photoshop disasters

it could happen to you. bummer if you spot any of your work here.

Nice, erm, shoulder pads.

thanks @spoOky.

the three little bears. now with room service.

my pal, my buddy mark stead is working on a pretty interesting project. he’s redoing a caravan that’s been hoisted to the top of a building for a 5-star mobile hotel as part of the Grand Daddy hotel. sounds a bit mad but here’s the evidence:

You know. Just another inner city caravan hoisting on a Sunday.

Mark and his wife Joe are redoing the caravan, and the theme they have chosen is ‘The Three Bears’. it could be amazing. it could be creepy. it’s probably going to be mostly creepy, judging by the work in progress i’ve seen so far.

Mark at work. Creepy.

Goldilocks outfit. Rather enticing. Makes you glad there are no holes in the bear suit.

Bear suit beginnings.

Bear head endings.

i ate your porridge.

so you can check the whole thing out on Mark’s blog, which he’s set up especially for the project.

one for the flat in Paris: Light Blub

the Light Blub inspires me to nest again. love love love. found here.

Drippy blubby light source love.

a reason to drink

"Little Heart" glass design by Etienne Meneau.

found here.

sent around the office yesterday

On 10/1/08 6:06 PM, “” <someone@myworkplace> wrote:

Hi Guys,

I am desperately looking for the poem by William Shakespeare – I think it’s ” how do I love thee/you” and he compares this woman to the stars and the moon kinda thing.

We did it in high school.

Please help – if you have it or have the title so I can google it or something…

****************************************************************************

Shakespeare by Burberry as seen in heat magazine.

*******************************************************************************

i think one of the sadder truths about marketing is that it attracts people who would otherwise not study anything because it seems easy. don’t get me wrong – it IS easy – but only to the same kind of person who’d find doing a crossword easy. my message to all you cool kids out there who are too cool for class and just want school to hurry up so you can ‘get into advertising’ would be:

STAY IN SCHOOL

DON’T DO DRUGS

DON’T SEND MAILS TO ALLSTAFF

SMILE A LOT

*****************************************************************

Some kids think their lives will begin once they get a job in a cool agency that wins awards and they get to ‘do cool work on cool brands’. i have news for those kids. the work might look cool, but the doing of it involves a lot of thinking and refining and arguing and crafting and disagreeing and substantiating and rationalising and post-rationalising and researching and bending over quietly (to pick up the pencils you keep dropping). if that is what your daydreams of being a dezigner or art Director look like, then you won’t need to die to get to heaven. you just need a shit-hot porti.

want: magazine-friendly coffee table

by designer Sara Huston

LOVE it.

Moxyland Soundtrack Album – out now

i got this as a birthday gift from the author, amongst many fabulous gifts, but i am very excited about it. i’ve never heard of a book being released with a sound track, let alone a south african work of fiction. apparently you can buy them with the book in store. i’ve included a back pic so you can see which tracks are on it. am happy to see super evil’s there – it is iconic as far as original music goes in cape town. i particularly love the THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY hidden in the clip in the jewel case. cover design by SA designer Dale Halvorsen.

cool things found on the internets

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.

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.

snippets from Design Indaba Expo 08

while i didn’t get to go to the full indaba since i was missioning around joburg, pretoria and durban, i did get to sneak in an afternoon on the opening day of the indaba, which is always a thrill for creative types.

saw loads of cool exhibitors, although they were a bit sticky about taking photos. genevieve and i were mainly there to catch her boyfriend’s show – John Sithole of label Earthquake – which was some gothic jozi urban goodness with true SA cues such as Converse shoes and kasi inspired bags.

didn’t catch the name of the first designer but they had this great liquorice allsorts theme going:

and then we chilled at the Cullinan pool for the rest of the afternoon.

john and gen:

gen and i in the lift:

the sole reason i go to canal walk shopping centre

is for Spitfire sunglasses, who are always on the mark when it comes to providing us consumers here with up-to-date shades. retailers take note. designer labels too, the selections of which are even worse, since they still think the third world doesn’t know its fashion or read perez and therefore they supply us with 2 year old stock at premium prices. mass market retailers, why am i still seeing those big round nicole richie vibe glasses everywhere? they’re so 2006. get with the program guys. i got a few variations on this wayfarer style but these are my favs for what’s left of summer, shown here with freshly trimmed hair:

accessible if emo art makes a perfect gift: youth apathy

also found on Notcot. Subzero is less than life. to quote the packaging of this mantlepiece masterpiece:

“subzero came from a look at the psychology of populations. and well, myself….seemingly conscious, educated and caring, but completely paralyzed by the understanding of a lawless administration, various nations at war, a planet reaching boiling point, and it all seems out of control. Subzero does nothing; Less Than Nothing. He is depressed from his incapacity to affect anything. In the end it’s a call to arms really but for now he remains motionless, frustrated, mad, and simply bummed out.”

dear santa clause (friends, family, associates, colleagues, people who want to impress me)

this frikkin rad ghost towel. you can buy it here. don’t be afraid of shopping online, it’s all going to be okay.

the nintendo wii will buy you my unconditional loyalty for about 6 months. includes me picking up your phonecalls every single time you call. you can get it at Musica, Look & Listen, those types of places. If you’re looking to add2 months to that deal you can throw in a game (Wario Ware, Harry Potter).

a pair of these Ray Ban Wayfarers will get you a place on my facebook friends list, with at least 1 wall post a month that somehow glorifies me and makes you look cool. white frames also accepted.

any kind of artwork from kronk.

*Update***

The world’s most expensive Christmas cocktail, called ‘The Flawless’ which comes at a mere £35,000 a glass from Modiva nightclub in London. Described as “warming and refreshing, but that is not the main reason for the exorbitant cost: at the bottom of the crystal glass is an 11-carat white diamond ring.”

Sounds good to me.

Next on the list is Pleo. See post above for more details.

To be continued.