Codeorgan

The Codeorgan analyses the 'body' content of any web page and translates that content into music. The Codeorgan uses a complex algorithm to define the key, synth style and drum pattern most appropriate to the page content. It firsts scans the page contents and removes all characters not found in the musical scale (A to G), and then analyses the remaining characters to find the most commonly used note. If this is an even number the page is translated into the major pentatonic scale of that particular note. It becomes minor if there is an uneven number. Second, it defines which synthesizer to use. This is based upon the total number characters used on the webpage - there are 10 synthesizer effects and the one chosen is picked based upon the percentage of content. Finally, it selects a drum loop based upon the ratio of characters on the page versus the number of characters that are actually musical notes - there are 10 different drum loops to pick from.

Go to the mechanical codeorgan and make music.

Shadow Art Created From Junk

"British-born and -based artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster skilfully skirt the boundaries between beauty and the shadowier aspects of humanity, playing with our perceptions as well as our notions of taste. Many of their most notable pieces are made from piles of rubbish, with light projected against them to create a shadow image entirely different to that seen when looking directly at the deliberately disguised pile."

View more junk shadows.

Wordle for generating "word clouds"

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

View Wordle

Advertisements from 1930 to 1969

This site claims to have every single advertisement in all major magazines from 1930 to 1969.

View the database of ads.

Sleeveface

"Sleeveface: One or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion." The concept may sound stupid but the results often leave you shaking your head in wonder at the world's creativity.

View Sleeveface

The Condiment Packet Gallery

Chris Harne began collecting condiment packets in November of 2003. Initially the purpose of the collection was a more practical one. He came to the conclusion that ketchup was no longer a reasonable thing to spend money on. A handful of packets here and there would do just fine. He began to pick up other condiments as well. He stopped at a variety of locations in order to gather new types of condiments. It was around this time that he discovered how many different condiment packets existed. A collector by nature, the only logical thing for him to do was attempt to get every different packet design he possibly could. The Condiment Packet Gallery is the result, an archive of flexible portion control condiment packets. Who knew there where so many and so colorful to look at!

View the Condiment Packet Gallery

Sidewalk Chalk Guy

"Don't step on the art!
Here's the work of a guy who just couldn't be satisfied with hopscotch, so he graduated up to fine art. Some of these chalk drawings are nothing short of amazing. Just be careful where you tread."

Visit: sidewalk chalk guy

ashes and snow

This Web site, part of a project undertaken by Canadian photographer and filmmaker Gregory Colbert, is a fusion of still images, video, music, and spoken word. It depicts encounters between humans and large animals that are stunningly beautiful.

Take a trip to ashes and snow

Airigami - The art of folding air in specially prepared latex balloon sculptures

"Give your special event, trade show booth, or publicity campaign an unusual twist. Larry Moss can work with his team of experts to design and build a sculpture of massive proportion that will make you and your business stand out, or he can teach your own group of budding artists to do the same as a team building exercise. Balloons are not the toys they were when you were a kid. This serious art makes a serious impact."

Balloon magic: Airigami - The art of folding air in specially prepared latex balloon sculptures

Wooster Collective

"woo·ster (noun)
A street in the Soho section of New York City

col·lec·tive (adj.)
Of, relating to, characteristic of, or made by a number of people acting as a group: a collective decision.

The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world."

See what's happening on your city streets at: Wooster Collective

ColorQuiz.com - The free five minute personality test!

"ColorQuiz is a free five minute personality test based on decades of research by color psychologists around the world. There are no complicated questions to answer, you simply choose colors with a click of the mouse! Your test results are completely confidential and we do not keep the results."

What's your colors? ColorQuiz.com - The free five minute personality test!

Typetester - Compare fonts for the screen

"The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its’ primary role is to make web designer’s life easier. As the new fonts are bundled into operating systems, the list of the common fonts will be updated."

Try it out at: Typetester Compare fonts for the screen

The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA)

"The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms."

Visit: The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA)

ZoomQuilt a collaborative art project

Watch the zoomquilt and zoom in and out.

View it at: www.zoomquilt.org

Chrismukkah Cards for Interfaith Families

"Celebrating the Holidays Together

Chrismukkah is the way millions of people experience the December holidays together... with elements of both Christmas and Hanukkah. While you won't find Chrismukkah on the calendar, it's as real as you make it. Chrismukkah is Santa Claus and Hanukkah Harry sitting down at the bar together after a long night's schlep with a Christmas ale and a He'Brew beer. Chrismukkah is a celebration of what we have in common, not what makes us different. Chrismukkah is a state of mind for the season..."

Learn more at: Chrismukkah Cards for Interfaith Families

Early Office Museum

"The Early Office Museum engages in research on the history and evolution of offices, antique office machines and equipment, and business technology based on original documents and artifacts."

Learn more about offices at: Early Office Museum

Planet Perplex

"No, this is not a cut-and-paste of a real coke bottle in Photoshop. This coke bottle is drawn. In chalk. On pavement. Really incredible, I'm sure you'll agree."

Optical illusions. Hidden and impossible images. Visual puzzles. Feeling smart? Scroll through these drawings and marvel at the conundrums and paradoxes.

Perplexed? Visit: Planet Perplex : Optical Illusion, Hidden, Impossible, Upside Down, Wordplay

Revolutionary Online Stapler Simulation

There once was a stapler from Kent,
The staples were awfully bent,
They would not go through,
So i got me a shrew,
And gave up my stapler for lent.
- David XX

The was an old stapler from Peru
Who was dying from nothing to do
When along came a bum
Who with one swig of rum
Stapled some new cardboard shoes
- Anonymous

Staple all you want at: VirtualStapler.com : Revolutionary Online Stapler Simulation

INK-BLOT TESTS WITH FACES IN THEM

"The "Ink-blot Test", also known as The "Rorschach Test" was originally invented by Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) as a psychology/personality test. A patient will look into a series of 10 inkblots and say what they see, their psychiatrist will then use what the patient sees in the inkblots as a reflection of the patient's fantasies, personality, and their current mental state."

Take the test at: INK-BLOT TESTS WITH FACES IN THEM

Olga's Gallery - Online Art Museum.

"Welcome to Olga's Gallery! We are proud to say we are one of the largest and most comprehensive online collections. On our pages you will find over 10,000 works of art. We are dedicated to bringing you quality information about artists and their artwork from all around the world."

Visit: Olga's Gallery - Online Art Museum.

Espresso Stories

"Espresso stories is an idea by the writers Chris Worth and R.P. Bird. It explores a literary form for today's frothed-up, on-the-hoof, want-it-all-now consumer lifestyle: complete stories that take no longer to read than an espresso takes to slurp.

The most basic rule is that they're just a sentence or two, totalling 25 words or less. Less hard-and-fast - but equally vital - are a theme, plot, characters, and narrative development. Everything you'd see in any good story - but short enough to fit into the time it takes to reach the bottom of that bitter little cup, as you ponder on how even the briefest experiences can make life more meaningful."

Read Espresso Stories

Crying, while eating

Go watch and cry at: Crying, while eating

Interactive Refridgerator Magnets

Interactive Refridgerator Magnets: "Someone keeps stealing my letters..."
Just Letters - A browser based multi-user Flash game

The Mirror Project

"The Mirror Project is a growing community of like-minded individuals who have photographed themselves in all manner of reflective surfaces. Medicine cabinets. Rear-view mirrors. Reflective buildings. Pools of water. Thousands of people from around the world contribute to this growing Web site by capturing and sharing photos of themselves in all kinds of reflective surfaces."

Check out the pictures or add yourself to the collection! The Mirror Project

Pictures of Pennies

"This page is a collection of pictures from a talk I gave while a Civil Engineer at Texas Tech University in 1980. Our senior year we practiced giving technical presentations. This was mine.

All stacks of pennies were done without any glue. Only the weight of the pennies provides the support.

Behold the humble Penny!"

Penny photos: Misc/Pennies - Pictures of Pennies

Sand Castle Central - Sand Sculpture Tips, Tricks and Pics

"Welcome to Sand Castle Central - your on-line source for all things sand sculpture, including free tips for beginners, information on the best sand carving tools, updated contest and master sculptor information, related links and lots of photos."

Learn more at: Sand Castle Central - Sand Sculpture Tips, Tricks and Pics

Amy's Diary...Dear Dairy

"Presenting: Amy's Diary.
Amy found her third grade diary, and ten entries have been painstakingly colored with crayon and narrated by experts to preserve the essence of the third grade gestalt."

