Today’s savory/delicious web findings are as follows:

Theme magazine writes, “Given the frequency of earthquakes in Japan, it would seem a bad place to build elevated highways; but given their space constraints, they’ve got no choice”. Check out Ken Ohyama’s documentation of Japan’s elevated urban expressways. Be sure to add the dude as a contact on Flickr.

GOOD recently worked with Wooster Collective to curate some examples of cutting edge street art. I’m not sure I’d agree with most of the selections, however, I do agree with the statement “These days, if you’re looking for innovative and vital art, skip the galleries and take a walk down the streets of any major city.” In a separate post Good writes, “That Old Testament God sure was kill-happy. By Dwindling in Unbelief’s tally, the good lord smote some 33 million people during Biblical times”. On that note: Watch Zeitgeist y’all.

Will Loafers be the must have kicks of ‘09? I’m digging Ryan from Hyr Collective’s prediction.

Speaking of Zeitgeist, Hype Machine has a great version of its own. So, “Forget the magazine editors & big label marketing budgets. This is the best music from 2008 chosen by the most passionate music fans alive: music bloggers.”

Flipping Typical is a cool font tool.

Are you into Popular Behaviour? If so, my colleague Gavin Froome just started a new block. YAMS, that clean white and black design looks slick, no?

As the year has now come to a close, it’s time to look back at The Aesthetic Poetic’s most popular stories of ‘08. In case you missed them the first time, here’s a list of the top 12.

1. Ilkka Halso: Museum Of Nature - Finnish artist Ilkka Halso portrays a futuristic world where nature, no longer capable of serving its natural purpose, functions as nothing more than an amusement attraction.

2. The California Academy of Sciences - The California Academy of Sciences is currently migrating 20 million specimens and 38,000 living animals to its new location in Golden Gate Park.

3. “Chinglish” In China - Recently, the F-word has been popping up on many signs leaving government officials bewildered and expats amused.

4. Carbonated Conflict - Prompted by a recent surge of prosperity in the Middle East, the giant American beverage companies have engaged in a fierce race to win the soft-drink allegiance of Arabs, especially youth.

5. Reverse Shoplifting - “Shopdropping” as it’s known, is an ongoing project in which artist Ryan Watkins-Hughes replaces the packaging of canned goods with his own artwork, and then “shopdrops” the items back onto grocery store shelves.

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I recently picked up a fresh copy of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut for my library to replace the previous copy I owned which was never returned by the careless individual that I lent it to. If you’ve never read the book and you’re into satire, you’re seriously missing out. Simply put, it’s ingenious - clever, original and inventive. Vonnegut at his best.

The following exerts from the novel remind me of the sad, destitute and rampant drug addicted population that inhabits Vancouver’s downtown east side.

“The whole city was dangerous - because of chemicals and the uneven distribution of wealth and so on. A lot of people were like Dwayne: they created chemicals in their own bodies which were bad for their heads. But there were thousands upon thousands of other people in the city who bought bad chemicals and ate them or sniffed them - or injected them into their veins with devices which looked like this.”

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