Courtesy of hubimg.com

Like you, my dear reader, I’m no stranger to the grip of the adventurous spirit, it tugs and gnaws at you from all angles, and although you may resist for a time it is still there lurking in the shadows of your reality. It tends to strike you at random moments; in the middle of the night, stuck in a traffic jam, munching away gazing into the middle distance, and in any other number of weird and wonderful configurations of reality.

I say, whether it be the next suburb or the next continent, take advantage when the travel bug strikes–venture forth into obscurity! Regulate your imagination by your traveled reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, see them as they are! The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page…

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

Jusqu’à la prochaine fois que nous rencontrons…
Cedric

A Traditional Mood Board

Are you a designer or a creative sod with a desire to inspire? Have you ever been asked to create a Moodboard to give your client a way to visualise your idea? Or perhaps you want to create a visual representation of an idea or thought… In the past you would pull out a physical scrapbook and collect visuals from magazines, brochures, books and perhaps print out images you discovered on the Internet. Here’s a video demonstrating how to do it the traditional way. It looks like a lot of messing around doesn’t it!

In the digital information age everything can now be completed online. “Welcome to SampleBoard.com - a world of interacting with other designers and creating and sharing digital moodboards from the comfort of your own creative space.” It will revolutionize the way you design. Now that’s better -> video

SampleBoard is just as comfortable to use for the zany graphic designer or fashion designer, as it is for a wedding planner, landscaper or creative personality–even if you haven’t the faintest idea how to begin! With Sampleboard you can swim around a creative universe where, as quoted on their website, you can:

• capture a theme of visual ideas into one place online
• pull together moodboard ideas and share them with colleagues or fellow students
• select between five different design disciplines to create your digital moodboard
• capture visual ideas in one place online in three easy steps: organize, create and share
• gain exposure for business opportunities through the design directory
• search and connect with other creative professionals by design discipline, city or country
• store, showcase and share your creative portfolio online
• create, collaborate and get inspired by other creative professionals
• be part of making a better world through creativity
• gain creative exposure by posting your moodboard to facebook and twitter
• create moodboards for conceptual portrayal or for bold visual statements

Sampleboard has so many features that you will be unable to peel your face away from your creative project. It is so easy, user friendly and downright cool that once you’ve used Sampleboard you will never want to go the traditional route ‘ever’ again.

Now that you have the technology, get out there and create a world within a world, a dynamic digital space of visual ideas, get inspired and help illuminate the world’s creativity!

It is a charming little tale about two solemn flowers that inhabit the edge of a clearing and live in a changeless reality from one day to the next. One is young, inquisitive, and full of life while the other is ancient, cryptic and bitter. Then one day, by a twist of fate, a stranger appears who will change their lives forever.

With exquisitely crafted CGI, direction, dialogue (with the voices of Whoopi Goldberg and Christi Scott-Cashman), and story structure this little masterpiece is both pleasing to the eye and warming to the heart.

1. ORWELL DIARIES http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com
As an avid George Orwell fan, I found this web site to be an interesting and penetrating look into the private thoughts of the authors life. George Orwell’s diary entries, starting in 1938 until 1942, are duplicated here one by one, day by day, word for word and provide an insightful peek into his world.

As Times Online journalist Bryan Appleyard puts it, “A more rounded version of the writer emerges, a man who was concerned not just with politics and the world order, but with how many eggs his chickens had laid.”

2. THE SARTORIALIST http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com
One of the coolest fashion trend-spotting blogs you will find on the web, touted as a fashion phenomenon, Scott Schumans “The Sartorialist” has pioneered fashion photography in blog form. Scott snaps images of people on the streets the way designers look at people, using his unique aesthetic style and eye for a great image.

Visited by the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld, the editor of Vogue Paris who now wants to work with him, this is one blog to keep an eye out for!

3. WOOSTER COLLECTIVE http://www.woostercollective.com
A street art web site dedicated to ephemeral art that is painted, sprayed, illustrated and etched in cities around the world. From Banski, Astoria Scum, Sail, Chifumi and Dimitris Taxis to Mark Jenkins–Wooster Collective has it all. Oh, if your wondering what wooster means? woo·ster (noun) Is a street in the Soho section of New York City.

4. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE http://everything-everywhere.com
This is an interesting travel blog about Gary Arndt, an ex internet consultant slash National Geographic magazine collector, who in March 2007 set out to travel around the world. His blog is an interesting anecdote about his adventures, experiences, laughs and cries–and with 300,000 visitors to his site per month he’s taken the right path somewhere along the line.

5. FUBIZ http://www.fubiz.net
Created in 2005 by the French consulting agency Fubiz Interactive, the site is a collaborative space where a small group of artists, designers and inspiring people share their ideas about whats happening in the fast moving world of design.

It is jammed full with cool information, galleries and mosaics about: the graphic world, urban culture, trends, art, design, photography, advertising, music and inspiration. This site is sure to please the trend hunter looking for the next big thing. PS. Be sure to click the ENG icon in the top right corner.

