Kassette Klub decided to kick the new year off with a proper introduction between themselves and you, the potential listener. They've posted a downloadable sampler on their blog - complete with artwork contributions from Leslie Tychsem. If you aren't familiar with the likes of Burywood, Mutual Benefit or Sleep Good; this is a good place to start.

The shrunken down size of these Attribute Portraits does not do them justice. Please visit their fullsize counterparts to get the best, immersive, effect. Much respect to Gelmar Geertsma for putting these together; an excellent tribute to family, design and photography.

Fire up your preferred Webkit browser and check out this Flexible Nav proof of concept.. lovely use of CSS3 animations. After that, head over to the main playground of Deaxon and marvel at the rest of the quick experiments. All of this reminds me of the time when Flash was an emerging technology and people would post their single-serving experiments.. it's curious to see that pattern repeat itself but I'm not complaining; it's inspiring.

One day stamps will be a thing of the past. Children will marvel at the notion of a highly designed piece of paper with a sticky back applied to another piece of paper to get it where it needs to go. In the meantime, we should appreciate goodness like this collection of Russian Space Stamps, as each one is its own little marvel in and of itself.

The idea behind The Santa Claw is pretty clever - take Santa's "leftover" toys, throw them in a claw game and let Internet users control the movement of the claw. Anytime there is web based interaction with a real world object, I'm intrigued. Unfortunately, it's proven to be so popular that you can't actually play. There are over 500 people "in line" at all times - which means you're either barred from playing or you'd be waiting an eternity to lose at a claw game. So, I'd say wait a week and hope it's still open but in the meantime check the design of the site as it is quite well done.

Heads up via Geoff.

What's the best way to bid farewell to your current city when moving across the country to a whole new environment? Well, if you're artist Jon Jackson it is to put up five billboards in your neighborhood and say goodbye - as he's done with Adios LA. I love the layout of the site, the simple but personality-filled text treatments and the maps to each billboard; to prove their legitimacy. I think this one may be my favorite but this one is an incredibly close second. Be sure to check the rejected designs while you're there.. lots of inspiration to be had.

Finding further information on this has proven to be a bit difficult but, apparently, back in late summer of 2010 some street art of dripping rainbow colors began to appear in Albuquerque's downtown district and city officials were not pleased. The Alibi snagged an interview with the man supposedly responsible for the drips but there are few surprises in the exchange. On the whole, just check out this gallery and appreciate the style... even if the examples are a bit sparse.

Upon first seeing the Philadelphia art project A Love Letter For You I was fairly convinced that it was faked - Photoshop'ed murals on rundown buildings as a proof of concept. However, doing the tiniest bit of poking around reveals that it is, indeed, quite real. So, with that in mind, take a moment to browse the murals, fall in love with the type style and feel jealous that your city doesn't do anything near this cool.

Take some today to read through Chapter 1 of the online graphic novel The Worm World Saga; which tells the tale of a small boys escape from reality through summer vacation adventures. The plot itself is a pretty standard setup but based on the engaging artwork style I am sure that the forthcoming chapters will have a lot of eyeball treats awaiting.

There is a long running observation that cartoons from The New Yorker are not funny.. or, at the very least, so droll that it's not really even worth trying to get the joke. However, it turns out, that the solution to this problem is to just provide a straightforward, literal caption. The Monkeys You Ordered is a single serving Tumblr that fits that bill perfectly. I suggest starting at the beginning and working your way forward...

The first batch of videos for 2011.. it's hard to believe I've been compiling these things since 2006 but it's true! With that in mind, you know the deal.. playlist here, breakdown below.

• Happiness Audition - I don't watch these Dance shows but if they consist of material like this in any sort of regular nature, I will start watching them constantly. If first 45 seconds of the video doesn't make you beam with enjoyment; you're beyond my reach.
• Cat morphes into Rabbit - more animals should dress themselves.. especially as other animals.
• Mythbusters: Baby Adam - I had to see this clip of Adam Savage as an adult baby so now you do too. Thank Courtney for the nightmares!
• Plural of Octopus - bit of education for you this week on the proper pluralization of "Octopus." Have you ever met anyone that has used the word Octopodes? Doubtful.
• 100 Additional Movie Insults - over ten minutes of insults.. see if you can actually make your way through it. There are some real gems in there.
• Cats and Dogs Need Your Help - stick with it.. it's not perfect but you should be hooked by the time Mr. Grumpybrowns shows up. Make it through the Chupacabra bit and you get another treat. Via Davis.

