Should I get a tattoo?

My posts today have been heavy on the infographics! My friend Matt Medved shared this helpful flowchart to reference when/if I decide to get a tattoo. I, unfazed, immediately asked him to get a tattoo with me. I now have three ideas I'd like to see realized.

Caroline

Internet vs. Privacy

By Dave Makes

Caroline

The Evolution of the Geek

In the 1500s, "geek" was a term that meant "fool" or "circus performers whose acts included biting the heads off of a live chicken." Today, it's often associated with "chic" and "cool." Take a look at the larger graphic here.

Caroline

Kanye West's "Runaway"

My friend Matt Medved pleasantly surprised me (as he knew he would) when he made me watch Kanye West's self-directed 30+ minute long music video for his song "Runaway." It has a ten-minute, beautifully choreographed, ballerina scene (my favorite part), model Selita Ebanks dressed as a phoenix in feather lingerie, a comet, people spinning sparkler poi in a parade with an illuminated Michael Jackson head, sheep, deer, and lots of white suits. ***Note on Kanye's white suit: I think it's Band of Outsiders. Can anyone confirm or refute this? Anyway, it's lovely. He's such a dapper man.



If 34:32 is too long for your fast-paced post-modern lifestyle, here's a shorter version. AT LEAST WATCH THIS!



Get ready for a fall full of "Let's have a toast for the douchebags!"

Caroline

Pink Terror

Behold, the magic of a Phantom camera at 1800 fps. Mike Barzman shot a video called "Pink Terror" in which he featured different kinds of beautifully color-coordinated destruction (my favourite). Set to audio from Steven Hawking.


Pink Terror Hawking from mike barzman on Vimeo.

Caroline

I see London, I see France

Eleri Lynn, a fashion curator at the V&A, wrote a book about the museum's massive underwear collection titled "Underwear: Fashion in Detail." If you have a second, watch this short video in which she gives a brief, but fascinating, history of shapewear from Victorian corsets to lycra bodysuits.

"It's now very difficult to trace the fashionable body shape through underwear as historians would have done previously. Of course we now have Spanx which is a form of corsetry using Lycra instead of whalebone but today you are supposed to be the shape through diet and exercise." Eleri Lynn

Caroline

Martin de Thurah for the Danish Pavilion

Danish film and music director Martin de Thurah recently released a set of short films for the Danish Pavilion at the 2010 EXPO in Shanghai. Tales of how we live features three short films with themes such as the city of family, the city of water and the city of bikes. He uses these to paint an impressionistic picture of Denmark and the Danes. These films are tiny masterpieces and I urge you to set aside some time and watch all of them.


EXPO family city from martin de thurah on Vimeo.


EXPO Water city from martin de thurah on Vimeo.


EXPO bicycle city from martin de thurah on Vimeo.

In an interview, he talked about his approach to the project:

"I started by brainstorming and writing down many loose fragments on a piece of white paper. I wanted some of these fragments to spread out and together form the touch of a story. It had to be more than just seeing people. In a way, the films turned out to be very much about love, freedom and playfulness. In one of them you just bike around and fall in love. In another, there is a little girl who is not old enough for the boys to be interested in her, and she watches them as they pass by. These are tiny stories that are connected with each other. But everything is left completely open to interpretation." Martin de Thurah

De Thurah, 35, has previously done critically acclaimed short films, one of which was selected for Cannes in 2008, and music videos for Röyksopp, Mew and Fever Ray.

Caroline

Dale Frank

"Marigolds and science and love billpay" by Dale Frank. Part of his 'Miscellaneous, 2010' exhibition for the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. It was hard to choose a favourite image. Do make sure to click through the rest of his work. The titles of his paintings are also fun.

Caroline

What are your values?

My friend Bethany works at an HR consulting firm in Philadelphia, where it is unfortunately not always sunny. Recently she e-mailed me and described her latest assignments as re-writing leadership information. She sent me a list of 60 values and challenged me to pick my top ten; five; one.

The timing was perfect as I had just finished speaking with another friend who is working at a law firm and disheartened with her position. She'd recently watched the teen romantic comedy "Say Anything" with John Cusack and it had inspired her to re-examine what her values were before taking the passionless path of practicality. ***Note: I may be describing her situation as more dire than it is in favor of using alliteration.

It was interesting to read over values I'd never considered before (fast living, helping others) and found myself spending more time deciding what new values I wanted to add to my repertoire and scheming how to cheat to get around Bethany's numeric limitation, than actually choosing five. However, when I did set my mind to it, I was surprised at how quickly I identified my values and how little editing I did after my initial selections.

So, I challenge you with the same task of selecting your top five. Write your answers down and keep them in a safe place. Revisit them in ten, or even five years. Or every day if the situation calls for it. And if you really find yourself down, feel free to call John Cusack dumb names for acting in horrible movies like 2012. My top five are after the jump.

Caroline

PS I was kidding about the helping others part.

