2010 Playlist:

Kanye West – “All of the Lights”

Usher – “More”

The Lonely Island ft. Akon – “I Just Had Sex”

Enrique Iglesias ft. Ludacris- “Tonight”

Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand”

David Guetta ft. Kid Cudi – “Memories”

P!NK – “Raise Your Glass”

Ke$ha – “We R Who We R”

Flo Rida ft. David Guetta – “Club Can’t Handle Me”

Black Eyed Peas – “The Time”

Rihanna ft. Drake – “What’s My Name”

will.i.am, Nicki Minaj – “Check It Out”

Jeremih ft. 50 Cent – “Down On Me”

Taio Cruz ft. Travie McCoy – “Higher”

The Glitch Mob – “Aminus Vox”

Daft Punk – “Derezzed”

Yolanda Be Cool – “We Speak No Americano”

Dexter’s struggle to kill Arthur Mitchell wasn’t easy.  He was by far Dexter’s most challenging kill, and it took a lot out of him to juggle his life with Rita and their newborn Harrison, his job as a blood analyst for the Miami police, and his secret life as a serial killer… He got Rita’s kids out of the city, and had managed to get his wife away as well so he could go and end things with Arthur.  I was satisfied, relieved and almost proud of Dexter… THEN… as he returns home and we hear the message from Rita saying she turned back because she forgot something… my heart sank, I knew what was coming… the house was unsettled… Dexter calls her back, only for the phone to ring inside the house… my heart was pounding, thoughts of “no, no, NO!” were rushing through my head, then Harrison crying… the pool of blood… we knew… no… Rita… NOT RITA… poor Dexter… and then there she was, dead in tub of blood.  I was breathless.  Shocked.  Distraught.  Overwhelmed with sympathy.  The work of the Trinity Killer.  Arthur Mitchell got away with one more act of pure evil, leaving Dexter without a chance of revenge, and with nothing to live for, and no reason to hide his very own monster.

I am excited, and nervous, to see what happens in season 5.  The clips and previews below give us some insight, but really, anything can happen.  Dexter could expose himself as a serial killer, he may not have the strength and will power to protect his secret anymore, or we’ll see a new, more vengeful Dexter who doesn’t care about being careful, for keeping his secret got the only thing good in his life killed.  Either way, I’ll be tuned in!

I know my heart will be pounding and my skin will have goosebumps when I hear this again…

We began with a simple idea.  Christine wants to bring the fun and beauty of modern weddings out of the city and into the country.  And to be honest, I loved the idea – the combination of both elegance and style with a little charm and some “dirty”, as Christine liked to call it.  It had me inspired.  I wanted to create something for her that featured geometric cleanliness amongst traditional patterns.  Beginning with her Letterform Mark, she presented me with the idea of placing a C and an R into the shape of a heart.  As I sketched out the concept, it was clear that the end result would have to be defined by geometry, so after a few measurements I came up with a solution that evokes the soft shape of a heart but emphasized with clean lines, shapes and angles.  This concept was extended when we approached her Wordmark.  We looked at a few typographic options, but always returned back to the Gotham Thin.  The rudimentary shapes that define this font worked well to compliment the modern feel, and the light weight with a little extra tracking was enough to say “hey, I’m Christine Reid, Photographer” without it being forceful.  Next, I had to take these geometric features and make them a little country.  And no, not with cowboy hats and plaid, but we decided on a damask.  Because of the inherent symmetry in her Letterform Mark, we also featured it (and the heart itself) in the pattern.  I also continued the geometric theme and created the damask from criss-crossing rings, instead of overly natural shapes.  I think the combination of all three elements (CR Letterform Mark, her Wordmark and the custom damask pattern) really fit Christine and her personality, as well, compliment her photography (all subject matters) and help her move forward with her effort to make country weddings even more beautiful.  The most challenging part of this project was deciding on colours!  Eventually she said “purple!” – so I selected colours out of some her photos, and knew they would work perfectly and look great against her shots!  I also digitized her signature to add one last little touch to her blog, since she thanks all of her readers with a simple “Cheers, Christine”.

Christine Reid is based out of Kitchener, Waterloo, but will take her camera anywhere!  Caledon, Shelburne, Muskoka, Toronto, etc.  Her portfolio can be viewed at www.christinereidphotography.com (we’ll be updating this soon too!!), or check out her RECENTLY UPDATED Blog at www.christinereidphotoblog.com for weekly updates on what she’s doing.  Lastly become a fan and “Like” her on facebook, you can link to her from my fan page at www.facebook.com/awarddesign and look for my favourite pages on the left.

