UNITING THE WORLD WITH U2ube.

For the first time, YouTube has teamed up with a band to, for lack of a better word "televise," a free concert. This was probably a huge step in music and technology and of course, there's only one band so ahead of the curve: U2. No doubt, with the success of this historic digital event, we will see start to see more concerts online.

The show started with a 30 minute countdown to U2's stage entrance. The growing anticipation, I must admit, definitely added to this virtual concert experience. And then voila, the show began. You probably forget immediately that you're watching it on the internet and believe me, it's something that you have to experience. I found myself singing along with Bono and if I had more space, I probably would've danced. And with all great concerts, I noticed the very familiar exhilaration of hearing great hits.

U2 is probably one of the only bands that can perform for about 2 hours, continuously playing hit after hit. They played such a beautiful and diverse set and as Bono put it "We've got old songs, new songs and songs we can hardly play."

This was truly the cheapest and one of the best concerts I've been to.

BE A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER.

For some strange reason, I never bothered going on the National Geographic website. That was stupid. The National Geographic site (http://www.nationalgeographic.com) has a wealth of information on what's happening around the world accompanied with beautiful imagery.

Here's what's really cool for you photography nerds out there: you can submit your photos to an online contest (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/photo-contest) and you can have your own national geographic gallery. If your shots are selected, they will be published. Now here's what I've gathered from spending an embarrassing 5 hours straight on the site (obviously, I'm addicted): anyone can be a great photographer. You just have to pay attention to your surroundings.

Have a look at the photos below. These are all taken by "amateur" photographers with sometimes, nothing more than a point and shoot.  Impressive isn't it?

STRANGER THAN FICTION.

I have never really been a fan of Will Ferrell movies but Stranger than Fiction, I love. Apart from the incredible performance from all the characters, the best thing about this film is the beautifully written script. It's clever, it's funny and it's surprisingly touching.

The design geeks out there will love this movie too. A motion graphics house in Kansas city called MK12 did a fantastic job with the intro sequence. It's one of the best pieces I've seen in film.

Anyway, this movie was a pleasant surprise and I highly recommend you guys watch this. Pay attention to the script!

DIFFICULT IS WORTH DOING.

This is probably the best piece of advertising I've seen in years: a live ad. It is also the best advice I've come across in years and I thought I'd share it. DIFFICULT IS WORTH DOING. As creatives, we have to do things we think we cannot do.

THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING A JOURNAL.

I'm quite fond of this message. A lot of creatives today don't seem to value the importance of having a journal. I see a lot of creatives walking around with loose leaf paper. What the f***? During the brainstorming process, you come up with plenty of ideas that may not be appropriate for whatever it is you're working on but dig back a few years later and I guarantee you will find a gem.

THE PERIODIC TABLE OF TYPEFACES.

This was sent to me by a good friend and I thought this was definitely worth posting. If you ever spend a lot of time doing any print work, you often find yourself stuck for fonts. I don't particularly enjoy searching for fonts and this could virtually end up taking you a at least an hour to find the perfect one. So I tend to stick to a set of 10 I've committed to memory. This is not a good thing. So the image above is a really useful tool if you ever need to look for fonts. I think it's a fairly good set of fonts. There are enough that aren't generic and default and large enough so you have enough variety. Of course, the best thing to do is probably grow some patience and dig through your library of fonts. But until then, use the above.

GET YOUR MOJO BACK.

Sagmeister is a master graphic designer but for me, I love his forward thinking philosophy on life. What's important to understand is that his philosophy actually works. The TED talk below is Sagmeister's view on taking regular sabbaticals (an extended leave from the office) and how important it is to gain some new perspective and how it improves your work. Sagmeister's work is always fresh so he can charge more.

Anyway, for those of you workaholics who manage to see this, you can thank me later.

SHOOT YOUR OWN FILMS.

