High Tea at The Oyster Box, Umhlanga

In celebrating our seven-year wedding anniversary, Jess and I treated ourselves to the high tea at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga this last weekend. For only R155/person, you get to sample some incredible sweet and savoury goodies - far too many to mention and some I didn't even know what they were although there was the most incredible crème brûlée I've ever had in my whole life. If I wasn't so full from trying to get a little bit of everything on my plate I would have gone back for another one - but I just couldn't... Sitting in the quiet opulence of the hotel, patrons are given from 2:30pm - 5pm to enjoy all that the tea has to offer. And if you're feeling the need to walk off your meal afterwards you can even go for a stroll along the Umhlanga beachfront as we did. Just don't drop your phone in the ocean as I nearly did. (Some pics from our walk follow.)

If you ever feel like spoiling someone, this is a real treat and worth every cent.

Fotoshop : by Jesse Rosten

As anyone in the photography and design industry knows, Adobe's Photoshop is a tool that can and has fooled many an individual. Heck, the entire beauty industry is fooling hundreds of millions of gullible men and women (mostly women since the industry is more focused on them) all the time with their retouched and manipulated images of what "real beauty" is supposed to look like.

There have been numerous attempts to educate the general public on this "hidden secret" over the last few years; Dove with their "Real Beauty" campaigns, and more recently the Advertising Standard Authorities of several countries finally flexing their weight and making advertising agencies reconsider the amount of retouching shown in the brands they're punting.

And now, there's Jesse Rosten's "Fotoshop" spoof that "pokes fun at both the beauty industry and media, bringing together the ironies and home truths of image retouching in a light-hearted way." If you know about the practices and techniques behind glossy magazine spreads and fashion shoots, then you'll laugh at this great video. Be sure to also check out an interview by ComputerArts with Jesse here, or visit his website, here.

Plus: For a look at what happens when Photoshop retouching practices go wrong, be sure to head over to Photoshop Disasters. Always good for a laugh!

Ingrid Siliakus

Ingrid Siliakus: Paper architect/artist and all-round "How the stuff does she do that?!?!" type of girl from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

I'm astounded by the amount of effort and time that must be invested into every one of Ingrid's pieces. I don't have that kind of patience, so here's some info on Ingrid's process - cut and pasted from her site:

"Paper Architecture is the art of creating an object out of a single piece of paper. Before the final design is finished, something like 20 to 30 (sometimes even more) prototypes are made by Ingrid. Drawing paper architecture designs to Ingrid is as building: first one layer, with a single shape, will be drawn and than layer after layer are added. This process continues till she is satisfied with the result. All separate prototypes are cut and folded, to be examined by her. To design a pattern from scratch, the artist needs the skills of an architect to create a two-dimensional design, which, with the patience and precision of a surgeon, becomes an ingenious three-dimensional wonder of paper. After the design stage, creating a paper architecture art work is done by a combination of detailed cutting and folding. The paperweight Ingrid uses for her creations varies from 160 to 300 gram."

Mind boggling...

One Week in Japan : by Mike Matas

Mike Matas is a user interface designer and co-founder of Push Pop Press, a digital publishing company that worked with Al Gore to create the first full-length interactive book "Our Choice." Push Pop Press has since been acquired by Facebook, where Mike now works. His skills have given him an impressive resumé even prior to this, where he used to work at Apple designing user interfaces and artwork for the iPhone, the iPad, and Mac OS X. (Based on some of his past work, I've got a feeling Facebook might start looking very, very nice...)

Inbetween working hard, Mike and his girlfriend find the time to travel to such destinations as Morocco, Spain and India; where afterwards he edits together the several thousand photos that he took on his travels and makes a video from them. His most recent one of over 4000 pics being, "One Week in Japan."

I've always wanted to travel to Japan - maybe spend a few days in Tokyo - and Mike's video is an incredible, eye-watering snippet of what that might be like for someone like me who has yet to get there.

Teahupoo throws down...

I first saw pictures of guys surfing Teahupoo (pronounced: "Cho-pooh) in Tahiti a few years ago. Watching it break is something else entirely; it's as if the entire ocean suddenly rises up 7 storeys in a matter of seconds before smashing onto the shallow reef beneath. Known throughout the world of surfing as having the most powerful break on the planet, though there are certainly larger waves found in other places around the world, none can compare to the impact and ferocity of Teahupoo when it fires. And this footage is the most mind-numbing I've ever seen of Teahupoo...

Be afraid. Be very afraid...

