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If you’re in the mood to have your mind blown, these 10 optical illusions will definitely do the trick.Give your brain a workout and test your ability to mess with your perception by checking out these 10 optical illusions, and let us know which one had you the most confused and astounded.More...

Because matte painting often involves combining several photos to achieve an end-result, matte paintings can be great practice for anyone who wants to learn how to create photo manipulations. In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a fantasy city that is built on a rock structure, similar to Minas Tirith from "The Lord of the Rings." In the process, you will learn several techniques to help you incorporate architectural photos into your artwork. Let’s get started!Speed Art VideoBefore you begin, watch this amazing speed art video that shows the entire process of creating this artwork. Tutorial AssetsThe following assets were used during the production of this tutorial. Please make sure to download them before you begin work. Often, third-party content is moved or deleted over time. If photos are not available, you will want to find alternative imagery before you start. Special thanks to Marcel Vijfwinkel for the use of his photography in this tutorial.Image 1Image 2Image Pack1. Cut Out ResourcesStep 1First, open one of the resource images. Let us start by cutting the sky out of our resource images so we can use them more easily later. Step 2Select the Magic Wand Tool. Step 3Click on the sky until you’ve selected all of it. Be sure to check the tool settings to improve your selection. I’ve used these settings. Step 4Now let us go into Refine Edge to get a better selection. Depending on the image you might want to play around with the Edge Dedection settings. Once the selection looks good just use the Delete key to get rid of the sky. It should look something like this. Step 5Now take the Rectangular Marquee Tool and select the part we need to keep. Step 6Next, crop the image by going to Image/Crop. Step 7We can now save the image for later use. Saving it as a PNG file allows us to keep the transparency. Step 8The previous steps are applicable to all the images we need to cut out, but let’s go through it again. Open up another resource image. Step 9Select the sky around the image. Step 10Be careful around more difficult areas such as trees. For these situations it is better to zoom in. Step 11Once we cut out the sky the image should look like this. Step 12Again, the Refine Edge option can be handy to enhance the selection. Step 13Now spend a little time repeating the previous process to all the images we are going to need. Once we have all of our cut out architecture as PNG files we can move on to the next part of the tutorial. 2. Building Our CityStep 1Now we can start the real work; building our fantasy city. First, open our main image of Mont Saint-Michel, which we will use as a base for our city. We can work on this image, it should be large enough. If your computer is a bit slow however you might want to reduce the size of the image. Step 2Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select one of the towers. Step 3Copy it and move it over to another part of the image to add more towers. You can add as many as you like. Step 4Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Step 5Select a chunk of a building and use it to cover up other parts of the image. You can also use the Spot Healing Brush Tool and Clone Stamp Tool. We want to get rid of anything that looks modern or unwanted such as metal scaffolding, tourists, modern shop signs, etc… A well patched up image should look something like this. Comparing the original to the edited version shows how unwanted elements have been removed. Don’t worry about the cars for now, we will take care of them later. Step 6With the Polygonal Lasso Tool, select the main tower of our structure. Cut and paste it into a new layer, we will keep this for later. Step 7Open up our image of the dome from the St. Pauls Cathedral. Step 8Select the image and copy and paste it into our main file. We will keep all the new parts of architecture on a separate layer for easier use later. Step 9To match the contrast of the images lets go to Image/Adjustment

photo by Chelsey Andrews For the fun and popular internet meme “Cat Beards,” we dug up even more hilarious photos of people placing their cats in front of their face creating a furry beard. You can view more by searching under on the Instagram tag #CatBeard and #CatBearding. photo by Jaume Carrió photo by Helena Gard photo by Zarah Fager photo by Crystal Dennis photo by stuckenschneider photo by Andrew Deezon photo by Beth Tilling photo by Crystal Balser photo by Kiley Lin photo by Paul Clark photo by Mary Rebecca photo by anjava photo by Kathy Worth photo by stillhotson

SYDNEY—One of two Australians who plunged from a cruise ship in mysterious circumstances two weeks ago was remembered on Thursday as a hero who died attempting to rescue his girlfriend.Cruise ship passengers disappearOfficials have been tight-lipped about why Paul Rossington, 30, and his 26-year-old girlfriend Kristen Schroder plummeted more than 20 metres from their cabin balcony of a Carnival Corp. ship off eastern Australian on May 8 on the final night of a 10-day family South Pacific cruise.Neither body was found. Hundreds paid their respects to Rossington, a paramedic, at a memorial service in a Sydney church on Thursday.“We don’t know everything that happened that night, but one thing we do know is that Paul has immediately and instinctively gone over the side of the ship to try to save Kristen’s life,” New South Wales state Ambulance Service senior chaplain Paul McFarlane told the congregation.“To those who knew him, this heroic action was not surprising in the least. That’s the sort of man he was,” McFarlane added.Police have revealed that surveillance video showed the couple going over the railing about the same time with a brief pause between them. But police have refused to officially say whether they appeared to have fallen by accident or jumped. Police have said there is no suspicion of a crime, ruling out the possibility that anyone was pushed.Police have questioned family, friends and passengers in a bid to create a fuller picture of what happened than the video provided. But by Thursday there was no public update from police about the circumstances.The family of Schroder, a real estate agent who had lived with Rossington in the New South Wales country town of Barraba, described her death in a statement as a “tragic accident.”But Ann Sherry, chief executive of Carnival Australia and Miami-based Carnival Corp.’s representative in the South Pacific region, described the prospect of an accidental fall overboard as “highly unlikely.”The couple were not discovered missing until the following morning when the ship, Carnival Spirit, docked at Sydney’s Circular Quay.An air and sea search covered 4,670 square kilometres of ocean before being called off without finding a trace.Schroder was remembered at a separate memorial service earlier this week. Her family requested privacy.Their deaths were the latest high-profile problem for Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise operator.Last year, the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people. Also last year, the Costa Allegra caught fire and lost power in the Indian Ocean, leaving passengers without working toilets, running water or air conditioning for three days. Costa is a division of Carnival Corp.In February, passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph spent five days without power in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine-room fire disabled the vessel. Those on board complained of squalid conditions, including overflowing toilets and food shortages.

