The saying goes that “ones man’s trash, is another man’s treasure” and there’s no better example of this than the work of street artist My Dog Sighs. Taking discarded cans & tins that he finds in the street, he then sets about turning them into little characters each with their own disctinct personality and unique look. From the happy to the sad, from the angry to the cheeky each can’s facial expressions are created as an individual peice of art. We think his work is certainly a lot of fun and who knows, maybe in the future he’ll expand his playfulness & bring life back to other objects that the man in the street has tired of.

Thierry Henry

Being a biker is a pretty cool pastime, cruising along the highway at breakneck speed, not a care in the world, with a Harley Davidson / Chopper underneath powering you on your journey of freedom and discovery. Bikers have always been a pretty creative bunch, from their unique tattoos through to their custom logos and insignia which identifies the community / gang they belong to. Recently 21 world-renowned artists were asked to custom design a series of Bell helmets with whichever illustration / concept they wanted. As you’re about to see, these unique designs are the perfect combination of attitude and style – the very core of being a biker.

Greek illustrator Charis Tsevis is fast becoming one of the most sought after visual designers in the world. He’s already won several awards for his quite brilliant portraits created using the “macro image” effect – whereby he uses a vast range of visuals (hundreds and thousands) and combines them to format a single image / portrait of the individual. A digital mosaic if you will. And the end results (as you’re about to see) are often jaw-dropping. He has his own studio Tsevis Visual Design and when he’s not creating artwork for some the world’s most well-known and respected brands, he also teaches Editorial Design as a professor at AKTO College of Art and Design. He very generously create a showcase of his work from 2011-2012, sharing on via his official Behance profile, we selected a few of our personal favorites to share with you below. But you can can see the full range of his extraordinary work right here: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Editorial-Illustrations-2011-2012/4224749 Do let us know which ones you enjoy the most!

Lest we forget those corporate power ties & shoulder pads, the hundreds of unintentionally funny movies, all those hair metal bands parading about and finally the inevitable rise of the home computer and video games. (Here’s one of my personal favourite moments from the 80s.) But above all, one thing that even today instantly identifies the 80′s, is it’s artwork. It was an era whereby artists created some of the most bizarre, controversial and odd forms of art mankind has ever seen. Even today it’ll leave you scratching your head.

Advertising agency TBWA have created a new campaign titled Piracy, which aims to showcase that some of the world’s most iconic and best loved musicians, were robbed of their on-going success due to music piracy. It’s slightly strange that as part of the campaign, they’ve chosen the likes of Jim Morrison, Bob Marley, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and Freddie Mercury, artist whom were arguabley the most successful in an era before file-sharing and global music piracy even existed.

If you haven’t already guessed, we’re huge fans of the humble “Animated GIF” it’s recent revival and reinterpretation as a form of art, has lead to some seriously ingenious and other worldly uses. Like bringing 22 Of Your Favourite Album Covers To Life, recreating Famous Scenes From Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films and even coming together to form a music video. Don’t even get us started on these 24 cinemagraphs featuring the work of Stanley Kubrick. So you can imagine how excited we were, when we stumbled across a Tumblr photo blog called “40Licks” (clearly the artist is a Rolling Stones fan) and saw they’d been creating and sharing some really mind-blowing animated GIFs. But perhaps best of all and in the spirit of making something new out of something that already exists, you can even upload your own image and ask them to create a GIF for you. Now THAT is seriously cool. Here’s a few of our personal favs from their collection, but head over to the 40Licks Tumblr account for even more eye-candy goodness.

We always thought the Japanese were more than a little kooky in with their fashion, but it seems the Chinese are catching up with the launch of the “Facekini” – and yes, it’s as bad as it sounds. Now you can hit the beach, looking like a cross between a serial killer, Mexican-wrestler, holiday Gimp and bank robber, safe in the knowledge that your skin will be protected from harmful UV rays. How many items of clothing can lay claim to giving you 4 different styles AND sun protection? The “Facekini” are a relatively a new (fashion?) trend, having first been noticed on the beaches of Qingdao a few weeks ago. For those of you who are fans of the look, you’ll be please to know that the “Facekini” comes in a wide selection of colours. Some sellers have made the bold claim that orange coloured “Facekini’s” in particular keep Jellyfish Stingers and Sharks at bay because “orange is the colour they fear the most” Will we all be wearing them soon? Not likely. After all, imagine what you look like when you take it off. White skin and perfect dark tan / burn marks around your eyes – not the most welcoming of looks. Personally, we can’t figure out why they don’t just use parasols and sunscreen, but each to his own.

