Junk Food Advertising - Are you being ripped off ?

Have you ever been tempted by those mouth watering adverts for junk food? The biggest players in junk food advertising, McDonalds and Burger King etc have for years been getting away with misleading junk food advertising.

Image advertising has a very powerful effect on our emotions, and when we are under the spell of what we see, our sensible brains are tricked and overwhelmed by what we feel inside.

When we see that delicious whopper, stuffed with all the trimmings we feel excited and hungry for those amazing taste sensations. But are you really getting as much of those taste sensations as you think you are getting? And are those taste sensations really as tasty as you are led to believe, or are you being tricked?

My own personal opinion is that the McDonalds Big Mac is pretty tasty, but have you ever been left feeling a little less than satisfied after eating one?

Junk food has had a terrible press, and studies have proven that eating junk food on a regular basis has a detrimental effect on our health. It is largely being blamed for the obesity in our society, both in adults and in children. The high salt content in junk food causes high blood pressure, that ultimately leads to heart disease. As a result people are developing diabetes at a young age, never heard of prior to the junk food era.

Yet these junk food establishments are not closing down! On the contrary they are continuing to flourish at an unprecedented rate. Why is this you might ask? Well it’s simple really.

It all comes down to misleading junk food advertising. Displaying powerful images in front of your eyes, that control the way you feel. Not only can these images deceive you into thinking you are getting a bigger portion than you are really going to get, they can also trick you into thinking it is healthier.

Has this ever happened to you? Or do you think you are immune to the trickery of junk food advertisers? Now junk food advertisers have been exposed by photographer Dario D.

He has personally purchased from fast food outlets, and photographed what you are actually going to receive, and compared it to what is being advertised by these company’s. These are professional pictures using similar lighting and backing to give you a fair and honest account.

Transportation Of The Future - Introducing The Zero Helicopter

This  design concept for a one man, single seat helicopter could easily be the transportation of the future. It is the brains of designer Hector del Amo, a creation he has entitled “Zero”

I’m sure I’ve seen something similar in some sci-fi movie, could it be that futuristic air travel is taking form? Remember, not so long ago there was no internet or cell phones in existence.

Who knows, add to this cool design some technology, and there could be the makings of a new form of convenience travel.

This proto type doesn’t look especially comfortable, and I also have some safety issues, but then that’s only when you think of the scary heights that a conventional helicopter can reach. I definitely think it has the potential to be an asset in the real world.

Consider this… How cool would it be as a low flying craft? I would feel dizzy and nauseous travelling the airways in this little contraption, but it would be fun to fly over cars and lorries, and traffic jams. Just give me some sort of bubble to protect me from the elements, and comfier seating and I think you could be on to something!

Stunning Night Time Scenes Where No Man Dares To Go

These night time photography pictures were taken from photographer Kevin Cooley’s collection featured at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles. The works are entitled “Take Refuge.”

Kevin’s images capture the beauty of sunset, and night time. A time when we are all thinking of settling down and taking refuge somewhere safe. These pictures contrast beautifully the warm lights from an urban city, the warm glow from a residential window, to the cold, dark, and frightening outdoors. It captures the moments when  the hot sun is departing from mother nature, leaving her cold, barren, and unprotected.

They make us value and appreciate the security of a place of refuge, whatever, and wherever that may be, whether it is a comfortable home in an urban city, a cave carved out in the lonely mountains, or perhaps a shelter from the rain under a tree, or a rock mass.

Kevin’s work even took him and his entourage as far away as the arctic. A no mans land, where few would dare to go, he says “Part of the reason I was drawn to the Arctic is because it’s sort of the end of the earth—an uninhabited place. It’s places like that where you’re directly confronted with this epic idea of nature.”

Is there really somewhere that you can take refuge wherever you are in the world? Even at the end of the earth? These pictures are certainly confrontational. The bring us face to face with mother nature herself. They force us to realise that whether man or beast, we are all one and together, sharing the same place of refuge, that is called our planet earth.

Sexual Communication - Male Fireflies Flashing at Females

These photographs of mid summer passion, were taken by Tsuneaki Hiramatsu after thunderstorms and heavy rain in Japan.

Look at the beautiful paintings that are created with this sexual communication, as thousands of male fireflies fly around flashing furiously at the females on the ground. The competition is fierce as there are many more males than there are females.

When a female Japanese firefly is looking for love she indicates this with her own flashing signal, then watches as the males compete desperately to communicate with her. She is very picky though, and why not? She afford to be with so many males vying for her attention.

Each firefly is showing off how fast, and how beautiful a light display they can produce. Look at me they are all saying. Look at how fast I can flash. Look at my long lasting display of light. Look at the intensity of my pulsating passion.

These fantastic light communications represent different strengths, and qualities that the male fireflies have to offer, and she knows what she wants, so that she can produce the finest offspring possible. If she likes what she sees in a particular male, she will respond by flashing back in a sequenced manner, synchronising until their rhythmic light dance patterns are totally in tune with one another.

Once she has partnered up with her chosen male she will not respond to any other communications, she takes one partner only, and makes love until dawn the next day. Then she slips away quietly to lay her eggs. There has been no trick photography here, and nothing has been altered in these pictures. It is purely the beauty of nature.

Graffiti Pictures - Mesmerising Cartoon Graffiti By Phlegm

These are remarkable graffiti pictures by Phlegm, a successful cartoon graffiti artist based in Sheffield in the UK. His fascinating characters often originated from his comic series, transport you into an amazing and atmospheric fantasy world.

He has been known to paint on all sorts of things including cars, trucks, and even aeroplanes, but specialises in transforming plain, unattractive, and disused walls, with the most amazing themes. He has been quoted as saying…

“I love to get run down urban spaces and factories and play with the space. It’s such an immediate way to get your picture on the wall, a painting in the street becomes part of the cities architecture, influenced by what’s around it rather than being some awkward canvas in an art gallery."

I couldn’t agree more, rather than create obscure paintings that hide away in an art gallery, drowned by hundreds of other canvas works, he is creating landmarks… Pictures that cannot fail to grab your attention, and inspire your imagination.

When he says that it’s an immediate way to get your picture on the wall he was not joking. I am astounded at the speed he is able to execute these very unique graffiti pictures. This is not merely graffiti images of the sort you would expect from your local graffiti artist with fancy words, or basic cartoon graffiti, rather he creates depth and feeling, and creates an experience for passers by.

Phlegm’s unique cartoon graffiti art is not limited to the UK, he has produced landmarks such as these in cities all over the world. I particularly love his black and white style, on a somewhat colourful background, that without the input of such creative genius would be nothing more than an eyesore.

Watch Phlegm at work with this high speed film. You will see in minutes what took him over a hundred hours to create. Allow yourself to be transported into this atmospheric fantasy world, and see what Phlegm can do with some scaffolding, and spray paint. The soundtrack is just incredible…