For many, Memorial Day is a three-day weekend that serves as the ceremonial start to summer. Many D.C. area residents flock to the beaches in Delaware and Maryland to spend some lazy time in the sun.But the history of Memorial Day in D.C. goes much further back than your annual beach house rental tradition. It reaches back as far as 1868, when General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic declared May 30 of that year to be "Decoration Day," for, in his words, "the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."More...

From Canon: New Facebook Application Showcases Full HD Movie Print Technology to Turn Videos and Stills into High-Quality, Personalized Comic Strips MELVILLE, N.Y., May 23, 2013 Starring in a comic strip isn't just for superheroes anymore. Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced the launch of Canon PIXMA Comix, an interactive new application found on the Canon U.S.A. Facebook page, that empowers fans to create fun, personalized photo comic strips to print and share with friends or share socially. Highlighting the Full HD Movie Print technology found in My Image Garden software, this application brings users' adventures to life. Whether it's video of a friend surfing a giant wave, photos of a baby's first steps, or photos and video from the annual summer barbeque, Canon PIXMA Comix allows users to utilize up to six images to create a personalized comic strip. The images can be uploaded from photo albums or as stills pulled from an uploaded video stored on your computer or Facebook page. With creative options including comic strip templates, photo filters including fish-eye, toy camera and poster effects, various font styles, and the ability to select comic-style speech and sound effect bubbles where text can be added, the application provides the platform to create unique, personalized comics. After creating a comic, users will have the opportunity to print the final product to display and enjoy, or post and share within their social network. "The Canon PIXMA Comix application enables photo and video enthusiasts to easily apply comic book styling to their images, and share their story," said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies and Communications Group, Canon U.S.A. "We always strive to enhance the Canon consumer experience, and with this application, it's easy to get creative with a home printer by printing personalized comic strips to enjoy for years to come." Canon's Full HD Movie Print technology allows users to select and print individual frames of a video, so every special moment - captured via camcorder or digital camera - can be enjoyed as an individual image. For those who opt to print their comic through the application, Canon is offering a special promotion, which will be available through the Canon Direct Store.* To create a personalized comic strip, visit Canon PIXMA Comix at www.PIXMAComix.com. To learn more about the full line of Canon PIXMA printers, please visit www.usa.canon.com/PIXMA.

*Chris Brown and his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran were involved in a collision on Tuesday when the singer drove his Range Rover into the back of a black Mercedes at a light in Beverly Hills. Brown – who was en route to a recording studio with Tran – immediately got out of his vehicle after the smash and exchanged insurance details with the female driver, as Karrueche snapped photos of the accident scene. No one was injured in the accident and police were not called to the scene. “They’re cool. Nobody got hurt,” a source close tells HollywoodLife.com. “Just some minor s**t, but Chris said he and Kae are all good.” The source added, “Insurance is handling all [of it].” Chris and Karrueche have been spending more time together since Chris’ latest split with Rihanna. The two reportedly attended Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards together in Las Vegas. A source tells HollywoodLife.com: “Chris Brown sent Karrueche to the Billboard Gifting Lounge presented by Kari Feinstein PR at the MGM in Las Vegas on Sunday. They arrived together, and then she stepped out of Brown’s trailer into the lounge. Later she was his date to the show. She loved the Vix bikinis and Vega crystal necklaces.”

- WWE’s The Marine 3 with The Miz is their most successful straight-to-DVD release in a long time. After four weeks of being released, the movie sold 153,226 units for $2,292,261. That’s more than any regular WWE DVD will do this year with the possible exception of WrestleMania 29. - As noted earlier this week, WWE Hall of Famer Sunny is out of prison, where she started working on a book. She posted the following about the book and a photo of her new look: “Tammy Sytch via Facebook: OK , time to go type up my book…. there are 480 handwritten pages to work on! talk to you all through out the night!” More Recent Sunny Photos, Possible Spoiler on Daniel Bryan’s Future, More… Partial source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's Michelle Obama's mantra for dressing -- especially when it comes to her Tracy Feith dress.Arguably the most prized item in her closet, the piece has made more than a few appearances in the past few years. The latest? FLOTUS whipped out the frock for a visit to Virginia's Willow Springs Elementary School yesterday. This time, she wore the pretty floral number with a pair of black slingback heels. (Oh, and for all of you fringe enthusiasts, it looks like Michelle's bangs are back in full force.)More...