In celebration of the new name and redesign and the fact that it's the blogs 400th post. I thought that a giveaway was in order. So lets get started on how you can win. You can enter by subscribing to The Collective Loop RSS, Liking The Collective Loop on Facebook Page, Joining the Newsletter or by following us on Twitter. ( Please read the details below) You can use all the methods of entry, giving you 4 entries into the giveaway and increasing your odds of winning.
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Enter by Subscribing to The Collective Loop RSS Feed:

First, Leave a message in the comments section of this post. (Tell us your favorite The Collective Loop post from the past year)

Next Subscribe to our free RSS Feed (seen in the upper right corner of the website). If you already subscribe, you’re all set, no need to subscribe again.
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Enter by Liking our Facebook Page:

"Like” the The Collective Loop Facebook Fan Page + leave the following message ” hey @thecollectiveloop count me in for the giveaway http://tiny.cc/gn1tt"
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Enter by Following us on Twitter

1. Follow us on twitter @pdragon65

2. Tweet the following message ” hey @pdragon65 count me in for the giveaway http://tiny.cc/gn1tt"
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Join and Sign up for the Newsletter

Join by signing up for the monthly Newsletter. Each newsletter is sent out at the end of each month.
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Selecting the Winner

On Friday Jan. 21, 2011 we will randomly select the winners from all the entries. The first name we draw will win.

We will announce the winner on Dec 17th in the RSS Feed, The Collective Loop Facebook Fan Page as well as our Twitter stream.


and now for the prizes………..

An 11x17 Poster designed by Damion S. for The Collective Loop and a $15 dollar gift card to itunes.

Well folks it's official now. I want to cordially welcome you to The Collective Loop, which was formerly known as Damion DJ & Producer Blog. There was a couple of reasons why I thought a change was needed.

Reasons for the change

1. The name was too long and was too personal
2. The design needed to be more clean and minimal
3. It needed a name people would remember easily
4. It needed a name that matched the ideas of what was being written
5. The link to the site was too hard to remember and too long
6. To have a more professional looking blog
7. To better understand the blogger platform and it's components

Here is what it use to look like:
www.damionscsav.blogspot.com



Here is what it looks like now:
www.thecollectiveloop.com

Behind the Design

In the new design I wanted to keep the same background colors and some of the same colors as the old site. I did however add in some new colors as well. I also wanted to have a new banner header that had a rollover image to give it a different feel to it. (I will be changing those every so often). Then came the navigation which I wanted underneath the banner header with some space between the post header and the navigation. So that it gives it a focus point and a cleaner look. I also added a new favicon to the Wibya search bar and to the site to give it a branded feel as well.

On the side navigation I wanted something that was also clean that had rollovers to give a clear idea of what you where clicking on. The idea for the Stay in the Loop section came from a blog that I follow called: Wanken. I hope he doesn't get offend that I used his well designed style. I also added ways for you to search the site to easily find other articles. I set the site up to be a 2 column setup to keep it from being out of control and messy.

In the posting section of the blog I decided that it would work better if I put the date underneath the title instead of being above. I then didn't like how they lineup so I added an icon to the title of each post. It's an indicator of a new post title and it dis-aligns the title and the date. I also cleaned up the footer as well. Not a lot of people were leaving comments and that might be because the comment section was so small and it could easily be missed. So I increase the size and color to hopefully grab the attention of people who want to comment. Then came the other options in the footer that needed a little sprucing up so I added some icons next to the options and also changed the colors. I then added a new sharing option because on the old site. It was being over looked or it was just not keeping the site clean and it was taking up to much space.

Well I'm going to stop rambling now. So I hope you enjoy the new redesign of the site and I look forward to coming up with new ways to better the site. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think and also share with your friends and family.

Yes! That is all I can say. I'm excited for the NEW album by Goddamn Electric Bill. He has been talking about it and teasing tracks all of last year so it's good to actually see a finished project.

