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prior listings

 

• Urban Soldierz 4/30/04 
  Description: urban art – a web of graffiti artists inspired by urban and hip hop designs (Flash)
  Comments: The Urbansoldiers in Larida, Spain have a history going back to the late 80s/early 90s.  "They have been able to grow their creative talent in the streets," says Vladi, the artist/designer who built the site that showcases the graffiti and street art from the Soldierz 1st Infantry.  Cool Flash site design and you regulars know I just love street art (or is it streetart?).  So I picked this one for me – and hope you'll enjoy it too...  [Lounge72 # and Fishbucket]
   
• slayeroffice 4/29/04 
  Description: web experiments gone horribly awry
  Comments: I'm not sure "all the lamest stuff ever in one place" is an accurate tagline for today's pick, but Steve will be the first to tell you that sometimes, experiments do go awry.  But exploring his many experimental tools, especially the favelets (another word for bookmarklets), is a gas and some of them are downright useful.  Like the "Mouseover DOM Inspector" and its recent spin-off, the "Remove Children Favelet" – two of the coolest little techy things I've come across lately.  Besides the tools, Steve's created his own versions of a long list of games.  All cool stuff.
  As an aside, I should warn you that one of Steve's creations resides on another site (that's not his own), so if you're sensitive to pop-under ads and deceptive banner ads, as I am, you might wanna take a pass on the "Color Sampler" link.  Update:  Steve has replaced the external link, making the "Color Sampler" available for download from his own server – thanks Steve!  ;~))
   
• hugodesign 4/28/04 
  Description: a design book – the fruit of one's imagination (Flash)
  Comments: Hugo sparks his creativity by sitting in front of the computer exploring forms, objects, and colors.  He likes to start a work with no predefined ideas and "obtain a result that is completely unexpected."  His design book has 2 sections – experimental and 3D and I like the quiet Flash interface.  Hugo's right that "quality is reduced" when taking big, high-resolution images and resizing them to fit webpages at a measly 72ppi, but even with that taken into account, I've gotta say I like what I see...
   
• Into The Storm 4/27/04 
  Description: a digital magazine - liberation from the paper format has opened us up (Flash)
  Comments: You can speed-flick through the pages but "the relaxed will find hidden gems everywhere."  Unlike many of the newer online magazines, today's pick provides more than just tasty visual content (and it has plenty of that too).  "What the hell makes good hair good?"  You'll learn that it's the "attitude beneath it that makes all the difference."  Another article explains how mp3s and the web have "freed music."  "We're all living in Trackworld now."  Excellent piece!  This is Issue 00 and there's 5 more features beyond what I've mentioned.  View it online or download the whole thing to launch locally in a standalone Flash player.  In either case, take your time and enjoy...  [linkdup]
   
• LaBeautéEstDansLaRue 4/26/04 
  Description: A pretty private photoblog!
  Comments: The design is dark, almost concealing linked text, and archives are limited to prev|next browsing.  But that dark background color does work well for viewing the roughly snapshot-size photos.  A deserted industrial space with what appears to be painted balloons on the walls and the most aptly named tranquillity are among the shots I liked.  And I think this one's amazing.  This simple portrait seems from another time.  [Neon.  [Astounding.  Pretty private perceptions – online...
   
• Zorka 5 Entertainment 4/24/04 
  Description: a gallery of photos
  Comments: M. Long liked this pic, but I've gotta say that this one was my fave.  Then again, that's a close call 'cause I really liked some others too.  Some cool effects and treatments.  Like this almost b & w, this cool symmetry, and one that's perfectly clear.  But if you're a sucker for cute kitty pics like me, today's front door (#) will work just fine... ;~]
   
• designDesigners 4/23/04 
  Description: visual expression of two designers working together to explore graphic design, illustration, and photography
  Comments: "Art is something U feel."  2 designers, Chinthye and Tham, explore the visual "for the heck of it" and the results are inspirational, to say the least.  An unPrinted book with 3 chapters (so far) is the main project, full of tasty works by this pair of graphic expressionists.  Colorful and artistically engaging...  [iceduck.com]
   
• The World Wide Panorama 4/22/04 
  Description: 180 VR Panoramas from 40 countries, all taken on the Equinox, March 20, 2004 (Quicktime)
  Comments: VR panoramas aren't new, but they sure are cool.  There's thousands of them around the web, but according to the people behind today's pick, "the world in general seems hardly to have noticed."  Feeling that VR photography "deserves to be seen by more people," they came up with the idea of a "coordinated VR panorma shoot on the day of the Equinox, March 20."  The response was "enthusiastic" and the site contains 180 panoramas from 40 countries.  "This is a non-commercial project, done simply to create enthusiasm for VR photography, and provide an outlet for our collective creativity."  Right on...
   
