cute sticker on a meeting room projector

In the UK all electrical equipment in offices has these boring standard green stickers which say they've been inspected to xxxxx standard. But I saw this in Slough or somewhere and photo'd it mid-meeting. It's a cute orange face going "I've passed!" bringing me a small yet finite amount of joy and hope for the world. Little things!



Quite Japanese-y in it's thinking. I bet in Japan they just have a transparent sticker with this message and happy eys ^_^ with the inspection date, or a little cartoon cat not electrocuting itself.

top 25 music sites/sources on the web

just what it says on the tin. A good Sunday afternoon's work to be had here. Big ones like MySpace and Last.fm but also some you won't know.

Link here!
From the Observer Music Monthly/Guardian Unlimited.

nice bus ad

as well as doing the crossword, I took a picture of this bus ad for Lynx Clicker (BBH). I think the campaign is alright, the TV is very nicely executed: you can't help but smile and it isn't totally obvious. But anyhow I wonder where this execution came from, BBH creatives - were they briefed to do busses? or was this an add on? media agency? client etc. I thought it was way eyecatching. Just compare it to the resized-in-10-minutes-flat Armani ad on the side of the bus.

back on the grid!

So recently, on Sunday, I managed to find a (Sunday) Times at 1pm in Hackney. 3rd store I went into. I hadn't done the crossword for months, and it felt great. I love doing the xword virtually alongside my mum on MSN on Sundays, watching her (slowly) type goading messages like:

"HAHA your brain is addled with booze and sluts you can't get on the grid - why do you do this to yourself every weekend?"

"Have you got 13 across? Stupid child. Remember to get a tumble dryer with a condenser."



"How do I make a picture of a penguin? Stop taunting me."

Back to cryptic crossword - it's so much better then SuDoku:

1. You learn new words
2. It's not purely analytical - some of the clues require Blink-style lateral thinking
3. Some of the clues are fantastically creative and re-frame the whole world of what's in your head/
4. Some clues are so cute e.g. Digital protection (7) ... answer at bottom of post


2nd x-word in as many days - the Evening Standard one I did on the bus tonight. Top left is wrong somewhere. Let me know.


You should all try it. Observer is good - not too many posh/old-boys/army references. Resolving to do more crosswords in coming days.

For your reference, www.jumble.org is the best cheating site.



Answer to clue above: thimble

backing up all my files

This guy at work was telling me how he lost all his pictures from the past 6 years when his HD died, so I have been slowly spurred into backing everything up, pictures first.

The vehicle I have chosen for this is Flickr, which I first thought was a totally natural choice, but then I got hung up thinking about the weirdness of it. I am going to use some random web service to back up the most important non-work files I own, even though it could die next day, Yahoo could triple the subscription fee, and the whole world will be able to see all my family and baby pictures (I could set private, but I probably wouldn't even upload the pics that I would set private). My other options are buying a new HD (costs/effort/not secure if my house is robbed) or backing everything up to DVD (might lose those DVDs) or online storage (don't know anyhting about it). So there you have it. Basically I am going to put my whole picture life online.

By the way here is my del.icio.us list of Flickr apps and hacks.

t-shirt store - OPEN!

Come come, yes, buy.



So anyway, when I went to Singapore, I bought loads of t-shirts. I've put them all on Flickr so you can see them. I'm selling them for round about the £9-£15 mark. Let me know if you like any of them, and we can do deal. Best price for you.

Click here for the set.

moved to hackney

Just what it says in the subject line. Next to Victoria Park, really nice.

Hanging out, socialising in the new place:


Went for a walk today, took some pics, you can get the whole set here:

Backpack

In the spirit of web2.0 and trying to be a bit forward thinking, my 2 housemates and I are using backpackit.com to arrange our housewarming party. It's a web page you create with a big bunch of to-do lists and notes, that are all instantly editable by everyone on the team, so in theory we always know what needs to be done. Will update you on its progress.

a random audience thought: practice

The Matrix, 1999

So I was in this brainstorm about males 16-24, and the idea of 'practice' came up. I think this is one concept that is rapidly losing its value to this audience. When I was little (1989), Jean Claude Van Damme spent fully more than half the movie KickBoxer just training. Now, in the Matrix (10 years on, 1999), Keanu simply downloads every martial art instantly into his brain and, 5 minutes later, bests Morpheus in combat. This sums up the attitude of this iGeneration/generation-N : that training and practice are generally not the smartest or easiest way to get something. There's no need to study hard just to retain knowledge when you can look up any fact in the world on the Internet. Similarly, the instant graftication of digital media e.g. getting free songs off P2P, and also the communities which exist to help you, mean that the simple act of typing a question on a forum and waiting to read the answers is about as hard as things get.


Kickboxer, 1989

While some brands exist in this 'practice' area, I think they miss out the crucial link between the practice and the tangible benefit it brings - e.g. I feel like sports brands often big-up training for training's sake, assuming that their audience see the grit, determination and sweat as positives.

Just thought I'd put this half thought here because there wasn't anywhere else for it. I guess it's another instance of don't assume the audience has the same values as you.

weekend

final product
Originally uploaded by pindraghast.

we repainted my housemate's room because he went away for the weekend. I don't even like Qees, apart from maybe the dog head ones.

nice print work

A post from the MIT Advertising Lab showing loads of fab things ou can do with print ads.

Link here

chinese (internet) wisdom

Just a good quote about the Internet.

"Jack is one of the richest men in China. He runs a range of online marketplaces, under the brand name Alibaba, including TaoBao, a rival to eBay, and an online payment system."

"The Internet is a community; don't think it's just computers. Only if you build you website like a community can your company grow fast."

Double true.

Source: BBC World

neat anti smoking ad

I've been away in fab places like Austria and Singapore for the past month, so here's my first return post. A neat ad, situated right on a busy pedestrian crossing. Vague though.