"Why Would You Eat That?"

Next to music and death, food is the largest way through which people connect with each other. It gives insight into a culture's traditions and history. This is one of the largest reasons why food is so important to me, and why it's so completely personal. Food is the equivalent of total trust; it passes from the exterior into the interior- your body. Every culture is unique within itself and this theory applies to food as well. I believe that no food is disgusting enough to not at least try once and judging it before trying it is unacceptable. 

I came across this video web series called "Tasted" and it's about well, food. This particular video that I've linked is one of their sub-series, "Why Would You Eat That?" and showing is an episode about Shirako, or more crudely put, fish semen. Check it out:

Dorming In A "Mini-Village"

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/instead-of-a-dorm-room-how-about-a-tiny-wooden-house

I think this is so interesting because over this past summer, I dormed at one of Pratt's campus housing sites and I basically felt like I was living in a prison. The room was small, the walls were concrete blocks, and the shared bathroom was completely made of metal. It was cold and unpleasant. But it did give me the whole "hipster-living-conditions" feel that made me feel strangely cool. Whatever that means.

I would love nothing more to go to college and live in a wonderfully designed dorm, such as the ones they're trying to build in Sweden. I would also just love to live in Sweden. And I mean c'mon- you get your own kitchen, bathroom, sleeping space and patio- all for half the price of a regular dorming situation! How can you go wrong?

Marketing Groundwork

http://www.palantir.com/what-we-believe/
- The pictures that link the different parts of the website are very abstract. I feel like that's quite an important aspect in terms of design and ideas- for example, if you're trying to represent "open software", don't use something that will literally represent software (like Apple or Windows). Palantir's choice in using a photo of planes flying across a vast sky is wonderful.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Google-Visual-Assets-Guidelines-Part-2/9084309
- I LOVE the way that Google has the whole design reduction policy and the use of crisp colors. Nothing dull or any shadows with gradients. Gradients have become something of the "past" to me. Defined colors are the design of the future. The whole geometric pattern they have going on is also very attention grabbing for me.

http://www.palantir.com/engineering-culture/
- Geez....I'm blown away by the design of this section of the website. Simply flawless. I don't even know what to say; everything about this particular page is amazing. The yellow hover bios that pop up when you scroll over the pictures are super. Sweet and short to the point while giving you a little insight on the individual. It tells you the person's name and a form of social networking that can be used to contact them (Twitter). The interchangeable usage of sans serif / serif typeface is so smart and legible.

http://www.directorsnotes.com/2010/11/14/sound-it-out-adventures-in-crowd-funding/

"It’s planning the PR, marketing and outreach before the film is even made. We’ve tried to reach out to all the different groups of people who may be interested in our film, so we’ve really tried to cast the net far and wide. "

This is pretty good- take tips on people who have done it and what has gone wrong and what to keep in mind.

Kodak Moments

I think I have a new found love for Kodak disposable cameras. It's like a Kinder Surprise. You never know what you're going to get since you can't see the photo that you just took, which to me is the best part. I bought one during my time at Pratt and I recently just got the photos developed, and I'm in love with how the photos came up. It's funny because my mom saw them and she commented on how crappy the quality of the photos were- I guess she's not in the loop with taking "artsy-fartsy-vintage-esque" photos. Here's a couple:

"How Predator Eats His Cereal"

If you guys aren't already familiar with the video app called "Vine," it's a social networking site similar to Instagram in which users can share 6-second videos instead of photos. As I was surfing the web (as I usually do with a lot of my free time), I came across this little gold nugget. It's a British man showing his audience how aliens in the movie Predator would eat their cereal if they weren't eating y'know, human faces.

Since Vine has a 6-second video limit, its users must be quick, creative, and straight to the point. It's useful in a way that it teaches people not to waste time  with useless filler. Now, I find this particularly interesting and worthy to share not only because of the platform it's posted on, but because it reminds me of when I was a child. As a kid, I used to always have alligator hair clips lying around the house. Using my little 6 year old imagination, I would pretend that they were some sort of robot pterodactyl.

The combination of found objects and a little creativity goes a long way.

Them Heavy People - An Add-on

We're always who we are
Yet we are never the same
Change coming at us so fast
Heads spin, looking for someone to blame

Kingdom Hearts Fanart

Anime, manga, cartoons, call it what you want- its still a form of art. In this case, I decided to draw some fanart for a game that has stuck around my entire life. This was done in watercolor and ink. Took around 5 1/2 hours.