BONUS

• Caitlin Rose - "Own Side" - official music video for emerging country favorite Caitlin Rose... featuring the bizarre local wrestling of Stadium Inn here in Nashville. I'm not sure how the song ties into the video but it's enough to keep your attention.
• Destroyer - "Kaputt" - a bizarre video for a song that I'm liking more and more. I assume the album will be a grower as well; in the good way.

Have a great weekend.

Designer and movie aficionado Sam Smith has been running down his Top Ten Movies of 2010 by designing unique posters for each film... sort of a tribute to the films he loved. The designs run a wide gamut and it seems like he tossed them together in a short amount of time but when it hits.. it hits well. I love the Bluebeard, Black Swan, Never Let Me Go and, especially, the honorable mention of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives entries. I highly recommend adding the whole blog to your reader of choice; consistently good stuff.

My friend Rachel has always been a talented photographer but it seems that lately she's really been stepping it up. Maybe it's the use of her Polaroid 330 Land camera or maybe it's that she's posting more regularly but she's been bringing the goods. She's done some press photos for the likes of emerging act Tristen, engagement photos that aren't trite and some regular ole slice of life documentation... here's to hoping she keeps up the good work.

It appears that the music video portal site Vevo has launched a mobile app for their cornucopia of content. Their YouTube channel has always been a decent source for seeing a bunch of videos but with this app it seems that they're stepping things up to actually helping re-legitimize the format of music video. Honestly, I don't care much at all for the majority of artists they feature - loads of highly commercial folk that I've never heard of and am fine with not hearing - but their rise in popularity will, hopefully, create a trickle down to the smaller indie labels / bands and get the cream of that crop into a wider viewing audience. All and all it seems like more evidence of the death of TV, the rise of On Demand entertainment and a potential stream for exposure for worthwhile artistic endeavors. Fingers crossed.

Fire up your InstaPaper or shirk your job responsibilities in order to give these a proper read:

• The Man Who Spilled the Secrets - Vanity Fair writeup on Julian Assange; a person and an undertaking (WikiLeaks) that I find to be worthy of much pondering. via Kate.
• List of Common Misconceptions - you know those trivial factoids like how Pilgrims dressed or that George Washington had wooden teeth or that Vikings wore horns on their helmets? Not true. via Will.

Grain & Gram have posted their latest feature and I highly suggest you take it all in. They focus on Orlando woodworker Blair Sligar and his workshop Hog Eat Hog; inquiring greatly to the personal history and process of making the pieces. Reading through the interview you can tell the man is passionate about his undertakings. This stuck out to me as a valuable bit of insight we could all keep in our heads:

I really like to explore and create and design. I hope that my clients appreciate the type of work that I do and come to me for that. It’s what my shop is built on: not doing whatever comes through the door just to make money. I am not the right person for some jobs. I am going to stubbornly keep hammering away at what I do even though I could probably make plenty more re-facing cabinets and building laminate kitchens. But I am not interested in that type of work. I’m committed to creating furniture and sculpture in a unique way, and I think that sets me apart from other shops.

Be sure to switch out "facing cabinets and building laminate kitchens" for whatever dull work your day job may contain but you get the general point. Do what you love.

So, get to reading.

I'm loving the series of photorealistic paintings from Lee Price. There's some NSFW nudity involved so be forewarned before clicking but it's not particularly sexual in nature, just nudity. The overhead angle of the shots creates a great view of the surrounding environments and, frankly, the idea of eating in the bathtub amuses me greatly. I'd love to see this large scale somewhere actually hanging on a wall as opposed to a jpeg'ed gallery.

via Jeremy.

This writeup on Typography Type Tips from Harry Roberts is a must-read for anyone dabbling in the world of web design. Aside from the fact that many of the tips are just good insights into the written English language (i.e. em dash vs en dash vs hypen) it also provides solid tips on making sites more readable and friendlier to users eyes. I will say I am guilty of using Guillemets incorrectly and feel properly chided for it.

via Will Jardine.

Take a few minutes to watch Jason Schwartzman Record Shop for his unborn child. Basically he picks out some classic albums and explains his reasoning why they might be good picks for young ears. If it were just about anyone else it might not be entertaining but he manages to keep it engaging... especially his take on La Planete Sauvage.

via TwentyFourBit.

Take a few moments to peruse this exhibition from Wijnanda Deroo documenting New York Eateries. There's a great use of color and composition but, for me, the most appealing aspect is the complete lack of people that are present. Presumably, these restaurants have plenty of customers but their vacancy in the photos adds a nice slight eerie vibe.

Via Kate.