death star canteen
We know, we know... it's been around for ages but we are on a Star Wars kick at the moment and we just had to bring this one up again. Absolute bloody genius.
"There must have been a canteen on the Death Star...:" yes there must!
spud troopers!
Yes I know it's childish and yes I know I'm a few years behind the times but I have been asking for some of these for Christmas for ages and no-one is taking any notice of me.
A full range of Star Wars based Mr Potato Head figures are available for your delectation and delight, perfect for keeping you (me) entartained during these long cold winter evenings!
Well I have waited long enough! I'm going on Amazon now and spending a few of my hard earned quid, in order to ensure I am fully spudded up for the festive season.... and I suggest you do the same.
let the right one in
Having recently been blown away by the movie I decided that anything which transfers so well to the screen must have been fabulously written, so I ordered a copy of the book.
John Ajvide Lindqvist has re-written the Vampire legend and set it in a working class suburb of Stockholm a move which brings a real gravitas to the story line, anchoring it in mundane reality and making the events within, even more shocking.
Brilliant film, brilliant book and well worth checking out both.
photography in the twilight zone
The American photographer Gregory Crewdson takes photos which seem to show the world on the other side of the looking glass. Using a crew which wouldn't be out of place on a multi-million dollar blockbuster movie, he creates images which unsettle and un-nerve, sometimes blatantly and sometimes subliminally.
He very often waits for the Golden Hour (the last hour between day and night) to achieve his other worldly feel and the results are astonishing, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy and insinuating story lines which move the viewer to consider both the past and the future of his fictional characters.
I could write more but I would struggle to do them justice. So I'll sign off with a few words form the man himself: “I’ve always been interested in the uncanny, in looking into ordinary situations and finding something fantastical or mysterious. I’ve always been interested in domesticity; I’ve always been interested in photographic beauty; and I’ve always been interested in a kind of realism.”
get off!
Why do people keep stealing talent I find? It seems that everytime I find a great comedian somebody steals them! First Rhod Gilbert and now Mark Watson. But I have to say what a great advert for the Welsh Tourist Board this was:
Rhod's voice over just nails it. Mark's more recent adverts for Magners Pear Cider also come from an angle we can all associate with:
I think these two ads demonstrate the role observational comedy can play in marketing; helping brands connect with consumers on a level they both understand and associate with. That's my excuse for watching so much of it anyway!
mornflake.com
Today we launched the new Mornflake website. This new version includes a lot more content from well being tips and shape up exercise programmes to recipes, competitions and special offers. It has been a lot of work but it's always worth it when you see the whole thing come together. As always there is more to do as this is a website which will constantly be being developed but we're very happy with what we've achieved so far and more importantly so is the client! Good work guys and thanks to everyone involved.
plastered t-shirts
I was in Beijing visiting my sister earlier this year and she took me to a fantastic t-shirt shop, Plastered T shirts. It turns out that the self titled Creative Dictator (I like what he's done there!) Dominic Johnson-Hill was at the same school as me, albeit a few years earlier. He went backpacking to China in 1993 and, well, that was that. In 2005 he started Plastered T shirts with the concept to take iconic Chinese imagery and place it on t-shirts to create a clothing brand that China could call its own.
Plastered T-shirts takes iconic imagery from China’s streets and celebrates it. Everyday design is inspiration – from neon signs framing steaming karaoke halls, to delicate acrobatic twists and towers – Plastered puts these images on t-shirts in a celebration of everything beautiful about China.
The flagship store is only 13ms and is on a classic Chinese alleyway - it's every bit as quirky as you could possibly want! But as well as a great concept, simple design and a quirky store Plastered are also innovative in their own promotion.
The concept store opened in Beijing on South Luo Gu Alley in 2006 and that same year Plastered hosted China’s first ever hutong (a traditional Chinese alleyway) catwalk show – a celebration of beautiful design in a truly cutting edge venue – models walked the length of the cobblestone alleyway with the backdrop of traditional Chinese courtyard homes. Lanterns intermixed with disco balls lighting Plastered’s first range of t-shirts. The show was a massive success and propelled the brand into the spotlight of international media: Vogue, Elle, City Pictorial, and over 20 television features. The second hutong show saw double the crowd as the buzz grew about this t-shirt company that was doing something ground breaking for Chinese fashion.
nb. the video takes a while to start
So if your ever in Beijing Plastered T shirts are definately worth a visit.
lets get ready to ramshackle
Tomorrow I'm embarking on a 4 day rally from Calais to Valencia. However, it's a rally with a difference - you're only allowed to spend £150 on your car and it has to be themed with all team members in fancy dress! Dressing up as women seemed the obvious choice! I thought finding a car which works for £150 would be near impossible but what an invention ebay was - one afternoon and a K reg mondeo was ours! On the 'beasts' arrival at base camp the real work began and here's the finished article:
Now just the small matter of making it to Valencia, well, Calais even!! I will (hopefully) be back to update you on our progress...
and the word of the day is …
This week I received this email from one of our clients, China Reality Research (part of CLSA). They had just launched an interactive map we'd built for them and had started to receive some client feedback. This email definitely justifies all the late nights that went into the project!
Subject: and the word of the day is ...
COOL!!
I won’t send you all the client feedback (a lot) as it’s getting a bit repetitive …!
That IS cool!
This is very very cool!! Thanks for putting this together.
Very cool map, cheers!
And here are a few samples of what our CLSA colleagues have had to say about it:
This is excellent. well done!
Brilliant.....I am sure there will be further refinements (Google Earth if only we could be able to use it), but it a tremendous effort to have managed it. Well done.
This is very very good.
Within the first couple of hours of this morning (our morning, i.e. most of our clients are still asleep) we had 100 hits to the landbank page compared with 700 in total over the last 12 months.
WELL DONE! AND THANK YOU!
gladiator… ready…
Working on the new Mornflake website has involved everyone here including us in the video dept. (actually this is becoming more and more common as most of our clients are looking to mix web/flash/video etc. into their websites and campaigns). However, the Mornflake website has thrown up a real treat for us - working with Diane Youdale, formerly Jet from Gladiators!!! We've got Diane involved to deliver a series of Well Being Tips which will be released on the website and through the newsletter over the next 6 - 12 months.
It's been great working with Di as she is such an accomplished presenter both on camera and on air (she co-presents the 10 - 1 show on BBC Radio Tees, Monday - Friday) and as a little bonus she's asked us to edited her new showreel! We will no doubt announce the new Mornflake website on here and when we do you should definitely go and check out 'Di's Top Tips' if you get 5 mins.
