Great Monsters of the Deep Sea

A monster abruptly ascends from the sea, snatches the boat, and drags the sailors down to a watery grave. This story line provides the plot for legends that have persisted through the ages. But do monsters that large actually exist? In 2007 a colossal squid was by chance caught by fishermen in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. It was almost 33 feet long, including its tentacles, and it weighed over 500 kg, (1,000 pounds approximately). Researchers believe that this species of squid can grow even larger.  An identical sea monster recognized as the giant squid has a torpedo-shaped body, eyes that can be as big as a human head, a parrot like beak strong enough to cut a steel cable, eight arms with rows of suckers, and two long tentacles that bring food to its mouth. It can propel itself through the water at 20 miles an hour and even launch itself into the air. Less than 50 sightings of such giants have been informed in the last century, and these creatures have never been studied in the wild.

Gigantic Whales of the Sea

Colossal and giant squids, however, are just a meal for an even larger animal, the sperm whale, which can grow to about 60 feet in length and weigh as much as 50 tons. One tooth alone weighs two pounds! Dead sperm whales have been found with portions of giant squid in their stomach. These whales also had circular scars from squid suckers on their massive, blunt heads, showing that the squid put up a hard fight. In 1965 the crew of a Soviet whaleboat claimed to have seen a battle among a giant squid and a 40-ton sperm whale. Neither survived the strangled whale was found afloat in the sea, with the head of the squid in its stomach. Enormous indeed are the massive squid and the sperm whale, yet the blue whale, the largest mammal, surpasses them in size. The longest blue whale on record was a 108-foot adult female caught in Antarctica. The blue whale might weigh as much as 150 tons. The weight of its tongue alone is equivalent to that of an adult elephant! And just visualize it gives birth to a three-ton calf that is 23 to 27 feet long, hunted by whalers, the blue whale became almost extinct by the 1960’s and nowadays is classified as a critically endangered species.   

The Ferocious and the Gentle

With its 3,000 formidable teeth, the giant white shark is maybe the scariest carnivorous fish. The biggest great white on record was 23 feet long and weighed 7,000 pounds. This shark has an astonishing sense of smell, being capable to detect one drop of blood diluted in 25 gallons of water. The whale shark is the biggest of living fish, averaging some 25 feet in length. Though, some can reach closely twice that size. Its mouth can be up to 4 feet wide, with no trouble to capable of swallowing a man. But far from being a fierce predator of other large sea creatures, this gentle giant feeds on tiny plankton and small fish. The whale shark’s uncommon digestive anatomy, reported in National Geographic magazine, lends itself to Jonah stories,” referring to the Biblical/Quran Majeed incident about the prophet Hazrat Younis (A.S) being swallowed by a great fish. Whale sharks have “a peaceful way of getting rid of large objects of uncertain digestibility they swallow accidental.

“We Are Flower” By Galeria Melissa

American design studio SoftLab attached 20,000 translucent flowers to a flexible plastic mesh to make this installation for the Brazilian jelly shoe brand's New York flagship store to reflect the shoe brand's 2014 design and marketing campaign called “We are Flowers”. With a shower of colorful petals suspended from the ceiling, Galeria Melissa unveils the “We Are Flower” installation by SOFTlab. The “we’re Flowers” fully covered with flowers of all colors illuminate structures and brighten spaces sales. The flowers of the season have invaded the shops and fully covered with flowers of all colors illuminate structures and brighten spaces sales.

The flexible structure made of 5,000 mylar panels that is suspended from the shop's ceiling to form a canopy and funnels that spread down in different lengths and widths. The canopy is beautifully covered with 20,000 flower shapes, related to those used by Melissa for its new collection of footwear and accessories, which have been recreated in a translucent polyester film that is typically used to apply color to glass surfaces. The softlab Fonder Michael Szivos said; the only criteria were to use the flower shape from that campaign and for it to be very colorful and of course marvelous, which also asked us to do something special that would take over the whole store. The structure was designed by using computer modeling program Rhino, which created drawings that were then used to program a laser cutter.

