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News & Updates
February 28, 2017
Up Side Down: A Map Game That Will Have You Questioning Geography
The concept of north is “up” and south is “down” is a manmade idea. The only reason we perceive places to be geographically “up” or “down” is due to the composition of the conventional map. Some prime examples of how a map can change your perception of direction would be the early Egyptian maps that established the east as being on top and the early Muslim maps that positioned the south on top.
A beautifully designed version of a south-up, or upside down, map was made by Angus Hyland, a partner at the London office of Pentagram. Hyland had designed the map for the firm’s annual Christmas card but has since turned it into an interactive site with an online quiz.
The interactive map completely warps the idea of directionality. To play the game, you are tasked with naming cities and countries based on an out of context, zoomed in image of a random landmass or body of water that has been flipped in one way or another. Even if you’re a geography whiz you’ll still have a pretty difficult time.
As stated in a Pentagram blog post, the point of the game is to show just how arbitrary map orientations are:
The booklet and quiz mischievously play with the rigidity of the commonly accepted world map, which is increasingly at odds with modern GPS software that allows us to manipulate the space around us with a pinch of our fingers.
Change your perspective and test your geography smarts here.
[Via: Co.Design]
Source: Visual News
February 28, 2017
Web design: The Journal Concept UI/UX
Web design: The Journal Concept UI/UX
The Journal concept is a web design, UI/UX and graphic design project shared by Bohdan Kononets and Slava Kornilov on their Behance profile. As the name suggests, it’s a concept project for a journal or a blog if you prefer. There are so many good things about this project, in particular the detail pages. The little colored frame for content gives it a nice editorial style, of course there might be some issues like the images overlaying the borders. Anyways, it’s a great project and definitely inspired me for the next batch of changes on the Abduzeedo design.
Bohdan Kononets and Slava Kornilov are the designers and founders of Flat Studio, a team with full range of services. They have worked on projects for Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Rambler, Novo Banco, Continente, Uplabs and Cleverdo.
Our principal rule is to keep things simple, intuitive and adaptive for every person in the world.
For more information check out their website at http://flatstudio.co/
Web design
abduzeedo
Feb 28, 2017
Source: Abduzeedo UI/UX
February 27, 2017
Photography Challenge of the Week: #abdz_shadowplay
Photography Challenge of the Week: #abdz_shadowplay
And the photography challenge goes on! Yes! Mainly, It’s an open concept that is made purely for fun and also to improve your photos or mobile photography skills. The idea is simple! At the beginning of the week, we’ll share a theme through a hashtag for your pictures. During that given week, you will use that hashtag whenever you seem is appropriate or not. On Friday we’ll select and publish our favourite photos on the blog and also on Instagram account (@Abduzeedos). We look forward to see what you will come up with.
This for this week, we are going for the hashtag: –> #abdz_shadowplay. What does it mean? As the title suggests it is all about playing with shadows and of course light. From abstract to simple people’s shadows, there are many ways to capture the subject. In addition to that, it will be a great exercise for us, enthusiasts of the art of capturing the moment.
Photography
abduzeedo
Feb 27, 2017
Source: Abduzeedo Photography
February 27, 2017
Here Is How The New WWF Logo Might Look Like
The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) iconic panda logo is easily recognizable by anyone around the world. It has been used since 1961 for the organization dedicated to wildlife conservation. But since the panda is no longer considered endangered, the question is should the logo be updated to feature other wildlife in danger as a result of global warming?
Just recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported that the giant panda was no longer an endangered species but “vulnerable,” though the same could not be said for polar bears. When ad agency Grey London saw the report about the declining polar bear numbers, a major cause being human activity, the creatives designed a new WWF logo featuring the polar bear.
“What we are absolutely not doing is saying that the other problems WWF campaigns against are not important,” says the agency in a post on Medium. “But human impact through climate change is killing off animals of all species on scale. That’s why we think the polar bear, an animal synonymous with climate change, and the inclusion (or lack) of its habitat reflects this very modern and very pressing threat better.”
The logo features the distinct face of the polar bear above the WWF name. A GIF was also created to illustrate the transformation from the panda to the polar bear.
Grey London is offering the logo, as well as their services, to WWF completely free of charge, stating that “[WWF] have better things to be spending money on than branding.”
The agency is hoping that the new logo will spark more conversation about the pressing issue of climate change.
“We felt that the most famous wildlife charity in the world could be doing more, through what is the most famous logo in conservation, to highlight what is the largest and most pressing issue today,” says Grey. “It’s the biggest threat the world, and its wildlife, has ever face.”
