The Tate stays fresh... getting Tiny Tempah to talk about Chris Ofili's new work

Lovely little interactive piece from Julien Vallee and Nicolas Burrows... Dansedance.com

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)...

oh yes... the Burger King king still got it!

www.firemeetsdesire.com/

Quote of the day...
There's a big difference between standing out and being outstanding.

Taken from the well written, How to... in Saturday's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/29/guy-browning-standing-out

Ever since I was at college, years (and years) ago I always thought - 'wouldn't it be great to have a camera mounted inside my eyeball?'

I was always interested in the capture of fleeting moments and always felt that my photos at the time seemed a bit contrived. With my 'camera eye' I could secretly take momentary shots that would capture glanced images without the hassle of reaching inside my bag, pulling out my camera, turning it on, setting the apeture, focussing, and finally snapping the moment... which of course had long gone...

Now it seems that someone has done it!
http://eyeborg.blogspot.com/

That's Life - Stuffed Cat!

After being confronted with a load of stuffed animals at Spitalfield Market today - I remembered this classic from TV show 'That's Life'

Walking around Spitalfields Market today, I couldn't help but notice how many stuffed animals were there... both macabre and strangely compelling... I was left pondering, is this an example of man's desire to 'own' nature?

Like many, I suppose, I gave little wry smile when I saw this on TV recently - however, upon reflection, I think that what this person says is actually quite honest and illustrates the point of just how outdated the traditional boundaries of the 'British class system' have become.

Latest merchandise ideas for the Generation Green project...

This is what I have been working on for the last few months - a series of games for kids that focus on environment saving tips, for British Gas...

http://www.generationgreen.co.uk/games/eco-rangers/

I went to the Green Awards last night, hhttp://www.greenawards.co.uk/, sadly we didn't win however this was my favourite piece of work from the evening...

I love this outdoor media piece for Nokia... a simple interactive idea, executed in a place where people often have a couple of minutes to spare... at the bus stop.

Social Storytelling
How long can branded stories last in the digital landscape?

It's all about the conversation...

http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=131936§ionName=pov

This week's power play... heavy dubstep... good for losing yourself in your headphones and getting work done

Doing some research for a new brief just recently (I was looking for some images of 'chintzy' gold taps, gold baths and other examples of decorative bad taste, for a villainous character I was creating)... I found this image from Saddam's palace... Apparently, this painting depicts a series of scuds launched towards Jerusalem. Saddam would sit in front of this mural and entertain guests! Now, I'm no psychologist but... something tells me this guy was not of a fun loving, easy going disposition.

GSK Contemporary at the Royal Academy is showing this installation by T.V. Santhosh called Counting Down - a series of fibreglass dogs (wish they were made of solid stainless steel), with timers around their necks and a running LED ticker showing quotes from Yoshitaka Kawamoto, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima.

I found this piece really impactful - maybe its that the dogs look like T1000 androids, (from Terminator 2), and that there are many of them repeated in a squad formation, poised, waiting... waiting for what, I don't know? Maybe until the timers run to zero and they all come to life savaging anyone that happens to be there at the time?.... It's like the frozen moments before the apocalypse kicks off.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/gsk-contemporary-season/

Just found these ads for Alka Seltzer... cute idea, well executed

My heroes... Eric Cantona, Alberto Giacometti, Ronnie Barker, Burger King King, Michael Caine, Delacroix, William S Burroughs

I was left feeling rather indignant when I saw this sign in the toilets at Waterloo Station

Death Penalty Map











Found this map today and was shocked and appalled at how many countries still use the death penalty.... Aesthetically, I also found it interesting that information graphics (maps, diagrams etc.) by nature are quite passive and non-expressive - the message is serious and aggressive yet the map is visually placid and nonpolitical - I found this juxtaposition quite compelling.

I think this is quite interesting as an idea - Doritos allow you to remove all the unwanted banner ads on a web page and replace them with images you like.... although, the replaced images are subtly branded so in effect it's still an ad!