Gloriously photographed right? Glorious yes. Photograph no. It’s actually a hand-draw portrait, which took artist Samuel Silva 30 hours to complete. It’s based on this image originally taken by Russian photographer Kristina Tararina - not that you can really tell the difference… What’s even more unbelievable is that Samuel he considers drawing as just a “hobby” (he’s actually an attorney in Portugal.) but on this evidence maybe he should switch profession? Check out his work here: http://vianaarts.deviantart.com/

Angie Hiesl certainly knows how to shock and awe, causing complete strangers to stop dead in their tracks and admire her art installations. That’s because her work involve placing senior citizens in white chairs and then sticking them to the side of buildings some 20ft in the air! She originally started the idea back in 1995 and now her works have been featured and see in over 14 different countries – all with hired local actors. They do all have one thing in common though, they are all aged 60+ and their entire remit is to sit in the chair and carry on doing whatever it is they would normally do at home – doing some knitting, reading a book or having a smoke. The latest country to experience her work was Montreal in Canada as part of the Festival Transamerique At the bottom of the post we’ve also included a clip showcasing the publics reaction to her wonderfully fun and humourous work. You can keep up to date with her next shows via her website: http://www.angiehiesl.de/eng/index.php

You can tell that photographer and visual artist Thomas Jackson has a tremendous amount of fun with his creations. He’s behind this series of playful digitally manipulated images, which feature swarms of everyday objects flying through the air in the most unlikely of places. He’s called it Emergent Behavior whereby he magically creates swarms out of cheese balls, Post-It notes, glow sticks and even plastic cups and then delicately edits them into his photographs. The overall effect is quite brilliant and fun and lets face it, it would be a lot more enjoyable watching his creation of a swam or Post-It notes flying at you in the middle of a forest than say a swarm of killer wasps! You can see the full range of his Thoma’s work right here, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next!

San Quentin State Prison is one place where you certainly don’t want to end up. Located in Marin County, California, United States and is in fact the oldest prison in the state (it was originally opened in 1852). Constantly featured in countless TV documentaries and referenced in films & music, the prison itself is firmly rooted in US popular culture. Even Johnny Cash and Metallica have held concerts there.

The Great City of London, known for its historical landmarks, modern skyscrapers, ancient markets and famous bridges. It’s arguably the financial capital of the world and home to over eleven thousand people. Wait, what? Eleven… thousand? That’s right: but the City of London is a different place from London – though London is also known for its historical landmarks, modern skyscrapers, ancient markets, famous bridges and is home to the government, royal family and seven million people. If look map of London crafted by a careful cartographer that map will have a one-square mile hole near the middle – it’s here where the City of London lives inside of the city named London. Confused? All is explained in this fascinating video by the very talented C.G.P. Grey

Part hotel, part research vessel and unlike anything you’ve witnessed before – say hello to The SeaOrbiter Whilst it looks like something from the future, it’s actually currently under construction. French visionary architect Jacques Rougerie was the chief designer of the unique construction of the ship, 50% of its surface will be permenatnly underwater, to allow for deep sea exploration in the fields of marine biology, oceanography and climate issues. Even more impressive is that it’s slimline design was crafted specifically to allow it to drift with ocean currents. It’s propulsion engine is largely powered by renewable energy sources such as wave, wind and solar making the vessel incredibly eco-friendly. How much does it cost? An eye-watering $43,000,000 and it will tower 58 meters high! The question is, would you fancy a ride?

Despite being based in Los Angeles, Gray Malin spends little time living there. He’s been too busy flying around the world in a helicopter capture and collating images for his sublime photographic series À la plage, à la piscine,where he bravely pokes his head out of a helicopter to shoot the view below him. And what a view it is indeed. He’s photographed beaches and oceans from Central, North, South America all the way across to Europe and even Australia. If you’re thinking about going on holiday anytime soon, hopefully his work will inspire you to book those flights ASAP. Make sure you visit his official website, where you can buy prints and see more of his incredible collection. All images copyright of Gray Malin

We recently stumbled (or should that be tumbled?) across Tumblr artist OKTotally who follows hot in the footsteps of Kevin Weir, in creating a series of awesome animated GIFs. His subjects include various scenes from the likes of Robocop, Star Wars, Ghostbusters and Lord Of The Rings which he’s reworked into 8-bit GIF goodness! There’s even a few obscure references below – but the longer you watch them, the quick the “Ah ha!” moment will come. Enjoy and check out more of OKTotally‘s work here: http://oktotally.tumblr.com/

Tim Tadder likes to dabble in the odd and slightly absurd, that’s why we’re featuring his latest photographic series Fish Heads. He photographs his subjects as they are either being swallowed into water or rising up out of it. The expressions he’s able to capture through his talent and vision are quite remarkable – veering between unsettling and amusing. He has several other wonderful projects available for you to view and enjoy via his official Behance profile. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy his compelling imagery.