ACHIEVEMENT

ADVANCEMENT

ADVENTURE

AFFECTION

ARTS

CHALLENGING PROBLEMS

CHANGE &VARIETY

CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

COMMUNITY

COMPETENCE

DECISIVENESS

ECOLOGICALAWARENESS

ECONOMIC SECURITY

EFFECTIVENESS

EFFICIENCY

EXCELLENCE

EXCITEMENT

FAME

FAMILY

FAST LIVING

FREEDOM

FRIENDSHIP

FUN

HARMONY

HEALTH

HELPINGOTHERS

HELPING SOCIETY

HONESTY

INDEPENDENCE

INFLUENCING

INTEGRITY

INTELLECTUAL STATUS

INVOLVEMENT

JOB TRANQUILITY

KNOWLEDGE

LEADERSHIP

LOCATION

LOYALTY

MEANINGFUL WORK

MONEY

NATURE

ORDER

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

PHYSICAL CHALLENGE

PLEASURE

POWER & AUTHORITY

PRIVACY

PROMOTION

RECOGNITION

RELIGION

REPUTATION

RESPECT

RESPONSIBILITY

SELF SUFFICIENCY

TRUTH

WEALTH

WISDOM

WORK UNDER PRESSURE

WORK WITH OTHERS

WORKING ALONE

My list:

1. Adventure
2. Close relationships
3. Meaningful work
4. Self-sufficiency
5. Arts

The 1010 Project

A single day represented in 100 photographs from ten photographers spanning from New York to Tokyo to Stellenbosch, South Africa (my favorite), all taken on 10/10/10.

A few of my favorites:

Caroline

My thoughts on religion

Caroline

You and me in the photobooth

PhotoCabine has created a fun online photo booth application where you can take vintage style photo booth photos using your computer's camera. You can easily print or download the photos to your computer. This would be a great interactive way to engage party guests if you want to be the one to surrender your MacBook Pro to drunk kids. They're not touching mine.

Caroline

HST's cover letter for a newspaper job

In October 1958, a pre-fame Hunter S. Thompson applied for a job at the Vancouver Sun. The Ottawa Citizen recently published the quintessentially-Hunter cover letter, which also appeared in The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (The Fear and Loathing Letters, Vol. 1).

Oh Hunter S. Thompson, how I wish you were still alive and could be my friend. Do you think this cover letter would fly today? I kind of want to work in a setting where this no-bullshit culture is present. What would that be, do you think?

Caroline

Gap = Nap

So often I talk about my love of graphic design and typography and why I find it fascinating and important. Everyone knows it's not wise to use Lucida Calligraphy as the font for their resume, but apart from that, what's the big deal, right? I didn't always understand the importance of design, but watching the documentary "Helvetica" was really a turning point for me.

Last night the Twittersphere apparently exploded with news about the clothing retailer Gap debuting its new logo on their website. None of the responses were positive; mostly just shock as to how it was so bad.

Designer Bobby Solomon had this to say: "For the last year or so the company has been using a ton of Helvetica Neue in their store-wide branding and advertising, so when I saw the logo it made sense that they would make the move towards the same look. But what absolutely boggled my mind was the tiny, blue, gradient square that sits awkwardly behind the letter “p”. Where before you had a classic, if even outdated logo, now in its place is something that looks like some kinda’ online bank.

There was a lot of brand equity in that big blue square and they didn’t move far away enough from the source for this logo to even begin to feel new or exciting. I think the bigger problem that Gap faces is the fact that they’ve lost their style identity. When I look at the front page of Gap.com I see J.Crew knockoffs, but without the attention to details in the product shots or styling. Gap was once known for their basics, but even that title has been taken away by younger upstart American Apparel, which isn’t in such great shape either. A sad refresh of a logo and confused style direction; things aren’t looking good for the Gap."

All this commentary because of a seemingly harmless logo change. But there lies my point. Design and typography can have huge impacts, ranging from business to psychological. It can be used to completely re-invent (or in this case damage) something. That to me is the most fascinating aspect about design.

What do you think about the new logo? What does it say to you, if anything? How does it make you feel? I thought Solomon's online bank comment was spot-on.

In my humble opinion, I don't even like their use of Helvetica Neue. Any use of Helvetica today just makes me think, 'boring,' 'lazy,' and 'unoriginal.' Not something any business wants clients to think.

Caroline

Posters of Normality

Hiller Goodspeed is a designer and illustrator who created a series of posters of everyday events. If my boring routines were illustrated in the format of a band poster or witty illustration, even sitting next to [transcendental] transients on the L wouldn't be so bad.

Caroline

140 Characters of Art

Thanks to the creations of Twitter user l_I__I_l, Twitter is now a platform for the visual arts. I think I just found 140 reasons why Twitter got a little better.

Caroline

Soup's up!

Do you often find yourself hungry, annoyed and wondering, 'what the fuck should I make for dinner'?

Never ask again.

Thanks Jess Lee for the find!

Caroline