The Shannara Chronicles - A Refreshing Adventure in a Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Future

I was sitting idly on the couch, drinking cola and playing Red Flush online casino games while my better half was channel surfing besides me. I was completely immersed in my game, but dragged back with my feet on the ground when I heard a name - Terry Brooks - coming from the telly. And from MTV?!

The Dark Knight (2008) was a visual feast firmly grounded in reality. But what if it had been a little more "freaktastic?" Professional concept artist Rob Bliss, who also worked on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Watchmen (2005) and Jack the Giant Killer (2009-10) created some truly bizarre visuals for the film. Some are available in his portfolio including The Joker (Heath Ledger), the Joker's clown masked men in the bank heist and horrific images of Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

A collaboration between creative director Anna Burns and the photographer Thomas Brown. Through the use of various mediums the pair have curated an exhibition that explores the masculine world of B-Movies and juxtaposed it with the traditional British landscape. Using the themes of said movies – girls, guns and explosives – and twisting it against a very British backdrop these two challenge not only the premise of each subject but also the use of their chosen medias. The duo created a wall of umbrellas displaying elements of the classic B-Movie and located them within three landscapes – one being the forest, then London’s docklands and finally the grounds of Suffolk Manor house.

Since 2002 the Ventura bus stop at Telegraph Rd next to the Pacific View Mall remains as Ventura’s most controversial piece of public art. Created by renowned sculptor, Dennis Oppenheim, “Bus Home ” is a looping cork screw of steel, concrete, acrylic, paint, and electric light. It stands 36′ at its tallest height. For the artist: “The work depicts the metamorphosis of a bus becoming a house…entering the ground and coming up again. For the tired and often alienated traveler the experience of waiting wished to be intervened by the realization that the transaction will be complete. The passengers will arrive at their destination. They will arrive home

“Li Wei (born in 1970, Hubei, China) is a contemporary artist from Beijing, China. His work often depicts him in apparently gravity-defying situations. Wei started off his performance series, Mirroring, and later on took off attention with his Falls series which shows the artist with his head and chest embedded into the ground. His work is a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a sometimes dangerous reality. Li Wei states that these images are not computer montages and works with the help of props such as mirror, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Love at the high place I (Photo by Li Wei)

Photographer Brian Finke spent nearly two years traversing the friendly skies, following the life of flight attendants in the air and on the ground, from Delta and Hawaiian Air, to Hooters Air, Southwest, Air France, British Airways, Air Asia, and dozens more. His images of flight attendants waving, applying makeup and deboarding plans while smiling appear as if they were ripped from an advertisement in a glossy magazine. Here: Tiger Airways, Singapore, 2006. (Photo by Brian Finke/The Washington Post)

Ethiopian Airlines female pilots prepare the plane before takeoff at Bole international airport in the capital Addis Ababa, November 19, 2015. Ethiopia Airlines on Thursday, dispatched its first ever all-female operated flight. Every aspect of the journey was handled by women, from the ground crew, aircraft maintenance to traffic controllers. Gualu and her co-pilot were charged with flying the crew and passengers to Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

Situated 10km outside Nairobi city centre, this private giraffe sanctuary is centred around a colonial manor house named Giraffe Manor. Living within the grounds is a herd of rare Rothschild giraffe. The giraffes visit twice a day searching for food, before returning to the forest. Although still wild animals, they have become accustomed to receiving treats from residents and guests. (Photo by Klaus Thymann)