Inspired by Federico Fellini's brilliant 8 1/2, Rob Marshall directs Nine, a film musical following the life of director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he suffers from a mid-life crisis that is stifling his creativity and leading him into a variety of complicated romantic involvements. Also staring Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz, the film looks to be this year's Moulin Rouge... I am so down.

Tyler 'Littlejohn' Johnson and Flavia Sanches of Nomadink Studio, did a research project about Asian design, spending 2 months in China and Thailand, then presenting it to 5,000 designers at TMDG in Argentina. Check it.

Via Swissmiss.

I Miss My Pencil: A Design Exploration takes a voyeuristic view of the creative process by looking at 12 design experiments conceived by designers at IDEO. IDEO design director Martin Bone and IDEO materials expert Kara Johnson put together this 240-page tome to explore what it is that inspires designers to design. Check it.

Via Curated.

Oddly enough it seems now that I've graduated, I have even less free time on my hands.

To the five of you who read this, I will return to updating this thing shortly.

Ever since 2005's Alive in Joburg, I've been a huge fan of Neill Blomkamp's work. From Tempbot to the Halo 3 shorts, the naturalistic way that Neill integrates visual effects never ceases to amaze. District 9 will be his first big-budget Hollywood production (if you don't count the recently shafted Halo film) and if the trailer is of any indication, it's bound to be this summer's sleeper hit. Let's just hope it doesn't get lost amidst this year's big dumb sci-fi drivel.

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Photographer Jason Hawkes returns to The Big Picture once more having captured stunning aerial shots of global landscapes, many of which have somehow been affected by humans. View all 26 photographs here.

Artist Yoriko Yoshida recently crafted these fabulous surgical masks and not a moment too soon. If we're all going to die at the hand of swine flu, we might as well look good doing so. View the entire set here.

Via Computerlove

A quirky animation short by illustrator-duo Overture Image, set to the instrumental track 'Freibad' by Hauschka. This is the final part of Overture's Bryum & Kapok Trilogy; watch the previous two here.

Great concept by whoever it is that runs this site. After an airport auctions off unclaimed luggage, the owner of the site purchases these bags, snaps shots of everything in the bag and then posts the pictures on this site, in hopes they may connect the missing luggage (sexy nurse outfit included) with its rightful owner. Check it.

Via Josh Spear.

Gorgeous work by Saatchi & Saatchi for B&B Italia. View the entire campaign here.

An insane user-submitted addition to Sagmeister's "Thing's I Have Learned In My Life So Far" project. "Don't Judge People By Their Appearances" is an organic typography project by designer Peter Chmela; head on to Sagmeister's site for the rest of the set... Also, am I the only one who finds that hair follicle image a little unsettling?

Via SwissMiss.

Stunning animation work by David Wilson on this video for Moray McLaren's "We Got Time". What's amazing is the fact that this was done entirely in-camera, with almost no visual post-production involved. Props to Wilson and Blinkink for making this happen. Check it.

Hedi Slimane shoots the Coachella Music Festival. More at Hedi Slimane's photo diary.

News stories about North Korea have been quite frequent recently, with their test launch of a rocket over Japan, withdrawal from nuclear disarmament talks coupled with a threat to restart their nuclear program - and their recent arrest and indictment of two U.S. reporters on its border with China. Even with all this attention, photographs from North Korea are still restricted and hard to come by.

One way around that has been for photographers to peer inside from across the border. Collected at the Big Picture are some recent photographs, looking into reclusive North Korea from the outside - and some of the reactions these observations induce.

Via The Big Picture.

Illustrator James Jarvis recently collaborated with Nike on this wonderful short film titled "Onwards". The film features a Martin-esque character jogging through a surreal, psychedelic landscape inspired by Jarvis' own experiences in long distance running. Set to a wicked track by Caribou, the short is directed by James Jarvis and Shynola's Richard Kenworthy. Check it.

Sleek packaging for H&M Tights circa 1999 by Swedish studio BVD. Via SwissMiss.

Oki-Ni has recently launched their much-talked about Fashion Archive. The Archive brings back iconic pieces from earlier collections of select designers. For now, the spotlight is on Raf Simons, menswear's most quietly influential designer. I thought Oki-Ni did a great job of covering Simons' diverse portfolio, especially his earlier works. I would definitely recommend a view through for anyone who has only recently heard of the man. Check it.

Over the course of several months beginning October 2008 to April 2009 designer Rhett Dashwood has been spending his spare time searching Google Maps hoping to discover land formations or buildings resembling letter forms. This is what he came up with.

