The Munsell Hue Test attempts to survey how good your color vision is.  The lower the score, the better your vision.  The analysis afterwards, will show where your hue discrimination lies, a useful design tool.  You can also compare your results to age demographics at the end!  Ironically, concentrating on such an exam for a prolonged period of time on a computer screen feels rather detrimental to your vision.  Oh well, I scored a 15, compare your results!  Post them in the comments.  

In the spirit of Kevin Dart's "Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7" exhibition, I thought I'd post this music video by Towa Tei.  This video came out in 2008, but it's still one of my favorite Shibuya-kei songs.  Featuring Lina Ohta, the cinematography is almost reminiscent of something out of a Wong Kar-Wai film.  Towa Tei is a DJ based in Japan who works primarily in the genres of bossa-nova, lounge, jazz and dance music.  Tei's music is best described as a tasty combination of the seductive and the sophisticated.  

Hear more at http://www.myspace.com/towatei

Via http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/rice-paddy-art/

At first I thought this was some clever photoshop work, but paddy field art does exist and it is awesome! The process behind the field art is fairly straightforward (grow different colored rice plants on a planned grid), but it's the scale that makes it so impressive. The village of Inakadate in Aomori Prefacture boasts some of the most detailed of the country's crop art, a tradition that dates back to ancient times of...1993.

There's a great article over at The Japan Times Online with a detailed history behind the tradition  http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070826x1.html/

One last link, to the folks over at weburbanist.com who've compiled a list of crop/aerial art  http://weburbanist.com/2009/02/02/aerial-art-crop-circles/

Nucleus owes a lot to Art Center College of Design.  Having provided us with some of the most talented artists that we've had the opportunity of working with, it is a great institution. Today, it is also one of the world's premiere art schools producing artists and designers who win countless awards and are currently changing our world visually and spatially.  Yet it's been a difficult few years for the school fiscally with amounting budgets, changing economic-times and tuition costs yet-again, on the rise.  But as the previous President, Richard Koshalek resigned after a flurry of controversy amounting from his plan to use the college's funds to erect a building by USC Alum and international architectural celebrity (indeed, leading to school-wide protests against his tenure) Frank Gehry, hope for the future is lies within the reach of the college's new president.

Introducing, Lorne M. Buchman.  The previous provost of CCA (California College of the Arts) and last President of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, he fits the application for the school's ever-changing needs.  Buchman's focus for this upcoming year is strictly on raising money for scholarships and grants for current and incoming students of the school, which for those of you who know the cost of tuition for such a prestigious art school, understand.  Hopefully he lives up to his pursuits and helps lower costs for students so that the college can continue its outstanding record and education.  

Read more at LA-Times