6. CHATROULETTE http://www.chatroulette.com
The brain child of 17-year-old Russian Andrey Ternovskiy, who is now at the centre of a bidding war between Google, Skype and Yandex, Chatroulette is a site that allows web cam users to make random connections with strangers — to see and to speak to them — anywhere on the globe. With over ten million visitors a month it has been touted as the web’s next big thing.

WARNING: You might stumble upon on a man wearing a deer costume saying “What Up Doe?” and… Some strangers may be a little more revealing that you might like…

By Cedric Jean

Some of the following sites, although time lapse in a rudimentary level, show what I prefer to call ‘Age Lapse Photography’ because they show the aging of each subject over a period of time with measured gaps in between.

One of my favorites is “Young Me / Now Me” to be found at http://www.zefrank.com/youngmenowme . Each series of images presents a double image of a “young me” and a “now me” as the sites title suggests. Each dual montage is taken in a Polaroid border that gives you the impression time has passed in a flash…

A Note Of Warning: Do not view this site at work! It is highly addictive and you will find yourself glued to the screen with your workmates (saying things like “take a look at this slob” or “wow she/he hasn’t changed at all”) laughing uncontrollably, having flashbacks into your own past and probably getting told off for wasting company time.

One thing is certain, you will have a good chuckle–and if you are so inclined–a philosophical journey into your own mortality…

Another time lapse phenomenon I love are the daily pictures people take of themselves–over a period of years and decades.

Meet Noah (NK5000) who from January 11, 2000, – July 31, 2006, took a picture of himself every day for six years–2356 days. Now that’s dedication! And Noah hasn’t stopped yet, he is still going 10 years on–it is a work in progress. Take a look at his website http://everyday.noahkalina.com or peak at a You tube montage of all his images below…

1. Speaking of time lapse, have you noticed how time seems to fly by at a phenomenal rate these days! Can you believe it is already April? It seems to me that New Years was a couple of weeks ago… People around the globe have noted that time seems to be accelerating. The hours, days, years, and seasons appear to speed by quicker than ever before. An hour no longer feels like sixty minutes, unless you’re stuck in traffic, and each week seems to blend into the next like the blur of a speeding car.

• Could it be due to the expansion of the universe increasing–as recent scientific evidence suggests?
• Perhaps the consciousness of man is accelerating as we near 2012 and the so called end of the world?

For answers to these questions and more come back frequently! If not for the answers then for the witty banter…

Originally written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and sung by Brian Hyland with orchestra conducted by John Dixon “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” was a hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (and a top 10 in other countries) on August 8, 1960. Paul Vance has earned several million dollars from the song since 1960, describing it as “a money machine.”

This catchy little tune, tells the story of a timid young girl donning a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach. She is too afraid to leave the beach locker where she has changed into her itsy bitsy bikini; she has made it to the beach but shyly sits on the sand cloaked in a blanket; and in the closing verse, finally ventures into the ocean, but is too afraid to emerge, and instead stays beneath in the water – in spite of the fact that she’s “turning blue”, to quote the song’s lyrics – to hide herself from view.

It has been shown in films such Revenge of the Nerds II and Sister Act 2, as well as everything from commercials for Yoplait to Cuban propaganda songs. And best of all, at a time when bikini bathing suits were still seen as too risque, this itsy bitsy tune prompted a sudden takeoff in bikini sales, creating acceptance of the bikini in society, and revolutionizing the entire industry–thank you Vance!

Enjoy!

By Cedric Jean

As taken from the Santa Monica Arts website: “It takes an in-depth look at social and cultural dynamics from a multidisciplinary set of perspectives that range from the sciences of complexity to digital technologies. This exhibition project in the form of an installation presents an international selection of works of warm technology that breathe with human breath, some from academic institutions and research centres, some created by artists with extensive experience in this field.”

“The exhibition marks with the celebration of the International Congress on Changing Cultures | Cultures of Change in Barcelona, funded by the European Commission (www.atacd.net), in which sociologists, philosophers, mathematicians, biologists, physicists, technologists and artists will air and share their views on cultural dynamics in the contemporary world.”

The interactive project includes a series of workshops and a variety of activities related to the works on display. I especially loved the colourful flashing box robots (left) that detect human energy signatures, sound, and movement–very technologically cute!

While roaming the corridors, I was given an interesting insight into the wonders of social media and how this technology has become such an integral part of our lives… Have you ever wondered how many people: surf the internet, write sensational blogs such as this one (sic), send emails per day, and how many of those are spam? The answers:  1.73 Billion, 126 million, 247 Billion, 200 billion (81% of emails are spam).

Here’s an interesting video by Jezz3 to illustrate the point. It was created for a lecture at Stevenson University for AIGA Baltimore in Feb 2010. This fascinating video tells you all you ever wanted to know about Internet statistics… Take a seat and prepare to be boggled!

Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Blogs etc) are certainly pervading every aspect of our lives in more ways than we realise…

By Cedric Jean