Facebook - 2009's Pageant Winner, Wants Its Cash Prize

On 8 April, Facistbook's user content hit the big 200 million & it is feeling pretty smug.

However, over the past month there have been rather loud whispers concerning the company's plan to charge it's ever-growing fan-base a fee. That's right, very soon the currently free social networking service may be vying for your penny purse. Of course, there has been much skepticism about this diirty rumour, especially highlighted by the Facebook groups, which are dedicated to prematurely putting an end to any nasty behaviour.

Unfortunately, this month Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, indirectly alluded that such an occurance may be closer than, many of its 200 million socially savvy users, may think. Like a true business woman she referred to the success of the current advertising strategies, which are 'cash flow-positive', -Microsoft invested 240 million dollars- and firmly denied any future plans to charge 'a basic fee for its services'. She attributes the current concerns of Facebook's users to its fast growth, and again stresses that the company can 'finance their growth' without 'charging for basic services' [Business Week].

Right, so Facebook will not be charging users, for its BASIC services. So BASICally, Sandberg is covering all ends by choosing her words very very carefully. So the real question is: Please define 'basic services'. Although we are yet to be clear on this definition, one thing we can be sure of, is that those non-basic services which Sandberg ambiguously refers to, are the ones us 200 million devotees should be concered about.

An educated and informed guess would lead many to believe that although Facebook will not charge a subscription fee, there is a great chance that it will charge for those non-'basic-services', such as applications. Currently, there are some 50,000 applications cluttering our Facebook spheres and in March 2009 the alliance between social media site Facebook and Zuora, a company that provides an on-demand subscription billing and payment service [TechCrunch], was announced. I guess if the creators of the applications are making a bit of doosh, Facebook thinks it only fair, that it too should benefit.

Cadbury raises a few eyebrows.

Following hot on the heels of Glass and a Half Full Productions' Gorilla and Trucks adverts, agency Fallon bring us yet another feat of ridiculousness; that has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate.

It's been watched over four million times online and been parodied on SNL by Lily Allen.

It cost 3.7 million dollars to create & yet my chocolate shopping habits remain the same.

A good investment?

Social Media Influx

Illustration by Matt Hamm

Kyan Media

Don't Be Jealous

This girl's hot, skinny and tall

and so are all her friends.

Tessa-Jay Slight

Don't worry, I'm sure they are all ready bad at: everything else.

Sigh of relief

Blasphemy, blasphemy, blasphemy.

The Scientists of Modern Music

Scientists of Modern Music get their groove thang on.

TSOMM are Hobart's Cal Young & Simon McIntosh. One day they jumped on Ebay and spent up big; purchasing synthesisers, vocoders and various musical toys to begin creating their electronic sound.

They've played at Falls Festival, Golden Plains and Meredith but I first heard them, at the now deceased, Click Click. A very very long time ago. Their song 'Easy' gained them much popularity, however, 'Technology Illiterate' was my first love.

Scientists of Modern Music

**Live interview:

I'll be interviewing Cal Young Mon 06 April at 9pm on SYN 90.7 FM.

Speak to you then!

Social Media is Written in Stone

I feel this blog is becoming home to my rants on technology and its effect. It's sheltering write-ups that shed light on the ever expanding realm, that is social media and the ramifications that its users (ie. us) are ignorant to.

But hey, life's all about the equilibrium. Right?

After reading Adam Ferrier's 'Social Media is Anti-social Media' [Consumer Psychologist] it made me think about the written word and how popular it is becoming. When I say written word, I really mean the typed word, that enters cyber-space through whatever social media site you subscribe to. Such sites are becoming increasingly popular with today's technology enthusiasts, ie. the generation of the noughties, so much so that an individual is more than happy to make their mark, but neglects to think of the consequences.

Social media sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and even Blogger enable opinions to be heard. They are port-holes through which one can voice their concerns and sometimes make a difference. Of course one would have to go a step further than merely informing Sally Tyler about 'all the crazy things she may have done last night'. What I refer to is Facebook groups that attempt to gather like-minded people together for the good of the cause. In Ferrier's article, he refers to a group of NSW Corrective Services Officers who formed a facebook group which 'opposed the privatisation of Australia's prisons' and in turn may be reprimanded for their actions.

The officers advocate that creating the group is no different to heading to the local pub and having a gripe. The key difference, unfortunately, is that unintentionally these individuals have created evidence that has the potential to work against them. Everything that they have discussed in the casually created group puts them at risk of being fired. In an age where every man and his dog is hastily typing away and pressing submit, it does not help that the internet is 'unconstrained and indeed unconstrainable by state' [ETA]. No doubt the defamation laws are in over-drive.

Ferrier believes that these days everyone should be vigilant with what they decide to publish on the web, stating that such a way of life 'fosters a culture of nervousness'. Although I agree that those who share their opinions via the web should choose their words carefully, I do not believe that enough attention is being given to cause any apprehension. Instead, we are constantly inundated with new and improved ways of cyberally expressing our opinions that we are forgetting to approach with caution.

We are like kids in a candy store, with a credit card to boot; filling our lolly bags with every colour of the rainbow before stuffing them in our big -opinionated- gobs. However, we negelct to pre-empt that upset stomach, that understandably, follows in suit.

Due to the vast and sometime unexplored territory that is the internet I do not believe there is much the government can do to regulate what is 'said'. Instead, it is up to the individual whose finger tips are skipping over the keys, to decide which words should not be 'said'.

I Remember You

In life, there is always that person that you meet for the first and last time, all at once. This is not to say that you never see them again, on the contrary. In fact, you may see them quite often, but always from a distance. From the other side of the room or as you walk out of a shop. You haven't forgotten who they are, but you've seen one another so many times that finally acknowledging them may seem odd.

In London, I met a guy. He was French. We spoke about France and he told me how much he hated Lyon. Lyon, a town in south-west France and where I'd lived for half year.

After I left London, I discovered his blog http://viktorvautier.blogspot.com/ and find his photographic work rather intriguing.




Goodhood, a shop come gallery in Hoxton, East London.







Truman Brewery.



His girlfriend Ella.



Ella. Turn left and you're at my old abode.



He rides Fixxis.

Loss of Sensation

When you continually trace the tip of your finger over a tactile surface, eventually that tip becomes numb. The sensation of feeling is lost and that indulgent activity loses all meaning.

This analogy can be likened to that of human emotion.

No one, not even oneself, can ever predict the next move, especially when feelings are involved.

When you find a texture that you want to reach out and touch, feelings surface. You enjoy the sensation of feeling, so much so that you persist. You overdose and then eventually the feeling disappears and you yearn for more.

The feeling is fickle and it's time to move on.

A mere 10 mins ago, you couldn't think of anything worse.

Such is life.

U.N.K.L.E - Heaven (Spike Jonze)

U.N.K.L.E's 'Heaven' was featured in the acclaimed skate film 'Fully Flared', which was directed by Spike Jonze and Ty Evans. The marriage between the two worked so well, that it resulted in the birth of this U.N.K.L.E music clip. The directors took a series of shots from the film and re-edited, re-edited, re-edited.

The end result: a master piece.

Twitter Explorers

It's not just us mere mortals using it to propel our meaningless lives into other people's hemispheres, but those mega corporations looking to boost themselves up. These global conglomerates are stacking their yellow pages, one on top of the other, and sitting their little hiney's down. Comfortable? Apparently so.

Here's just a few:

1.Barack Obama



2. CNN Breaking News



3. Stephen Fry (UK comedian)



4. Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg)



11.Lance Armstrong


14. New York Times

Twitter Explodes

Twitter is going nuts.

Quite literally every man and his dog, and their dog, and their dog has jumped on board.

So here we are, promoting ourselves to our heart's content.

Sam Smith is contemplating his 'mere existence in this concrete jungle'

and

Sally Porter 'ate sooooo many dumplings that now, she thinks she might just be one', but what about the big guns?

Celebrities are madly twittering in the hope that someone is watching. And they are.

Earlier this month, before an appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show, UK comedian Russell Brand revealed that he, aka Rusty Rockets, would be twittering live on air. However, upon learning of his dismal 78,000 followers, compared to Fallon's 200,000, Brand urged anyone and everyone to become a follower. Guess he didn't want to look like a chump on live air.

To date, Jimmy stands at a staggering 510,489 while Brand falls way behind with a mere 155,669 followers.

Better luck next time Rus.

Add Russell on: http://twitter.com/rustyrockets
And Jimmy on: http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon

During the show, under the guise 'The Bryan Brickman Experiment' an 'unsuspecting' (yea right) audience member was targeted.



Late Night host Fallon along with Brand and two other guests urged the world to add @bryanbrinkman, who at that stage held claim to 7 followers.


Although the plan was to beat the most followed 'Twitterer' out there, President Obama who currently has 649,699 followers, cartoonist Brickman managed 32,931 followers. Either way, that's more than most!

This 'tiny' boost will most definitely aid in the creation of his cartoonist future. Three years from now he'll be working for Disney. Watch this space.

Celebrity gossip site, Holy Molly, conducted a study concluding that celebrities were using the micro networking site as a form of promotion, rather than as a social site. Well, DUH!
The study proved that Brand -already crowned the 'the ultimate shagger'- was also the 'most self-obsessed Twitterer'. Singer Lily Allen followed closely behind.

As it seems Facebook is no longer the party favourite, the photo-lovin' networking site recently unveiled their new layout, which seems suspiciously similar to that of Twitter.

Snow White Eats Mac's Apple

You'd Think She Would Have Learned The First Time Around.

Savvy thinking by Christian from Deutschland.

LübeckerJung

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze né Adam Speigel, is an American director extraordinaire.

Heard of him?

In '99 he directed Being John Malkovich.

He once starred and directed in this video clip, under the pseudo name Richard Koufey:



Praise You - Fatboy Slim

He is co-creator of MTV's Jackass

He's the creative director of vbs.tv

He was once married to Sofia Coppola.

Now, he's hooking up with Michelle Williams.

His new movie Where the Wild Things Are, an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, will be out Dec 09.

Check it out, while Arcade Fire set the scene.

H & M - New Ad Campaign. Vincent Gallo

A very good ad.

A Wasted Love Story - A Bout De Souffle

A Bout de Souffle (1959)

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of the founding members of 'La Nouvelle Vague'.

This scene shows Patricia (American actress Jean Seberg) and Michel (French actor Jean Paul Belmondo) in one of the film's trademark love scenes.

Basically he'll count to 8. If she refuses to smile before then, he'll strangle her (all in jest of course..). A test of courage or cowardice.

Russell (Brand) You Dog, You.

The man with the offensive hair and a penchant for black eye-liner is in Oz.

As I sit here, on my Saturday night typing these words, I am simultaneously kicking myself for missing out.

This following snippet is as good as it gets.. for now.

"I don't think I can have sex with someone, with such a slender grasp of grammar".



Here here.

What's My Age Again?

33 going on 15

"i will call him Peter Pan... move over Hugh Waters, we have a new lost boy!"

Joanna Kawecki your words speak the highest level of wit and truth.

Google(y) Eyes

There has to be a law against such invasions of privacy.

Apparently Google is the law.

'Stop Drop and Roll' Issue Launch Party

My awesome friend Talitha has started working with this magazine in graphics. The launch party is tonight at Yah Yah's, in Brunswick.

Stop Drop and Roll


' Stop drop and roll is a spark to light a fire of new writing and art.

we're the candle to your Cuban, the match to your Molotov, the POW to your powderkeg...

we look to emerging and established writers and artists for new material that is bold, intriguing, intelligent, colourful, refined, passionate and many other words besides, with the notable exception of affected. ahem.

the editors are pleased to introduce you to stop drop and roll. we're full colour, about 100 pages round the middle, have an elegant posture and, at about 8.3 inches tall, we can whisper into your ear while walking hand-in-hand on that windy dock. if you bend down a little.

say hello, ask us a question or see our website for more.'


Doors from 7.30pm. $10 entry or $17 with a copy of the magazine for keeps.

Musical radness by SLY HATS & JESSICA SAYS, THE RISE & DEMISE, THE WILDES !!!

Adidas Originals Party MELBOURNE

ADIDAS 60 YEARS OF SOLES AND STRIPES - MELBOURNE
FRIDAY 20TH MARCH
3/576 CHAPEL ST
SOUTH YARRA

And apparently it's BYO (?) Sneaker Freaker

If you're looking for 10 Steps To A Successful Career go look somewhere else.

The key to success is to change what you expect to see before you see it. Don't look in the mirror and expect it to reflect something that is clearly not there. Don't use other people as your mirror, because it'll only lead to disappointment.

But, before you take a look, make sure you know what your looking for. Everyday we assess others; we stand beside a conveyor belt that delivers mould after mould, we size each up and down, check how hardy it is and then eventually we think we've found the one that fits..

