+ Here are a few things I’ve been looking at:

Sleep Cocoon

Rare Photos of Famous People

A few of these blew my mind.  Particularly this one of a young Christopher Walken.

+ Here are a few things that I’ve been reading:

The House Behind the House – A family discovers a lavish hobo lair hidden in the forest behind their new summer home.

Five Ways the Ipad will Change Magazine Design

Baby New Year wishes you well.

When he’s not cracking skulls as a bouncer, Baltimore based photographer Al Heishman is shooting sweet sweet nudes in my living room.  Be sure to stop by his brand new website and check out some of his work.

Do yourself a favor and go visit the LA Times photography site to read the captions that go along with these photos.

If you enlarge this photograph you can see that Santa has some creepy red eye going on which really adds to the creep factor.  Also, be on the lookout for the lurkin’ elf in the third picture.

More at Sketchy Santas.

Dead on the Beach, George Strock; 1943

When LIFE ran this stark, haunting photograph of a beach in Papua New Guinea on September 20, 1943, the magazine felt compelled to ask in an adjacent full-page editorial, “Why print this picture, anyway, of three American boys dead upon an alien shore?” Among the reasons: “words are never enough . . . words do not exist to make us see, or know, or feel what it is like, what actually happens.” But there was more to it than that; LIFE was actually publishing in concert with government wishes. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was convinced that Americans had grown too complacent about the war, so he lifted the ban on images depicting U.S. casualties. Strock’s picture and others that followed in LIFE and elsewhere had the desired effect. The public, shocked by combat’s grim realities, was instilled with yet greater resolve to win the war.

More on this particular photograph HERE.

See more of Life’s 100 Photographs that Changed the World HERE.

+ These photos from the National Geographic International Photo Contest are too good.

+ New Beach House – Teen Dream (via Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright)

+ If you’re into screamo you may be into this rip of the Cry Me a River 2009 DVD (via The Difference Between Life and Music)

+ Big Box Stores are going to be replacing Anderson Automotive in Charles Village/Remington in 2011.

Sorry for all of the recent updates with no real substance.  Working + Band + Modern Warfare 2 are stealing all of my time away.

The Big Picture never disappoints.

My favorite part about TBP are the captions that accompany each photo.  The photo of the terminally ill cancer patient touching the dove is extremely depressing – as well as the mule painted with donkey stripes.  The flower-pugs brighten things up though.

View the rest of The Big Picture – World Animal Day HERE.

+ Top Ten Albums of the Decade

Stoked on a new (at least to me) blog that I just came across called Deckflight – which covers music and literature.  They just did a post where they pick their top ten albums of the decade.

A bunch of blogs are going to be listing their top ten albums of the decade this week.  For a full rundown of those participating go HERE.

… was announced earlier this week. The $10,000 award will go to Alejandro Chaskielberg for his project titled “Hige Tide” about the Parana River Delta.  Alejandro shot the photos mainly in large format allowing him to distort the depth of field and perspective and allow himself a bit more creative freedom in presenting his subjects.

His images are also all shot long exposure (at night with available moonlight) with his subjects captured with the additional use of a flash/strobe unit. His own statement about the project, and additional images can be seen on Burn Magazine’s website  HERE. or check out Alejandro’s own website HERE.