my top ten songs at the moment

No one can argue that music plays one of the biggest roles in our emotional lives. When we are sad we listen to songs with a slow tempo and words of heartache and loss. When we are happy we put on something upbeat and cheerful (some might even put on mika). When we are angry a loud song with a few curse words often helps to fuel the fire. So i thought "hey maybe i should show everybody what im listening to at the moment and see if they can guess what mood i'm in...". But then i thought "now wait a minute joe, you know you have a minumum of three emotions per hour...guessing your mood would be damn near impossible...". So what i decided to do was just post my top ten most listened to songs of the moment for your listening pleasure. So without further ado...here they are (in no specific order whatsoever, so choose as you please).

the strokes - heart in a cage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRe5mxR0q0

imogen heap - hide and seek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32uLBL9o-Pc

athlete - black swan song (acoustic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBJo9-1FMms

the klaxons - it's not over yet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4yxoHwNzEE

beirut - a sunday smile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCVR0XVMPog

the black keys - psychotic girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4QE5j5yIYo

the dead weather - treat me like your mother
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QSkI6My1g

damien rice - rootless tree (live from abbey road)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlnpedLeGbo

Sigur Ros - Glosoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8iEJeh26E

muse - guiding light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGLtufyEMFU






Sorry i couldnt find all the official music videos, but some songs just don't have videos ok.
But did you know that the first song ever recorded by rocker Jon Bon Jovi was actually a song called ‘R2-D2: We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ for an album called the Star Wars Christmas Album. He was only 17 at the time.

Code Organ turns the web into music

The newest totally pointless thing to interest me this weekend has to be the Code Organ. Basically what it does is turn any website into a song...i told you it's pointless. But as pointless as it may seem, over a quarter of a million people have listened to web pages on Code Organ in over 100 countries. Now i have grooved out to my twitter, facebook and blog pages and i have to say, like a true narcissist, that i make some pretty good beats. I think it's the fact that people are so narcissistic that this little flash based tool has become so popular, as millions of people have punched in their own facebook pages to see how their social activities measure up in the world of rhythm.


The Code Organ was conceived and created by London advertising agency DLKW to prove to potential clients that it understands the web, but also to find out what Code Organ is for (it seems they don't really have a clue either).


To listen to the imaginarium song click here http://www.codeorgan.com/?url=theimaginariumofjoe.blogspot.com

Speaking of organs, here's some interesting facts about the human heart:

Women hearts beat faster than men.

The heart can create enough pressure that it could squirt blood at a distance of thirty feet.

In one day the heart beats 100,000 times.

The heart beats roughly 35 million times a year.

Most heart attacks occur between the hours of 8 and 9 am.

At one time it was thought that the heart controlled a person's emotions.

In 1967, the first successful heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa. (this is my favorite one)

A Glitch in the system

A couple of years ago Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield quit Yahoo with a memo stating that he "don't need no fancy parties or gold watches" and said he was quitting to look after "my small but growing alpaca herd".  And i'm starting to think that that alpha herd was Tiny Speck, a design team largely made up of former flickr co-workers, and for the past year they have been working on a massively multiplayer game called Glitch.

Now when i say massive i mean it. The game is playable in the browser and is apparently "Built in the spirit of the web". It's all one big world, everyone is playing the same game as everyone else and every single person's actions has the ability to affect every other player in the game. Tiny speck has searched the internet (and continues to do so) looking for fresh and original visual styles to incorporate into the game. In other words the look varies as you travel around the gaming world. "From psychedelia to surrealism, Japanese cutesie to hypersaturated pixel art, classic cartoon to contemporary mixed media. We love awesome illustration and animation and part of our mission is to find the best of the best and bring it to a wider audience"

The storyline is incredibly strange (which is expected from Steward Butterfield) and the visuals even stranger, but this is what makes this game so interesting. The game wil be released late 2010 and wil be free to play with the exception of some in game extras. You can try and follow it's development on their twitter page, but the tweets are as strange as everything else connected to this game, or you can visit the official website. Meanwhile check out the first trailer over here, and don't mind the character, it's only a place holder.

Speaking of glitches. Do you know the reason we call problems with electronic equipment bugs? Apparently we call them bugs because Grace Hopper found the first computer “bug”: a moth stuck between the relays on the Harvard Mark II on September 9, 1945. These early computers were attracting lots of moths who got stuck between the light-bulbs inside the machines. At times there were so many relays malfunctioning that they had a full time bulb changer working to fix find all the ‘Bugs’ stuck between relays. Now you know.

www.glitch.com

twitter.com/playglitch

Through The Looking Glass

Today a whole new world was unveiled before my eyes while waiting at the most boring place to wait, the bus stop. This hipster next to me whipped out his iphone 3GS and started fiddling with a very interesting application, the Nearest Tube Augmented Reality app from Acrossair. Now instead of explaining what it does to you i'd rather just show you:





Now while this might not be as visually impressive, the implication of this little application is very very exciting. You might be asking what 
AR (augmented reality) is so i'll give you a little definition.

