favorite artworks and even album covers beyond the frame, seemingly without limits while others are bemoaning the ways in which the tool can distort an artists original vision.

One key feature to note is that Adobe Firefly is trained only on the Adobe Stock library, rather than a dataset comprising all sorts of scraped content available online, therefore apparently evading the prominent criticisms of art theft and copyright violations that tailgate other generative image software like Dall-E 2 and Stable Diffusion. But in the short time I spent playing around with the tool, I can safely say there are some kinks that need to be hammered out before our dear photo editor f...

Happy Ellsworth Kelly Day! The mayors of Austin and New York have officially declared May 31 Ellsworth Kelly Day to commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday of the artist. To honor Kellys legacy, a year-long celebration of his seven-decade career takes form in several current and upcoming exhibitions across the US and Europe.

The American painter, sculptor, photographer, draftsman, and printmaker was a pioneer of the abstract Color Field movement in the 1940s and 50s and became known for his Minimalist style, distinctive use of color and geometric shapes, and incorporation of hard-edge painting techniques. Born and raised in Newburgh, New York, Kelly lived and worked in the state up until his death in December 2015 at the age of 92. For his centennial, a number of institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC); the Lever House in New York City; the Edward Hopper House in Nyack; the Glenstone Museum in Potomac; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art are celebrating his lasting legacy with a number of special shows and programs honoring both Kellys most famous and lesser-known contributions to the art world.

Through March 17, 2024, the Glenstone Museum is displaying an encyclopedic exhibition titled...

Photo Credit: TikTok

Lets cut to the chase: we all know that pretty much EVERYTHING at the store costs more these days.

Food, condiments, trash bags, ALL OF IT.

So that means that more and more people are looking for ways to save money when they go shopping.

And were here to remind you that coupons still exist, friends!

A woman named Vanessa shared a video about how she has saved big money at CVS using the stores ExtraCare program.

Photo Credit: TikTok

In the video, Vanessa shows viewers that she cut down her bill at CVS from $80 to only $21 by using coupons.

The videos caption reads, I did NOT expect my total to go down that low. W...

In the last few years, artist Wangechi Mutus bronze sculptural work has been a topic of obsession for art types who are enthralled by her hybrid visions, which capture the fantastical garden shes been cultivating in her imagination. While I always found her drawing and other two-dimensional work visually captivating, particularly when you get into the weeds of the composition, color, and lines often approaching poetry in its tendrils of visual explosions and elegant poise her recent sculptures really stand apart, as they stretch across genres and incubate form in the petri dish of her studio. In the current New Museum exhibition, curated by Margot Norton and Vivian Crockett with Ian Wallace, it is her sculptures that dominate the show, and when theyre given the proper...

Life is wasted when we make it more terrifying, precisely because it is so easy to do so.

In a world pocked by cynicism and pummeled by devastating news, to find joy for oneself and spark it in others, to find hope for oneself and spark it in others, is nothing less than a countercultural act of courage and resistance. This is not a matter of denying reality it is a matter of discovering a parallel reality where joy and hope are equally valid ways of being. To live there is to live enchanted with the underlying wonder of reality, beneath the frightful stories we tell ourselves and are told about it.

Having lost his mother to suicide, having lived through two World Wars, the Belgian surrealist artist Ren Magritte (November 21, 1898August 15, 1967) devoted his life and his art to creating such a parallel world of enchantment.

Girl Born in Jail Defies Expectations and Gets Accepted to Harvard University

Congratulations are in order for one exceptional young woman. Eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky Castner just graduated third in her class from Conroe High School in Texas, an admirable feat on its own; but, its all the more impressive given how much the teen has triumphed over in her young life. She was born to an incarcerated mother and raised by a single father. Through hard work and the lucky outreach of a valuable mentor, Castner is now set to attend her dream school, Harvard University, in the fall.

Castner was born while her mother was incarcerated in the Galveston County Jail. Her father then raised her as a single parent; Castner has only spoken to her mother once at age 14. The Houston Chronicle reports that the young girl showed academic aptitude, but felt she could benefit from having another adult mentor in her life. Castner was paired with Mona Hamby, and the two quickly grew close.

Hamby helped out by guiding Castner through the minutiae of life, from buying glasses to haircuts. It was a very different environment than I grew up in and thats not a bad thing, Castner told the paper. Everything that Mona taught me was very valuable in the same way that everything that I went through before Mona was very valuable. As to her strong academic drive, the teen says, There was something satisfying about having all As and having that accomplishment. Grades just meant a lot to me. She set her sights on Harvard after visiting the campus with Hamby, and she started her all-important admissions essay with her own beginning: I was born in prison.

Castner was admitted early action to the prestigious university, and she will be welcomed to campus with the rest of the freshman class in the fall. She hopes to study the lawwhile law is not an undergraduate major at Harvard, hopefully Castner will be able to pursue her passion through cross-listed courses.

Castner's success is to be applauded, and Hamby's support for the girl is a lucky intervention. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against children who begin life with parents who are incarcerated or otherwise involved in the criminal justice system....

SANTA FE The 1,900 miles, give or take, of the Rio Grande run from Colorado into the Gulf of Mexico, crossing the length of New Mexico and tracing the US/Mexico border. The river is a vital water source in this arid and semi-arid region; it is also a dynamic site of cultural ties and political interests. 

Thats why, when I visited GOING WITH THE FLOW: ART, ACTIONS, AND WESTERN WATERS, a group exhibition at SITE Sante Fe that explores the role of water in the Southwest amid the 23-year drought, and saw nary a mention of the ongoing tug of war due to wat...

VIENNA The face in splendid high relief shows a straight nose and deep-set, almond-shaped eyes. It depicts the head of the dem...