Jason Torbert also known as GDEB began writing and producing the tracks for Jazz as a score for an indie film, "Douchbag," which was nominated for Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize last year. So he starting producing and after inspiration hit his ear Torbert found himself surrounded by tons of new material which he saw as a potential to make one solid album.

The album Jazz will be released on February 8, 2011 and will be released on CD with only 300 copies made. He will have it available on Vinyl as well with only 250 available. Each will be hand numbered. In the mean time if you can't wait till February 8th then you're in luck. Goddamn Electric Bill has put up the whole album up on his website for your streaming pleasure. I have also put it up on the blog as well. If you like what you hear support your artist and check out his shop.

Tom Blachford, a photographer did a series called New Zealand in which he took beautiful and stunning pictures of the countryside of New Zealand. I have a couple favorites out of this series which you can see below. If you want to check out more of his work then head on over to his website.







via: Behance

I have noticed as I have gotten older that I like open spaces with a minimal feel to them. The modern/fung shui style is what I prefer. So I'm sure you can see why I like these Boradway Residences in Venice, California which was designed by Stephen Vitalich Architects. They have that loft feel with opened space and designed to standout with little to no need to spruce up the place with useless crap.

Here is what the architects stated about the project:

The projects program called for four loft style single family residences developed as a small lot subdivision. The program consists of an open plan first level with double height living space, large kitchen, dining area, powder room and service porch. The second level consists of a master bedroom suite and two smaller bedrooms with a bathroom and office/study. The design features an open plan feel featuring lots of natural light. All topped by a 500 square foot roof deck with outdoor fireplace.

If you want to check out more photo's then check Stephen Vitalich Architects website.

Sony yesterday announced at the CES 2011 their new Sony Ericsson Experia product line, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Now I'm not a fan of Sony Ericsson phones but I have to give it to Sony on this one. The design of this phone is sleek with the arc on the back hence the name of the phone.

So here is the info I'm sure your waiting for. It has a 8.1 mexgapixel camera with Sony's Exmor R back-illuminated sensor and its suppose to shoot impressive photos and HD videos (720p). It's running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and it's sporting a 1 GHz Qualcomm CPU, 512 MB of memory and a 4.2 inch multi-touch display which Sony calls it the Reality Display which is really the Sony's BRAVIA Mobile Engine, which does real-time noise reduction, sharpness, color management and contrast enhancement on the picture. It has 854x480 pixels resolution and is covered with a scratch-resistant glass. It's also has a 3.5 mm audio jack as well as a HDMI and USB ports. It has a microSD card slot capacity up to 32 GB and it comes with an 8 GB micro SD card.

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc will be available in selected markets, including Japan, from Q1 2011.






via: Mashable, GSMArena

We know that we spend much of our time online or at least I do. So have you ever wondered how the internet sees you? Well now you can with Personas. So I'm sure your asking how. Here is how it works. Go to the Personas website and enter your full name and it crawls the web for everything that has to do with you. Then it visually shows you in each stage of the analysis and finally resulting in the presentation of a seemingly authoritative personal profile. Give it a try. I thought this was a pretty cool site.

The Omega Headphone Stand can solve that issue of where do I put my over-sized but yet comfortable headphones. I know I can put them on my Omega Headphone Stand($180) instead of just letting them sit anywhere.

The design is a simple Omega-shaped stand, formed from a single piece of wood. It's then coated in a matte clear lacquer, and it's available in cherry maple, walnut, or zebrano finishes. So if you had one you can now show off your headphones and also save yourself 5 minutes worth of trying to untangle the cord.

Mar Hernandez is a Spain based illustrator and designer who goes by the pseudonym of Malota. In her works she uses a lot of different textures and gradients, as well as sharp geometric shapes, while her color choices are more on the brighter pastel side. All these combination keep my eyes busy and my mind interested in the piece below. To see more of Mar’s work, visit her website, society6 and also check out her shop.



via: Grain Edit