Argentine photographer Irina Werning has complied this beautiful and poignant collection of portraits of adults re-enacting images of themselves as kids. From what I gather, she has asked people to submit photographs of themselves and then returned with them to these same spots at the same times in their lives. She’ll take this project round the world, from Baghdad to Eurodisney, and is looking for willing participants.

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Of all the little idiosyncratic activities I’ve come across since living in Southeast Asia, this nears the favourite. The bug fights are held in a cemetery about half an hour outside of Chiang Mai late in the year when the stags are at their randiest. It pulls an impressive crowd who bet some hefty dollars on the winner, claimed by the beetle who throws its opponent off the revolving log and struts (or crawls) to victory.

All hail the magic 8-ball of cooking; the answer to those painful moments of indecision that plague every shopper at around 6pm on a hectic Monday evening. It’s not the nagging voice that questions every decision you make, but the blunt, obnoxious hollering of an online Gordon Ramsay. The kitchen abides.

There’s something quite spellbinding about this performance by East Oakland dance crew, Turf Feinz. It’s an RIP to a man — the half-brother of popular local turf dance legend and Turf Feinz member, Dreal — who died in a car crash on that street corner days before; an impromptu tribute that cuts a fine line between breakdancing and a melancholy ballet sequence. The track is by Erk Tha Jerk.

These fascinating mosaics of twenty-first century human habitation are proof that planned housing isn’t always dull and distasteful, for the bird’s-eye photographer at least. What may be endless rows of generic streets and blocks at ground level suddenly become giant patchwork quilts from the air, perhaps in a weird way proving that there is more to life than what meets the pedestrian’s eye.

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These stunning images have made the final cut of the Astronomy Photographers of the Year 2010 award, and hats well and truly off to the people who took them. The shots of celestial galaxies enveloping forests and snowscapes are particularly captivating.

I’ve watched this advert a few times and it still leaves me shell-shocked, despite having lived in Thailand for a while now and acknowledged that there is an undercurrent of xenophobia. And even racism. But this tops anything I’ve seen or heard, and it still made it onto national TV.

Whether tight-lipped local authorities are upset about this perversely attractive sight or not, there’s no question that it’s killed two birds with one stone: providing a refuge for tasteless gum that won’t end up on your shoe, and transforming a bland brick wall into a bit of an urban rainbow. I dig. [Photos via OddityCentral]

These are some pretty insane glass ball juggling skills by a Japanese dude in Tokyo, set to a quirky soundtrack and observed by some clearly perplexed tourists (doesn’t the bald guy in the background ‘get it’, or is he recoiling after being royally tangoed?). Bowie would be proud.

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This superb video for MIA’s recent single, Born Free, was taken off YouTube in April, with the company citing use of ‘pornography and gratuitous violence’. It’s a powerful piece, with brilliant cinematography and suspense. It’s a shame that political correctness blocks people from being able to watch it.

This award-winning animation from young UK director Tim Travers Hawkins is pivoted on recorded phone conversations he had with detained asylum seekers in British ‘removal centres’. It is visually dark and absorbing. The recordings provide a chilling narrative and a window into the hidden world of these ‘invisible’ peoples whom the British government, it seems, chooses to forget.

UK-based Justin Quinnell claims to hold photography’s newest record: a half-year exposure of Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge, using a pin-hole camera made from an empty drinks can.

The sweeping arcs over the bridge mark the six month course of the sun, from Dec 19 2007 to June 21 2008 — the winter and summer solstices. Quinnell’s father passed away on 13 April, 2008, and he says he can pinpoint the exact position of the sun at the moment of his death.

This is a relentlessly crunching tune from UK dubstep producer, Banana Bomber. It just pounds you again and again with three massive drops and a glitchy drum pattern and wicked bassline that can send a crowd mental. The producer is only fifteen years old.

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A nice little mash-up between the lovely Lykke Li and the ever-talented Bon Iver. The original is deeply intimate, whereas this rendition takes the song to the great outdoors and injects vibrant percussion, accompanied by the funky moves of Sweden’s finest export since Bjorn Borg’s mullet.

Sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor is about to deploy an army of some 200 cement men and women to the bottom of Mexico’s Museum of Underwater Art in attempt to create a vast and surreal reef. Mexico’s marine take on the Terracotta Army, perhaps?

I’m loving the wispy ‘glam-shoegaze’ music of Wild Nothing, sounding like a bizarre love triangle between Lush, The Delays and My Bloody Valentine. Despite their ethereal qualities, the melodies are catchy and the guitar flits between a soaring soundscape and rhythmic picking. They’ve just released a new album, Gemini, and are getting some good props across the board. [Listen to the Wild Nothing song, Chinatown]

Award-winning photojournalist James Mackay’s latest project comes at a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Burma and the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. By photographing former political prisoners displaying the names of their colleagues and friends who remain behind bars, Even Though I’m Free I Am Not exposes the enduring pain faced by Burma’s opposition movement. Over 2,100 activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians languish in prisons across the country, and on Friday Aung San Suu Kyi will likely join them.

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The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations.

Those who take the plunge and sign up for a meal on the clubs’ websites are given directions and a time to arrive – but no menu or hint of the club’s clientele. And given the coverage this new phenomenon is receiving, what could be mistaken for rudimentary eateries are in fact turning out to be pretty tasty experiences.

My vote goes to Brixton’s Salad Club; far more than a bunch of leaves and a Thousand Island dressing, these two girls are knocking out some of the finest, healthiest and inexpensive cuisine this side of The Fat Duck, and much of it from their own pokey inner-city allotment.

Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.

Interestingly, the idea for these headphones was inspired by the theory that dementia could be treated by music therapy. Designer Kirsten Black, whose grandma lived in a nursing home, said: ‘Nan had dementia and because music is recognised by a part of the brain that is so primal, it could give her a sense of familiarity and security in an increasingly unfamiliar and hostile environment. Looking at headphones available, none could be used in the nursing home environment’. Halo are small, soft, hi-fidelity speakers that fit inside a customised headband, surely soon to be every jogger-music fan’s dream accessory.