• Pixel Perfect Digital 4/21/04 
  Description: free image archive
  Comments: 98 del.icio.us users have bookmarked the site in the last month and the fact that the images are free, I'm sure, has a lot to do with its popularity.  As important in my mind is that the images are top quality, high-resolution photos – over a thousand of them – suitable not only for use in designs, but also as great desktop wallpapers.  Textures, objects, industrial, abstract, conceptual – over a dozen categories in all.  Nice job Darren!
   
• Noise 4/20/04 
  Description: a national festival showcasing and celebrating the creativity of young Australians (Flash)
  Comments: "Creating a vibrant link between artists, audiences and new artforms," the government of Australia partnered with over 80 arts and media organizations last fall to produce a "national youth media arts festival."  The event provided young Australian artists exposure on radio, television, print media, and the web.  Today's pick is the online component, a massive collection of visual works plus a sound room full of tasty music, from dozens of talented young creatives... sweet!  [figoo]
   
• defectivebeauty 4/19/04 
  Description: photography on the road...
  Comments: Defec returned home to London last month to complete his work towards a degree in photography.  His return also marked "the start of the website."  He'd been driving an 18-wheeler "all across America" in recent months as a long haul trucker and took a lot of pictures.  I love the trucking project, especially "behind the curtain" – looks kinda comfortable in there.  And when one drives ten thousand miles/month, there's an endless number of scenes worth capturing and Defec captured plenty of 'em very well.  There's also pics from earlier years (pre 2001 rocks) and a panoramic section where he shares what he saw "when God came out to play."  Beautiful skies...  [Patrick Phegley™]
   
• desktopgaming 4/18/04 
  Description: creating desktop wallpapers from entire levels/maps in old 8 and 16-bit video games
  Comments: 8-bit and 16-bit are a bit crude compared to today's games, but I'll take Tetris on a GameBoy, thank you.  There's a definite pixel look to those old game screens and today's pick has a big collection of wallpapers made from screenshots of various games' levels/maps.  The site launched late last year and in its first week, 130 desktops were uploaded by registered users.  Nice browsing options plus a tutorial detailing how to capture the screenshots.  "If the terror alert goes to Orange, please stop what you're doing and be on hightened alert for possible terrorists."  Okay, so maybe the tutorial is just a bit too detailed (still LOL), but the images are fun...;~))  [Newstoday®]
   
• pallalink 4/17/04 
  Description: exploring perspective through disassembly of 'daily scenery'
  Comments: Palla's gallery is an amazing collection of images of daily scenes, but not as they appear in the normal grid system.  Manipulated in various ways to disclose other dimensions that make them complete, the images show different perspectives – alternate views, like symmetry or circulation.  Palla's explanations at the beginning of each of the 5 sections are most interesting.  The gallery's just a side entrance to Palla's world, where there's more thought-provoking visual things...  [DWT < Revbob@del.icio.us]
   
• 2am Photography 4/16/04 
  Description: searching the corners of a world hidden by sleep
  Comments: "I spent my young life moving, leaving one town for another, sometimes in the dead of night," says Vance.  "Dark, empty spaces" is what he remembers many years later and he still searches for the shadows, the emptyness, the night.  Fortunately, he captures what he encounters, mostly in black & white, and the photos are simply magnificent...   [del.icio.us/]
   
• Ground Glass 4/15/04 
  Description: photolog documenting life around Toronto
  Comments: There's a lot of Canadian photoblogs, including those in Toronto, the home of today's pick.  The site is one of the three I mentioned in yesterday's review, found at M. Long's 6Five.net.  I'm not so sure I would care to know "how that tire got up there" but Jon's most recently posted picture is great.  I appreciate the fact that he explains the settings and filters used.  He's got a big camera collection and the archives are browsable by date or by camera used.  Yet another outstanding photoblog...
   
• Vudurb1 4/13/04 
  Description: a subjective vision of the city and artistic attributes which are grafted there... (Flash)
  Comments: I've got to get to this French city sometime.  If it hasn't changed since 2002, there's trucks and vans everywhere with graffiti on them – big colorful murals that fill the sides.  Today's pick serves up hundreds of photos of city scenes with streetart including stickers and brushed art.  There's also a section with photos of various exhibitions.  I like the interface too – choose a background soundtrack and view a few series in autoplay mode – nice...
   
• mythic norms 4/12/04 
  Description: sad days, feelis, grossities, mutants, monsters, and robots, all uniquely captured by Kit Allen
  Comments: A little punk in the morning wasn't a bad start, and though I stepped in something regrettable on the way out (which is not to say you won't love it), I had a lot of fun exploring Kit's work.  Mutants.  Monsters.  And series like sad days and feelis, which were my faves.  Cool illustration style and oodles of odd characters – a definite thumbs up!
   
