Have you seen this?!

This is aaaaaaawesome

London!!!

Hello again!  I just got back from London recently, it was my first time being there and my god it is amazing!  It’s huge!  Belfast would fit into one tiny corner of Oxford Street with room to spare.  I found seven Waterstones….SEVEN.  That’s only the ones I found…who knows how many there?!  There is waaaay too much to see and to do – I went to Camden and seen the mad indoor market place littered with slightly larder than life horse statues (I’m rather afraid of horses to begin with so giant bronze statue things caught in mid-horse-fit did not make me feel very comfortable…hence no photos of them); I also went to the V&A and seen the AMAZING sculpture exhibitions – there were August Rodin sculptures!  I was very happy  Our hotel was also just round the corner from a fabulous comic shop Orbital Comics - stacked completely with all my favourite comics, a nerd’s dream.

http://www.orbitalcomics.com/

While there I had to see a show – so we chose the fabulous ‘Wicked’ - a musical about the two witches of Oz.  It was otherworldly – the special effects were unbelievable, the singing was beautiful, the costumes were perfect, and though the story changed quite a bit from the book (great book) it was enchanting.  I have fallen in love with Oz again <3

the view from the airplane

 

this may have been Apollo

 

Narcissus (one of my favourite myths)

 

a Knight <3!

 

ye olde doodle

 

curious thing hanging from the V&A ceiling

on the wall beside the ‘Fairy Tales in Art’ exhibit

 

Even though I didn’t sleep very much, I returned with a chest/throat infection and I fear I might be getting Rugby player legs from all the walking, I would go back in a heart beat – though I think it would take at least a month to see everything and another month to go to all the theatres

 

T-Shirts

The other day Winnie and myself made some fun t-shirts  :)  I made ‘Nice Balloons’ and Winnie made ‘Mushroom Wonderland’.  Hopefully we’ll make more!  It was so fun!

The thing about words…

Today was a talk by the esteemed John Simmons, author of such fabulous books as: Innocent: Building a Brand from Nothing but Fruit; Twenty-six ways of looking at a Blackberry: How to let writing release the creativity of your brand; and, The Invisible Grail: How Brands Can Use Words To Engage with Audiences.

The workshop was ‘The Thing About Words’ – basically using words in advertising.  I was a tad dubious at first whether I could stay awake through the whole talk (that is the earliest I have woken up in what feels like forever) but I couldn’t not pay attention – the man is just so darn interesting!  John Simmons easily comes up with brilliant sentences that are so nice to quote:

“The trouble with words is that you never know who’s mouth they’ve been in”

“…words are containers of feelings…”

“Be curious.  Be a traveller not a tourist.  Be open to possibilities.”

Just some of my favourites.  Anyhow, Simmons asked us the all important question ‘what is your favourite word’.  Is it wrong that I have thought about this at great length?  Of course mine was the lovely word cephalopod, but we also found many other great words: pamplemousse, lustrum, pineapple, etc.  Did you know Britain’s favourite word is serendipity?  How cute!  Then we had to do some automatic writing (just basically writing anything that comes into your brain, without editing it) about your favourite word.  The end result is very weird.  See for yourself.

cephalopods are fun squishy creatures ultimate creators being suppliers of their own ink doodlers with tentacles that write and draw eight times every time finding homes in traveling coconuts that allow them to use the ocean floor as a canvas they mimic other creatures like a living photocopier but with higher quality skin changing colour to suit their enviroment like a soggy cameleon…

See what I mean?  We also wrote the opening to a book we know very little about and developed our own imaginary brand based on the random word combinations we came up with in groups.  Good times.  Personally I found today to be highly entertaining, it felt good to stretch a seldom used creative muscle.  John Simmons is a very interesting man (with a fabulous London accent), I hope his writing is as good as his speaking!  It most likely is  :)

Now then, most importantly; what is your favourite word?

Have you had breakfast?

Hi everyone, hope you’re enjoying your break I’ve found a weird way of relaxing – making plushie breakfast food.  I can make many forms of toast (French toast has a berret and a moustache), poptarts, fried eggs and recently little mushrooms.  I’m still working on making scented teabags (to be used as air fresheners in cars and such) and milk cartons (like the one from the Blur video).  They’re completely hand made out of felt and squishy stuffing and are all palm sized.  I must admit they make cute keyrings

This is Toast Steve – he’s huuuuuuuge!  He’s about the size of a perfect hug

 

 

If you’re interested in them contact me and i’ll make you one in exchange for moneys

Golden Age Animations

Golden Age animations are a series created by Aaron Augenblick and Tim Harrod for Comedy Central that are like news reports on copyright infringed cartoon characters.  They are fantastic!  The storylines range from a crazed ‘cereal’ killer Lancaster Loon, to ‘Sketch Towers’ –  a psychiatric ward that houses defective toons.  ’Sketch Towers’ is the final in the series but, in my opinion, is the best.  It depicts several unfinished toons living in a rundown hospital, like Ira Stickman – a flipbook stick figure who can only bounce a poorly drawn ball for all time.  The animation quality is fantastic and the drawings are so retro, however the humor may not be for everyone as it can be a tad macabre. 

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/golden_age_sketch/

Take a look, there are lots of them!

Find Chaffy

Another brainchild of Jamie Smart if you find the o so cute Chaffy please tell me!

Find out more about him here:

http://www.findchaffy.com/

Treeson

Have you seen the adorable new Treeson figures from Crazy Label?  Needless to say, they’re adorable!  They have fake bubbles The giant pink Treeson was designed by Gaston Caba – he looks like a giant gum monster and retails for about £55.  There’s also Monster Burp – a tiny dinosaur with a huge evil bubble burp.  I got mine in Forbidden Planet for £20.  You can also get many more bubbles and mix and match the bubbles between the two characters!

How To Speak Pirate

My optician showed me this video on ‘How To Speak Pirate’.  It’s directed to look like a 1970s instructional video.  I love it!  I hope you enjoy it too

ps. did you know that September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day?

Marc Webb

Marc Webb is a music video, short film, and motion picture director signed to DNA in Hollywood, and Academy Productions Ltd in the U.K.  Before signing with DNA he ran Naked, his own company.  After a video commissioner saw one of his short films, Webb began his music video directing career with “My Star” by The Shame Idols.  However he has done a lot more music videos since then.  He has directed videos for Good Charlotte, Greenday, AFI, My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World, and many many others.  The unique thing about his videos is the vivid stories they tell.  One of my favourites has to be the All American Reject’s for their song ‘Move Along’.  It looks like a series of photographs but the only thing that’s moving is Tyson Ritter’s lips, have a look.  Also check out My Chemical Romance’s ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ video.