I know I’ve posted this is in the past. To my credit, January 1 was supposed to be their launch date. I was as disappointed as anyone when that day rolled around and still no new Polaroid film. However, in 18 short days The Impossible Project is scheduled to hold a press conference in NYC. I’m rubbing my hands in anticipation of what’s to come. In lieu of actual film coming off the press Polapremium issued the last Original Polaroid Film in a Special Edition designed by Paul Giambarba. There are still quite a few left, and the aesthetic is quite nice. If you want to lend me a few hundred to spruce up my home I wouldn’t be opposed.
While the Olympics may have officially come to a close, this country continues to bask in the glow of 14 gold medals and 1 tremendous Olympic showing. I know the smile has not yet disappeared from the face of yours truly. Having been to Vancouver in July of 2007 for the first time, I felt much a part of the city over the past 2 weeks even from over 2000 km’s away. That’s the beauty of the Olympic games. The tale of Sidney Crosby’s game-winning goal and the heroics of Team Canada will be take on a life of it’s own in the coming weeks, months and years. What I know for sure is that this particular goal was simply the icing on the cake. Long before the most anticipated hockey game of this generation our Canadian athletes had lived up to their hype, shouldered the pressure and made us all very proud. While the debate will continue over the successes, failures and every minute detail in between, I feel the world has seen the best we have to offer. And right now, it warms my heart to be Canadian.
This is something I’ve wanted to weigh in on for a long time. This year’s Oscar nominees were announced today, and to no one’s surprise, Avatar was nominated in 9 categories including Best Picture. Now I’m not here to project my opinion on whether or not Avatar is the best picture of the year (it’s not), but rather to draw attention to the misinformation surrounding it’s record-smashing run at the Box Office. Avatar is set to topple James Cameron’s own Titanic as all-time leader in domestic earnings within the week. The numbers, however, are a little skewed. It’s difficult to compare apples to apples in this scenario, as the following 4 films have all been released in different eras under completely different circumstances. The process of promoting a film has undergone dramatic changes with the progression of mass-media campaigns and a smaller global community over the past 70 years. The competition has increased dramatically as well, with the saturation of movies at an all-time high. So for the time being, let’s shed a little light on these films and understand the numbers for what they are.
If you’ve haven’t felt the Olympic buzz these past couple of weeks, you’ve most likely been living under a rock. The Olympic torch passed through Manitoba a couple of days ago, and by coincidence, the lucky Dads of two Neuhaus employees got to carry the torch! The ceremonies featured the furry life sized mascots (featured below), performances by local dancers and, of course, the famous passing of the torch. Tyrone and I can both agree that we have never seen our dad’s so excited to jog.
Less than two weeks remain until The Impossible Project launches on January 1st, 2010. What is The Impossible Project you ask? Since Polaroid stopped producing analog Instant Film in June 2008, The Impossible Project was founded with the concrete aim to re-invent and re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage Polaroid cameras. As a long-time owner of Polaroid cameras, I have been counting down this day for quite some time. It’s become increasingly hard to justify paying almost $40 for a pack of Polaroid 600 film. Here is a great little film from Charles and Ray Eames reminding us of how great Polaroid film actually is, courtesy of Swiss Miss.
In an information obsessed world, I’m simply obsessed with information. Not in the way you might think, however. I’ve spent the last few months slowly gathering my favourite infographics, and really tried to observe what makes information attractive, better communicated and more interesting. It’s an area which greatly affects our field, and I think it’s really important to keep our fingers on the pulse of information flowing patterns and trends. Today I discovered the work of Nicholas Felton, an author of several Personal Annual Reports. I found his layout, typography, and colour choices quite striking, and it was a couple minutes before I realized his Annual Reports were indeed about his own personal life. I then discovered a site he co-founded call Daytum, used for counting and communicating daily data. If you’re as interested as I am, be sure to dig deeper and start your own personal information journey.
1982 was a great year. Not only was Yours Truly hatched in July of that year, but video games – more specifically Atari video games, were at the peak of their powers. A few months back I posted my favourite video game covers from that long-since-forgotten era. Today I stumbled upon the modern day equivalent. Panic, makers of “Shockingly Good Mac Software”, commissioned artist Lukas Ketner to work in that lost art style. The concept: what if Panic was around in 1982, and their apps were early Atari 2600 games?
