Some musical downloads to kick off your year:

• Jeremy Okai Davis Mix - So This Is The New Year - seventeen songs all floating around the concept of time or time concepts. It's got Nilsson on it, so it's obviously ready to roll.
• Future Phased Design - Top Ten Albums of 2010 - Keith at Future Phased often overlaps with my own taste in a big way so it's surprising to see his Top 10 contain several artists that I'm not as familiar with as I'd think. He's also posted a number of year end reviews worth perusing - top 12", 7", music videos, films and even an Honorable Mentions mix.

While I find the death of Kodachrome to be a fairly unfortunate happening in the world of photography I do see much potential for a slew of projects to make their way out into the world now that people have seen the light to really make something of their obsolete film. For example, this forthcoming film from The Polychronic Conservatory looks to contain some amusing vignettes and capture the spirit of the film type effectively.

This NY Times article also tells the tale of loads of people submitting their film to Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas to have their images birthed into the world. One such nugget from the article:

In the span of minutes this week, two such visitors arrived. The first was a railroad worker who had driven from Arkansas to pick up 1,580 rolls of film that he had just paid $15,798 to develop. The second was an artist who had driven directly here after flying from London to Wichita, Kan., on her first trip to the United States to turn in three rolls of film and shoot five more before the processing deadline.

Impressive to say the least.

Thankful heads up to Jeff and Ryan for the content insights.

• 11 New York City Start-Ups to Watch in 2011 - a nice list of up and coming services that are likely worth taking a peek at. Some of them are very NY-centric and may not have much to do with you yet but they very well could in the future.
  
  I'm going to go out on a limb (a very safe one) and say that VHX should certainly be on the list as well.
  
  via soupsoup.
• iPad Simulator - made entirely from HTML, CSS and Javascript - it is quite impressive for a proof of concept.
• Food Printing in the Future - apparently this is coming down the pipe and I've been having the hardest time properly comprehending it. Particularly the Why aspect of its existence.

I dare you to wrap you brain around this one - a fascinating article from Robert Krulwich summarizing an article published by a well respected professor of psychology (Daryl Bem of Cornell) suggesting that your choices now are being affected by the outcomes from the future. The notion itself is a bizarre one comprehend but the quotes from Alice in Wonderland that Krulwich invokes put it all perfectly in perspective.

The short version: Irish artist Enda O'Donoghue collects photos from various Internet outlets, degrades their quality and creates paintings out of them. The results are oddly compelling. There are many things to like: the jpeg compression look, the occasionally vague 8-bit nostalgia feeling it drums up or the voyeuristic nature to it all.

You can read more about him here, check out an interview here, watch a timelapse video of the creation of one of the paintings here or browse the wealth of works here. All suggested activities.

via Jed.

While I prefer the Last.FM Best of 2010 for the data it provides in terms of what people were really listening to over the course of a year I still always look forward to the Hype Machine Zeitgeist. It rarely contains any surprises in terms of artists receiving a lot of buzz but it presents them in a fascinating way. Even if I'm not using it as a music discovery tool, I am highly engaged to keep clicking through the Top Artists to see all the different illustration styles and maybe even a familiar face among the contributing artists.

Oddly enough, it actually functions as a fine artist discovery tool quite well.. along with being a reminder of the most talked about musicians of the past year. Thanks HypeMachine!

Looks like David Carson (renowned graphic designer - but you knew that already I presume) is about to launch a new project called CARSON mag. The print based endeavor will be published six times a year with a focus on "design, fine art, illustration, photography and writing. " Subscriptions are roughly $21 domestically.

I find this quite intriguing - as Carson really did a lot of inventive and appreciable things in the realm of graphic design (even if you didn't like it, you had to give him credit for pushing boundaries.. particularly at Ray Gun). On the whole, I enjoy his influence more than his actual work but that's neither here nor there.. it's good to see he's doing something new, and I kind of love that it's in print.

Press release here.
Entirety of Heads Up Credit goes to Kate.

