Have you seen this new short film from Dove? My wife, Carrie, showed it to me over the weekend. It’s pretty interesting, both from a production and from a philosophical standpoint.

The film is part of their Campaign for Real Beauty. It makes me a bit skeptical when a company that sells beauty products starts a campaign to question our perception of beauty. My immediate question is: are they doing this because it is an issue that really matters (I think it is by the way), or because they want to sell more of those bars of soap that won’t dry your face like soap can?

For the sake of balance…I scoured the Dove corporate web site for examples of freakishly beautiful people representing their products and found (at best) moderately attractive, normal looking people. Whatever their motive, Dove seems to be at backing up their campaign’s philosophy with actions to match.

Check out this teaser trailer for the film 300. The movie looks visually stunning and the trailer is a gem all around (content, editing, sound). My only fear is that the film will not live up to the trailer. The one glimmer of hope, though, is that I did not see one actor even remotely as attractive as Orlando Bloom (see the embarrassment that was Troy). Everyone I’ve shown this trailer to has said the same thing: “whoa.”

I was (pleasantly) surprised at the format of 300’s official web site. Most modern movie web sites hide the best content (production journals, making-of features) behind self-indulgent Flash animations; 300’s site is basically a blog.

I’ve been a Chicago Bears fan since Chad moved into my neighborhood in 1978. I’m also a fan of Coudal Partners and their Sixteen Straight T Shirt. Buy the shirt for $16 and you’ll get an orange Sharpie to keep track of Bears wins this season and a button to throw in the trash (or put on a backpack if you still use such things).

I like this. I wouldn’t place it in the “design that solves a problem” category but it is pretty cute.

(Via Mighty Goods)

There’s something about pixel art which intigues me. Perhaps it has to do with its level of detail, minimalistic mindset, precision, or its square-ish essence. In tribute to this crisp, digital artform, I give you this link.