The Wilderness Downtown :: Chris Milk

This interactive film by Chris Milk allows you to customize your film ... and it's awesome! You need to have the browser Google Chrome in order for it to work but if you don't already have it on your computer, it's worth the download.

I do highly recommend typing in the exact street address of someplace you know and love in order to get the full experience. LINK

Lego Click

This stop-action animation tells the tale of a man who gets sucked into a lego world which helps him find his inspiration! Though more commercial than I normally post, still very well done. LINK

Lego Pirate Theater :: NeXTSTORM

Inspired by the release of pirate-themed legos, Vassilis Chryssanthakopoulos, aka NeXTSTORM, put together this short film. If nothing else, the theater they built, complete with the curtains opening, is worth checking out.LINK

Lego Buffet :: Minale-Maeda

This piece of lego furniture by the design studio Minale-Maeda is awesome! And it appears to be fully functional with doors and drawers that open. See all of the photos at their site. LINK

Lego Crawler Town :: DeGobbi

DeGobbi obviously had fun building this post-apocalyptic roaming mechanical city. What started off as a steampunk battleship evolved into this Crawler Town. Read his write up and see a ton of detailed photos, and while you're at his flickr site, also check out some of his other photo sets to see other creations. LINK

Lego Steampunk Airship :: Zachmoe

Zach has named his steampunk airship the "Radiant Kestrel", kestrel being a type of hawk. Though I've seen other lego airships before, this one wins for style. You can see more photos at his flickr site and check out some of his other photo sets to see what else he has built. I particulary like the creation he calls the "Mechanical Stinkbug". Legos have changed quite a bit since when I was a kid! LINK

Terraform :: Robert Cannon

I want one of these! Robert Cannon creates some amazing sculptures incorporating plants. You can check out all of his work, inspired by archaic forms, imperial art, or utilitarian purposes at his site. LINK

High Altitude :: Michael Najjar

Artist Michael Najjar has taken the graphing of various stock markets' activity and recreated them as mountain landscapes. If you can navigate his graphics-heavy website, you can find them in the gallery section under High Altitude. LINK

Descendants :: Heiko van der Scherm

This animated short film features beautiful animation contrasting a rather sinister story line. The core team (names listed at vimeo) took three years to complete this fourteen minute short film! Watch it for yourself. LINK

Or learn more about the "making of" at binary alchemy. LINK

Land Art :: Gambastyle

Artist Gambastyle, aka Sylvan Meyer, creates art in situ. Working only with what he finds on site, he modifies his environment to create new scenes. See them all at his flickr set. LINK

Stickwork :: Patrick Dougherty

Patrick Dougherty does a great job of making his stick sculptures look as if they are growing in their landscapes. To date, he has created over 100 installations in public and private spaces and has a new book out. But you can see samples of his work at his site now. LINK

Heavy Metal Band Names :: Doogie Horner

Though I'm not all that familiar with heavy metal music, I can definitely appreciate this infographic that looks at the choices in band names (and the fitting use of the pentagram shape). See the full graphic. LINK

Carved Guitars :: Grey Van Kuilenburg

This guy just goes crazy with his guitar carvings! See more images at his DeviantArt site. LINK

Charting the Beatles :: Michael Deal

Using data from the book Beatlesongs, Michael Deal has put together several infographics charting information about the Beatles. Not only interesting content, the organization of the information is quite creative as well. See them all at his site. LINK

LEGO Album Cover Recreations

Though I've seen plenty of Album recreations in LEGO before, this set of 20 covers is pretty darned good. LINK

Rock 'n' Roll Metro Map

I'm always happy to see new takes on infographics and this "metro" map does not disappoint. Lines include punk, grunge, heavy metal, alternative, and even emo, with transfer stations at critical points. Just click to enlarge to see the full-size map for yourself. LINK

Beatles Stereo vs. Mono

This video tells the story of a guy going through the process of discovering the differences between the Beatles collection in stereo as opposed to the mono set. His enthusiasm is infectious and his reactions are priceless. After watching it, I'll admit that I wanted to go out and get the collection! Watch for yourself. LINK

Reversed Engineered :: Mark Bennett

Available for purchase on Artnet are these reverse-engineered architectural drawings by Mark Bennett. Yep, you can own the plans for the homes of the Jetsons, Batman, Lucy and Ricky, the Flinstones, and more—or even the entire town of Mayberry! LINK

La Puerta :: Sam3

This stop-action animation featuring doors is great. Simple yet complex and very clever conceptually. LINK

From what I can tell, this collaborative project was created by artist Sam3 and Limow is the guy who is shown knocking on the doors. Both of them are artists who cross over into street art.