[Via: AdWeek]
Source: Visual News
February 26, 2017
Will Smith Raps the Oscars (Kind of) — Listen
Demi Adejuyigbe, a mashup artist from Los Angeles, has recorded a timely project for the Academy Awards. “Will Smith Raps the Oscars” finds the young singer doing his best impression of the actor/musician, with three raps set to the music that plays over the credits of “Arrival,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Moonlight.” Listen below.
READ MORE: 2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score
In “Hacksaw Rap,” for example, Adejuyigbe uses the melody from Rupert Gregson-Williams’ “Praying” and the score from Mel Gibson’s World War II drama as the base of a Smith-inflected rap. “This is the story/Of a man from Virginia/He fought for his country/And for the lives of his fellow soldiers/Up on the Hacksaw Ridge,” goes the song.
“Whoo!-light,” meanwhile, remixes “Little’s Theme” from Barry Jenkins’ critical darling: “Saturday night, with Jazzy and Jaden/We were gettin pretty bored, it was gettin pretty late and I said/’Let’s go out and catch us a flick’/’Collateral Beauty’ wasn’t playin, so I let Jaden pick.”
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Source: IndieWire film
February 26, 2017
Terrence Malick Directed a Perfume Ad Starring Angelina Jolie, Because of Course He Did — Watch
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking that Terrence Malick’s lyrical approach to filmmaking would be conducive to, say, a perfume commercial, your time has come. The director has helmed a commercial for Guerlain’s fragrance Mon Guerlain, with Angelina Jolie in the lead. Watch below, with thanks to the Film Stage.
Set to Andy Quin’s “Awakening,” which was also featured in the trailer for “To the Wonder,” the one-minute spot is exactly what you’d expect of a perfume commercial directed by the man responsible for “Days of Heaven,” “The Thin Red Line” and “The Tree of Life.” Balletic movements and cutaways to nature abound; if you include the female voice speaking “Mon Guerlain” at the end, there’s even narration.
Malick’s next film, “Song to Song,” will serve as opening-night at film South by Southwest next month, with the World War II drama “Radegund” expected to premiere on the festival circuit later this year.
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Source: IndieWire film
February 26, 2017
Why Justin Timberlake’s YouTube Popularity May Point to Oscar Gold
Among the many first-time Academy Award nominees this year is Justin Timberlake, who’s up for the Best Original Song prize at tonight’s ceremony. The singer is representing the animated “Trolls” with “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” which was released last May and went on to become the highest-selling single of 2016. According to some number-crunching at the New York Times, the song’s popularity may very well help it take home a trophy.
READ MORE: 2017 Oscar Predictions: Best Original Song
Starting with the imperfect metric of YouTube views — imperfect because the website has only existed since 2005 — the NYT report notes that, since 1990, the song with the highest number of views has won 46% of the time. The calculus gets more nuanced from there, accounting for the fact that songs taken from musicals and animated pictures tend to have statistical advantages as well.
READ MORE: Oscars 2017: Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Sting and Lin-Manuel Miranda to Perform Nominated Songs
On paper, “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” maintains a leg up on its competition, which is nevertheless formidable: “La La Land” has triumphed at the precursor awards, while Lin-Manuel Miranda (who composed “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”) is a force of nature unto himself. Read the full report here.
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Source: IndieWire film
February 26, 2017
Arthouse Audit: ‘My Life As a Zucchini’ Tops New Limited Releases
The marathon run of specialized awards contenders reaches its climax tonight. Only a handful will get a further boost. It has been a strong season, with business spread out among multiple films.
Meantime, a handful of releases outside the awards world, led by cat documentary “Kedi” (Oscilloscope) and the wider decently performing “A United Kingdom” (Fox Searchlight) will need to make up the gaps ahead.
One final Oscar nominee, the Swiss animated feature “My Life As a Zucchini” (Oscilloscope) had a decent start in a single theater each in New York and Los Angeles. This will see some niche life ahead as arthouses look for needed supplementary releases.
In every previous case of the first release of a Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition winner would be the top story in this report, as was the case for “The Birth of a Nation” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.” Not this year. It might not be the new normal, but “I Don’t Feel At Home in the World Anymore” got a wide release on Friday. But no grosses exist because its debut was on Netflix, which in this case (different than others they will be releasing) this had no theatrical parallel release.
Opening
My Life As a Zucchini (GKids) – Metacritic: 85; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto 2016, Sundance 2017
$28,206 in 2 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $14,103
Most years GKids releases a Best Animated Feature nominee. This go-round, it’s a festival acclaimed 66-minute Swiss film with rave reviews. Rather than piggybacking on its nomination before the awards, GKids opted to open this only in one theater each in New York and Los Angeles. The result is excellent, with a PTA nearly double what fellow nominee “The Red Turtle” got (in three theaters) in its post-nomination two-city initial weekend.