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality. The augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally usable. Artificial information about the environment and the objects in it can be stored and retrieved as an information layer on top of the real world view. The term augmented reality is believed to have been coined in 1990 by Thomas Caudell, an employee of Boeing at the time. -wikipedia

Okay now that the highbrow lingo is out of the way and everybody is with me (hopefully) i'll continue rambling. Hollywood has been playing with the idea of AR for years now, but no one really stopped to think that we could actually do it in the real world. The first time i physically came in contact with AR was when i saw a demonstration of the Sony eyepet for the Playstation 3, although at that time i was not aware that i was dealing with actual AR.

          A cute little monkey dog cat thing for you to play with

The eyepet game allows you to interact with your virtual pet via a little camera mounted on you television that connects with your Playstation 3. There are various things you can do to your pet like tickle him, pet him, play games with him etc. Now while this might be a very basic form of AR it's still impressive. To see more go to www.eyepet.com.

Being an advertising art director my mind naturally flared up with ideas of how to implement this into my field, and this also made me think of how potentially annoying this technology can become if abused (of course it will be). Ads will explode in your face and you'll literally have to swim through those pop-up ads. So naturally i googled and googled and youtubed some to find the best example of advanced AR in the future and this is what i stumbled upon:

click here to see more www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSfKlCmYcLc

How awesome is that? Hats off to Keiichi Matsuda for creating this video clip of a domestic robocop. Personally i'm looking forward to seeing this technology develop as soon as possible, but for now i guess we'll have to stick to the wonderfull world of iphone apps.

Oh by the way Paul Verhoeven said the reason why he did the Robocop movie was because it was a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ. The Christ influences include the death and resurrection of Murphy (robocop). His hand is nailed by a bullet. He stands in crucified fashion and his body is pierced with many bullets and the last bullet is delivered to his brow. He is taken to the hospital where he his reconstructed. He is then resurrected as half human and half machine. Jesus at his resurrection was also changed. In the end there is the scene when RoboCop goes towards Boddicker and he walks on the water. Talk about strange influences.

                                    Say your...um...prayers

So long and farewell Mighty Mouse

                      In loving memory of the mighty mouse

Now Apple has made some pretty neat products over the years, but with all the years of beautiful design and simplicity there has always been one problem area...the mouse. Being an art director and designer i work on Apple macs a lot, some might say i worship them. Ok most people who know me would say that and it might very well be true. But anyway, the mouse. 

Having worked on macs for almost 5 years now i've become very intimately acquainted with the Mighty Mouse and with that, it's ups and downs as well. Everyone who has worked with these things will agree that the two side buttons are completely in the way and work best when they are not working at all (i deactivated the buttons the first time i ever used Photoshop). Some would also say that a human hand is not shaped like a pebble, therefore the design is impractical. But i think most will agree that after working with them for a while you get quite accustomed to them and even fall in love with them (or is it just me). I've spent hours and hours playing with the beloved little roller ball and the smoothness of the mouse was quite soothing.

But like all good things the reign of the Mighty Mouse had to end, and it will soon be forgotten thanks to Apple's newest creation, the Magic Mouse.

The Magic Mouse is the worlds first multi-touch mouse which is pretty cool, no buttons anywhere. Now i have to admit that the first time i saw this mouse i hated it. It was too low-profile which made it uncomfortable to rest my hands on and i couldn't see myself designing with it at all, and the design was too sharp compared to my old mouse. But even if i personally don't like the way it looks and feels, i have to admit that its features are pretty cool.

If you've ever used an iphone, ipod touch or the newer mac book pro you'll be familiar with the biggest feature of the mouse, the multi-touch. 

"The Multi-Touch area covers the top surface of Magic Mouse, and the mouse itself is the button. Scroll in any direction with one finger, swipe through web pages and photos with two, and click and double-click anywhere. Inside Magic Mouse is a chip that tells it exactly what you want to do. Which means Magic Mouse won’t confuse a scroll with a swipe. It even knows when you’re just resting your hand on it." - apple website

It also sports the new Laser tracking engine which is far more sensitive on more surfaces than the old Optical engine. It's also wireless as a standard, so no more annoying wire to get in the way of your designs, and i have to admit that the design is rather beautiful compared to the Mighty Mouse.

