Over the weekend I caught a heads up from Hawk on this great NYTimes article - The 'Busy' Trap from Tim Kreider. The basic gist of the article is that we're living in a society of being Too Busy and it's not really getting anyone anywhere, except further and further into a vortex of endless work. There are so many quality quotes within this one article that it's hard to capture them all - loads of lessons on enjoying life, the power of idleness and the reminder that no one wishes they worked harder on their deathbed. Please read it, in its entirety, at your very earliest convenience.
Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
Remember a year ago when I told you to check out the handmade marshmallow confections from Wondermade? They were but a lowly etsy store at the time but have made the jump to the big leagues with own domain, a full fledged shop, a blog and beautiful packaging. Owners Nathan and Jenn collaborated with Heads of State for the design and Studio on Fire for the letterpressing to create these highly impressive boxes.
I stand by prior review - the marshmallows are delicious - and now there's even more reason to order some.
The folks at Child's Own Studio are offering a unique service - converting a child's drawing into a full-on plush toy for them to play with. The results are equally endearing and terrifying (as children's drawings tend to be). If this were an option when I was a child I am sure that I'd be delighted to receive such a strange and wacky new partner in crime but, as an adult, they may haunt my dreams.
Conceptually Related: You've probably seen the Dave DeVries project that takes child's drawings to realistic paintings but, if not, have a look at them now.
The service at Avatars.IO allows you to easily / quickly snag a user thumbnail from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Gravatar with a simple URL. It's designed to be used in apps (iOS, Android, etc) but I bet if you felt the need to use it on the web, you could.
It's Friday! Time to act like you're working but, really, just plan for the weekend and not really do much. Right? I hope so. Here's your playlist and some bonus goods below.
Game Show Awkward Moment - the likelihood of this happening by chance is 1 in 8.065188456x10^22 - appreciate it.
Shape Up with Jazzercise - TV Carnage videos deliver a very specific kind of humor but once this kicks in with the quotes from the lead instructor it gets sort of unbelievable.
I Am Your Grandma - I'm sorry. This is your nightmare for the next month. So sorry.
Be Serious for 30 Seconds - Fred Armisen has a new project about seriousness. Oddly enough, the example is amusing without even trying.. just because he's in it.
Calling All The Basic Bitches - part of me wants to understand what is happening here but, mostly, i just want to be confused and bewildered by the youth of America and accept that I will never comprehend this.
Gifted But Twisted - Six Pack - along those same lines: there's this. What is happening? wait, don't tell me. I'm not interested.
FAIL Compilation June 2012 - been awhile since I watched one of these and they're still as harrowing and entertaining as ever.
BONUS
You Got Retweeted: The Movie - despite the title, I was actually pretty entertained by this parody trailer (featuring Alison Brie, Jason Ritter, Daniel Franzese and Kimmy Gatewood).
I came across the work of Steve Scott because of his animation and illustration work for Birdy Nam Nam's The Parachute Ending (a superb video if you haven't seen it). Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Mr. Scott has an incredibly rich, deep, fascinating portfolio of works. There's plenty of engaging animation, amazingillustrations and a blog to dive right into. Honestly, take time to click through every Illustration - completely inspiring and diverse pieces throughout.
So, I posted about the special tires on the NASA Curiosity rover set to land on Mars in early August but really didn't know much about the craft itself. It's currently en route to the red planet and will have to accomplish one helluva tactical maneuver once it reaches its destination. Watch this video that describes that ridiculously complex process of landing the rover on the surface of the planet - also known as "7 Minutes of Terror" as it's an entirely automated process in which NASA can give no feedback to the device.
Seriously, can anyone watch that video and still feel confident it will meet all the criteria?? Let's just hope it doesn't end up like Climate Orbiter and fall from the sky because of conflicting software.
My friend CJ recently launched his website and I'm recommending that everyone check it out. The site functions as a showcase for his writing and poetry - not subjects that get covered on this site very often but still very worthwhile investigations. Be sure to take a look at the etcetera page that explains where the foundation for the site design derived from. Overall, fascinating.
TinyPNG is one for your "Tools" Bookmarks - further compressing PNG files into much smaller filesize. This may be a step that seems like a pain in the rear but when you're considering mobile download times, it's definitely best to squeeze down the files as much as possible.