What comes next: Initial expansion in around 12 cities starts on Friday.
Bitter Harvest (Roadside Attractions) – Metacritic: 35
$207,235 in 127 theaters; PTA: $1,631
This $21 million Canadian film spotlights the Soviet campaign in the 1930s to suppress its then republic Ukraine (leading to mass starvation and a predicate to current bilateral tensions). Its old-fashioned big-scale retelling (in English) found critical disfavor and at best modest audience response in initial results nationally in a range of theaters in elevated limited release. Its modest Saturday uptick shows some adult interest, but still not at a level likely to push this into wider success.
What comes next: Little suggestion that this will reap further interest.
Kiki (IFC) – Metacritic: 76; Festivals include: Sundance, Berlin 2016; Also available on Video on Demand
$(est.) 2,100 in 1 theater; PTA: $(est.) 2,100
A year after its Sundance premiere, this documentary about New York minority gays involved in an intense ballroom dancing scene opened in Los Angeles (Santa Monica) along with parallel VOD play. It got a strong Los Angeles Times review and coverage, with a modest gross.
What comes next: New York opens this Friday.
Year By the Sea (Real Women Make Waves) – Festivals include: Vail, Newport Beach 2016
$(est.) 33,000 in 9 theaters; PTA: (est.) 3,666
After a large number of regional festival dates, this movie starring Karen Allen as a Cape Cod woman pursuing a single life identity after a long marriage opened under the radar in the South Florida area (where older audiences can launch a film like last year’s “Dough”). The result was a decent initial result, with Saturday showing a strong increase. This might get it enough traction for further interest.
What comes next: To be determined, with the film’s website showing no further dates as of now.
As You Are (Independent) – Metacritic: 66; Festivals include: Sundance, Seattle 2016
$(est.) 4,200 in 1 theater; PTA: $(est.) 4,200
A Canadian rural adolescent drama also debuts more than a year after Sundance (where it won a Special Jury Prize). Its initial New York date yielded more than token sampling, although a majority of it came from Friday night.
What comes next: Los Angeles and other cities are scheduled ahead.
Also available on Video on Demand:
The Girl With All the Gifts (Independent/Toronto 2016) – $(est.) 12,000 in 16 theaters
Punching Henry (Well Go/South by Southwest 2016) – $(est.) 4,500 in 7 theaters
Dying Laughing (Gravitas Ventures/Los Angeles 2016) – $(est.) 5,000 in 13 theaters
International releases:
Rangoon (Paramount/India) – $(est.) 350,000 in 113 theaters
Week Two
Everybody Loves Somebody (Lionsgate)
$410,000 in 333 theaters (no change); PTA: $1,210; Cumulative: $1,677,000
This Mexican rom-com dropped 56 per cent, with an overall performance at the lower end of Pantelion’s films in their partnership with Lionsgate.
Keep Quiet (Kino Lorber)
$(est.) 4,500 in 1 theater (no change); PTA: $(est.) 4,500; Cumulative: $(est.) 14,000
This documentary about an anti-Semitic politician who discovers his Jewish ancestry held up well at New York’s Lincoln Plaza Theater in its second weekend.
“Moonlight”
A24
Ongoing/expanding (Grosses over $50,000 in under 1,000 theaters)
Moonlight (A24) Week 19; also available on Video on Demand
$765,908 in 585 theaters (+130); Cumulative: $22,286,000
Particularly with this now available at home, this total is a nice boost for this top Oscar contender that has thrived as an independent film with the extra attention from all its awards.
I Am Not Your Negro (Magnolia) Week 4
$760,000 in 291 theaters (+42); Cumulative: $4,615,000
Whatever happens with this in the Oscar Documentary Feature race (a win would bring even greater interest), the sensational results for this study of James Baldwin’s life has single handedly reinvigorated the theatrical side for serious docs at a time when so many are going straight to Netflix, HBO and other home viewing venues.
A United Kingdom (Fox Searchlight) Week 3
$548,000 in 145 theaters (+100); Cumulative: $1,028,000
Expanding a little slower than director Ana Assante’s similar “Belle,” this African drama starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike is holding steady. The PTA this weekend is about 60 per cent of “Belle” at the same point compared to around 50 per cent last weekend, which gives hope for some success ahead as it expands further, though it still is lagging behind in results.
Manchester By the Sea (Roadside Attractions) Week 15; also available on Video on Demand
$487,500 in 397 theaters (+4); Cumulative: $46,882,000
Whether Casey Affleck wins Best Actor will determine whether this gets to $50 million, but whatever happens this Amazon Studios film has been by far the biggest success for this now major player in the independent film world.