It's so easy to compare yourself to others. To stand beside them and assess the 'damage'. It's funny how you can find yourself so often indulging in such a fruitless expedition. As I write these words I am merely trying to comfort my own self-esteem and will to achieve. Stroking the bruised ego. Simply attempting to convince myself that all you need is aspiration and if others 'inspire' you, then so be it. If others inspire you to be better, then they've done more than they will ever know.

But after that, you're on your own.

Once you've found your calling. That thing that you actively seek out, the one that feels right... Then comes the next part. Sitting on the defense.

Many people will say, you should never have to defend the thing you love. But then many others will say, if you love it enough you should be willing to defend it. Neither are incorrect, just situational.

If I hear one more person tell me that I'm dipping my foot in the deep-end, the competitive end where it'll be impossible for me to keep my head above water, then I guess I'll have to repeat my spiel one more time. And although this repetitive process has muffled the sound of the words, they will never lose their meaning. Not until I stop believing.

Inspirational speeches are nothing less than cringe worthy. So this is not one of 'those' but a simple reminder that the only person who knows what you are capable of, is the one you see staring back at you.

Facebook Relationship 'Code of Conduct'

A very funny parody of the way Facebook has integrated itself into our relationships.

Found on Social Media Ltd.

Possession

A rather relevant topic of '09.

When does your right to 'it' expire?

Yadda Yadda Yadda

For those Twitter geeks there is a program which analyses the words you use the most! For those less technologically inclined head to your phone, open a new message and then wait for the predictive text to tell you what words you use most frequently.

Today I typed 'My' and it predicted the following word would be 'lover'.

Really says a lot about me and my habitual texting lexicon.

Oh lord.

Girls Are Prettier Than Boys

Photo by Cass Bird for Sophmore.

Girls are prettier than boys - and that's a fact. When you stop to admire the aesthetics of the person, girls win hands down. How often are boy models chosen because they display feminine features? So often. Unfortunately, boys have limitations with how they are able to express themselves. Their blank canvas can only take so much, before it is borderline ridiculous. A boy can not dress like a girl, but a girl can dress like a boy and still be pretty.

Jesus, all these girls are stunners and you can't even see their faces.

All you can see is cascading hair, limbs, flesh and all you can not see, is what ever they can.

Guess it's just down to those X & Y chromosomes and who they choose to take to the Prom.

Soak It Up- Love(less) woes

I feel like a sponge. I am a sponge. I've been absorbing so much; listening, consoling and then trying to take it all on board. Once I've hopped on board, shown the inspector my ticket I then look out the window, and review everything I've learned on the trip. Hopping off here and there to learn more, digest and then continue on my way.

I seem to be the go-to-girl, for well, relationship woes. This may be because I am a good listener or because I manage to pry open the pursed lips of others, while instilling the idea that, they themselves, had been yearning to tell me the whole time.

(My oh-so-wise younger sibling made a good point and it went something along the lines of: "Why are people in relationships seeking advice from someone who is not". My reply: "That's a good point. But no one asked for your opinion, so shut it".)

I recently received a message from a good friend who lives overseas - story of my life- his words seemed confused and unsure of themselves. These words I was bamboozled with ranged from blasphemy to helplessness. After countless attempts at the Skype ordeal I rang him.

I rang him and I asked him what was wrong. I assumed he'd cheated on his girlfriend, but didn't tell him this till I was proven wrong.

Travelling means a lot of things. And it involves even more. It means you meet people you may never have had the opportunity to meet, if you had stayed within your borders, it also means the possibility of losing those same people. But sometimes you decide to take that ‘leap of faith’, the one, that results in the unknown. And once you leap, once you let go, you can no longer predict where you will land. A concept which is simultaneously soo amazing and soo scary.

Such leaps of faith usually occur after much agonising. Is this the right decision? Should I follow my instincts?

He decided to take that leap. He doesn't know the language, the country or anyone there. Except for her. Which was/is more than enough. So he sold everything he owned, including his beloved car and after deciding that his leap was no match for the distance he was about to travel, he hopped on a plane.

As soon as he got there, he began teaching himself the language; fortunate enough to have her there behind him. They found a place, moved in, and he started to search for a job. Finally after being separated by borders they were in the same country, the same city, the same apartment; they were 'closer' than they'd ever been.

A couple of days later, she emerged from the bedroom and told him that she was no longer in love with him.

