Last night I was at the National Gallery Christmas party (and jolly nice it was too), I couldn't help notice that not all attendees were having such a great time...

I was at the National Gallery last night and saw this ice sculpture outside the main entrance on Trafalgar Square. The sculpture is in the shape of a polar bear and as it thaws it reveals the underlying skeleton of this endangered animal.

I think the sculpture, sponsored by the WWF and M&S, is a simple but very powerful way of getting the message across regarding climate change and global warming.

http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/tackling_climate_change/the_london_ice_bear.cfm

While at college, I spent an enormous amount of time in the canteen, drinking piss poor coffee from polystyrene cups, which is why I love this so much...







http://www.flickr.com/photos/13895571@N04/sets/72157614580046629/

As featured in this month's iD Magazine... The pursuit of the perfect form, in our messed up, consumer driven world

Feels like a cross between Roy Llichtenstein and Takashi Murakami. A kind of living pop art.













http://www.pandemonia99.com/

Ikea Heights





http://www.ikeaheights.com/

Google moves into power meters...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6447182/Google-to-provide-energy-smart-meters.html

Mowers v Sheep

I've working on a brief for an energy company this week. As with most energy companies they are looking to improve their green credentials, so I've been doing the usual research and found this...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/07/italy.wildlife

I've been trying to sell an idea like this, into a client, for ages... one day, one day

Dis-patch presents RGB City by Lust (NL) from Dis-patch Festival on Vimeo.

Got a London inspired album to launch?

http://www.editorsofficial.com/streetview

Stick words in the mouths of those sneaky politicians for once... simply brilliant. Done by Lean Mean Fighting Machine.

http://www.leanmeanfightingmachine.co.uk

More inspiration from Youtube auteurs... this time a magic sketch book

Youtube interactivity taken to the next level...

This is amazing...

What the....?

oh man... i gotta get me one

Been watching this on telly and thing that it is the best thing on at the moment...

Really like the way this campaign, by AMV, cleverly uses Youtube to allow you to choose the direction of this story... obviously most people will choose the route that sees the bloke get shanked up, but I suppose that's the point...

Quote of the day... Paul McGann, (Withnail and I) was interviewed in the Guardian and was asked 'What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?' He replied, 'Bruce Robinson once said to me that the only publicity you'll need is good work'

A genuinely good use of AR...

Really like this Nike 'campaign' that allows you upload an inspirational message and then sprays the message on the roads of the Tour De France. For me the charm of this idea is in the fact that the digital world is used to affect the real world.

A brilliant parody of the current craze for knife crime... humour can be a great way of highlighting the absurdity of something so serious.

To celebrate the lunar landing (or conspiracy, depending on what you believe)... Here’s my top 10 space songs...

Space Oddity - David Bowie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o

Rocket Man - Elton John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrKlEtxTx4

Max Romeo - Chase the devil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N505JczoEGI

Creedence - Bad Moon Rising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYnySGM9dQA

Police - Walking on the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jg0GUS_B-E

Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03cy86u6Wi4

Photek - Rings Around Saturn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiYrYUc5zCk

Another Girl, Another Planet,” the Only Ones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3vd6lL_uec

Fly Me to the Moon”—Frank Sinatra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znjEVqSmUSE

Planet of Sound - The Pixies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAAmYe6Qfd0


And if you don’t like those then...

In this instance, I would say that sticky tape matters...


(took this at the Lambeth County Fair on Saturday)

I recently came across this video from Sour, for their track 'Hibi no neiro' - they have used the same technique as Mike Figgis did in Time Code. However they have used their own fans as the 'cast' and the whole thing has been cut from web cam movies... there's no dialogue or story as such, it's just a well executed visual feast... (persevere with it, it's a bit boring until 1.30 mins)

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A session with British director MIke Figgis, courtesy of Creative Social London.

Hosted at the Dare offices, we were originally meant to be spending the evening with Art Malik, who unfortunately couldn't make it along. In his place, thanks to some swift string pulling by , Mike Figgis agreed to come instead - and what a treat it was.

Mike talked of the highs and lows of trying to get ideas through, especially in the money oriented world of Hollywood. He talked of how he battled his ideas through in the face of mediocrity, the enemies he made in being so adamant about his vision, but ultimately the quality of the final product when he did stick to his guns.

He also talked in detail of his film Time Code. Originally conceived as a personal creative project, the film took on bigger proportions when a chance meeting with a major studio gave access to a large budget. Time Code was simultaneously shot on four cameras. Four actors were given their scripts on a musical score and then had to, in isolation of each other, act out their respective pieces. The film was shot in real time so that once the cameras started to role the they didn't tope until the end of the movie.

It really is a masterpiece... here's the trailer

Charming, honest and humble, there’s nothing like a bit of hand drawn typography … I saw this sign in a local dry cleaners… be sure to look closely at the spelling of some items…

Walking through the office I came across this radical and subversive piece of installation art… or was it just something the cleaners left behind?

I'm probably the last person the world to see this but it is fantastic and therefore blog worthy... it's just what UK politics is lacking - a bit of flair! (not Blair)

Have just completed some work for M&S's 125 Anniversary.

M&S are celebrating their 125th Anniversary by holding an exhibition in the University of Leeds (where they began), showcasing key innovations from their history...


http://marksintime.marksandspencer.com/Welcome/

More on the Nostalgia thoughts...

In these dark economic times, thinking about the future is a fairly daunting prospect. So with this in mind it has been interesting to see that many household brands are using nostalgia and a fondness for the good ol’ days to sell their products…

Most people think banners are boring and/or just get in the way... this is a truly imaginative and fun way of making use of the really restrictive window sizes we have to work with... streaming live bands into banner spaces but what's really cool is that they have got the bands to perform in boxes that are of the same dimensions of the banner...

http://www.bornoncloud9.be/cases/axion/the-banner-concerts-campaign/index.html

Augmented Reality: Coraline

More Augmented Reality - just a great way of getting people engaged in the movie...

Augmented Reality for Mobile

Love this Augmented Reality app for mobile...

Demo of Julian Perretta's 3d video for "Ride My Star"

Square Butts Burger King Music Video with SpongeBob Square Pants

oh dear... the Burger King King don't got it

It Is What It Is: Fountain Square Cincinnati, OH

Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller, is driving this burnt out shell of a car round America. The mangled wreckage is lasting evidence of an attack in Bagdhad in 2007, where 35 people were killed and more injured. The resulting conversations of passers by being put on Youtube.

I like the way that this 'piece' evokes intrigue at first, then horror when the context is revealed, finally conversation... but what is really interesting is that Deller filmed the conversations and stuck them on Youtube thus extending and amplifying the piece to make something much bigger.

Taken from yesterday's Guardian.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/14/jeremy-deller-iraq-war-us

Those lovely people at the Tate have put up loads of free content on iTunes...

http://www.tate.org.uk/itunesu/

Got to touch a childhood icon today... Morph!

The wire - Omar

Omar's coming yo!

On Friday night we won a Revolution Award for our work on Generation Green... www.generationgreen.co.uk

Now that I know what Twitter is, here's a way in which a brand has made simple use of it...

http://skittles.com/chatter.htm

Seems like everyone's going Twitter mad at the moment... Initially set up as a means to communicate with friends and family, inevitably users have taken it on and made it their own.... here's a brief introduction by founder Evan Williams.

Play the Album Cover Game

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random... Read More”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Here's mine... a bit freaky!

I'm back... it's been a while but I've been in Abu Dhabi for the last six weeks, working on an airline brand over there, (work to follow)...