One Cold Hand

CNN.com usually brings me very top line stuff with the end result of confirming how strange America can be. Once in a while it does throw up an interesting and quirky story such as this one - a girl from Carnegie Mellon University started a website for lost gloves. Her aim was to reunite these lost gloves with their "lost" owners...



"onecoldhand.com is a project that connects the Pittsburgh community through one unfortunate event - the loss of a glove. The website creates a method for dealing with the conundrum of finding these lost articles. Do you leave it and hope the owner comes back to find it? Do you pick it up? Throw it away? With onecoldhand.com, the abandoned object now becomes a symbol of benevolence and hope."-----Jennifer Gooch

Quirky as the story may be, what is the end result?

Who's going to do the intro?

There are some great shows on TV with brilliant writing. However, this post is not dedicated to the writing, the actors or the plots but to their intros. The best shows usually have the best intros. Below, my top 3 plus one extra which I love simply for the song - the intro graphics aren't great but crank that up on your TV and it'll be 30 seconds of heaven.

1. Six Feet Under - the most emotively complex show ever shown. Death has never been so intriguing. The very last scene is by far the most powerful 9 minutes of any show. The intro scene is sublime with music to match - what else would you expect from the creator of American Beauty.



2. The Sopranos - I haven't seen the last episodes yet, been holding out till I get time. This is a show whose plot is so complicated you need to watch it twice to fully comprehend every twist. Another great intro song but overall this one is much more compelling - the intro is as much a bully as Tony Soprano himself.



3. Weeds - Any show about a mother of two selling weed to a "fabricated" town in the US has got to be great. Simple but addictive show - one that doesn't require serious concentration. The intro is a sneak peak into what America is becoming; copy paste towns with copy paste people. What's amazing is that they record a new version of the intro song for each episode. This is the original. Little boxes...



The last intro is from a show that I recently started watching - House. A show about an eccentric yet brilliant doctor; Gregory House. He is played by Hugh Laurie of Blackadder fame - the first series I ever watched and loved. His actoing is great and the American accent is flawless. The intro song is Massive Attacke's Teardrops and it never sounded better.



OK now I have some reading to do....

Plug me in...

There are some amazing things on the web - you can get anything and everything. Once such item is this extension cord concept.

I love it.

Fight Chicken Discrimination !!

As my blog description says I write about things that keep my attention for more than a split second and I have stumbled across a website that has kept me going for some time.

Meet Fred The Chicken. He's from Kuwait and he's been trying to get into Nandos, not to eat but......be eaten. His story is as ludicrous as it is brilliant and for those reasons it is so compelling. Watch him lose his temper as he gets rejected from Nandos then see him explain the difference between a pigeon and a chicken - great stuff.

Follow the story unfold at chickenpower.org

CHICKENPOWER !!

Game Over

If you don't live in America then you will never really understand college football. It's a religion for some schools in the states, and they put as much effort into the show as they do the teams themselves. Seeing how all of it is represented in the very lame cheerleader/band movies, you come away thinking "whats the fucking point of all of it, it just seems so stupid?" But then I stumbled upon this little gem of a video which, for me, justifies the whole thing. What a little creativity can do to something so stupid. Watch what happened when the Cal marching band mixed their show with some classic Nintendo games.

Ubuntu

I've always thought that I was quite tech savvy. I was the guy that people came to if they had a computer question like "my computer doesn't work" - I'd have a look, do what I could and that would be that. I do know more than the average person, but I am only scratching the surface when it comes to the real stuff - or to be more precise I can just about see the surface using Google Earth. I know a lot about XP in the superficial sense only due to my own tinkering with it, but I am now dealing with a completely different beast altogether.

Ubuntu - a concept of community from Sub-Saharan Africa, often summarized as humanity towards others. Or as I know it, a Linux operating system.

I had installed Vista on my machine, which began giving me problems. One of the IT guys at my office gave me the Ubuntu CD and I have been hooked since. The concept is completely opposite to that of Vista or XP – basically everything is free and open source so any user can change the environment at will. This means that you can really customize your system giving you the freedom XP does not. The thing is I don’t have enough time or patience to really get stuck in – only an excuse I know but it is quite intimidating to stray from what you are used to.