Nashville is filled with many great, talented, artists so it's not always surprising when one or two of them end up recording a Daytrotter session but occasionally an underrated act makes their way in there and it does a heart good to know they make get some proper recognition. Such is the case with Korean is Asian and their freshly released session. Their band name might lead you to believe they are some pop outfit but that is not the case, they will break your heart... repeatedly. Musically, this isn't within my range of typical recommendations - so you are forewarned - but there is absolutely something here worth investigating.

I am fairly confident that I first encountered the portrait work of Abby Wilcox over at The Bold Italic - she was able to capture a number of eccentric locals around the Haight Ashbury neighborhood in her Haight Space rundown. While her portfolio site may not be exclusively focused on people as oddly fascinating as those Haight locals, she does manage to make each of her subjects worth looking into. I'm more prone to the slice of life pieces she does but there is plenty of concert and artsy photography to go around as well.

Based on the films that I know from Dana Stevens' Top 10 Movies of 2010 I can make an educated guess that the movies I don't know are well worth a watch. I wasn't even aware that Bong Joon-Ho (The Host) had a new film and I needed reminded that Marwencol existed at all.. as I rather wanted to see it. The list isn't exhaustive or entirely surprising at times but there's likely enough in there that you missed that it's well worth converting into your Netflix queue.

I spent the entirety of yesterday flying out to SF for a last minute meeting and, thus, didn't get a lot of "discovery browsing" done - so take a moment to engage yourself in some links you may have missed from ole 2010.

It's been nine years since Cuban Council has redesigned their site - nine years. That's an infinitely long time when it comes to the web. It's safe to say that they've been extremely busy in that time. To kick off 2011 they've done a full site overhaul complete with an extensive portfolio, immersive field guides and an informative blog. I've always been a fan of CC - their work is always solid and professional but they've always got a nice bit of humor injected into how they represent themselves. For example, this Beginnings Field Guide - just have a quick browse and you'll get what I mean.

The site has a lot to look through but every single page is worth having a look at. I particularly love the "More Work" widget at the bottom of the portfolio pages and the great layouts on the Whereabouts Field Guide. Go dive in.

This may be old news by now but I am absolutely smitten with the design works from Skinny Ships - particularly his custom designs of his top records from last year. Pieces like this Bill Callahan or Flying Lotus are astounding - fantastic color, typography, etc. There are loads of other great designs to take in as well - unrelated to the top ten - but that's a helluva place to start.

Photographer Steve McCurry had the distinct pleasure of being responsible for developing the last roll of Kodachrome film developed by Kodak. In his own words:

Today is the day that Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, the last lab on the planet to process Kodachrome, stops developing the iconic film forever. When Kodak stopped producing the film last year, they gave me the last roll. When I finished shooting the final frames, I hand-delivered it to Parsons. Here are a few of those last 36 frames.

I'm sure there are more rolls of it floating around out there somewhere and there must be a lab still able to develop it.. but maybe not. Maybe it really is the end of an era. If so, feast your eyes upon the last developments - a wide variety of excellent shots.

Take a moment to browse this list of The 60 Best New Tumblogs of 2010. It's worth a look if you want to catch up on some silly meme's that you may have missed out on last year. It sells Tumblr way too short to say that the entirety of Best New Tumblogs are comprised of silly single-serving sites but what more do you expect from BuzzFeed?

via Jamie.

Jim Gaffigan New Year's Even 2010 Poster by Paloma Chavez.

Be sure to check out the rest of her Design Work and Etsy Shop as well - lots of good stuff.

Landry gave me a heads up on this rumor that I'd somehow glossed over last year that Apple is going to forego adopting USB 3.0 and go straight for this new optical Intel technology called Light Peak. The technology can, apparently, transfer data at 10Gb/s right out of the gate. There's also promising insight that it could reach up to 100Gb/s - pretty insane. My only concern with such a thing would be if the new technology can also power your devices as well as transfer data - a key element to any properly designed USB device.

Well, hello there. It's been a minute. I've been offline working on a few projects for friends and getting my act together for the new year. A redesign is in the works for this site - I'm not crying wolf on that one, I'm just a rather slow designer. The upcoming year looks to be a good one; here's to another promising New Year.

