January 2010
66 posts
6 tags
The Web, Print & Making Money →
How telling (and the last line is both hilarious & true):
I’ve been thinking about how to make money from online content since I launched Fray in 1996. Really, I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve sat up, obsessed with it. It’s been my white whale. And here’s what I’ve come up with: a little bit of advertising works, so long as it’s classy, and sell some paper if you can. But any plan that...
3 tags
Shannon Nicole Smith →
Shannon’s photography is simply inspirational. The tones are one thing, but the old school books & the radiance of her subjects is something else entirely.
4 tags
Old Tech →
Vibrant, simple & oh-so old school. And I still crave a film SLR myself (but not a Canon, of course).
2 tags
With Motion →
Fantastic color, tones & motion here.
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Keeping Cool →
Keep cool indeed, Conan.
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Australia Day & Copyright Infringement →
Google’s home page features an Australian themed logo today in order to celebrate Australia Day — except that the logo itself (designed by an eleven-year-old) is missing the Aboriginal flag, due to a copyright issue. If that isn’t inane, then what is?
3 tags
On Australian Accents →
The comedian Adam Hills at his finest.
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On Fried Rice →
Straightforward & minimalist — perfect:
Perhaps not surprisingly — this is a chef’s recipe, after all — the process requires separate cooking processes: ginger and garlic are crisped, leeks softened, rice and eggs fried. But no step takes more than a couple of minutes, and the recipe is absolutely worth the effort.
3 tags
Closing Time →
Sometimes the simplest shots work best — and in this, the tones, composition and lines just work.
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The Swiss: Now Underground →
Love the concrete walls & the interior — it’s just so very industrial and… pragmatic.
1 tag
Brilliance →
“Your brilliance makes me bite my tongue.”
— anonymous
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On Pay-walls →
At least the reporting is still balanced, even when commenting on themselves. I can’t say I agree with the concept — pay-walls are archaic, and rarely work outside of very specialised publications (eg. the WSJ) — but mostly because I’m a regular visitor of The Times and having to pay for good news and see advertisements just seems so asinine.
Even so, I’m interested to see how...
4 tags
Design-by-Commission →
On designers & architects who — with the job market in the US as dire as it is — are reinventing the way they promote themselves:
In 2008, Mr. Morefield lost his job — twice — and thought he could ride out the recession doing design work for friends and family, but when those jobs dried up, he set up his stand. As someone in his 20s without many contacts or an extensive portfolio, he thought...
2 tags
The Secret History of Typography →
Specifically, the secrets contained in the Oxford English Dictionary:
Browsing the OED is a tantalizing experience because it provides windows into so many obscure corners of history. But since the citations are small and fragmentary, they invite the imagination to fill in the blank spaces. Take this 1688 quote for bake: “when Letters stick together in distributing… This is called the Letter is...
4 tags
Trams and Trams →
The entire set is spectacular. Please excuse me if I end up linking to it several times over the next week.
3 tags
300&65 →
Now this is delicious — three-hundred & sixty-five days of ampersands. I hope it doesn’t fall by the wayside.
3 tags
A Story I Once Wrote →
It is only one part of many, but it was the most recent part before I stopped writing it.
There was one boy who was particularly cruel – a half-caste, who always chastised her and hit her. Even the others would shy away from the things he did. There was real malice behind his words, and real joy from inflicting pain on her. She touched at the spot on her head, a small scar, where he had thrown a...
3 tags
Luxuries →
Overly luxurious? Sure. Bound to be unhealthy? Yep. Do I want one right now? Definitely.
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Prayer Flags →
The concept I will leave to those who wish to see into it, but the execution? Fantastic.
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Lucky Dogs →
Call me crazy, but this picture makes me hungry. Oh, and I adore the tones and noise in this — just maybe (slightly) do I want a 5D Mark II.
5 tags
911 Around Australia →
When I first read this, it just re-ignited my desire to cross Australia myself — a little differently maybe (with two-wheels instead of 911), and I really believe it’s a rite-of-passage for Australians who love to travel. I’ve spent much of the last six months travelling back-and-forth between Australia & Malaysia, and yet I’ve barely explored my own back-yard.
In the sandy...
2 tags
Tumblr vs. Posterous →
Having not looked at Posterous much before, it’s hard to make judgement on it — but I think this sums it up best:
The answer is as easy as it is counter-intuitive: Tumblr is a New York company and Posterous is a Silicon Valley company.
Or, to put it another way: Posterous is an engineered product, while Tumblr is a designed product.
Posterous is extremely well engineered. There’s...
3 tags
More Frames →
Okay, I’ll admit it: I have a soft spot for wallpaper. But I think this would be close to my favorite. I’m thinking of doing a similar thing for my own room, but we’ll see how that turns out.
