Hasta La Ideas

Stop motion is just one of those trends that won’t go away. There’s something just so satisfying in knowing that someone, somewhere, has spent days, if not weeks, of their time, painstakingly nudging and photographing objects for a few seconds of your viewing pleasure.

Design graduate and stop motion enthusiast Neils Hoebers has come up with this cracking concept for a mobile, all-in-one stop motion mini studio to make the process that little bit more bearable. Of course, Neils sells his concept with a little stop-frame of it owns.

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The parker is a shorter standing piece of furniture that can be used either as a bench or a storage console. It is the product of an effort to utilize..

The Monday before Thanksgiving can only mean one thing here on Unclutterer: The launch of our 2010 Holiday Gift Giving Guide. This is the fourth year we’ve put together a Guide, so be sure to check out our 2009, 2008, and 2007 Guides for even more gift-giving ideas.

The theme of this year’s Guide is Practical Presents. Practical applies to both the buying and giving — make a practical budget that works for you and your family, and give gifts your recipients can regularly use. We’re aiming for functionality for this year’s Holiday Gift Guide.

To prepare for the gift-giving season, take an organized approach and start by making a list of everyone you would like to give gifts to this year. Next, pull up your personal and/or family budget and see how much money you can spend without going into debt. If you set aside money throughout the year for your holiday shopping, take note of the balance in this account. Then, figure out how much money you can spend on each person on your list. Remember, not all of the gifts you give will need to be purchased — crafts, gifts already purchased, coupons for experiences, etc. — so some of the people on your list might have zero dollar amounts next to their names. Once you have figured out how much you can spend on each person on your list, you’ll be able to start planning what gifts you want to give.

Stay tuned this week and next for the full 2010 Holiday Gift Giving Guide and our practical present recommendations. We hope you enjoy our Guide as much as we do. Again, don’t forget to check out the 2009, 2008, and 2007 Guides for our previous recommendations.

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Last month, we blogged about a new lenticular stamp designed by KesselsKramer for the Dutch Post Office. We’ve just heard from GBH in London that they’re also about to launch a whole Thunderbirds inspired set for the Royal Mail in the UK using similar technology. You can see the stamps here…

In October we showcased the new lenticular Dutch stamp created by KesselsKramer and director Anton Corbijn. Using similar processes over a series of stamps, London-based GBH’s Special Stamps Issue: FAB – The Genius of Gerry Anderson set has been created for the UK’s Royal Mail to honour the work of Supermarionation legend Gerry Anderson MBE and his team at Century 21 Productions.

GBH’s lenticular stamps feature the countdown and launch sequence of all the legendary Thunderbirds craft from the iconic 1960s series’ title sequence. And as part of the special edition pack, who better than Brains himself to take fans through how the “m… m… MotionStamp” itself was made:

“The stamps were created by GBH with a process that fused film-making, editing and post production techniques with graphic design,” say GBH.

“Sequences were meticulously trialled from the original master 35mm print at ITV, and the final frames were carefully selected, exported to HD quality, digitally re-mastered and then re-edited back into an all-new 36 frames sequence, for use in the complex micro-lenticular process.”

The lenticular stamps are joined by a Royal Mail Special Stamp Issue of six landscape stamps featuring all of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation TV shows from the 1960s: Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90:

“The stamp format allows the full 35mm frame to be shown exactly as it was shot by Gerry Anderson for the first time, as it was cropped to 4:3 when originally aired on British TV,” say GBH, who have been clearly been meticulous about the detailing here.

Indeed, the presentation pack for the stamps features an interview with original puppet sculptor, Terry Curtis, by Supermarionation expert Chris Bentley (Captain Scarlet deconstructed, below) and a special pull-out four-page comic telling the story of the creation of the Thunderbirds through the illustrations of original TV21 comic artist, Gerry Embleton, with text by Stephen La Rivieire.

The stamps, micro-lenticular mini-sheet and all collectible products will be available from January 11 2011.

The star of in almost every picture #9, the latest in Erik Kessels’ series of books of found photography, is a very elusive family pet

Kessels, co-founder of Amsterdam creative agency Kessels Kramer, has a long-running fascination with found imagery. He has collected thousands of photographs, many of them from flea markets, the most intriguing of which are published in the in almost every picture series.

The ninth book features a family’s efforts to photograph their pet dog. Unfortunately, the mutt in question has extremely black and shiny fur making its features almost impossible to capture. The results are a series of images in which the dog appears as a silhouette, present but not present in each shot, creating a dog-shaped space in the life of the family.

In almost every picture #9 will be available in December. Copies will be available from here.