Amy's Diary...Dear Dairy

The Candy Wrapper Museum

"The Candy Wrapper Museum, where wrappers are to be enjoyed as art, nostalgia, and humor.

I began collecting wrappers in 1977 with an eye toward the unusual, ironic, and aesthetic, although I also collected 'classic' but more mundane wrappers for posterity's sake. I haven't yet counted all the wrappers in my collection, but it's HUGE. It's stored in a stack of boxes nearly 4 feet high and about 1.5 feet x 2 feet wide. (Physics majors - you tell me how many that probably is!)

As frightening as it may seem, I've actually eaten most of the candy in my collection, and yet I'm not (yet) overweight. I'm sure I owe this to countless intense walks and aerobics sessions. And no, I'm not a diabetic. Perhaps this can be attributed to good genes, although knowing my family, this theory is doubtful. Maybe it will catch up with me soon and I'll decompose all at once, like an aged candy."

The Candy Wrapper Museum

Make your own freeway sign

"This Java applet formats freeway signs for you. You provide the route numbers, town names, exits, and your choice of arrows - and SignMaker draws a sign for you. Since SignMaker uses the authentic 'freeway font' (FHWA E(M)), provides over 40 route markers to choose from, and mounts the sign on metal supports against a blue sky, the effect is quite realistic."

SignMaker Lite - Make your own freeway sign

Christo's Wrapped Snoopy House

"Snoopy's Doghouse gets 'Wrapped' By Christo, World famous Environmental Artist

Wrapped Snoopy House on Exhibit at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center.

An admirer of the extraordinary environmental artworks by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, PEANUTS creator Charles M. Schulz paid tribute to the artists in a 1978 comic strip that depicted a wrapped Snoopy doghouse.

25 years later, Christo has completed Wrapped Snoopy House, a life-sized doghouse wrapped in fabric that is on permanent exhibit in the Museum. Christo and Jeanne Claude presented the piece to Schulz's widow, Jeannie Schulz on Wednesday, October 8th, 2003."

More photos and info at: Charles M. Schulz Museum ~ Christo's Wrapped Snoopy House

Fold-and-Cut Examples (Erik Demaine)

"Take a piece of paper, fold it into any flat origami, and make one complete straight cut (i.e., a cut along a line). Now unfold the pieces, and see what you get. Are all shapes possible? Refering back to the original sheet of paper, what patterns of cuts can be achieved by this process?

The crease patterns at this site all have the property that, when folded up, a single complete straight cut can simultaneously cut all the bold lines and no more, producing the desired shape or shape."

Visit: Fold-and-Cut Examples (Erik Demaine)

Overheard in New York

Have you ever over heard a conversation and found it interesting. Here's a whole site about what was over heard in New York City.

"Guy: Ma'am, does the split pea with ham soup have wheat in it? I can't have wheat. Do you know if it has wheat in it?
Soup Lady: Meat? It’s got ham, man! Says so on the sign!
Guy: No, wheat! Wheat?
Soup Lady: Oooh! Lemme check...HEY SAM, DOES THE SPLIT PEA HAVE WHEAT IN IT?
Sam: Meat?
Soup Lady: No, wheat!
Sam: Nah. It don't have no wheat!
Guy: Okay, good. I'll have a large cup of the split pea soup.
Soup Lady: Would you like a wheat roll with that?

--Juilliard cafeteria"

Visit: Overheard in New York

Portrait of the Man in Your Life

Still life becomes a portrait when the picture of a used Swiffer pad, a slice of pumpkin pie, or a cabbage, each with the face of the man in your life superimposed on it makes it so.

View the photos of Susan Hesse

Portrait Illustration Maker - Let's make an original icon!!

Create your own portrait icon for your instant messaging application.

Portrait Illustration Maker - Let's make an original icon!!

Wabi-sabi

"The two dominant principles of Chinese and Japanese art and culture are wabi and sabi. Wabi refers to a philosophical construct, a sense of space, direction, or path, while sabi is an aesthetic construct rooted in a given object and its features, plus the occupation of time, chronology, and objectivity. Though the terms are and should be referred to distinctly, they are usually combined as wabi-sabi, as both a working description and as a single aesthetic principle."

Learn more visit: Wabi and Sabi: the Aesthetics of Solitude - Articles - House of Solitude - Hermitary