Photo Albums Most Worthy of a Flicking Through.

Vietnam 1967-1968

A set of 45 photos on flickr with an interesting back story to the photographers origins. 

Magnum Photos

Owned by a co-operative of worldwide photographers, this fantastic site houses some 400'000+ images chronicling the people, events, issues and personalities that make up our planet. While the images are for sale, the site also hosts some great exhibitions, video essays, a blog and a whole lot more photographic goodness. 

 

Abduzeedo

Awesome light graffiti projects. It's graffiti without the mess. 

SquareAmerica

This is a tremendous gallery of "vintage snapshots and vernacular photography." Be sure to check out the photo's from the series The Booth as well as The Faces - which is a pretty strange compilation of profile shots of young teenage women and one young man undergoing some kind of bizarre experiment.  

Sighmons Photostream

There's a lot of graffiti on here from a fellow Adelaide chap. But of real note is the photo set from an abandoned building of the Julia Farr Centre. These shots really make me want to go explore some of Adelaide's eerie haunts.   

     

Foundphotoslj's Photostream
There's a whole lot of vintage photo's here in different sets - from The Man Who Smiles A Lot to a bunch of pimply teen's from the 50's.

- I've gotta say that looking through these sets of photo's (many of which were found discarded and later secured by caring people) has made me feel a little melancholic. Be warned if you're prone to similar states.

Future Conscious is...

I've been collecting a library of images for a while now. Inspired by The Game, I wondered whether I could come up with some images that would capture what it is that I'm trying to create on this here blog. Sometimes I wonder what I'm trying to represent here at all. Whose values is this blog trying to uphold? Does it really matter what this blog is about at all and who really cares anyway? Barring about three people, is anybody else reading it? Are all bloggers too busy blogging on their own blogs to be reading anyone else's? There's so much good stuff out there, it's not possible to read it all - to be abreast of everything and still function in your own life!

For myself anyway, I think putting this blog together has actually helped me to become more aware of what's on the net that is actually positive, and not pornitive. A lot of the content thus far has not been overly original on my part, but at the very least, I feel it has helped me to keep focussed on what is life supporting and what is out there that can potentially offer us a more fulfilling and ultimately sustainable life. So, here's what Future Conscious IS, in a handful of random pictures:

Seeing the light with your feet in the dark.

Getting out of the box, getting back to nature. 

An open mind.

A recognition that brands are not impermeable to people.

The joy in simple things.

A focus on substance, quality, effort, authenticity....  

Seeing order in the chaos and harmony in all things. 

Reaching out to others.

 

Loving the beauty in the decay.

Technology AND Nature. Together. 

Looking at things from a higher perspective.

The security of place.

Elephants.

Elephants are my favourite of the beasts. Here's a nice pic from an assignment by TIME Magazine's photo essays archive.

Holy Fuck!

Drop everything, forget everything and watch Zeitgeist The Movie!

Free Food!

Check out this great list of 40 FREE ICON SETS for the web, from Smashing Magazine. And if you look at the comments section, you'll see FAMFAMFAM is a pretty popular spot too!

Any suggestions?

I'm wanting to simplify this page and thus cull the number of website links shown in the Left and Right columns on this page, but still have the links accessible to others and update-able. Can anybody suggest a way of making the links invisible on the front page but still easily accessible? My thoughts are to offer specific lists of links within a handful of posts, and then make the link to these posts accessible via the Right column. ie. click on Design Sites in the Right column and it will take you to a post full of design links. Is this going to work? What would be the most efficient way do you think? Thanking you...

OVVLvverk.

Here's a great website, ad free and all about imagery as it pertains to the owl, one of my favourite birds. Visit OVVLvverk and you can also get a FREE AD FREE BLOG Picci like the one above to show your commitment to add free blogging.

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

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. 

 

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.

Danger, World in Crisis.

The above image is a nice illustration of populations by exploded graph. Available on flickr>>

And here's a world clock you must go see. It continues to count not only the number of births and deaths happening right now, but such morbid things like the rate of injuries, hectares of forest lost, divorces, drownings etc. etc. - all happening right in front of your eyes. Go see>>

Petition for Tibet.

Please sign this urgent petition urging Aussie PM Kevin Rudd to stand up to the Chinese on his upcoming visit to China. It takes less than a minute. Visit GetUp! I have lived among Tibetan refugees so I don't take this issue lightly. For more information visit the Australia Tibet Council.  

Image via Time Magazine. Tibetan Buddhist monks lead protesters carrying the Tibetan national flag in China's Gansu Province, home to many ethnic Tibetans, as protests erupted in Lhasa on March 14.

Know your values.

A website devoted to the values, motivation and inspiration of designers. Go see>>

Weblove.

I've seen this posted in a couple of places now and wondered whether he ever got the girl?

The answer...

Create your own Snowflake.

Just click on the banner above for some wholesome and clean fun by PopularFront.

NetNannies.

If you're not a knitter but you need something knitted, check out the dolls at NetGranny! They'll do you a mean skivvy. This is Annelies, currently working on 3 pairs of socks. 

Design Wisdom.

_You cannot NOT have a user experience.
Lou Carbone
_Easy is Hard.
Peter Lewis, NY Times
_The user is NOT a lower life form.
Ken Becker
_The details are not the details. They make the design.
Charles Eames
_Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion.
Bob Baxley, 2003
_Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Steve Jobs, 2003
_Just because nobody complains doesn’t mean all parachutes are perfect.
Benny Hill

More user experience quotes>>

Eggs & Greens.

Yay! Benny's back to blogging. Go see>>

Get me off of this thing.

...but don't lose yourself in the process.