Here in the Midwest there has been little sign of winter—no snowfall, no frantic hustle and bustle in the streets, no smell of gingerbread in the air—making it challenging to get into the holiday spirit. Meanwhile, across the pond, The Holburne Museum in Bath is more joyous and enchanting then ever. Bruce Munro created The Field of Lights, an instillation of over 5,000 glass spheres creating patterns of color and rhythms of light in the museum’s garden. This truly uplifting experience was created to lighten the darkest time of year: as daylight fades, the bulbs blossom.

It’s been reviewed, analyzed and debated: why are Bhutan’s residents at such peace? In 2007, Jonathan Harris conducted an experiment called “Gross National Happiness” to measure Bhutan’s socio-economic prosperity, studying the nation’s focus around the basic tenets of Buddhism.

Jonathan interviewed 117 people of all ages and backgrounds giving each one balloons to inflate, making their wishes and ideas tangible. On the last night, over one hundred “wish balloons” floated in the wind representing a nation’s happiness. Please check out his beautiful experiment, Balloons of Bhutan, the brilliant stories he has uncovered and the art of living.

Bocce Ball isn’t known as a glamorous or fashionable sport. I felt like in order to take my team to the next level – and change the paradigm of the game – we needed to be more official. We needed to start this year stronger then ever. We needed to be branded. Team ‘Ralph Bocchio’ needed a logo and stylish uniform. After five years of being the best team that never wins, we were at least going to look good – unified and put together. We went to town creating the newest trend in Bocce ball, the Team Towel.

We picked up a GOCCO screen-printing kit from an arts and education supply store and went to work in the Duffy & Partners studio. It’s the next best thing to potato printing but much, much more fun. The GOCCO can make 4×6 prints on cloth or paper depending on the ink. Check this machine out. It’s brilliant for those one-off t-shirts, cards and prints.

A visit to Viking territory, Reykjavik Iceland, has got me hooked on blond hair and blue eyes, hot dogs, salmon, small towns, public art, off-beat fashion and partying. This metropolitan city and its residents will steal your heart. If you ever find yourself in Reykjavik on a layover, take an extended stay. You won’t regret it!

Here are some hot spots:

Kex Hostile – Stylish hostile to stay in or grab a beer.
Fríða Frænka – Epic antique shop crowded with modern Danish teak furniture.
Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur – The best hot dog in town.
Kolaportið – Flea market downtown, since 1989.
Kron -  A candy-store for your feet.
Bókabúð Máls & Menningar – Get your Icelandic literature, a little limited in the English language

You can find more pictures on my Flickr account.

Stop-motion, felt and Spike Jonze all have a special place in my soul. So when I stumbled upon Jonze’s new tragicomic stop-motion animation, I watched it over and over again. The story takes place on an enchanting shelf in Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Company. A breath-taking location—perfect for a tragic, lustful animation with a happy ending. The project sprung to life after Jonze requested a Catcher in the Rye embroidered piece to put on his wall from epic designer Olympia Le-Tan. Le-Tan asked for a film in return. 3,000 hand-cut pieces and six months later, voila!

Watch. Enjoy. 

Brazilian-born Amon Tobin has been creating music and pushing limits since 1994. His current tour (August – November 2011) is something not to be missed. He has manufactured a multi-dimensional experience that hasn’t been delivered on this scale before. The ‘ISAM’ tour features a stunning 25’ x 14’ x 8’ multi-dimensional/shape shifting 3-D art installation surrounding Tobin and enveloping him and the audience in a beyond 3-D experience. His use of physical and digital art engineered with sound is truly impressive. You may not appreciate the music but the innovation and use of all design elements really creates a unique experience.

Watch. Listen. Experience.

It has been repeatedly stated that “technology is revolutionizing the way we live our lives and conduct business.” Perhaps the most obvious example of this is how the internet has changed the concept of communication. We can communicate on a global platform, targeting like-minded individuals. Here’s a brilliant example of how dreams can come true using social media and technology.

The website Kickstarter is a platform for dreamers. It’s a new way to fund creative projects. Their philosophy is “a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide” while “a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement”.

This is the case with the project “Detroit Needs A Statue of Robocop!”

Here’s how it started and how it became a success. On Monday, February 7, 2011 a random tweet was sent to Detroit Mayor, David Bing:

@mayordavebing Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & Robocop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a GREAT ambassador for Detroit.

Of course any good Mayor knows you must listen to the people. Mayor Bing tweeted back:

@MT There are not any plans to erect a statue of Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.

Social networks blow-up instantly. Facebook groups were created, bloggers commented and Twitter exploded with the comical idea of bringing Robo to life. A project was then created on Kickstarter and in 4 days over $17,000 was pledged. As of today, with 36 days left on the project plan, they have already reached their goal of $50,000.

