Pictures of AZ's first training in 2009

[penenstamp]

(yes, that's Patrick Kluivert)



(beautiful stadium, ain't it?)

[Elano]

Jackie the sea lion paints the word "ox" in Chinese character as part of a preparation to welcome the New Year of the Ox in Yokohama, Japan

Workers in a Santa Claus and reindeer costume clean an office building's windows in Tokyo on Dec. 23.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wife of Britain's Prince Charles, tours the stables backstage at the Olympia Horse Show in London, England.

Giant toasters, banana scooters - yep, it's the Art Car Parade

There was a giant toaster, a group on scooters dressed as bananas and an oversized brain wearing sunglasses.

Yes, the Art Car Parade hit Houston again today. Close to 280 funky vehicles chugged and cycled past the crowds this afternoon during the eccentric event, which has spawned copycat parades nationwide since its inception in 1988.

One car spewed bubbles, others breathed fire and dozens, decorated with everything from bottle caps to old school lockers, glittered in the sun.

Jeni Love and her husband John, both from Dallas, paused to gawk at a Volkswagon bus painted to resemble Van Gogh's Starry Night painting.

"It's wonderful," she said. "It's like Austin on steroids."

The couple was in town for their son's graduation from the University of Houston. This was their first experience with the Art Car Parade, they said. "It just makes me want to get an old dump and glue a bunch of stuff on it," Jeni Love said.

The parade draws an estimated 200,000 spectators each year, who line the route starting at Taft and Allen Parkway and motor toward Eleanor Tinsley Park downtown.

In fitting fashion, George Clinton, known as the The Prime Minister of Funk, was the grand marshal to the fleet of art on wheels.

This year entries have come from 15 states, although the majority are homegrown.

Started in the 1980s by a group of artists, the Art Car Parade has grown into a three-day event, which began Friday with a charity parade for children in area hospitals, schools and community centers.

The event ends Sunday with the awards ceremony at the Orange Show, 2402 Munger.

The parade is the oldest of its kind in the world.

['Illicit']

^lol

[da_notorious_mack]

is that patrick kluivert??