The Art of “UP”

Posted by Tiffany Olay | Uncategorized | Tuesday 2 June 2009 8:51 am

Pixar has yet to disappoint me (except for “Cars.” Sorry, not a race fan). Check out the plethora of beautiful concept art that Lou Romano so generously shares on his blog. I really love how he documents many parts of the development and production process here, including dioramas he shot for composition ideas, test digital animations to see how lighting would work, and research photos from South America.

Hassle-Free Re-decorating

Posted by Tiffany Olay | Uncategorized | Monday 1 June 2009 2:34 pm

Wallpaper usually reminds me of creepy haunted houses, batty old ladies and the like (or batty old ladies staring at you from creepy haunted houses). Why not plaster your walls with ginormous, colorfully fun graphics instead?

UK’s Surface View offers a variety of unique graphics for your walls and windows, so cool you will never have to step into a Home Depot for your decor again (which you wouldn’t do in the first place, right?!). For ideas and inspiration, check out how the prints would look mocked up with a room set (above).

Be a Fan!

Posted by ngiles | Uncategorized | Monday 11 May 2009 10:32 am

At this very moment there are roughly 237,483 Facebook fans of bacon. That’s right. BACON. Not to be confused with the 298,834 fans of Bacon Butty. I even know someone who proudly displays a felt flag with the word “BACON!” on it in his office. (It also contains a felt cutout of bacon.) And yes, this person is a fan of 3 separate bacon pages on Facebook. Now that’s passion.

Within the confines of Facebook – and throughout the web, we are able to define exactly who we are, what we believe in and what we’re passionate about. Fan pages are, in essence, viral altars created for the things we love, detest or just have a point of view on. People have started pages for the most basic of activities, like napping – to mowing the lawn. Currently there are 35 people who believe “mowing the grass is a conspiracy”, 2 members of “i love mowing grass” and 7 people who claim to be “lawn mowing monkeys”.

What are you passionate about?

Flickr for Hire

Posted by Wally Sabria | Uncategorized | Tuesday 14 April 2009 5:41 am

For decades, people have been taking photos and home videos and sharing them with their friends and family. But it wasn’t until YouTube that UGC (user-generated content) became a legitimate - albeit mind-numbing - mass-market entertainment form.

Now I’m certainly not one who believes that Fred and LonelyGirl15 are going to replace Seinfeld and GossipGirl, but when the most respected stock houses in the world — GettyImages — announces the launch of its “Flicker Collection“, it makes you wonder if the rules of publishing are being rewritten as we speak.

Getty is calling their Flickr feed, “handpicked images with an originality and authenticity rare in stock photos” — [yet as familiar as the photos you can take yourself]…? But hey, if a brand wants to use photos of my kid sister’s Quinceañera party for their next print ad, all I can say is “CHEESE!”

Facebook - 200 Million Users Strong

Posted by Wally Sabria | Uncategorized | Monday 13 April 2009 8:44 am

An online success story that began in a Harvard dorm room has quickly become a worldwide phenomenon — uniting more than just school-age kids, it’s bringing together moms, business people and brands all across the globe.

To commemorate brag about its now 200 million ACTIVE user base, Facebook put out this video to put the big 200 into real perspective.

(too bad they didn’t want to “share” this video outside their site, though…)

UPDATE: Women older than 55 make up the fastest-growing age group on Facebook

Working Meals

Posted by VISCOM LA | Uncategorized | Monday 6 April 2009 7:13 am

A working lunch can be a great way to increase productivity, but laptops on the diner counter can be cumbersome and notes on napkins seem to always get tossed with the trash. London-based, Italian designers Sara Ferrari and Marcella Fiori have worked it all out — during a lunch meeting, no doubt — they’ve designed a book of place mats for note-taking during meals.

Eat it up!

Happy V-Day from the Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women.

Posted by Tiffany Olay | Uncategorized | Friday 13 February 2009 2:58 pm

Valentine’s Day for American women usually means chocolates, flowers, and dinners out with their bfs or bffs. But this year, in India, the holiday takes on a different meaning — the ladies of the titled group, led by Nisha Susan, plan to observe the holiday by retaliating against what Susan calls the “moral police.”

Last month, a group of Hindu activists walked into a south Indian city pub to harrass and assault the women patrons. The group, Sri Ram Sema (or Lord Ram’s Army) is hard-pressed to put a stop to so-called ”un-Indian” and “loose behavior” from Indian women.

In rebellion to this act, Susan has employed the power of social media — thousands of members of her Facebook group will be sending a plethora of pink undies (or “chaddies” as they are called in India) to the leader of Sri Ram Sena.

Click here to read more.