Sex sells. The visual media in general are over sexing our youth. The National Film Board of Canada has an interesting documentary about the exploitation of the youth culture who are exposed daily to sexual images and how it is having a profound influence in their thinking. Kids in their early teens should be thinking about having fun. There are no longer any barriers. Mothers are now dressing like they are still younger than they should be. Their relationships with their kids are friend based at the same level. Constantly bombarded with bawdy images and language each day from early morning till they come home to watch shows that have way too much sexual content.

 

Today’s youth can only emulate what is presented to them in front of their screens. The Internet is a free flow sea of sex for all to easily dip in. Sophie Bissonnette’s documentary, Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence, explores the harsh realities of this generation of kids who are headed straight into adulthood and skipping their precious teen years. It’s really confusing for parents who want their kids to grow up right and are fighting an uphill battle when everything around them is telling their kids to sex it up. How can a parent battle the odds of a struggle like this? Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence is eye opening visual presentation and a concern for parents who are unaware or just don’t want to bother with their kids. What kind of future do we want for our children? Are we so selfish that we doing them a great disservice by not opening our eyes. Sexy Inc. Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence is an eye opener for any North American city under the influence of the sex trade that peddles to all levels of the media industry. Watch clips>>

PlayCrafter is the building block for many of those gamers without computer skills who want to build their own games. It’s a fun way to be creative and get a sense of how games are built. PlayCrafter is community based where all can share and play games created by members and make the games better at the same time.

Cool! Kewel! Cuil? Cuil is the newest search engine that might give Google some competition. At one time Yahoo was king and a little lacklustre simplified search engine with a goofy name Google came out of nowhere and cleaned house. Cuil has some promise considering it was bankrolled by 33 million because the architects are former Google employees (Tom Costello and Anna Patterson) who created this little jewel. Word has it that it there are still many kinks in the engine. Time will tell if the new upstart will put any dent on Google. If the bugs are not fixed, Cuil might just cool off and disappear. The dark background deliberately contrasting Google’s warmer gentle white welcome page with daily fun laced Google logos. Cuil gets straight to the point and starts a unique magazine style search experience.

Looking for a painting program like Corel Painter? Corel Painter might be a bit pricey for some. Sure there is Photoshop and other programs out there that might emulate brushes. Artweaver is the new kid in the block and it has a lot of punch going for it. This robust program is everything Corel Painter has going for it and more. If you can navigate with Corel and Adobe products then Artweaver is no different, easy to draw and paint as natural as possible. The best part about Artweaver is that it is free. Artweaver will make every job easy and has the main extensions such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, TGA, TIFF, PNG, and PSD. You can mimic art tools such as different digital brushes e.g. chalk, charcoal, and pencils. Read more>>

Least we forget, the Beatles want to be trendy once again. It’s now a battle of the bands of sorts with new games  "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" as they go head to head in vying the Beatles on their products. The gaming world got wind of Guitar Hero and the Beatles are in talks to mimick the business plan of Metallica and Aerosmith who have lent their faces and songs to a very lucrative venture in one of the fastest generating money ventures in a long time. Seems there is a new kid in stores each day trying out either Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The games seem transcend easily with parents because most of the music in these games are from their generation. These power chord games are a hit and will one day change the landscape of music as they are also reinventing the music instruments. The future is bright. Wonder how many kids know of The Beatles? The market is growing to encompass all ages who want to graduate from air guitar to a semi-guitar god.

The New Yorker Magazine is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you will get. Adrian Tomine’s cover is a priceless expression between the war of the local bookstore versus Amazon. This issue has a new found story by Vladimir Nabokov, worth getting if you are not a Adrian Tomine.

How can a guy who is full of hot air be a welcome sight for both kids and adults. Well Balloon Guy has created himself a unique niche market with Balloon Guy Entertainment. With simple balloons he can create whole figures out of air. It’s a thing of beauty to see. Considering that kids have a short attention span this will be a hit with them. If Balloon Guy happens to be in the vicinity of your town this guy will be the talk of any party or celebration. Have a pin that will travel will just as much fun when you pop his creations.

The Exoskeleton is The US Army’s answer to Iron-Man. With a second week of amazing receipts at the theatre, the idea of Iron-Man is not as far fetched as you might think. A lightweight aluminium exoskeleton is a reality and was tested in Salt Lake City. The robotic exoskeleton gives soldiers superhuman strength and will accelerate production of this idea that will maybe in ten years slim down to something like a Tony Stark prototype. I don’t know about flight, that is a long shot from now. The idea is entertaining and maybe safe lives or just trap bodies in the suit. See suit in action >>

Battlestar Galactisimpsons is an Internet phenomena equivalent to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You got your Simpsons in my Battlestar Galactica. When you mix the two shows you would get the result.  Dylan Meconis the artist behind this frakin creation and is back at it once again with his second set of Battlestar Galactica art ? la  Simpsons’ style created by Matt Groening. If you enjoy this type of art you can buy The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros and create your own Simpsons inspired art just like Dylan Meconis if you are not able to do it freehand.