surface

So it has arrived. This is a landmark in the way we engineer our computing environments and this will set the bench mark for things to come. And it comes from Microsoft. Yes they beat Apple to it. It is SURFACE. It's a multi-touch enabled coffee table that allows you to drop your digital camera onto the surface and it automatically downloads your images for viewing on the table. You can then resize, zoom and crop your images. Even upload them to another device. It is amazing. The drawbacks to this are that it is quite impractical relying on mirrors, cameras and projectors to work. Unlike the multi-touch device, iPhone, which will be accessible to the masses and will probably do really well. Madonna has been given a surface. B**ch. Helsinki has a tourist info wall. I want one. It would look great in my flat. But you can be sure you'll have to use a coaster for your drink.

i believe in harvey dent too

Check out this cool viral site for the upcoming Batman: Dark Knight movie which is still in production. Ok so it looks like an error page. Wrong! See if you can highlight the text. Ha ha! But that's not it either. Check this out. Copy and paste the whole lot into a text editor and then use the find and replace function (usually under the edit function) to replace all the "Ha"s with just a blank space. To make the secret code even more obvious. Find all the "spaces" and replace them with simply nothing and the coded message should be really easy to read.

Catch up lady has lots of news around other campaigns that have been witnessed in and around the LA area for the new Batman movie. How excited am I. I absolutely love this kind of marketing as it gives an edge over traditional advertising and it appeals to it's target audience. Can anyone say Annie's secret decoder ring? (watch Woody Allen's Radio Days if you have no idea what I'm going on about).

rhythm of lines

So this is the latest Audi A5 car ad from BBH. This is a really nice idea but sadly the execution is a little lacking I feel. What I like about this ad is the movement of the lines to the music. It feels like ribbon floating through space. The lines that make up various sides of the car form freely, if a little obviously, to the flow of the music. I am not sure of the use of colours here though. A rough, early cut I saw of this ad had the ribbons purely in red, a deep red, which seemed to work a bit better. Also the end resolve of the ribbons into text just doesn't work for me. It looks lazy and childlike. And if you see the full version of the ad (at least the full UK version) over at the Audi site you will see that the ad ends on the car. Yes an actual photograph of the car, thus nullifying all the previous work of the ad. A car company like Audi should be confident enough in their brand by now that they need not show the car at all (see BMW) in their ads. The decision to have the car at the end is poor in my mind. This ad should serve to generate curiosity and interest in their product.

Watch this space for the imminent release of the gt microsite for the A5. From what I have seen and heard it is going to be awesome.

veneno

Veneno are the LA based team that created the incredible visuals for the last Madonna tour 'Confessions'. The song that really stood out for me visually was Forbidden Love, featured below, where blood cells float about on screen as Madonna sings. Two men stand to do an interpretive dance one bearing the symbol of Islam and the other the star of David. Their hands and wrists writhe together as they try to hold each other yet barely for a second manage it as the other slides away continually. Momentarilly they hug before resuming their twisted slippery hand tussle. Centre stage is Madonna with a huge Christian cross adourned in mirrors and the blood cell visuals starting to take shapes as symbols of religion behind. The message in forbidden love is that we are all one, made up of the same material, yet we fight for some perceived deity. Crossing each other we fight our brothers and sisters whom we should be loving. Mads really hit the nail on the head for me with this one. And although I don't necessarily agree with all her beliefs this one holds true with me. And I love the visuals. Check out more from Veneno on their homepage.

Take a second to vote on your favourite city break (right)

try drugs

This educational site about the dangers of drug use is very clever. Titled 'try drugs' the site is split into three areas exploring marijuana, cocaine and heroin effects. But the way the site works is to present you with a seemingly static page featuring an animation, some copy and a piece of music but turn things on their head by hijacking the controls. So for the marijuana section your cursor is sluggish and the copy blurred (until you rollover it) and at the end a pop-up warning window appears from the Norwegian crime unit saying that illegal activity has occurred with your IP address and country. For the cocaine section the cursor is hyper and over responsive and keeps taking lines of coke making the screen flash brightly with an email pop-up window saying that illegal activity has been spotted on this machine and the email getting sent to the authorities (although not for real obviously). And finally the heroin section is surreal with the copy exploding inwards and being generally illegible and lots of pop-up internet pages dealing with death and bankrupcy appearing. It is a clever way to highlight the effects of drugs on the user as for those who have never tried the drug you can get a feeling of what it is like to be on them.

Don't forget to vote for your favourite city break (right column)...

stop go tokyo

So am now back in London after an excellent time in NYC. But I'm still in that big city state of mind so I thought I'd share this dramatic piece of time-lapse video exploring the Tokyo cityscape. Set to a piece of music each scene matches perfectly to the pace of the sounds. A great reflection of an incredible city, this video really illustrates the hustle and bustle of the urban expanse.

I am tired and jet-lagged I think it's back to bed for me (yawn)....

nyc

You've gotta love New York. Here's our evening from last night.

1. Grabbed a slice of pizza from one of those great New York pizzerias just round the corner from the hotel

2. Met Jonathan and his friends at the Hudson Hotel. OMG the place is amazing. Intricately designed to incredible detail. From the stark exterior which we walked past. To the beautiful 'chartreuse' staircase. They have a beautiful library with thousands of books on the high walls overlooking pool tables with huge semi-sphere lights hanging over. The chandelier by reception had tens of holograms of light bulbs. The bathrooms were immaculate in white with gothic mirrors adourning the walls. We sat outside on their terrace being dwarfed by huge skyscrapers either side of us.

3. Then off to some random margarita place for nachos etc.

4. Then to a bar called Vlada where the uber cool New York urbanites hang out. We were entertained by the lovely Edie who sang and told us tales. Then bought us an Edietini at the bar afterwards.

5. Followed by an unnecessary nightcap at BARacuda.

Only in New York!!!

Vote for your favourite city break (right) and I'll see you back in London tomorrow ;)

the big apple

You gotta love the portions that New Yorkers serve for breakfast and lunch. We found this awesome diner on 33rd and 9th which is totally authentic. In the UK this would be a themed restaurant but this was the real deal. Complete with counter with cake, moody waitresses and chintzy Americana on the walls. Brilliant. I wandered by myself yesterday as Michael had work to finish up and so got to finally see the Apple store cube on 5th avenue and the Abercrombie and Fitch store. The glass cube that is the Apple store is just incredible. It is a feat of engineering and is perfectly designed. Glass and steel cube sides welcome you to the store below as you wind down a glass staircase or take the glass tube elevator. A&F was lots of fun too set on four floors and very lush inside. It is really dark there and the music is pumping. The boys and girls who work there are unfeasably stunning and the clothes are...well they are abercrombie of course.

At night Jonathan took us to Bombay Talkie. We have been before but I don't know the food just seemed even better this time. It is Indian classics done in a contemporary way. The style of the restaurant is far from your usual Indian spot. Their martinis are divine and the food is so incredibly tasty. Definitely worth a look if you are in the city.

Check out my latest photoset here

In a New York state of mind

It's amazing the things that you see at night. This bit of graffiti art was drawn on the metal shields that get pulled down in front of a shop window. It was right by our hotel but you could only see it at night. I really liked it. The kid is licking his PSP like it is a lollypop. And the eyes are spaced out like he is high. Kewl.

Had a blast yesterday. Shopping all afternoon after the stationary show, then we were off to musical monday's at Splash. I know, it sounds like a nightmare but was actually loads of fun. This song by Jennifer Holiday from the original Dreamgirls played us out :)

New York city

So I'm up at the crack of dawn here being still on UK time. Checked into our hotel yesterday afternoon after a lovely time at Jonathan and Nick's apartment in Brooklyn. We are at the Chelsea Star hotel in their Wizard of Oz themed room! How gay. The rooms are tiny but then again this is New York. Spent the morning and first part of the afternoon at the National Stationery show which is the reason we are here. Michael needs to meet some people and potentially buy and sell Cath Tate cards there. It's great because I am put to work trawling the stands posing as a buyer and have found some really lovely designs that could be used. And some of the artists I have met there are brilliant. The place is huge though so it's a bit daunting. The afternoon was spent browsing a few shops and seeing what we may or may not buy. God the exchange is so good at the moment for us Brits. It's like one big two for one sale :)

Anyway here's my photoset from the first day.

new york, new york

So this is coming at you from New York, New York. Arrived yesterday after a hellish day of travelling. The UK part was ok despite overestimating how long it would take to get there and arriving a fair bit early. So we were travelling Air India which was unto itself an experience. It seemed that the ground control were used to certain behaviours and so as they announced that boarding was to be done 'strictly' by seat number and then EVERYONE getting up to board, totally ignoring what had just been said, the staff took charge. Once we got on the plane, which incidently was a huge double decker of a plane, we got settled into our seat. Our movie selection looked set to be a kid's movie starring Abigail Breslin and some Bollywood movies. Fun. But the only problem was that our projector only showed the first line of the three lines of subtitles. So some educated guessing was in order! Food was actually quite yummy and we both had an Indian chicken curry (although it was obviously just a chicken curry when ordering). And the service was great. Our middle-aged gent of a steward was the pinnacle of polite as he handed out drinks with a white glove worn. The problems occurred when our lovely co-companions started getting sick. One woman lost bowel control and another lost her lunch. And feeding everyone a curry for lunch produces some funky smells about half an hour later. Nice. The people also totally ignored all requests by the cabin crew so we saw several people going to the loo while just about to land and everyone undoing their belts immediately after touch down and seeing to their bags.

But the worst part of the journey had to be our treatment by staff at JFK airport. We arrived into the new wing at the airport already an hour late having taken off late to face a queue of around five hundred people going through customs. The only problem was that they had 3 staff on to deal with visitors and 3 for citizens: no queue on one side and hundreds on the other. Oh and the queue took forever as each person is checked in VERY thoroughly. Eventually, after an hour and a half, we reached the front of the queue and noticed about 2000 people now behind us. And so we reached the lovely customs official WANG. I approached him with Michael.

WANG "Are you related?"

ME "No we're travelling together"

WANG "Go and stand over there" (nasty tone)

The US Visit scheme pledges for their staff to greet people and welcome them to the country, to deal with people in a friendly and courteous manner and to hear the requests and questions of all. Well WANG didn't even look at me. He was rude and unfriendly. Oh I didn't mention but we were first in line for his queue as he started work. I'm not joking when I say he spent 10 minutes cleaning his screen, obviously knowing it was pissing off the line of people who were all watching him. Talk about power trip. So I had my biometrics taken (both index fingers scanned and a photo taken) and finally got through to collect my bags. All in all I was tired, grumpy and dishevelled. Both of us vowed this was our last trip to the USofA after the harsh reception we received.

Left our flat at 9.40 UK time. Arrived at Jonathan and Nick's apartment at 8.00 pm US time. 15 hours travel time.

wwf

This is truely a remarkable and inspired billboard ad from the World Wildlife Fund. Using the sun and a specially designed screen, the shadow cast on the ad creates the illusion of the seas rising over the course of the day. This stop-motion video shows how the ad looks over time. This is genius and just shows how if you think a little laterally you can produce stuff of meaning for the real world. The link takes you to a Save Our Climate microsite.

beats shadow puppets

I was emailed these very cool pictures today at work and as you know I love shadow puppets. But this was an email of 5 pictures so how am I supposed to share these gems with you. Yes I could publish a small thumbnail to my blog but I really wanted to share the files with you. Oh I have no idea who made them and if I am infringing on anyones copyright I apologise and will take them down. If I knew who did them I would just link to their site. But here's an idea. Box.net make a widget from which you can share files with each other. So you get a great preview of what I am going on about in the form of an image viewer. How cool is that. Check out my other half's way of sharing music over at his blog My Stuff and Cr*p

christian aid week

So it's Christian Aid Week this week and as they are one of our clients at GT we have produced a really nice microsite for them. A really cool idea taking the metaphor of the envelope and showing exactly what your small donation can mean. Visually realized with a cool 3D model and some nice animation all lead to a very effective little campaign. Nice work guys! Oh and please give generously if you can. It's a GREAT cause ;) Check out the microsite

ray (should be) ban(ned)

The 80's are back and so it would seem is Ray Ban here with this viral video. Watch it first and we'll discuss in a minute.

Ok so this went round the agency today and although it did get fairly widely slated it is clearly quite clever. I suppose there are people out there who won't realize that it is all done in After Effects or some such tool and to those it works as a good viral video, one you really do want to send round to all your mates. To the more savvy viewer they will realize that this is just a shameless promo piece for Ray Ban featuring two obnoxious guys. But it is still a good video with a good concept and one that everyone wants to look at even if just to see how it was done. And if you notice on the car window the words "Never Hide"... type this into google and the top hit is the Ray Ban website. Clever!

poll daddy

Who's your daddy? Just found this cool little widget for all you bloggers call Poll Daddy. Create your own poll and host it on your site. This is a great and simple way to find out what your readers are thinking as it is incredibly difficult to get people to comment on your blog (for me at least). So I figure this is a simple way for people to cast their thoughts. So first up: what is your favourite messenger client. For me it is Adium which is a multi-client app for the mac allowing me to include people from all the major messenger programs. That way I only have one window open to keep in touch with all my friends. Oh and it also features tabbed chat windows which is lovely. Check out the poll here

normann

Oh I just love the pretty things in life, this being one of them. From the Danish design house that is Normann comes this gorgeous washing up bowl and wooden brush which I happened to find in a very cool kitchen shop in Eastbourne today. Looking through their site you can see that they make some really lovely and inventive products with that typical Scandinavian simplicity. Oh but it's yellow too and makes the sink look so much prettier.

fedex slingshot

I saw this banner ad for fedex titled slingshot and I had to share. The reason I like it is because it surprises you a little by being able to pull the package outside of the ad. The way this is done is for the advertiser to buy a space bigger than the area that the ad looks like. Within flash you then create an invisible background so that the page beneath will show through. It then appears that the fedex package pulls beyond the confines of the ad. It is an effect done many times before but where this ad works is in its simplicity. For best results view WITH sound. Oh and if you are in the industry or working in flash you should add banner blog to your list of bookmarks because at some point you will probably have to make a banner and this is an invaluable resource.

latte art

There is nothing better than a good cup of coffee to wake you up in the morning. And the art of making good coffee is one that coffee drinkers take seriously. I'm sorry but blasting some milk with steam and pouring it on top of espresso and serving it in cardboard does nothing for me. When I lived in Bermuda they had a great coffee house called Rock Island where they roasted their own beans and brought in speciality coffee from around the world. This is true java. Filtered coffee at its best. I so don't get the new found, British affection for milky frothy drinks. Ok so good espresso is great and a proper latte is also very good. But rarely is it the case that coffee houses here make good ones of either. If you are a true coffee fan check out this site where they show you not only how to create awesome designs in your coffee but more importantly how to make good java.

the big 5 oh oh oh

A big thank you to everyone who has viewed my blog as I approach the big 5000. Just a couple more clicks.... It's been a great 6 months and I am loving doing my blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. Would love to see a few more comments though but hey ho ;)

chris jordan

Chris Jordan is a US based photographer who is doing some really interesting portraits of America. His fascination with patterns in consumerism have driven him to take pictures of the effects of our ceaseless consumption upon our environment. Often his work is only revealed upon closer inspection as you look closely at the work and see that what looks like a beautiful and colourful pattern is in fact a mass of plastic bags. His work is often significant in the numbers he uses: the quantity of cell phones thrown away each week, for example. Some of his work is photoshopped and some isn't. His reflection on the devastation of Hurrican Katrina shows his interest in the way mother nature can wreck havoc back on her unworthy inhabitants. Powerful stuff. And some genuinely unique photography and artworks.

running the numbers

intolerable beauty

in katrina's wake

Today's mood

Yesterday at work was one of those 'nothing works' days. It is sad but true that even with the best mac/pc set-up sometimes things do go wrong. Ok so this was one day where the app I am creating had lots of bugs that seemed unfixable which was incredibly frustrating. But sometimes the best thing you can do is just walk away from it all and come to it fresh another day. I saw this video and it made me laugh. There is so much mac/pc rivalry these days but I do feel pretty much beyond all that now. I don't really care if people decide to buy a cheap pc and struggle with all the malware and viruses. I don't buy into the form over function thing that mac spouts. I just want a machine that is reliable and fast. And I do have that in my G5 set up at work. But really it is time for an upgrade (I've put my request in for a top of the line Mac Pro so here's hoping).

crystal maze

Ah the heady days of 90's British TV. Doctor Who had died a death with the advent of the terrible Sylvester McCoy. The Tripods were but a distant memory (brilliant cliff hanger but no resolve as the next season got the axe). And so young and impressionable boys like me had to make do with TV like the Crystal Maze. In my mind it was the best thing since sliced bread. In case you are unaware what I am going on about let me enlighten you. The premise. Camp as tits Richard O'Brien, who was last seen in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and whose career had all but been washed ashore some distant island, takes a host of contestants around a set of four 'zones' as they pit their wits against various physical and mental challenges. There was the ocean zone, the pyramid zone, the industrial zone and the future zone (or something like that). You can see why I loved it. Having been brought up on the dodgy effects of the Peter Davison era of Who and with gameshows like The Adventure Game this was a breath of fresh air because it was all real. It reminded me of a game I used to play at the Trocadero in London aged 15 which had the set of Aliens recreated in a basement there. You were guided round the set and aliens chased you. The thrills were real. Ok so the crystal maze was undoubtedly shite as you can see from the following videos...

First off is a clip of just how bad it got in the crystal maze as those god awful contestants tried and usually failed to win crystals (thinking back I don't think I ever saw anyone win the major prize)...



So now you have the jist of the thing here is the spoof that I saw today that made me cry with laughter....



And if you're feeling particularly brave here are links to the first ever episode

E01 pt 01
E01 pt 02
E01 pt 03
E01 pt 04
E01 pt 05
E01 pt 06

And as a little secret. I once applied to be on a Christmas special of the crystal maze kids version. The official line as to why I didn't make it was "a bit too old and a bit too clever". Ha. Story of my life :)

reasons campaign

So the safe sex campaign for the GMFA, I have been involved with, is now live. The ads focus around six guys and their reasons for 'choosing' safe sex. GMFA doesn't preach or lecture so the campaign had to focus around positive ideas based around why gay guys have safe sex. The print ads are running in the gay press right now and are being drip fed in. The full print campaign can be seen here. The banner campaign (which I built) is now live at puffta and will be going live very soon at gaydar and gay.com. Check it out here but be warned that like all banners you may need to refresh the page a few times in order to see the ad. It should look something like the screenshot below.