Every pieces of mylar were riveted composed by hand and the final piece took place 5 days to install, with the team only able to work in the space at night after the shop had closed. If whatever came up regarding the size or complication of the installation they always thought go for it, we want this to look spectacular. That attitude really helped us a lot and I think made the project a real collaboration. We had to do material tests and prototypes, make the geometry through form finding tools, create the tools that would let us to automate all of the drawings for laser cutting, design the details for hanging and then laser cut entirety.

It was a lot of entertaining, but had a lot of parts that all had to come together in the end. SoftLab were asked to give to the shop space after working with Melissa on a project designed by the Campana brothers. We helped out and produce & fabricate that project since the brothers are in Brazil. The project went really well and Melissa was fascinated in our design work so they’ve asked us to design the next installation. There was some talk in the beginning about whether it was really feasible to have a surface cover the entire ceiling of the store, I am glad we did," said Szivos. "I think that is what really changed the store and creates a whole new environment. Some people come in off the street just to see it.

We Are Flowers

Attractive Colorful Canopy of Umbrellas Charms the Streets of Portugal

Portugal is a European country officially named as the Portuguese Republic is a developed country with an advanced economy and high living standards. But around a special time of the year the Portuguese city filled with an outburst of rainbow colors? The beautiful multi colors umbrellas like Orange, Red, yellow, green, blue, pink, and different hues of umbrellas suspended in mid-air is an exclusive thing to observe in Agueda which makes for a splendid site for the tourists visiting Portugal along the local people here.

It's that time of year again! A new canopy of attractive colorful umbrellas has been formed over the streets of Portugal. It’s been two years ago, photographer Patrícia Almeida introduced the novel idea of whimsical installation put on by production company Sextafeira Producoes for the annual arts festival Agitagueda. The festival is held every July in the city of Agueda, the festival draws thousands of tourists who come to the city to relish art exhibits and concerts.

Though last year's umbrellas appeared darker in color than the previous, with more main colors, this year we grasp a softer palette with sprinkles of purples and pinks. However Europe has a plenty of natural beauty in all its countries and their cities but Portugal’s Umbrella sky has a distinctive charm working for it. In some selected areas of Agueda the streets can be seen covered by these lovely umbrellas. If one is travelling adjacent than this is a must visit place to see the beautiful canopy of umbrellas and if you are not travelling anywhere near Portugal then why not to plan it now. . We can't get plenty of this joyful installation. It is something to look forward to every July!

An Abandoned Shopping Mall in Bangkok Hides a Fishy Secret

In the post-apocalyptic films when the camera pans down the abandoned streets of Tokyo or New York long after people have disappeared and the buildings have fallen into shabbiness, we see nature thriving. Like trees and plants take hold in the sidewalks and wild animals like deer, bears, and lions stalk the ruins left behind by humans. But after descending the staircase at a vacant shopping mall in Bangkok, professional cook and photographer Jesse Rockwell discovered a wholly different take on beasts inheriting the Earth, specifically exotic koi and catfish teeming by the thousands in a secret subterranean aquarium.

A former 4 storey shopping mall, originally constructed as an 11 storey building found to be in breach of old town Bangkok’s 4 storey limits on building heights. The top 7 floors were smashed to adhere to building codes in 1997. However in 1999 the mall burned due to suspected arson committed by a competitor in the area. The disaster resulted in numerous casualties, and the building has remained abandoned ever since. Amazingly not having a roof, the basement floor remains under quite a lot of feet of water year round.  In the early of year 2000s an unidentified person starts introducing a small population of exotic Koi and Catfish species. The small population of fish starts to thrive and the result is now a self-sustained and astonishingly populated urban aquarium. What a remarkable discovery it makes you surprise what else lurks in abandoned places around the world? You can see more of Rockwell’s photography over on 500px and on his website, Taste of the Road.

Source: Colossal  
Charismatic Planet

Jesse Rockwell Website & Jesse Rockwell on 500px.com