4 tags
Silent Frames →
Such an excellent use of black & white — the tones are spot-on, and the frames on the wall ooze antiquity.
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Expired Cities →
Expired film still has its’ uses, clearly.
3 tags
Street Light →
I love the eerie glow from between the buildings, the texture on the sidewalk and the markings on the asphalt.
4 tags
Sunsets in the Outback →
Sometimes, the photographer says it best:
there’s something special about a sunset in the outback the land heaves a quiet sigh of relief that the day is over the darkness creeps over like a comforting blanket it’s never truly dark when you have so many stars.
3 tags
Winter Mornings →
Adore this — the lighting as it streams through the window has been captured so well.
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Conan Trashes NBC Execs →
The skit outside NBC’s offices is the best part, but the way Conan just trashes NBC throughout his entire monologue is worth applause.
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Forests of Blue →
Oh my. How fantastic is that bokeh?
5 tags
Custom CBX →
This is just ‘wow’ — adore the attention to detail. Radial brakes & forks from a ZX-10, yellow plug leads and a dark alloy finish on the headers & block — but the heat-wrapped headers really complete the look.
4 tags
First Person Tetris →
Just wait until you rotate your pieces — it still does my head in and I’ve been playing for the last fifteen minutes straight.
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One-Handed →
Some astonishingly brave pictures of riders through Yellowstone Park and other US locales — brave because they’re taken with DSLR in one hand, and throttle tube in the other.
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The Girl Who Conned The Ivy League →
Fantastic reporting by The Rolling Stone here, about ‘Esther Reed’ — a woman who stole identities and became those people.
Thus began an 18-month federal manhunt unusual in its scope and intensity. Investigators had never encountered anyone like this mysterious young woman, whom they discovered was not Brooke Henson at all but an imposter named Esther Reed: a criminal with an MO radically...
2 tags
Completionist →
I really, really like the lighting in this. The highlights on her hair, and the contrast on her neckline. But the fact that’s she’s just so very pretty completes it. (via Lightboner)
3 tags
Frame-By-Frame →
I just bought this fantastic cookbook today for AUD$30 at Boffins (a technical & specialist bookstore here in Perth).
I have to admit though, my purchasing decision was swayed not so much by the recipes within, but more by the fantastic photography. Each recipe has a number of photos, step-by-step, of the process all the way through to the complete dish.
Highly recommended — and yes, the...
2 tags
Weather-Related Small Talk →
Another fantastic set of images from Christoph Niemann — this time about the weather. Love the reference to weather related small talk.
All year: Severe threat of conversational drought, if it wasn’t for weather-related small talk.
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Dakar 2010 →
The sense of scale in this shot is just spectacular. I think you’d have to be just a little crazy to attempt that escarpment, too.
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The Third & The Seventh →
It’s hard to believe this is only CG. Just wow.
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Rooms Vacant →
Via Flickr:
There are a lot of old googie signs and buildings along old Route 66, but the Roy’s Motel sign in the ghost town of Amboy, California is one of the most famous. It’s big, it’s brash, it’s old, and it’s lonely. The motel is empty and mouldering, but the cafe has been restored and is gleaming and shiny in chromed 1950’s glory. Rumor has it that plans...
2 tags
Depth-of-Field →
Love the effect.
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vi.sualize.us →
Just a quick one, but I’ve been stuck browsing this site all day. Similar to weheartit or ffffound. So many fantastic photographs.
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Winding Roads →
Scratches and tones and texture — oh my. Fantastic stuff, and the rest of the set is brilliant too.
5 tags
Abu Dhabi →
And to think I’ll be there in month — can’t wait.
2 tags
Mumford & Sons →
Lovely, lovely, stuff — Mumford & Sons have been on repeat for me all week. “Little Lion Man” is (of course) my favorite, but that’s less to do with the fact that it’s been all over the radio and more to do with the message the song possesses.
The title song — “Sigh No More” — is the dark horse of the album, though.
4 tags
Jonny Craig (iTunes Link) →
A solo project from the used-to-be lead singer of Dance Gavin Dance. My favorite so far would have to be “No Matter How Hard I Dig They Always See Right Through Me” for its’ eerie introduction, though “Taking Time For All the Wrong Things” comes close.
3 tags
A NYC Affair →
If you haven’t noticed already, I have a bit of a thing for New York City. We’re a bit on-and-off but I’m planning to catch up with her in 2011.
3 tags
Crane Porn →
I don’t know why, but I love this. I think it’s the minimalism (it’s my vice). Shot with a Lomo.
4 tags
Transfagarasan (say that three times quickly) →
Incredible — really. I would move mountains for the chance to ride on this road.
3 tags
Pages Upon Pages →
Another one from Page Traeger (I couldn’t help but link just one more) — her composition is a stand-out, but the post-processing is just wonderful. Really inspiring stuff.