We’ve put together 25 classic photographs that unquestionably ooze retro cool, from the stylish fashion of 1940′s right through to the hip & happening 1960′s where attitude was everything. Here’s 25 of our personal favorites inspired by these guys: http://aconversationoncool.tumblr.com/

Swiss visionary Felice Varini doesn’t view the world in quite the same way you and I do. Over the past 30 years, he’s become famous for establishing himself as one of the pioneers of a technique called anamorphosis. In short, he creates some truly mind-bending optical illusions that will astound and confound you. Move 1 degree out of position and what you’re looking at is nothing more than a series of colourful (yet random) shapes – move 1 degree into position and suddenly all the elements slot into place, the perfect geometric puzzle if you will.

Driftwood, nothing special, if you go the beach it is a common occurrence as it lazes on the shore being washed back and forth by the incoming waves. South African artist Andries Botha has taken this simple, raw material and given it a new life, transforming it into beautiful installation piece You Can Buy My Heart and My Soul (Ungayithenga inhlizyo nomongo wami in the original Africans). The work comprises of a family of elephants and is an elegant and majestic addition to the coastline of Belgium. Andries had this to say of his incredible work. Botha worked with a team of 10 African artists who laboured over the figures to create accurate and hauntingly lifelike renditions of the creatures which from a distance could fool anyone.

We seriously don’t recommended you try this at home…. It’s a reoccuring theme, many of the world’s musicians, writers and artists claim that drug use has often helped fuel their creative process and with that in mind artist Bryan Lewis Saunders conducted the ultimate experiment on himself. Over 45 days, he took a different drug and whilst under the influence of that drug, he attempted to draw a self-portrait. The results are truly fascinating, highlighting the powerful effect his chemical cocktails were having on part of his brain responsible for creativity, emotion, daydreaming & sensitivity. You can read his challenging story behind the experiment right here: http://bryanlewissaunders.org/ Please note! Loljam does not support or condone the use of any kind of drug unless prescribed by a doctor as a medical necessity.

These photos of bulldogs dressed as some rather dandy individuals, were taken back in 1905! Essentially before cats basically took over the world and dominated the entire Internets. Though they’ve been officially cataloged by the Library of Congress and State Historical Society of Colorado, very little is known about the origin of these rather peculiar vintage photographs or who actually took them to begin with. Mind you, we’d hazard as guess it was by a photographer who clearly loved their pets and was more than a tad eccentric.

The incredibly successful TV series Breaking Bad has literally taken television audiences by storm, has been consistently 5-star reviews and now is now going strong in its 5th season. The American Film Institute listed even listed it one of the top ten television series of 2010 and 2011.

A bit dark but with a funny twist, these paintings by Painter Justin Reed certainly knows his films and pop culture references. He’s the talent behind these quirky, devious and slightly sinister paintings from some of the most well-known and watch movies from the past three decades. As you’re about to see he’s immensely talented and adapt at capturing that tangible sense of emotion of the faces of his characters. And frankly, anyone who can make a blue bad-ass version of Samuel Jackson look cool, deserves a standing ovation.

We’re big fans of French photographer Léo Caillard and more importantly his wonderful sense of humour. He’s collaborated with art director Alexis Persani on a new series called Street Stone. They’ve taken some of the world’s most celebrated sculptured masterpieces from outside the Louvre and using a little bit of Photoshop trickery from Alexis and photographic magic from Leo, they’ve reinterpreted these iconic artworks into hipster fashion icons.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Back in 1954, The Grande Hotel Beira was opened to tremendous fanfare and celebration in Mozambique. At the time it was considered to be one of THE most exclusive and luxurious hotel in the whole of Africa with a staggering 130 rooms spread of 21,000 square meters of land. Inside the hotel itself were conference rooms, a massive swimming pool and even a few dance halls. But over the next decade it simply lost more and more money until it eventually shut down sometime around the beginning of the 1960s.

