entertainment

ces 2007I’m off to Vegas for a spontaneous trip to CES. I’ll roam the miles of exhibits and bring back some insightful designverb like thoughts, but don’t expect everything as I’d just point you to Engadget or Gizmodo for all their crazy coverage as usual. If your at CES, let me know, and we can crusade the floors with style. Jetting off in a bit! Vegas whoohoooo!!

wired science tv series

If you love WIRED (I do) and got all geeky at WIREDs NextFest (I did) then you’ll crave their new TV series “WIRED Science” which aired yesterday on PBS. If ya missed it, watch it online (commercial-free) right here!(56 mins) I’d highly recommend checking out this pilot episode plus an extended interview with Elon Musk here.(I’ve had lunch with him at TED 😉 ) Afterwards, dig into their webpage for more information to get inspired. Hopefully this trial period lands them a seasons spot next year!(fingers crossed)

Here were the topics for the pilot:
Full Show
Meteorite Hunters (woa)
Finding Neemo (mysterious)
Exploded View: PlasmaTV
Stem Cells (inspirational)
Rocketeers (fun)
Elon Musk (smart dude)(extended video)
Extremophiles(very cool)

the alchemists

“If you watch one trailer this week – this is THE one to watch if you want to get your inspiration fix. Because after those few minutes i can’t wait for 2007, and i’m buzzing to shake things up with all my insane ideas. Brought to you by the One Club, The Alchemists is about 5 people who hated the world so much they changed yours.

Who’s involved? Lee Clow, who created the most-famous commercial in history by introducing Macintosh computers in 198; George Lois who single-handedly saved MTV from extinction with his trademark in-your-face celebrity campaign; Phyllis K. Robinson who helped define the entire “me generation” with her liberating spin on selling Clairol; Hal Riney who got President Reagan re-elected; and Dan Wieden who, inspired by the last words of executed murderer Gary Gilmore, came up with the little phrase “Just Do It
“and revolutionized advertising forever. Sports, fashion, music, politics, technology-our culture-was deeply affected by these alchemists.”

via NotCot

Neatorama links us to a great video of a street vendor in China creating sugar animal lollipops by hand. I’ve seen this many times in in person, but it still fascinates me to see it over an over again. This reminds me that if you can spark someones attention through the creation of your art it’ll make the buying and product experience more thrilling than just buying an end product like most objects are sold today.

musicovery

Musicovery.com allows you to create a play-list of songs based on the mood that your seeking by filtering music by genres and time, then selecting a mood within each category; dark, energique, positif, or calme. It’s somewhat like a streaming radio station that you have a bit off control over, but you can’t save, bookmark, or copy any names quickly. Otherwise, the visaul layout is compelling enough to play with for a bit and personally I grooved to the “Calm Funk” with a bit of “positif” stream that I am now listening to.

Other music aiding services I’ve looked into are: Yahoos LaunchCast (I use this, my station), pandora.com, and Blogmusik.net.
(thanks Danny)

ValleyWag just posted me a reminder about how GREAT Tony Robbins was during TED and they even posted 6 reasons why.

Mark Pincus mentions, “Tony Robbins is an impressive man and a real leader and I’m someone who previously thought he was a cheesy infomercial peddling guy in hawaiin shirts.” Well, guess what, I totally agree. I’ve seen him in infomercials, movies, and other cheesy media gigs, but after meeting this dude, I’m like no wonder he’s known…he’s awesome! So I decided to post his lecture he gave at TED.

I met him backstage right before he went up, watching him memorize his long presentation word for word to each slide (impressive) and met him as I walked by his table. He saw me walk by, stood up, introduced himself to me, stuck his hand out and said, “Hi, I’m Tony” in which my response was “Hi, I’m small” (dudes like 7 feet or something) Anyhow, this guy rocks! Watch Tony’s video here(includes the awesome Al Gore moment), or the rest of the mind-boggling and inspiring TEDtalks here.

ted global 2007 africaThe wonderous TED Conference ,which I have mentioned several times, just announced their line up of speakers for TEDGlobal2007 packed with the usual list of known and unknowns that are all shakers and movers in global initiatives, though with a focus on Africa this year. The conference will take place in Arusha, Tanzania next summer and I’m drooling to go, but who knows. Check out the exciting list of speakers and more about the conference on their blog or on their site.

derren brown

Does your environment persuade the way that you think, act, and create? Absolutely yes! Watch this video of mind control magician Derren Brown manipulate some advertising creatives in a little test. Believe the video or not, I’m a huge believer that everything affects who you are; what you eat, read, watch, listen to, and especially the people and environments that surround you. After watching the video, watch the other great videos, books, and observations then question how everything around you influences and creates who you are.

I’m constantly coming up with definitions for a designer, but I never thought I’d say a magician, but I’m adding this to the list since magicians are masters of human observations and directions. As a designer, we have to understand how people perceive products, graphics, materials, instructions, sounds, time, spaces, etc. We create stories to consumers, viewers, and observers. As designers we are psychologists of human behaviors, marketers, advertisers, creators of direction and communications, and a bit of everything else.

Dig deep into Derrens websites here and here and get inspired, educated, and entertained about the human mind and more about ourselves.

curious george jack johnson soundtrackI’ve had this incredible CD for about 3 months and I’m still lovin it! Jack Johnson just plain rocks in this soundtrack CD for the movie Curious George, which I actually watched on an airplane and really enjoyed…made ya smile!!! If your into some sweet acoustic tunes, great lyrics, drummin, poppin, happy times, go get this CD and rock it out in your car. Also great for sketching to with a twist of happy!

ndsvisuals

ndsvisuals is a system designed to loosen VJs from their stationary input devices, by equipping them with a wireless remote control – more precisely: a nintendoDS gaming console by using all the features the nintendoDS provides (such as two screens, a touchscreen, wireless networking, …) it enables VJs to control their visual performance from wherever they have a WLAN-connection to their notebook. ”

This project reminds me how technology has unleashed jobs from confined spaces and allowed anyone to work from almost anywhere, be it underground, out in the park, on a subway, on an airplane, at a cafe, or sitting right next to YOU. I’ve been in so many situations where the person sitting next to me turned out to be someone I read about but I never knew what they looked like…so, just as a reminder, don’t be shy in public spaces, stay curious, be nice, and next time that stranger next to you just might be someone that amazes you.

(Playing Will Wright in ping pong during PopTech at a bar was great, but I really wish I knew it was him before I played him!..fun times!)