GoPro

Action sport footage will never be the same again...
If you're the type of person who enjoys getting out there into the world and partaking in some adrenalin inducing action sport/hobbies, and possibly filming it at the same time - then the GoPro HD Hero2 is the camera for you. Shooting at a full 1080p with an 11MB camera, GoPro has taken sports footage into a whole new realm, fueled by none other than the people enjoying the activities in the first place... you.

Be sure to check out their website for a full breakdown of all the mounting accessories available (including prepackaged outdoor, motorsports and surf kits) or for no other reason than to watch the incredible montage on their splash page. I can't wait to see what incredible images are yet to come from the people using this product.

Trevor Noah : Live on the Jay Leno Show

Big props must go out to local boy, Trevor Noah, who appeared on the Jay Leno Show this last Friday gone. I haven't really caught any of his DVD's or anything like that; I've only ever really heard snippets played over the radio and the like... but his set here was really good and I think he represented SA (despite our turbulent past) fairly well. (Hey - if you can't laugh at your mistakes...)

Well done, Daywalker. Let's see where you go from here.

Arcade Fire "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"

I know this is a bit late to put up, but I only saw this video just before I went on leave. I'm no music guru so it's difficult to describe both the song (beautiful and melancholic, yet upbeat) and the video for it (Friday Night Lights vs zombie apocalyptic suburbs = epileptic fit inducing dance editing)... but I love this band and the kooky video; so it's a hit for me.

There also appears to be an interactive version of the video where you are called to dance along in front of a webcam - your movements being detected and corresponded with movement by the dancers on screen. Don't worry, if you don't feel like dancing in front of your computer (and being recorded doing it, even though they "promise" that you won't be) you can just use your mouse instead.

Apparently,

"The idea is to affect the pacing of the film with your movements. You are invited to dance in front of your webcam. There is no specific rules, no complicated “minority report” tricks. Just an invitation to move your arms or your butt on the music. The quicker you move, the faster the frames play. You slow down, the caracters in the video slow down. You freeze and the video starts to loop on the beat, creating a new choreography in the choreography. It is also possible to interact with your mouse, in case you don’t have a camera or you want to switch from dancing to clicking."

The video is directed by Vincent Morisset with choreography for the delightful dancing sequences by Dana Gingras.

Have fun, crazy people!

New Year's Resolution Schtick!

So, first off, "Happy New Year" everybody! Congratulations, you made it: 2011 is now behind us and 2012 beckons ahead, with its looming "Mayan Apocalypse of Doom" in December.

But maybe before then you're looking to turn over a new leaf. Perhaps you've made a few "New Year's resolutions?" Let me ask the question though: How many times before have you made a resolution at New Year's? And how many of those of have actually stuck?

Chances are they haven't. New Year's resolutions are a waste of time. They don't work. This is because when you make one, you're relying on yourself, and your own willpower, to make the change within yourself. That's a little like asking a windmill to turn itself by blowing really hard. Real change can only come from an external - not internal - source. (Like the windmill needs the wind.)

And that's where Christ comes into the picture.

The Bible tells us that, "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

This is the only way to truly become something newer and better than what we were (why else would we want to change in the first place?) It is also the power of God that is great enough to work on our own fragile failings. What we cannot accomplish for ourselves, Christ gives us the ability to do.

That's pretty much the same message of the Gospel; that just as we cannot earn or provide for our our righteousness before God, so He made a way possible, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

So if you truly want to be made over, and if you truly want it to be permanent... don't rely on yourself, or silly resolutions. Trust in the redeeming and forgiving grace of God and ask Him to make you anew. That's a resolution that will not fail. Just ask me.

(These are messages/wishes for 2012 that were written onto confetti that was dropped onto the crowds at the celebrations in New York (I think). Have a careful look to see the message that I would have as well.)

Photo credits: Dan Kiltwood - Getty Images & Mary Altaffer - AP

[edit: Apologies. For some bizarre reason this post has been sitting in my Draft folder for 4 days, so it's now a little outdated. Not a good start to the year Blogger...]

Jonathan Ball

I love love love the style of Jonathan Ball. All I can think of when I look at some of his work is Raving Rabbids. His characters and situations are all so cute and trippy... His style is popular enough that he's done work for a serious ledger of primo clients, including: MTV, BBC sports, FHM magazine, Sony Playstation, Britvic, BBC Bitesize, astral media VRAK TV, computer arts magazine, popular mechanic magazine, Sony PSP3000, Creativity magazine, Trend Micro, Auto trader magazine, the National Library of Wales, Digit magazine, Jay is games, Argos, Channel4, AVG, Britvic, 02 mobile, STUFF magazine, E4. [Gasp!] That's some list...!

If you feel like escaping down the rabbit-hole that is Jonathan's talent; then check out his portfolio.