One of my favorite blogs is Color Me Katie (http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/). The author, a photographer living in New York City, shares her life through her photographs. I admire the creativity she displays in her photographs and street art and I love being surprised and delighted with each new post.
Because I am inspired and in awe of music and film, la blogotheque is one of my favorite websites. It combines both music and film in such a beautiful way that it often evokes an emotional response from me. This french website is a must-see for anyone who loves folk/indie music and appreciates the amazing filmmaking that goes along with it. This picture is a link to a video of one of my favorite new bands performing a couple of songs in the alleyways of Paris. To go right to the songs go to 2:50 in the video.
Today, Adage featured an article called “Movie Posters We Like.” (http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=145670). The article talks about how these well-placed and well-timed movie posters for recent upcoming movies have caught people’s attention and created a lot of buzz. I found the above visual to be the most eye-catching, for the upcoming film “buried.” The vertigo effect definitely captures my attention and even makes me a little dizzy just at a first glance. Another interesting and attention-grabbing poster is for the upcoming film “The Virginity Hit,” which poses the question “still a virgin? For help call…” This is definitely an unusual yet effective new tactic for grabbing people’s attention on a movie poster.
This is a clip from Ukraine’s Got Talent of a women who does sand art. Sand art is a form of art where sand is placed on a lit table, and with the quick flick of the artist’s hands images and a story are created. I think it is unbelievable how such detailed images can be created so quickly simply from sand, and how the images can be so captivating. I also really like how when she begins an image you can’t exactly tell what she is making until the image is finished. I think this shows how even a material as simple as sand can be used to make something both beautiful and gripping.
It takes some balls to successfully re-do any classic. Whether it be a song, movie, or piece of literature, we live in a culture that is constantly reconstructing and redistributing classics. In more cases than not, re-interpretations are awful. Has anyone seen Wolfman?.. Me neither. However, once in a blue moon a reconstructed classic meets and even exceeds expectations. This example is a re-illustrated book cover to the classic Lord of the Flies written by William Golding and re-illustrated by Sam Weber. Weber captured the essence and overall intensity of the classic novel with a simplicity of shape, color, and form. This is a prime example of how it is the job of the Graphic Designer/Artist to lose more than he/she adds. This piece is a gauge of how simple yet powerful a graphic really can be
It’s hard to have a visual representation for what inspires me the most – classical and instrumental music. Without words, the listener is free to feel the emotions not only written into the songs by the composer but also played by the musicians. Silence can be just as distracting as a heavy metal song when you’re trying to concentrate on something or do work, but instrumental music lets the mind flow in its own directions inspiring ideas that might not have come through otherwise.
The video is of someone playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise – one of my favorites since I was younger.
Honestly, when my best friend’s mother friend requested me on Facebook, I found it a little weird, creepy, etc. Ironically, her Facebook introduced me to the art form pictured, Zentangle. Zentangle is an art form I had been creating for years under a different name…a doodle. I’ll admit that when I first started reading about Zentangle I thought it was capitalizing or commercializing the doodle. The origin of Zentangle is described as, “She described her feelings of timelessness, freedom and well-being and complete focus on what she was doing with no thought or worry about anything else.” That resonated within me; I believed in Zentangle. I encourage everyone to try it… just put a pen to paper and see where it leads you. http://zentangle.com/index.php
I know every one has watched this video in class. But since the movie is so impressive that I can’t get it out of my head these days, I decide to post it here.
I’m a fan of landscape photography and it’s not a new discovery that people can show emotions by means of trees, sky, roads, and etc. However, it’s the first time I see a video that’s only made up of scereny, some most usual scereny that people can find everywhere, but is not a documentary about animal or environment. There’s no people showing in the film. There’s not much plot involved.It’s day and night. It’s trees and grass growing. Peaceful. Eyeable. But it actually talks about a cruel human affair—war.
The picture above is of my friend Carla. Carla is ironing her shirt…Carla is also to LAZY to buy a REAL IRON and ironing board. So she uses the same iron she uses for her hair. I mean, whatever gets the job done, right?. But back in the 1960s’ when flat hair become a symbol of youth and rebellion, teenage girls would actually use a clothing iron to flatten their hair. Back in 1882, heated balls were actually used to straighten hair, but it wasn’t until 1906 that a man named Simon Monroe patented a hair straightener that comprised of 7 metallic teeth that were combed through the hair.
Now at days flat irons can cost up to $200.00. Hair Salons across the country from the high class Paul Mitchell Salon in LA to the very small Dominican Hair salons in Washington Heights, NY, the style ends with the twist of the wrist, and a flatiron in hand. My flatiron cost me $120.00 and for that much money, it better be able to iron my clothes, panties and curtains too! If not, I’m going back to big hair!
Here is a video created by a group of students at the Vancouver Film School. As print was used in the American Revolution by Thomas Paine and others to spread the word of freedom from opression, Blogs are being used by the youth of Iran. The visual images are enticing, provocative and modern, just like the idea of Blogging. Pretty cool 
