the Daily Mail wrote:



Grain Britain! Japanese pays Olympic tribute to the best of Blighty with incredible sand sculptures

By Leon Watson

PUBLISHED: 16:00 GMT, 9 April 2012 | UPDATED: 13:43 GMT, 10 April 2012





The artists look proud of their work - and it's under-sand-able.

These stunning sand sculptures have been created by a Japanese attraction that's gone against the grain to celebrate the best of British for the Olympics.





Using some of our most famous figures and landmarks, a team 15 artists from around the world created everything from the Tower of London to the inside of a Great British pub at the world's first museum dedicated to sand in Tottori.

The sculptures go on show on April 14 until January next year and are inspired by the 2012 Games in London.

Other creations include a rainy London street scene with a black cab, Queen Elizabeth I, the present Queen, William Shakespeare, the Palace of Westminster and Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.





Italian artist Leonardo Ugolini worked on sculptures of Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster using around 3,000 tons of sand.

He said: 'This is my first time creating a sand sculpture indoors, and it's rather nice not have to worry about the weather.'

Dan Belcher, from the U.S., sculpted the scene of happy sailors drinking at a pub.

He added: 'I hope the visitors can enjoy the sand sculptures as if they’ve travelled to England.'

The sand museum, based near Tottori's spectacular dunes, has previously produced sand replicas of Italian Renaissance icons as well as Asian UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Great Wall of China.



Organisers say the art pieces appear even more spectacular when lit up in the evening.

Each time I go to the beach and see kids digging for sand castles and think, they'd rather dig a tunnel straight to the casino vault - the casino is 100 yards from the beach !

Boston has its ice sculptures each winter, and now Tottori will have another landmark.

The works are remarkable. Here kids use a little plastic bucket and often dig a well to bring water from the sea to harden the sand. But I never saw if modest sand sculptures.

Another funny idea that scratched me was for kids to bring a concrete bag with them and build true things. Years ago, I made my first art sculpture out of concrete, it was great fun.

Excellent post Excellent ! Viva Le* Watcha !
Viva Madame Tussad! Viva Le Pen !

Whatchamacallit wrote:

Each time I go to the beach and see kids digging for sand castles and think, they'd rather dig a tunnel straight to the casino vault

great fun.

Watcha-kiki is alive and well!!!!

It's a relief Watcha-kiki, my lil' pet, is safe and posting his usual rubbish.

I was so worried it had run away I even put up a thread to find the critter:

www.fuckfrance.com . . .

But all is well that ends well. Good thing I put up those reward posters in town for him:

Whatchamacallit wrote:

www.fuckfrance.com . . .

Speaking of links, my dear pet watcha, Hadrian commented today about 3 persons having expressed an interest in Asia:

Anybody notice the strange correlation between Asians and pedophelia?

Here is how he described you:

Hadrian wrote:

All the pedophiles and pedophelia-advocates that have unfortunately posted on FF (at least since I've been a member) have all had one thing in common: they were all obsessed with gooks and Asia.

MadPedo
Manu_de_Hanoi

And that other dude who is now wandering the streets,
scribbling in Japanese, and claiming to be a Sensei.

Much less nice than me who cares about your well being.

But exhilarating nonetheless.

.