Now having personally compared the two mice this weekend here's what i didn't like about the Magic Mouse. Number one, like i've said, it's not very ergonomic (it's not intended to provide optimum comfort to avoid stress or injury) and i wont be able to use it for extended periods at a time. Secondly as good as the new swiping gestures are, they're limited to what you can actually accomplish with them, unlike the scrollpad of the mac book pro. You can't use more than three fingers at a time because unfortunately humans only have 5 fingers which means you won't have enough fingers left to hold the mouse anymore. The salesperson also shamelessly admitted that it gets scratched very easily (which will kill an apple fanatic) and i had a rather embarrassing moment where i could not tell wether the mouse was right way up (it will happen to you too) until i clicked and nothing happened. It also works with batteries which feels a little archaic.

But all in all it's a very good product which will appeal not only to mac enthusiasts but the common pc user as well. I think i'll stay with my little pebble though. To find out more about the Magic Mouse click here . Oh by the way, the first official release of Mighty Mouse material, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was released on January 5, 2010. So as one mighty mouse dies another gets revived. www.iammightymouse.com

Top ten most weird/creative valentines day gifts

Now valentines day has never been my favorite holiday, not because i'm against the concept of love or anything, it just feels a little forced and oddly surreal that everybody is so in love on that particular day. Unless you are alone, in which case i am deeply sorry for you. It also might be the fact that it has become just another way for companies to make money (see also Christmas and Easter). But i have to admit that those corporates quite often amuse me by being so bizarrely creative. To celebrate their creativity i have comprised a top ten list of some of my favorite gifts for this valentines day.

TwoDaLoo twin toilet    

Now i don't care how comfortable you are with each other in your relationship, but this just seems...wrong. But i guess if you want to take your relationship to the next step this could be just what you need. This twin porcelain love throne will set you back a mere $1400. 

Ho Flask

Nothing shows how much you love your "ho" than a flask that tells her exactly where she stands. If you want to really treat her you can even fill it up with her favorite drink to really get her in the mood. The Ho flask costs $18.

The Chocolate Scale

Tell your valentine exactly what you think of her with this little gift. It's supposed to "lighten the mood" but i'm sure that the mood will be scaled (clever) down quite a bit after this is torn open. The chocolate scale costs $95 

Boyfriend pillow

This one is perfect for those needy types. This cuddlebuddy is more than happy to fill the emptiness while you are away. You can even dress him up like you to comfort her even more. Just don't let him/her get too attached to it or you might get replaced. Cost $34,95.

My Beating Heart pillow

This is one to cure the heartache when you're away. The pillow reproduces the sound of a heartbeat when you hug it and it even syncs with your heartbeat. Kind of reminds me of putting a watch next to a puppy to remind him of his mother. To ease the longing, fork out $49,99.

Glow-in-the-dark roses

Want to remind your lover how much you care about him/her even when the lights go out? How about ordering these extra-terrestrial flowers from the netherlands. The roses are sprayed with a harmless chemical to make them glow. You have to special order these, but they'll cost you around $39.90.

8-Bit Dynamic Life shirt

So this is how it works. You wear one and give the other to your partner. Whenever you two are in range the pixellated hearts start glowing to full charge which means your partner is close by and you can go give them a big hug. If you are further than 5 meters away the glowing hearts dip to two and a half. Getting your nerd on will cost you $24,99 per tee shirt.

Two Handed HandHuggers

Have you ever wished that you and your partner could be joined by the hip? Well now it's possible with the two handed mitten. Watch as passers by smile uncontrollably at the sight of your love for one another. Cost $9,95 or you can go all the way and get the stretchy combo glove for $11,95.

Jewelry made from your own bones

Yep, gone are the days of giving your loved ones jewelry made from plain old animal bones. All you need to do is provide them a bone sample (a small sacrifice right?) from your body and thats it. They will simply grow another bone using your tissue and then carve and shape it into a ring. Now it's not possible to give you the exact amount as it differs to what you want. It just screams "i love you" in that warm, creepy kind of way.

Fireplace: Visions of Tranquility Blu-Ray disk

Now this is by far my favorite because it's so sad. Picture a loving couple sitting right in front of their television underneath a blanket drinking a glass of wine. It doesn't get more romantic than that. The fire won't keep you warm, but atleast you have each other. This gem will cost you $14,49.

Some Interesting Valentines day facts

The roots of St. Valentine's Day can be traced back to the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.

Penicillin, a popular treatment for venereal diseases such as syphilis, was introduced to the world on February 14, 1929.

15 percent of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day.


The Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. In 2001, the U.S. State Department reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. A 2002 report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions.


Happy Valentines Day