Japan, The Strange Country

In a mere 12 minutes, this video about Japan covers everything from its strange cultural mores to its equally strange economy. Before you get hung up on the ugly caricatures of Japan people and exclaim racism, consider: The creator, Kenichi Tanaka, says, "By the way, please don't call me racist, because I am one of short, small eyes Japanese." Apparently, his motivation in creating the piece--which was his graduate thesis--was to show a Japanese audience how strange they are to foreigners. (This idea of "Foreign people think you're freaks"--with its implied blend of xenophobia and self-criticism--is a uniquely Japanese sentiment.)

Via Fast Company.

Global Day For HAITI

Global PechaKucha Day For Haiti is a charity event, with the aim to raise $1,000,000 for rebuilding Haiti.

It will take place on Saturday 20th of February from 6pm to 9pm at the Round Foundry Media Centre in Leeds. It's a global event with over 200 cities participating & each city is going to broadcast live around the world.

We have really great speakers, including Phil Khorassandjian (Architect, currently in Haiti - live link), Rommi Smith (Parliamentary Writer in Residence) & Simon Wallis (director of Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield). Other presenters include musicians, artists & architects.

Please try and come if live in Leeds or close by. Free entry, lots of beer & orange juice!

It's for a really good cause and 100% of the donations are going directly to Architecture For Humanity for construction work.

Willow

Graphic design studio Willow, based in Belfast, got in touch about their updated work. Check it out!

Veronique Pecheux

Véronique Pêcheux is a photographer based in Paris. Very interesting work.

BBC Winter Olympics Film

To advertise its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the BBC has commissioned this dramatic animated film from director Marc Craste at Studio AKA.