A visit to Beijing and a stay at the Sunrise Kempinski are now on my bucket list

Located on the shore of Yanqi Lake, the Sunrise Kempinski is housed in a bold, spherical structure that looks like a scallop from a side angle. It has 306 guest rooms and suites spread across 21 floors, and is covered with more than 10,000 glass panels which are meant to reflect the hotel's surrounding mountains, forestry and lake.

Chief designer Zhang Hai Ao of Shanghai Huadu Architect Design Company collaborated with a team of more than 60 individuals from around the world to build the luxurious hotel. Its construction took two years, and required 9,300 workers to complete.

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Check out this insane music box powered by 2,000 marbles

The brainchild of Swedish musician Martin Molin, the Wintergartan Marble Machine , is a bizarre music box that allows the user to play tunes using a hand crank and 2,000 steel marbles. The Rube Goldberg'esque contraption features a vibraphone, bass, drums, cymbals and other instruments that play a score programmed into a 32 bar loop comprised of LEGO Technic parts. It's mesmerizing, and you can watch how they built it over here . [h/t: MailOnline ]

Oil paintings that look like watercolors

Julian Meagher is an artist from Sydney who paints watercolor effect with oil. His paintings often revolve around Australian masculinity, juxtaposed by pop-culture references. Julian has an interesting back story. He's been a full-time artist for ten years, but prior to this he worked briefly as a doctor. The first few years was tough for him, and there were times he thought he should have sticked with his original profession. "It still feels weird to say I'm an artist," he told The Sydney Morning Herald . "You say that at a dinner party and you get weird looks. People think being an artist is a romantic, alcohol and passion-filled job. But it's not, and the idea of people seeing my work still scares me." Julian is a twice recipient of the New Work Grant from the Australia Council of the Art and has held solo exhibitions across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Miami and Los Angeles. Be sure to check out his website for ...

Hirotoshi Ito creates creepy, yet enchanting stone sculptures

When I found Hirotoshi Ito's flickr stream about four years ago, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I've come across some amazing sculptures before, but Hirotoshi's work is one of the most memorable I've seen. The Japanese artist, also known as Jiyuseki, takes ordinary rocks found in a river bank near his home and adds his own bit of weird and funny alterations. He usually spends up to a month carving and decorating each of his stone pieces. As he chisels, Hirotoshi retains the original shape of the rock, then he adds accessories such as zippers, dentures, coins and other materials to complete the illusion. His creations are somewhat creepy, but they also bring laughs and smiles to the people who see them. You can learn more about Hirotoshi and his work on his website .

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