Thanks again to Christine for asking me to help her with this, I’ve been having a lot of fun doing this re-brand and I look forward to finishing it off (with her portfolio website update and new business cards!).  As well, I’m excited for anything else we can do together in the future, with her talents as a photographer and mine as a designer, every bride will want to use us!

Here are a few of my favourite featured photos from Christine:

The World of Color premiered June 11 at the Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort.  Disney blogs have been lighting up (almost quite literally) with previews and information about this show.  The show is part of the massive re-Imagineering of California Adventure and is the first major step towards making this a more fulfilled park.  Soon, the changes to Paradise Pier will be complete, with a few new cornerstones: Toy Story Midway Mania, Silly Symphony Swings and of course the upcoming Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  But World of Color will be a nighttime spectacular that will have guests waiting for hours beforehand to watch.  This show is a combination of:

Technology:
– 1200 fountains that can shoot beams of water up to 200ft in the air, all brightly illuminated by LED lights
- a 380 mist projection screen
- fire cannons that project fire up to 50ft in the air
- fog and lazers
Music:
– featuring classic Disney tunes from animated features such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast and more
- the original “Wonderful World of Color” theme music from the 1950′s television show
- classic orchestral music
Animation:
– the memorable Disney characters we know and love, re-animated specifically for this show
- new stylized renditions of famous scenes, from the stampede in The Lion King to the underwater calypso band in The Little Mermaid.

Although it’s been 5 years since my last trip to Disneyland (and it’s difficult for me to foresee another trip there in the near future) I believe this show will introduce us to another exciting, memorable, heartfelt, touching, and inspiring experience that we can take away from the Disney Parks and will definitely be a major part of my next decision to visit the West Coast.

Check out some of the construction videos, previews and more below.

Ya, um… eat your heart out Bellagio.  For more information make sure to visit the official World of Color website!  Until you get the chance to visit California Adventure, like me you can try and enjoy the creative mastery behind the design of this show from the videos below.

OK, so if you’re like me and wasted (not exactly a waste.. but you know what I mean) half your day watching all of these, and you’re still pumped to see it – then go here TONIGHT (June 10) at 11:30 pm EST (or 8:30 pm PST) to watch a LIVE BROADCAST of the premiere!

I was always drawn to the design aesthetics of Studio Daniel Libeskind, MRVDV, OMA or Herzog & de Meuron, but BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) basically just had sex with me and made all other architects feel like a kiss on the cheek.  Their building designs are prophetic, monumental and inspiring, but it’s their method of presentation that really turns me on.  They have a simple graphic quality that they draw out from their buildings and represent it in a basic modern icon.  They use bright, vibrant colours, and incredibly advanced visualization techniques (as demonstrated in the video below on the 8-House) and have developed a style that I am very envious of.  I feel like I am true and consistent with my own design language (that translates throughout my graphics, photography, web design and architecture work), but BIG just whispered softly in my ear and I was instantly hard.  Excuse my sexual references when comparing the experience of this design group, but it’s the best method to describe how I feel.  Maybe it’s the way they speak to me with sexy Danish words, or how they fill a world of grey with a stunning rainbow of colour, I don’t know for sure… but please, PLEASE check them out!

I remember seeing some of their work when I visited the Too Perfect: Seven New Denmarks exhibition at the Power Plant, curated by Bruce Mau Design.  At the time (2004) I was quite impressed with their contribution, but in the last 5 years they have expanded the quality of their work beyond what most architects in the world are doing and if you were me, you would be keeping a really close eye on their next generation of projects.  They are still catching up to the level of the above mentioned architects, but based on their 2009 portfolio, it won’t be long before they join them atop that pedestal.  Hopefully we will see something here in Toronto (an office maybe?.. one that I can apply to work at?..) or even better – a building!  Oh man, I can’t get ahead of myself or else I will get too excited and prematurely ejacreate.

So visit their website at big.dk (ya I realize it looks like big dick) and also watch the video below (maybe on mute and just read the subtitles) about the design behind the 8-House, especially if you’re as sexually/design frustrated as I am!

Also, check out the rest of these videos by BIG:

New features include:

FaceTime: video calling (iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 – over WiFi only)

Retina Display: LED backlighting at 326 pixels/inch = amazing visual clarity + in-plane switching, increased contrast ratio and more vibrant colours all behind a brilliant new stronger, oil-resistant glass.

5-megapixel camera + 720p HD video recording: also included is a new LED flash and in-app editing + iMovie.

Plus Multitasking, Folders and iBooks…

Visit Star Wars for TomTom.  In the meantime enjoy this little video clip of Darth Vader in the recording studio: