Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

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• Nubby Twiglet was interviewed by photography consultant Amanda Sosa Stone about her design process and helping to build brands for photographers (including me) | I Love Designers on the Scoop with Sosa Stone

• A hand drawn quote from one of my favorite books, The Little Prince. | Brain Pickings

• The most important article I read all week. A lot of you know how I feel about the awful negativity that is pervasive in the photography industry, I am glad to see blogs like that that are taking a stand against it and showing what they love about photography instead. | I love Photography. 

• While I don’t think the the first equine themed costume would fly today (except for some very specific and scary clientele) this look back at exotic dancers of the 1890′s is a fascinating exploration of changing aesthetic ideals and preferences. | How to Be a Retronaut

• Documenting the creation of an outdoor street art museum in the Wynwood district of Miami, FL. Check out this trailer for the docuseries Here Comes The Neighborhood below.

• John Keatley’s series of portraits of master bartender Murray Stenson are some of the best images I have seen online in weeks. Seeing stuff like this is like visual caffeine, it wakes you up and pulls you out of the online static. | Keatley Blog. 

• Think of how much more interesting everyday life would be if other cultures treated such mundane objects as works of art | The Art of The japanese Manhole Cover

• Eiko Ishioka recently passed away, she was a monumentally talented and Academy Award winning costume designer who is responsible for unforgettable outfits in the films of Tarsem Singh, Bjork videos, Cirque du Soleil performances. I love the work she created for Singh’s The Fall (one of the most visually intriguing films I have ever seen) | R.I.P. Eiko Ishioka

• David Ogilvy – in his own words – on his writing process and why he feels he is a lousy copywriter. Editing is a key skill for all creatives, you need to be able to cull your own bad ideas from the good | Letters of Note

• For all those photographers who are just starting to move into video, Chase Jarvis has posted a quick guide to audio and mics just for you| Buying Mics and Hacking Audio for Your DSLR Video Setup

• For my fellow camera nerds – a hidden camera look inside the B&H conveyor system by Lense. 

• The Affectmedia 2012 Calendar has me in stitches, I wish more companies did fun pieces like this. Oenophile Pinhead was my favorite of the bunch | Photography Served

• Stop aiming for the middle | Prepared to Fail by Seth Godin

• A mega-mix of all the overhead shots in Wes Anderson films cut together.

• Want to get going in the morning? Skip coffee and start listening to film scores while you get ready, by the time you are dressed you will feel like a badass western gunslinger or a spacefaring rogue – after that the rest of the day is easy! I suggest starting off with this one | Elmer Bernstein – Main Titles of the Magnificent Seven. 

• An extensive collection of film stills where the subject is breaking the fourth wall | Look at the Camera

• Rooftopping in Toronto – an incredible vantage point from above a city I love. | Thestar.com

• I am in love with this video of a five year old discussing her impressions on the logos and brand marks of different companies by Ladd Design

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

• I have been noticing a lot more imagery by  photographers that captures the most mundane and normal things  in beautiful ways this year. This study on street lights and evening landscapes is captivating. | Reconfort D’une-Lumiére Dans l’obscurité.

• Fashion Served really is one of my favorite places to see amazing work – another project was grabbed me this week was this one, created by Bara Prasilova for designer Hana Zarubova | Air Force.

• A look at shooting a commercial for one of the most enduring (and scariest) commercial mascots, and a discussion on all why cologne need a hint of flame broiled meat. | Kareem Black Explains Shooting The King. 

• I am terribly excited about new a Wes Anderson film | Moonrise Kingdom

• Rediscovering the joy of solitude has been a big blessing to me at time, it is often when i have my best breakthroughs and most important moments of self examination. | Learning to Sit Alone, In a Quiet Empty Room. 

• A photo collection that I really enjoyed, so few figures int he public eye have been featured in such a sheer volume of amazing and iconic images – let alone someone I find so personally interesting | Muhammad Ali: 70 Iconic images for 70 Years. 

