Toy Masters

I grew up thinking how fabulous it would be to work at a toy company. I imagined that it would be one of the happiest places on earth. Well... this documentary about the people who created He-Man begs to differ. My childhood dreams are shattered...

A History of the Title Sequence

The truth about clothes

So we've all had that moment. You try on something and it just doesn't seem to fit you right. You like everything about this article of clothing but it doesn't want to fit your body. You look skyward and think to yourself, "why can't this just fit me? I need a body like (insert famous celebrity name here). They always look so good."
Well, here's the truth about celebrities and the clothes they wear: it's ALL tailored. So next time, don't fret. Your body is fine. Just lament the fact you don't have enough money to have your own personal tailor.

Again, a number of designs that many of you have undoubtedly seen previous but still some very fun and provocative designs here.

20 Creative Guerilla Marketing Campaigns

Most of you have probably seen a lot of these campaigns before but there's still some great work on display here.

Somewhere... under the sea...

simple idea to maximize space usage

The magic button

It's what we all want — to make everything ok.

iPhone SLR mount

Now, I'm not entirely sure that I get WHY someone would drop a good load of cash to hook up their SLR lens to your iPhone so you can take a 5MP picture. if you're gonna have to cart around the lens anyways, wouldn't it make more sense to just shoot with a proper SLR? Takes all kinds I guess.

iPad and iPhone GUI template resources

Was asked today if I knew of any good resources for iPad video GUI. Found these while I was poking around. Thought I would share the wealth. Teehanlax also has iPhone GUI templates if anyone is looking for those.

France bans Facebook, Twitter

French officials have banned any mention of social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter on radio or television.

10x 10 x 10 ft cube house

Eco friendly home concept. Eco friendly, yes. Practical, yes. Realistic... I dunno.

3D Printer

I've heard about 3D printers before and wanted to try and get something printed once but I was too broke to pay for the cost of it (I mean I was seriously flat broke back then). The potential applictions for this is pretty neat.

Intereactive kids book

I always knew this would be coming and it's nice to see something that's done so incredibly well.

Come on to the snackbar!!

Monkey steals camera

There have been a lot of these animal steals camera stories lately but this one is kinda funny in that this monkey stole a camera and then took pictures of himself. Amazingly, the photos seem to be quite good. I guess even the animals want their 15 minutes of fame...

Bike lock

Sweet bike lock concept

Kind of Screwed

Original photo © Jay Maisel. Low-resolution images used for critical commentary qualifies as fair use.

Andy Baio produced an 8-bit tribute to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album called Kind of Bloop.. The album cover he created for the project was an 8-bit representation of the original cover. What followed was a nightmarish series of events that resulted in Andy paying over $32,000 in settlement money to Jay Maisel, the original photographer of the album cover. You can read the first hand account by Andy here.
You can also see some of the backlash that Jay is taking on his Facebook page.

Refocusing the photography industry

Found a link to this article on my FB newsfeed today. How many times have you taken a photo and went "Gah!!! It's perfect except it's a little out of focus." Well, with this new technology it may no longer matter. Make sure you have a click around on the photos with the arrows to see how you can refocus an image. It's pretty cool.

Tom Hanks on Woody

Some interesting insights into the process of voiceovers on the Toy Story films

Stop motion timelapse animation

From Darling to Scourge: Vancouver Destroys its Olympic Legacy in One Night

This isn't a design post but under the circumstances of what happened tonight I felt a need to post my thoughts.

It was beautiful warm afternoon. The city was abuzz in anticipation of a hockey game that would hopefully bring the biggest prize home. It was game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. I had been down to West Georgia and Richards for game six to watch with an excited sea of fans and had a good time even though they got blown out in four minutes. Tonight I made my way down an hour earlier than Monday and it was even more packed than it was two days ago. The crowd was pumped and the energy was amazing. As I made my way through the tightly packed crowd I looked forward to watching a great game. I was invited to my friend's studio to watch the game but I wanted to be "amongst the crazies" for at least part of the game. I actually said those words not realizing just how prophetic that description would be. As we waited for the game to start the crowd would come to life every time they were pictured on the television. They sang the national anthem heartily and booed every Bruin that was pictured on the screen. When the puck dropped to finally start the game a mighty roar went up as the crowd anticipated big things from the home team.

Shortly after Bergeron scored the opening goal I saw a full bottle of gatorade sail through the air in front of me. I shook my head and hoped that no one was hurt by that. Soon after, I took a bottle to the back of the head. Some moron in the crowd behind me decided it was a good idea to take his bottle of coke that was still about a quarter full and chuck it in to the crowd in front of him. Thankfully I didn't take the cap end but it still smarted and it throbbed for a few minutes. I saw another bottle fly through the air a few minutes after that and that pretty much cemented the deal for me. I had debating whether I wanted to stay for the second period briefly but I decided I'd had enough. As the buzzer sounded ending the opening frame I headed out. Making my way through the crowd I hit a bottle neck part way through and some of those caught in the crush started to get a little less friendly pushing and yelling. I definitely wanted out now. After a few minutes of being patient and picking my way through the crowd I finally got free and headed up to Adam & Kev's studio on Granville Street.

Granville was full of loitering crowds hooting and hollering. The energy was uneasy and I felt a little less comfortable even though I had more personal space and even with the police presence. I chalked it up to the alcohol fueled nervous energy of a crowd worried about their home team being down after the first frame. The vibe in Adam & Kev's studio was noticeably more positive. Maybe it was the energy of a small group of friend hanging out to watch the game but I felt a lot more at ease watching the rest of the game. Well, things didn't go as planned for the Canucks and they surrendered three more goals on route to a 4-0 loss to the Bruins and dreams of bringing Lord Stanley's mug went out the window. A bunch of us decided to go up on the roof to watch the crowds on Granville.

We could see quite a ways down Granville and as people emptied out of bars it reminded me of the Olympics. A lot of people shoulder to shoulder. Just a little less joyous. I think part of me expected the worst but hoped it wouldn't happen. I saw one agitated guy yelling obscenities at who I think were his friends (or former friends). I saw another idiot yelling "F*ck Boston!" as he walked down the street trying to get other people to high five him on the street. We saw some black smoke wafting behind a condo building and wondered what that was from. A random idiot decided it would be funny to throw an orange at us before going back to get more. He went back twice more for bags of oranges and must have hurled at least a dozen oranges up at us. One orange even landed through the open skylight of a neighbouring studio. I tried to convince everyone to get off the roof as our presence was obviously encouraging his behaviour. As we climbed down the ladder back down in to the studio, news trickled in that a car was on fire. Some of the group wanted to check it out. I had my reservations about going down but they seemed to think it would be ok. We exited into the alley and got down to the end of the block only to find a group of people had surrounded an overturned car and cheering on vandals who were throwing newspaper boxes at it, smashing windows and jumping up and down on it. A cameraman filming the event was attacked and as he beat a hasty retreat towards a group of police down the block a crowd chased him. I looked back at my friends and said this wasn't good. We all nodded in agreement when suddenly the crowd came rushing back towards us. The police had obviously made some sort of move to try and push the crowd back and we beat a hasty retreat down the alley. We decided to head back to the studio and hide out there until things calmed down. We noticed tear gas coming from the end of the alley where we had been a few minutes before.

Back inside the studio we watched the CBC news feed and learned the area on Georgia and Richards by the CBC which had once been designated a fan zone was now considered a riot area. Police had warned anyone staying in the area risked being arrested and I watched the live news feed appalled as hundreds of people stayed and refused to disperse as some morons taunted and challenged police. The news anchor began to count the number of fires she could see from her vantage point as more reports trickled in about cars being set on fire and shops being smashed and looted. The Bay was ransacked and a nearby liquor store was emptied by looters. I watched as a large group of people surround two police cars and begin smashing them. One was flipped on it's side briefly before they began trying to set them on fire. A lone man aggressively argued and taunted police in riot gear as numerous people tried to convince him to walk away. One woman was thrown to the ground by him before riot police began swinging batons at him. That still didn't deter him as he continued his verbal barrage. A previously calm Granville street now had riot police firing tear gas into the crowd to disperse the crowd. The two police cars that had been attacked were now fully engulfed in flames as black smoke billowed into the sky. More news trickled in about cars in a parking structure on Seymour Street being set ablaze as well as more shops being smashed and looted.

As I watched the news footage in disbelief the thing that disturbed me the most was the number of people who seemed to be laughing and cheering on the people who were tearing the city apart. A large number of them seemed to be there to take pictures and pose in front of burning cars as if it were some sort of keepsake to be proud of. I couldn't understand how those people couldn't comprehend that their presence was enabling the hooligans. All I could think was, "just go home. Please. This is embarrassing and disgraceful. It's just a hockey game." I could smell some teargas wafting through the open skylight and heard numerous flashbangs go off as police continued to try and disperse the crowds on the street in front of the studio.

As the night wore on more news about violence, looting and a reported death (edit: As far as I know no confirmed death had been officially reported by the morning). The stupidity of onlookers was unbelievable. A few hours later at 10:30pm, four of us decided we would try and get to a skytrain station and get home. As we got to the front door on the ground floor I saw through the glass doors a line of riot police in full gear marching down the street. I could smell the tear gas through the door and wondered allowed if we should be exiting this way. We decided we would rather be in police presence than slinking down alley ways. We asked police politely for directions on how to move down streets that looked cordoned off. One of us was walking down past the library on her way home so we decided to walk with her for safety. It was eerie. It felt like a war zone. Police in riot gear everywhere. Helicopters buzzing overhead. As we walked past the CBC building it was sad to see the destruction. Burned out cars, overturned port-a-potties, massive amounts of garbage on the street. Even worse was overhearing the conversations of people who laughed about running from police and participating in some of the riots and vandalizing. I don't understand how these people can be proud of destroying this beautiful city. A city that had hosted a world with much celebration and fanfare a year ago now had the eyes of the world on it once more as it burned. An Olympic legacy destroyed overnight. I have been telling my friends what a great city Vancouver is since i moved here. I've even tried to convince some of them to move here. I don't know how I can now. It's embarrassing. I'm ashamed to be a resident of this city today. I'm saddened as a Canadian.

Riots erupt in Vancouver after Canucks loss

Nearly 150 injured, some seriously, in Vancouver Riot

Photos of Vancouver rioting

An article in the Globe and mail about Busting myths of Vancouver’s destructive Stanley Cup riot.

UPDATE:

It's the morning after the riots. I've been downtown for a meeting. There are crowds of people around the Bay building downtown. The windows are boarded up and people are signing the boards in a show of support and condemning the riots and violence from the previous night. Volunteer groups and individuals arrived garbage bags, brooms and cleaning supplies in hand picking up debris, garbage and cleaning vandalized art and walls. A pair of girls wiped orange spray paint off a piece of artwork on Granville Street and I overheard them talking about how they needed some water to help wash off some of the paint. I was on my way to a meeting but I popped in to Starbucks and picked up two bottles of water and dropped them off to the girls. It's not much but I suppose any little thing I can do will help. The mood was sombre. Almost sad. I hope after all of the coverage that Vancouver got last night, this side of Vancouver gets as much coverage. This is the Vancouver that I can be proud of. Selfless acts of kindness and a sense of community to help try and undo the damage that was done last night by a handful of imbeciles.

An article about the thousands that came down to help clean up this morning.

A Facebook album of some of the people who came down to help clean up.

Canadian Olympic Team rebrand

FastCoDesign has written an article about the rebranding of the Canadian Olympic team by Ben Hulse.

Japan Package Design Awards 2011

The winning designs from the Japan Package Design Awards 2011 have been on display to the public in the upmarket Matsuya department store in Ginza. Ranging from minimal and clean, to retro and functional, the display showcased the best of Japan’s designers. Running since 1985 the contest judges around 1,000 entries for the competition, with the judges evaluating design based on core topics of; aesthetics, manufacturing, physical distribution and environmental impact.

Packaging is an extension of the product in Japan and focus has always been as heavily placed on the design of what the item is contained in as the product itself. Often with numerous layers encasing small items it can come across as unnecessary when we look at them from today’s attitude’s towards waste. However the intricacies and beauty of the packaging greatly enhance the brand as they can be as visually pleasing as they are often practical in their design.

wool power

Neat concept for an extra, extra, extra long cord for your phone charger. Just hope the cat doesn't get to it.

EcoWash dishwasher/dinner-set

Neat concept for a picnic dish set.

A Meatier Lorem Ipsum

Bacon ipsum dolor sit amet shoulder sirloin short ribs, hamburger beef ground round sausage ribeye cow pork loin. Tail ribeye t-bone strip steak. Tail shankle strip steak, pig turkey tongue pancetta beef ribs cow short loin beef ham hock flank. Pig drumstick sausage, pork loin ham hock pork strip steak beef ribs fatback turkey tail cow. Tri-tip tongue sausage, pancetta meatball ham hock pastrami spare ribs short loin pig beef ribs pork belly pork chop. Ham hock pork chop shoulder, corned beef jerky turkey ground round venison pork ball tip shankle pork loin tail pork belly. Turkey pork chop ham hock chuck short loin bacon.

Zuckerberg the ultimate stalker?

I'm not entirely sure what goes through the brain of Mark Zuckerberg but he seems to be of the opinion that personal privacy shouldn't exist. He's at it again as this article by the New York Times indicates that according to a report from Sophos, Facebook is changing its users’ privacy settings to automatically turn on a facial recognition feature that detects a user’s face in an image. as of this post, my account doesn't have the facial recognition feature available to me so I can't enable or disable it but you can be damn sure the second I find it's on, it's getting turned off.

Hahn Super Dry - super goes in

Ninja education

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COOKIEBOT! A HARRY AND HORSIE ADVENTURE

Trailer for the new book Cookiebot: A Harry and Horsie Adventure. Illustrated by my good friend Lincoln Agnew

25 fun office accessories

Ok, I sorta Frankensteined this list from a couple of lists. Enjoy.