If you combed the elements of a mosaic, the concept of a jigsaw and used keyboard keys as the medium, you’d end up with one of these incredible portraits by Australian artist WBK. Iconic singers, world-famous politicians and Hollywood’s elite are all recreated in stunning detail using discarded keyboard keys – proof that one man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure. Be sure to add WBK on Facebook too to stay up to date with his next series & do let us know which are your personal favorites from the selection below.

Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, it’s also the oldest and these days most populated. Videographer Cameron Michael has put together a quite magical time-lapse video celebrating the everyday occurences, rituals & daily routines of the people of Manhattan – it’s called ‘The Manhattan Project’

You’ve no doubt seen hundreds if not thousands of photographs of fireworks from around the world, from New Years Eve, to sporting events, public openings and most recently the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. But you’ve probably never seen photographs quite this special or as unique as those taken by photographer David Johnson. As it turns out, he was recently at the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada and it was there that he photographed these simply beautiful images. He did so by refocusing his camera whilst taking long exposure shots, in doing so creating these alien like origami-esque photos. You can see more of his wonderful captures

You’ve no doubt seen hundreds if not thousands of photographs of fireworks from around the world, from New Years Eve, to sporting events, public openings and most recently the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. But you’ve probably never seen photographs quite this special or as unique as those taken by photographer David Johnson. As it turns out, he was recently at the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada and it was there that he photographed these simply beautiful images. He did so by refocusing his camera whilst taking long exposure shots, in doing so creating these alien like origami-esque photos. You can see more of his wonderful captures

Since 1990, sugar intake has increased by 40 lbs a year across the United States. Is it a coincidence that the obesity rate has increased by 20 percent? Are they linked? More than likely. Now, we’re all prone to candy, lollies, sweets and that weekly sugar hit – sometimes it just taste soooooo good doesn’t it? But in truth, over time that addiction and reliance on sugar could lead to serious health implications down the track. Online Nursing Programs have created this frightening infographic was details just how much sugar Americans consume on a yearly basis – and it’s frankly astounding. Did you know that the average American sucks down on 53 gallons of carbonated soda drinks each year? That’s A LOT of Pepsi in anyone’s book. Take a look at the infographic below to get the bigger picture and next time you’re reaching out for the sugary treat – maybe think twice?

Visual artist and graphic designer Laurent Seroussi must be prone to some seriously creepy and creative dreams. How else could you explain the following series of remarkable images, which feature high-fashion perfectly poised models, fused into the exoskeletons of bugs, critters and insects. It’s like the human centipede gone Vogue…a collection of nightmarish examples of metamorphosis gone awry. Before scrolling down, our advice would be to keep the light on when you go to bed tonight….

We’re all familiar with house-hold names like Einstein, Da Vinci, Isaac Newtown but who are the modern day equivalents of these incredibly smart individuals? The most well-known and highly regarded is Stephen Hawkings, he would make any modern day list of the Top 10 Smartest People In The World – but who would the other 9 be made up of? This infographic by Super Scholar reveals those 9 other characters who are without a doubt THE smartest people on the planet right now alongside Hawkings. So get acquainted with them, our future could well be in their hands.

We recently stumbled across the rather stylish Tumblr blog called ReMovies where some of the most popular films of our generation, have had their posters reinterpreted and redesigned. More than just reinterpreted actually, each movie has had one letter removed from its title and then the poster has been reimagined to accommodate it. The end result is a collection of funny and stylish designs well worth you checking out. Which other movies would you like to see them do?

Brother Hermes Cifuentes is an exorcist living in La Cumbra, a town rife with superstition in Colombia. He’s been a busy man of the years, claiming he’s carried out a mind-boggling 35,000 exorcisms during his 25 years as a minister. That surely has to earn you some brownie points with the powers above, having vanquished THAT many evil spirits and sent them back down into pits of hell. The images your about to see are “real-life exorcisms” taking place, as Brother Hermes attempts to relieve the suffering of the possessed individual by using a variety of rituals, devices and trinkets to help his mission. There are countless skeptics that claim there is no such thing as “demonic possession” and that is merely a case of mental illness, the resulting of side effects of prescribed medication or even severe allergies. You might have heard of the infamous Salem witch trials whereby literally hundreds of women were hung and disposed of (in some pretty horrendous ways) for being witches and carrying out the devils work on the local villagers. But science and history have shown that a fungus called Claviceps purpurea was evident in the rye during that era and specifically within the Salem community.