I hope for his sake that her suspicions are correct, and these few words are nothing more than a reaction to the dramatic change in their relationship. After you become so used to swimming in a pool, diving into an endless sea of water must be nothing less than daunting. There's the constant involuntary consumption of salt-water, the fear of sharks, and then the xenophobia would kick it. The fear of not knowing what will happen.

You may think that your only salvation is to swim back to shore; where it is safe and predictable, and as much as they'd like to.. (un)fortunately no one can tell you otherwise. But you should know that there is someone looking out for you. Someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to keep you in those salty-waters of endless possibility.

X

Ldn Face Hunter: 'Brick Lane Masses We Like Grime'

This dude was photographed by the Face Hunter, on London's Brick Lane. Face Hunter usually stops you if your outfit impresses him, but I guess for this guy it was the ensemble.

Wow, if someone can shed some light on what's going on down below. Please enlighten me. After closer inspection I believe the bike peddles have been replaced with skate-like-boards?

Upon learning the name of the above-mentioned I will google to my heart's content.

Any thoughts?

Photographer Mario Testino

German VOGUE June 08

Monster Children present Cobrasnake & Todd Selby

Monster Children Gallery Presents "Predator' and 'Home Alone'.

A double feature of photographs by The Cobrasnake and The Selby.

DATE: MAR 6

TIME: 6PM
@: Sydney's Monster Children Gallery.

More info at Monster Children site

Ely Kim

Ely Kim: " I am a graduate student at Yale studying graphic design. I LOVE to dance and I enjoy clouds, mangoes, smiling, and puppies".


BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

The Playlist is effing R.A.D.


Check out his site:

We Like Him

It's about him and the fan club he created for himself. Fucking hilarious. Click on 'Lovely Fanclub' then the puppy to view his first issue...

French Rail Network - Réseau Ferré de France

Commercial for French rail company RFF from Leah Chun on Vimeo.

Love it.

Leah Chun is a Los Angeles based illustrator/animator who loves to read comics.

SWIFTY - NICE PRODUCE - NO VACANCY

DATE: MAR 5
TIME: 6PM
@: NO VACANCY

UK artist SWIFTY TYPOGRAFIX

Check out more info at the Nice Produce Blog

Go Font Yourself - Ben Frost!!

DATE: MARCH - 4 WED

TIME: 6:30PM

@: DON'T COME GALLERY

Sydney-sider Ben Frost, will be showcasing his work, alongside many other talented artists.

Yay for Ben Frost.

Google L(aTtitude) and Bed(me)post

Those social networks and those 'not so'..

Continuing with the topic of social networking applications, I recently stumbled across Google Latitude. It's very similar to the application Twitter, a site that is purely dedicated to status updates; very similar to the feature found on Facebook; but Latitude takes it that step further.

Google Latitude is more like a tracking device, a device that tells other subscribers your exact location and even provides images/maps, at your discretion. However, Google do promise that the user has complete control over how much information is released. Hell, you can even say your somewhere you're not.

Check our this great site Another Advertising Wanker and its write-up on the application:

'Social. To be, or not to be?'

Really does just show how society's voyeuristic needs are only increasing and that there are those who are only happy to keep the "beast's" hunger at bay. You know what they say: 'Supply those who demand'.

A further note for those whose 'little black book' is weighing them down. A program called 'Bedpost', which is anything but a 'social' site, allows you to keep track of those you 'bed', where you bed them, and an overall rating. Pretty neat, huh?

Jesus 'they' will stop at nothing.

Curious? Bedpost

For statistics sake, it would be rather interesting. However, rather than play the waiting game, if there are any nymphomaniacs out there who would like to volunteer and attack any lasting shreds of dignity, let me know.

It's even compatible with iPhone! YAY.

Facist Book

Facebook has become a form of communication. It can be likened to other communicative verbs such as 'to text', 'to phone', and 'to write'. So these days a simple 'facebook me' is more than suffice.

Since its launch in Feb 04 it's slowly become the word on everyone's lips, it's integrated into their lexicon, and it ain't even in the dictionary, yet. Sooner or later when that time comes for the Oxford English Dictionary to update, to scrawl through our linguistics, and submit their final list, founder Mark Zuckerberg will be the proud father of his 'spawn'. Go figure.

[The general rule of thumb for the Oxford English Dictionary is that any word can be included which appears five times, in five different printed sources, over a period of five years.]

The world (currently 150 million users) is going crazy for this social networking site; a spin-off of a Harvard University program called 'Facemash'. Thousands of photos are being uploaded hourly; 'friends' are clicking through your photo albums and reading your wall posts. Others are obsessively trawling through 'friend lists' trying to 'up' their own.

A general belief is that, although your personal life is living on the World Wide Web, only you know the password and therefore only you are in control of your privacy. Wrong. As much as we'd all like to believe this idealistic mantra, it's so far from the true. The words 'private' and 'Facebook' are like chalk and cheese, an oxymoran if I've ever heard one. Once you've uploaded it, it's for the world to see.

And now things have gotten even more complicated.

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and presume that a small percentage, of the 150 million Facebook users, have never read its 'Terms of Service'. I'm going to take a step back and assume just as many, or more, don't even know what a 'Terms of Service' or 'TOS' is.

Facebook's Terms of Service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not that long ago, this sentance was added:

"You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

As you can imagine there was a lot of protest against this, and in response Zuckerberg and co. reverted back to the original clause; that is until a solution can be found..

Joaquin Phoenix Quits & Turns to Rapping.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Unfortunalty the Joaquin Phoenix team have taken Phoenix's recent David Letterman interview off the web. It is now, no longer available for viewing. This is indeed a shame, because I would have liked to hear your sentiments on the issue.

On 11 Feb 09 Phoenix was a guest on the Dave Letterman Show. Unfortunately his mind couldn't make it, so his body took one for the team. He was supossed to be on the show promoting his new movie 'Two Lovers', but it seems even grutting was too much effort.

'Two Lovers' director James Gray, who also directed the 34-year-old star in The Yards and We Own The Night, is concerned that he played a role in Phoenix's recent behaviour saying that Phoenix's character experiments with rap in the movie, which is loosely based on Gray's own life experience.

James Gray:

"I found out he's built a recording studio in his house and he's working with Diddy. I tried to talk him out of it. He got very angry."

He's working with Diddy? P. Diddy? The artist formerly known as Puff Daddy? WTF.

After Phoenix announced his career change decision, on David Letterman, he was mocked by the host and studio audience.

Joaquin said: "I have been working on my music. I am doing hip-hop music.

"This isn't a joke. Why are they laughing?"

As the laughter grew louder, an upset-looking Joaquin insisted: "I am serious about this. What is it with this maniacal laughter in here? I don't get it. Is this supposed to be fun?"

While many believe the actor is mentally unstable others wonder whether the whole thing is a charade, a hoax set up by Phoenix himself.

Here is his brief interview with E! Entertainment Channel. Casey Affleck seems to be as confused as the rest of us.



Here is Joaquin's debut as a rapper.. in which he takes a rather sudden trip.. You know what they say about first impressions...

The Simpsons - New Main Title

This made it's way to cyber-space around 14 Jan 09. It has spread like wild-fire. According to Viral Video Chart the clip has had 1,617,719 views and been posted on 765 blogs.

Nice. So I guess that makes me 766?

T - Mobile Advert - 'Life's For Sharing'

This was once my station.

Suprisingly enough I was never witness of such an act.

15 Jan 09: no ordinary day at Liverpool Street Station, London.

Kerrry Skarbakka - The Shower

Bad day?

'The Shower' by philosophical photographer Kerrry Skarbakka.

Flight of the Conchords - Ladies of the World

Flight of the Conchords- Ladies of the World directed by Nima Nourizadeh.

Adidas House Party - 60 Years of Sole

Everybody loves a house party right? Especially when all the right people are in attendance?

Especially when there's graffiti, finger painting, pixie dust, gambling, fireworks, Russel Simmons, Missy Elliot, Katy Perry, David Beckham, Mark Gonzales, The Ting Tings, Estelle, Method Man and even, former Russian tennis champion, Ilie Nastase. Well 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of Adidas & in order to celebrate they're throwing a party. Although this shindig is 'invite only' you're more than welcome to join in the year long celebration with new products galore.

Director Nima Nourizadeh was in charge of the latest commercial for Adidas, a minute-long film shot at a house party where everyone’s dressed in, you guessed it, Adidas. Granted it is a lot of fun, heck I watched it two times over, but one can not surpass the fact that it is a rather self-indulgent, ego- fuelled, hipster-esque way to celebrate 'originality'. For God's sake, everyone is wearing Adidas!! Does that not scream uniformity let alone, conformity?

