Animation Inspiration

This short animated film is incredible, I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

[Via Rockstar Diaries]

Real-Life Rainman

Stephen Wiltshire is a British artist who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3.  He initially began to draw in an effort to calm himself from the stress of being surrounded by a world and people he couldn't relate to.  This led Wiltshire to uncover a unique gift as an artist.  Now, at age 35, he is well-known for his work depicting various cities.  After taking in a panoramic view of a city via a helicopter ride - usually lasting mere minutes - Wiltshire is able to correctly draw the entire city to scale. 

 

  

Is this story not amazing?!  Thank you, Mr. Wiltshire, for giving me a much needed dose of amazement on this otherwise dull Tuesday morning.

Read the full Reuters article here.

[Originally featured on A Cup of Jo]

Happy Valentine's Day!

I rotate clinical sites every month and some locations are up to an hour away from my home in Winston-Salem.  I've started listening to NPR during my morning commute*, so I just about died when I saw these NPR inspired Valentines. The jokes are a little "inside", but super clever if your a fan of NPR programming!

All 8 offerings can be found here. 

* Holy Mary Mother of God, I'm turning into my father...

[Via]

Heart Art

Thank you, health care profession, for giving me a creepy love of anatomy-based art.

[via]

Addendum

Please add...

These suckers to my post regarding amazing calling cards:

Liv to my list of girl crushes:

(This photo is perfection)

This commercial to my post on advertisements:

These helmet, this basket and - dare I say - this horsey, to my list of biking "needs":

 

The following videos to my post on animals:

Dolphins are incredibly smart animals, so the fact that they devised this trick on their own and taught it to their fellow dolphins is no surprise.  Unfortunately, they're probably doing this because they are being held in captivity and are thus incredibly bored.  Can you tell that I've viewed (and loved) 'The Cove'?

This to my list of awesome online magazine offerings:

(Plus, Dominophiles should click here for some great news!)

 
[Business cards spotted on Black*Eiffel]
[Liv Tyler photo from La Vie Boston]
[Commercial from I Suwannee] 
[Rainbow bike helmet from Nutcase]
[Black bike helmet from Bern] 
[Bike basket from Bent Basket] 
[Horsey from Sub-Studio]
[Sweet Paul Magazine found here]

Finally, a reason to NOT wash your car...

Automobile art.

By Calligrapher Alison Carmichael

By Austin, Texas artist Scott Wade

Bring on the road salt!

[Alison Carmichael found via Oh Joy]
[Scott Wade found via Brain]

Calling Cards

The only - I repeat, only - thing that the business world's got on that of nurse anesthesia?  business cards.  I miss owning business cards.

If I had these business cards, I'd probably still be hating my life every Monday-through-Friday as a retail buyer instead of learning and performing kick-ass feats in the OR on a daily basis.  Owning these cards would have led me to make some very poor life decisions, and that role is already being expertly filled by alcohol.  In the words of my wine stash (and Forest Gump's elementary school classmates): "Seat's taken!"

[Business cards spotted on Oh Happy Day]

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

I'm loving these World Cup themed posters created by a South African design collective.  Call me biased, but I think the poster featuring the United States blows all the other ones away.  Dark, moody colors and hot boys in soccer gear?  Yes, please!

To see all of the posters in the collection (and trust me, you DO want to see them all), click here.  In the meantime, let's all cheer for the US team as they face Algeria for their final match in the Group Stage!

[Via Looks Good To Me]

Goodbye Gourmet

I came across these photos (more here) taken of Gourmet Magazine's office space as its former employees packed up their belongings and relegated what was once a bustling space overflowing with creativity,drive, and talent into nothing more than a corporate ghost town.

My former company, Hecht's Department Stores, was sold to Macy's in 2006 and this scene is all too familiar to me.  It is one of the few situations in which everyone in an organization - no matter what their position - is profoundly affected by a singular event in much the same way at the exact same time. Going through such a transition may be devastating or it may be exciting. But it is always a little bit frightening, and something that those affected will always remember.

Unfortunately, many industries are constantly plagued by the uncertainty of corporate buyouts and mass layoffs.  Many of my former coworkers at Hecht's, who relocated after accepting positions at one of Macy's buying offices, were laid off once again after their new employer consolidated its corporate locations.  Since witnessing the fall of many print giants - Domino, Modern Bride, Blender, and Teen magazines (among many others) -  last year, it's easy to see that the magazine and fashion industries have something in common.

Fortunately, you can still get your fashion and design fix... virtually, at least.  Below are two of my favorite online offerings.

Lonny Magazine

If this impeccably designed online shelter mag looks familiar, it's because it was launched by a former Domino Staffer and her photographer friend.  The "Neutral Palette" and "Into The West" spreads featured in the 3rd issue makes me sigh (in a good way) and the entire first issue is perfection.

ELIZA Magazine

Founded in 2007 by Ford model Summer Bellessa, this magazine is everything you'd expect it to be given its parentage.  Don't miss the "Jewel in the Rough", "Dance Fever!", and "Discover Austin, Texas" articles in the winter issue (issue 11).  I'm swooning.  Literally, I'm like up to my elbows in swoon.

[Gourmet Magazine scoop from Courtney at In(side) the Loop]

Share The Road

I'm going to have to start riding my bike more for three reasons:

1. Spring is finally here!
2. All of this studying is going straight to my thighs.

3. I need an excuse to purchase one (or all?) of these beauties:

Bertelli Biciclette Assemblate

 

 Schindelhauer Bike

 

Pilen Concept Bicycle

 

 

 

 

Velorbis Victoria Classic

 

(Check out the leather mud flap on that bad boy!)

