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.