Admittedly, I do really like this clip and it does exactly what Nourizadeh and Adidas intended. It gets you excited. However, credit should also be given to 60's band 'Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons' for creating the banging tune that is; 'Beggin'. **Download enthusiasts note that the version in the video is the Pilooski re-edit.

So put on your party shoes and celebrate with Adidas' multi million-pound campaign known as “60 Years of Soles and Stripes”.

Modular - Bang Gang Deejays - Free - LAS VEGAS

God, I love to know everything that is going on. And quite frankly, being the barer of all the right things, makes me feel good in all the right places.. Being 'in-the-know' brings me a copious amount of pleasure, but sometimes it brings me pain. I swear if Journalism wasn't my calling, I'd totally be in PR or Event Management. My diary can be likened to that of the Sydney city grid map; fluid lines running into one another, arrows here, dates there.

So here it is..

Live in Nevada or simply happen to be stopping by on your big fancy jet?

Take me with you!

Tuesday Feb 17
Modular, Filter and MFG Presents The Pool Tradeshow Opening Party
w/ Hercules and Love Affair (DJ Set), The Bang Gang Deejays & Treasure Fingers
Beauty Bar , Las Vegas, NV
Free w/ RSVP at http://www.danceright.net/pooltradeshow/

And it's FREIKO!

"Eat or Be Eaten"

Recently nothing has ever resounded so deep within me, like this has. It pryed open my pursed lips, slid down my tongue and bounced off my tonsils. It waved goodbye to my oral cavity as it left my pharynx and prepared to enter my oesophagus. Approximately 25-30 cm later, it had reach it's destination. My stomach.

And you know what? It sat quite well.

The above is the kind of sentance, that when finished stares blankly at you, while the cursor impatiently blinks; surprised by the honesty yet hesitant to hear more.

What does it mean when you're willing to climb over people? Does it reek of desperation? Or are you just proving Charles Darwin's 'Survival of the fittest', a synonym for his 1895 theory of 'natural selection'? The truth is that, 'survival of the fittest' was actually a metaphor, unlike it's scientific descriptive counterpart, 'natural selection'.

Natural selection means any organism which is capable of reproducing itself on an ongoing basis will survive as a species, not just the "fittest" ones.

Sorry Charlie but today I think we'll chose the former.

Eat or be eaten is the 21st century's equivalent to Darwin's metaphor 'survival of the fittest'

So today's equation class is:

EOBE = SOTF

And unfortunatly it comes with a lot of baggage and when we break it down we find the big one: loyalty.

Loyalty: (noun) that comes with connotations of amicability, happiness, faithfullness, fidelity..

Everybody wants to reach their potential, which is an ambiguous term within itself, and in order to see what an individual can do you've got to reach further, walk faster, or fucking run. Whatever will get you to the finish line before anyone else.

The last thing you want to do is rest on your laurels, and because we are all ruled by that ethereal concept know as 'emotion' it's always harder in practice. But it ain't so difficult to become disheartened, especially, right now during this crunchy credit time.

I recently came across a facebook status that read as follows: X is getting used to taking rejection well. It made me sad, but it also made me angry.. and ironically enough i'm sure after writing it they did not realise the gravity of their words. A result of their flittering fingers being woed by that sturdy and ever reliable keyboard.

Why would you ever get used to rejection? It doesn't feel good and it's definitely not like forcing yourself to eat 'greens' because in the end you know your doing youself a service. It's like drinking metholated spirits and 'hoping for the best'. But I guess if you're crazy enough to drink metho then your concept of what's 'best' would be rather distorted.

The only thing you should do with rejection, is use it as a stepping stone, stand on it and you'll only be able to reach higher than before.

Moral of the story: Eat that last piece of cake, before it eats you.

Heat Wave

Yesterday, thousands of people fled to Chadstone shopping centre.

60,000 to be exact.

Unfortunately it wasn't to score a bargain but to escape the hottest day on record, 46.4C at 3pm. It trumped the previous benchmark of 45.6C recorded on Black Friday, 13 Jan 1939.

It was Black Saturday and as the automatic doors of the shopping centre tiresomely welcomed patrons the hot wind stuck like glue. The usually arctic temperature of the cooling system was no match for what Black Saturday had in store for Victoria.

This morning's headline read; "At least 14 dead in horror flames" and tonight the number has escalated to 65. The raging inferno, that is officially Victoria's worst ever bushfires, has swept through Victoria's bushland circling Melbourne. Rural properties in Bunyip and Maiden Gully and those suburban ones in Fentree Gully and Narre Warren perish.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a $10 million emergency relief fund for the victims of Victoria's bushfires.