I will keep hammering away to see how far I can get – you never know I might be blogging from MIT soon. (feel free to laugh now)

I'm Famous

A couple of days ago a friend of mine sent me some pics he saw in a graffiti book. When I opened them I was amazed to be looking at what seemed to be....ME.

The graffiti artist, Besok, is German and seems to either look like me or has illustrated someone that looks like me. After seeing the pics I remembered an incident that occurred about 15 years ago. I was at school in a French lesson and we were reading from a text book which had a picture of a guy who looked exactly like a kid from the class. Being the children we were this amazed us and that was pretty much the end of the class. Someone mentioned that everyone has a look-a-like somewhere in the world - well they were right and I have found mine.

Up, up and away.

The Internet is full of videos of people embarrassing themselves - its what Youtube has been built on! Some of the people deserve to be ridiculed and others pitied. This elderly man just needs a hug. Watch as he looses his balance going UP an escalator, and falling in slow motion...

Run dude, run!

I love this blog. Such a simple yet brilliant idea.

This guy places his camera at random locations, presses the timer button........and runs. The results are captivating.

iPhone? iDont Know

The iPhone came out - it was amazing apparently. I wouldn't know since they haven't come to Dubai yet. I have seen a few but unless I really use one I can't make a judgement of my own. The hacks were helpful as were the 3rd party apps, but it all came tumbling down when Apple released the new firmware 1.1.1. All that was, was no more and people were pissed. So I started looking for alternatives to Steve Jobs' offering. I have found a few, both of which are set to be released quite soon. The first is the Sony Ericsson W960i. I am a huge SE fan with my last 3 phones all from SE. This one looks good to me - 8GB internal memory, 3MP camera, WiFi etc etc.. it looks very interesting indeed.

Then there is the Bang & Olufsen Samsung Serenata, which is very intriguing. I know its going to be very expensive but then again everything B&O do is so what do you expect?

And of course I know for a fact that I am gonna get screwed the minute I buy whichever phone because they will either announce a newer version the next day or reduce the price. I think I'm going to go old school and use my dads old Motorola phone. And if anyone makes a comment I can beat them in the head with it -you can't do that with any of the new mobile phones, can you?

Transformers, storage in disguise.

2 GB USB Transformer Decepticon Figurine or 1 GB USB Transformer Autobot Figurine.

I want one.


[uberreview via geekalerts]

Blast It

I don't know why no one ever thought of this before? This desk has a built in amplifier with a 3-way speaker cone-set. It easily hooks up to your iPod or laptop so that you can enjoy your tunes right at you desk - well, out of your desk really. Very clean design, almost Apple-esque; iDesk anyone? [Pieter Maes via Gizmodo]

Extreme choreography

This is an ingenious way of demonstrating product attributes. Especially when that attribute is 5-star crash rating and the method is a beautifully choreographed ballet. I'm not one for the ballet but I'd pay good money to see this.

Great twist to classic car ads.

I can't decide...

...if this is incredibly impressive or this guy has way too much time on his hands?

Lights, camera, LIGHTS

As the Daft Punk fan that I am, I am continuously searching for new stories and information about them. In my cyber travels I discovered who created the light show for their Alive 2007 tour. They are called Eight VFX and these guys are brilliant, the light show was almost as good as the music - I know I was there. They have done amazing work in cutting edge visual effects, working with some of the biggest names. Below is a TVC they did for HP featuring Michel Gondry - of Around the World directorial fame.



This is their web reel showcasing some of their amazing work.

Whisper it into my ear.....

...or post it on the web for millions to read.

Great blog of anonymous secrets, my favourite below.

Read more here.

iLego

It was just a matter of time before we started seeing ipod/LEGO products. This one is simple and a great alternative for your iPod dock. It even has a built-in speaker and for all those ipod/iphone nuts you can stack them all up in a rainbow row - in chronologically designed order of course.

They cost $16 and can be bought only in Korea from 10x10.

No receipt? Then you have the right to remain silent...

I know this subject has been debated over and over but this story from the US has sparked new interest for me. Ever since 9/11, people have been trading in their liberty for the illusion of safety, particularly in America. Many books have been written, a plethora of movies, documentaries and short films have been made on the subject but this new incident really pushes things too far.