Via SwissMiss

Normally I'm adverse to the idea of fashion photographers taking on film (with the exceptions of Nick Knight and Sean Ellis) as most of their projects end up being a mess of incoherent imagery and sound being passed on as 'pseudo-art' at best. Anyway this one isn't that much better, but it does remind me a little of Blue Velvet and it features Amber Valletta doing something naughty so I guess that's good enough for me.

Juun J now available at Seven New York

Via COÛTE QUE COÛTE

One of the first images of the recently completed Prada Transformer art space in Seoul. The project consists of a temporary building masterminded by Rem Koolhuas that incorporates the four sides of a Tetetrahedron: a hexagon, a cross, a rectangle and a circle, and the whole thing is covered by a big stretchy elastic membrane. Over the course of the next few months the building will house a programme of exhibitions and cultural events, including Miuccia Prada’s Waist Down exhibition.

Via Selectism.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is now a nearly a year into its extended mission, called Cassini Equinox. The spacecraft continues to operate in good health, returning amazing images of Saturn, its ring system and moons, and providing new information and science on a regular basis. Collected at The Big Picture are 24 more breathtaking images from our ringed neighbor.

Via The Big Picture.

Moby's latest single 'Shot In The Back Of The Head' has a new video directed by David Lynch. The result (which features an animated Lynch) lies somewhere between Eraserhead and the crudely-drawn Dumbland series. The pair later sat down to discuss Moby's upcoming album 'Wait For Me', for which Lynch was quoted as an immense influence. Check it.

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PIXAR's next short film is titled Partly Cloudy and will be shown alongside Disney's Up. Partly Cloudy will be about where Storks go to get the babies they deliver. My parents always told me that place was China, but I guess PIXAR thinks otherwise.

Via Ain't It Cool.

Since graduating from Nihon Univeristy's College of Art in 2002, artist Takafumi Tsuchiya has been working on a number of these fantastic experimental vignettes. "With Rain" is one of my favorites (largely due to the wicked track by Caelum); be sure to hit up his website for more.

Swedish photographer Edvard Koinberg has created a visual counterpart to Carl Linnaeus’ 18th century work on plant sexuality with his new book Edvard Koinberg: Herbarium Amoris. Linnaeus worked with a collection of 20,000 plants and grouped them according to sexual organs, drawing parallels to human anatomy, a concept that formed the basis for Edvard's plant photography. The book is available now at TASCHEN.

Via Curated.

Earlier this week, Harvey Nichols released these charming "Food Celebrities" postcards. Featuring the likes of Cake Winslet, Banana Mouskouri, Wayne Pruney and Pea Diddy, the postcards were sold for £4.95 a pack in both a Boys and Girls version. If anyone has a set to spare, you know where to find me!

Via Creative Review

Star director Chris Cunningham has made his anticipated comeback with this gorgeous spot for Gucci's Flora fragrance. Featuring Abbey Lee Kershaw and Cunningham's own take on Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", the advert expands on Inez Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin's original print campaign and is a curious departure from his previous, more darker work. Check it.

Christian communities around the world are currently celebrating Holy Week - both the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Here, hooded penitents from the Fusionadas brotherhood take part in the procession in Malaga, Spain.

Via The Big Picture

Designer Jess Bachman created this amazing six-square-foot infographic titled "Death and Taxes" (click on the image above for a larger view). Bachman sought to organize the entire federal discretionary budget into a single, sprawling bubble diagram.

Via The Moment.

Providing an intimate portrait of Rick Owens in his own words and his own clothing, this filmic diptych, shot live during the action on set, explores Nick Knight's monograph of an American fashion legend.

In Triumph of the Sign, artist Jean Charles de Castelbajac presents a series of paintings that articulate his fascination with, broadly, the tensions and synergies between high art and consumer culture, and most specifically that defining element of contemporary visual culture - the brand logo.

In a process that mirrors the production of mass-consumer goods, Castelbajac commissioned painters in China to perfectly reproduce a series of Western masterpieces, from Bronzino to Manet, and another group to paint logos on the surfaces of the copied masterpieces. The resulting works ironically embrace a flattening of hierarchies, a breakdown of distinctions and an evacuation of content. The works, therefore, are themselves perfect signs of the present moment.

Triumph of the Sign is currently on exhibit at the Paradise Row Gallery.

Via COÛTE QUE COÛTE

The second poster of Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are and it looks a little more menacing than the last one.

Via Ain't it cool

This lavish book traces Valentino’s illustrious career through copious images from his archives, including drawings, magazine editorial shoots, advertisements, portraits, and documentary photographs. Presented chronologically, the visual material is accompanied by a vast array of newspaper and magazine articles about Valentino throughout the years. Combined, they provide an in-depth look at the man, his lifestyle, and his genius. Available now from TASCHEN.

