I've established the fact that I love miniatures many many times over - so when Andy steered me towards the heavily intricate works of Alan Wolfson, I knew I was in for a treat. His latest, an impeccable recreation of Katz's Deli is damn near incomprehensible how he was able to jam pack so many fine details into such a small space. Even the photos hanging on the wall look to be accurate. I'm flabbergasted.

Every other creation in the portfolio - i.e. Hopp's Luncheonette, Follies Burlesk, Lucky Sevens Casino - are equally as impressive and should be pored over just as much. I would love to see these in person.

Did you see this promo video for the Karloff typeface in the sidebar? I'm not sure if it's redundant or inappropriate for me to reblog content I've already, sort of, posted about but I wanted to make sure you didn't miss this one. It's a great bit of motion graphics / animation and the actual typeface that was created from the fusion of modern type and "monstrous Italians" is pretty fascinating. Don't miss it.

I haven't quite gotten past the "Please Invite Me" portion of the signup process but Populr looks to be another site in the vein of About.me or Flavors that enables you to create a simplified website for a particular cause. I think tools like this are incredibly useful for the non-tech and I love seeing their interface designs. Hopefully I'll make it into the Accepted round soon enough.

I absolutely love this writeup from the folks at Layer Vault on Flat Interface Design. They elect to move entirely away from all sorts of skeuomorphism, bevels, shadows, etc. in favor of ultra simplistic designs - ideally in an effort to expose and embrace a higher level of user comfort and understanding right out of the gate. There's no shortage of examples to back this up but it's always nice to read a reminder of why you should continue to embrace this headspace.

Tip of the hat to

Linotype: The Film

posted September 26, 2012 # 0 Comments

I can't remember the last time I browsed through a desktop + wallpaper repository site and actually felt compelled to use any of the offerings. Sites like The Fox Is Black's Desktop Wallpaper Project supplanted the need for looking at such collections. However, Solid Base is worth a gander. I love that you can browse by color and that there's no shortage of space offerings.

Be sure to snag this, this, this and this on your way.

Loving these miniature creations from Grace Weston. The simple pieces are superb but the bizarre scenarios are my favorite.

via Photo Eye.

Loving these creations from pixel master Ilkke created with the Minimart tool - a drawing site that gives you about 40 shapes to arrange into something spectacular. Sometimes limitations really are the birthplace of creativity.

Luke and Zach Go Boating is a series of free NYC dance parties that start at midnight and go until four AM. Personally, since I have no interest in dance parties, that's the least interesting part of what they do. However, the promo videos they make for their parties are quite compelling. There's all sorts - Stop Motion Goodness, NSFW Pulp Inappropriate, Incredible Projection Animation, etc. I'm told that this latest installation is actually comprised of crowd sourced material from Fiverr; where you can pay someone $5 to do just about anything you want. I mean, look at this song they commissioned! Incredible. I may not ever attend one of the actual parties but I am most definitely keeping up with any new work coming from them.

The other day I meant to watch this profile on Austin, TX installation artist Vince Hanneman - aka The Junk King - and now Mr. Kleon has reminded me of said task. I'm glad he did. It's an absolutely fascinating look at a collection of 20+ years of found art constructed into browsable structures. It looks like something dreamed up for a movie set. I can hardly imagine the overwhelming feeling one must have wandering around inside the structures. Next time I'm in Austin, I'll have to swing by.

The Director Brothers teamed up with Danny Jelinek (editor) and have released Gorburger - a Japanese talk show taken over by egomaniacal monster. The first episode features Tegan and Sara, the second features Marhiachi El Bronx. Even when it's not that funny, it's funny because the host is so absurdly perfect.

Did you know MySpace was back? This new promo video shows off the brand new interface. Honestly, it looks incredibly well done and compelling from a design perspective. I still think there's a stigma associated with the brand that will always pit them against Facebook, even though they are obviously differently geared destinations with this relaunch. I'm not necessarily planning on putting the site back into my regular rotation but I might be more compelled to check it out a bit more frequently than, say, never again.

