fun with tag galaxy
May 15, 2008 · No Comments
→ No CommentsCategories: cool stuff i like · online · technology
Tagged: alex, applications, globe, hyrax, mybrandedlife, online, programs, search tools, tag galaxy, tagging, tags, useful, visualisation
a day of lists
May 15, 2008 · No Comments
first one being South African Twitter users wiki.
and then second being number 1638 on the Million Blog List experiment.
→ No CommentsCategories: geek · internet · online · technology
Tagged: alex van tonder, blog, digital, internet, list, million, mybrandedlife, online, south african, trend forecasting, twitter, users, wiki, wikipedia
brands being socially conscious
May 12, 2008 · No Comments
Cape Union Mart’s come out with a fleece made purely from recycled materials.

Visi magazine released a biodegradable shopping bag:

these recycled notebooks are made by the Remarkable company, and you can get them at the Wellness Centres springing up around town:

YDE has some recycled shoppers too:


Vida e caffe gets its green on:


→ No CommentsCategories: Africa · cool products · green · packaging · purchase process · small interesting brands
Tagged: alex, biodegradable, brands, cape union mart, caring, clothing, earth, eco, fleece, friendly, future, global consciousness, green, instant grass, mybrandedlife, recycled, responsibility, rubbish, shopping bags, social, south africa, stores, think, trend, visi magazine, YDE
stickers for The Grid seen around Gardens
May 12, 2008 · No Comments
The Grid is the new location-based social networking application for your cellphone. if you’re not on it, go to www.onthegrid.com to check it out. i’ve been seeing these little orange stickers all around town and managed ot get a few close-ups - pretty similar to the blips (virtual notes) you can leave around town on the grid.



→ No CommentsCategories: Cape Town · SA "street" · branding · cellular · facebook · internet branding · mobile · social networking sites · technology · youth
Tagged: air, alex, blips, Cape Town, cellphone, cool kids, gardens, location-based, mobile, mybrandedlife, onthegrid.com, orange, social networking site, stickers, technology, the grid, virtual notes, vodacom
new favourite lunch spot: The Loading Bay
May 12, 2008 · No Comments
in Green Point. Fantastic sandwiches and some delicious lebanese food too. plus it looks stunning. you’ll find it in Hudson Street, de Waterkant. I recommend the Black Forest Ham and Emmenthaler on rye. it’s not just a restaurant, but also a boutique clothing store where you can get your hands on Blue Blood jeans - a brand cofounded by the same guy who brought Evisu jeans from Japan to Europe.

→ No CommentsCategories: Cape Town · accessible premium · cool stuff i like · retail · shopping · small interesting brands
Tagged: alex, black forest ham, blue blood, boutique, de waterkant, del.icio.us, dining, eating, emmenthaler, evisu, green point, hudson street, jeans, lebanese food, lunch spot, mybrandedlife, retail, sandwiches, shopping, the loading bay, upmarket, vida e caffe
tin tin and snowy found at constantia engen
May 12, 2008 · No Comments
oh yeah! someone put this guy in an ad.

→ No CommentsCategories: Cape Town · ambassadors · cool stuff i like · popculture · sponsorship · travelling
Tagged: alex, biker, Cape Town, constantia, dog, engen, goggles, helmet, maltese poodle, motorbike, mybrandedlife, snowy, south africa, tin tin
farm stall eccentricities
May 12, 2008 · No Comments
so i made the most of the 2 day week 2 weeks ago, took leave and headed to struisbaai and arniston. a road trip in South Africa ain’t a road trip unless you stop at a farm stall. in this instance, the Moerse Farm Stall in Napier caught our eye. some snaps:






we found this very pretty ice cream truck in arniston, colour coordination a pure coincidence:

and ate a pint of prawns at the arniston hotel - highly recommended:

we also found the SunTouched Inn, which reads a bit like SunDouched Inn:

→ No CommentsCategories: Africa · arts and culture · seen around town · small interesting brands · travelling
Tagged: afrikaner, alex, arniston, arniston hotel, cape agulhus, coffee shop wisdom, east coast, farm stall, food, heritage, holiday, home baked, ice cream truck, moerse farm stall, mybrandedlife, napier, painting, pint of prawns, purple, reijer, restaurants, road trip, sangoma, south africa, southernmost tip africa, struisbaai, suntouched inn, traditional healer, warm sexy bread
anti-cool song of the week: Admit It by Say Anything
April 21, 2008 · 2 Comments
the lyrics are what make it great:
Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance
And vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs
You know nothing about art or sex
That you couldn’t read in any trendy New York underground fashion magazine
Prototypical non-conformist
You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo
You adhere to a set of standards and tastes
That appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges (bullshit)
Giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art
Go analog baby, you’re so post-modern
You’re diving face forward into a antiquated path
It’s disgusting, its offensive, don’t stick your nose up at me
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
You spend your time sitting in circles with your friends
Pontificating to each other
Forever competing for that one moment of self-aggrandizing glory
In which you hog the intellectual spotlight
Holding dominion over the entire shallow pointless conversation
Oh, we’re not worthy
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people
You chuckle to yourself patting yourself on the back as you scoff
It’s the same superiority complex
Shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell
And makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma
You spend every moment of your waking life bitching about
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
And I say yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
Cause I’m proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my guitar, yeah
Well let me tell you this, I am shamelessly self-involved
I spend hours in front of the mirror, making my hair elegantly disheveled
I worry about how this album will sell
Because I believe it will determine the amount of sex I will have in the future
I self medicate with drugs and alcohol to treat my extreme social anxiety
You are a faker (admit it)
You are a fraud (admit it)
Yeah, you’re living a lie (hey) living a lie (hey) you’re life is living a lie
You don’t impress me (admit it)
You don’t intimidate me (admit it)
Why don’t you bow down, get on the ground, walk this fucking plank (yeah!)
Yeah, what do you have to say for yourself
Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah
And I say yeah (what do you..)
Proud of my life and the things that I have done
Proud of myself and the loner I’ve become
You’re free to whine, it will not get you far
I do just fine, my car and my..
Guitar, guitar go!
I drift drift drift drift drift yeah
I drift drift drift drift drift oh yeah
And I am done with this
I wanna taste the breeze of every great city
My car and my guitar
My car and my guitar
So you’ll come to be, made of these, urges unfulfilled
Oh no no no no no
When I’m dead I’ll rest
When I’m dead I’ll rest, lay still
→ 2 CommentsCategories: SA cool kids · cool stuff i like · music · popculture
Tagged: admit it, alex, anti-brands, anti-cool emo, backlash, cool kids, fashion, music, mybrandedlife, normal people, say anything, trendwatching, what's cool
DIY jewellery love
April 14, 2008 · No Comments

