Month: May 2010

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Arty Video Clips

Hayaku: A Time-Lapse Journey Through Japan

We spent a fantastic weekend with the puppies in Arniston. It’s always nice being away and at the end of it, we were loathed to drive back to our normal lives. I’m sitting at my computer now, wishing I were somewhere (anywhere) else … maybe Japan.

Film-maker Brad Kremer spent the summer of 2009 travelling around Japan, and in the short film “Hayaku” he takes us on a time-lapse journey through the country, capturing the hustle of the cities and its residents and the beauty of the surroundings. Hayaku means “hurry up” in Japanese – check it out below.

If you enjoyed that, you might also like Tokyo Sky Drive.

[via Krypty]

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Competitions Site Announcements

The Red Dead Redemption Competition Winner!

Our Red Dead Crossword competition has ended and we’re hoping to make Friday marginally better for one lucky person. We were giving away hamper of consisting of Red Dead Redemption merchandise and a set of classic western movies on DVD. To stand a chance of winning said hamper, entrants were tasked with solving our wild west themed crossword puzzle and then decoding the anagram that was formed by specially marked letters on the puzzle. The answer we were looking for was NIGHT HAWK, which in cowboy terms, is a person who watches over a herd of cattle during the night.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the crossword, we hope you had a good time. The first entry appeared in our inbox within 56 minutes and that industrious person got two extra entries into our draw. We turned to the Randomizer to pick our winner – could it be you? Find out after the jump.

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Arty Sports Video Clips

Breathtaking Footage of the Cape Town Stadium

Time really has flown by, the 2010 Soccer World Cup is just two weeks away. Within 33 months, the brand new 68 000-seater Cape Town Stadium was erected. Made out of 93 000 cubic metres of concrete, some 9 000 glass panels, and the sweat of 2500 workers, the stadium is quite the spectacle. The bill for this massive project was a an equally whopping R4,4-billion.

African Renaissance, a local film production company has put together fantastic time-lapse footage that not only shows the beauty of the stadium but of the surroundings of Cape Town itself. Check it out below.

More facts about the stadium can be found at Cape Town Travel. Incidentally did you see the GIANT VUVUZELA mounted on the unfinished section of highway in town?

[via Wezzo | 10and5]

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Inspirational Designs Literature Movies

Hitchcock Re-Envisioned: Fantastic Posters by Laz Marquez

Graphic designer Laz Marquez was chatting to a co-worker about horror films and set out to create an alternative, modern set of posters for some of his favourite Alfred Hitchcock films. He initially started with “The Birds”, and then moved onto “Rear Window” where he played around with the typography. His choice for the third poster was decided by his Twitter and Facebook followers, and in “Vertigo” he pays homage to the iconic original poster created by Saul Bass. The series was completed with a bloody tribute to “Psycho”.

Marquez says this about his body of work:

Since I’ve started this project, I’ve had such an amazing time taking each piece of cinematic history and re-imagining it on my own terms. It’s been spontaneous, challenging and overall fulfilling. In addition, it’s been amazing to put some of the process in the hands of my followers and see what they’ve wanted the project to evolve into. Overall, I couldn’t be happier!

See Marquez’s amazing set of “Hitchcock Re-Envisioned” movie posters after the jump.

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Arty Awesomeness Featured Photoworthy

Pencil Vs Camera

The first time we saw Pencil Vs Camera there weren’t many photos up so we waited a bit for talented Belgian artist Ben Heine to work more of his magic.<.p>

Heine is a painter, illustrator and photographer and in his latest project, he combines sketching and photography – using his own stock photos, his puts pencil to paper and introduce an odd element to the image, such as a gas mask to a classic Vermeer painting or a gun-toting T-rex to the a suburb of Paris. It’s a really nice concept and the results are charming. See some of his work after the jump.

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Arty

Movies R Fun: R-Rated Flicks Turned Kid-Friendly

We don’t have any children but when the time comes, I’ll dread having to explain the goings-on in adult-themed movies, such as The Crying Game – I’m sure you know the scene I’m referring to. If only there was a book to do it all for me. Oh wait, there is.

Josh Cooley, a story artist at Pixar Animation Studios, takes scenes from popular child-unfriendly movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silence of the Lambs, Apocalypse Now, and The Terminator and draws them as if they were a page in a children’s book. Cooley’s Inappropriate Golden Books pays homage to the old-school Little Golden Books. Check out some of his drawings after the jump.

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Arty History Sports

Spintriae: Racy Roman Sex Coins

Soccers stars and football fans aren’t the only people that will be pouring into the country for the soccer world cup. The Huffington Post reports that some 40,000 sex workers are also making their way here to score quick money off the visiting punters. That number seems to be greatly exaggerated and ssome say it’s a complete fabrication.

We’re not too concerned about the numbers, we’re more interested in the lost-in-translation moments that could possibly happen between the prostitute and their client, and whether there is something that would help to alleviate any sticky situations. It turns out the Romans found a simple solution ages ago around the 1st century AD when foreign nationals visited ancient Rome and required certain “services” during their time there. To get past any language barriers and streamline the transaction, the Romans used coins that depicted an X-rated scene on one side, and the price of said act on the other. These sex tokens were no bigger than a U.S. quarter and were called spintriae.

Have a look at some examples after the jump (possibly NSFW).

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Arty Awesomeness Featured TV

The LOST Dharma Stations

The LOST finale was aired last night, and I’ve been too frightened to go anywhere on the Internet for fear of spoilers. Ironically I stumbled upon FUCK YEAH LOST! a Tumblr site dedicated to the series. It was a Ronal-DOH! moment in soccer terms but I quickly skipped to page two, and then to page three where I found another awesome bit of LOST-inspired artwork.

Neil Richards, a web designer by day (and everything else the rest of the time) has created a fantastic set of posters representing each research laboratory built by the DHARMA Initiative during their time on the Island. Have a look at his LOST Dharma Stations set after the jump.

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Awesomeness Sports TV Video Clips

Super Cool Soccer Ads

I can’t say I’m a big fan of soccer. I remember having to play it during the physical ed classes in school. I use the word “play” loosely – I mainly sat on the bench and occasionally stepped out onto the pitch to kick a ball that wandered into my vicinity. If there ever was a position for what I did, it would be “left right out”.

With less than three weeks to go before the start of the 2010 soccer world cup here in South Africa, I found this great commercial to get me into the mood for footy. It’s packed with football royalty with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Patrice Evra, Wayne Rooney, and a certain donut-eating, beer-drinking cartoon character. Check out Nike: Write The Future below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE

Coming up after the jump, another Nike ad directed by the very cool Guy Ritchie and Powerade’s never-ending game.

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Friday Smackdown

Lucy Furr’s Friday Smackdown – is AWOL

Yes AWOL. Sorry Okes my mind is also unavailable today. I’m in the green snotty grips of a rather nasty bit of  ‘flu, and it’s my last very busy day at a job I loath. So as you can imagine I’m all over the show and hardly have a minute to breathe – not that I really can with my chest as tight as a duck’s bum and my nose as clogged up as MJ’s veins.

As long as I live through the night I promise to post my Smackdown tomorrow or Sunday.

Hope y’all have a rip roaring Friday night, and remember kids don’t drink and drive.