Via Curated

Here's some fantastic use of data visualization in advertising. Slickly but not overly produced; the whole infographic movement has been around for quite some time now and yet this ad still manages to be refreshing and never gimmicky. Props to Superfad and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners for pulling this off. Check it.

Raf Simons’ ‘All Star’ style Astranaut Mix monochrome sneaker in top quality calf-skin leather with an extendable Velcro ankle strap. Available now at Oki-Ni (for a measly price of 900 cad).

Beginning March 22nd, 2009, Alaska's Mount Redoubt, began a series of volcanic eruptions, and continues to be active to this date. Ash clouds produced by Redoubt have pushed 65,000 feet into the sky, disrupting air traffic, drifting across Cook Inlet, and depositing layers of gritty ash on populated areas of the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, about 180 km to the northeast... Nature always does it best.

Via The Big Picture

Photographed by Hedi Slimane.

If illustration is your thing, then check out Brooklyn-based artist Sam Weber for some beautiful artwork.

Via BOOOOOOOM

Takeshi Murakami's Inochi-kun action figure will debut tomorrow at the KaiKai Kiki Gallery's Inochi exhibit. Prices start at 1500 USD per doll with only 200 of each produced worldwide. These things are too fucking creepy and even more so after watching them in motion... I so want one.

Via High Snobiety.

Here's a lovely short film by urban anthropologists Andy & Carolyn London who animated commonplace objects off the streets of New York using the voices of New Yorkers they had interviewed.

One of my favorite online shops, Oki-Ni, will soon offer its customers the opportunity to explore archived collections of select designers. Creative Director John Skelton reasons "we produced the archive because we wanted to and because we wanted to keep giving you more than just products to buy. We hope to offer a completely unique experience and this is one of the ways we’re trying to do that."

The first designer to be featured is Raf Simons. A selection of his pieces, including items from his initial mid 90’s collections, will be displayed online for public viewing.

Via Style Savage.

Afghan horsemen play Afghanistan's national sport Buzkashi in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 20, 2009. Buzkashi is the national sport of Afghanistan, which literally translated means "goat grabbing."

In Buzkashi, a headless carcass is placed in the center of a circle and surrounded by the players of two opposing teams. The object of the game is to get control of the carcass and bring it to the scoring area.

Via Big Picture

This is absolutely stunning. For his master thesis at Arts et Technologies de l’Image, Mathieu Gérard created “Steel Life,” a breathtaking tapestry of textures and light that evokes themes of genesis and rebirth. While there’s no obvious narrative, the film uses abstract realism—lovingly rendered imagery inspired by nature—to build an associative network of ideas.

The lush soundtrack, composed by Mathieu Alvado and performed by the Star Pop Orchestra, adds a dramatic arc to the film. Check it.

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The web presence for Miss Dior Cherie has finally launched and it comes in the form of an interactive pop-up book. The visuals here are fantastic and it captures Ms. Coppola's charming vision quite nicely, though Brigitte Bardot's "Moi Je Joue" can get a little tiring after the first thirty seconds... I recommend browsing this one with the sound turned off.

Via Adverblog.

Visionaire's latest issue presents intricate pop-ups by Sophie Calle, Andreas Gursky, Cai Guo-Quiang, Steven Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Alasdair McLellan, Steven Meisel, Guido Mocafico, Nicola Formichetti with Gareth Pugh, Solve Sundsbo, and Mario Testino.

Executed by renowned paper engineer Bruce Foster, the issue features moveable images, three-dimensional scenes, and surprise reveals, The Pop-up folios are housed in a dark purple cloth-covered case with a magnetized closure and engraved number metal plaque.

Designer Mario Hugo (Hugo & Marie), known for his shape-shifting approach to design and typography, recently worked with illustrator Carson Ellis on this gorgeous album & vinyl sleeve for The Decemberists' latest release.

Mediocre album or not, this will be one of the few album purchases I make based solely on the packaging.

The Selby Paris book is being produced for colette and will be released April 2009 at the opening of The Selby Paris show. It includes watercolor paintings and photographs of all the people that were photographed in Paris for the show, many of which have not been seen on The Selby website. This book is limited to 250 copies. The spines of each book are hand painted red white and blue. All the books are signed and numbered by The Selby.

Via Hypebeast.

