Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Hard-Fi - Hard to beat



Umm... guess what I found on the net this evening... blogging via YouTube.


Anyhow, this my tune & band of the summer. Rocks.
Un-pimp Your Ride...

Check it out... winner at Cannes Lions. Hillarious. Vive le Deutschland!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

A bit of inspiration on a Sunday

After my race on Sunday (see earlier post), I popped into the local for what has now become a customary bottle of Duval. And I met Kobe and Lea... wow. What a couple. Here they are:



Kobe has 2 weeks to go before finishing his psychology degree (I think it was psychology) and Lea is qualified teaching kids with special needs. They have both previously volunteered in Lange, a township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. And in September this year they're about to do it again, but this time in Uganda. In fact, you can read all about it on their website - or even join them on the journey.

What really struck me was something that Lea had said in conversation. I asked if it was physically and mentally draining working with children with special needs - of course, she said that it was. So I asked how she got her energy back.

"By dreaming" she said.

How so profound. Well, it was for me anyway.

What a couple. And so young. How'd they do it?! Best wishes to Kobe & Lea on their journey - both on the road and off it :-)

A beautiful day!

Sunday - the sun in shining in Antwerp, it's late afternoon. It's an absolutely beautiful day!

I spent most of it cycling in a family race - 25kms thru' the city. It was fantastic and really chilled. What I've kind of found as typically Antwerpian.... chilled. No rush... just chilled... cool.

Here's my new bike. She's got a name - Thunderbolt-Lightening-And Very Very Frightening. It's brand new - and a lost a pedal during the race. It just fell off. In a kind of suave Antwerpian kind of way. Plonk. On the floor. Well, that's no good. There was still half a ride to go.



So, very thankfully there was patient Mr Policeman on a mountainbike who cautioned the offending pedal, put it back where it belonged, and I finished the race. Only to (once again, thankfully), have it fall off again as I crossed the finish line. Never mind. The friendly man I bought it from (Rent A Bike) replaced it no worries. And gave me a free pedal just in case it happened again. Fantastic.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Now, be nice now.

I came across Banksy's website last night. Have a look. Every now and again, it's so cool to come across fresh thinking. Something new. Something that sparks some creative flair or gets you thinking... or questioning the way things are.

Even though Banksy has been on the scene for some time - his (or her) identity never revealed - I can still look at the work and feel inspired. Check it out.....

Wall in the West Bank....


Pull the plug...


And then there was this film - a silent (or maybe not so silent) reminder to stop shouting at our customers in our advertising and marketing. Let's be nice to people.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words... what is it saying, then?

One of my favourite blogs of the moment is Creating Passionate Users. A recent post is all about what (meaningful) graphics can tell you. Paint-a-picture kind of stuff.

This one really stood out for me (click on it to see the full size):


Inspiring? Or scary?

Imagine if your life represented graphically as a series of dots (on a PowerPoint slide, of all things!).

Where would you be up to on a page?

And how many dots (do you think) you have left to go? Kind of makes you want to go out and make so sure that the dots you have left really count, yeah?

Anyhow. It inspired me.