Baptazia.... this probably the funniest thing i've seen in ages, the similarities between these god fearing folks dancing in church and those e loving folks dancing at a rave are phenominal...

Having just become a father I guess I am sensitive to all things 'baby' at the moment... research has shown that babies respond to high contrast images - this book, Art for Baby, features work by artists that include Damien Hirst, Julian Opie and Bridget Riley. Certainly my daughter has a fixation with my girlfriend's zebra print dressing gown!... so at first glance I would agree with the theory... I'm going to get a copy when it's released on 2nd October...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/26/family

Cool Hand Luke - No man can eat 50 eggs scene.

RIP!

Why say it, when you can get others to sing it for you!...http://www.sr.se/P1/src/sing/index.htm

Image by Mario Mariotti: http://www.italian.it/mariomariotti/

Great new site from Uniclo... no big idea as such but a really nice way to show off their product range and guide users through to purchase... http://www.uniqlo.com/merino/

What with Lehman's going down the tubes yesterday, we can really say that the credit crunch is here.

So, after reading this article, http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221575/credit-crunch-drives-sad-music, which reports that songs by the Smiths etc. are climbing up the download charts as a result of our melancholic state, I got to thinking...

What if I were to release a 2 CD album - CD1 would be '10 tunes to get depressed about the credit crunch to' and CD2 would be '10 tunes to beat the credit crunch'...

CD1 - titled - 'Pass that bottle of gin - I'm in a hole and ain't never coming out'

CD2 - titled - 'Fuck the credit crunch and pull yourself together - songs for the shamefully optimistic'

My initial thoughts were for CD1:

We go to get out of this place - The Animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP1w5Hl8D0E&feature=related

Nirvana-In Utero-Rape Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpfSKNUmIfY

Johnny Cash - Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

Beck - Nobody's fault but my own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFWsGa88APM

Neil Young - After The Gold Rush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-48M-LPGo&feature=related

Billy Holiday - Strange Fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKnxmkOAj88

Depeche Mode-precious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXWVpg65Rs&feature=related

Joy Division - Love will tear us apart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0dfd_L4tDk

The Streets - Dry your eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHOf3s70w-c

Thoughts and suggestions...?

A brand that has actually taken the time to listen to it's audience/customer and bothered to reply... this is great.

I shamelessly stole this link from:
http://www.freshenmeup.com/

Wait until September



IKEA has launched this site 'Wait until September' which features Nils sitting in a scruffy, partially furnished room waiting for the next IKEA catalogue to be released - presumably so he can do up his flat.

Beat Goes On - All Seeing I

I can't believe that this ad has caused offense to gay people at all, there is certainly no reference to homosexuality here - unless the implication is that anyone wearing tight shorts and participating in speed walking is a clear indication of being gay? Surely not!

I'd say this is more a case of projection by a small minority of busy body fuckwits, who don't live in the real world....

Just seen this great site that has archived all the great moments in UK TV history, from titles, public information films to idents and test cards... http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/

Be sure to check the Public Information films - I learnt a valuable lesson in this one...

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/dsplus/m.php?p=fatalfloor1974.rm

"Polish a floor, put a rug on it. You might as well set a man-trap."

btw - you'll need to install Real Player, if you don't already have it

After a conversation with a colleague, I was reminded of those old skool rave days - about 2 mins investigation on Youtube later, I've unlocked a box I can not shut!! Here's the tunes of my time...

I'd just started listening to Colin Dale's abstract dance hour on Kiss and this was the first tune I ever heard of it's kind... check the Led Zep sample and the 'alert' sound from Star Trek!

Joey Beltram
The Omen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbt2YybgVk8&feature=related

ACEN - Close Your Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8DjNtZLZUw
Check for Beatles sample!

Joey Beltram
Energy Flash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJG5XlQRmeI&feature=related

4 hero - where's the boy remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQvo6Z-mpNM&feature=related

Project One - Smokin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1EcsbVpRXk&feature=related

Project 1 - Smokin' Chalice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al0t8WJcekc

Human Resource - Dominator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGF7u6tjTg

I could be here all day, so i'll leave it that... remember 'hardcore you know the score!'

p.s. Last one...

Urban Shakedown -Some Justice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhcOD85EfsU&feature=related

Chanel.com












Just been looking at what fashion brands are doing online and the latest offering from Chanel really has to be the best in class... this site brings you a close as you can get to fashion show without actually being there.... both stylish, luxurious in it's scale and execution.

http://www.chanel.com/fashion/7#7-haute-couture-fall-winter-2008-9-chanel-fashion-show-7,0

Pot Noodle: The Musical


















Mother have extended their ideas for Pot Noodle into a musical.... brilliant!

http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=129816§ionName=from_creativity

World Vision Ad





Charity ads never really do it for me - all those pleading faces and tales of woe just don't evoke any emotion in me. Maybe it's because we've seen it all a million times before.

However, this ad for World Vision really got to me. Beautifully shot, it really brings home the message that 'Each day over 1.1 billion people have to wash with, bathe in and drink dirty water'. In fact it's because the ad is shot in the home that it creates such an impact. We're not thousands of miles away in some poor distant country, but in our very own kitchen... to close for comfort... especially the last scene!

Been thinking about Twitter and it's suitability for spontaneous prose... Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg
were big on this so I'm gonna just post random lines of text from their work and see what happens...

http://www.twitter.com

Here's a great little invention... a jam jar with two lids. No more scraping around at the bottom trying to get that last little bit of jam out for your toast in the morning...

http://www.skforlee.com/independent_work/easy_pb.html

My thought for the day: Russell Brand should be the new Dr. Who... who better than the qucik witted, reformed junky to add a slice of risk and panache to the role!?

CHOOSE YOUR PATH - The game where YOU control my fate!

I really like this interactive movie on YouTube, reminds of those fantasy/adventure books that asked readers to turn to a certain page depending on what decision they made...

The title says it all really, but English graf artist 'Moose' creates his art by removing dirt, rather than adding paint...

http://www.reversegraffitiproject.com

The Sweeney Titles

A Ford Granada, Jags, big side burns, wide lapels, revolver pistols, (not Desert Eagle's), police brutality, and a massive dollop of sexism... I happened to catch an old episode of the Sweeney this weekend and was reminded how iconic the title sequence was... were the 70's really like this!?

It's been a long time since I have posted... largely due to the amount of work I've got on at the moment, and once you get out of the habit of writing it's damn hard to get back into it... so my pledge to myself is to get back on it again!

Writing the word Honda in free falling skydivers is not that inventive - but the notion of a live TV ad is a real innovation... award winning in fact! However what is most significant about this ad is that my mum text me to ask me whether or not I had seen it!...

The Selecter - On My Radio

I've been listening to the new Santogold album and was reminded of this ska classic...

I went to the National Portrait this weekend to see the Vanity Fair exhibition. Overall all it was pretty good, I wasn't aware of how early editions of Vanity Fair were responsible for creating so many iconic images of famous people. I was also unaware of the long list of photographers that worked with the magazine to really define those iconic images, like Annie Leibovitz and Herb Ritz.

This image of Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis is fairly unique in the sense that it has a spontaneous feel to it whereas many of the other images are far more staged.

I particularly like the photograph of Margaret Thatcher, her power and enormous stature is captured brilliantly, so much so that I even felt a pang of nostalgia for the 'Iron Lady', and was reminded of the Brighton Conference speech, which feature the immortal line 'U-turn if you want to, this lady's not for turning".... then I remembered how much of a dictatorial warlord she was and moved swiftly on.... go along, but go during the week, it's far too busy at the weekend.