Jump to May 2008 archive page: 1 2

  • Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

    Revellers enjoy the atmosphere during a Facebook cocktail party on the Circle Line on May 31, 2008 in London. Tonight is the last evening when Londoners can consume alcohol on public transport. The party attracted thousands to enjoy one last drink on the London Underground. The ban is an attempt to clean up unruly behaviour on the public transport system.

    There's nothing like a little excess to send out something that will be banned. I feel sorry for the London Underground maintenance workers...or the riders on Sunday morning. That's going to be one stinky mess.

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  • Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center May 31, 2008 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Space Shuttle is carrying the main unit of Japan's Kibo science lab to the International Space Station.

    My favorite pictures from shuttle launches always include a lot of exhaust. I like the little hint of a glow at the end of the trail.

  • Nacho Doce/Reuters

    Spectators watch rock band Bon Jovi of U.S. performing during "Rock in Rio" music festival in Lisbon May 31, 2008.

    I didn't realize Bon Jovi inspired so much emotion outside of New Jersey.

  • Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

    A participant poses during the Christopher Street Day parade in Zurich May 31, 2008. Several thousand demonstrators took part in the annual CSD parade to demonstrate for the rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people and to commemorate clashes between gay people and U.S. police in New York City's Christopher Street in June 1969.

    I would love to see the rest of this person's outfit. What I see from the neck up is certainly festive.

  • National Foundation of the Indigenous People of Brazil /EPA

    'Uncontacted Indians' of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed during an overflight in May 2008, as they react to the overflight at their camp in Brazil, close to the border with Peru.

    One of a fascinating series of pictures that moved yesterday. It looked like a scene right out of the Lost World. 'We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,' said uncontacted tribes expert Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior. That they reacted by shooting arrows at the plane just amazes me. Is this the first time they've ever seen a plane? I wonder if years down the road, this tribe will look back on that day as the beginning of the end for their way of life.

  • Oded Balilty/AP

    A cracked wall is seen in a collapsed kindergarten following the May 12 earthquake in Hanwang town in China's southwest Sichuan province.

    I've looked at this picture many times this week. It has sort of haunted me. Oded Balilty is becoming one of my favorite photojournalists.

  • Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Competitors chase a Double Gloucester cheese down the steep gradient of Cooper's Hill during the annual Bank Holiday tradition of cheese-rolling on May 26, 2008 in Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, England. Thousands of spectators gathered to watch contestants from around the world tumbling down the 200m slope, in a series of races, said to date back hundreds of years, with the winner of each receiving a cheese.

    Would you roll down a steep hill for a cheese? I love the guy second from the left with his feet straight up in the air! What a crazy shot.

  • Charlie Riedel/AP

    An old barn stands in a wheat field as a sever thunderstorm passes in the distance near Ogallah, Kan. on May 22. Severe thunderstorms dropped tornadoes across much of northwest Kansas.

    Charlie Riedel made a wonderful picture of this Kansas storm. The beauty of the image conceals the danger of being out there when these conditions exist. I lived on the prairie for a few years, and I never felt smaller or more exposed than the times when I was caught in a prairie storm.

  • Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

    A U.S. Marine, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire in Afghanistan May 18, 2008. The Marine was not injured.

    What a close call for this Marine.

  • Oded Balilty/AP

    A group of soldiers clean pieces of broken glass from a road next to collapsed buildings following last week's earthquake in Hanwang town in China's southwest Sichuan province Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

    This image looks like a watercolor painting. The soft colors and the blowing dust give this news photo a dream-like quality. It's amazing that soldiers in a modern army use branches to sweep the street.

  • Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) arrives for a primary night rally at the Charleston Civic Center May 13, 2008 in Charleston, West Virginia.

    Usually these rallies are attended by supporters who wave signs with simple messages. What do you think this sign means?

  • Eric Gaillard/Reuters

    Former soccer star Diego Maradona balances a soccer ball on his head during a photocall for "Maradona by Kusturica" by Serbian director Emir Kusturica at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 20, 2008.

    Diego Maradona is one of the greatest soccer players of all time. I understand that the director of this documentary has to make the most of his press event at the Cannes Film Festival, but couldn't they do something more dignified? Does this remind you of something else?

  • David Moir/Reuters

    Guinness World Record holder for the 'Most Pierced Woman', Elaine Davidson, poses for a photograph in the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland showing some of her five thousand nine hundred and twenty piercings on May 16, 2008.

    While we have seen quite a few images lately that depict destruction and misery, this one jumped out and put a smile on my face this morning. Do what you love and do it well.

  • Nicky Loh/Reuters

    A woman sits on the rubble of her collapsed house in the earthquake-hit town of Pingtong in Pingwu county, Sichuan province, May 19, 2008.

    There is something about bright color amidst destruction that made me stop and look at this photo. Would I have looked twice at the photo had her umbrella been black? I don't know.

  • Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks to a crowd at Waterfront Park May 18, 2008 in Portland, Oregon. An estimated 75,000 people came out to see Sen. Obama speak as he wraps up his campaign through Oregon ahead of Tuesday's primaries.

    It must be a real rush to know you can motivate 75,000 people to come to listen to you speak. For an idea of what kind of space that many people would fill, the figure for this year's Super Bowl attendance was 74,512. It's nice that someone can finally light a fire under people when it comes to important issues. Maybe the number of votes in the presidential election will actually surpass the number of votes on American Idol this season.

  • China Photos/Getty Images

    LIXIAN COUNTY, CHINA - MAY 17: (CHINA OUT) People run away to escape from a massif-slide during an aftershock May 17, 2008 in Lixian County of Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, China. A major earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, the worst in 58 years, jolted China's Sichuan Province May 12. The death toll has already risen to over 28,880 and is expected to rise with tens of thousands still missing.

    Many of the people in the earthquake affected region of China have lost so much. Trying to recover from the initial quake is certainly terrible, but then constantly having to be on edge because of the aftershocks must compound their sadness and stress in an almost unimaginable way.

  • Nic Bothma/EPA

    epa01348218 South African big wave surfer Simon Lowe surfs a wave at an offshore reef known as Sunset off Cape Town, South Africa 17 May 2008. Big winter storms hitting the Cape Penisula have provided huge waves for surfing. The waves are too big to paddle into so the surfers use waverunners to tow them into the fast moving swells. The surfers ride custom made surfboards that are heavier than normal and have footstraps to help control the board at high speeds.

    It takes a special kind of person to voluntarily put themselves in this sort of jeopardy.

  • Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

    Contestants compete in the Poorman's Bikini Beach Mile III at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California May 16, 2008. In the annual foot-race 16 girls run on a track between horse races.

    I'm not a prude, I love to have fun and I'm not someone who gets all crazy about women being "objectified" if they are making the choice to put themselves in that position. However, when I look at this image I have to shake my head and think it's not any wonder our society is going down the toilet. I find the popularity of such dumbed-down entertainment to be kind of a bummer.

  • Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    American flags fly at a used car lot across from the Shell refinery on May 14 in Martinez, Calif. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline reached a record high this week.

    Justin Sullivan provides a lot for us to think about with the layers of information in his picture. Oil refinery, SUV for sale, faded plastic America flags...

  • David McNew/Getty Images

    Water pours over a canal gate on May 8 near Bakersfield, Calif. Urgent calls for California residents to conserve water have grown in the wake of the final Sierra Nevada Mountains snow survey of the season indicating a snow depth and water content at only 67 percent of normal levels.

    This is my eye candy picture for the day. It is an interesting study of lines and contrasting colors. I like that David McNew found an interesting way to photograph what many would think of as a difficult visual topic.

  • /Reuters

    A survivor stretches his hand out from the debris of a collapsed building at the earthquake-hit Beichuan County, 99 miles northeast of the quake's epicenter on May 13.

    We've seen many difficult pictures from the China earthquake. It's difficult to avoid becoming numb, but this picture got my attention. How would it feel to be trapped in the rubble? How long could you hold on? Where would you find the strength to survive?

  • Anja Niedringhaus/AP

    Yves Rossy, known as the 'Fusion Man,' flies with a jet-powered single wing over the Alps in Bex, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2008.

    Tell me this guy doesn't look like Buzz Lightyear! I love the photo and the story. Dare to dream! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24617833/

  • Shealah Craighead/The White House

    CRAWFORD, TX - MAY 10: In this handout image provided by the White House, Henry Hager and Jenna Bush exchange vows at the altar at Prairie Chapel Ranch as Rev. Kirbyjohn Caldwell (C) presides May 10, 2008 near Crawford, Texas.

    I always think it's so fun to see pictures from the weddings of the wealthy, famous and powerful. It's definitely one of my guilty pleasures. This wedding surprised me in that it really looked pretty down-to-earth considering the blowout that it could have been. For the full story and more pictures, check out http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24554488/.

  • Carlos Gutierrez/Reuters

    Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008.

    Wow, and I thought the volcano was an amazing visual spectacle on its own. I don't think I've ever seen lightning quite like this. In fact, at first glance I thought it must be a still from a movie.

  • William West/AFP - Getty Images

    Five week old hippopotamus calf nicknamed 'Muddy' (L) stands close to her mother Primrose (R) in her enclosure at the Werribee Open Range Zoo, in Melbourne on May 6, 2008. The gestation period for the hippo is between 7.5 and 8 months, and the birth is the result of the introduction that Keepers arranged last winter between Primrose and Harry.

    Pictures of baby animals generally make everyone happy, but that's not what grabbed my attention. Zoom in on the image as much as you can and check out the texture, particularly in the mother's skin. I wonder if hippos are soft, or if they are rough like an elephant?

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