The Mystery of the Margate Shell Grotto

In 1835 a labourer was digging a field just outside the English seaside town of Margate.  His work was interrupted when he thrust his spade in to the soil and it simply vanished in to the ground.  The master of the nearby Dane House School, James Newlove, was made aware of this strange disappearance.  He volunteered his young son, Joshua, for the task of being lowered, candle in hand, in to the void via a length of rope

Image Credit kotomi

Regardless of our modern sensibilities about the health and safety of children, when Joshua was pulled back to the surface his wide-eyed tale astonished everyone. He told of a magical temple adorned in shells, hundreds, thousands… millions of them.  All told, 4.6 million.

Homeless

One young hermit crab is fast outgrowing his shell so he decides to go in search of a new home. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it first seems... One of the most important thing is animation is character development and Yevgeni Krachak has succeeded in this brilliantly. We really feel for this little guy and hope that he finds a home soon.

This animated short was created by Krachak as his third year project at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.  His brief was to combine CG with live footage. It’s rather more than an exercise in the bringing together of two formats – he has created a little character here around which a whole movie could be created.

Lost Sunglasses – Reward Offered

Image Credit Flickr User Backkratze

Have you ever left a pair of sunglasses on the beach? If so you might have worried about what would become of them – yet another addition to the thousands of tons of plastics in or around our oceans. I am not saying that we shouldn’t worry about these sorts of things by any means – but nature does seem to be able to work around most things, if the pair above is anything to go by.