• The amazingly complex art of Minjeong An is almost overwhelming in its scope and can be explored over and over again. | Self Portrait as Informational Diagram

• A solution for crafting simple newsletters and e-mail lists with impressive impact for creatives | TinyLetter

• I could see a certain awesomeness coming from putting something so nightmarish in my space | Dark water – Carpets inspired by Cthulu

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

I had some major clutter to tackle last month, and have still been organizing and re-organizing rooms as new furniture arrives and gets shuffled around, I wish this article had been out then to give me some more method to dealing with the post move mess | How to Tackle Your Clutter

I have really been fascinated by these Chow.com Obsessives videos lately, it is always a joy to see people doing what they love. I highly recommend both the Absinthe and Soda Pop episodes, both of the these obsessives touch on the importance of honesty in crafting or selling something you are passionate about.

As a self-respecting comics/gaming nerd, how could I not love this? | The Freelancer

Aphotoeditor.com featured a nice writeup this week on the end of the year posts written by me and Leslie burns on our respective blogs.

A little irony from Chase Jarvis might be just what you need to actually get off your butt and make that dream project happen today. | The Next Time You Have  A Great Idea

I think I fell a little bit in love this week. Punk Rock and Swiss design collide to make something absolutely amazing. I want to cover the world in these while listening to Black Flag. | Swissted

I can never like Star Wars the way many people do (You don’t go through life named Luke without learning to hate the trilogy just a bit), but I keep getting sucked in by these photos featuring Clone Troopers subbing in for some of the worlds most famous photographs. | 365 Days of Clones

There is no reason why this advice cannot apply to photographers and other creatives. It may be design specific, but the advice is quite universal. I especially like the words of wisdom from Stefan Bucher | 17 Designers Dish Their Best Advice

Is what you do bought or sold? an intriguing question from Seth Godin. | Sold Or Bought

I just love Vogue Italia’s parody of the home shopping channels and their delightfully sureal interpretation of the whole genre.

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

• During my search for custom rubber stamps for a marketing project I came across this very hip company on Etsy called The Inkorporated who makes the must interesting return label stamp I have ever seen – totally letterpress chic.

• A older video, but one that came roaring back into my awareness this week when I was doing some research. There is something about this mixture of stutter stop fashion imagery and fluid organic motion that is really arresting | Phénomène by Christopher Warnow

• I’m not sure I’ll be able to get rid of all of these in my business, but I have been on a mission to be a leaner and meaner creative, and some of these, like getting rid of a filing cabinet, have been good first steps | 10 Things I no Longer Need for Freelance Success

• Looking back at some of the best from an entire year of one of my favorite fashion/photography blogs. Standouts for me included Libertine and High Heels Tomatoes | A Ben Trovato Year

• I read a lot of top ten lists and end of the year round-ups over the new year weekend  - one of the best was by Leslie Burns, whose real world and BS free take on marketing in 2012. This year is all about being real, living the YOU in your work, and making real connections with people | 10 Things to do for Your Biz in 2012 (The Gloves Come Off)

• Forget every other dance video you saw this year, this one by YAK FILMS totally blew me away. Featuring the NextLevel Squad and some serious Flexing, this is one of the best shot dance videos I have ever seen.

• Whether you love or hate him, Chase Jarvis has a talent, much like Seth Godin, for distilling those ideas you just can’t find the words for into a simple statement that changes the way you think about something | Find Your Thing and Do That Thing…

• Nubby Twiglet shared this recently and I wanted to pass it on to you. 2012 is all about showing some gratitude and building some real connections with clients and collaborators | Everybody Should Like Everybody

• As both a super duper camera nerd and a chronic insomniac, I naturally want to put these all throughout my house | Vintage Camera Night Lights

• ISO50 shares their top 15 music videos of 2011. The M83 video for Midnight City by Fleur & Manu is still my favorite of the year | ISO50′s Top 15 Music Videos of 2011

• And speaking of music –  I have not been able to stop listening to White Ring for weeks, if you like it down tempo and dark check them out | White Ring on Myspace. 

