Amazing Sand Patterns by Crabs

Today just a quick post about something truly amazing - sand art by crabs! You've all seen it at the beach, those little balls of sand, scattered randomly around crab holes. Turns out that they often form beautiful images, by chance one wonders?

The sand bubbler crabs actually sift the sand, still wet from the receding tide, to look for nutrients and anything edible. The already sifted sand is rolled into little balls or bubbles so that they don't look through it again. Pretty smart!

Which proves that it pays to not always have our noses up in the sky but to check what's happening on the ground too.

The first picture was taken by a friend of mine at Ganapatipule beach in Maharashtra, India, and the second one at a beach in Bintan, Indonesia, by flickr user modery.

Let me know if you have seen a similar compilation of crab sand art anywhere on the Net - I know there are artists inspired by it but I haven't seen an article about it. In fact, it did require some research to find the information why these crabs roll the sand balls. Here's the full article with more pictures.

Thanks and enjoy!

Shouldn't We All Be Fishing on Stilts?

This week, I got inspired by how people make a living in Sri Lanka fully in tune with nature. After reading about all the fighting between the country's army and the LTTE and the thousands of people having to flee their homes, this was a nice reminder that Sri Lanka normally is a beautiful and peaceful country.

In any case, the fishermen in the south, mainly in the southwestern district of Galle, sit on 2-m high stilts about 20 m away from the coast. On a platform that is hardly bigger than a palm, during the monsoon and for hours. Why? Because this is the only way without disturbing the fish. Nets and bathing tourists disturb them and then they might move to a different part of the reef, not to return for years maybe.

Amazing, isn't it? Though the fishermen have more their livelihood in mind than they are environmentally conscious, the story is a perfect example of how being in balance with nature can be so simple and so beautiful. Sure, it's a tough job for hardly any money, but so can be the 9 to 5 rat race...

The story's making the rounds on the internet right now, so you might have seen the pics but only my version has the background on why, when and how stilt fishing started in southwestern Sri Lanka.

Enjoy!

P.S. The beautiful picture was taken by Mark Panszky.

Writer's Advantage No. 4: Writing for Self-Interest or Fun

With Easter safely behind us, it's time for another writer's advantage blog, which should be no. 4. One major advantage of being a writer is that you get to write about topics that are fun, feed a personal interest, or both. This happens more often if a writer has established him- or herself and can pick and choose the topics.

Or, for writers just starting out, if they combine blogs and commercial writing, they'll get to write about what they like while also keeping economic interests in mind. Down the road, the quantitiy and quality of fun posts should lead to more that are also commercially attractive.

That's not to say that commercial writing cannot be fun, it often is, yet follows more stringent guidelines.

Recently, I've researched a few environmental topics that were fun and educational:

1. Rice terraces in South Asia and China - amazing, millenia old landscape art (see picture)

2. Ice diving - a popular extreme sport that's gaining ground

3. Lava lakes - bubbling cauldrons of hot lava at the top of volcanoes

4. The Russian Antarctic station - stunning picture of an amazing landscape

Happy reading!

P.S. There is a drawback when writing purely for one - it is very easy to get carried away and stray from the topic.

Eternal Flames

This week, I have a confession to make - I am an 80's fan! It's not so much the 80's fashion and movies I'm crazy about, but definitely the music. Some songs just transport me back 25 years instantly!

That being so, I thought I'll combine business and pleasure and write an article about the Top 20 Eighties songs. Yeah, right! I should've known that's impossible as there are just too many good songs out there.

To make a long story short, I ended up writing Top 20s (or even Top 30s) for each year of the 80's! And it was fun, especially because I added hit movies, TV shows and world events that were happening each year. Transported me right back and frankly, I don't think I've quite come back yet.

So, browse at your own risk, the same might happen to you!

Here's a list of the best 80's songs by year:

1980 - 1982: Funkytown is where it's at

1983: Sweet Dreams are made of this...

1984: Are you a Karma Chameleon?

1985: Take on me, Material Girl!

1986: Took my breath away

1987: Notoriously Bad

1988: Wanna do the Loco-motion?

1989: Like a prayer

Cool Stuff: Cardboard Designs and Clothes that Transfrom

This week I came across two really interesting topics: One on cardboard designs from furniture to sculptures and art and one on multifunctional clothing items - jackets that turn into tents and the like.

It is really amazing how creative people can get with everyday objects. Cardboard is strong enough for all furniture items including beds, sofas and wall units in the house and even office furniture. Because it is sturdy and can be laminated to make it water- and spill proof, cardboard furniture is even geared for kids. Also, it is completely made from recycled or recyclable materials, so one can be stylish and environmentally conscious. Here's my cardboard article with more pictures of a Dutch advertising office made fully from cardboard, an artist who makes life-size cardboard cars, pianos and everyday objects and cool kids' furniture.

