30.4.08

Lovely.

I discovered this image somewhere (again, I don't know were from) but I love it. And I'm not really sure why. It's reminiscent of something from some time and some other place but I don't know when or where. The misty pallette reminds me of a moonlit scene from a Disney Feature Film but all I know of this is it was done quite recently and not by Disney. Maybe it's the still blue colours, or the primal security of shelter. Or maybe the pathway leads the viewer to imagine something unseen? At once I am comforted by this image but also frightened. It instills a familiar sense of childhood, or of a lonely anxiety when waking up in twilight hours after an afternoon nap.      

Coffeebot.

I'd like one of these. Although, I am trying to give up on coffee as evidenced by five days without it. I'm not sure if I had withdrawals or not - think it might have all been interwoven with serious sized man flu, which is probably a good thing. Why not suffer two wounded birds with one stone? Or something like that anyway. I have to say, I do feel a bit more naturally alert having not drunk the black stuff though. However, a coffee substitute would be a good thing to get on now if I'm going to keep this up. And chai-lattes don't always do it like a caffeine hit does. Now if anyone knows the name of the artist that did the above piece of genius, please let me know. I sourced it via ffffound but can't recall its origin.


Update(17/05): David Cabrera is the genius artist.

25.4.08

Life explained.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral of this story is: ......... Know where you're going in life... you may already be there.

22.4.08

Free Music.

I came across this great site the other day that hosts a myriad of free radio stations. Well, they're more like DJ sets with adds but this is certainly worth a look in. Called Live 365, you can choose from a variety of genres and stream music into your computer then into your head while you're looking through images on ffffound! I'm partial to the Chillout Beats station but you just have to get through the American adds with their billion and one disclaimers. In order to have non-stop music you can sign up and skip the adds all together (which is probably not a bad idea if you want to support the DJ whose putting the stuff together). But still, you could just be a tight arse .

Go see it at: Live365

Moneygami.







Images Images....



But here's a few arresting images that, while they may not be so pretty, may at least open eyes.








20.4.08

Amnesty International.



Nature inspired sculptors I'm loving right now.

Jason deCaires Taylor. The above is just a smidgen of Jason's underwater sculpture garden which also acts as an artificial reef. Jason uses sound processes that address ecological issues, promote reef recovery and explore the relationship between art and the environment. 



Paul Villinski. He makes various sculptures out of aluminium cans.


Peter Donnelly. A Kiwi artist who reminds me a little of Andy Goldsworthy but on the beach. 

Good Vibrations.



18.4.08

Australia 2020 Forum.

I'm a little excited by the 2020 Forum coming up at the end of April. If you want to get involved. you don't have to be there or be an official delegate. Simply go to GetUp! and post your comment on how you'd like Australia to look in the next few years. Otherwise, read the comments of others and rate them or dump them. The information will then be submitted to the Summit.

BIG MEGA GIGANTIC LINK SALE!

Ok. It's not really that big and nothings on sale, but I have all of these websites bookmarked into my browser that I'm just not getting to (and are probably a distraction for me more than anything). But they're all in my files for a reason - they're good sites and they're worth looking at if you have the time. I'm reluctant to place them in the left and right column links on this page as those are reserved for sites I regularly go see.  So I'm just going to shovel them all into here for now....


Humorous

Those Aren't Muskets: Funny guys from America with funny movies.

Ask Lo Pan: A blog by the evil LoPan of Big Trouble in Little China fame. Well ok, half true.

Engrish: Bad English written from on signs, posters, clothing etc. from other countries. If you've been e-mailed pages of these before, chances are most of them have come from here.

Despair Inc: Engaged in the relentless pursuit of dejection. You've never seen anything like this. Unless you've seen this site of course. 

 
Art and Design Blogs

We Make Money Not Art:They make money, not art.

Photoshop Disasters: Exactly as it says and many commentators get pretty heated on here about what classifies as a bad photoshopping example in the media and what's actually real. 

Judge a Book by its Cover: Yes, exactly. Some great examples of some terrible covers.


Design Stores

Brooks Saddles: They make some lovely leather bike seats that'll conform to your butt. And I like their site.

Moooi: Simply beautiful, minimalist designs for the home.

Douglas and Hope: A quirky little homewares store on Brunswick Street, Melbourne.

Semigood Design: More than just semi-good furnishings. 


"Twisted" Social Networking

Color Wars: Join an online team and play color wars like they do in American Summer Camps. Check out the Young Me / Now Me pics for a laugh.

Calacalaca City: Design your own Calacalaca thing for the world to see.  A WTF? site.


Grass Roots

The Freecycle Network: Free recycling. Pick up someone elses trash for FREE.

Book Crossing: Catch and release used books from all over the world. 

Afrigadget: Great stuff from Africa. 


Film Culture

Joox: Free downloadable movies.

Slash Film: Blogging all that is the movies.


Something a Little Different

Mighty Optical Illusions: A good time waster.

Urban Twilight: Definitely worth a peek into the underground tunnels and lairs of Australia's cities. You'll never see Adelaide the same way again. 

Brick Arms: For the LEGO enthusiast.


T-Shirt Companies

The Faded Line: Really nice upper end designs and eco-friendly.

Wooshka: A bit like Threadless but really not as good.

Nipple Cripple: An assorted batch of crazy T-Shirts from AussieLand. 
 

16.4.08

Do these prevent or encourage?




I'm a little concerned these would entice pedophiles rather than prevent them. Aren't you? I just hope someone with a twisted sense of communication was fired over this campaign.

I'm loving these illustrators right now.

Matthew Woodson.


Evan Hecox - Making the ordinary interesting.


Nick Dewar.


Andrew Holder.


Alison Kendall - A great artist, designer and marine biologist with some quirky imaginings.

12.4.08

Hot Links.

Here's a few random sites that may or may not be worth your while checking out.

Muxtape
Here you can put together a mixed tape for your loved one without the hassle of jamming up your Ghetto Blaster. All for free, you can also listen to other peoples mixed tapes too.

FuckedGoogle
By a seriously pissed off ex-Google employee. Google supposedly isn't all its made out to be and nobody wants to eat in the salad bar.

The Bureau of Communication
An oh-so-fine selection of fill in the blank stationery for the busy correspondent.

Bluebell FM
This site is just a touch "out there." Art, Words and Music by Hector and Bluebell. Who are crystals. Need I say more?

All My Faves - Why Search?
An interesting search engine which displays all of the top rating sites by their logos. If anything, it's a good place to see a snapshot of what's happening on the net.

12 Best User Generated Sites for Inspiration
A brief run down of all that inspires right now.

Dan Aykroyd and UFO's
Dan Aykroyd (yes the guy from such classic films like Ghostbusters) talks candidly about his theory on UFO's. There's some interesting clips on here and Dan is pretty impressive in his delivery.

Chopstick Wrapping.






Via Tommy

Sloth.

The 3 toed sloth is a marvellous creature. They are entirely herbivorous, and spend most of the day relaxing, reclining and generally not scavenging for flesh. They are mostly famous for being slow - perhaps an evolutionary low when your species is famous for sucking at motion. This is me on a good day:

9.4.08

Tunnel Vision.

Sometimes my mind is like this.
Sourced via ffffound

Sleeping Beauties.