O is for...

origami.

Spent 35 minutes last week trying to figure out how to make an origami box, and I mean just a simple box, for a friend at work. Above is my hasty and rather shameful attempt at the letter "O". See what wonderful things can be done with this ancient Japanese art (if you actually know what you are doing, or are Japanese):

Robert J. Lang Origami: Intricate structures made without a single cut in the paper.

Made from one uncut piece of paper.

Made from 16 uncut pieces of paper.

Joseph Wu's Origami: nice pieces by Wu himself, as well as great links to other Origami masters, his Flickr site (he's working on an origami play), and instructions for us paper-folding novices.

By Joseph Wu...

... and for Stioli in New York.

By the master YOSHIZAWA Akira

Monday afternoon.

It's Victoria Day here in Toronto, and I'm sitting here in my pajamas, looking out my window at my two wooden patio chairs, Umbra lounger, people walking by Canadian Tire, a fellow biking by in a sleeveless shirt, the TTC bus rumbling on, lots of typically dark coloured vehicles, a pedestrian with a vibrant purple sweater, and with my dear napping in the other room despite the fact he just dissed my big cheeks, and I can't help but think about just how lucky I am to be here.

Please remember those who have lost so much in Burma and China.

If you can, please donate through UNICEF or The Canadian Red Cross.

I have hermès

Something of an haute couture online adventure as you dig through the folds of this site. Minimal text, which I love. It's all about visuals visuals visuals in the House of Hermès. Layers of horse videos, jazz musicans' secret wishes, and DIY printable paper handbags. Explore the site yourself and see what other nuggets you come across. Watching horsies makes me want to buy a scarf.

'Aliens Are My Brother'.

{image courtesy of UFOBC, from Kevin's account of his alien abduction}

"Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world. The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God...

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

...Science and religion need each other, and many astronomers believe in God, he assures readers.

To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin."

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

{thanks to Rachael for looking to the skies}

MUTO

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

From my friend Krista.
You have to watch this. A longish short "animated" film shot in Buenos Aires and Baden. I wonder if these markings still exist...

N is for...

news.

We should read more of it.


http://www.themorningnews.org/

http://torontoist.com/

http://www.goodmagazine.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

'I Saw You' on Flickr

A bad night forever immortalized on Flickr. This and a few other nuggets in the photostream devoted to Missed Connections postings on Craigslist.

World's Biggest Missed Connection

{Bonding over Bush. Image courtesy of OurFaves Toronto}

"The World’s Biggest Bookstore last night hosted Missed Connections Addicts Anonymous, the first get-together for poetic souls who post anonymous personal ads on Craigslist Toronto. Invited by Craigslist user “pers-664328682,” they were to make themselves conspicuous while allegedly browsing for books, then post love notes to each other later on Craigslist in hopes of making an actual connection. The Post’s Brianna Goldberg was there to observe..."

M is for...

missed connections.

Like the hundreds, nay, thousands (?) of people in the GTA who lurk around Craigslist during their work I mean spare time, this has to be my favourite section to visit regularly. Like a horoscope, comic, or urban dictionary word of the day, it is a daily dose of romance, just enough to inspire Jane Austen-esque fantasies of two strangers in this big, scary city of ours who just can't make the first move, wish they waited a little longer, or who just need to cry a bit together, and through chance, fate, and a common secret hope, might be able to figure out that elusive thing called... love. Sigh.

Size doesn't matter.

In major cities everywhere, one of the greatest challenges facing developers and planners is, well, there are more and more people, but still the same amount of friggin' land we started out with. All those little nooks and crannies around street corners and hidden within buildings, that is all space that, if viewed with a creative eye, can be used for living. And not just any ol' living, but actually desired and forward-thinking living.

sculp(IT), a design duo from Antwerp, Belgium, took on the challenge of re-thinking a 4-level, 2.4 meter wide residential space. The result is a slick living space, which happily doubles as a light installation.

