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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Body Language! Ahhhh that explains a lot

Recently I was in an awkward situation with someone. I was on edge around them. They were very calm. I was not. Which makes the first pages of the book I have just started reading very interesting indeed. You see I was brave and went to talk to him. I sat hunched up on the desk next to him - he reclined in his chair, spreading his legs and putting his hands behind his head. At that moment I felt dislike for him. It was inexplainable. Why was he so dislikable at that particular moment? And why was it his body language that struck me?

According to "Body Language: It's What You Don't Say That Matters" by Robert Phipps the posture he had adopted was an arrogant one. He knew I was on edge, that made him feel superior. If I'd have read the book sooner I'm have been less nice. Oh yes arrogant man, I am on to you.

Monday 27 February 2012

Stylish trash and Victorian houses

I'm currently attempting to begin to think about decorating the Victorian house My Fiance and I just bought. The problem is that we are starting from nothing. No couch, no curtains - and just one of those bland but perfectly acceptable cream/beige carpets. To top it off the floor slopes like waves at sea - you get seasick walking from one wall to another. There's no point decorating until I know that these issues are sorted out. In the mean time we can't like with sheets over our windows any longer.

While I am waiting for someone to tell me why my house is wonky I have been looking for smaller items that we are lacking - like waste paper bins. No one seems to give much thought to their waste paper bins. But why shouldn't they be beautiful too?

Here are some gorgeous ones I found.

$112 Marye-kelley.com

$395 holyhockinc.com

$69 wisteria.com

$450 Williamwayne & co

Quilted bee 475 ballarddesigns.com

dransfieldandross.com $70

$49 iron accents

$85 Casperi

$150 william-wayne & co

Feeling itchy?

I have three bites. But they are taking up a huge percentage of my body since each one has left a huge red welt. One was on my elbow. It was like growing another fake elbow on the side of my real one. I amused a lot of people on a girls/gays night out recently when I straightened my arm only to be left with this massive elbow still sticking out. Gross. Anyway, the possibility that it could be bed bugs has left me itching all over. Rather like the dog in this very clever ambient ad by Saatchi and Saatchi's in Jakarta. It's a 225 square meter sticker promoting Frontline flea and tick spray that was placed on the main floor of three shopping malls. How clever is that!


Thanks to Copyranter who's advertising blog I found this on.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Stop motion in the wild

Thanks to my friend Thomas for this lovely stop frame animation. It's a dangerous world out there for a stop fame character I can tell you!

La cena from vjsuave on Vimeo.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Sad saluting cooling towers.



Again thanks to Ben for this. Really liked this environmental ad. Only thing was I feel sorry for all the old faithful towers. Especially the ones who go down saluting! Almost brings a tear to my eye. And then the wind turbines have no personality.

Note to self: Get a grip Aimee - It's just like when you were 5 and you wanted to buy a Sindy doll but your Mum made you buy a teddy by doing it's voice in the toy shop all sad: "Aimee, please take me home, I'm so lonely here. Nobody wants me". Yes my Mum was kinda evil.

Stolen from the boss man

So I found this animation on my boss's blog. Thought it was pretty cool and stole it. Sorry to everyone who reads his too. Anyway it's the alphabet in Movies. See how many you recognise.

ABCinema from Evan Seitz on Vimeo.


Anyways I now am going to begin my LA expenses...fun times people.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Things they say in LA

In LA my English-isms are a constant source of amusement for everyone. Occasions when everyone has found me hilarious include:

When I say "herbs" with a h.
When I as HD like "haych dee"
When I say jacket potato (they say baked potato)
When I say he's a minger, that's minging

They also get confused when I ask where the loo is, say "I'm flagging" (tired) and
Nor do they understand "brass monkeys" (cold), chav or townie.

I in return find the things they say funny...

that's rad
bad ass
that's sick (really good)
that's dope (really good)
that's frickin awesome dude
That's retarded (really good)
that melts my face that's so rad
put a period at the end of that sentence
Oh totally - I totally get you, I'm like totally psyched, totally cute, totally, oh you should totally get that, like totes!
Shall I start a room for you? (as in a changing room for the clothes you are buying)


Anyway I will note more as I hear them.

Friday 10 February 2012

Tea Making - a guide for Americans.

I'm in LA again. The weather is beautifully blue skied and the people are as perky as ever. The only thing that is letting this whole experience down in the absolute lack of any tea making skills.

Now, I know you guys might argue that making tea is an unnecessary skill for a US citizen. You might argue that you prefer coffee. Or that you got your independence back on the 4th of July in 1776 and your terrible tea making skills are your way of reminding us that we aren't at home here.
Why should you pander to British whims? But let me tell you this. Tea making is something to be proud of. You will make an instant friend the moment you make a good cup of tea for a British man or woman abroad. We know you are a bigger, stronger, richer country and could totally kick our butts if you wanted. So why not humour us? Make us a nice cup of tea.

Here's the very simple instructions.

1. Tea Brand. This is VITAL. Pick a good British brand like PG Tips, Tetleys or Yorkshire tea. All three are winners with the British public. The teabags will not be fancy - they rip if you press them too hard. Fancy muslin bags simply don't seem to let the flavour out so good. And those folded in half tea bags - they are rubbish.




These are perfectly good teabags which will make strong tea.

This is an example of a shit tea bag...it's Liptons. Liptons sucks ass.

2. Take the order. When you ask "Would you like a cup of tea?" The answer yes is not the end of the story. OHHH NO. You need to ask how they take it. Milk, no sugar is mine. One sugar means one teaspoon of sugar. If you want someone to be really happy ask them how strong they like their tea. They might like it milky, medium or strong. The answer "builders" means strong and sugary - it comes from the way builders used to have vats of tea on building sites which sat all day and got really strong. Or so my dad, who was briefly a builder, tells me.

Almost everyone likes tea in the middle two colours. Very light and very dark are rare.

3. The cup. A mug of tea is definitely the preference for most. This is a china mug not a clear glass mug. But look, if you made me a cup of tea in a vase or in a cereal bowl I'd still be grateful - although I'd think you were a little weird.

4. The brewing. You can brew your tea in a cup or in a teapot (if you're posh). Put the teabag in then pour boiling hot water onto it - by the time you've filled the cup all you'll need is a couple of squeezes of the teabag with a spoon and you'll have a lovely dark colour. It should be dark brown.

5. The milk. Most people like semi-skimmed milk in their tea. We never take cream in tea. And we never heat the milk or make it frothy. That should stay firmly in the world of coffee. Milk goes in last if you want to check the colour is right.

So that's it. If you know anyone who works in a coffee shop please send this post to them. As a homesick British person. I'd really appreciate it!

And lastly here is some tea trivia:

The British are the largest per capita tea consumers in the world, with each person consuming on average 2.5 kg per year.

The bubbles on the top of a cup of tea poured from a tea pot represent money. The more bubbles, the more money you will come into soon.

British people like to "dunk" their biscuits (cookies) in tea.

Tea leaf reading used to be common - women used to look at the pattern that loose tea left in the bottom of your cup to tell your fortune.

Some people of the older generation use a cup and saucer - pouring tea into the saucer before slurping it from there. Frankly it's a bit weird and no young person does that.

Cravendale and the muppets

I BLOODY LOVE THE MUPPETS

There I've said it. Basically anything they do is fine by me. Now they've teamed up with the Cravendale team to make more brilliant Cravendale advertising. I just love the randomness of this! How much would I love to have written scripts for Kermit? Like totally! (sorry been spending a lot of time in LA recently).



The ad is part of Cravendale's sponsorship of the Muppet Movie (good call milk people) in which stickers of the muppets can be collected and stuck onto milk bottles as so.


Brilliant. I would definitely smile every time I opened my fridge if there was a muppet in it. Plus it's a great way of getting children to drink more milk. Healthier bones will be the result - mark my words.

Which ad agency came up with the campaign? Damn it it was Wieden and Kennedy again.
Well those guys work really hard so I have to be pleased for them.