dead insect

pictures of my dog

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:54:00 +0000

This is a pretty unapologetic post. Dog is a bit older now and has learned how to swim and bark.

In case anyone was wondering, his name is Pedro Souza dos Santos, a.k.a. Jacaré. It means caiman-esque thing in Portuguese, and is the name of a vale tudo (no-holds-barred) fighting champion, hailing from Manaus (the heart of the Amazon), in Brasil.

Jaca for short, Jack when I can't be bothered to explain to people, and a lot of the time he gets called Dogger or Dog Face or PuppaTron.

We write his name as Dog*, where you pronounce the star, which makes him the brightest star in the sky.

COW DOG

OTTER DOG

FACE DOG

STATUE DOG

darth vader doing the dance from thriller

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:49:00 +0000

just as soon as it started, my search for meaning is over.

Link to youtube

Dear Ant,

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Dear Ant, originally uploaded by dead insect \ /.

I've had mega week this week - been flat out. Working on some really exciting stuff though. Anyway I was just tidying my room and found this. At first I couldn't work out why I'd kept it - it's just a cover letter to an all-agency xmas gift of some bubbly - then I realised, it's because they've tried to write "Ant" in a hurry, and it looks like they've written a really really rude word instead.

I love that as a way of addressing your staff - Freudian pen-slip I think.

new Gmail feature for addicts - block yourself from checking it

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Following on from my long and boring post about how our constant need to check our bleeping things lead to a loss of creative potential, Gmail have introduced 13 new features, but the only one that really caught my eye was this:

Email addict: A tool that lets people lock themselves out of their e-mail account for 14 minutes.

Neat! Google once again lead the way in productivity, by ironically making a block for their own product.

(Phone rings) Hey Anthony, I've just sent you through the artwork to your gmail - can you check it and forward it to the printers? It has to go in the next 10 minutes.

Hey yeah sure. Erm, I've just locked myself.. hmmm... we're having Internet problems here, can you send it to my other address?

Coke Unhuggables Ad(s)

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:53:00 +0000

Very funny ads, exactly what americans do best, great use of media, but nothing to do with Coke whatsoever - should be a beer brand - Bud Light or Miller etc etc.

Also I feel it's kind of a shallow idea - it's a running gag executed in an obvious way - I wonder how well it would extend into other media?

Having said all that, I think it's doing good things for Coke.

recycled junk jewellery: tower hamlets safety glass earrings

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:01:00 +0000

I've just started doing evening classes once a week in silversmithing and jewellery making at the community college in Bethnal Green, just for fun.

I plan to make a series of 13 pieces of jewellery - one representing each Inner City Borough of London, using items I find on the floor in each Borough.

The first piece is these Sterling Silver earrings made from chips of car glass from an accident next to a bus stop on Grove Road, Bow, Tower Hamlets, London.

It was my first time trying to use silver wire like this. I was hungover as hell, and they took about 2 hours to make, but if I did them again, it would would take much less time. Pretty pleased with the result, the safety glass really blings well - much brighter than I thought it would be.

These ones aren't for sale, but I could make a new pair if you want, or even something different. Any ideas for the next pieces also welcome.

PS
I found the silversmithing course via the Tower Hamlets Learning Ladder scheme which is brilliant, has a range of courses in all kinds of different stuff, from cooking to languages, and cheap too - a 10 week course is £85, compared to fees of £400+ for doing it at a name like St Martins.

Tennis Ball Outift

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:01:00 +0000

Rich, Dave and The Ball, originally uploaded by the_wizard?.

I was just sorting out old fancy dress pictures and found this - it's from last year, where we did the 5 Boro Bike Tour (50 miles round New York) dressed as tennis players and a tennis ball.

Has the Internet paralysed your creativity?

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:37:00 +0000

I just read some people's notes on Mental Detox Week, most notably, Iain's. Having been pretty much on beaches for 3 months and reading a lot of books about Zen, I have been thinking about this subject a little bit.

I honestly doubt that anyone who uses Facebook, Twitter and IM can do any real creative work at their desk, unless they have elaborate self control strategies.

Let me clarify what I mean by this.

The 2 types of creative process

Synthesis
We might say there are two types of creative work that go on. The first people call synthesis, and it happens whan the brain is in a conscious, thinking mode. For example you have these conversations:

Hey, did you hear about that artist/blogger/kid on YouTube who did XYZ? Why don't we do that, but in some different way using A instead of B, in this new context?

And it turns out to be a great fresh idea for brand PQR.

There is nothing wrong with this, and the reason it works well these days, is because the Internet has given us such a big pool of XYZ, that we can mix it around at quite a superficial level, and it never seems to get played out or tired. People who are good at remembering lots of different things they've seen, or searching for interesting things, will be very good creatives.

Sub-conscious
The other type of creativity, is what Iain called focus. It's definitely a deeper mode of thinking, and here's how it relates to Zen (when did I become such a twat!!!):

No new ideas come from the conscious mind... it can only synthesize images it has already seen. True creativity comes from a state of no-mind, where your thoughts cannot block the unlimited creative potential of your inner being.
Eckharte Toll - The Power of Now

This "state of no-mind" is a state of flow, or being in the zone. The place Ronnie O'Sullivan is when he's doing a 147 or when an artist is working creatively and doesn't have any conscious thoughts. Now, I don't agree about the "no new ideas" thing - it's too tough to argue that anything is a new "idea" rather than a synthesis, but we instinctively know that to create work that's a cut above, we need more of this type of creativity.

When seeking answers, one must quiet the soul in order to hear them.
Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls

Strategies for upping your creative potential

During when I worked at glue, it was just as Facebook status updates became widely used, as well as most people using MSN messenger. At this point I entirely gave up doing any planning thinking work at my desk - I used a pad and pen somewhere quiet, and used my computer to type them up/draw them into PowerPoint. This had the added advantage of making me appear more creative.

If I had an agency, and it had planners or creatives (or similar roles), I would probably insist that they spend at least a third of the time away from their desks. Or something. Anyway I don't have an agency, and if I did it would have animals in it, and not be profitable. But regardless, here is one more smart strategy from Paul Graham:

I now leave wifi turned off on my main computer except when I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I have a separate laptop on the other side of the room that I use to check mail or browse the web. My rule is that I can spend as much time online as I want, as long as I do it on that computer.

He sees this as a strategy of first recognising the problem of wasting loads of time on the Internet:

When I have to sit on the other side of the room to check email or browse the web, I become much more aware of it. Sufficiently aware, in my case at least, that it's hard to spend more than about an hour a day online.

My other thought is about research - doing it first, not as-you-go-along, and doing it properly, with paper, pens and printing things, and annotations. This is so that the stuff can sink into your head, and you can have a flash of inspiration in the shower, or so that you can work on it later away from your computer. I have seen so many junior people in agencies asked to do some research, and come back with just a list of hyperlinks! Bad intern - no job for you.

Jokes aside, I think this is a serious problem for any creative agency right now. What HR or personal strategies are people taking to deal with it? Any good software strategies?

some of my favourite keyboard shortcuts

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:09:00 +0000

Apologies for this moderately dorky post (also it's aimed mainly at PC users), but here goes. My computer is my tool for work and sometimes for fun. If it were a pistol, I would be able to reload it really fast.

As it is, I can reformat your Microsoft Excel cells before you can even reach your mouse.

So here are some of my Favourite Keyboard Shortcuts, that are actually useful.

Microsoft Excel - CTRL+1
Bring up the format cells menu palette - where you change the number properties or other properties of cells. This is beyond a doubt the best keyboard shortcut I have ever used.

Microsoft PowerPoint - CTRL+M
Insert new slide. I guess this one feels good because you create another blank canvas with just one keystroke.

Microsoft PowerPoint - CTRl+D
Duplicate selected slide
If you are writing online creative strategy documents, this is a pretty good key.

Generic - WINDOWS KEY+D
Minimise all windows (show desktop). Enough said. PCs have had this for far longer than Exposé has existed.

Generic - CTRL+W
As mac users know, this closes windows. This works in many Windows programs, and it's better than ALT+F4 because it doesn't require you to change your wrist position. Interestingly, using CTRL+Q (quit program) in MS office only works in PowerPoint.

Any more obscure favourites out there?

my new old school stationery

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:31:00 +0000

So, I finally decided to take my work as a freelancer seriously, and for this reason, decided that I needed company stationery.

I was going to design headed paper and all that, but then I thought I wanted something a bit different. So I opted to design a wax seal commemorating the inaugural year 2007 for Dead Insect, to use on letters, invoices and estimates.

I got it made at http://www.citycoseals.co.uk/ , just down the road in Hackney. It cost about 25 pounds, the guy hand carved it beautifully. Highly recommended.

Basically, it's brilliant. very indulgent, and very fiddly, and initially you tear all the paper trying to use it. Once I got the hang of it though, it rocked. The smell and texture of sealing wax is beautiful.

you can even see the url perfectly. the whole things is 25mm (one inch) across

I am so obsessed with using it, that I want to send all of you postcards or letters.

Write me with your address, or leave it in the comments, and I will, as soon as I can be bothered, send you a letter or a Moo Postcard (I got a load of these made as Xmas cards, then forgot to send them...!) with a wax seal on it.

dog

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:18:00 +0000

I finally went ahead and got a dog! 'Nuff said. I haven't named it yet - any good suggestions let me know!

why I love England

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:33:00 +0000

I have just come back from 3 months on holiday, and was feeling pretty down about being back in the UK. But these 2 things reminded me why I love England.

This is Woolacombe Bay, North Devon. I'd never been before, and it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life, 3 hours drive from our house. I say this having been on beaches in Brasil for a good few months.

This video clip reminds me so much of my school and youth in North London, and is irrefutable evidence for how immigration really does enrich culture.

Off on holidays

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:21:00 +0000

Debaixo, originally uploaded by Eduardo Amorim.

I'm going to Brazil for 3 months on holiday. I hope to hang around, drink a lot of cachaca, and head to the South to learn to be a gaucho. Back in April 2008.

instructables: ghetto matrix lightwriting special effects

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:22:00 +0000

Happy new year all. I've been in Singapore, just hanging out and listening to Indonesian pop songs.

This is brilliant - as a fan of light-writing, I saw this on Instructables and had to share. It's done using 24 ordinary digital cameras strapped to a board. Sweet.

Link to YouTube

Link to the whole instructions thing here.

new camera

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:44:00 +0000

I'm going on a long holiday soon, so I finally buckled and bought a camera. I got a Lomo LC-A from eBay - the hipster's tool of choice.

I haven't really worked out how to use it yet, but I really like it, and here are my favourite shots I took. It's another of these products that's popular because it harks back to simpler days - it's very mechanical and feels chunky and good.

colourful jumping thing - fancy dress inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:45:00 +0000

I am deffo going to try and incoporate bits of this for next summer's festival fancy dress season. Incredible.

best ad of the season

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:39:00 +0000

I don't normally just put ads here, but I've been carefully reviewing all the seasons ads so far (watching loads of telly) and there are only 2 ads I look forward to seeing - this is one. It just perfectly captures Boots in relation to office Xmas parties. The tone is just right, all the timing is spot on, and it feels just epic enough - any bigger would be a bit ridiculous and very un-English. Great soundtrack too.

Link to YouTube

new bike - fixed gear road cruiser

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:58:00 +0000

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging a lot is that I've been building a new bike, bit-by-bit. It's an alloy beach cruiser frame, with just about everything else new on it.

My old singlespeed bike, (The DR06, 2004-2007, RIP) got nicked, and I wanted to build a fixed gear bike. But the whole vintage road track frame things wasn't for me, so I decided to get a cheap US cruiser frame and make it into a usable every day commuter.

It looks "different" in the same way teachers in school told me my paintings were "different", and I like the way it rolls around. Riding brakeless is good fun too - you actually do feel a bit more "at one" with the ride.

So all the bits are now finally in place - next stage is a re-spray, and adding diamond spokey dokeys.

frame: Schwinn Alloy Cruiser
front fork: Kona project 2
wheels: white Velocity rims 36H, System-ex hub back, Shimano disc brake hub front
seat: brookes, unknown alloy seat post
bars and stem: unknown
drivetrain: seguino messenger 44T, 165mm cranks, back cog unknown
pedals: unknown with clips

my new zen blog

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:19:00 +0000

I wasn't sure whether to put this here or not, but people were really nice about the Zen Snacking article I wrote, so here is a link to a new blog I've started.

http://everythingsjustalright.blogspot.com/

It's just a collection of notes and ideas on how to not get so stressed and how to try and get more joy out of life, drawing on ideas from various religions, philosophies, and kung fu movies. I'd really welcome any feedback or ideas for contributions.

Bus Depot Fire, Hackney Wick

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:01:00 +0000

Fire in London, originally uploaded by qwghlm.

BREAKING, London 12:59 - the Warehouse behind the bus depot on Waterden Road, E9, is on fire. If you've looked east from central london, you can see the smoke rising. It's just behind my house, in the Hackney Wick area, near to Stratford. There are lots of firetrucks there already. More at Sky News.

Rememberance Day Campaign 2007

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:20:00 +0000

I've had a fun couple of days working on PR for the Poppy Appeal 2007. The Royal British Legion has created a 6'5" sculpture of a dude made out of poppies which is appearing at various places to raise awareness. He also has a blog at http://whereispoppyman.blogspot.com, detailing his journeys round London.

I've found it really interesting working with the SPA Way - they're a very media focussed PR agency, and the sheer pace and panic of PR is very different to what I'm used to as an advertising account planner. Anyway minor excitement this afternoon as Poppy Man was centrefold in today's Evening Standard.

Mad props to our photographer, my friend Fred who's currently between advertising creative placements and working as a runner for a C4 production.

creative alchemy mega party, westbourne studios, weds 14 nov, free!

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:24:00 +0000

This is a party for all creative professionals, organised by Claudie Plen.
You can check out the Facebook group here too.

Me and the HungaMunga arts and crafts gang will be doing our thing there, as well as other fun stuff. I have no idea what kind of people will be there, but Westbourne Studios is a nice space, and it's free, so you might as well.

The Creative Industries party of the year, celebrating Enterprise Week 2007.
Creative Alchemy Ltd, London Westside, Paddington Development Trust, Westbourne Studios, and Make Your Mark.

Join us in our giant interactive networking space, Hungamunga playspace, film, art installations from Artspace, Talkaoke mobile chat show, live painting, and dj's and performances all night...there will also be a couple of free drinks for the early birds, courtesy of London Westside and the Paddington Development Trust!

To book you place or download your invite, go here!

70 things for 70p

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:31:00 +0000

The baby clothes label I work at, Oh Baby London, has just been featured in New magazine, which has the best cover starburst I've ever seen - in the top left - "70 things for 70p". Wow.

Jokes aside, we have a bit of product placement for celeb baby gear, which we're really happy about.

Also, I'm looking out for artists, designers and general craftspeople who'd like to collaborate on some fun projects with Oh Baby London - get in touch for more info.

zen snacking (for Blog Action Day)

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:43:00 +0000

Have you ever watched someone in London eat a bag of crisps? They toss them into their mouths in a mechanical, grazing fashion, whilst they text, read a paper, or stare into space.

Aside from their mouths opening, their faces don't even register each crisp going in, or the flavour of it. They're thinking about work, people they fancy, what to wear tonight - everything apart from eating crisps.

We've all done this - snacking on total auto-pilot until we get a mild surprise when we look down and see that most of the bag is gone. This is a bad thing generally, because not appreciating what we consume causes over-consumption in many ways.

So here is my take on Snack Zen, which you should try the next time you get a bag of your favourite snacks - crisps, sweets, wasabi peas,organic chocolate covered blackcurrants, whatever.

It is a 5 minute Zen Snack food exercise which will make you happier, more relaxed, more mindful, more giving, less wasteful and hence greener.

- - - - - - - z e n - s n a c k i n g - - - - - - -

One should take a bag of one's favourite snacks, and go to a quiet place, like a park bench, a hotel reception, or the corner of an old man pub.

Do not think about work, or watch people, or admire poster ads. Simply sit and prepare to give this 5 minutes of your life to snacking.

When one eats the snack food, one should attempt to focus completely on the mouth sensations of the snack. Taste, texture, moving it around with the teeth and tongue.

One should not think at all, or analyse, but just concentrate on the feelings from your mouth of eating and tasting the snack. If thoughts arise, just let them drift away, and continue eating slowly.

Initially one will find that one is able to eat only 1-3 crisps before the thoughts wander completely and one must "snap back" to the snack food. Try it if you don't believe me.

If one has worries or doubts - like having to get back to the office, or what to do about some person who's conflicting with us, let these thoughts go and re-focus on the snacks. Right at this moment, all the other concerns are just illusions in the head.

When one can get through half a bag without daydreaming or worrying about the past and future, that is significant progress. The heart rate will be lower and one feels very chilled and 'at peace' with things.

Eventually, after maybe months of practice, one can go through a whole bag of snacks in 5-10 minutes, all the while staying completely in the zone. A similar sensation is found sports, playing music, or making or appreciating art: being totally engaged in the now.

- - - - - - - b e n e f i t s - o f - z e n - s n a c k i n g - - - - - - -

You can leave the office feeling stressed and tired, and come back in 10 minutes feeling refreshed, calm and able to treat problems with a clear head. You'll regain your sense of perspective, because you know that these problems can't control your emotions and that by simply focusing on the present, they disappear.

(My personal favourite zen-out snack is Frazzles, by the way.)

are you the next big dead thing?

noreply@blogger.com (dead insect) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:32:00 +0000

Of the 2 types of people in this world -- those who create charts and graphs for fun, and those who don't -- I definitely seem to get on better with those who do.

One such person is Richard Watson at trend lab Now And Next. I haven't ever met or spoken to him, but basically, he makes massive and not entirely serious graphs with somewhat arbitrary y-axises for a laugh, which makes him absolutely sound in my book.

He's the guy who did that way cool Trend Blend tube map you might have seen. Anyhow here's his latest, an Extinction Timeline, showing what ideas and things will die out, and when. I like it, don't understand the reasoning behind some of it, which I suppose makes you want to talk more about it.