You may not be aware, but there’s a plethora of sub-reddit pages that await your discovery. They feature the collective output of the wild imaginations of creative Reddit users. These people are both professional and amateur artists who contribute the most stunning and mind-bending illustrations and bring into this world the wild imaginings of fantasy, science fiction, fan art and pure human emotion. In this new part of my blog, each Friday I’ll curate the best of these imaginary worlds and bring them to you weekly, I hope you enjoy them.
‘The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be.’ – The Dunwich Horror. This seemed like a fitting quote from H.P. Lovecraft. More advanced perspective homework. There technically is an easter egg here, but its not really hidden; H.P. Lovecraft is in the picture.” ~ Arvalis
Warbotanicals is a community skin care range that was created 14 years ago by partners in work and love Donna Fowler and her partner Richard. Beginning with one shop in Warburton, Victoria, the range has expanded and is now a thriving online business with the range travelling to farmers markets throughout Victoria, Australia. Donna uses her knowledge as a qualified Naturopath with a focus in Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy and Nutrition to make the skincare range.
The Warbotanicals range is totally beautiful and I highly recommend that you try it. Here’s some detail of a couple of things I bought recently at the Mornington Racecourse markets.
[I would just like to add that I wasn’t paid anything or given anything to endorse them, I just love their products.]
Warbotanicals: Headache Balm
Price: $12 AUD.
I suffered from the most annoying cold when I was in Melbourne, a summer cold/flu that blocked up the nasal passages and gave me a terrible headache and neck pain. I’d do anything to not resort to getting antibiotics, as ultimately that only lowers one’s immunity to common bugs. So I stuck it out, with over the counter medication, pain relief and the so called hocus pocus remedy of aromatherapy. I have to admit I was suspicious of the healing power of nice fragrance in a pot to help sooth my headache – but it actually did.
Headache balm
Warbotanicals Headache balm contains basil, lavender, rosemary, marjoram and orange essential oils in a beeswax and non-GM soya bean base. It rolls on like silk and smells wonderful. If anything it didn’t actually make my cold go away (it’s no snake oil), however it did have some kind of psychological affect on me and helped me to better cope with being sick and improved my state of mind to a more positive one. Plus it costed peanuts. Overall it was a win!
Warbotanicals: Night Renewal Cream
Price: $20 AUD.
Everybody loves a good night cream. This one does what it states on the packaging. It’s a rich and dense cream that soaks into the skin overnight. It contains sandalwood and frankincense Warbotanicals essential oils, along with purified water, vegetable glycerin, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and evening primrose oil. I have bitten the bullet and submitted to mature skin type ranges all over the place, which is a bit disturbing to me at 34 but something that we all need to grapple with at one point or another.
Basically the Australian sun is known playfully in our house as ‘hurt ball’. As in: “stay out of reach of hurt ball or you’ll pay”. This is a good maxim to follow as the Australian sun can ravage your skin. Hurt ball inevitably causes you to be as dry and crispy as overdone bacon. That’s why you need a great night cream – this is the one for deep moisturisation to counter the drying affects of Australia’s hurt ball. It works well and will keep your skin soft and supple after those 40+ degree days. (Although you will still need to wear SPF50+ during the day to protect from a direct hit by hurt ball). Overall it was a win and I rate it highly.
The Australian sun AKA hurt ball as seen from Mornington farmer’s market
Prepare to enter a truly surreal and fantastical realm. These stock photos were created by people who had the most noble intentions of using these images in a myriad of situations. Although just how many people purchased these stock photos I wonder? I’d mortgage my house and sell my family to bet that nobody has actually downloaded these yet. Here they are for your viewing enjoyment. Find more WTF stock photos on Reddit.
Ah yes. Different coloured condoms hanging on a washing line, it makes perfect sense.A mini plastic horse whinnies and plays covered in baked beans and tomato sauce.An octopus wears high heelsA perverted santa flashes a woman…how quaint to show sexual assault in such a lighthearted way.Tired feet…baby yawning..it makes perfect sense.Just two cats using a selfie stick…say cheese.A man wears an elaborate flea collar and holds a tiny Swedish flag
They could be a collection of post-apocalyptic planets viewed from space. However these pieces of enchanting art were not made by humans but by natural phenomena. Science is beautiful.
The excellent Reddit pageMicroPorn features close up microscopic images of materials. This collection of oxidised metal films were photographed using a microscope and an Amazon Fire phone by Reddit user Friz Face.