• This saturday I’ll be heading to the Queen City Roller Girls season kickoff bout to see my friends from the Nickel City Knockouts take on the Devil Dollies. If you enjoy fun, get out and come to a bout this season  | QCRG

• A collection of vintage British wrestling posters.

• I have been in so many tech and design firm offices that seem like they designed their workspaces specifically to meet the points in this article | 9 Quirky Things Every “Cool” Workplace is Required To Have. 

• Despite being one of my favorite film makers, Terry Gilliam often gives the most insightful, if slightly skewed interviews. Pigheadedness really might be one of the most important qualities for a young artist to have | Terry Gilliam: On Ideas, Unlearning, And Avoiding Debt

• I think one of the final statements of this post sums it up nicely “The fact that this piece of writing exists relaxes me” | Writing your personal mission statement with Gala Darling

• I have really loved this series by Vice that looks into the fashion events of countries not normally associated with fashion | Cambodia Fashion Week Part One

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

I was convinced to finally see Castaway on The Moon after being told many times that it was one of the best films to come out in the past few years, luckily it was recently added to Netflix Instant Watch, and I must say… It did not disappoint – from premise to execution I found it utterly fascinating.

While Vice can sometimes be hit and miss, I often find some really compelling photo essays and interviews about  unique projects in their pages. This series of portraits that focuses on the children of Russia’s mega rich by Anna Skladmann.

A short statement about negative and snarky attitude dominating the landscape of creative industry forums and tweets, I find the closing quote perfectly sums up this often prevailing attitude of viewing everyone and everything as competition ““Rudeness is the weak person’s imitation of strength”

The nerd in me can’t not post this - retro video game ads. Some of the greatest/worst things ever.

I am in love with this slate cheese board… mainly because I have the ulterior motive of wanting to use it for shooting some fun little projects with my iPhone over the coming weeks for Erin’s 29andhungry project, which is where the above images of the blueberries comes from.

No doubt about it - this is just about the coolest watch I have ever seen.

An essential article for anyone who, like me, is an unrepentant (or struggling) organizational nerd – The art of the to-do list. 

How to make a kickass portfolio – Via Chase Jarvis Live.

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

Just a small collection of projects that inspired me this week – to get you through the holiday weekend.

• Richard Mosse’s series of images taken with a special infrared film and documenting his travels in the Eastern Congo are surreal, shocking, and strangely beautiful. Something about this simple shift in color totally re-contextualizes the way we perceive these images.

• David Emmite’s faux documentation on the life of homeless robots is, much like Wall-E, oddly touching.

• From Etsy’s Handmade Portraits series: The Sword Maker.

• And, just to add a little levity, The 12 Most Baffling Genres of Stock Photography. Via Cracked.com – Always good for a laugh.

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

• I finally found some holiday cards that I can get behind – Check out Inky Bench for a high dose of adorable monsters to haunt your holiday season.

• I am not usually one to get excited about a calendar, but this one created by Campari – and featuring Milla Jovovich as the avatar of every manner of world ending scenario is striking.

• Another campaign that made me laugh hard all this week was one created for The Drake General Store in Toronto. There is something about the expression of the woman trying to trade horse meat for candy that requires me to watch these on a constant loop.

• An interesting video that looks at the relationship between time, pressure, and depth of creativity. 

• The Grand Ole Bestiary is like the Island of Doctor Moreau meets Victorian style and charm.

• Staying Motivate!  - Via Nubby Twiglet. 

• If there was one video that made me smile this week it is definitely this one of Bert and Ernie recording voiceovers for Tom Tom GPS. 

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

• Photoshelter is featuring a five week long business bootcamp – curating some of their best content down into a series of e-mail dispatches to help you improve your business.

• If committees told the truth – from Seth Godin. I adore the last line “Great work is never reasonable, safe, or boring”

• Definitely NSFW – Agent Provocateur’s newest ad is a style drenched homage to the Scream movies with lingerie and black metal to spare!

