Fuck yeah we have to go back! I still have high hopes for Lost even though I’ve pretty much forgotten everything that’s happened so far (it’s been months and MONTHS since the last series). Not really sure what to expect. In my head, all the people on the island have superpowers like flying and stopping time but I’m fairly sure that’s the remnants in my mind of something completely different. Ah well; it’ll come flooding back once I hear that first chorus of ‘Hey‘’s and listen to Jack telling someone he’ll fix them. Can’t wait!

Oh, and let’s not forget there’s the other teaser too, which blatantly has Charlie in it.. Hmm.. Intriguing…

You ought to know by now that there’s a new Batman film on it’s way. Next summer apparently. I cant wait. It looks the bees knees. There’s a 6 minute ish preview taken from the IMAX showings of ‘I Am Legend’ that you can watch here if you’re quick. The Joker looks sooo sick (both in the mental sense, and in the ‘whoa dude, that’s sick!’ sense).

What I’m really liking though, is the teaser stuff viral build-up they’re doing online with the various sites tied into the film. I’ve mentioned the Dark Knight and the Harvey Dent ones before but they’re increasing by the week it seems.. There was We Are The Answer for Harvey Dent, and then there’s been whysoserious (and it’s sub-sites) and Rent A Clown and rory’s death kiss which rather splendidly get people to engage with the Joker in ‘real life’ (if I wasn’t afraid of looking like a prick, I’d don the face paint and send a photo in). And then more recently, there’s A Taste For The Theatrical with its links to the high quality preview for the film, and the Gotham Times. Then there’s The Ha Ha Ha Times which is an alternative version of the Gotham paper.

Not to mention the other promo stuff, like this Joker cake or the Gotham Novelties box..

Super stuff! I love it. How cool would it be to be working on this project(?!) Note: WB, if you’re looking for some extra Photoshop work or CSS type of stuff, get in touch. I’ll do it for free. Fact.

I’m sure there’ll be more to come before the film gets released. It’s doing a superb job of building up anticipation (for me anyway) and I’ve no doubt the film will meet all my expectations . My spidey-sense says so. (Oh wait, wrong film…)

Billboard adverts are done to death. No-one cares about them anymore. Some places even ban them completely because it’s 100% agreed that they’re ineffective (at least, I’m pretty sure that’s the reason). So if you’re in advertising, what do you do(?)

A. You get into the minds of people walking past them. Obviously.

This new billboard for the tv series ‘Paranormal State’ (which, btw, sounds like a quality production *cough* Most Haunted *cough*) effectively tricks people into thinking they’re mental by sending sound straight into their tiny little brains.

Mounted above the billboard, the system projects an isolated beam of sound down onto a targeted area of the sidewalk – from seven stories up! People who pass by the billboard are startled and entertained by the sudden message, and their attention is drawn directly to the billboard itself. Meanwhile, quiet is preserved for all of the neighbors.

Lucky neighbours! Not so lucky innocent people walking past who don’t actually want to pay attention to your poxy advert. Apparently, ‘the sound of a women’s voice whispers, “Who’s that? Who’s There? …It’s not your imagination.”‘, which in my book is really creepy. By ‘creepy’ I mean ‘irritating’. By ‘irritating’ I mean ‘a ridiculous invasion of personal space that should surely be illegal or something’. It’s tantamount to those people who block your way on pavements by holding up luminous signs with ‘Unlock your phones! Next street across!’ on just following you down the street all up in your face going ‘ooohh, you love your phone being unlocked don’t you.. oooh…’.

It’s not on really is it(?)

That said, it’s very clever . If only these powers could be harnessed for the power of good..

more info: http://holosonics.com/PR_AE.htm

A couple of nights ago I saw the Manic Street Preachers in Bournemouth. They were alright. But nowhere near a good as last time I saw them.. I’m not sure why; possibly something to do with the slight cold I was in the process of cultivating (that is now full-blown) or possibly because the venue last time felt more intimate (and people seemed more into it (as opposed to just mindlessly spazzing around)). Either way, it was kinda fun but fairly un-fulfilling for me. Then again, I’m not really their main target audience so who cares what I think.

