Awe-inspiring scenes from Mother Nature Summer is the perfect time to get out and see how much nature has to offer. Photo from EarthAirFire You Might Also Like: Comments: Leave a reply: The 10 Most Disturbing Books Of All Time In my younger days if I heard a book or movie was disturbing or hard to handle I generally took that as a challenge. Most books generally turned out to not be too bad, but occasionally I’d come across something that would leave me with a sick feeling in my stomach for weeks. I’ve largely outgrown this “genre” of late, but here are my picks for the ten most disturbing books of all time. Any one of these books is capable of leaving you feeling a little depressed at the least, and permanently scarred at the worst. 10. Blindness is a book with a truly horrifying scenario at it’s heart: what if everyone in the world were to lose their sight to disease in a short period of time? 9. Anti drug crusaders should stop airing goofy commercials that nobody takes seriously and start pushing to have Requiem For A Dream made required reading for every high schooler in the country. 8. Naked Lunc is another ode to drug addiction. 7. 6. Bleak. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
The 13 scariest books of all time NOT written by Stephen King Yes, we all know King is the Sultan of Scare, and that books like The Shining, Salem's Lot, and It will make you quake in your fuzzy slippers. But here are 13 books that'll start the shivers while spreading the wealth. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS Thomas Harris This isn't the first time we'd meet the psychopathic Hannibal Lecter—that'd be Red Dragon—but it was the most eerie. And what's more, he wasn't the only serial baddie at work: Buffalo Bill took his share of trophies as Silence of the Lambs worked its way into the public's collective cerebral cortex. GHOST STORY Peter Straub Four men, comfortable in their middle-agedness, never speak of the young woman they killed 50 years before and buried in a watery grave. THE ROAD Cormac McCarthy DRACULA Bram Stoker It may be an oldie—one of the oldie-est, actually—but Stoker's Dracula is the fount from which incarnation of the modern vampire draws power. THE EXORCIST William Peter Blatty THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE Shirley Jackson THE CIPHER Kathe Koja
abandoned places Abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans | Beyond the Photos I met fellow explorers Mike Rosati and Minda Vermazen for the first time in the Las Vegas Airport, en route to New Orleans to photograph the abandoned Six Flags Theme Park that closed when Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. We read online that the park was being dismantled and sold for scrap beginning in January 2011, so with little time to spare, we hastily made plans to visit during the first week of December 2010. Our plane landed around midnight, and we drove straight to the park on a cursory scouting mission. We took a couple night shots from outside the park, made a plan, then headed to the hotel for some rest. Gaining Access The next day, we spent 10 hours documenting and exploring the park. We entered through a hole in a barbed-wire fence along a main thoroughfare, right next to a Six Flags sign that still reads “Closed for Storm” a full five plus years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city. History and Geography Exploring the Park The Future Wrapping Up
Top 10 Travel The Ghost City – an apocalyptic inspiration for filmmakers for as long as I can remember. There is nothing more surreal than witnessing an abandoned city, and writers through the ages have grabbed hold of this fact with both hands. There is however some degree of foundation to this surreality. However it happens, the topic interests me greatly. Founded in 1876, Bodie is the authentic American ghost town. Dwindling resources proved fatal however, and although greatly reduced in prominence, Bodie held a permanent residency through most of the 20th century. Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. More of a modern choice this time. After this the whole thing received the cover-up treatment. Varosha is in the Turkish occupied city of Famagusta in Cyprus. The Annan Plan had provided for the return of Varosha to Greek Cypriot control, but after the rejection of the proposal by Greek Cypriot voters this hand-over to Greek-Cypriots has not materialized. Hashima Island (??
Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics] Hurricane Katrina killed this clown. According to the photographer, “An abandoned Six Flags amusement park, someone spray painted ‘Six Flags 2012 coming soon’ on the wall above the downed head. But they were clownin.’ Six Flags will never rebuild here.” That’s sad, but much of New Orleans has not been restored to her former glory. This defunct amusement park on the city’s eastern edge must surely serve as a constant reminder that Katrina tried to wash them off the map. Welcome to Zombie Land kids! Chained dreams of fun at Six Flags New Orleans, abandoned Jazzland – that’s what Six Flags opened as “Jazzland” in 2000. Some photographers can see past the lifeless amusement park’s decay and desolation, showing us that there is still a chance the place could be cheery and not cheerless. Like a Bad Dream. Just in case you don’t know the scoop on what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and Six Flags, this photo is of New Orleans, LA, on Sept. 14, 2005. No lines for dead rides.
Photographing Decay: The Strange Appeal and Educational Qualities of Abandoned Places | (Image: Dennis Gerbeckx, cc-nc-2.0) While Urban Ghosts covers a range of subjects, most of our content to date has focussed on historically intriguing places long since abandoned. So today, in the wake of our 500,000th unique visit, it’s time to take a step back and ask a couple of questions: why are we so fascinated by forgotten places? and why do mainstream individuals indulge in this strange under-the-radar hobby known as urban exploration? From a visual perspective, urbex photographer Thomas Slatin has some answers. (Image: Brent Pearson, cc-nc-nd-2.0) Writing on CurrentPhotographer.com, Thomas explains that “taking photos of abandoned places can teach you an enormous number of specialized skills that are generally not taught in a traditional classroom setting.” (Image: Erika Karl, cc-nc-2.0) Framing – This has nothing to do with what is clamped around a photo before it goes on the wall, and everything to do with how a composition is established. (Images: Rick Harris, cc-sa-2.0)
The Bald Truth | ArtHarris.com TITANIC The New Exhibition - Artifacts Among the hundreds of artifacts on display in Sears Presents Titanic: The New Exhibition there are many spectacular never-before-seen items, including some from a dive to the Titanic in 2000. Guests can see perfume samples that were being transported to New York on Titanic and an inspection card for a passenger originally booked to travel on the Majestic. The card shows Majestic crossed out and replaced with the name of the doomed Titanic. In addition to a part of the wheel from Titanic’s bridge, brass letters from a sign spelling “C deck”, garland that once decorated Titanic’s Grand Staircase, a toilet from the lavatory of a first-class state room and many, many more fascinating treasures, visitors will come face-to-face with the 15-ton “Big Piece,” the largest piece of Titanic ever recovered.