Black Saturday occured 9 days before the tragic Ash Wednesday fires, a natural disaster that happened in South eastern Australia on 16 Feb 1983 . 65 people are dead and 640 homes have been lost. Sadly these numbers will only increase.

Up North, Queensland is experiencing flash floods and king tides. Go figure.

Hats off to Brian & his Buns

When you're too cocky too care.. pun intended.

The last one is genius..- and I use that term very loosely-. It's like laughing in the face of adversity. When all else has failed Brian knows that he'll always have 'hefty lefty' or 'tighty righty' to keep him company on those lonesome nights.

No Vacancy- Suit up - Exhibition Launch

No Vacancy Gallery

Suit Up

Fri Feb 13. Think about it.

Head to WeMakeGoodStuff for more details.

Pearl Necklace .. pending.

This is a 1954 advertisement for Tangee lipcolour.

A tad bit phallic perhaps?

I imagine the individual(s) who approved this piece were much less accustomed to this 'position' than their female co-workers. Or lack there of.

In the 1950s only 33 per cent of women were in the paid work force, compared to a staggering 94 per cent of men. Is that why this poor excuse for an ad was allowed to breathe?

You could argue that more than 50 years later there are many ads that would reflect a similar sort of deal. Purely because sex sells. The Lynx deodorant company is one of the biggest advocates of this mantra. Adult content pending.



Now in the noughties, the ratio of men to woman has managed to reach an almost balanced figure, however; it seems whether you have one or not, thinking with the 'crown jewels' is something that all advertising agents strive to achieve.

Just ask Paris Hilton:

Different Strokes

Experience heart palpitations and withdrawal symptoms when The Strokes are mentioned?

Well you definitely don't need to be sitting down for this news, but at least it's a start.

Introducing Little Joy, the second side project from The Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti and friends.

After the Jump --> Little Joy

Little Joy was released worldwide by Rough Trade Records, a division of The Beggar’s Group, on & around Nov. 4th, 2008.

A Linguistic Jigsaw

When words are more than just respective groups of congregated letters, their effect is incandescent.. But not just any words, certain words, and when these pieces of lingo find one another and create the harmonious civil ceremony known as a sentence or phrase, I swear I see tiny sparks fly...

One phrase that has recently been lingering in my cerebral membrane is:

'Fleshy Gratification'

Who doesn't love a l'il bit of fleshy gratification, where it counts?

What's even more exciting than this glorious concept, is how time can completely influence the way you perceive the unification of our linguistic counterparts.

The first time I laid eyes on this 'textual duo' was February 2008, in London. I was reading the editors note in the well informed Timeout guide. A sort of bi-monthly bible, a 'what's on in your city' kind of deal. No sooner had my beady pupils scanned the line than had I whipped out a biro and underlined the beauties. I managed to interweave it into a couple of everyday conversations, once during a vis-à-vis and the other in a witty texto. Unfortunately, neither form of communication seemed worthy enough. Truthfully, I saw bigger and better things for my 'fleshy gratification' and maybe this is it?

I could get all Carrie Bradshaw on your ass and delve into the difference between relationships and a little bit of the ol' 'fleshy gratification'. Where a wo(man) is content with the sexual intimacy of another and not really bothered about the rest. Is that sleazy? No, not if the feeling is mutual and you're both benefiting. Emphasis on the mutual satisfaction bit.

Watching 'Reality Bites' recently, one of the many surly characters was of the opinion that 'sex ruins friendships'. The only reason this quote stood out to me was because no more than two weeks ago, two friends, on separate occasions, told me the exact opposite. Apparently, you have nothing to hide, once you've bared it all. Sounds pretty logical.

Just some local sex in your city to chew on.

Then you can reach for the other extreme - the extreme that takes' fleshy gratification' to a whole other level. But you'd have to ask pomie comedian/nymphomanic Russel Brand.
His are the words, on the pages, that are under the command of my flittering finger-tips. And I got to say, these words I talk of, they ain't so bad.

So check out: Russell Brand's 'My Booky Wook' ...

Disclaimer: This isn't the end of the 'Fleshy Gratification' saga.

Checkers

Fallon is replacing Conan who is replacing Leno.



No one has funnier hair than Conan & no one can pull off a protruding chin like Jay.

Jimmy Fallon - where comedy goes to die.