Right on the heels of my previous post, The Wallpaper Project now includes the winners of a holiday-themed wallpaper competition. I particularly relate to Hendra Permana's design. Happy Holidays!
(by Luke Pearson)
(by Hendra Permana)
(by Humanhand)
Make your computer festive and download the images here: http://kitsunenoir.com/blog/2009/12/23/the-holiday-wallpaper-competition-winn...Yes, having "wallpaper" on your "desktop" reveals just how delicate the whole computer metaphor is, however, thanks be to Bobby Solomon and his blog Kitsune Noir's feature "The Desktop Wallpaper Project," an on-going series of fab options for our screens. I have spent some time recently looking for good backgrounds that meet the dual criteria of being interesting/inspiring, but not distracting or further confusing what can sometimes become a messy jumble of icons, and almost gave up hope until I came across the DWP. I look forward to checking back every few weeks to see what new images are on offer.
(by Always With Honor)
(by Jez Burrows, and my current wallpaper)
(by Alex Cornell)
(by Brian Wade Scott)
(by Adam Hancher)
(by Ben Aslett)
Sometimes I wonder if the makers of civic signage are extremely earnest safety-fiends or would-be comedians with a really great medium at their disposal.
December's National Geographic has a short piece on the wide variety of safety signs that pepper our environment, and their often (unintentionally?) amusing phrasing and illustration. My favorite is the above, from South Africa, which roughly translates to the title of this post. National Geographic drew from the vast signage collection of Doug Lansky who has put together a traveling exhibit called Signspotting as well as a few books on the subject.
Does this sign mean "Running Jesus Ahead" or something else? Take the National Geo. quiz and find out: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/departments/quiz-interactive
More about Signspotting here: www.signspotting.comThe annual New York Times Magazine "Year In Ideas" issue came out this past weekend. This year's collection was a bit slimmer than years past, probably more due to the magazine's cost cutting measures than a dearth of original thinking in 2009. Nevertheless, it's always an interesting list to peruse. Here are two entries I particularly enjoyed:
* The Google Algorithm as Extinction Model
Slideshow with more images as well as the other cover options here: http://nymag.com/arts/all/aughts/62525/
This holiday season my crony-at-large Olivia has started a Twitter campaign (search #iGiveTwice) to encourage people to purchase gifts that return something to the world. As she writes on her website:
Here's a novel idea for a music video: Show musicians actually playing, sans gimmickry or cut-aways to the band caught in some sort of brooding narrative.
Musicians Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte of the band Pomplamoose have revived the WYSIWYG form with Conte's refreshing "videosongs" which, by Conte's own rules, must include footage of everything you hear. The popularity of their videosong covers including "Beat It" (see below) has led to enough sales of their original album to make a recording contract or physical CDs moot. Fledging musicians, take note.
There have been some incredible Lego creations out there, including the thorough (and no-longer-with-us) Lego House, music videos, and monuments galore, but I think this Matrix recreation is especially well done. There's just something about seeing Neo dodge spring loaded bullets that really cracks me up.