First and foremost, if you aren't familiar with the history of Tetris, please familiarize yourself. It's been involved in a surprising number of lawsuits for a game about arranging blocks into an ordered fashion. Secondly, watch the trailer for Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, a documentary about finding the world's greatest tetris player. The film documents two decades of tetris playing and I bet it's on par with King of Kong in the "Surprisingly Gripping Films About Videogames" department.

I just stumbled across The Front Desk, an internet only show featuring John Lutz (of 30 Rock) and a ton of guest stars - Scott Adsit, Fred Armisen, Paula Pell, Bill Hader and more. I haven't exactly laughed heartily at it yet but I'm giving it a chance. Start at the beginning?

Lacey Micallef is the crazy genius behind the insanity at lul internet. Her pixel based animations are, typically, a rainbow onslaught of almost seizure inducing color. Also, it features hot dogs on surfboards, french fries dancing or giant pulsating hamburgers. There's even a store filled with awesome stuff like this Fat Snorlax or Acrylic Pin Set.

So, go watch this video, enjoy and then follow her on Twitter and Tumblr.

I had the recent pleasure of playing Nidhogg and I can't quite shake the experience from my brain. The seemingly simplistic chase + fencing game really stuck with me. I'd say it's a shame that you can't play it online anywhere but designer other games online while you keep an eye out for a nearby event featuring Nidhogg.

Has anyone else been feeling sluggish this week? Maybe it was my 16+ hours in airports/airplanes that are holding me back or maybe it's the changing seasons but I feel out of sorts! Hopefully this great playlist will alleviate all my woes. Enjoy.

• Miami Connection trailer - I honestly can't tell when a Drafthouse Film is a parody, a tribute or an actual re-release. That's a good thing.
• Mr Wizard's (Still) A Dick - another quality compilation of Mr. Wizard being verbally abusive.
• Mail Time: Steve Gets a "LETTER" - this is NSFW and probably out of character for Friday Videos but I love the reaction shots too much not to include this. via Paul.
• Presenting Mudd - here's a palette cleanser after that last one. The enthusiasm here is unbridled and infectious.
• OpDocs: Romney vs Obama - while there are plenty of differences between the two Presidential candidates it's sometimes nice to remember the similarities. Nice video from Gregory Brothers.
• I Miss Drugs: "Simple Human" - you really need to watch this entire series - it's equal parts hilarious and macabre. The looming sadness is never directly noted but it's there, it's definitely there. via Steve.
• Beautiful Wait - not really a kooky or wacky video but more of a beautiful series of animated vignettes having to do with patience and waiting. via Erica.
• "Fine" Art with Alexander Barrett - probably NSFW as well and totally low-brow but, for whatever reason, I just laughed and laughed. Sometimes it's good to end on a politely crass one.

If you find yourself still needing more, just watch this, over and over and over again.

You may recall my previous mentions of the great handcrafted marshmallows from Wondermade. Well, they're amping up production and need some funds to get their kitchen in order... so they turned to Kickstarter. They've got 29 days to raise $7,500 - a very do-able goal. Having met both Nathan and Jenn during Whiskerino I can attest to the fact that they are some of the nicest, hardest working, loving people I've had the pleasure of encountering. It's hard to think of a better family that could be deserving of your dollars.

Ran across Font.ly yesterday, an iOS app meant to help document the vintage typography surrounding you. Their site actually geotags all the discoveries and lets you browse around through them all. Right as I was about to get the app I noticed the reviews weren't so hot. Sounds like the UI could use some work but that's never stopped me before from enjoying a good concept. Time to get to documenting my area.

At XOXO I was shocked to learn how many people hadn't seen Indie Game: The Movie or heard it's Jim Guthrie soundtrack; both incredible pieces of work.

However, turns out I had some learnin' to do myself because I was unaware of Proof of Something - an ongoing video project to create music videos for each track of the score. Surprisingly, all of the submissions are engaging in some way or another. I'm particularly prone to the animation of Waiting for Gomez, the 80's retro tech of Harsh Tags Pt 2, the Malcolm Sutherland Syncing Feeling, the looping build of Zach Cohen's The Maelstrom and the quiet rain / cat love of Young Lungs.

All and all, great stuff. Go watch that movie, procure the soundtrack and enjoy the videos. Consider it your highest priority for today.