Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

Back in 1958, Americans had an exuberantly optimistic view of the future…jet packs, robots, dinner with the “Jetsons”. This video, “Magic Highway USA” is taken from the Disneyland TV show, and features some of the lofty dreams we had about driving, commuting, and vacationing in the future. Some predictions actually did come true, like car rearview video cameras, but others were way too ambitious, like auto-piloted cars controlled by flimsy paper punchcards. Sit back and enjoy some retro-futurist kitsch:

-via Metafilter

I’ve been a huge fan of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for as long as I can remember…the trippy visuals, maniacally insane characters, and twisted logic left a mark on my impressionable brain (and might have made me slightly crazy). But this superfan takes her “Alice”-obsession to a whole other level…wow. (Understandably, she decided not to include the famous phrase, “Eat Me”…)

-Designed by Holly Azzara / via Walyou

SIDENOTE: I’m cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Tim Burton “reboot”. As much as I appreciate Burton’s wild aesthetic, I thought his version of “Willy Wonka” (another childhood favorite of mine) was a total buzzkill. What do you think?

Tilt-shift photography is the method of manipulating the rotation of the camera lens plane relative to the image plane (tilt), and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane (shift), to create the illusion of a miniature scene.  Who am I kidding…I have absolutely no idea what I just typed.  Sorry.

Check out these examples of tilt-shift photography and you’ll get the picture.  These are all actual images that are shot in a way that makes them look like tiny little dioramas.

-Joshua Davis

-B Tal

-Flickr via Listfied

-Vladimir.d

-Flickr via Listfied

-Flickr via Listfied

OK, now for the grand finale…this is a tilt-shift VIDEO created by animating together hundreds of tilt-shift photos taken inside The Magic Kingdom.  If you happen to be in a crappy mood right now, just wait until the last :30 seconds of the video…I dare you not to smile.

-via Presurfer