Oh, and while writing, I started humming "Living in a box," that great '80s smash hit by Living in a box. So there may be side effects associated with the article... I haven't been able to get that song out of my head ever since. The video's on YouTube.

Transformers or dual-purpose clothing are amazing because they keep our spending and consumption low and reduce the number of things one has to lug around, for example when going camping. A few design students have come up with a jacket that turns into a tent and a raincoat that does the same.

But my favorite is the bra that turns into a shopping bag. Yes, a bra. It's a Japanese invention and makes you think who came up with this. I mean, who'd take off their bra while shopping and then coolly start turning it into a bag? Has anyone thought of the logistics? In any case, cool stuff and here's more information: t-shirts that turn into bags or cocktail dresses, a jacket that's also a bag and pillow (perfect for the office) and other useful ideas.

Now, I guess from bras it's just a short way to a related subject: Eve Ensler's play "Vagina Monologues" (thanks Brijesh, for the comment). I've seen it thrice now under different circumstances: First in 2000 as part of the Feminist Expo where Eve Ensler was playing all the parts herself. It was mind blowing and the energy in the room was unbelievable! Then I saw it a few years after that as on off-Broadway production with different actors - fun, but the surprise effect was gone. And finally, about a year back, I saw it in the Indian context, which was amazing.

So, I guess the point I am trying to make is: See it whenever and wherever you can; the concept is just brilliant and very inspiring.

The image above, the condom church, is a sculpture by British cardboard artist Chris Gilmour.

Inspiring Books and Movies

Finding inspiration is as important for a writer as finding the right ingredients is for a cook. So just as a cook might consider other people's recipes and cookbooks for inspiration, a writer often finds inspiration the writings, movies and artworks of others.

It certainly works for me and I often read two or three books at a time - usually a comic book (if I can get my hands on a good one), one fiction book and a non-fiction one. The more exotic the setting, the better. Below is a list of books and movies that have inspired me in the past year.

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
This novel is about a young Algerian immigrant growing up in the public housing projects in Paris. Unsentimentally, it opens the reader's eyes to people, places and events that immigrant life in the '90s brings along. The novel was first published in France in 2004 when Faiza Guene was only 19 years old.

Women on the Edge by Maitena
Maitena is an awesome, unconventional woman cartoonist from Argentinia. In her comic books - Women on the Edge, Striving Women and Dangerous Curves are some of them - she portrays women but also relationships in general and growing up or old. She is funny, honest, biting and satirical and never fails to cheer me up.

The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat
The best-selling English author in India is often criticized for writing in a too basic style but what those critics often fail to mention is that because he's easy to understand, he manages to do what acclaimed Indian authors often cannot: connect with the masses. Bhagat touches a nerve and talks like his readers, the generation of Indian youths often called Youngistan (alluding to Hindustan, India's name in Hindi). In 3 Mistakes, his third book, he's come a long way in his writing and manages to connect such different topics as cricket, political fundamentalism and love.

Dev.D by Anurag Kashyap
This recent Indian movie is a far cry from Bollywood. A remake of the Indian classic Devdas, it tackles issues like unfulfilled love, sexual frustration, addiction and self-pity. A good part of the movie is set in Delhi's red-light district and it is amazing that the movie makes do without naked people jumping through every scene - a feat unheard of in European cinema, for example, where even shampoos and far-off products are sold through nudity. In any case, Dev.D is also funny - the first part set in Punjab especially - and is a must see.

So, from Paris to Argentina to India, there should be some inspiration here!

The image above is from the cover illustration to Maitena's 4th volume of Women on the Edge.

Some Facts About the Book Publishing Industry

A stunning fact I came across during my research last week was that, according to Bowker's Industry Statistics for 2007, an estimated 276,649 new titles and editions were published in 2007!

Want to know the Top 10 categories? Here they are:

1. Fiction (50,071 titles)


2. Juveniles (30,063)


3. Sociology, Economics (24,596)


4. Religion (18,956)


5. History (14,764)


6. Science (12,872)


7. Philosophy, Psychology (12,635)


8. Medicine (10,720)


9. Biography (10,615)


10. Poetry, Drama (10,258)

Quite amazing, isn't it? Who writes all these books and who reads them? Did I mention that the figure of 276,649 does not even include on-demand, short-run and other unclassified titles? Because that's another 134,773 titles, bringing the total to 411,422 new titles and editions in 2007.

So, if these are actual printed books, then think about the amount of print and online articles and blog posts there must be. Quite mind boggling!

Today's artwork is by Are Mokkelbost, a young talent from Oslo, Norway. It looks like a painting but is an amazing paper collage. Here's more about his works.