Life In Plastic: The Night Parade Part 2: Bottle Caps (Kaiyodo) | Nerditis. Hello! It’s been a little while since I last wrote about toys based on Hyakki Yagyo, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, but I’ve got a treat for you this time! In the last posting, I mentioned how Kaiyoo released a set of “bottle cap” figures – small figures on a base meant to rest over the top of a soda bottle. Well, it has taken me years (11 by my count), but I’ve managed to cobble together almost a full set!
Bottle cap figures are a thing that exist – Final Fantasy has a ton, too. They’re kind of silly, and you shouldn’t really use them to open a bottle, but hey. There they are. Again, I want to remind you of what Tsukumogami are – Japan’s Shinto tradition has its roots in animistic beliefs, and the concept that “everything has a soul” is not weird or strange. The figures in this line aren’t just meant to represent the Night Parade – you’re supposed to display them as such! Chirizuka Kaioh Chirizuka Kaioh is an Oni.
King Enma Oboroguruma Hikigaeru and Inugami Hikigaeru is a toad. Leonard Cohen on Creativity, Hard Work, and Why You Should Never Quit Before You Know What It Is You’re Quitting. By Maria Popova “The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.” Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist Leonard Cohen (b. September 21, 1934) is among the most exhilarating creative spirits of the past century. Recipient of the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and countless other accolades, and an ordained Rinzai Buddhist monk, his music has extended popular song into the realm of poetry, even philosophy. By the time Bob Dylan rose to fame, Cohen already had several volumes of poetry and two novels under his belt, including the critically acclaimed Beautiful Losers, which famously led Allen Ginsberg to remark that “Dylan blew everybody’s mind, except Leonard’s.”
Once he turned to songwriting in the late 1960s, the world of music was forever changed. There are always meaningful songs for somebody. I’m writing all the time. He later adds: It has a certain nourishment. [A song] begins with an appetite to discover my self-respect. R. Crumb Illustrates Philip K. Dick’s Hallucinatory Spiritual Experience. By Maria Popova “There is nothing worse… no punishment greater than to have known God and no longer to know him.” In 1981, counterculture creative icon R. Crumb — who revolutionized album covers by bringing comics to music in the 1960s and 1970s — created the magazine Weirdo, a comics anthology conceived as the lowbrow response to Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly’s intellectual-skewing Raw magazine, which had launched the previous year. Even so, Crumb, who would later illustrate Bukowski and adapt Sartre in a comic, couldn’t escape the appeal of the literary.
In Weirdo #17, published in 1986 and eventually included in the altogether fantastic anthology The Weirdo Years by R. Crumb: 1981–’93 (public library), Crumb illustrated sci-fi legend Philip K. The comic, as well as many more of Crumb’s Weirdo gems, can be found in The Weirdo Years by R. Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Anna Deavere Smith on Discipline and How We Can Learn to Stop Letting Others Define Us. By Maria Popova “What you are will show, ultimately. Start now, every day, becoming, in your actions, your regular actions, what you would like to become in the bigger scheme of things.” “Discipline,” the late and great Massimo Vignelli wrote, “is the attitude that helps us discern right from wrong… Discipline is what makes us responsible toward ourselves [and] toward the society in which we live.” It’s a dimensional definition that touches, ever so gently, on the second meaning of discipline — not merely the act of showing up or the quality of “grit” that psychologists tell us is the greatest predictor of success, but the unflinching commitment to ourselves, to our own sense of merit and morality, to our own ideals and integrity.
It’s a commitment doubly important yet doubly challenging for those in creative fields, where subjectivity is the norm and external validation the ever-haunting ghoul. Smith writes: Discipline — both mental and physical — is crucial. Be more than ready. Picasso on Success and Why You Should Never Compromise in Your Art. By Maria Popova “One must have the courage of one’s vocation and the courage to make a living from one’s vocation.” “Imagine immensities. Pick yourself up from rejection and plow ahead. Don’t compromise,” Debbie Millman advised in her magnificent meditation on what it takes to design a good life. In 1932, the famed Hungarian photographer Brassaï, nicknamed by Henry Miller “the eye of Paris,” was asked to photograph Picasso’s sculptures, which at the time were practically unknown, for the first issue of the pioneering surrealist art review Minotaure, edited by André Breton.
But when Brassaï arrived at 23 rue La Boétie and entered Picasso’s studio, he quickly realized that beyond his modest photographic assignment lay a much greater reward — an invitation into Picasso’s private world and the gift of intimate perspective into his singular mind. Picasso by Brassaï One of these conversations took place on May 3, 1944. Well, success is an important thing! Don’t price them too high. Charles Bukowski on the Ideal Conditions and Myths of Creativity, Illustrated. Behind the back - 2d Fire FX. Neil Gaiman on Why Scary Stories Appeal to Us, the Art of Fear in Children’s Books, and the Most Terrifying Ghosts Haunting Society. Download 50 Beautiful High Resolution Patterns for Photoshop. A 5-Step Technique for Producing Ideas circa 1939.
Scott Belsky on How to Avoid Idea Plateaus. Street Fighter: The Movie — What went wrong. The flight to Thailand was long. Stephen de Souza wished it were longer. Over the previous decade, from 1982 to 1992, de Souza had established himself as a screenwriting wunderkind. Most screenwriters can't land one blockbuster; he had a baker's dozen to his name, including Commando, The Running Man, 48 Hours, Another 48 Hours and Die Hard 1 and 2.
As a bona fide hit-maker, the writer had amassed enough creative capital to do what so many successful screenwriters aspired to before him: become a director. But in Hollywood, nothing comes easy for everybody. Months before the flight, the snub-nosed and thick-spectacled fortysomething signed his first director's contract. De Souza hadn't cast the female lead. The role couldn't be played by just any woman. You get one shot at being a big-budget, Hollywood director. De Souza flipped through the airline's gratis magazine and glanced at his watch. Who you know Plus de Souza's kids loved playing Street Fighter 2 in the Los Angeles arcades. Stunted. Codex Seraphinianus: History’s Most Bizarre and Beautiful Encyclopedia, Brought Back to Life.
By Maria Popova “You see what you want to see. You might think it’s speaking to you, but it’s just your imagination.” In 1976, Italian artist, architect, and designer Luigi Serafini, only 27 at the time, set out to create an elaborate encyclopedia of imaginary objects and creatures that fell somewhere between Edward Gorey’s cryptic alphabets, Albertus Seba’s cabinet of curiosities, the book of surrealist games, and Alice in Wonderland. What’s more, it wasn’t written in any ordinary language but in an unintelligible alphabet that appeared to be a conlang — an undertaking so complex it constitutes one of the highest feats of cryptography.
Now, for the first time in more than thirty years, Codex Seraphinianus (public library) is resurrected in a lavish new edition by Rizzoli — who have a penchant for excavating forgotten gems — featuring a new chapter by Serafini, now in his 60s, and a gorgeous signed print with each deluxe tome. Thanks, Willy Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr. The Surrealist Chart of Erotic Hand Signaling. By Maria Popova “You think no one understands / Listen to my hands” In the early 1920s, Surrealism emerged as a new cultural rhetoric and aesthetic rooted in using the element of surprise to open up new frontiers of the imagination, blending the playful with the philosophical. A Book of Surrealist Games (public library), originally published in 1991, is part activity book for grown-ups, part essential art history, featuring word and image games that the surrealists — including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso (to a degree), Max Ernst, and André Breton — developed to create their written and graphical art.
Among them is this (very not safe for work, but then again so was the entire decade) erotic hand signaling chart, a naughty adaptation of the standard American Sign Language manual alphabet: First person to adapt this into an animated GIF gets a piece of candy. UPDATE: Reader Jamal Qutub did the honors: Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Advice to Sink in Slowly: Designers Share Wisdom with First-Year Students in Poster Series.
By Maria Popova Unpacking the secrets of happiness and creativity one poster at a time. What better way to kick off the new year than with words of wisdom from those who have threaded before us? That’s precisely the premise of advice to sink in slowly, a wonderful project enlisting design graduates in passing on advice and inspiration to first-year students through an ongoing series of posters — part Live Now, part Everything Is Going To Be OK, part Wisdom, part something completely refreshing, based on the idea that we all have subjective wisdom we wish we’d known earlier, but often don’t get a chance to pass it on to those who can benefit from it in a way that makes them pay heed. Advice is subjective. 'to create ideas is a gift, but to choose wisely is a skill' by Ryan Morgan 'Do what you love' by Andy J. 'Take Time' by Temujin Doran 'Use your library…you'll miss it when you leave' by Rebecca Cobb 'Ignore both of them' by Eleni Kalorkoti 'Go and look outside' by Robert Evans 'Be free!
' Justin Gignac on Idea Envy and Embracing Imperfection. What Is Creativity? Cultural Icons on What Ideation Is and How It Works. Stay Tuned: Behind the Skull of Geoff Peterson, the Wackiest Sidekick in Late Night. Due to a change in my employment status, I have been able to stay up late. I shouldn’t but I do… And the number one reason why is my addiction to “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” If you’ve never watched, do yourself a favor and tape it sometime. The show is fresher than anything else in late night—and funnier too. Helping to create that fresh vibe is Ferguson’s sidekick, the robot skeleton known as Geoff Peterson. Geoff has a voice and his name is Josh Robert Thompson.
