By Vurdlak on April 11, 2007, with 46 Comments
Just when I discovered this new Felice Varini’s ‘anamorphic illusion’ on Wooster Collective, reader called Steve submitted me the original BBC article about this optical illusion. Steve said it’s an art illusion done on a large scale, and added: “scroll through the photo set to see what I mean”. You have to find the exact spot in this Bay barrage to see the illusion perfectly, like in the first photo below. Other photos inside this article show you how this “art installation” looks like, when viewed from other places. As I said, the piece was done by the Swiss artist Felice Varini on the Cardiff Bay barrage, and ran between March 11 and 25th. I posted much more of Varini’s performances before. Many of them like 3D painted rooms, and buildings painted in circles can be found inside our “3D Sidewalk Art” category. Also, be sure to check the Wooster Collective, since it’s very similar in topic to our little community. I even asked them that we form some kind of partnership or link exchange. Will keep you informed!
(32 votes)By Vurdlak on April 11, 2007, with 12 Comments
From time to time we do a sponsored review of a product or website advertisers submitted through our ReviewMe account. Today I woke up, and found another pending review in my mailbox. The advertiser wanted me to check his Web Hosting Guide and write my opinion about it. Since this topic is connected to my own thoughts and plans of moving to another host, I was glad to investigate it.
Usually we think that cheap and quality hosting is just a mere optical illusion, even though we are certain there are great deals out there, it is not easy to find them. Every hosting company says that it is the best one, but often it appears they are not that good. Luckily, these people at Web Hosting Bluebook compiled a top list of quality hosting providers, and graded them through their rating system.
There were 3 main points they considered: 1.) How Affordable is it? 2.) If its Reliable (99,9% uptime and backup) and 3.) Does it have Pro Customer Service. Top 10 web hosts list is nice, considering the material they provide. I would just like to advice them to use newer Web 2.0 design, and make blog or something, since currently, your website looks as if it had no redesign in last 10 years. Internet changes, the technology is better from day to day – you should take advantage of that, not let it work against you.
Why am I writing all this? Well except I’m being compensated for this, as you may know our website is still hosted at blogger. I bought the domain, but am considering to move it to my own personal collocated server (due to big amount of bandwidth). I’d like to see this option on their list as well. If someone knows how to move blogger blog to private server, or even export it fully to word press (including the existing template), be sure to let me know! I’m dazzled with this for the last few months. Now I’m off to post new optical illusion. Should be up in few minutes…
(7 votes)By Vurdlak on April 10, 2007, with 68 Comments
Hey people! Be careful not to stare too long at the animation below, it can cause dizziness or possibly epileptic seizures. Don’t say I didn’t warn you :) It’s little scary as well. Look how that strange girl’s face appear to constantly and fluidly move to upper right corner of your screen, while in fact, the animation only loops forever. Because of black and white negative blinking, the face appears to move only in one direction (you don’t see it moving back, when the animation loops to its start). I have another great example of this! Check Christopher Walken optical illusion and Scary Spider illusion. They both give you the same effect. More can be found inside our Scary Optical Illusions category. Oh, I almost forgot our most recent one – it is called “Flying through city“.
(15 votes)By Vurdlak on April 10, 2007, with 46 Comments
William Blanchard came across this classic version of a Young Lady or an Old Hag Illusion, and thought of my site immediately. Glad he did! I’m not positive, but maybe this illusion was already posted on Mighty Illusions in the past, if you find it in our archives, be sure to let me know. I saw it many times, but probably forgot to publish it online. As you see, first thing you see on the photo below, is the old couple. If you look the picture more closely, you will see that the old couple’s spirit is still alive, and that they are happy and still in love. They magically transform to their young versions, when they sang, played guitar and enjoyed their life. The picture is great because, it has meaning and you can think of a hundred related stories and metaphors just by looking at them.
(34 votes)By Vurdlak on April 9, 2007, with 87 Comments
While ago, reader Bart Wouters sent me this photo of a Goat family that climbs trees in search for food. Bart says it’s no illusion – it’s real. I also received a link with an explanation. What made me think. Internet as a medium can push a story as unbelievable as this one, and we believe it without thinking much about it. I checked the website, and have to say it gave good explanation, but am still not sure what to think. Can you help me? The second photo of lions on a tree is probably real. But I can’t figure how those goats climbed up there? They don’t appear much athletic. The explanation says: “In drought-ridden conditions when there is little else to eat, goats will climb up a variety of trees in many of the warmer countries in the world (Morocco). Some holidaymakers to the Mediterranean countries come back with amazing photos of goats grazing in trees. The most spectacular of these pictures originate from South-West Morocco, where there is a unique habitat of semi-desert Argan Forest, which is sadly declining. Nearly half of the forest has disappeared in comparison with Victorian times. ” This is probably, why they have to climb trees – to eat and survive! I’m still doubtful…
(18 votes)By Vurdlak on April 9, 2007, with 40 Comments
Close friend of mine gave me this animation. It’s quite obvious the author was heavily influenced by M.C. Escher, more specifically by his Ascending Staircase Castle and Waterfall Illusion. We all know in real world, this could never work. The same way forever-dream of scientists, Perpetuum Mobile can’t exist due to existing rules of physics. However, at least we can dream of it, and make visualizations with little help of the computers. You should read an article about this topic on Wikipedia, it’s quite interesting. When I was a kid I had constant ideas to build one of my own, something to do with balloons filled with helium and a water tap. Never tried it though… You can see another example done by Escher here. If the ball isn’t moving, wait for the .gif to load, or simply open the picture in new window, or simply click it.
(62 votes)By Vurdlak on April 8, 2007, with 57 Comments
You can easily see mermaid hidden in this idle panorama. Further, you will probably see Neptune and some kid next to the mermaid. If you look harder, you will see that there are hundred more hidden people in this beautiful picture. I really liked the simplicity and color range in this drawing. I thought, it has been a while since we had actual optical illusion posted on this site, so here it is – one fine hidden object game. Many more inside this category. How many people can you count? Let’s figure this out. If you have more classic optical illusions, that didn’t appear on this site (check archives first), be sure to send them in, and I’ll publish them including your name and description. Cya!
(29 votes)By Vurdlak on April 8, 2007, with 22 Comments
Hy everybody, Happy Easter! I didn’t find any easter bunny or easter egg optical illusions, but I found this cool motorbike shadow, done by Master of Deception, Shigeo Fukuda. If your memory serves you well, you will remember that it is the guy who created that strange Piano. It works in a same way as this pile of welded forks, knives and spoons.
When you project a light behind this pile, it casts a shadow that resembles real Motorbike. Check it! I also posted a video of how it looks. As I already wrote, this shadow sculpture of a motorcycle is built entirely out of welded forks, knives, and spoons, and is based on an earlier concept Fukuda exhibited in his 1965 show “Toys and Things Japanese.” Fukuda creates a 3D object in which the shadow, as opposed to the actual form, represents the actual object. Fukuda says that it is extremely difficult to create a three-dimensional object in this fashion that allows light to evenly penetrate in this fashion. This piece utilizes 848 pieces of cutlery. Enjoy your stay! I’m sorry that this video lacks audio. Would be cool to hear some Heavy Metal music in the background. Would match this clip perfectly!
(21 votes)
