Anyway, in the absence of having anything substantial to post I just wanted to draw your attention to a rather beautiful documentary. I’ve been, in retrospect perhaps a little ineloquently, excitedly babbling about The Semantic Web for what seems like an absolute age. Having had my head stuck in computers and the internet for most of my life, I find it absolutely thrilling that we finally seem to be getting to the point where using one is an intuitive experience. It’s not there yet, not quite, but we are getting there. When we do you will find computers, not to mention all other items of digital media kit, being used in a far more creative way by a far greater swathe of the world then they already are. So it’s pretty exciting, enjoy.

A story about the Semantic Web

Interviews with:

Tim Berners-Lee

Clay Shirky

Chris Dixon

David Weinberger

Nova Spivack

Jason Shellen

Lee Feigenbaum

John Hebeler

Alon Halevy

David Karger

Abraham Bernstein

It’s also specially lovely when you consider that they have two stadiums (Wembley and the Emirates) which are absolute shoe-ins for selection of the final 12 and are therefore unlikely to be awarded the other. Anyway, some more local cities are also bidding to be host cities and given the amount of stick I would get if I didnt here are the link to Leeds, Sheffield and Hull’s bid efforts. You can also follow them on Twitter here: Leeds, Sheffield and Hull

Piano Stairs

World’s Deepest Bin

Bottle Arcade (Teaser)

I have to declare an interest at this point though, I adore VWs, especially some of the late 80s / early 90s examples. My first car was a gorgeous, but slightly careworn MkII Golf GTi which I nicknamed the Millenium Falcon, as much for its ability to make the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs as the alarming regularity that things fell off it. I loved that car and I love 80s Volkswagens – even more than the 60s equivalents – and somehow VW have managed to capture a bit of the fun of the Mk1 and Mk2 Golfs or the Sirocco.

I drive a Honda Civic estate now though so I might just be missing the old days.

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont

Claremont is the brainchild of Adam Kimmel, New York Suit Designer (and fashion label), who decided that there was no better way to publicise his new line of suits than to embark on a 60mph downhill skate. No? Me neither. Anyway, it hots up about two minutes in.

Tony Hawk, the 900

This video is pretty self explanatory. It is one of the most inspiring moments that I have ever witnessed in sport, watching live as he completed a trick he had been attempting for a decade. In case you were wondering, the 900 is a vert ramp trick involving two-and-a-half revolutions in the air. Tony completed it at the 1999 x games after 12 attempts.

Mouse, a film by Girl skateboards

This is a seminal film by Girl skateboards directed by now famous, but in 1996 very much less so, director Spike Jonze. It was as influential as it was referential, see how many other films you can pick off in the clips below. Also, if you are a fan of any of the Tony Hawk skateboarding games then you may recognise some of the settings.

Regular readers of the blog (of which, admittedly, there aren’t many) will probably have been wondering why the lack of updates recently. The reasons are many and varied but the day job has been pretty hectic, lots of important and creatively draining meetings have been distracting me, I’ve been doing some serious decorating on our ramshackle 150 year old house and also I’ve been on holiday – see the pic of me and the little terror on the beach for proof.

On the holiday front, the weather in Whitby, North Yorkshire, on a north facing bit of coastline facing the North Sea in September no less, was absolutely fantastic. I had envisaged some ‘Withnail & I’ style “We’ve gone on holiday by mistake” disaster. I have somehow managed to jam my way into booking the best two weeks of the summer off for my hols. Gloat.

Anyway, I had hoped to have some posts ready to come out of draft form and into the cold, hard, critical light of “teh internets” but sadly I have been too busy not looking like a Goth to finish them. Expect some Augmented Reality stuff, some comment and ham-fisted analysis on Twitter’s recent change to their Ts&Cs and a comparison of some of the most popular Twitter desktop clients.

Anyway, here’s a cracking video from Socialnomics09 that – as well as having some lovely typography – also sums up some of the potential for Social Media. Enjoy.

Cliffhanger 09 from Weekday Productions on Vimeo.

Yorkshire Events, the guys I am currently working with, won their bid for the 2010 UCI Mountainbiking XC World Cup. I’m absolutely made up that we won it as I was desperate for it to get the recognition it deserves. The real kicker is that, particularly with bid stuff, nobody wants to know if you didnt win the event. This wouldve meant something I was very proud of would be the proverbial ginger stepchild.

Understanably the World Cup bid has been a bit of a long shadow on the horizon for me for a while. It’s been hovering over me like the sword of Damocles, having submitted the bid in late April and it’s actually one of the things that I am most proud of in my career, certainly the item of print I’m most proud of.  To say it was just print though would be doing it a bit of a disservice,  it was a very complex project made up of two bid books, a part CGI part live action DVD and a gorgeous presentation box. I had the pleasure of working with a slew of very good people who all pulled together in the right direction to pull it off.

I’ll post some of the beautiful stills as well as the excellent bid DVD in the next week or so.

you claaaaaahn

If you are a film buff like me I think you may well be in for a treat. Obviously the greatest single shot take was either Goodfellas, or The Godather….yes probably the godfather. Anyway, though this is crammed with CGI and all sorts of other shenanigans is is undenyably beautiful.

It’s to advertise a TV, here’s the beta version from the agency and here’s the final superduper one with director’s commentary and HD options as well as how it would look with the ever so slightly superfluous Ambilight feature.

Here he is turning Ex-Stone Bill Wyman’s love of metal detectors into some form of pseudo-kraftwerk goodness:

Here he is twisting some of the most touching scenes Neighbours ever managed into a weird, warped and lovely scratchfest:

Lastly, here Swede takes an already pretty perfect film and makes it funnier, well roughly a second and a half of it: