Adam Simpson created this excellent series of BAFTA program covers exhibiting stylized versions of the movies up for the heralded award. They are perfect encapsulations of the films they portray. He's also got a number of other designs in his portfolio worth taking a peek at - The BAFTA invitation, tents, rayguns and the Imagination Building are fine examples of why you should be perusing all of his offerings.

• It'll Never Work! - a collection of failed predictions. There are quite a few doozies in here but the two at the bottom regarding computing are certainly not to be missed.
• How 'OK' took over the world - a nice little writeup on the history of "OK" and it's odd place in language. I had no idea that its origin lay in an 1839 Boston newspaper as a shortening for "all correct." A quick little joke that now injects itself into a lot of every day language.

A good mix of intentionally hilarious, downright bizarre and animal levity in this weeks playlist. Enjoy. Oh, and many thanks to Chris Mikesell for a ton of quality linkage to flesh this one out.. much appreciated.

• Baby trashes bar in Las Palmas - trailer for the short film "Las Palmas" by Johannes Nyholm. If the entire 14-minute film is even half as good as this 1:20, it will be the greatest movie ever created.
• Grandparents using Photo Booth (Supercut) - amazing compilation of grandparents using Apple's Photo Booth (with effects). Chris was helpful enough to nab it from here so it could be included in my playlist but if it gets yanked.. go to the "original" - it must be seen.
• Arcade Fire Hipster Attack - Know Who Arcade Fire Is or Hipsters will kill you. A pretty funny little skit playing off of Who Is Arcade Fire?
• Cat Laser Bowling - hopefully a new sport we can all partake in.
• Tommy Lee Jones Boss Coffee Commercial - if you're going to be a huge mega-star and do Japanese commercials this is the way to do it. Silently and effectively.
• Bugs Bunny Rides a Rocking Horse - sometimes a lack of context makes things way TOO creepy. I am sorry if you actually force yourself to watch all 3 minutes of this. So weird.
• Minecraft - "Diamonds" - fan made commercial for Minecraft; a game that I know next to nothing about so it makes the commercial even odder.

BONUS

• Liza Minnelli - BALLS TO YOU - I don't even want to attempt to explain this one. Just watch. via Mac.
• Top Ten Sports by Remi Gaillard - the guy who makes those Mario Kart videos is actually a pretty amusing prankster. His non-Kart related videos are worth a peek.
• Slow Burn - slow motion footage is rarely used this effectively in my opinion.

That's it! Have a great weekend.

Kate pointed out this phenomenal National Geographic piece on Animal Domestication; specifically the ongoing breeding at a fox farm in Novosibirsk, Siberia. The history of the place goes back to Dmitry and Nikolay Belyaev, geneticists conducting secret experiments against the will of Stalin. While the farm itself is worth reading about it's more intriguing to think about the entire history of domesticating animals - a concept that is even more mindblowing when you consider that only about 15 species are fully human friendly.

Be sure to check the photo gallery that accompanies the article for a shot of the fox farm workers and some of the friendlier offspring that have been bred.

The New Yorker has a great article on director and creator auteur Guillermo del Toro. It is, as most New Yorker articles are, quite lengthy but gives a good sense of the man's history and how his obsession with creatures came about. It also explores his eighteen-room house dedicated to memorabilia from the horror / creature genre.. and it's not even his residence! The article is filled with quotes that everyone should be able to find a bit inspiring:

“I don’t see myself ever doing a ‘normal’ movie,” del Toro said. “I love the creation of these things—I love the sculpting, I love the coloring. Half the joy is fabricating the world, the creatures.”

I think everyone should be able to get behind that mentality.

link via Jessica

Thanks to Public School for the heads up on these 8-bit meat diagrams from Jude Buffum. For some reason I feel like this will get turned into a Wii game any day now. Be sure to click through for more favorites like King Koopa, Ganon and Yoshi.

Nicolas Gallagher has a handy sample page of CSS3 drop-shadows created without images. Personally, I'm into the "Lifted Corners" look but it's nice to have a quick reference page for a bunch of styles. Good lookin' out.

Chad introduced me to Dinevore yesterday.. an up-and-coming site dedicated to making food recommendations. It also allows you to make your own list of restaurants, rate them, toss them into lists, etc. On the whole, it could be a very handy tool not only for informing out-of-town visitors about your favorite eats but could do an excellent job of selecting a spot for you to eat based on your rated tastes. I realize there are other sites doing similar things but this one seems to have the List capability done right... an essential aspect of this sort of site in my opinion.

The downside? It's in beta and apparently doesn't have much of a user base outside of the major cities. Nashville had a whopping 4 entries.. my closest recommendation was in Memphis; three hours away. So, if you want to use this and don't live in one of the big three, be prepared to do some data entry. Early adoption has its price.

I haven't heard a second of it yet but I've never not enjoyed anything from the Dan Schwartzblog series. So, with the release of Miscellaneous - odds and ends that never found their rightful place in other mixes I assume - I am sure to be in for multiple enjoyable listens.

Go download it.

Editions of 100 is exactly what you'd assume - limited edition art prints in quantities of 100. You can see some behind the scenes photos and enormous versions of a few of the prints over here. I'm particularly into the Tempest Image Series but would be remiss if I didn't express my enjoyment of other prints as well. Oh, and for all my loathing of Star Wars overloading that occurs online I can't deny this X-Wing Print is pretty phenomenal.

via Courtney

It seems a tiny bit on the wasteful side but I love the concept behind these Disposable USB Drives from Art Lebedev. Just copy your files, scribble the contents on the stick and pass it along.. never having to worry about it being returned. It's like a contemporary 3.5" floppy disk.

via Zach.

• Is IE9 a modern browser? NO - Paul Rouget has some pretty stiff words to say about the forthcoming IE9 and it's lack of "modern" features. In all fairness, this is coming from Mozilla so I am sure they are going to be judge-y of their competition but he does make some valid points. The tech that IE9 doesn't support is a bummer but at least the features it will support might drag some PC users into 2009.
• Why The Internet Chose Cats - an absurdly long read ruminating on why Cats are considered the unofficial mascot of the Internet. The weirdest part is that the pondering is meant in earnest; not in jest. I can't say I agree with the conclusions reached but I am impressed at the process.
• Slide to Unlock - with a little Javascript, a little CSS3 and a bit of markup your website could have its own Slide To Unlock, just like the iPhone. Pretty impressive recreation.

And The Relatives have posted a new video for the track "Siamese" off of their full-length Green Machinery. The video is comprised of old family footage and fits the vibe of the song amazingly well. If you're not one for vintage video footage I will still implore you to stick with this one until the 1:30 mark, the chorus kicks in and zoo / safari footage that is used is.. perfect.

Obviously I'm a little biased on my love for this since it's culled from a record I helped release but don't let that stop you from diving in and forming your own opinion.

Oh, and then go buy the vinyl or download the record... I know you'll heavily enjoy it either way.

I'm told that the driving force behind If This Then That is called "Social Automation." They provide the tools to connect all your disparate social networks so they'll play nice together. Like a post on Tumblr and want to automatically send a Twitter Post and Facebook update about it? They can do that. Want to send anything you post to Flickr on over to Posterous? Want an email sent at a specific date and time every month? They'll help. It's a pretty wide open field when it comes to what you should be able to do with it. They've made the interface at IFTTT as simple as possible but it still takes some clicking around to figure out exactly how to setup your Channels with Triggers and the proper Actions. Fortunately, it's Beta - so they've got time to improve.

I've got one invite left into the system.. so let me know if you want it!

via Madrid

Loving the street art technique of Alexandre Farto; particularly his Walls series in which he scratches through the plaster of the buildings to create his portraits. I assume there is some sort of stencil in play with these as there are a number of them that look exactly alike - as well as one with helvetica text (you aren't free handing that). Regardless of how it's being done, I'm just glad it's being done. The end result is top notch.

If you viewed this site you'd likely think it was a an internet joke - a Caribbean cruise ship, 2,000 patrons and 40 metal bands. The marriage of dark heavy metal and sunning yourself on the deck of a boat seem like decidedly polar opposites. However, it's not a joke and actually seems to be a growing trend as a viable festival setting. Crazy.

Hollis Bennett was fortunate enough to attend the '70,000 Tons of Metal' cruise and document the event. The results are a bizarre mix but, ultimately, fascinating. Never judge a book by its cover.. just because you're covered in tattoos, wear head to toe black and frequently rage through the power of thrash metal does not mean you don't also enjoy a Mai Tai consumed through a ram's horn.

There is something pleasantly simple about the layout of Center of Attention - it's very withdrawn and lets the content do all the heavy lifting. I love a lot of these old record label designs - particularly the examples such as the Excello or Brunswick designs. There's plenty to see and no clutter to get to the real content.

via Jamie.

JXN BLK pointed me towards this great repository of Mobile UI patterns compiled by Mari Sheibley. The screen grabs are broken down into a number of categories - Splash screens, Notifications, User profiles, etc - to show what works and what doesn't. It becomes abundantly clear, pretty fast, that alot of UI design is extremely cluttered. The best designs are those that keep it incredibly simple.. though I suppose that's a statement that applies to all design, not just mobile.

Today marks the official release date for Jensen Sportag's Pure Wet EP via Cascine Records. You can stream it here or procure it here. There's a video for "Everything Good" viewable here.

In terms of music that I typically recommend here on the site I'd say that Pure Wet falls outside the norm.. it's heavily inspired by smooth 80's style electronic music fused with R&B grooves. I can't explain my affinity for it but it's certainly there. The Guardian absolutely loves it and expresses their gratitude for it with context that I'd never be able to muster, so go read that.

Spend some time with the Moa Karlberg photo set "Watching You Watch Me" in which she takes photos of people on the street through a one-way mirror. The end result is a pretty honest take on how people glance at themselves; a series of somewhat grim expressions if you ask me.

Ganked from Public School.