Miley Cyrus is apparently ratchet now, and her attempts at twerking seem to suggest she is really trying to mean it. As we sit back and watch her try to ingratiate herself with the hip-hop community, let’s take a moment to think about what could’ve been if Miley had been around during the ’90s and early ’00s and discovered rap when some classic albums were released. Here are some beloved hip-hop albums with Miley on the cover courtesy of TheDrop.fm. As unfortunate as her VMA performance was, it could be way, way worse.

If Miley Cyrus’ performance at the VMA has turned you off of twerking, or if you just find cartoon butts bouncing around hilarious, this is for you. Or, you could look at it this way — we went through the trouble of parsing through all the twerking GIFs and selecting only the ones that don’t require a NSFW tag. Frankly, it doesn’t matter how you look at it, as long as you look at it, because cartoon butts bouncing up and down ARE hilarious. End of story.

You’ll rarely see a photo today that hasn’t been manipulated, generously enhanced or overlayed with dozens of filters, but in truth this has been happening since the dawn of photography itself – its just that the process of manipulation has evolved. In the early 1800s and even through to the 1900s, if you wanted to alter your photo to create an illusion it was an incredibly labor intensive process. There was combination printing, photomontages and even overpainting – all took time and all had significant drawbacks. Which makes the following collection of fun and somewhat illusory photographs all the more impressive. They were created during an era where you genuinely had to be measured and considered in how you were adapting the film negative itself. There was no magical ‘undo’ button, just lots of trial and error and trying to adapt the technology as best you could. But its safe to say, thanks to the creativity of those involved, all of these images bear little resemblance to their original photographs – it’s amazing what a little magic can do isn’t it?

Now you might think our fascination and general obsession with cats first came about with rise of the internet and a certain LOLcats meme, but you’d be more than a little mistaken. The original creator of the cat meme and those funny kitty photos which we all love, was in fact an American photographer called Harry Whittier Frees (1879–1953). He was dressing up & photographing his two felines (Rags & Fluff) long before the rise of animated GIFs and Tumblr streams. His mother was the creator of all the tiny outfits, aprons, pyjamas and jackets that the pair wore, whilst Harry was the individual patiently waiting behind the lens (exactly like Ren Netherland) ready to capture the perfect moment. But what was that magic moment of inspiration that compelled both her and his mother to create these hilarious scenes? Apparently his fascination with dressing up animals started back in 1906 at a birthday party. During the course of the celebrations a paper hat randomly ended up on the pet cat’s head – causing outbursts of laughing and merriment. From there he knew the formula and the rest as they say his history. During his lifetime, his animal photographs became wildly popular (some things never change!), so much so that they appeared on book covers, calendars and even post cards. Occasionally he even included a story with each photo which was then published in popular magazines around the world. Today our love of cats in silly hats and all the millions of kitty memes are still going strong, but it was Harry Whittier Frees who started the fur ball rolling.

When it comes to tourism, many countries highlight their unique landmarks (Sydney Opera House in Australia, The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy) or cultural celebrations (or the Rio Carnival in Brazil & Running Of The Bulls in Spain) as a reason to visit. But Nantes, the 6th largest city in France has an entirely different proposition to lure tourists to their region. Tucked inside several warehouses that were formerly used as shipyards, sits an exhibition titled ‘Machines of the Isle‘ (or if you’re a local Les Machines de l’Île de Nantes) that will genuinely blow your mind. Since it’s inception in 2007 it has captured the imagination of thousands of tourists visiting the area. But what is it exactly? It’s the creation of two artists François Delarozière & Pierre Orefice, their vision is based upon “Visualising a travel-through-time world at the crossroads of the “imaginary worlds” of Jules Verne and the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci.” and if that sounds as ambitious as it does exciting you’d be right. Over the past 6 years, together they’ve built 3 major machines, ‘The Great Elephant’ back in 2007, ‘The Marine Worlds Carrousel’ in 2012 and ‘The Heron Tree’ which will be available to the public in 2014. Of the three, most famous is ‘The Great Elephant’ and it’s not hard to see why. Standing 12M high and stretching 8M wide it’s a structure built from a staggering 45 tons of timber and steel. But what is truly remarkable about the machine, is that was it was designed to actually move and carry members of the public. 49 to be exact and it can do so easily without any issues for around 45min. But it doesn’t end there, Delarozière & Orefice have brought other creatures to life, giant spiders, deadly venus fly traps, pterodactylus and even fish that could swallow you whole all make an appearance as you wind your away around their world. So next time you’re in Europe and what to experience something different away from the hordes and cramped cobble streets of Europe’s tourist traps – why not head over to Nantes? It’s a place where the past and future truly do collide.