Not to be outdone by a bunch of LED lit sheep from Wales, Honda and W+K Amsterdam put on their own grid-based light show with a new spot for the Insight... And if you were as impressed as I was, be sure to head over here for the "making of". Check it.

NEWWORK magazine is a large-format arts publication designed for connoisseurs of fresh ideas. Designed and published biannually by the Brooklyn design studio of the same name, each issue features new work from a wide range of artists and creators in the worlds of fine art, design, high fashion, culture, and politics.

Via h(y)r collective

Spike Jonze. Where The Wild Things Are. New Trailer... need I say more?

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Iraqi Kurds carry torches up a rocky hill as they celebrate Nowruz in the Kurdish town of Akra, 500km north of Baghdad on March 20, 2009. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21.

Via The Big Picture.

Apparently there is an upcoming animated series titled "Cat Shit One" (bound to be retitled in North America) featuring various cute furries duking it out Call of Duty style. Tack on some amazing production values to this brilliantly absurd premise and we've got a winner. Check it.

Paul Smith limited edition Yorick print tee. Available here (but not for long).

Thom Browne's debut print campaign photographed by Lauren Winslow. View the rest of the ads here.

Via Selectism.

The film 歲月 (The Days) from director Boi Kwong, tells the tale of Singapore’s rival street gangs as they clashed between the years of 1989 and 1990. Josef Lee/Mojo directed this insane titles sequence for the film, which condenses the entire narrative into a 2 minute Manhua-style animation. The title track is "My Freedom" composed by indie rock group Black Forest. Check it.

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After working with art-world luminaries Damien Hirst and Shepard Fairey, Levis turned to star graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister for their latest art-based collaboration. The result is this quirky window installation that debuted at L.A. retailer American Rag. Being a Sagmeister fan myself, it's great to see his unique brand of typography being put to good use here. Cheers to the Levis team for bringing us another tasteful collaboration.

Via Design Taxi.

Prada's curious Spring 2009 lookbook, produced and designed by the brand's go-to architect, Rem Koolhaas and his Rotterdam research firm, AMO. Exploring the collection's "domain of inspiration", the lookbook shows the clothes on some highfalutin mannequins—namely, Greco-Roman statues.

Via Men's Style.

On March 18, 2009 an undersea volcano erupted off the coast of Nuku'Alofa, Tonga, sending plumes of steam, ash and smoke up to 100 meters into the air. Dana Stephenson of Getty Images managed to capture this stunning shot of the eruption.

See the rest of the set over at The Big Picture.

I recently discovered the work of large-format photographer Edward Burtynsky through Jennifer Baichwal's documentary Manufactured Landscapes. Burtynsky's most famous photographs depict sweeping landscapes altered by industrial expansion. The grand, awe-inspiring beauty of these images is often in tension with the ravaged environments they portray, a point that Baichwal emphasizes in her documentary.

Burtynsky's most compelling work (in my opinion) is his visual documentation of China's ongoing Industrial Revolution, you can view the entire series here.

PUMA's ad for its new LIFT footwear line tells a charming tale of two underwear-clad lovers through the use of some light projection wizadry. Spectacular work here by MJZ and MassMarket. The featured song is "Underwear" by The Magnetic Fields. Check it.

Today the first poster of Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are has finally surfaced and boy does it look fantastic. Whoever designed this absolutely killed it; the tasteful cropping, Carol, the charming hand lettered type, and Max's expression... perfect.

Here's hoping that a trailer will soon follow!

Now here is a refreshing idea, re-skin Google Maps into a topographic view of your portfolio. Graphic designer Kalle Hagman did just that and the results are pretty rad. It'll probably look even better once he has enough pieces to really clutter the thing up. Check it.

Via Greg Washington.

Here's to catching up with old news. 1st Avenue Machine's alter ego Special Guest recently signed on Brazilian director/illustrator Vinicius Costa, and to celebrate the occasion they commissioned him to direct this gorgeous short titled "The Journey". The concept behind the film emerged from Costa's own "journey" to his new home at Special Guest. Check it.

When it comes to knowing the who's who of today's most talented creatives, Jeff Hamada is your go-to guy. So when he decides to make a list of 17 websites you should all be bookmarking (unless you're dumb) you'd better be listening.

Last Wednesday, people in India and other countries with large Hindu populations celebrated Holi, the Festival of Colors. Holi is celebrated as a welcoming of Spring, and a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. What that translates to in action is an enthusiastic dropping of inhibitions, as people chase each other and playfully splash colorful paint, powder and water on each other.

It's like living through one of those Color Like No Other commercials... what I would give for an experience like that! For more stunning photography from the event, head over to The Boston Globe's Big Picture.