Pikey shout out to PYKY

Yo, PYKY iz da bomb! I is sportin a well hot hoodie by da man him self Stephen Moynihan BRRRAAAPP BRRAAAP BRRAAPP!

Err hum...Today I am having my work leaving drinks. Stephen who works with me has given me the loveliest leaving gift - A hoodie designed by him from his design company PYKY. I am very proud because I think that Stephen is a very talented illustrator and animator. It's also lovely to be given a hand made gift from a person that you have actually worked with. It's times like this when you really appreciate working in a creative industry in London.


Here's some of Stephen's work. You can find out more about his many projects - including shoe designs, animations, designs for cars and graffiti art at http://www.pykystudio.com/

Pringle of Scotland

How do Pringle make their ugly jumpers beloved by golfers? Watch this cute funny little video by David Shrigley commissioned by Pringle and find out. Some of the best lines are towards the end. Thanks to the lovely Elizabeth for this one.

The video was made to celebrate Pringle's return to Milan Fashion week.

I would like to point out that the stereotype that only grandmas knit is not one shared by the author of this blog. Personally we run a little stitch and bitch group around these parts for trendy young advertising types. Oh yeh!

Welsh Newsflash!

The Welsh have claimed another celebrity as their own - none other than pint-sized pop princess Kylie Minogue. It turns out that Kylie's mother was born in Wales - and her name was Jones. Her family ran a post office in Maesteg in South Wales. At the same time. My Grandma was running a post office in Pontardulais - another Welsh village not far away. I wonder if they knew each other.

Can I please refer you back to my earlier blog post about being Welsh when I made three suggestions. One. Jones is a good Welsh Surname. Two. Wales is the Cradle of Civilisation. Three. All celebrities are, in the end, Welsh - according to the Welsh.

Welcome Kylie into the arms of the Welsh. We will love you as much as the gay community do. But not quite as much as we love Tom Jones. Sorry.

And here's Kylie and her Welsh mother Carol. She looks Welsh too with that dark hair!

Cheesy stuff.

Check out this lovely little advert for Nolan's Seriously Strong Cheddar. Not only does it make me not want to ever kill a mouse again (I haven't exactly killed a mouse but I would if I had one in my flat they wee everywhere) but it also has a nice little twist. Good use of 3 different music tracks adding emotional structure to the story too.



But most impressively it was made using animatronics. That mouse is no figment of CGI, it's a robomouse by John Nolan Films:
http://www.johnnolanfilms.com/



You can see more of John Nolan's amazing work on their showreel which gives you a view of the robotic skeleton inside the creations. Among other things you'll see a baby robot, gorilla hands, scary tree roots, a woman being chopped in half and a wiggly banana.
http://www.johnnolanfilms.com/animatronics/showreel-flash.php

Ok lastly can I state the obvious. Nolan cheese? AND a company called John Nolan. Is this favours for family, a coincidence, or do the animation company make cheese too?

Fancy becoming a model? There's hope in Second Life!

On Saturday I am going to a 1920's party in The Last Days of Decadence (Shoreditch London). While looking for inspiration for my outfit I stumbled across this website:
http://ewingfashionagency.wordpress.com

It is a Fashion Promotions agency in Second Life. Here's how they describe themselves:

"The agency was set up to develop, train and promote the careers of new and established models and fashion designers in Second Life. We are not a modeling agency. We are a fashion promotions agency, which means we use fashion as a promotional tool for our non-fashion industry related clients and promote fashion for our fashion industry related clients. The agency does however, have a collection of trusted and trained models that we use in our shows, as we require a high level of expertise and prefer to use models that have either been trained or have worked with us in the past. We don’t operate the standard model agency model though, which also means that our models work more frequently, don’t loose money through agency fees and have the luxury of having a regular work schedule."

What I find fascinating is the fact that they offer model training to avatars and do castings. Here's what they say about the casting process:

"Modeling as a career is as competitive in Second Life as it is in real life and perhap even more so. A fantastic nip and tuck comes a the click of a button, so the supply is huge, which is great news for casting directors and the agencies like ours, but not for the models. A modeling job can attract anything in the excess of 200 applicants. The greatest challenge in getting ahead is posessing the unique set of qualities that gets you selected and booked over and over again. Selection is just the beginning. There are all the practises later that a lot of casting agents use as a test of endurance and commitment. How do you stay above the competition? Once the practises are over, there is the show – how do you become the first face of the show – the headliner? No one remembers the average looking model at the back – be the first face, get noticed and be talked about."

I find the idea that you have to work at a career in second life as hard as you do in real life fascinating. Do the people who go for jobs in Second Life have real world jobs too? The idea of casting for models in a world where you can change your appearance with a few clicks and where everyone is beautiful seems pretty ludicrous. I also wonder whether designers who make it in Second Life will soon have saught after run-way collections in the real world, or if they'd even want to. I certainly wouldn't say no to this little number:

The truth about Men and other useful infographics

Note. Useful is probably not strictly true.









Thanks to graphjam.com

Oh yeh, and I almost forgot the most useful advice of all.

Something for the advertising freaks.

Here's some advice in troubled times when the client is hurting your brain.



And here's something to cheer you up when account people are bugging the hell out of you.

An Orgy of Creativeness

Edson Williams popped into the agency to give us a look at his collection of photographers and illustrators. Not only was I really impressed by some of the books, but he also gave us all a lovely freebie - a bag printed with the work of Merijin Hos and a number of A4 illustration prints. I am over the moon. They are going to be framed in my front room. Not only was the freebie a good way of being remembered, Edson Williams seems full of great ideas. Instead of merely representing a collection of artists, the artists are allowed to vote on whether new talent gets taken on board. So it is an art community that truly cares about each other. They also offer strategic thinking, web design, installations and web solutions. I wish they'd hire me. I'd even make them tea.

Here's the website: http://www.edsonwilliams.com/

Here is a sample of the talent that Edson Williams represent.

Tom Watson.




Desiree Dolron





Andrea Klarin




Alex P




Denise Van Leeuwen



Merijin Hos

Make your own Tory Poster (poser haha)

The Tory's are surely kicking themselves right now for their election poster. I wonder if it was David Cameron who asked the re-touchers if they could just clear up his skin a little, make him look fresher perhaps, lighten him here. Oops here's the result: Plastic Politician. Whoever it is they have made the future Prime Minister look like a right twat. He's more airbrushed than kate Moss is these days.

Here's the Tory poster in it's full glory:


Now see a hilarious spoof apparently masterminded by the Labour party. You gotta hand it to them it's very viral and very funny. But then, the Labour party always have been the party of choice for creative types.

http://mydavidcameron.com

On mydavidcameron you can doctor the poster template to create your own piss-take. Here are some good ones:

Something for the geeks

Try this Geography Quiz to see how good your memory is. I am going to revise before I try again because I only got 57. I am ashamed. You have 15mins and have to name every country in the world. GO!

http://www.sporcle.com/games/world.php

Baghdad beautiful - art of Hayv Krahraman

Hayv Kahraman was born in Baghdad in 1981, trained in Italy and works now in the US. Her work explores issues of gender, honour killings and war. When looking at her art I am reminded of 1920's illustration and Japanese Art. But she also references Islamic and Italian art.

And good news - she has a blog you can follow on our very dearest blogspot.
http://hayfdesign.blogspot.com

Dogs dressed in togs

When I was in New York I noticed that there were a lot of dogs. And more than that, a lot of dogs in togs - mostly, I have to admit, sensible Royal family type gilets.





At first I thought it was that Americans like dressing their dogs up but I soon realised that it was because it was so damn cold. Now it seems us Brits are following suit. Pets at Home have reported that sales of dog coats have soared in the recent cold weather, good news for the company which is up for sale.

In Bermondsey Street, a enclave of gay-boho-chic near London Bridge, Doggie Fashion is taken very seriously indeed. In the yearly Bermondsey Street festival there is a dog parade with prizes for the best dressed. This is probably because we have our very own designer dog boutique - Hollie and Lil. http://www.hollyandlil.co.uk/
At Hollie and Lil dog collars are not something merely to identify and clip a lead onto, they are beautiful ornate pieces of jewellery or designer fashion statements. This shop is so highly regarded that it has been featured by Vogue in their Fashion insider's Secret Address Book and even has a celebrity following. Jonathan Ross gave two collars from Hollie and Lil's to Mickey Rouke live on his Friday night with Jonathan Ross show. Collections include "Boho", "charm" and beaded" as well as "semi precious stone". And here's a quick catwalk show by some doggie models...

oh what a perfect day

While on holiday my Fiance and I were imagining our perfect day. And even imagining it made us happy. Mine goes like this:

Fiance brings me breakfast in bed: fresh orange juice, french toast with blueberries and raspberries.
Shopping with sister.

I walk through the door of Liberties and I'm the 300th shopper that day. I win an hour's shopping free.
Lunchtime. Sister and I go to the Ritz for a Cream tea. There we meet my friends from University. We pretend we are posh. Some of my friends don't have to.

After lunch I get a call - Me? The Guardian's new book-reviewer and restaurant critic? What a day!
Sister and I go to a spa. We have massages, facials and laze around in the outdoor swimming pool.
At 6 I go home and meet fiance.
We get ready and go for dinner in Odette's in Primrose Hill.
http://www.odettesprimrosehill.com/

We make friends with the chef. He is Welsh (I know this).
We pop into a pub on the way home and bump into Liam Gallagher who is out with David Bowie (strangely).

Fiance and Liam hit it off, decide to be mates. David says I'm gorgeous. I say he's too old but am flattered. He says he will write me a song. He then sings "While the world falls down" and dances with me. I almost fall down in a swoon.
Taxi comes to pick us up.
Big kisses for lovely slightly jealous Fiance.
Fall into bed and sleep soundly knowing the next day is going to be lovely too.

The Coke machine that creates real happiness

Coke's long running happiness campaign has reached out into the real world. They have created a Coke machine with a difference. It does things to make people happy. This ambient idea created by Wieden + kennedy was placed in a Student cafeteria in the US. In my opinion it's pretty cool. But bloody hell is it unhealthy. Giving people pizza's to go with their cokes? Giving people 10 cokes instead of one. Maybe they should re-name it the Heart Attack Machine. But anyway it's a nice idea and it certainly seems to work. Just look at those happy faces.

If you need a laugh this cold January look no further

It is my great pleasure to bring to you, "Pissed man, fails to get beer". Note: incoordination when pissed is God's way of preventing you from drinking any more. Something that works brilliantly here. And I love Big Happy's comment that when the man falls on the floor he looks like he's practicing his Cossack dancing.

http://www.bighappyvideo.com/2009/10/23/man-buys-a-beer-fail/

Ice crash!

While we have had bad weather in the UK, this is something else!





And here is a wonderful bit of footage showing how people in the UK in 1963 just got bloody well on with it on the railways, despite conditions being far more extreme.

Me? I'm no blank Canvas.

I spotted this picture on my friend's blog over at Blog du jane Jane. It pretty much sums up what I have just done. I have decided to leave my job. I am in a way starting again. And I don't even know the extent to which this is true yet. I was going to call this blog post "I'm a blank canvas" but that wouldn't be true at all. Sometimes I get frightened by the idea of what I am turning my back on but then I remember that all the experiences and skills I have learnt in my last job are actually very important. I'm not a blank canvas at all. I am a canvas filled with beautiful rich colours of experiences. Strange colours, unusual shapes, I am a canvas that someone will look at and think "wow, that's just what I'm looking for and I didn't even know it".

Tim Walker is gorgeous

Here are some pictures by the talented whimsical Tim Walker. Every one could be a story in a weird upper class fairy tale.







Like them? Check out his website: http://www.timwalkerphotography.com/