Stretching the Canvas: The best images this week

Henry David Thoreau once said, “This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”

In the Digital Age, that canvas has been transformed.

As we reported earlier this month, Canvas is a new social media platform from 4chan creator Christopher Poole. Users upload photos and alter them using tools built into the website.

Unlike 4chan’s notorious random image-board, /b/, Canvas has a strict code of conduct that strives to keep images “clean enough that most people wouldn’t be embarrassed to be caught looking at it at work or with their family.”

In this new weekly feature, the Daily Dot will highlight some of the trends and images that grabbed the attention of Canvas’ image-board.

Here’s what happened this week on Canvas.

Monday

• Performing a front-flip on flat ground is already difficult. Now imagine doing one over a subway platform. (Bonus points for sticking the landing.)
• There’s really only one way to put on a baseball cap, right? Wrong. Check out these two guys.
• Canvas doesn’t have an official political stance. Its users, on the other hand, aren’t big fans of the GOP. On Monday one anonymous user tagged a photo of a Nazi with a toilet bowl for a head with “Republicans.”

• Warning: This next image is pretty violent. It’s a GIF image of the Reno Nevada Air Show crash. Some people added links to other footage and shared their eye witness accounts.
• Have you ever wondered how van Gogh painted his legendary self-portrait? Canvas has a pretty good idea how.
• One of the site’s most popular meme’s is Moot, the Internet handle used by the site’s creator Christopher Poole. In this “Dear Moot” post, Canvas user kept things fairly light-hearted but also touched on more serious issues, such as content moderation and the first amendment.

• For those of you out there who love the Nyan cat, check out this contest to see who can create the worst looking illustration using the Internet’s most beloved kitty.
• And then there was the Sebastian Bach meme, which involved cutting and pasting the face of the famous composer onto anything and everything users could think of. His face has been plastered on photos of bacteria, a “Back to the Future” poster and a photo of Boxxy. The Bach meme is here to stay. There’s no going back.

• Canvas loves Carl Sagan and hates Snooki. Do you even know who Carl Sagan is?
• Ever wonder what the African continent looks like?
• Superpowers and incredibly chiseled features can’t buy you love. But it can earn you a wicked popular meme on Canvas, apparently.
• Row, row, row your boat gently down Abbey Road?
• Scammer beware. Canvas is on to you.

Friday

• Canvas tries to make cookie bowls (photo by know_more)
• How so much has changed since the 1990s?