In the near future, all photos will be selfies. It's best to accept this inevitability now. The front page of the New York Times. A picture of Barack Obama taking a selfie with Karolos Papoulias? Sports photojournalists will be obsolete, having been replaced by athletes whipping out their cellphones and snapping a quick shot while running for a touchdown. It's sad, but it's true, and already, the negative effects of the selfie are being chronicled on "Selfies at Serious Places," which aims to shame the kind of people who, well, see above. THUMBS UP FOR GENOCIDE.

As if it wasn’t bad enough for us guys that Parks and Recreation actor Chris Pratt was out there, bragging about how shredded he looks for his leading role in Guardians of the Galaxy, now we’ve got former teen heart throb and current 20-year old heart throb, Nick Jonas, posting his own shirtless selfie on Instagram, all in the name of “fitness.” The youngest Jonas Brother prefaced his photo with the caveat, “I never do this but…” to which Huma Abedin rolled her eyes and said, “Heard that one before.” But Nick is actually an inspiring idol, as he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 13-years old, and he has done a great deal of work to raise awareness for the disease, both through his own Change for the Children Foundation and with a variety of other organizations. Maybe next he can start a foundation for insecure bloggers who swim in their t-shirts. For other people, I mean. Not me. I’m ripped, too. Shut up.

On Monday, the always delightful Juan Williams, who lost his job at NPR after telling Bill O’Reilly he gets “nervous” when he’s on airplanes with Muslims, vomited out some words in the Wall Street Journal about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Or more specifically, about the dangers of The Rap Music.

If you are like most of the population in America, then you probably have to get your water heater fixed every once in a while. And like other people in America, you probably are home when strange people come into your house to do some repairs. Well, turns out that some people go the extra mile to make gas men... feel special I suppose? I don't even know to be honest. Here, just, take a look at this:

Julia Vins has the face of a cute girl and the body of a man. Hot or not?

In the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) students learn anatomy by painting a live body.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon A Time in the West and For A Few More Dollars which were all filmed on this site in Spain's hostile Tabernas Desert, Almeria. Now it stands abandoned.

People were treated to the most unusual free lunch ever by corporate giant, Rentokil who are celebrating 85 years in business.

Travis Louie is the master of developing odd little characters who convey quirky personalities. His illustrated figures boast antlers and fangs and strangely shaped heads, and he pairs each unique portrait with a creative story in order to provide a bit of background about each imaginative character. To achieve the dramatic, old-fashioned feel to his illustrations, Louie creates monochromatic images with acrylic paints over graphite drawings on smooth illustration board or wood panels. He merges supernatural, alien features with human qualities to create the unique beings of his own imaginary world, a world that he says is "inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters who appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society."

This New York Hospital makes being sick a little less scary for their younger patients by installing this fun CT scanner.

Food posts are always a special treat for the eyes, but this selection of Foodscapes by London-based photographer Carl Warner is definitely something different. Yes, that’s right – all of the pictures below are actually created out of fresh foods! Artist uses a wide variety of different ingredients, such as deli meats, fresh fish, fruit, vegetables and bread, and builds entire worlds that look unbelievably realistic. His food art include ships sailing off into the horizon or battling stormy seas, the Great Wall of China, forests and mountains, and Carl demonstrates an amazing eye for even the smallest details. Carl has been working in advertising and shooting still lives for over 25 years, and has been developing his Foodscapes idea for the past 10 years already. His know-how about shooting table-top pictures and usage of artificial light has undoubtedly aided in making the food pictures look so realistic. For the most time, you can’t even tell that the miniature food models aren’t actually landscape photographs. The Foodscapes received international recognition back in 2008, and Carl has been coming up with new pieces ever since. Besides food, this artist also uses other medium to imitate landscapes. His sensual Bodyscapes project featured intricately tangled human bodies, which make you tilt your head a little with each picture.