• Seams 4/11/04 
  Description: fashion and social justice – a project focusing on clothing as a vehicle to comment on the garment industry (Flash)
  Comments: It's not like coolstop to feature a fashion catalog, but today is different.  A good catalog should present the most important information about each product so the consumer can make an informed purchase decision.  Few catalogs get that right, but today's pick does.  Before you plop down $49.95 for that blouse, you may want to know that it cost about a dollar to make.  Learn that and more while enjoying artsy design and photography...
   
• AllysTrip.com 4/10/04 
  Description: travel tales, tips and photos for the terminally restless
  Comments: If you don't like the khaki, switch to simple and grey.  Both looks are visually pleasing and a third choice gives a more text-oriented version for printing.  When Ally's feet start to itch, it's a sign that travel is in his near future.  This young Australian's site documents his trips throughout Europe and Asia in photos with commentary plus articles.  There's some very cool photos (like this one) and his "pitiful attempts at writing" are anything but!  This is interesting stuff...
   
• Photos from London 4/8/04 
  Description: a collection of photos, most taken in and around London
  Comments: If the site launched only a week ago, it may have been today's pick anyway.  Even though the archives go back to last December, the 7 most recent photos tell me Mike has more than just "a bit of a creative streak."  He's a web developer who says he's "very much an amateur" when it comes to photography.  Coulda fooled me...  [DWT < Outwardly Normal 2 < Photo Friday]
   
• du 4/7/04 
  Description: experimental art –universal delirium
  Comments: A train coming straight at you turns into a smiley face.  You could try to make sense of one's "incessant desire to record" but maybe it's just about the color.  When I was 12, I lived across the street from the 5th Street Gym, so I enjoyed "The Greatest."  "God is playing with us.  He is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."  Make a wish and say "YooHoo!"  And print out an "I♥DU" sticker before you leave.  Yeah, I know.  This review (like today's pick) is slightly delirious, but a whole lotta fun...
   
• Wish You Weren't Here...? 4/6/04 
  Description: online photos of our travels
  Comments: 4 guys.  25 countries.  It's a work in progress and I was glad to see that Dan added another 30 photos recently, bringing the total to almost 200.  It appears they're all using film cameras and scanning takes time, but I've got a feeling that there's a whole lot more coming.  There's also an interesting Flash-driven map showing each participant's worldly routes.  Yo Bouch!  Bring 'em on... ;~))
   
• Pixel2Life.com 4/5/04 
  Description: tutorial index – we help bring your pixels to life
  Comments: Primarily targeted towards graphic designers and somewhat towards webmasters in general, today's pick makes a credible claim to be "the largest, most comprehensive tutorial index" on the web.  There's almost 4,000 tutorials listed and the 3 largest categories (out of 17 total) are Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Flash, and PHP Coding.  Tutorials range in difficulty from beginner to advanced and users can rate them.  There's also a forum and other resources.  All-in-all, nicely organized and very useful – thanks Dan!
   
• brainold.com 4/3/04 
  Description: I take photographs
  Comments: His name is Brain and I believe that's a Polaroid he's using.  Photography can be fun.  There's people with painted faces posing in "you're pretty."  The odd "wife beater" narrative ends in a flame war.  A number of other series have some very cool people pictures, to say the least.  And I wouldn't wanna leave out what I enjoyed most – Brain's collages!  [DWT < Lounge72 #]
   
• A Break in the Road 4/2/04 
  Description: mix beats and melodies from the city soundscape (Flash)
  Comments: I gotta tell you – it's hard to have to stop and write this review when I'm having so much fun.  I had no idea what I was in for as I watched the intro.  Seems the club's headline act can't show for the big night and the owner needs a replacement quick.  Music biz bigwigs will be there and they'll be expecting something good.  So you've got this idea and the owner loves it.  Record some of the beats and riffs found in the city soundscape and make a mix, but you've gotta do it in a day 'cause tomorrow night is the big show.  So how you gonna pull it off?  You get a microphone and a map of the city and if you find just the right sounds and make the mix tasty enough, the crowd'll go wild.  For now, I'll have to live with "lucky this is a game, you get the chance to try again."  And I will try again...  [linkdup]
   
• Skylight 4/1/04 
  Description: "This website would not be the same without my ten-year-old box of crayons, the watercolor pencils my friend Chrissa gave me for my birthday, and my trusty scanner."
  Comments: "Sometime during my sixteenth year, after not having drawn anything for almost ten years, I rediscovered my moldy old set of crayons and started to doodle."  Nikki, now 20, goes on to say "Nothing amazing here."  Nothing amazing?  Are you kidding?  "A girl and her crayons" is a collection of doodles that rocks, and her "features" section has more great stuff.  There's an interesting feature article about Nikki at piXelBureau.com this month.  Certainly a cool creative...