Hypnotic installment this - I'm not quite sure how it's done. It looks like light is shone at it and the spot size increased or panned, but I can't work out how the 1st 'outline' effect is achieved. Very nice though, I could watch this for donkeys'...
Created by Pablo Valbuena, via fresh creation*
PG Tips' monkeys have a long-standing history here in Blighty as an instantly recognisable brand. My memory of them begins when I was a kid and I watched the live monkeys ads - a sort of Johnny Morris-inspired effort to liven up a (frankly) rather dull product. It worked brilliantly.
When they were modernised using Johnny Vegas, I was not expecting much as I've never been a very big fan of the rotund 'comedian'. However, in these ads, he shines alongside his erstwhile knitted companion. There's a long history of these working (see: Flat Eric and Gordon the Gopher) as well as them not...
All-in-all, it's a great little ad. Very emotive and surprisingly well-acted. Let's hope there's more of them to come...
Via AdGabber
I've long been a huge fan of tornadoes and lightning (I have quite a few videos on my PC that I've found online) and this man-made one in Mercedes' museum is fantastic!
I'm a huge sucker for anything that's scary without showing what you're meant to be scared of. Some of my favourite movies are The Thing, The Last Broadcast, The Mothman Prophecies, Jaws, Wolf Creek...
Electronic Arts' ads for their game Hellgate: London are shining examples of this. They're well acted (the woman in the first is especially convincing) and set the tone and expectations of what I hope is a very scary game. BTW, the games that have scared me in my life are Clive Barker's Undying, Bioware's System Shock 2, and Looking Glass' Thief series
Whilst I've not yet seen the acclaimed Bionic Woman program featuring unlikely ex-Eastenders star Michelle Ryan (pics), this supporting site is slickly put together. It's a nice implementation of games relevant to the show, featuring tests to see how bionic you are. What's nice is that the tests cover a number of human senses and abilities such as hearing, coordination, arithmetic etc.
It's nice that they've followed in the steps of the larger recent sites such as youtube and offered the option to 'embed your bionic results'. My woeful embed is below (it was a Sunday morning, give me a break :) )
Check out the Bionic Woman website - see how bionic you are
Update: My friend Graham would strongly contest my result, given that - because I rarely eat or... ahem... go to the 'bathroom' - he's been accusing me of being a replicant for the past 10 years :)
Anyone who knows me, knows I practically support the Guinness company single-handedly (meh, it's a tough job but someone has to do it ;) ). It's one of those brands that people have an emotional attachment to. Here's a cracking photo I found randomly on flickr.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Scott MatthewsA gem in my collection this album. Dreamy and somewhat meandering, but overlaid with complex composition and thoughtful lyrics. This is also one of those albums I stick on when I have a hangover and have to get on the tube, or when I need some music to help me sleep. Very chilled, the sort of tunes you should enjoy while sipping a nice cold G&T, watching the sunset over an Autumnal horizon. Lovely stuff.
Buy this album from Amazon
FinkI was lucky enough to go and see Fink perform just a couple of weeks ago in the Camden BarFly with my girlfriend and I can honestly say it was a unique experience. A tiny venue, it probably takes only 150 people at full capacity. Floor-level stage at the front meant Fink, his drummer and bassist were only a few metres away. Was made the gig stand-out (apart from the fact that is was excellent) is that it was so relaxing.
It's beautiful music, boiled right down to its barest elements and it really 'takes me away from it all'. It's quite a departure from his previous album, Biscuits for Breakfast, being a much more considered and muted affair. I get the feeling that the first album was a bit of a shot-in-the-dark for Fin (Fink's real name) as his previous existence was as a DJ. Following that album's success it seems they've taken this latest recording much more seriously. My only negative comment would be that the tracks are very similar to each other, the previous album had more diversity to it.
Buy this album from AmazonLove this multi-gatefold thing :) CD packaging. Not as cool as Tool's Grammy-award winning packaging for 10,000 days but good all the same ;)
Definitely one of the weirdest things I've found online. Um... here's a toilet. For you to use, dear reader. Yes.
via adverblog
I've only worked in this industry for a little under 3 years but this article had me nodding in agreement so much that I've smashed my keyboard into teeny, tiny pieces. Clients: take note. We know we aren't perfect either, but I come across many more clients that refuse to see their own faults, than agencies.
extract from socialmediatoday
Beautiful and kinda creepy, I have next to bugger all idea as to how these work. I like things that make me feel stupid...
I'm a fan of take-no-prisoners advertising. There's too much beating around the bush, treading on eggshells, using kid gloves (I've run out of sayings). It's like that awful 90's movie Crazy People with Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah (although Daryl made it worthwhile for me to watch it at the tender age of 12 :) ), but in real life and everything!
This Save the Children ad pulls no punches (ha! I remembered another one), ending with the tagline "Pick and excuse, or make a difference at only 175 kroner a month" (about 16 quid for you Brits) and including such truisms as "The rich should pay", "People only donate to charities to feel better about themselves", "No one in Africa has helped me with anything" (for shame!). I have to admit that 2 months ago I cancelled all my direct debit charity contributions because they were out of control. Over the 11 years I've been in London I had signed up for half a dozen odd charities. My plan is to truly assess what I consider to be the things I want to give to. I've love to give to everything (as I'm sure everyone would) but you have to be realistic. Once I've sussed that out, I'm planning to set aside a set amount of my monthly earnings, then divide it amongst the charities I want to support. Wish me luck!
via adsoftheworld
heh heh... not that I'm having a dig at Account Management (sorry Rach :) ) but this ad made me laugh. Anyone in the industry who's not a suit (sorry, again) will understand ;)
Lovely, wonderfully animated little video about our inherent ability and flat-out determination to destroy our own planet.
via freshcreation
I'm always a fan of 'offline' ads that do something other than simply slap a bit of paper up there. This one's a nice example.
From adsoftheworld
This brief little video, just 5 minutes and 28 seconds long, is possibly one of the most important ones I've ever watched. I'm currently re-inventing myself (at least in terms of my career) and my head seems to ache constantly with the burden of finding words and expressions with which to convey what I've been thinking.
This video goes a long way towards helping me. Most people (probably 99%+ of the population) have no idea what is happening out there on the Web. Most people view it as done. They say "Oh, yeah, I've used Amazon". Or "I've browsed the Littlewoods catalogue online". That's the old Web. Well, actually it's the young Web. It's the Web as first envisioned, which was effectively as a GIANT microfiche library of things that already existed 'offline' in the world, but you could access them from anyway you were plugged into the 'superhighway' (I had to struggle to remember that phrase).
And sure - you know what - that is certainly a function of the Web. But it's evolving. And what keeps me working in the industry is not money, or job titles or a fancy building (despite how much glass places like to try and fit in). It's the fact that it is not going to stop evolving. In the last 12 months alone, the Web has blown apart the way we use the information already there, and how we connect the new information we bring to it (I'm a little disconcerted about referring to it as a 3rd-person entity... Skynet is scratching at the back of my mind, trying to warn me about something...)
Watch the video and think about it. It's not geeky - there's nothing in there that's hard to understand for the non-digital. But it's what's happening and what is going to continue to happen.
Personally, my life and how I access information has changed radically over even just the past 2 years. I consult wikipedia, the minute something pops in my head I want to know more about and adore browsing AllMusic.com (2 excellent examples of cross-linked, non hierarchical information).
I really like the execution of this microsite. It takes quite a bit from The Sims, what with the characters' 'happiness' meters and all, but it's nicely done. Finishing touches like the way the cushion covers appear when you place a cushion, and the way the wallpaper rolls down the walls, take it above just a 'nice little site'.
Via adverblog
Clever ads these. Very dependent on where they are placed of course, but still, a nice and simple execution.
Via adrants.com
Amazing to think that 30 years ago my sister won a poetry competition and I effectively nicked her prize - an Atari 2600. I have a... somewhat... tumultuous history with the brand (as a client it nearly gave me a nervous breakdown at the tender age of 28), but as an invention it's unrivalled.
What's really amazing to me is the lack of vision and understanding they had when it was invented. Think about it - Sony won a massive foot in the door to every home when they released the PlayStation. But Atari had been there and done that. If they hadn't have ballsed up so incredibly with the release of the E.T. game (amongst others) then they could have developed a media centre in every home long ago. Now we're just left with Sony and Microsoft busting each other up trying to do just that.
Even more amazing is that in 30 years, games have gone from looking like this:
to this (Half-Life 2):
and this (Bioshock):
More info on 30 years of the Atari 2600 at RetroThing
I think the latest changes in the music industry are very exciting. For too long, the corporations have dictated too much and now their own artists are revolting (some more than others, ha!). The punters have been pushing against the tide ever since the days that Napster was a fledgling and, instead of embracing change and turning it to a profit, the RIAA have just tried to charge everyone and sue their asses off. The turnaround to digital delivery is utterly inevitable, and sticking more fingers in the dyke whilst burying more heads in the sand (I can't think of any other metaphors :)) is not going to help.
Now, Nine Inch Nails is a free agent having left their label and are going it alone, Oasis, Jamiroquai and the Charlatans look to follow suit and - more amazing - Madonna is offski too. Now, I can't stand the warbling old bint, but you've got to respect her balls (I'm pretty sure she has some clanging around down there somewhere).
Radiohead (can't stand them, but hey...) also famously put their new album online this week and invited users to pay whatever they thought was fair.
Plus, with services such as Grooveshark, which allows users to create, upload, listen to and buy other people's music in a P2P stylee, I'd say the music industry is going to change enormously, very, very quickly.
You know - I've got a copy of Now! That's what I call music 4 at home on double CD, with an Our Price sticker still on it. The price? £16.99, bought in about 1984 or something. Price of a double CD in 2007? About £16.99 I think. All change please! All change!...
Genius. I'm incredibly intolerant of stupid people and pretty much anything that is a waste of my time (I'm looking at you Reality TV). So some boffins have decided to make a 'stupid filter', to lessen the din of idiotic comments and posts that millions, nay billions, of morons around the world keep bloody well making. Over and over. And over.
The idea is that they train it to recognise mind-numbing gobshite such as the below comments:
Now, if they can invent a celebrity gossip filter and method for eliminating The Sun newspaper I'll be a happier bunny.
A friend of mine has just finished working on this site (I think - trying to find out if it was him or not :) ).
http://www.upgradetobritishairways.ba.com/
It's an old idea, but it's well executed in Flash. My guess is that they have categorised all images by 'over-riding' colour and then each image is sliced into an array, with a colour reference for each cell pulling in an image from that colour pool. That way, it allows users to upload their own - they only need to classify them by colour.
I reckon anyway :)
Reverend and the makers
(Yeah, yeah - I realise it's been a WHOPPING long time since I've posted. I've been busy. My life has changed. All for the better. Deal with it :) The new music in that time hasn't stopped though... let's see if I can catch up).
I love this album. I need to tell you a bit about me to explain it. I'm dystopian; annoyingly disgruntled with most of the things that the human race are. I've been this way since I was a kid and I doubt it'll change. I'm a fan of Philip Larkin and Sylvia Plath's Poetry. Of Shakespeare's Hamlet and King Lear.
This album revels in scratching off the TV-fed facade that 'all is well' with a rusty, state-paid-for syringe. It makes commentary, not the greatest music. I loved the lyrics to Heavyweight Champion of the World the minute I heard it on the radio and bought the album based on them:
Now that shes older
As the embers of romance
Fade to mortgages and leccy bills
Been comfortable and that
Nobody told her
That she'd ever reach the stage
Where her husband bored her
Or she lied about her age
He's compromising
At least he's got a job for life
Get born, get school, get job, get car
Pay tax and find a wife
And on that note
The end can't come too soon
If you're not living on the edge
You take up too much room
I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Put me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World
At school he used to dream about
Being Bruce Lee
But the need for chops on the Manor top
Aint all that great you see
And so he gave up
On his black belt and first Dan
As near as he got to China
Was a week in Camber sands
I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Put me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World
I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Put me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World
It's boring it's boring
It might put you to sleep
As the same old routine repeating week after week
And you work harder, work harder
You're told that you must
And you must earn a living
You must earn a crust
To be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Put me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World
I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Put me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World
A lot of the other time is spent commenting on the utter banality of modern Western living; a frustration I've shared since I was knee-high. It's like a gentle, UK-based Tool without the darkness.