Dulux Walls :: Euro RSCG London

Let's Colour is a worldwide initiative to transform grey spaces with colorful paint. This video was shot in Brazil, France, London, and India with real people doing the painting! Check out the transformation. LINK

Underground Mansion

Though currently in concept phase, this underground mansion is still pretty amazing. I particularly like the contrast between it and the next-door neighbor. Check out the video on vimeo. LINK

It looks as if the builder is Perdu but the company that put together the 3d presentation is Diffuse 3d.

555 KUBIK :: Urban Screen

So far, this is one of the better building projection projects I've seen, somewhat because of the building surface that was the background. See the video for 555 KUBIK on Vimeo. LINK

Or check out other projects done by Urban Screen at their site. LINK

Buildings :: Lauren Pascarella

Artists Lauren Pascarella definitely has her own style, one that comes through in her Buildings project. The best I can describe it is that she recreates structures. Check them out at her site. LINK

Welcome to curiopt

The blog has found a new home at www.curiopt.com.

It began as an email forwarded to just a few friends sharing some of the fabulous creations that were sent to me by others, or discovered in my own online travels. The blog began at the behest of one of those friends.

The blog does still mirror those emails that are shared with the creative people I have met. Sent on an irregular schedule, they currently include approximately five entries with a general theme. Though the theme doesn't get mentioned in the blog version, if you look back at the entries, I'm sure you'll be able to recognize the groupings. 

Why a new name now? I wanted to be able to take advantage of some of the tools available when you make your blog available to search engines -- but didn't want to "go public" with just a generic name. 

And why not share with everyone?

Enjoy!

Scratching the Surface :: Vhils

Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, creates some amazing street art, not by just painting on the surface, but by breaking into it! Check out his site, especially the Walls, in his selected works. LINK

Or watch a beautiful video of him at work. LINK

Up There

This documentary-style film tells the story of sign painters, the traditional ones that use paint brushes to do their work. Because it is depicting ads for Stella Artois, you'll need to type in your date of birth to access the site, but it's tame. Watch, meet some of the interesting characters and see how they work up there. LINK

Out of Place :: Donna Wearmouth and Simon Walvin

A unique view of the symbols in our lives, and nice photography too. See the series at Donna's blog. LINK

Graffiti Analysis :: Evan Roth

Graffiti Analysis is an ongoing study of the motion of graffiti. Custom software records the movements and creates a digital representation - allowing for additional effects and even an element of 3D to be added! Check out the site. LINK

Or watch on Vimeo. LINK

Graffiti-Influenced Sculptures :: Etnik

Street artist Etnik has branched out to create hanging sculptures that relate stylistically to his graffiti. LINK

Cylinder :: Andy Huntington and Drew Allan

These sculptures are created from sound frequencies! See more examples and read about how they do it. LINK

Franz :: Drexel University Advanced Animation

This college project has the neighborhood being conducted along to the musical score. LINK

Shorewood Lip Dub

The amount of effort put in by so many to create this lip dub it was amazing! These high school students coordinated a trip through their entire schoool - backwards! Check in out! LINK

Revamped Equalizer :: Marcelo Costa

I love the simplicity of this idea. See all the different objects one can use to create an equalizer! LINK

Sound Sculptures :: Zimoun

Zimoun creates sculptures designed to create sound. And they are still interesting visually as well! Check out the video on vimeo. LINK

Human Skateboard :: PES

Another work by PES, Check out this stop-action animation of a guy riding a human skateboard. LINK

Cannonball

This short documentary talks about skating pools in Fresno California, a fruitful pastime in the era of home foreclosures. LINK

Recycled Skateboard Art :: Haroshi

Haroshi uses recycled skateboards to create his art, sometimes sculptural, sometimes mosaics. See more at his site. LINK

Laser Cut Decks :: Refill 7

Refill 7 magazine sponsored an exhibit in which artists created designs to be laser etched into skate decks. The results are pretty stunning. Though I haven't found one site that shows a good selection of the examples, Wired has a good write up. LINK

Handcarved Boards :: Doug McKee

It looks as if some of these hand-carved skateboards may still be functional. See more at his site. LINK