Louisa Lim reports:

Step into any Internet bar, and it’s full of young boys tapping away – many of them apparently under 18. If the state-run media is to be believed, China is experiencing an epidemic of Internet addiction among its youth.

Fried tilapia with herbs, lettuce, cucumber, vermicelli, rice paper, savory mam nem, a glass of wine and the whole family. Love both the food and the atmosphere so much that I want to do it again.

Showcased at Smashing Magazine.

Miss South Carolina deserves a cookie for pulling some shit out of her ass.

Cool design concept for Harley Davidson’s print ads.

From outer space to credit card to bus to condom to boob, Firefox is everywhere!

“Homecoming” featuring Chris Martin. It sounds like Kanye is going to beat 50 Cent with free 99.

Individuality is part of Vassar’s identity. We pride ourselves in being unique; therefore, our public face (the homepage) displayed its distinctiveness almost every day. (You can still browse through the collection of banners I have created since my first day at Vassar in the department of graphics). Even though we still love our previous approach, and I will miss designing those banners, we need to step up our game. The challenge is how to top ourselves by moving forward and still keep what we love.

With that kind of challenge, it takes a dedicated team to tackle. Through thorough research (which includes looking at hundreds of colleges’ homepage), careful evaluation, and endless discussion, we came up with a solid design that would give us flexibilities and still be able to remain unique. In other words, we based our design around a central location, which housed easy-to-access information. As long as we keep the essential element in the same position, the sky is the limit.

As part of the team, my main responsibility is designing the layout, and one of the things that still strike me the most about Vassar is the beautiful campus from outside landscapes to inside architectures. Instead of just showing small, quick-to-load photo, I want to make it big and part of the design. On the new site, I used a detailed shot of the Students’ Building to give a vibe of the place where students gathered for lectures, parties, or just to chill out. But using a beauty shot is just one approach. A wide range of styles will be revealed as we move into this new direction.

So what has been changed? We don’t get to design banners on a daily basis anymore, but we get to focus more on the entire web page. So without further delay, allow me to introduce to you our new homepage, and you could read the official statement about our new design. We also revamped the secondary pages for a crisp, clean and simple look and feel. My kudos goes out to the web team. It was an amazing experience working with a group of talented individuals who had brought their expertise to the table. You guys rock!

A glimpse at Ang Lee’s new film, Lust, Caution:

Accordingly, his film features a few notably revealing and acrobatic sex scenes. (A less explicit cut is being prepared for a possible Chinese release.) These were shot over 11 days on a closed set, with only the main camera and sound personnel present. Leaving room to improvise, Mr. Lee talked through the physical and emotional content of each scene with Mr. Leung (the Hong Kong star best known here for his roles in Wong Kar-wai’s films) and Ms. Tang (who had never before acted in a film). “Ang’s a unique director because he trained to be an actor,” Mr. Leung said by e-mail from China, where he is shooting a film with John Woo. “He’s very quick and intuitive and is always offering his actors something new to work off of.”

Jon Caramanica on Kanye West:

Mr. West is no longer just concerned with being popular; he also wants to be cool. But given the double-digit decline in rap sales this year and Mr. West’s status as one of few bankable hip-hop superstars, it’s a potentially risky time to be broadening, or diluting, his palette. Rap loyalists may blanch at his new directions, but Mr. West has never been solely beholden to rap fans or to rap modes of thought. While other hip-hop stars (50 Cent, Timbaland) have been flirting lately with pop collaborations to extend their brands, Mr. West has succeeded in large part by imposing his ornate style of hip-hop onto the mainstream.