After this week I'm going to receive some much deserved offline R&R - hopefully finishing up some freelance projects and diving into some new undertakings that all should benefit from. I may post between now and the New Year but it's unlikely - so let this be the final "Take Care!" of the year between myself and you, the reader. In the meantime, enjoy the years final playlist and I'll see you on the other side.

• Dancing Santa - you WISH this guy lived near you and you could see this all the time. I know I do. via Zach.
• 2010 Fail Compilation - ten minutes of excruciating failures. Not always an uplifting sentiment but it's hard to look away. There's also a Luck compilation if you're into that.
• Cedar Rapids Trailer - you will undoubtedly see this at the theatre when you go out with your family to catch True Grit or Tron or Tangled or whatever you choose to see but, in case you don't, enjoy the forthcoming funny. via Renaud.
• London Boys vs Autechre - this mash up really doesn't sync very well beyond the first 20 seconds but, man, those first 20 seconds are perfect.
• Laughter Supercut - feel good movie compilation of laughter. Join along.
• How many senses do you have? - QI clip - I've been enjoying a ton of QI lately and suggest during your holiday downtime you find a way to enjoy it as well. It's endlessly informative and incredibly entertaining - what more could you possibly ask for?
• Russian Winter Bungee Jump - while no one gets hurt in this I suggest you take it as a lesson of what not to every involve yourself in.. as it is absolutely insanely terrifying to watch this occur.

BONUS

• AD/BC: A Rock Opera - to me, this Matt Berry Christmas Special must be watched every year. It's completely absurd and hilarious. Thank goodness it's on YouTube in its entirety.
• The Daschel Show: Christmas Special - this probably means very little to anyone that doesn't know Paige and Kevin but it's a feel good Christmas show as hosted by young Daschel. It's always good to see youthful enthusiasm maintained for Christmas time.

Have a great Christmas, a great break (you deserve one) and a Happy New Year. See you all soon.

While I doubt anyone is having any issue hearing tons of Christmas music this year I thought it might be beneficial to compile a quick list of new songs that I've encountered over the past month that stem from the holiday spirit.. oh, and two classics that should be in every library. I'm sure I overlooked a ton of stuff floating around out there but these have been enjoyable listens to my ears.. what else should I be hearing?

• Atlas Sound - Artificial Snow - Bradford Cox is prolific, this is just further proof of that.
• Beach House - I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun - sounds like Beach House.. which is perfectly appropriate for quiet winter nights.
• The Veils - First Frost - stick with it to the chorus.. the vocal style really works most effectively there.
• The Features - Father Christmas - a holiday staple as far as I'm concerned.. for when you need a dose of rock in your Christmas.
• Sleep Good - Strange Vacations - Roughly 20 minutes of original psychedelic Christmas tunes.. at least roughly inspired by the holidays.
• Pico vs Island Trees - It's Not Christmas (If You're Not With Me) - a sweet diddy from local Nashville band Pico vs Island Trees.
• Black Baby - Ain't Gettin You Nothin' - more of an anti-holiday song but all the more amusing for it in my opinion.
• Tom Petty - Christmas All Over Again - the speaking part at the end of this song never fails to amuse me. On the whole, one of the least annoying Christmas songs to encounter out in the wild.
• Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime - honestly, one of the most annoying Christmas songs to encounter in the wild.. maybe ever. Okay, it's not that harsh but it really starts to wear you down after awhile. Despite that, it should be listened to a minimum of one time per year.

Also worth adding to your collection.. these collections.

• I'll Be Hometapes For Christmas - bands from the Hometapes label submit Christmas-y songs.. look for the Brad Laner, Megafaun, All Tiny Creatures and Pattern Is Movement songs in particular.
• Almost XMas Mix - fifteen songs of Christmas-y tunes as curated by Jeremy Davis.
• Public School: Audio Document No. 9 - all Christmas songs on this compilation from your favorite Austin collective.