A stunning and vivid collection of bioart, these images should rightfully be hung on the wall in a gallery or in a lounge room, not languishing on a forgotten page on the internet! I wish I could share more with you about these pieces of art and Reddit user Friz Face but details were sketchy. See for yourself.
Shattered stained glass from a medieval cathedral?A psychadelic amoeba floating in a bizarre world?
The Internet is awash cats. Twitter and Facebook is a constant spam feed of felines. And yet we forget our other noble companion, the quietly humble, wise and obedient dog. Enter into the fray the Internet sensation Aspen, the hiking, all knowing mountain climbing golden retriever shot along with his owners in panoramic settings.
Aspen accompanies her human companions Sarah Mitchell and Hunter Lawrence on epic trails in the more remote parts of America.
In this photograph from the late 19th or early 20th Century, a mysterious chap by the name of Th. N Krabbe poses for a long exposure selfie as the wind whistles over the Tasiusaq-bay in Greenland. Thanks to the National Museum of Denmark. Found here
From what I can gather (by way of Google), Onuka aren’t really very well known yet in the Western World. Yet this #FutureHouse #Trap #FutureGarage duo from the Ukraine should be better known because they are quite frankly awesome. In the same glimmering stand alone way that Bjork, Jamie XX or Lorde are truly remarkable artists making unique genre-bending music that will define music for decades to come.
The majority of the write ups about Onuka are in Russian and I’m afraid of resorting to the odd word combos that arise from Google Translate to get more information.
Here’s an epic video clip for ‘Misto’ which looks like their most recent single.
The video, like all exceptional music videos, allows us to see the world differently. It features the haunting, industrial landscapes of Kiev seen through a new lens. Not one of impending war and a climate of fear but of a thriving, creative, young, joyous and passionate perspective that makes Kiev seem like a place that I want to visit right now.
Onuka’s song ‘Look’ reminds me a lot of Goldfrappe’s Slide In. It also has some funky glimpses of late 90’s band The Cardigans with all of the sweet flutes and synth baselines.
Looking at all three singers from the different bands, they could be blonde sisters united in a catchy pop wonderland.
Just for comparison here’s Goldfrapp‘s song from the early 00’s Slide In
ONUKA is a Ukrainian band created by Ukrainian musicians Eugene Filatov (aka The Maneken) and Nata Zhizhchenko, the former vocalist of Tomato Jaws (Ukraine) and KOOQLA (Russia).
The Ukrainian word Onuka translates to granddaughter and is a tribute to lead singer Zhizhchenko’s grandfather.
The band’s instrumentation includes electronic drums, trombones, french horns, and the Ukrainian folk instruments bandura and sopilka.[3]
Onuka’s debut album was released on October 2014, and became the best-selling record in the Ukraine on iTunes.
Today the world received the most devastating news. David Bowie died at age 69. This news is monumental to anyone who is a lover of avante-garde art and rock music. Anybody who respects and reveres a life lived to its fullest would feel sad about the passing of David Bowie.
A man elegant, humble and yet sublimely, transcendentally talented at melding music and art. A voracious reader and lover of books, Bowie simply understood the zeitgeist of the 70’s, 80’s,90’s, 00’s and 10’s.
He anticipated and then smashed people’s expectations – always making the whole thing look effortlessly cool and beautiful.
He was a man apart from other men. My heart aches as does the hearts of millions of other people today.
Even though we never met him, he was a gentleman and a friend to all of the world’s collective rabble-rousers, misfits, miscreants and loveable freaks.
Everyone would agree that Bowie gave a dark and sexy glamour to being an outsider. He allowed people living on the fringes to strut their unusually coloured plumage in public without apology or explanation.
He honoured and celebrated the outsiders of culture with his personas of the Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, the Man Who Fell to Earth, Alladin Sane.
By being an unabashed chameleon he encouraged us all to explore towards the outer boundaries of our inner selves.
Like a bright ray of technicolour sunlight he lit the way for all of us creative beings. His influence on fashion, art, literature and of course music looms large over the decades. Yet nobody else could ever hope to be Bowie. They would only be a cheaper, crappier imitation. He was the true originator, the true definition of a rock god – in the most meta way.
My favourite Bowie album, 1983 was a good year for music.
Today all of the world’s iconoclasts and outsiders lost their leader. Now he’s transformed into stardust and moonage daydreams. My heart aches and breaks as though I’ve lost a friend.
Shanghai imagined in the year 2114 by Nikolay Razuev
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