Woman Wins Cheese Rolling Race Even After Being Knocked Unconscious

 

Ver esta publicacin en Instagram

...

All images Julian Frost, shared with permission

Illustrator Julian Frost might equate his animations to one-liners. Minimal in composition, his works convey a simple idea through succinct absurdities. A line-drawn character walks with an exceptional amount of purpose only to wander a tiny cube or slam into a pillar obstructing its path, while another figure dances in an endless loop of flying daggers, detached body parts already lining the floor.

When creating, Frost strives to pare down his animations to just the necessities, likening them to jokes so well-crafted you couldnt remove a word. The goal is to create what he calls idiotic zen poetry, conveyed through repeating motions, clean lines, and healthy doses of negative space.

Find more of Frosts animations and illustrations on his site and Instagram. You also might enjoy this conversation with Christoph Niemann who discusses wit and distilling ideas.

...

Friendly Whales Approach Two Paddlers in Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Photo: Screenshots from TikTok

Picture yourself paddling along some tranquil waters when, out of nowhere, you're surrounded by whales. While they are known for mostly being gentle giants, the thrill of coming so close to some of the largest animals in the world can be overwhelming. This happened to Mariana Gioielli and Paolo Osta while they were practicing stand paddling near their hometown of Puerto Madryn, in the Argentine Patagonia.

The now-viral video shows the couple swarmed by Southern right whales. There's three of them, stay calm, an excited Gioielli, who recorded the video, is heard saying. Meanwhile, Osta looks concerned, as he hopes the whales won't knock them off the paddle. It's right under us, the woman cheerfully warns seconds before one of the mammals breaks the surface with a loud noise just a couple feet away from them.

A handful of additional videos show them trying to stay very still as the whales first approach them. Hi, beautiful, gorgeous, the woman greets one of the mammals. Throughout the footage, Gioielli continues to laugh nervously. She balances her desire to flee the scene and the awe of being so close to the whales, all while pleading with everyone presenthuman and animalto remain calm. Despite being only inches away, they both felt it was best not to touch them.

With a nervous smile, Osta begins paddling away, but the playful whales continue to surround them, even elevating their tails right next to the board. The man says, I want to get out of here. Meanwhile, the woman seems to be making the most of the additional company: Easy, easy Look at its...

Rick Hoyt, Who Finished 32 Boston Marathons With His Father Pushing His Wheelchair, Has Died at 61

Photo: The Hoyt Foundation

Rick Hoyt, whose father pushed him in his wheelchair for 32 Boston Marathons, has died at age 61. Together with his father Dick, who passed away in 2021, he competed in numerous athletic competitions and provided inspiration to differently-abled people around the world. According to his family, Hoyt died from complications with his respiratory system.

Hoyt was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth and was confined to a wheelchair. When he was 11 years old, he began using a computer to type out his thoughts. Though his father was not an athlete, the duo began to compete in races starting in 1977. At the time, Hoyt wanted to compete in a five-mile race to benefit a lacrosse player who had been paralyzed. In an interview, he explained, I wanted to show this person that life goes on and he could still lead a productive life.

Dick pushed Hoyt's wheelchair, and they came in second to last. From there, Dick began training, as Hoyt told his father that when they were running, it felt like his disability disappeared. Over the next four decades, they ran over 1,000 races. This included not only marathons but also duathlons and triathlons. They completed 6 Ironmans, with his father pulling him in a boat during the swimming portion.

Photo: Dmoore5556 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

They were most know...

As a person who has been pregnant and has given birth, I can tell you its more traumatic than anyone could really understand unless they have been through it firsthand.

That goes, I think, for most spouses who really arent able to fully grasp whats going on in a womans body and mind in those first weeks postpartum.

This woman is from a culture where women are encouraged to spend at least a month recovering, with help from her family and spouse to truly be able to rest and facilitate new motherhood.

So I (30f) is giving birth soon and we have thing in my region called zuo yue zu which is basically post pregnancy recovery. What we do is to stay in bed and try to recover the physical and mental toll pregnancy did on our body.

to clarify when I say confinement i dont mean actually just staying on the bed of course I can move around and yoga is probably going to be in my routine. But confinement as in I avoid going out, i avoid doing strenuous activity and to rest more. And yes per my doctors recommendations, she wants me to rest for at least a month.

She wants to do the same, even though she lives in America now with an American husband, but her husband isnt sure its necessary.

So Ive moved to my husbands country and its not a widely done thing here apparently and Ive already take 2 months off from work.

Ive talked to my husband about this but he thinks its very unnecessary, especially since I need someone to take care of me and the child during the period.

I tried talking about it before but it was shut down and i thought it was fine and I could go without one. but my pregnancy wasnt smooth after 6th month mark and instead of natural birth we are now going c section and Alot of stuff happened especially within the last few week so now Im pretty adamant about getting this...

Detail of Resting with Ancients (2023), edition of 12, bronze, 46 x 44 x 26 centimeters. All images Nichola Theakston, shared with permission

As far back as 5,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians worshipped the goddess Bastet, who took the form of a lioness, a fierce warrior deity associated with the sun. She was seen as a protector during pregnancy and childbirth and a defender against evil spirits and diseases. Over time, her likeness adopted the characteristics of a domestic cat, which in later dynasties assumed cult-like status, and the animals were revered and bred for protection and sacrifice. Along with mythological beings such as Sekhmet, another lion-faced, solar goddess of medicine, the deities comprise an integral part of sculptor Nichola Theakstons soulful exploration into the history, lore, and spirits of animals.

Working in ceramics and bronze, Theakstons practice (previously) centers on meditative depictions of mammals, drawing on ancient sources to connect viewers with contemporary concerns and timeless perceptions.In her continuing series of primate portraits, the subjects appear calm, meditative, or lost in thought...