TED: Plug into your hard-wired happiness

Srikumar Rao says we spend most of our lives learning to be unhappy, even as we strive for happiness. At Arbejdsglaede Live! 2009, he teaches us how to break free of the "I'd be happy if ..." mental model, and embrace our hard-wired happiness...

Photoshop: Out of Bounds mashup

A selection from worth1000

Vimeo: 3 Kinetic Typography shorts about Terence McKenna

Made by Olivier Ferland, these kinetic typography pieces are spot on! Great content, nice design!

Leaving for Ozzy...

I'll be wandering around Australia till the 8th of may, I have some posts programmed so you can definitely keep checking in ;)

TED: The riddle of experience vs. memory

Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness.

Lucid Dreaming...

Lucid Dreaming is becoming aware in your dream, basically I think that this is a practice that should be widely known and although there a lot of lucid dream pages available on the net, it never hurts to have one more. I myself have had a couple of lucid dreams, not because I practice it but I do meditate often, and when you meditate, you're more likely to have one. Ofcourse if you just want to try it out without going through weeks of meditation there are a lot of techniques that can get you there quicker.

Vimeo: 3 mindblowing 3D animation short movies

Another roundup of 3 wicked shorts, this time going for 3D animations :)

TED: Marvin Minsky on health and the human mind

Listen closely -- Marvin Minsky's arch, eclectic, charmingly offhand talk on health, overpopulation and the human mind is packed with subtlety: wit, wisdom and just an ounce of wily, is-he-joking? advice.

Photoshop: Movie Poster mashup!

A roundup of the funniest movie posters from worth1000

Movies: Inception, Filming the corridor & zero gravity sequences

If you saw Inception, you might wonder how they did the epic fight scene in the rotating corridor... well, this is a wicked 10 minute long documentary with Team Nolan explaining how they filmed the rotating corridor and zero gravity fight sequences. Kudos to Joseph Gordon-Levitt for actually pulling it off!

Vimeo: 3 awesome Kinetic Typography shorts

I'm a big fan of kinetic typography pieces (who isn't ;)) and these really stuck with me... Enjoy!

iPhone app: Retro Revolution 2

Updated on april 6th, Retro Revolution 2 is an awesome tunnel surfing game that sports some awesome flashy graphics and an increasingly challenging gameplay, ideal for those "waiting for the bus" moments! At the moment of writing this, it's actually free, grab it while you can!

Meditation: The basics

I have been meditating for about 6 years now and as it definitely has some very positive effects on my daily thinking, I thought why not pass this on to the world! It's basically the practice of focusing your mind, by doing this often you gain a lot more control over your thoughts and emotions. There are a lot of meditation practice tips online already, but this comes from a highly personal perspective.

TED: The paradox of choice

Another great talk from Barry Schwartz...
W6P7JR5V6WZ2

TED: Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom

This is great TED talk about being wise vs following rules...

Photography: London calling...

This is a quick selection of my times in London so far.

Pineapple: Dip...

Dip.
I didnt think i'd be here again.
Tight chest low lip
Sinking stomach and teary eyes
Quiet little butterflies
flitting, not quite fitting, considering.

After effects: 30 Movie Title tutorials

FilmmakerIQ posted an awesome After Effects tutorial roundup with no less than 30 tutorials! This can come in handy in giving your projects that epic edge.

Vimeo: 3 short movies to inspire...

Definitely worth watching as they all have that something special...

TED: A stroke of insight

To me, this is one of the most important TED talks ever published. It's inspiring, informative and makes you think. Not only do you learn a great deal about how the brain works, but you also get a glimpse of what the afterlife could be like... and you see it all through the eyes of a brain scientist! 

Pineapple: You!

If i search for you, i am lost.
When i stand still and listen, to an unexplored emotion set free from my rationale self, i can hear you.

Photography: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO

So, you have bought your first dslr and are wondering where to start…

These 3 are the most basic settings you should start experimenting with.

Often referred to as The Triangle, these settings affect each other.

Pineapple: jobs & life

It's surreal how a job can influence life…

The Egg

I think this is pretty well known among stumblers, but it's so genius I had to post it.
It's very important to point out that I did not write this!

The London macro stroll

I bought my first macro lens recently, a Sigma 105mm F2.8. Had the chance to stroll around London with my girlfriend (pineapple) today. I work with a Canon 7D and was a bit sceptic about lenses that aren't Canon branded… but I'm very pleased with it's speed and smoothness. 

Cinema 4D Tip: How to create a planet.

A while back I found this tutorial on how to make a pretty realistic earth in Cinema 4D, then i started googling around for other planet textures.

iPhone: The three apps that can crush your phone bill.

Now these are pretty well known but I wanted to put this out there for anyone who doesn't have these yet.

Photoshop Tip: Cross processing part 2

In this second part we're going to add something extra to improve the general mood of the image.

Movies that make you think: Zeitgeist Moving Forward

I'm not even going to try to put this one into words, too complicated (and english isn't my native language).

So I'm just gonna be lazy and copy it from imdb...
It's a feature length documentary work which presents a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. This subject matter will transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical "life ground" attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable natural laws into a new sustainable social paradigm called a "Resource-Based Economy".

Personally i think everyone should see this movie, you might not agree with everything but they make a damn good case!

And it's free!

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

Photoshop Tip: Cross processing part 1

Cross processing is a quite simple technique to create that good old polaroid feel... wicked to experiment with!

Movies that make you think: Waking Life

Waking Life (2001) is a movie directed by Richard Linklater.

The story follows a man who is dreaming and meets various interesting people. On these encounters he's involved in discussions about the meanings and purposes of the universe. The topics and conversations are very interesting but can get heavy after an hour or so, I actually saw this movie 3 times already and still don't understand all of it :). It's an animated movie, but not what you're used to (think "a scanner darkly", also a very good movie).

iPhone app: Tiny Planet Photos

I've been having a lot of fun with this one.

Basically it does two things, turn your photo in either a tiny planet.. or a tiny tube.
U can also share your pics on Facebook, Twitter or tumblr.

Photoshop Tip: Vignette times 3

This is a very simple tip for beginners.

Vignettes can give your pics something extra as you bring focus to a specific part... I use 3 methods for this, one more than the others.

iPhone: 3 awesome puzzle apps!

Aside from the obvious must-have puzzle games, here are 3 random apps that i really enjoy playing.

Photoshop Tip: High Pass Filter

This is something i use a LOT, it sharpens your image in an interesting way.

How to behave in a shop...

First off, let me start this by saying i sold multimedia products for about 3 years.
Stuff we sold; TV's, camera's (compact, video and reflex), pc's, laptop's, phones,...

In short, when u work in a shop u get more cash the more u sell (pretty logical) and the more accessories u sell (high profit).

Now, in my shop we didn't get extra's as individuals but as a group, so we wouldn't get all competitive about customers, personally i think this is the best way to create a good and friendly atmosphere amongst colleagues.

Anyway, seeing a lot of customers each day, i decided to make list of things to remember when you're buying something in a shop where the sales guys are more like personal shoppers (so they welcome you and guide you through the process of buying something, giving you advice each step of the way).

The start of a story about everything

Let me start by introducing myself, I'm mango (sounds better and more neutral than the nick i gave myself when i was 14 and "on top of the world"... aka LordTom). Why mango? well, I wanted something bright and happy... that's about it!

This blog will be a mix of different subjects, I'll also try and give some useful Photoshop, After Effects and C4D tips, as well as round up some wicked movies and prolly throw in a couple of iphone apps!

Speaking of iphone apps, just tried this app called "tiny planets"... does some cool stuff to your photos, and it's free, check it out!