I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said, “youth is wasted on the young”. And looking back at my teen years, I remember wanting so badly to grow up more quickly; for the months and years to pass at a faster pace so that I could get my driver’s license, finish school, buy a beer and of course become an “adult”.

Well, inevitably those milestones came and went and now as an adult I contemplate how quickly time does in fact pass, especially when you’re not looking.

This new years eve, we stand witness once again to an entire year that passed all too quickly. And while it is great to visit the memories of one’s youth and envision dreams for the future, it is important that we savor the present. We should relish each day we spend with family, each hour we share with friends and each second we draw a breath. For a lifetime can pass with the blink of an eye.

This amazing video clip reveals a beautiful landscape transforming over the course of one year.
Let’s hope next year we can all slow down and smell the roses trees.

Today is the last day of 2008. To welcome the new year tonight, everyone is celebrating in their own way - some will line the streets of New York’s Times Square under the cold wind and snow, others will pay a fortune to crowd inside a trendy nightclub in LA or Miami. And others will simply enjoy the crowds from the comfort of their living room with Ryan Seacrest providing them the play-by-play.

But no matter where you’ll be when the clock strikes midnight, you can bet everyone will be asking themselves the same question, “What will be my new year’s resolution?”.

Needless to say, in America today, most resolutions involve loosing weight, joining a gym or boycotting jelly donuts or McGreasy burgers. Unfortunately, our nation not only boasts the highest rates of obesity, but we are also the leader in eating disorders, self-conciousness and overall low self-esteem.

The Dove brand has made it its mission to promote a more healthy body image among woman of all ages and widen the stereotypical view of beauty historically defined by the warped lens of film, fashion and mass media advertising. Since its launch in 2004, Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” has made headlines across the globe. Most recently, through the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, a series of online-based short films were launched to promote the self-esteem concept.

And so before we join the masses in finding an unrealistic resolution to bind to this new year, I invite you to view Onslaught, one of the more poignant spots of the Dove series. Surely, we can all be skinnier, taller and more attractive, but if we want 2009 to be a great year, we should focus on being happier, healthier and more beautiful on the inside first and foremost.

Happy New Year!

A Short Visual History of Videogames from Kyle Downes on Vimeo.

This post manages to combine 2 of my interests. Motion Graphics and Videogames. Having spent countless hours trying to save a Princess from some sort of world-threatening evil, I watch this video with a sense of nostalgia.  

While most kids put away the consoles sometime around high school, I’ll never surrender my gamer mentality. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Every puzzle has a solution.
Whether you’re arranging falling blocks or text boxes, every problem has an answer. It’s just a matter of twisting and shifting. Insert the right block and the problem disappears. 

You can accomplish anything with the right tools.
Mario needs a fire flower and Link needs the Master Sword, maybe you need a graphic tablet or paintbrush. Graphic design technology has come a long way. Get the right tools, buy a book, take a class. Equip yourself for success.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Everyone knows that warp pipes can’t teleport you to fantasy lands and that winged caps can’t make you fly. Everyone knows that mushrooms can’t make you giant. 600 years ago, everyone knew that the earth was flat.  200 years ago, everyone knew that an African American could never be president. 50 years ago everyone knew that manned-space travel was impossible.

Imagine what we’ll know tomorrow.

Check out what the guys at Morpheus Prototypes did! Morpheus specializes in the rapid manufacturing of prototypes for a variety of industries including automotive, toy, and aerospace. This piece was created using a automated cutting device called a cnc machine.

This picture has been making quite a splash on the blog scene. Morpheus is not taking advantage of all the free publicity. They seem content to remain an enigma as they have not released a comment or even posted an online portfolio. But with results like this let’s see what other of our beloved characters will be sporting wood in the future.

Check out the cool modifications some hardcore Wii fans are making to their gaming consoles.

‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the office, not a creature was working, or using their mouse; So the few that decided to stay, went into the game room to play… Rock Band!

With the help of Animoto - a web application that produces cool videos using images and music that you select - creating a cool holiday video greeting can now take minutes instead of days or weeks! Using their patent-pending Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor & director, the resulting video has the emotional impact of a movie trailer and the visual energy of a music video. You gotta check this out…!

I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself. Is the old addage, “Any publicity is good publicity.” really true? In the end, you decide.

Graphic designers are faced with a number of challenges. One common and irksome task is taking small images and making them bigger. Although it may seem simple just to use free transform command in photoshop, this inevitably summons the evil artifacts like the 12th plague of Egypt. For those of you not in the biz, artifacts are the little color blotches that can be found in enlarged photos and are a sure sign of a rookie designer.

But sometimes this cannot be avoided. Sometimes we are obligated to use certain images or we have limited resources and must pull graphics off the web. What’s a designer to do?

A wise man once told me, “When life hands you crap, make a crap sandwich.”

Genuine Fractals by OnOne Software offers you the tools to turn a crap sandwich into a crap souffle! This software uses some sort of ancient Tolkien elven magic to make enlarging photos a breeze. But here’s the kicker, Genuine Fractals can enlarge an image to 8 times the size without loss of quality!

I’ve had a chance to demo this product and although it is capable of enlarging up to 800 percent, it isn’t perfect. There are a few caveats. Upscaling an image from 72 to 300 dpi already takes up 400+ percent of your enlarging power. Another issue with the software is if your image is already artifacting then by no means will it remove artifacts. Garbage in, garbage out.

Other then those understandable limitations I must say that this software is affective and easy to use. They offer a free demo at  www.ononesoftware.com. Go forth, and multiply.

Here in West Hollywood (or WeHo, as we affectionately call it), its hard to not find a vintage clothing store. One of the great aspects of buying vintage is the fact that you’re recycling and re-using old clothes, as well as even digging up some truly unique and one-of-a-kind finds.

But here’s an entirely different spin on the concept of recycled clothing: a dress made entirely from a phone book! The dress was created by Jolis Paons for her Creative Processes class - “I pleated, stuck, sewed, and glued everything by hand” she says of her piece.

Of course, you probably wouldn’t want to actually wear  this amazing work of art (unless you don’t mind papercuts), but at least you can admire it for the incredible amount of skill and imagination that went into its construction.

See more images of the dress at illusion.scene360.com.