Red Rock Micro is a company that creates cinema rigs for DSLR cameras. It's not cheap but in relation to cinema rigs for film cameras, it's cheap. It'll set you back around USD 2500 for an extensive rig (the one above).

Red Rock Micro is also sponsoring a great DSLR film festival called dailyfilm and here's the site: http://www.dailyfilm.tv/festivals/dailyfilmtv-dslr-short-film-contest

The point of this is...anyone can do this.  Just do it.

Here are some more samples.

A NEW WAVE OF SHOOTING FILMS.

Welcome to a new age of digital films. I just got myself a Canon 5D mark II and it is...insane. I'm not gonna talk about the great images this thing produces at an astonishing 21.1 megapixels but rather its new feature: full HD video.

I must say, from what I've seen, this thing can compete with the best film cameras out there. I don't see a huge difference between the infamous Red Camera (http://www.red.com/) and the 5D mark II. The main problem with the 5D is image stability because of its light weight, unlike the Red Camera - you can buy stabilizers and rigs, etc.

In any case, here's a relatively cheap opportunity to start shooting your own films. Forget presenting storyboards, imagine presenting fully shot test commercials to clients. Have a look at these:

Canon 5D mark II - Commercial Shoot from Denver Riddle on Vimeo.


Mark II from Alex Delarge on Vimeo.


Tokyo Reality (Canon 5D MarkII) from Florent Porta on Vimeo.

IT STARTED WITH A CHAIR.

Juno: the little movie that did. For the folks that don't know this tid bit, most movies usually don't recover from their budget with ticket sales and only get it back with dvd and promo sales. Juno, however, not only recovered their budget in its opening weekend but profited 20 times over.

Anyway, this post isn't about money. It's about the intro sequence. For anyone that has done any work like this, you'd know that this is a grueling process. I managed to get my hands on the some of the production pics so you'd understand how this is made. It's tough...

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS.

If you're from New Zealand or Australia, you probably know these guys. Their music is great and the lyrics are hilarious...super creative boys. These guys have become so successful, they now have their own HBO tv series and it's brilliant. It's about them: two innocent kiwi boys struggling to make it in America; and obviously, America is just like New Zealand.

Watch their live material too. It's equally funny.

HOPE.

Erwin Olaf is...something else. Nobody can get this look out of their photographs. You can definitely tell if you're looking at an Olaf. There's a simplistic look to his photographs but look closely at the image and you'll see an abundance of detail. The photographs have this painting-like quality and I have no idea how he does it. What can I say? The man's an artist: http://www.erwinolaf.com

Click the thumbnails below. They look more stunning large...I promise.

A MAN CHOOSES. A SLAVE OBEYS.

If you own an Xbox, there's no doubt you already own this game or at least heard of it. I've never seen a game implement so much art. There's so much detail in the game, and I'm not talking about textures. I'm talking about the art deco city of Rapture, the paintings hanging on the walls, articles in newspapers, the voice talent and the music.

The most impressive aspect of the game is the script. Here's a sample from the intro of the game.



They made good choices making this game. It's flawless.

THE DETAILS WE DON'T SEE.

It's the tiny details that make life exciting. All of these are shot with high speed cameras running at 10.000 frames per second.  You watch tv at 24 frames per second.

REAL IS BETTER.

Don't be afraid of small budgets. It gives you an excuse to do something artsy-fartsy, quirky and creative. There's something far more impressive about work without the special fx; I guess it's because you can feel the work put into it.

If the two videos below don't make your jaw drop or make you smile...  I don't know.

VINCENT.

A beautifully written animated short by Tim Burton. In fact, it's his very first film...

KAMKWAMBA. THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND.

At the age of 14, William Kamkwamba, born into poverty and famine in Malawi, built his family a windmill armed with nothing more than a book. He began collecting various materials such as plastic pipes, bicycle parts, from a scrapyard to build his wind machine. The town, including his mother, thought he was crazy. He now powers his entire village with electricity and supplies the people with water eliminating the drought problem that claimed the lives of so many.