Finnish photographer Susanna Majuri presents a dreamy escape where the human form flows freely. The fine art photographer's portfolio boasts a number of imaginative scenes, all taking place underwater. There's a painterly quality about her work that makes the viewer question whether they're actually looking at a photograph or an oil painting. Despite having to hold their breath while being submerged in water, the characters in each frame seem unaffected by their confinement. They float through the translucent density with an ease in their motion as they bathe in their surroundings. The artistic photographer even manages to present her subjects in surreal scenes, each with their own magical narratives.

The Chinese language is a fascinating and expansive beast. The general rule is that if you recognize around 200 characters, that will allow you to understand around 40% of what you see – from menus, to street signs, through to newspapers and television commercials. That’s enough for most tourists to travel around the country quite easily. If you want to get lost in a chunky novel, you’re going to need to be familiar with around 1000 different characters. And finally, if you’re planning on being an astrophysicist in China, you’re going to have to broaden your range to around 20,000 characters.

Tumblr-er Mythsandfabrications’ daughter wanted to dress up their pet hamster David Bowie, but instead they made these cardboard cut outs. I think that’s a fair trade. Especially for Mr. Bowie’s sake. I mean, hamsters don’t wear clothes! Dogs, yes. Cats, if you’re brave. Guinea pigs, sure. Bunny rabbits, definitely. Snakes, of course. Turtles, duh. But hamsters? C’mon now, that’s just plain silly.

This is a collection of Superhero Jewelry sold over at Etsy shop WhatsYourPassion. What’s my passion? Thanks for asking. I’ll tell you: Pizza. Plus beer. The shop’s got rings inspired by Batman, Spiderman, Green Lantern, and more! So many more. Okay, actually just like two or three more. If that. But who cares? It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Quality and also, finding someone who will buy this stuff for you. Because I sure as hell can’t afford it myself! I’d have to cut back on my pizza and beer intake and that is just not an option. Don’t ask me to sacrifice my passion — what are you, some kind of monster?

This is a collection of adorable panties with animal faces on the bum bum plus some BONUS ear flaps. The cutesy drawls come from Etsy shop Knickerocker and pairs start at $35 and go up from there. They’ve even got little crop tops to match each panty. Cuuute. I want the one that looks like a bear. You know, so I can still be bear assed. Then, I can be all “Hey which one of y’all wants to see my BEAR ASS?” and they’ll all think I mean “bare ass” and say “Dear God no! Take all my money, but please don’t show me your bare ass!” Man, it’ll be really funny. Sure, this whole situation is only going to end with my feelings getting hurt, but I guess I kind of asked for it.

Twitter user ginkei_18 creates detailed portraits of anime characters on toast. According to Kotaku, ginkei_18 creates clear plastic stencils of the character and sprinkles cocoa powder and other edible substances onto the bread to create the toast art. For more, take a look at ginkei_18′s Twitter. Previously, we’ve written about a portrait of Willie Nelson made with toast and another toast mosaic depicting a toaster.

Polish artist Roman Klonek creates delightfully vibrant illustrations using traditional woodcut techniques. The illustrations are inspired by cartoons, propaganda, and pop culture from Eastern Europe. Klonek demonstrates his labor-intensive process in this video by Bungalow.

You’re probably familiar with the phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s gold” and there’s few better examples of that than the work of visual artist Francisco de Pajaro. Much like Clet Abraham who has fun hijacking Europe’s street signs, Francisco likes to bring a bit of life, vitality and humour to our sterile urban environments. In a recently interview with James Buxton of Global Street Art he stated that:

Those are just some of the themes photographers Peter Andrew, Simon Duffy and Derek Blais explore in their proactive series titled Point Blank a collection of used handguns, shot portrait style and designed to capture your attention.

Sex is a topic that even the greatest of minds will discuss — usually because it’s always on the mind. We collected a few of our favorite sex quotes from some incredibly famous names. Check out these deep, yet hilarious, quotes about sex. You’ll probably wish you said them all.