2017 Oscar Nominated Shorts (Magnolia) Week 3
$417,522 in 274 theaters (+26); Cumulative: $2,507,000
In a shorter release period than previous programs (earlier ones have had five or more weekends before the awards), this year’s package has come close to equaling the previously best total ($2.8 million last year).
The Salesman (Cohen) Week 5
$170,122 in 84 theaters (-10); Cumulative: $1,424,000
Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar Foreign Language frontrunner is not getting a last-minute surge as it falls off its $230,000 take last weekend. Still, these are credible results for a subtitled film these days, and a win would push it over $2 million.
Toni Erdmann (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 10
$140,417 in 112 theaters (+10); Cumulative: $1,183,000
Indie Spirit-winner Maron Ade’s acclaimed German Foreign Language nominee is not getting the attention it deserves in elevated release as a subtitled film. Unless it wins, this is likely to drop to a few core remaining runs quickly.
The Red Turtle (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 6
$120,437 in 115 theaters (+79); Cumulative: $595,540
Nearly tripling its theaters in the run up to the Oscars for this Belgian Animated Feature nominee, the results remain subpar. The PTA remains barely over $1,000 per theater.
“Kedi”
Kedi (Oscilloscope) Week 3
$115,220 in 13 theaters (+6); Cumulative: $303,048
The PTA in still limited release for this documentary about cats in Istanbul is just under $9,000, strong enough to suggest wider interest. Next week it jumps to over 60 theaters, which in the vacuum after the Oscars could bring continued interest.
Jackie (Fox Searchlight) Week 13
$105,000 in 112 theaters (-18); Cumulative: $13,714,000
Another final burst of action for a nominee, as Pablo Larrain’s film with Natalie Portman adds a little more to its mid-level success.
Paterson (Bleecker Street) Week 9
$87,072 in 55 theaters (-9); Cumulative: $1,705,000
Jim Jarmusch’s latest looks to wrap up somewhere around $2 million.
Elle (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 16
$89,082 in 147 theaters (+104); Cumulative: $2,231,000
Barring an upset win for Isabelle Huppert, this looks to be the last hurrah for Paul Verhoeven’s long-running French erotic thriller.
20th Century Women (A24) Week 9
$67,072 in 64 theaters (-51); Cumulative: $5,453,000
Also wrapping up its run despite only minimal Oscar attention, Mike Mills’ well- received family comedy has had a quietly steady run parallel to other entries even if it has not lived up to expectations.
Also noted:
Julieta (Sony Pictures Classics) – $42,052 in 33 theaters; Cumulative: $1,339,000
Neruda (The Orchard) – $27,684 in 27 theaters; Cumulative: $728,029
The Eagle Huntress (Sony Pictures Classics) – $15,223 in 22 theaters; Cumulative: $3,059,000
Land of Mine (Sony Pictures Classics) – $15,167 in 8 theaters; Cumulative: $68,254
Source: IndieWire film
February 26, 2017
If ‘The Salesman’ Wins the Oscar, These Two Iranian-American Heroes Will Accept the Award
Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” is considered by many to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, but the writer/director won’t be attending tonight’s ceremony. Farhadi — who previously won the prize for “A Separation” — has chosen to boycott the Oscars due to Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, which has since suffered several defeats in court. Going in the filmmaker’s stead are two Iranian-Americans: Anousheh Ansari and Firouz Naderi.
READ MORE: ‘The Salesman’ Director Asghar Farhadi Won’t Attend Oscars, Citing Muslim Ban
Ansari, who moved to the United States in 1984, is a space tourist with the distinction of being the first Iranian in space, the first Muslim in space and the first self-funded female explorer to make her way to the International Space Station; Naderi worked at NASA for more than three decades, including stints as director of Solar System Exploration and overseer of the Mars Exploration Program.
READ MORE: ‘The Salesman’: Will Academy Members Give it an Oscar To Protest Trump?
“I believe that the similarities among the human beings on this earth and its various lands, and among its cultures and its faiths, far outweigh their differences,” wrote Farhadi in a statement announcing his plan not to attend the Academy Awards. “I believe that the root cause of many of the hostilities among nations in the world today must be searched for in their reciprocal humiliation carried out in its past and no doubt the current humiliation of other nations are the seeds of tomorrow’s hostilities. To humiliate one nation with the pretext of guarding the security of another is not a new phenomenon in history and has always laid the groundwork for the creation of future divide and enmity.”
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Source: IndieWire film
February 26, 2017
LG G6 ditches modularity in favor of essentials
LG’s handful of recent teasers for its new G6 flagship left us wondering if there’d be any surprises left for us at its launch event today. Back in early January, the company was rather frank about moving away from the G5’s modular design due to a lack of interest, followed by a promise of …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed