trees are people too

When you think about it, a day in the life of the internet really equates to an eon in real life. This means that I am figuratively years behind in bringing your attention to mystery google, but what the hell. I like it so much I am going to talk about it. And then probably go and play with it some more.

Mystery google is a search engine that mysteriously takes you to the search results of the person who searched before you. Now, I enjoy this concept for a number of reasons. Not only do you not really have to think about what you are searching for, but you also rescind pretty much all responsibility for what your search results turn up. Yes, admitedly it could get rather frustrating were you actually trying to search for something specific, but for a mindless jaunt around the internet you can’t really go wrong. Also not a bad place to look for creative inspiration – who knows the gems you might uncover.

A little more risky is the concept behind Ogori Cafe, a Japanese eatery where you are served whatever was ordered by the person before you. Only adventurous eaters need apply (and probably best avoided by anyone with allergies) but the same kind of enchanting disengagement from control can be expected. This got me thinking about where else this abandon might be enjoyed – what if you were sold an item of clothing the person before you chose, or your latest book purchase was dictated by the last customer. A  train ticket that takes you where someone else wanted to go… even a job that someone else applied for. Impractical? Yes. Somewhat exhilarating??  Undoubtedly. Of course, not everyone is as decisively challenged as me, so I guess the novelty might wear thin. After all, how often are you really ‘feeling lucky’?  (Thanks to mashable for the heads up.)

In other unassociated news (probably deserving of a witty segue, but it’s too early for that shit) recent reports have placed Australia at number three in the world’s top twenty countries, with the USA coming in at eighth and the glorious motherland holding a miserable 17th place. Norway and Iceland top the list, and with my new found interest in Scandanavia (thank you, Steig Larrson) I have decided to acquaint myself with all traditional Norwegian dishes and dances in the hope of relocating there in the future.

Crispy weather, clean streets, perfect healthcare system and… lots of cabbage. A match made in heaven, really.

When I was young and things were rad, I once was lucky enough to attend the royal melbourne show. Everyone knows that the only good things about the show are the llamas and the showbags, and not only were both plentiful, but in the glory days of my youth the bounty of a good showbag cost only a couple of dollars. Inflation is a cruel thing.

My absolute pride and joy was a Shera, Princess of Power showbag that I purchased containing a set of cuffs, a sword and her magical headress. Never ever will I forget how much I adored the costume in that showbag, and so it was with delight that I discovered He Man and the other masters of the universe reinvented for the new millenium, set for a night saving the world donned in fresh kicks and the latest high street fashions.

Heroes then, hipsters now. And Skeletor – just as endearing as ever. Looks eerily like an old manager of mine. Fortunately, it seems like they are in the process making the movie, so we kids of the 80s can be reacquainted once more. Hurry up, I say.

Thank you yet again, NFG.

not a very long time ago I read a rather entertaining book by a charming young man called joshua ferris called then we came to the end.

A rather biting satire about the self importance of the advertising industry and its inhabitants, the book tracks the employees of a chicago ad agency who struggle with the burden of saving the world daily through careful choice of prose and font and the irresistible addition of 10% lactic acid to any product in order to boost sales. The book turned out to be a fortuitous introduction to what was in store for me in my new career.

I was fondly reminded of the book when I more recently stumbled upon the glorious business guys on business trips. Luckily my new work place is nothing like this, but it brings back vivid memories of those that have been. Something for everyone, I am sure.

It’s taken me a little while to learn, but the beauty of an ending means that it always precedes a new beginning. I’m endeavoring to approach all endings with this attitude from now on. Good luck to me.

I may or may not have a touch of the SADs. Winter has been comparatively mild this year, but oh how I wish it would end. It’s not that I have anything personal against you, August, but the grey, wind and rain can fuck right off. It’s hard, I find, in the muted colours of winter to find perspective, hope, humour and light. And so it was fortunate that this came to my rescue.

The passive-aggressive (and just plain aggressive) notes website is run by Kerry Miller, with examples contributed by readers worldwide. Many are simply enchanting, especially at a time when my own relationship with work places (and the outside world in general) feels a little strained :cough:

To top off this brighter day, via her website I also discovered some fine apostrophe abuse, the thoughtful Ironic Sans and the outstanding cake wrecks (which I had forgotten the wonders of). Thank you Kerry, and the lovely We made this, for the fix.

I can’t say I am a huge fan of Kanye West. Which is a shame, because he is probably quite a talented artist (sans autotune). But I am a fan of his blog posts, and the repercussions they inspire.

First there was operation humble kanye, orchestrated by the inimitable Steven Colbert (my hero), and now Kanye Webst Week, a homage to all 2.0 related madness by the great man himself. Now, one may argue that Kanye is just misunderstood genius (in fact, i think he argues this all the time), but even he has alluded to the fact that his ego needs to be reined in somewhat. It’s nice to know that all egos are susceptible to audit. Especially as I now work with some particularly big ones. The power of the web will potentially render all as equal (you can’t win, Kanye).