• I am fascinated by the work of Joel Grimes, Fstoppers has a great behind the scenes look at his work

• A wonderful video – 29 ways to stay more creative. 

• Another amazingly choreographed music video by Genki Sudo, the way the guys move in this video is incredible.

• One of my favorite people, Rhea Anna, shares some simple and important wisdom.

• The trailer for I Believe I Can Fly (Flight of the Frenchies) is full of so much wonderful imagery, and I am really into the passion these guys have for their sport.

• A fascinating look at a day in the life of Rick Genest – AKA Zombie Boy.

• The second short from Made By Hand documents the creative process and story of Joel Bukiewicz, an hand crafted knife maker, and his company, Cut Brooklyn. 

• Work at a Different Speed – A music mix from the 99% 

• An interesting manifesto on minimalist photography and going amateur - The Lesser Photographer.  

Required Reading is a weekly listing of all the bits of visual inspiration, cool videos, news, hip links, and miscellaneous information that rattles my head during the week. The stuff that’s worth bookmarking and gets my brain-juices flowing.

• An intensely thought-provoking piece from consultant Leslie Burns about the difference between love and passion for one’s work, and the illusion of self-risk that stops us from sharing our true passions we trick ourselves into believing.

• It has been a great few weeks of music video discovery for me. This video for Clay Bodies by Zola Jesus may be one of the best of a great bunch I have watched recently.

• Scott Gable (Who I share a studio with) rocks in every way. He rocks so hard that he was able to get me, Aaron Ingrao, And Adam Rosina to serve as some of the models for his latest series Things People do on the Toilet - I’m the crazy eyed fella eating the sub.

• Another of my favorite music discoveries as of late is M83′s video for Midnight City , just spooky and weird enough a video to have discovered right before Halloween. I have been listening to this album on spotify non-stop.

• A few months back I did an interview with Design Times, a South African design journal, about my award-winning project – Pigment. I just found out that the interview had been published a while back, and I totally missed it. You can check out their electronic edition of the issue here. 

• Tips for setting an effective backdrop to an efficient creative work day.

• After last weeks feature of a painting of Agent Dale Cooper a reader sent me a link to this gallery of Twin Peaks inspired art - Including this piece, which I feel a sudden urge to track down and display prominently in my home.

• I watched a wonderful documentary this week that fed right into the weird obsession with pinball I had when I was younger. Special When Lit: A Pinball Documentary is a fascinating look into the past and present of pinball. I still remember playing an Adams Family pinball machine for hours when I was a kid at a local restaurant that my much older brother and cousins would go to after their sunday morning hockey league. This documentary is available on Netflix Instant Watch right now.

• Sixty second thought experiments in animated form, by the Open University. Ponder some of these in the early AM to keep yourself sharp!

• What may be my favorite Halloween ad campaign of the year so far – from Vodacom.

• Something about Michael Winslow has always brought a smile to my face, undoubtedly he is an incredibly talented artist who has continued to push the limits of what he does with his voice and body. But his take on Led Zeppelin is something truly remarkable to withhold. Also see his equally fascinating piece on the history of the typewriter, which I shared previously.

• 500 photographers is always an amazing source for discovering new photographic talent, it seems I fall in love with the work of someone new every few days this week it is the mysterious and entrancing imagery of Stefan Milev.

• Nubby Twiglet and Bianca Alexis – 1 Dress. 2 Styles. 

• The Last Shadow Puppets video for The Age of The Understatement, directed by Romain Gavras,  immediately grabbed my attention, probably because I am Canadian, and there is a Zamboni in it. Also… tanks… and very good music.

The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age Of The Understatement from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

• With all the talk about Lytro being a game changing piece of technology, it is great to see someone like Chase Jarvis deliver a reminder about what is really important to focus on.

• How do our natures as content consumers and content creators balance out? Vincent Laforet is right, we need to do better. - Via APhotoEditor.com

• The evolution of one of my favorite brands – I love you Old No. 7.