I DID like the large video screens though, especially the clips of various strikes and Maggie (as seen in the first photo here) and assorted other things to show how in touch with the working class the band is. Good stuff

Oh, and the support band, ‘Cherry Ghost’ – I didn’t like at all. Dirge.

Some photos..

I don’t want to turn this blog into a ‘post things from youtube’ type of affair but couldn’t resist this.

MDA (Media Development Agency) are, as far as I can work out, the media regulator in Singapore and they also promote media development in the country; they also appear to be awful, AWFUL rappers. I realise that hip-hop is big business nowadays and companies are trying to cash in on it’s allure however they can but really.. there’s a line to be drawn somewhere. I’m not even sure if it’s supposed to be a promotional thing or what (though I can only presume so), but either way, it’s shocking. How they convinced ’senior management’ to stoop so low, I’ll never know. Shocking.

Keep your channels open, HD’s the new TV,
Right here, anywhere through mobility,
My job’s to review the MMCC (Media Market Conduct Code),
My very big ‘yes’ to industry growth..

The song is atrocious.. Oh how the Snoopy have fallen.. But the video is worth watching. Mental.

Super quick-like, kudos to the four sites that were kind enough to send some linkage my way last week.. May there be many more to come

Daily Slurp, Loop Press, Link Creme and CSS Artillery.

Also, I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that almost an hour after launching the new design of ‘scpgt‘, it was featured on a German blog – Farbwolke. Happy times! In case you can’t read German, Google comes to the rescue..

Description: Matt Northam surprised with explosive graphics. As for the viewing of his works out stings are the perfect color harmonies, it seems to generate. He is confined to his site not only to a pure portfolio, he also writes a blog. There, he also tells a lot about his taste in music and other private things. This page is from A to Z durchgestylt. Seeing value.

Brilliant

Saw Kanye last night in Bournemouth on his ‘Glow In The Dark‘ tour (shit name, nice execution (my eyes are still burning from the multitude of lights)), and lo’, twas very good. If you’ve been watching my last.fm profile for the past week then you’ll be aware of the fact that I’ve been listening to a lot of G.O.O.D. music lately (read: Kanye & Common) but I was still pretty surprised at the end of a near two and a half hour set that he had so much material. Yeah, I realise he’s 3 albums deep but still, that’s a long time to be on stage. Impressive. Did pretty much everything off the new album (unfortunately including the abysmal ‘Homecoming‘ – why do people like Chris Martin?! Fucking awful), interspersed with all the ‘hits’ from the previous albums. Covered all bases rather nicely. Highlight for me was bringing out Common for ‘Get ‘Em High‘. Super stuff.

Speaking of Common, it was cool to see him too. Would’ve been better with some material that isn’t on ‘Finding Forever‘. Still, nice bit of exposure for an aging veteran. His ‘freestyle’ was fun stuff, although I’m sure he probably said exactly the same shit at every other venue this tour.

It’s the strangest hip-hop show I’ve ever been to (in terms of audience members and the fact that I was sitting) but as the man himself said, it’s not really like any other hip-hop show (’it’s an insult to me to compare this to other hip-hop shows’). The ‘Hey Mama‘ rendition was rather touching and kudos to him for performing so close to the event; I doubt I’d put on a show a few weeks after my mum died. But anyway, all in all, thoroughly enjoyable.

Only managed a few pictures..

Briefly, I went up to that there London this weekend to see ‘nineteeneightyfouria’, Shepard Fairey’s wee show at Stolenspace. Twas good. And well worth the 3 hour diverted train journey and trogging around in the cold and wet to go see. Been an admirer for ages now and while I saw a couple of pieces of his in L.A. over summer, it was cool to see the work up close..

The website says:

The exhibition entitled ‘Nineteeneightyfouria’, a reference to the surveillance culture of Orwell’s 1984. (Shepard believes London’s CCTV coverage to be ‘Insane’) is comprised of a range of artworks, from large scale multi media installations to smaller album screen prints Shepard’s artwork both scrutinises and distorts the narrative of the modern American Dream. Commenting on underpinnings of what Shepard terms the ‘capitalist machine’, it aims to critique those who support blind nationalism and war. Fairey addresses monolithic institutional authority, the role of counter culture, and independent individuals who question the cultural paradigm.

I says:

Good stuff.

More ‘nineteeneightyfouria’ pictures at flickr.