What Are You Curious About? Discovery Channel Launches Curiosity

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Premiering this Sunday, August 7th at 8pm, Discovery Channel launches the ambitious series Curiosity with a companion website at Curiosity.com. 

Curiosity asks and answers the most fundamental questions facing the world today. Each episode of Curiosity will focus on a single enduring question in science, technology, and society. As is always the case, one single question cascades into several more, making each episode of Curiosity a rich and textured experience. From the micro to the macro, we tackle provocative and insightful questions.

Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? Questioned how we age? Asked what makes us truly happy? More than just a landmark television series, Curiosity is an adventure of discovery, an expedition to uncover the truths behind life's most challenging questions.

I have high hopes for the series, it has the potential to be another great source of creative thinking fuel. If the following teaser clips are an indication of what is to come we should all tune in to the series and join the conversation on the website. 

 







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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

The Medium is the Massage: Marshall McLuhan and his legacy

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This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Marshall McLuhan's birth. The media visionary was ahead of his time and to commemorate the centennial many current visionaries have taken a look at his legacy:

• Brain Pickings introduces us to Marshall McLuhan Speaks, a comprehensive website full of McLuhan content, and shares video of Tom Wolfe discussing McLuhan.

• Open Culture brings us Norman Mailer & Marshall McLuhan debating "the electronic age" & Marshall McLuhan "The World is a Global Village." 

• The Guardian's newly launched podcast The Big Ideas explores the communication theorist most famous line and the typo that inspired the title of this post. 

• The Globe and Mail proclaim The return of Marshall McLuhan.

• Nieman Journalism Labs takes a look at McLuhan in his time and ours. 

And lastly, fellow Canadian and idiosyncratic writer Douglas Coupland looks at the life of McLuhan like only he can convey in the fantastic quasi-biography Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work.

 

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

Vintage Jazz Album Covers to Life With Motion Graphics

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music video for the upcoming concert season @ Bellavista Social Pub. Director: Bante DOP: L.Semplici Hero: Moussa Kaba producer: frisca dog: ultimo Produced by Filmatindustriali

“Hi-Fi” by Bante is an über hip motion graphics video that cleverly brings to life vintage album covers from the catalog of jazz record label Blue Note Records. Produced in 2009, the video is a promo for Bellavista Social Pub in Siena, Italy.

via laughingsquid.com

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Great work. Perfect way to end the week.

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

William Joyce, Ex-Pixar Designer, Creates Astounding Kids' Book For The iPad

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"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is like a well-written bedtime story and an immersive animated movie at once. Every page has some delightful, hidden feature embedded into it.

 

 

Part of why the book works so well is its top-shelf creative pedigree: author William Joyce is also an accomplished illustrator and animator who's published New Yorker covers, won a bunch of Emmys, created character designs for some of Pixar's first animated classics, and worked on many others for Dreamworks and Disney. With his cohorts at Moonbot Studios, he created an interactive book-app around the story and a standalone animated film -- so you can experience "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" however you like.

via fastcodesign.com

Truly delightful and beautiful book/app/experience. 

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. “Morris Lessmore” is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

The following are part 1-4 of The Making of "Morris Lessmore" with the final parts coming soon. 





 

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

How Bloomberg Businessweek Gets Made

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Time lapse of the making the Businessweek over a week. For more shenanigans, follow us @bizweekgraphics

via kottke.org

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It's almost a miracle weekly magazines actually get published.

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.