Besotted by Wednesdays 22-02-2012

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

I can’t be the only that doesn’t read the newspaper or watch the news on TV because I’m sick of hearing about all the dreadful things. I know that things happen in life, but that doesn’t mean I want to give energy to the bad things. I’d rather focus on the good and wonderful things that happen. Along comes ‘The Optimist’ to present you with news the way I think it should be.

There are times when I’m feeling very nostalgic and I think about things I used to see on TV when I was growing up. The old Cadbury Flake ad with the woman in the boat. Watching My Secret Valley. Being introduced to the Fourth Doctor. YouTube helps a lot, but what if you’re not looking for anything specific, just something from a certain year? Enter, the YouTube Time Machine.

Got a painting project coming up but need help with your inspiration? Colortopia can sort you out. You can upload a photo of your inspiration, or answer a few questions to get colour suggestions.

I love my books. I love reading them several times over. Imagine my shock when I learnt that there are people who only read a book once (‘I’ve already read it, why do I need to read it again?’) or worse, don’t even buy books? They just use the library! Not saying that there’s anything wrong with the library, but to not buy books at all? Well, apparently they’re missing out on some health benefits from only reading a book once.

Warwick Davis has done some amazing work. I first saw him in Willow and I was excited to be able to show him to my daughter when we did the Harry Potter movies. He put out an invitation on his Twitter account to ask him anything and he will answer it. His answers show us his wonderful sense of humour.

Trompe-L’oeil pictures trick us into seeing something that isn’t real. Usually on walls that show us a room, or open area that couldn’t possibly be there but looks so real or mind has trouble believing it’s just a flat area. Couture Deco have these amazing Trompe L’oeil door stickers. So many to choose from, it’s almost hard to decide...

Most people love Superheroes. Generally they have a favourite as well. They help dish out justice in whatever way they can and the town/city/village can feel safe again. They seem immutable. Always going to be there, always going to be the bad guy, always going to help us. Always is a long time though and people age. Even if they have superpowers. A gallery on Behance shows us what it might be like when that day comes.

Besotted by Wednesdays 15-02-2012

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

With tech trends changing so fast, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with them all. GeekSugar have put together a slideshow of what the best trends were for 2011.

Who doesn’t love playing Fruit ninja? Well, this won’t interest you then. For the rest that love testing their reflexes on random pieces of fruit, you can now buy Fruit Ninja plushies! Great for testing your abilities in your lounge room.

I came across the most wonderful sketch pad. It’s browser sketch pad so you can draft up your webpages! One of the best ideas ever in my book. There’s even a stencil you can buy to use on the sketch pad.

Do you ever think much about the future? What’s going to happen, how things are going to change. Well Michael realised that we only need to look to movies to see what’s supposed to be happening.

NY’s School of Visual Arts students come up with some amazing work and for those that are interested in seeing what’s they’re producing, they’ve created a free online magazine for us to flip through.

I love a broad range of music. On my MP3 player, you can find Aaliyah next to ZZ Top. Britney singing about ‘til the world ends’ right after Metallica tell me ‘blackened is the end’. It’s not just the mainstream songs that I listen to, you’ll also find parodies and wizrock. And now I’ve found another genre to listen to. GeeksAreSexy introduce us to bands who use or base their music on video games.

A simple reminder, that reading is not such a bad thing after all. Whatever format you may choose.