Your body's blank canvas

Got a tattoo?  There are plenty of Youniverse users who proudly display their skin art - check out snowboarderjohn's arm or tdjma's back for some examples.  This self-expression joins poetry in being among the top forms of artistic expression on this site - photography is still by far the most popular creative output here, but hey, this is a visual site.

If you're in the Philadelphia area, why not head over to see "Skin and Bones: Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor"?  This exhibition at the Independence Seaport Museum showcases the culture and history of skin art in America, focusing primarily on sailors' roles in promoting it and transporting it around the globe.  

The New York  Times' review highlights the breadth of the exhibited objects and archival pieces, as well as the balance struck between showcasing the sensationalist aspects of tattooing (something always to be expected with any controversial art) and a carefully documented historical journey.

Inspired? Curious? Got some unanswered tattoo questions keeping you awake at night? Then I recommend you check out that exhibition, or just start on Youniverse by paying a visit to tattoo artist irishroadtrip...

Got a blog? Make it pay with VisualDNA

Today's the day! We at Youniverse can now reveal a brand new product using VisualDNA.  If you have a blog, then we have the monetizing widget for you... 

VisualDNA Shops - fun, insightful and community-driven shopping widgets for bloggers and web publishers.

Simply choose the type of shop you would like to create, then copy and paste the HTML code we provide into your blog's sidebar. Et voila! A VisualDNA Shopping widget, which not only looks fantastic, but understands your users through the images they pick.

Well, would you expect any less from VisualDNA?

Check it out - there's a free version (so you really can get money for nothing) and a Professional Edition, if you want to maximise your potential and profits... you can find out more here or follow us on Twitter for updates.

It's ok, it's ok - I'm still alive! After all, I tweet, therefore I am...

Twitter - love it or hate it, it's the microblogging trend of the moment... and of all the moments for the past however many months, it would seem.

If you've been following the Twitter journey (or even if you haven't, to be fair), you'll probably have read about the site's meteoric growth (even though not everyone sticks around), how the million follower milestone sparked a popularity contest a PR consultant could only dream of, and how the site's concept could even launch a new phase of reality TV (*gulp*) - yep, Twitter is firmly in the new media spotlight.

All of which apparently makes it the perfect medium to tell people you're not actually dead yet. And there was me looking at Hallmark for inspiration...  

So there you go, anyone who was wondering how Elizabeth Taylor was doing after her spell in hospital.  She can still tweet, so she's doing ok.  

All this is assuming, of course, that the person you're digitally checking the pulse of is actually in charge of their own account - Mickey Rooney and Kanye West might have something to say if you sent chocolates/'Get Well Soon' cards/lily wreaths based on what you'd read about (or "from") them on Twitter... 

Apologies for the complete abuse of Descartes in the title of this post, by the way - I wonder if he ever imagined how often and consistently that philosophical thought would be taken completely out of context.  Tweeting clearly doesn't replace thinking in terms of defining existence, but it does suggest that someone's hands still work.

Love sport and style? Bienvenue à Paris...

Ah, Paris - a city of effortless elegance, style and taste.  Especially when the fashion world comes to play for a week.  Right now, though, it's the turn of the sport world to play for a fortnight.  Actually, to be more exact, it's the turn of the tennis world to take the spotlight on the red grit of the Roland Garros clay for 2009's second slam.

I love tennis for many reasons.  Thanks to some not too bad natural hand-eye coordination, I can play a match without complete on-court humiliation... it's pretty much synonymous with sunshine (Wimbledon aside, obviously)... and it abounds with creativity, both in terms of stylish shot-making and individual fashion.  Artists in more than one sense ply their craft on a tennis court.

It's the individual aspect that's important here - unlike football or rugby, where the team kit marks players out as... well... as the team, all the emphasis in tennis is on one player and their self-expression.  Usually it helps if that self-expression is done with a racket and ball, but it's not limited to that. 

Clothing companies have been pretty quick to pick up on the fact that if you can get a marketable blonde to wear your clothing, then sales and media attention can go through the roof.  Sharapova hasn't won a title (slam or otherwise) for a while now (mainly due to injury problems), but she's still one of the most profitable figures in sport (not just in tennis).  

Nike knows this, hence the creative input allowed in her swan dress from Wimbledon 2007 (nice way to deal with the prim, all-white rules, although I have to say my first thought when I saw it was that it looked more like some kind of lizard's crest...) and her black crystal Givenchy-inspired evening dress look from 2006's US Open.

The Williams sisters are also famous for combining the worlds of sports and fashion to the extent that Venus has teamed up with designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Serena has played in a denim skirt and boots.  You can love it or hate it, but you can't deny it gets people talking... 

... and isn't that the wonderful thing about art?

Coming soon to a Youniverse near you...

Howdy, Youniverse folk!  Long time, no see...  My apologies for that, we've been very busy here - you'll be able to see the cool new things we've been working on for Youniverse very soon.  As always, we're doing regular releases to fix bugs, so if you're having any problems, drop us a line and we'll get in touch with you to help sort it out.  

More to come on some cool new stuff later!

Treats for Moms- it's that time of year

Happy Mother's Day for yesterday to Youniverse users in Canada, the US and Mexico! I hope a wonderful day was had by everyone and moms across the continent were spoilt rotten!

If you had trouble picking a gift or thinking of something extra-special to mark the day, or if you forgot and need to make amends, or if you'd just like to take some time out to spend with your mom, look no further...

Sadly, we didn't repeat our cool Christmas and Valentine's giftfinders for this holiday, but we have still got a bargainous way to treat your mum to the perfect holiday, whether she's happiest staying in an ashram or a Hilton Hotel, hitting the slopes of the Rockies or soaking up the sun in Biarritz- click here to find a holiday to suit her personality perfectly!

Keep uploading video profiles!

You can still upload video profiles on Youniverse by using the following URL (where xxxxxxxxxx refers to your own personal profile URL, which for me would be anna):

www.youniverse.com/me/xxxxxxxxxx/expression/videos

If you or one of your friends already has a video profile, when you go to that profile you can access more it easily- just click the "Movies" link below their uploaded photos.