Renovo Hardwood R2

 

 

"It smells of rich mahogany!"  Ron Burgundy would approve.

And, really, what's the point in purchasing a bike without grabbing a few accessories while your at it?  It'd be like playing golf, not for the cute outfits, but just to play golf.  Ugh.

YAKKAY Paris cover in Herringbone

LightLane mobile bike lane

[LightLane via A Cup of Jo]

I'm Sold

I majored in marketing in undergrad (among many, many other things, much to my bank account's chagrin) and, though I no longer apply that knowledge on a day to day basis, I still have a love for brilliant advertising campaigns. (Fun fact: Did you know that when Avis rent-a-car unveiled their new mantra "We Try Harder" in 1965, sales rocketed a staggering 28% over the following 9 months?)

What makes an advertisement (or as our British counterparts would say, "an advert") great? Well, if the answer were simple, Marketing would be the title of a single lecture as opposed to an entire major at colleges across the country. Every so often, however, a campaign comes along that is so brilliantly conceived and executed that its greatness is indisputable. Below are some of my favorites.

It is terribly difficult for a feature-length film - let alone a 60-second commercial - to permeate society and create lasting effects. This one did. I can't tell you how many of my grade school friends were reprimanded by their parents for answering the family telephone with the greeting "what's uuuuuuuuppppp!!" Classic.

I remember studying this commercial during my favorite undergraduate course at the University of Virginia titled "Campaigns". What makes it so brilliant is its universal appeal. I mean, who hasn't felt the whipping winds of an approaching semi, or thought twice about passing a large truck while traveling on a small road? Saab spoke to the profound and ubiquitous fear felt by drivers everywhere while capitalizing on their founders' background as fighter jet engineers to win our trust.




This print ad says it all without saying a thing.

This commercial, while probably not all that "brilliant", stole my heart and I just had to post it. I mean, come on, "wear the fox hat"?! That crap's funny.

I just ran across this commercial online the other day and it's actually the catalyst for this post. The world we live in is constantly filled with sensory input. We demand to be entertained every waking minute and require each image we see to be more shocking than. As a result, we have become desensitized to some of life's most intimate and moving situations. It is for this reason that I became enamored with the commercial above. Using only typed words, a basic melody, and expert editing, it somehow kept me captivated until the very end. To me, the brilliance of this campaign lies in it's simplicity - a rare feat when describing a potential solution to such a complex tragedy in today's "shock and awe" world.

[The girl Effect first seen on Amorous Musings]

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a... Stork?

For me, 2008 was "The Year of the Wedding". I'm not kidding, the number of wedding invites I received was in the double digits and I was the maid of honor for one (the wedding of this handsome couple) and a bridesmaid for another two. It was crazy town: great fun, but insane nonetheless.

This year is "The Year of the Baby". Not because I have a lot of pregnant friends, but because I have my first pregnant friend. I've known Kathleen since sophomore year in high school when, having recently moved to Illinois from Tampa, Florida, she and her gel-tipped nails sauntered into my Spanish class. Kat, or Maya, as she was known in 3rd period Spanish (my Spanish name was Clara, a moniker that my dad still likes to invoke when he's feeling especially Hispanic), is one of my two best friends in the world and she and her amazing husband, Mike, are expecting a baby girl this Spring. She created a blog to chronicle her and Mike's transition from being a couple to becoming a family and anyone who's ever met Kat would tell you that reading her stories is like listening to her tell them to you first hand. They are funny, heartfelt, honest, and very stream-of-consciousness. I love that when I read her updates I feel as though I'm right there with her even though I'm just sitting here, dressed in my moo moo and eating ice cream, a good 350 miles to the south.

I saw this birth announcement and thought of Kat. She has begun to refer to her growing baby as whatever inanimate object it resembles in size that week per her baby book. Thus far, it has gone by "little nailhead" and "kumquat" among others. I don't know when it was the size of a peanut and lord help us if it's this size at birth, but this card, by graphic designer Dana Córdova, seems fitting nonetheless.

[From The Lil Bee]

The Art of Anatomy

I just spent an absurd amount of money on used textbooks for my grad school classes. One of the books I purchased is titled "Atlas of Human Anatomy", and it is pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to be. Fortunately for me, I love studying the human body. (Insert "that's what she said" joke here.)

I'll never forget the excitement I felt during my first Anatomy & Physiology course. It was the Spring of 2005 and I was working full time as an underpaid corporate retail buyer, attending classes after work, and waiting tables on the weekends to earn money for nursing school. I felt stressed, under appreciated, and downright exhausted. But regardless of everything else that was going on in my life, I would arrive home at 10:00 pm every Tuesday and Thursday night literally bursting with energy - I was that excited about the material. That class led me to the realization that our bodies are sheer miracles. The fact that humans live for even a day, let alone decades upon decades, is absolutely astounding once you understand even a fraction of the processes that must take place for one to survive. During that time I remember saying to my mom, who also holds a bachelor's degree in nursing, that I used to look at deficits in the human body - be it birth defects, sickness, disease, or injury - as rare yet intriguing phenomena. Now I view health as a marvel. The human body and it's ability to maintain homeostasis in the face of an ever-changing environment is a miracle, one which I myself wouldn't believe possible if not for the world's 6.6 billion examples.

That being said, how wrong would it be to decorate my future child's room with the artwork of brilliantly talented artist Michael Paulus? Because I love it. And, once my future kid gets over the nightmares, I'm pretty positive that he/she will love it too.

Charlie Brown

Eggbert

Shmoo

Betty Boop

[Click on images for source information]
[Got from A Time To Get]