Read on to discover the evolution of Geoff, what Thompson does during the show and where else you can hear Thompson… How did you get involved with “The Late Late Show” and how was Geoff Peterson born? Good question. I’m an impressionist. But Craig did name Geoff Peterson and the truth is that Craig did the voice of Geoff Peterson for the very first week that Geoff was on the show. Ironically the robot was put there to make a statement about the show not being able to afford a real co-host. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. Custom Transfers, Rub on Transfers, Rubons, Dry Transfers, Packaging Comps, Appearance Models, Rubdowns, Chromatecs, INTs. Django Reinhardt Metal Print By Logan Cole. Sell on Facebook With a few simple clicks, you can add a full-featured FAA shopping cart directly to your personal page and/or fan page.
Your Facebook friends and fans can then browse through your entire portfolio without ever leaving Facebook! Create Your Own Product Catalog Have you ever been at an art fair and wished that you could hand an ordering catalog to a prospective buyer? Something that shows all of your available artwork, sizes, prices, and ordering information... now you can!
License Your Artwork on TV Have you ever wanted to license your artwork for use on television? Now you can! Fine Art America has been selected to provide artwork for ABC's television series, Desperate Housewives, as part of a pilot program that's going to revolutionize the way that artwork is licensed for use on television. Create and Send Graphical E-Mails Create HTML e-mails in seconds, send the e-mails to everyone on your e-mail list, and then track to see who opens the e-mails! Create Your Own Website. These Incredible Animated GIFs Are More Than 150 Years Old | Wired Design. In the 19th century, artists relied on optical tools, things like zoetropes, phenakistoscopes, thaumatropes and other gadgets with very strange names, to bring their illustrations to life. Image: Richard Balzer/Brian Duffy Richard Balzer and Brian Duffy have been digitizing Balzer's collection of phenakistoscope and zoetrope illustrations and turning them into GIFs.
Image: Richard Balzer/Brian Duffy The phenakistoscope, a device that was invented by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau, was first created for scientific studies. Image: Richard Balzer/Brian Duffy The device uses a round disc with 16 frames. Users would spin the disc while looking in the mirror and the slits would act as a shutter, essentially turning the static illustrations into an animation. A zoetrope. In the 19th century, artists relied on optical tools, things like zoetropes, phenakistoscopes, thaumatropes and other gadgets with very strange names, to bring their illustrations to life. Animated zoetrope illustration. Ten Lessons From a Maker by David Hieatt, Hiut Denim Co. | The Holborn.
David Hieatt is the Founder of Hiut Denim Co, a premium Denim label based in Cardigan, North Wales. Cardigan was home to the largest surviving jeans factory in Britain. Four hundred employees used to make 35,000 pairs of jeans a week over three decades of production. Then one day, due to an outsourcing of the manufacturing to Morocco, the factory inevitably closed. But all that skill and know how remained in the workers, without any way of showing the world what they could do. That is when David started Hiut Denim with his wife Claire as part of an effort to bring British Denim manufacturing back home, utilising the skills that were on his doorstep. And to breathe new life into the town. The results have been a reinvigorated workforce working with some of the best materials, (customers can choose from 12oz Turkish organic, or 14oz selvedge from Japan’s esteemed Kuroki Denim mill) producing some of the finest jeans in Britain.
Ten Lessons from a Maker I) No one knows you exist. Be narrow. Why Can’t I Finish? They can only hide it from me for so long: Sometimes it takes a day, a week, or maybe a month—but eventually it comes out. The Fear of Finishing. As a time management life coach, I’ve found that many of my clients have a dread of finishing that they keep hidden away—hoping that no one will ever notice that they get a lot of little things done while never quite completing the really important stuff.Whether it’s due to a rabid perfectionism, an aversion to criticism, or just an inability to maintain enthusiasm for the long haul, we all have challenges and fears we must overcome to produce work that matters.
But pretending they don’t exist won’t get us anywhere. Here’s a guide to diagnosing and treating what I’ve found to be four of the most common barriers to completion: 1. The mental battle: When you’re convinced that “settling” for anything less than a perfect-quality product is unacceptable, you tend to unconsciously lower your standards in many other areas. 2. 3. 4. How About You? Photos of Unrelated People Who Look Exactly Alike.
Paint Problems and Solutions_Brochure.pdf. OUTDOOR Polymer. Introduction to Code Packs + Exercises (Coming Dec 2013) For 8 months outside of school I’ve been developing and testing a couple of alternative approaches to help people jump start their videogame development experience. I modeled these approaches after what worked for me when starting out. I’ve also adapted and updated these practices to reflect lessons learned from working locally with dozens of beginning developers over the past 7 years. Over the summer I began working out a way to encapsulate that same material to reach more people. Here’s what I’ve come up with: In summary: These will be released December 2013 – next month! Code Pack #1: Example starter code for 5 games inspired by classics – 2 from 1970′s arcade-style games, 2 from 1980′s console-style design, and 1 as a starting point on an early 1990′s PC-game genre.Code Pack #2: Example code for an 1970′s arcade-style game, split up into a series of illustrative phases of development.
Clicking the above image will open a signupanywhere.com page. More soon! Intro to Programming (Lab Videos)
Design.