Monday, December 31, 2007

hogmanay

On the last day of the year I'm indulging in two ancient Scottish traditions.

Number 1: cleaning the house from top to bottom, it's seen as bad luck to go into the new year with last years dirt. Personally I'm of the opinion that it's bad luck to be superstitious but I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry.

Number 2: Later on we will no doubt partake of the traditional Scottish new year ritual of having a wee dram, singing a few verses of 'Loch Lomond' and getting misty eyed and nostalgic for the mythical 'Gods own country' and a time and place we have never been.
Add to this the surreal aspect of acting out these rituals in the heartland of the sworn enemy - leafy Hampshire.

have a good one whatever you're up to.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

a merry jingle

this one rarely crops up on Xmas compilations, Thin Lizzy and the Sex Pistols (aka The Greedy Bastards) from 1979.

See you next year

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Dem Phones

This is really good, courtesy of Lean Mean Fighting Machine.

Lol-inator

Thanks to Lloyd for spotting this bit of a giggle.
This blog makes a lot more sense when plugged in here.
Literally minutes of fun to be had.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

i want one of these...

Can't think what to send me for Christmas?
Vox have brought out these nifty little pocket size headphone guitar amps, the amPlug. In 3 flavours, Classic Rock, Metal, and for traditionalists (like me) the classic AC30. You can also plug in your ipod and jam along. Back in the day - in my first band - all four of us used to plug into one AC30 and make some racket.
Anyway these little fellas are about 30 nicker a pop. Just add Rickenbacker and it's perfect for the axeman or axewoman in your life. More info over here.
Disclosure: Vox are not a client but it would be great if they were..

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Sky does a 'facebook' with a moody bit of privacy invasion.

Spotted by those eagle eyes at the Project VRM Group: some small print on the end of a flyer insert in the most recent issue of the Sky subscribers customer magazine.

"Information held by the Sky group about you may also be shared with other companies outside the group, including for sales, marketing and market research purposes by such companies, unless you indicate that you wish to be excluded from such uses by contacting us on 08702 40 40 40"

That means your complete viewing and interacting history I'm guessing?
Ok you can opt-out - but only by calling the 0870 number.

when email marketing goes wrong pt2

Call me old fashioned, but when someone addresses me directly by my surname they are either my schoolteacher (and that was a long time ago) or they are just spoiling for a fight...

Friday, December 07, 2007

comments...

Heres the thing. Theres a few readers here - theres 40-odd in the facebook group, plus I know that about a hundred that come here on and off via blog-friends, twitter and facebook. Not exactly A-list numbers but a few none the less. I get the odd comment in this space but now the majority of comments are coming via email, facebook mail or DM tweets rather than on the blog. Its great to get feedback in any form but it does get a bit lonely round here with no actual comments, and makes it look a bit like I'm talking to myself, which is not actually the case. I'm pondering...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

the key to reserva - scorcese spoofs hitchcock for freixenet


Excellent spoof sees Martin Scorsese make real an 'unreleased' Hitchcock script, it’s actually an online film created for Freixenet champagne.

found it at threeminds.

they say
'It shows that short form content distributed digitally can be a legitimate art form where both the craft of creating excellent entertainment and the business of building a brand can come together seamlessly'

its about 10 mins but worth it. watch here You can add your comments too.

webby 5's

I was fortunate enough to be invited to launch of nominations for the 12th annual Webby Awards hosted by Poke London at the ICA last night. As well as the mingling and quaffing of Russian beer Poke had invited a selection of pioneering web types to present.

As if to confirm that none shall escape the Attention Crash the presenters could use just five images and five sentences in five minutes. (Influenced by last years award ceremony where winners were limited to acceptance speeches of only five words. One of the funniest examples was some fella who's speech went 'thanks mom...whoever you are')

Some pulled it off better than others, Matt Hanson from aswarmofangels on his co-creation movie project and the Webbys own David-Michel Davies (if only for reminding us of all your base - cue much dewey eyed-ness) got full marks.

Didn't stay for the debauchery sesh after the talks, couldn't handle that on a school night, but did get a chance to briefly chat to Flash guru Niqui Merret and similarly Brighton based designers Ribot.