Downstairs for work, dining on 1st, relaxing on 2nd, sleeping on 3rd, and on the roof, a killer view and tub.


{via Archinect}

L is for...

living.

We all live somewhere, anywhere, and through our process of "living" day to day, we as individuals become, or rather, just are, the people we are. Warning: this could be the allergy pill I took this morning talking. In any case, drugged out or not, living is a wonderful, fascinating thing. Especially when we investigate how we live together, and how designers are reconciling the challenges of urbanization, our environment, and better living. Now gimme that cough syrup.

Click to Give - for free.

{image courtesy of People. In LA supporting World Hunger Relief Week last year. Further proof that Heidi and Spencer are idiots. )

Okay, now you really don't have an excuse. Click to Give @ The Hunger Site, and why not save a few trees and animals while you're at it?

The Pocket Book of Death

Click here for more funnyness. Thanks to Miguel for the link.

AWEARNESS

Greenpeace VS Dove



"What's interesting is that the Greenpeace "Onslaught(er)" video about Indonesian rainforests is based directly on the Dove "Onslaught" video that Unilever created to help sell Dove soap. Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty" is generally considered to be one of the greatest viral advertising campaigns in recent memory, so Greenpeace is actually engaging in a form of Web 2.0 jujutsu, using Dove's (i.e. Unilever's) very own strengths against it. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out over the weekend, the Greenpeace campaign has been so massively successful (over 250,000 views in less than a week) that if you type "Dove" into the YouTube search box, the first search result is the Greenpeace viral video, NOT the Unilever viral video!"
{via AWEARNESS}

K is for...

Kenneth Cole.

Thanks to his tireless mission to spread social awareness in a market where, well, Jimmy Choo's are generally top of mind, Kenneth Cole has successfully won me over.

Sure, his older campaign's were obnoxious, even offensive, but his current "We all walk in different shoes" campaign is able to ignite the same interest in a just cause (... individuality? acceptance? just being good people?) without the side effect of infuriating/confusing the masses. Way to rope me in with the ol' Wilson technique. Of course I'll have to see their faces! What? Go to your website? Well, fine.



{images courtesy of Kenneth Cole Online}

And, he has a blog all about social awareness. Well, rather, other people blog for him. Like bloody Alan Cumming.

The World of Blue Jeans

Time Magazine's short, but illuminating photo essay on the denim industry.
From this...

Zhongshan, China
"A worker uses a sanding machine to distress jeans. The factory also scrubs, sprays, tears and stone-washes their products."

To this...

New York, New York and Culver City, California
"Models display styles by hip Japanese jeans-maker Evisu."

{via Time Magazine}

Won Hundred

Apparently, Scandi design has a way of creeping it's way into everything I deem excellent. Presenting - Won Hundred. With its roots in denim design, this Danish company has been outfitting the moody, hollow-eyed youth of today since 2004. What I love about their collection is that the beauty of it is in the details, details, details. These jeans were made to be worked in by the wearer.

Their website and online catalogue are pleasant to flip through (yep, it's one of those online "flip" catalogues), and also check out their Spring/Summer Inseason 08 line. I happen to be going through a one-piece fad right now, and these jumpers have got me thinkin'...

J is for...

jeans.

Inconveivable!

{via Axa}

People actually watch webcams

MISSING CAT FOUND ON INTERNET

"A cat who has been missing from a Cornish village for eight months has been found – with help from across the Atlantic.

Jerry was spotted by a US woman watching a webcam. She saw him most evenings, bedding down on the doorstep of a hotel in Polperro and posted a message on a village forum.

'Now we are trying to catch him there - but he is proving a bit elusive,' said Jerry's owner, 30-year-old Abbi Rendell.

'But at least I know he is safe and well.' "

{via Metro UK}

Good doggie

"Boston Dynamics is an engineering company that specializes in robotics and human simulation. Our customers have applications that range from military robotics to simulation-based training to physics-based virtual prototyping."