neon-sprayed cheap old watches. awesome. found at Naughty Secretary Club.
→ No CommentsCategories: cool stuff i like · fashion · geek
Tagged: alex, art, broken, cheap, craft, DIY, fake, faux, jewellery, mybrandedlife, naughty secretary club, neon, old, spraypaint, watches
free idea: the ‘I’ve lost my cellphone’ facebook app
April 14, 2008 · No Comments
what it does when you add it: trawls all your friends’ profiles who’ve listed them numbers and puts them in a list for you. sends those who have a little box that allows them to drop their number in.
no more joining silly groups and wondering, ‘does this person who has lost their cellphone again really WANT me to send their number since we are more friendly acquaintances than friends?’ .
MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Virgin - this one’s for you.
→ No CommentsCategories: cellular · facebook · innovation · internet branding · online · technology
Tagged: alex, application, Cell C, develop, facebook, free idea, instant grass, joining groups, lost cellphone, MTN, mybrandedlife, new media, numbers, south africa, useful, Virgin Mobile, vodacom
cool things found on the internets
April 13, 2008 · No Comments
i spend so much time online, and the more time i spend online the more cool stuff i find, and the more cool stuff i find the more fragmented my time spent in any given place becomes. i’ve resolved to make a concerted effort to document more of the things that inspire me, for whatever reason. starting with this rad sofa box i found at swissmiss:


ffffound.com is an image bookmarking site i like to frequent for sheer viewing pleasure, or what i call a Brain Massage. some gems include:





and then i see that Courvoisier is kicking their latest branding efforts up a notch by collaborating with urban/skate / hip hop brand LRG this (USA) spring. some of the awesomeness includes these branded gadgets - iPhone and BlackBerry. mmm, me please.

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thanks NotCot.
i also came across this article on a speech given by Bill Cosby on how to combat racism, and i find it pretty inspiring. as someone who lives in a racially charged country, it’s refreshing to hear someone speak from a rational place on the topic.
→ No CommentsCategories: alcohol · branding · celebrity · collaborations · consumer · cool stuff i like · online · popculture · technology · youth politics
Tagged: alex, bill cosby, BlackBerry Curve, blog, brains, branded, chair, co-branding, collaboration, courvoisier, dead stuffed bear, designer, ffffound.com, gore, graffiti, hip hop wear, illustration, inspiration, instant grass, iPhone, LRG, marketing, melted ice cream truck, mybrandedlife, online, pac man ghosts, panda, pharrel williams, racism, sculpture, sensible stance, sofa box, south africa, street art, swissmiss, wall
african fashion blog of the month: Bella Naija
April 12, 2008 · No Comments

i’ve been doing some work on fashion trends in Nigeria and Ghana over the past month and Bella Naija has been one of my favourite blogs to hit. always on the look out for fellow African bloggers - this is my shout out to her.
→ No CommentsCategories: Africa · fashion · instant grass · popculture
Tagged: african, bella naija, blog, clothes, fashion, instant grass, mybrandedlife, nigeria, trends
how to respond to critics: uwe boll speaks out
April 11, 2008 · No Comments
i’ve always had a soft spot for people who speak out and defend themselves. to me it shows substance. much slated German director Uwe Boll has released a statement regarding an internet petition to stop him from making movies. for those of you who aren’t familiar with his movies click here. and this is what he has to say.
love it.
→ No CommentsCategories: arts and culture · celebrity · cool stuff i like · gaming · geek · internet · popculture
Tagged: alex, alone in the dark, bad movies, critics, german film maker, internet, internet petition, movie maker, mybrandedlife, postal, speaks out, uwe boll
interesting stuffs
April 8, 2008 · No Comments
Time magazine’s first ever Blog Index.
Damien Hirst + Andy Warhol + Levi’s Pop-up Retail store at Fred Segal in the states. eerie and cool.

Friends of mine Jen and Cuan won a trip to Zanzibar in a design-off at Design Indaba this year (old news but at last i have found a picture of the ad):

→ No CommentsCategories: collaborations · cool stuff i like · fashion · green · internet · online
Tagged: advertising, alex, andy warhol, aware, blog, conscious, cuan cronwright, damien hirst, design indaba, energy, environmentally, fred segal, green, index, jennifer macfarlane, levi's strauss, lightbulbs, magazine, mybrandedlife, ogilvy, pencil, pop-up retail, rating, retail, skulls, time, young creatives
yes please: camera glasses - never get escorted out of a shopping mall ever again
April 8, 2008 · No Comments
→ No CommentsCategories: cool products · geek · grasses · innovation · instant grass
Tagged: alex, camera, glasses, grasses, industrial espionage, instant grass, mall, mybrandedlife, photographs, security, sneaky photos, think geek