Michael Righi was subject to, in my opinion, a classic from of American over-policing and abuse of power. He could have obliged with the request made to him but his actions certainly didn't warrant the response he received. Its clear to see the US government's scare tactics seeping into the way people think and act.

Read how a trip to his local electronics store ended is his arrest here.

The Robots are Coming

What happens when what we create turns on us? We may be a long way off that, so while this animation made me laugh, it also put the simple thought in my head - THE ROBOTS ARE COMING.

You Have 10 Seconds...

What can be done in 10 seconds? I could get all philosophical on you and mention creating life or even ending life, but I prefer to keep things a little more animated.....

Here's what these guys did in 10 seconds. Make sure you check out all the categories.

Making Of Citroen C1 Rubiks Cube

The making of the Citroen C1 Rubik's Cube ad...

Making Of pub "Le Cube" Citroen C1 (Réal. nO Brain)
Uploaded by betizfest

Citroen C1 Rubiks Cube Ad

I can just picture the scene...

An advertising creative playing around with a rubiks cube, trying to crack an idea for the new Citroen C1 brief. Then, suddenly it hits him...

Great ad by Scher Lafarge Paris.

Comic Inspirations

Another interesting piece of design from Italian Guido Crepax, originally a comic artist. I am not a fan of comics, however this comic-inspired piece of furniture is definitely worth a look. He is most famous for creating the character Valentina in 1965.

More about Guido Crepax here.

Go Go Gadget

Gizmodo is by far the best website for the most up-to-date info on the latest gadgets, tech news and cutting edge design.

They tend to sneak in some great design posts such as this one from Japanese designer Tetsuya Nakamura: anyone for a bath?

Are you car SAVvy?

In the market for an SAV? Not an SUV an SAV - Sports Activity Vehicle. Whats that? Never heard of an SAV before. That's ok...neither had I until BMW invented one by designing the new X6 concept SAV.

To me this looks like an X5 thats been on steroids ever since its release in 1999 - lost some height but gained some serious muscle.

Retail Therapy

Wouldn't shopping be so much better if all the shops looked like this?

And if you have a shoe fetish roam around these soleful stores.

Diablog Cafe

Eisai theos!!!

Nicolas Chidiac of Diablog Cafe fame, is the reason I started blogging so it goes without saying you need to read his blog, which I would best describe as a window into his complex and brilliant mind.

3rd Element.com

One of my first experiences with the web was through this company - 3rdelement.com. Simple, clean websites that are immaculately designed and ridiculously easy to navigate.

My favourite: VCD Department

Daft Hands

Ok - last Daft Punk post I promise.

Great song to start off with but this video is just genius.

Game On

Every once in a while you get sent some link to a moronic online game. You might play it once or twice then delete it from your memory like you would the thought of putting your hand in a blender.

Then came Vector TD.Now go forth into the unknown and kill the vectoids with your carefully selected arsenal.

Uncrate-ful

Came across Uncrate.com recently. As the site says, its "The buyers guide for men". Wouldn't mind my girlfriend having a look at this site - my birthday's coming up soon.

One of my favourite items - the Quad Bookshelf.

Would you like to try a sample?

Check out this blog which lists the samples some famous artists have used. Every Wednesday the author posts a new artist.

My favourite, of course, is the Daft Punk list. I didn't really know what to think when I first heard the samples they used because they barely changed the music at all in some of them. But for me it doesn't matter, everybody samples nowadays, and you can't accuse them for being unoriginal, just listen to their first album Homework.

Internet Whore

I am an Internet whore. Plain and simple. Give me a computer and a high speed connection and I can go for days.

However, for the last 6 months I have essentially been celibate due to lack of connectivity at my house. Even though I am online all day at the office its not really the same thing.... I am now on the verge of being reconnected to the huge whore house of the web and in celebration I am starting a blog that knowing me, will be defunct in 2 weeks, but I will give it my best.

I will be posting links to some of the things on the web that I think are worth a read, look, dollar, comment or any type of reaction.

The first is something I cam across on Yotube - no doubt not the last Youtube video I will be linking to. I am a huge Daft Punk fan, so when I found out they branched into furniture design I was eager to see what the robotic duo would have conjured up. It was love at first light.



Now that I've seen it and know that its sold out (£1000 at Habitat) I am going to put endless hours into making my own thanks to the help of this handyman.