Can’t we all just be nice and polite, people, and don’t you know that TYPING IN CAPS MAKES IT SEEM LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING?

In other genius, remix and rap related news…

Probably better than Kanye. Yes, I went there.

In an earlier life when I still believed in the magic of words, I wanted to be Carol Ann Duffy, I just didn’t know who she was yet. Years later I was introduced to her via her poem Valentine, and I am yet to find anyone else who quite compares to her. Well known in the UK, she is something of a celebrity over there, and I despair of not having the opportunity to savour her work in school when I was far more innocent and thus receptive to the power of lyricism. Still, her poetry brought back dizzying memories of why writing and words mean so much to me.

This week Duffy has been confirmed as the next poet laureate, the first ever woman to hold this position. But I like to think if it as less a celebration of women than a celebration of her incredible talents. Let’s hope such stardom doesn’t go to her head and aleviate any inspirational agony.

Nowhere near as exciting, but I too wrote something more than an sms this week. Australia’s highest circulating marketing and advertising magazine B&T (pfft) recruited my services as AFA graduate and rookie reporter to contribute an analysis on current ads.

The objective was to apply my own ‘critical opinion’ to different ads, stating why I liked or disliked different campaigns, backed up with ’sound reasoning’. And this is where it started to fall down. See, opinion sounds a bit like onion and reasoning sounds like seasoning, and before I knew it I was completely distracted by the thought of food and couldn’t concentrate at all on the ads. Needless to say, I submitted my article this morning and eagerly await their feedback (aka brutal editing or complete failure to include). We’ll see. Perhaps they will be forgiving. I am just a novice after all. I shall post scans here when published, but don’t get too excited.

And now for something nicer. This is new math. Much better than old math.

Created by Craig Damrauer. This one is dedicated to nicholas.

For easter we went on a magical tour of tasmania, where we ate and drank like kings. I’ll post some pics soon, and I send many many loves to our hosts. It was beautiful and oh so decadent. And coming back to work was oh so hard.

But then I found these. It’s just packaging, but I am hoping a handbag might be the natural progression. How wonderfully fruity and fabulous. Please, I want. I would be the finest fruit in all the land.

Via the insatiable nicefuckinggraphics, and (of course) originating in japan.

(More fab coming soon. Sorry about the silence, very busy at work fighting off the GFC and saving the world :sigh:)

As you will know, I recently began a new career in advertising with GPYR. It is not half as glamourous as one might think, but working with a number of dangerously creative people can have its perks. And its fails. But variety is the spice of life.

We recently launched this new ad for smart energy, junk ballet.

Not the best ad I have ever seen (currently this) but it is still good fun. More interesting though is that it took me four viewings to work out that my cousin stars in the ad (it is he who plugs the cables together). This is an uncanny coincidence. The boy gets around.

Big ups to Thomas. He is also a keen publisher, a life I lived in one of my previous careers.

So now I have worked in magazine publishing, book publishing, as a journalist and a copy editor, and here I am as an adevrtising executive. One can’t but help hope that I am getting closer to the right career. My dream is to get into strategic communications, mostly in digital spaces. I’ll be updating my progress right here. Keep an eye.

Pointed out to me on the weekend, a young man in israel has spent three months remixing youtube. No mean feat.

Being a huge fan of remix culture spawned from the evolution of the web, this becomes even more impressive when you realise no effects have been added (besides a heady amount of splicing and syncing) and all of the videos used are essentially home made, many recorded with devices available to many of us in our own lives, homes, dens, burroughs etc.

Some are better than others, but all are spectacular. He makes it look too easy.

How I wish I could say I had been frantically busy, thus excusing myself from the lack of posts, but to be perfectly honest I have been whiling away the hours before I begin my new job/career at GPYR with a mixture of boredom, excitement and pure terror.

This has, however, allowed me plenty of time to catch up on cleaning, reading and web browsing. Today’s treats are brought to you by the letter C. Keeping me entertained has been:

The beautiful creations of Heidi Kenney, as found on her My Paper Crane blog, have given me endless hours of giddiness. Discovered after I purchased some new kidrobot toys (a dire addiction, with no known cure).

Slightly sillier but just as giddy-inducing are the adventures of the Middleman by Bayat. Ejecting matter from the stomach thru the mouth (previewed below) has to be my personal fav.

Jewellery that looks like tasty tasty food (yes, it is an ongoing theme. Food + cute = smitten)

Fresh and beautiful music by new russian producer Oak. His lush tune Mongoose has him being compared to the likes of ASC, Electrosoul System and Mav, all regular features on my personal soundtrack.

http://treesarepeopletoo.com/media/Oak_-_Mongoose.mp3

Thank you to Science and Progress for bringing this track (released free of charge and hosted by etiket) to my attention. I have thoroughly rinsed and can also recommend this fine mix by Electrosoul System.

(Interesting also to me that all of these artists are using Myspace as their main websites. I thought myspace was so yesterday. I should really pay more attention.)

And finally, just for lols, the official ranking of offensive words. As the friend who directed me to it said, it’s science. So it must be real.