Robocop is on his way to Detroit. Please read this story. It’s a humorous one, it’s also incredibly inspiring to see people pull together to make dreams come true and it’s proof that technology is truly revolutionizing the way we live our lives.

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
A film based on interpretations of actual dreams from director Akira Kurosawa.

Disco Dancer by Babber Subhash
If this movie doesn’t make you want to get up and dance not sure what will.

Hausa by Nobuhiko Obayashi
One of the most incredible 1970′s Japanese horror films, completely ahead of its time, with hand-done film effects and amazing hand-painted backdrops.

PPU Party DVD Volume 1
It’s an assemblage of rare access tv funk-era dance shows, edited together by a Brooklyn video artist. Sounds straightforward, but has such a now editing style, using old hardware effects, modern “data moshing” techniques, hand done cropping and crappy stock alpha transitions, all rolled into a beautiful, squishy vintage mess. Probably the most inspiring thing I’ve seen this year.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird by Ji-woon Kim
It’s a modern Korean western with great cinematography and quirky style.

Survive Style 5+ by Gen Sekiguchi
This is an avant-garde, bizarre Japanese flick with incredible sets. Maybe not the best movie, but some great still frames!

Descendant of the Sun
A psychedelic Shaw Brothers era kung fu movie. The plot is a superbaby is found by a poor woodcutter inside a crystal and must defeat an evil alien king’s eugenics program with lazers and fire breathing. I love plotlines like this. If you like this also see Battle Wizard, Holy Flame of the Martial World and Buddha’s Palm.

The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Long-banned, Beatles-funded, multi-million dollar sacrilegious epic, filmed while the actors were usually under the influence. Disturbing at times, but one of the wildest, most creative expressions of film ever.

The Tale of the Fox by Ladislas Starevitch
I love stop motion and this is on an epic level, from 1929 by Russian Ladislas Starevitch. A jaw dropping amount of work put into animating tiny animals frame by frame. Just…… mind melting.

Alice by Jan Svankmajer
Another stop motion/live action masterpiece, this time from Jan Svankmeyer. His advanced, creepy interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. Amazing sound work and painstaking detail. Weird!

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
A Portrait of Arthur Russell. Beautiful, sad documentary on musician Arthur Russel, an influential gay producer who did incredible things in the disco era. Really lovely!

Drugstore Cowboy by Gus Van Sant
My favourite movie of all time. That’s about it!

Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames
This film is not only aesthetically appealing but a great example of how education and a message can become beautiful the more you dissect the information.

It’s important to me to stay interest in a wide array of design disciplines. A great stylist, musician and owner of the local salon Mezzanine, Jonny Kelson, invited me to participate in a design discipline much different then print. Hair styling.

Bumble and Bumble a wide spread cosmetic line offers training programs in traveling cities and sure enough they came to Minneapolis inviting Jonny to participate. I of course had to tag along to soak in the experience and get my hair styled.

Howard Mc Laren, Bumble and Bumble’s Vice President Senior Artist Director, lead the workshop focusing around customizing cuts to the clients lifestyle, habits and wants. I was stunned with how similar his concepts of approaching hair styling were to approaching graphic or industrial design.

He talked about getting to know the client and their interests, leading the stylist to understand the likes, dislikes and environments the client is involved in. The demographic information, basically. He explained, in order for a client to walk away happy with their cut, they have to know how to manage the equity they have. Finding the best cut is the one they can maintain, understand and embrace. Howard taught stylists to educate their clients about products or cut styles (razor cutting), so they could be aware of why, when and how they should treat their new look and fashion. In the end giving the client a total experience and makeover.

Within any design discipline, understanding the cultural and economic climate before starting the project will only make the outcome last longer and become more vibrant.

30. It’s a number you thought to be so far in the future when you were 12 or even 21. “I will have met my prince and travel to far lands by the time I’m 30.”

When people turn 30 they have this retrospective moment. What am I doing? Who have I become? Where will I be going? How did I not accomplish these childhood dreams? The way your life is, isn’t the way you thought it would be when you imagined it as a youngster.

I’ve recently turned 30 and realized it’s not about what I had imagined life would be like for me. It’s about what my life is and how I treat if from a daily, weekly and yearly prospective through experiences, moments and goals. It’s about living each moment and creating experiences. In other words personal growth and leaving your mark.

You do this by creating experiences and sharing the stories. Treating each day as a journey to your next goal and helping others to do the same. This is how you create a legacy. And in the end what life is, is what you created and how you touched others. Being more aware of life as it’s passing.

Recently I just stumbled across Jonathan Harris’s film, Today. He started a project just for this reason. To be more in the moment. To have more memories. To live more richly. Everyday for a full year he took a picture to tell a story about his life and his day. It’s one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a long time. Please this is worth eight minutes and 32 seconds of your day. He expressed brilliantly the feeling most of us go through during phases of our lives.

Thank you Jonathan.