Drenched Goldfish

A follow on from the trumpet playing hamsters, goldfish was a natural choice for a bottled water company Drench, and i like it.

Nuformer Building Projections!

I could watch this all day long. Enjoy!

MAKEUP SHAKE UP

To describe Alex Box as a makeup artist seems like a gross understatement. Her work is so fantastical and theatrical it blows the mind. Every face she paints is a living, breathing art installation, blurring the lines between what is beautiful and just plain wierd. Box’s unique style has earned her huge recognition working with a raft of famous photographers and fashion designers.

I’ve just ordered her book ‘ALEX BOX by Rankin’ and cannot wait to get my mitts on it. Hmm I think this calls for a weird and wonderful fancy dress party, so I can paint my face like some glamorous creature.

WILD BEASTS.....GRRRRR

Wild Beasts are no doubt the best thing to come out of Kendal since Kendal Mint Cake. Hayden Thorpe's deliciously hypnotic and strangely eerie vocals are like nothing else. I find their new album Two Dancers the perfect antidote to a busy office, with Wild Beasts in my headphones I'm instantly transported to a chilled out summer meadow, the perfect head space to write some tricky copy or think concepts. The video's quite cool to. As soon as payday arrives I'll be booking my tickets to see them at Manchester Academy March 20th.

Hair em, Scare em

No this post isn’t about me forgetting to shave my legs. Much to my excitement, Hair ’em Scare ’em arrived for me on Friday. I saw it on Creative Review and thought it looked like it might have some brilliant inspiration between its pages. I wasn’t disappointed either. Hair ’em Scare ’em is as fantastic as it is weird. Presenting a captivating collection of graphic design, photography, illustration, art interior design, fashion and even jewellery design. If something’s hairy and cool, it’s in here. My personal favourite image is Florence the horse in the wig (Photogrpher Julian Wolkenstein).

Published by Gestalten

Edited by Robert Klanten, Matthias Hubner and Sven Ehmann

BOY A

Imprisoned by a horrendous cold, I spent all weekend glued to the sofa with a Kleenex in one hand and a hot Ribena in the other. The silver lining? I got to watch a lot of telly. I won't bore you with the mediocre...

I wasn’t keen on watching 'Boy A' to be honest. I knew it was based on a child criminal’s release from prison many years later, and I thought it’d be too upsetting. But I’m glad I did, as it’s a very tastefully done and thought-provoking piece of cinema. The film opens on Eric being handed a new pair of trainers and a new life by his mentor Terry. He is asked to choose a name ‘Jack’ and then released into Manchester to start living again. Jack has been in prison since he was about 11 and he’s now mid twenties. We watch him attend his first day at work, have his first kiss, first beer and first signs of happiness in years. However, Jack’s new life is marred by guilt for the heinous crime he committed as a child, and the film is interspersed with flashbacks from a troubled childhood and the events leading up to the crime. I didn’t expect this film to surprise and challenge me in the way it did. By forcing you to empathise with Jack on some level it questions your entire mindset on criminal behaviour and punishment.

I was going to post the trailer but it’s basically one big spoiler, so instead here’s the website.

http://www.boyamovie.info/

Touchy, touchy, touch screens all around.

Wow. It seems that, as soon as i get my head around one techy gadget the next one pops up. This little magic box is apparently 'an interactive projector that instantly transforms any flat surface into a touch screen. It frees multimedia content from the confines of the small screen, allowing users to interact with that content just as they do on their hand held devices – using multi-touch technology.' I don't know if it's that useful, but hey it's definately cool and beats carrying a bulky screen around i suppose. Have a little click on the link for a more techy description and video.
http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/