Chad clued me in to Ant Comic - a beautifully deranged bi-weekly strip from Michael Deforge and I was immediately hooked. If you dive into his WTD Archive you will see an onslaught of creations that teeter perfectly in that realm of cartoon, highly intricate, somewhat grotesque, wildly vivid and absolutely surreal. It's not a style that is for everybody (think Superjail meets Birdy Nam Nam.. sorta) - there's plenty of NSFW material, bizarre relationships, strange twists on the familiar, weird musings and a whole lot more. There's even fan art that will either blow your mind or give you terrifying nightmares; depending on your enjoyment of such things.
This image of three Martian Rover tires - the Sojourner, the Spirit/Opportunity, and Curiosity respectively - is fascinating in and of itself. However, Jed manages to crank it up another notch in terms of Fascination Levels by pointing out that the far right tire actually has Morse code for "JPL" built right into it. You know, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ?
If you haven't seen a photo of the Curiosity Rover yet - do yourself a favor and check it out. It looks exactly like everything you ever made with Construx (or maybe I'm dating myself).
I'm one of those people that strives to stay ignorant about particular subjects if it's a given that I'm going to participate in them. For instance, I plan on seeing Moonrise Kingdom this Friday night and am doing my best not to see or read anything about it. So, this interview with Wes Anderson and his music supervisor Randall Poster looks like a great read but, for now, it's going into the Instapaper stack for consumption on Saturday morning.
I think any manufacturer of a point-and-shoot camera is going to have a hard time at this point usurping the ubiquity of the cellphone camera. Carrying around an additional device to shoot photos that are just a little better seems like a waste. However, this Polaroid Instant Digital might change that - since it actually prints your photos immediately as well. Say what you will about the Cloud and having infinite storage for infinite images, nothing beats having a physical photograph in your hands documenting an occasion. Sure, it may end up in a shoebox or a neglected photo album but that's better than being tucked away silently into the Internet, where you will never look at it again.
While I'm not convinced this guy can replace a proper Polaroid 600, at least they're trying!
I don't personally know Jessica Hische or Russ Maschmeyer but I did just spend a decent chunk of time absorbing their wedding invite - a super scrolling site of quality design, illustrations from fifteen different artists and a rather sweet retelling of their relationship. Congratulations to them both and a thank you for providing some entertainment and illustration via their announcement.
Take a few minutes to watch this animation explaining the idea behind the book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking from Oliver Burkeman. While it's definitely an advertisement for his book, it's also a bit of education on the idea that embracing Positive Thinking can lead to premature reward, causing you to stop striving for your actual goals. Even if you don't agree with the message, the animations from Scriberia are top notch and more than worth your time.
While, obviously, not an exhaustive compilation I did find myself rather enjoying this list of 10 Amazing Science Photos from the Wellcome Image Awards 2012 collection. The above issue is a micrograph of connective tissue from a human knee - amazingly complex and striking. The entire collection falls under that categorization; astounding and hard to believe that it's all naturally occurring.
P2 Theme - I don't really use Wordpress for much of my own personal site development but this P2 theme looks to approach the entirety of Wordpress differently than I've seen before. Instead of the standard Page-To-Page paradigm it actually embraces a bit of AJAX and inline dynamic data. Bout time.
iPhone Scuba Suit - sadly, this is out of stock until late July but it might be good to add to your alert list (assuming reviews say it works and doesn't ruin your iphone).
Podcasts App - apparently Apple launched their own standalone Podcast app. This is great for someone like myself who uses the playback portion of their phone mainly for podcasts, not music. I'm not sold on the skeuomorph reel-to-reel options but I am pleased to finally have a way to jump back 10 seconds when needed.
It's that time again. Last night I quietly relaunched the Summer Mix Series for 2012. Originally I had it in my head that I was going to overhaul the site completely for this years festivities and really stress the need for themed mixes, give users the ability to Favorite creations and make the whole thing much more involved... but then Jamie reminded me that the cream already rises to the top. Those additional aspects might be nice but a bit of the charm of the Mix Series is the actual music discovery itself - your subjective preferences are what determines a good mix, not mine.
So, the first three mixes are up and available for your downloading pleasure. Hopefully you'll be inspired to create your own creative compilation and add to the fun.
Take some time to read this in-depth interview with Aaron Draplin. It's always good to read passionate responses to design inquiries.
Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself?
... I want to help people with this shit instead of talking people into buying some shit they don’t need. Could we take design as a tool to make it easier for someone to get health care or use a bike path or enhance their life in a small way? I think about this stuff and how I could use what I know to help people.
Lots of little gems like that sprinkled throughout so be sure to read it all.
