Archive for decay

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Halloween Countdown: Haunted Typewriter

Posted in decay, decoration, halloween with tags , , , , on October 13, 2016 by shewalkssoftly

Grandin Road has this excellent (animated!) Haunted Typewriter in their selection of decorations this year.

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From the site:
Don’t just decorate, put on a spine-tingling show to write home about with our Animated Haunted Typewriter. The hit of your Halloween spectacle, they’ll still be talking about next year. As the unsuspecting approach, it simply appears as a forgotten writer’s relic.

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Once the motion sensor is activated, the ghost at the keyboard repeatedly depresses the keys that spell, “H-E-L-P.” Paper carriage moves side-to-side, as typewriter sound effects play, adding to the spellbinding illusion.

Haunted Typewriter

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Agne Gintalaite: Beauty Remains

Posted in decay, photography with tags , , on August 11, 2016 by shewalkssoftly

One of my favorite things about art in general is its ability to reframe the utterly mundane aspects of life in a way that enables us to find beauty where we least expect it. I bet if I asked you to name something beautiful, “Lithuanian garage doors” wouldn’t be first on your list. But Agne Gintalaite saw something in these often ignored structures and created the Beauty Remains project.

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In her own words:
I have always been attracted by a peculiar phenomenon of late socialism, large garage areas, called ‘garage towns’ in Lithuanian. Spanning extensive areas, these garages were part of the social fabric…Clearly, such garages were not just a matter of convenience, but rather homes for cars, which in turn were not so much a means of transport, but rather mechanical pets, that required time, attention and an array of extraordinary tools to fix them.

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By documenting these objects that are, most likely, about to disappear from Lithuanian society, I wished to communicate to the viewer the ambivalent, aesthetic, but also human significance of these garage doors.
Beautifully [painted], these doors do not need be explained to the beholder. It is the fascinating play of colour and texture that I attempted to capture with my camera.

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But in doing that I found myself documenting human dignity: the dignity of the garage owners, elderly, definitely not rich people, who, by sticking to their property, garages, literally maintain their ground in an urban landscape on which big businesses increasingly make claim.

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Agne Gintalaite

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Stefano Cerio: Winter Aquapark

Posted in candy coated nightmares, decay, photography with tags , , on August 27, 2015 by shewalkssoftly

Stefano Cerio has an interesting photo series taken at a water park in China during the off season (that anthropomorphic mile high sandwich with all the fixin’s, including…goldfish…is tops!).

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Cerio’s photos remind me of Banksy’s new creation, Dismaland (which is excellent and may get its own post, but I’m skipping it for now due to the massive coverage it’s already getting).
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Stark, raw, real…stripped to bone without the hoards of happy travelers that pepper the grounds in warmer weather…we see the gloomy haze of winter transform these attractions into something disquietingly lackluster.
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Stefano Cerio
Source

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Return of the Hatbox Ghost!

Posted in death, decay, skulls and skeletons with tags , , , on May 25, 2015 by shewalkssoftly

Long Forgotten, a one stop shop for the Internet’s most interesting and thorough Haunted Mansion history, recently announced the return of the beloved Hatbox Ghost.

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His glowing head moves from it’s rightful spot into the hatbox he carries.
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It would have been amazing if they used actual props to create the face, as opposed to computer graphics…but they did stay pretty faithful to the original character (isn’t this one of the best ghosts ever?).
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I’ve previously posted about Hatbox Ghost here and here.

See more info and bonus facts on Long Forgotten.

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Matthias Haker

Posted in decay, photography with tags , on September 23, 2014 by shewalkssoftly

Matthias Haker has all different types of photography in his portfolio, but I’m particularly fond of his HD (often panoramic) images of decay.

This perspective reminds me of sacred geometry; the spirals found in the Nautilus shell and other natural forms.
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The colors manage to be both vibrant and soft, in stark contrast to the harsh toll nature has taken on these abandoned ruins. Beautiful…
“Auditorium”. (Photo by Matthias Haker)

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Matthias Haker

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Aaron J. Groen

Posted in decay, photography, space with tags , , on May 5, 2013 by shewalkssoftly

Take me to these places…I want to stargaze and be alone with my thoughts…

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Aaron J Groen juxtaposes the gorgeous vastness of the universe with transient human creations, subject to decay in what amounts to less than the proverbial blink of the universal eye.

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The things we construct in this lifetime are of little grand consequence, yet they are everything to us. How can anyone not be awestruck when the makings of human life are set against a backdrop of the cosmos?

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Aaron J Groen

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.

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Gerard Trignac

Posted in architecture, art, decay with tags , , on April 29, 2012 by shewalkssoftly

I just spent a while letting my eyes wander in Gerard Trignac’s galleries.

Much of his work is centered around architectural structures.

They are shadowy mixes of classic form and industrial grit, often devoid of human inhabitants; abandoned, yet complex and teeming with life.

Such beauty mingling with decay…

See more here.

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Desktop Goodies

Posted in absurd, advertising, anatomy, art, candy coated nightmares, craft, decay, easter, fashion, halloween, humor, illustration, jewelry, monsters, nature, robots, satire, you can't handle the cute with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 14, 2012 by shewalkssoftly

Let’s start with a little faux vintage science, shall we?

Yes. Please.

I think this cat-erpillar is on my craft to-do list now. You can make it move in many kinds of ways.

Just your average post-Easter bunny mass suicide (nice work decorating the seasonal isle, guys):

Best weather forecast ever:

You know it’s spring when the Chevys start blooming again.

Grandfather of the Michelin Man

If the Sears portrait studio offered this, I would totally get in front of a camera.

A quizzical little Max Ernst piece:

Excellent ad:

Love this…

Truly amazing top hat idea:

I’d be reluctant to buy these for the sheer amount of lacing required, but this custom painted pair is quite a work of art.

Cute crafty robot:

Perfect for Halloween season (or anytime, really):

Clock for the guest room, to make folks feel welcome:

Does anyone know the origin story of this ice cream truck?

If you haven’t heard, divorce rings are becoming…a thing, proving once again that no human milestone…however brutal…can’t be commodified.

Nice…

This has come up on a few favorite blogs now…

Exquisite.

Ghostly beautiful…

An amazing collaboration between Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, circa 1938:

And Jesus rides in on a unicorn to save the day…

Marie Antoinette’s royal beauty regimen was far less time consuming after her loss…

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Desktop Goodies 3/20

Posted in absurd, advertising, antiques, art, decay, fashion, humor, meat, nature, vintage with tags , , , , , , , , , , on March 20, 2012 by shewalkssoftly

Let’s start with an amazing real life Batmobile pig shaped food truck! I’ve never seen anything like this. Completely awesome.

And speaking of bats, this was actually a political cartoon of yesteryear:

When was the last time you saw a bat in striped boxer shorts?

Does anyone know the artist for this painting? I love the color scheme and lighting.

Excellent parenting:

“Gee, it’d be mighty swell if you’d be my date for the apocalypse!”

I feel like I’m looking into my future:

Don’t be fooled by brilliant marketing, ladies…I’ve worn apple scented perfume for 15 years and have yet to be bitten.

Who are YOU going to believe?

Where I sneak away at night…

Next time you’re on a boat, remember that this is exactly what’s going on underneath you.

LOVE these gentle specters:

A photo that takes my breath away:

This is an actual Victorian dress, as far as I know. I’d love to meet the woman who wore this color during that era.

And while we’re on the topic of vintage attire, this is what women used to wear before we only had the option of prepackaged “slutty hornet.”

(2012 versions often cover less than a swimsuit and have titles like “Queen Bee-otch”…I’m not kidding)

The “magpie” costume actually looks very much like my prom dress in 1997.

This costume beats them all though (insert choice pun about “hamming it up”).

The end.

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Daniele Del Nero: After Effects

Posted in architecture, craft, decay with tags , , on February 27, 2012 by shewalkssoftly

Daniele Del Nero’s After Effects is a series of architectural scale models covered with black paper and flour…left to mold.

I always find it interesting when an artist purposely lets nature take its toll on pieces of work. Objects find themselves splashed with new life, new colors, as the process of decay takes over.

Del Nero states:
My purpose is to talk about the sense of time and destiny of the planet after the human species, through the sense of restlessness which abandoned buildings are able to communicate.

See more from this series here.

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