Some of their clients include the United States Army, Navy and Marines, and... the Sony Corporation? Ohhh, I see. They needed to build a humanoid. Big Dog is their latest and scariest, I mean, greatest, achievement to date. Inconceivable? You gotta watch this. And then watch The Matrix. And then watch Blade Runner. Then watch Star Trek. And then watch Ghost in the Shell.

I is for...

"Incontheevable!"

One of the most classic lines in teh history of film-making (I know, blasphemy, but it's true). Wallace Shawn, who plays the overly-intelligent wannabe criminal mastermind, was almost one of those actors who's in a bunch of stuff that you know but can't quite name, but his role in The Princess Bride saved him from such a fate! (Other actors who've dug themselves out of a similar woodwork: John C. Reilly, Thomas Haden Church).

And so, some internet nuggets of Inconceivable things, that, well, good grief, do exist.

One more H...

Had to include this before I started "I".

{image from Last Night's Party, which actually kinda makes me glad I wasn't at last night's party}

HIPSTERS!
Firstly,
Signs You May Be a Hipster:
"You dry-clean your jeans. Or you don’t wash them at all."
{The Morning News via Coudaltarget='_blank'}

Followed by:
Why the Hipster Must Die: A Modest Proposal to Save New York Cool
"I propose that the only hope for a reanimated bohemia, if not a dezombified hipsterdom, is civil war."
{TimeOut NewYork via Justin, who loves Swedish girls}

H is for...

Helvetica.

Obviously.
Blasphemous that Blogger doesn't include it as one of their default fonts. Conjured up by Miedinger and Hoffman at the Haas type foundry in Switzerland in 1957, in 1960 they wisely chose to change it's name from 'Neue Haas Grotesk' to the name we know so well today. Its clean, simple, and timeless lines have been used to capture the image of many everyday brands. Amazing how it is able to be reused time and time again across a mishmash of different products, ideas, and beliefs. Here's an overview:

Enjoy the tight kerning on the 3M logo, and big, bold Helvetica in red is perfect for a company known for taking care of business.

Regardless of what the company stands for, American Apparel helped pave the way for hipsters and their love affair of Helvetica, visible in mags, party invites, and show signage.

The italics make Energizer go zip.

The understated, streamlined look of Helvetica works well to compliment that crazy metallic dog.

Ahhh.... Fendi. An haute couture brand taps into the timeless look of the sans-serif typeface to capture the class and style reflective of their runway designs. Karl even likes it.

Mister Lonely

"Only Harmony Korine (writer of KIDS, auteur of GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY) could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. The film follows a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) who is invited by a beautiful Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) to a commune full of other impersonators including the Queen of England, Madonna, Sammy Davis Junior and James Dean, in the Scottish Highlands. In a parallel story line, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly."

Sigh. Wonderous.
{via Apple}

Blindness

Based on the novel by Nobel Laureate José Saramago. Amazing novel, so hopefully this movie won't suffer from the good-book-bad-movie syndrome (also praying that the Sex and the City movie doesn't suffer a similar fate). This one is also directed by Fernando Meirelles of 'City of God' and 'The Constant Gardener', and 'Blindness' is another story that exposes the fragility of humankind. I'll be looking out for this one this fall.

G is for...

Google.

Synonymous with "looking up something on the Internet", and thus, accessing information. Pretty amazing to have developed something so powerful (the magic is in it's simplicity) that is has been one of the drivers, dare I say leaders, of the democratization of information. Brain food/recipes/porn/news/trivia/perez for all.

The Google issue of discussion today is... their logo. I re-created the above using the font "Adobe Caslon Pro", but there are subtle and not so subtle differences. For one thing, I see now that the "g" is completely off. Compare for yourself. Comparable, however, to their original logo when they were still operating in beta.

But of real interest are their sometimes inspired and other times confusing themed logos - most recently, the troubling homage to Earth Day. That one, and some other abhorrences and faves over the years, are below:

The Bad:

The Good:

Reminisce on these and others, compliments of Google.