Watch the videos below in sequence because it's incredible to see his progress over the years.

LUKE RANDALL'S REACH.

This blog, I think, is getting a bit too serious and it's really not about that. So I thought I'd shake things up with a touching animated short by Luke Randall.  I will say no more ;)  Enjoy.

THINGS COULD BE WORSE.

In case you have not heard of fuckmylife.com, I suggest you take some time and read some of the hilarious short stories they have posted on the site. Most are quite well written. Imagine telling a funny story in less than 3 sentences.

You'll find yourself reading pages and pages of this. It's quite addictive but it definitely lights up your day. However long you decide to spend on it, you'll understand one thing: Things could be worse...

Here's one story:

"Today, I was at the mall blasting music, I was wearing a nice shirt and had my ipod in my breast pocket when I noticed a cute girl smiling at me so I smiled back and she started to walk over while turning down my music while smiling. It looked like I was rubbing my nipple."

DANCE AND ILLUSION.

This is quite old but definitely worth talking about. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it today. David Bernal, aka David Elsewhere, is from Santa Ana California. He was discovered in YouTube after being filmed at a dance competition called Kollaboration in 2001. David classifies himself as an illusionary dancer.

You'll just have to watch the clip to understand what that really means.

EXPLORING INNER AND OUTER SPACE.

http://spacecollective.org - this is a site dedicated to bringing the brightest minds together to shape the future of everything. Here you have a collection of scientists, teachers, students, anyone with significant knowledge in field of technology but specifically, inner and outer space. There's something humbling about the data you'll find here.

Below, I'm embedding their introductory video which should be more than enough to convince you to pay this site a visit. I suggest you watch the other episodes embedded on it.

THE SINGING, RINGING TREE.

This is one of the coolest art installations I've ever seen. It looks like some alien technology that was left behind in the middle of nowhere! There's not much information on it but from here's what I've gathered so far: The Singing Ringing Tree is designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu. It's 3 meters tall made of steel pipes of varying lengths. The hollow steel pipes allow wind to pass through them creating this eerie but beautiful sound.

KINETIC SCULPTURES. WIND BEASTS.

Theo Jansen has been occupied trying to create new forms of life. Jansen has created skeletal systems that walk the earth, made from cheap plastic tubes and powered only by the wind. Over time, Jansen has evolved these beasts to adapt to harsh weather conditions. Eventually, Theo Jansen will free his sculptures in herds on beaches to live their own lives.

Beautiful.

3D GLASS PAINTINGS.

This is from Chinese painter, Xia Xiao Wan.  You can see some more of his work and, if you have the spare cash, buy some of his work here: http://www.artnet.com/artist/80470/xia-xiaowan.html

China's art scene seems to be exploding and I'll keep a close eye on some of these artists and upload their work here.

THE JAPANESE ARE BRILLIANT.

Brilliant.

MNU SPREADS LIES.

District 9 is...something genuinely new.  This is probably one of the best science fiction pieces I've seen in a long time.  While your typical extraterrestrial movies take you to more popular, expected places such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., with of course the intent to blow shit up, District 9 takes you through the gritty slums of Johannesburg.  With that in mind, Neil Blomkamp takes you on such a realistic ride.  Alien characters, weapons and technology for once feel credible.  Like most movies without a single multimillionaire celebrity, this illusion of realism isn't once compromised.

Even their viral marketing campaigns (http://www.mnuspreadslies.com/) are so well thought out.  The story is complete.  It's simple.  It's elegant.  And what's most exciting; it's new.

OFFICE SPACE.

What a privilege it was to work at such a fine agency working with the best of the best, honing in on your creative skills. What really helps is the creative atmosphere the agency invests in. It really suggests "work is play." Imagine going to work where you can wear shorts and flip flops, ride a scooter or a bicycle to your meeting, doodle all day long...ahhh.