Archive for June, 2007

Flickr’s Grand Entrance into the World of Art

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

Congratulations to Flickr for breaking into the world of art.

Despite the traditional slower in-take of technology of the art world, Flickr has successfully entered into some very interesting, mainstream projects, including The Grand Tour and How We Are: Photographing Britain.

It’s one thing to see my favourite photo sharing web site getting more popular by the day; it’s another to see the sense of community fading due to people’s disrespect for the rules. It’s a fine idea to share your family photos with friends and family on Flickr, but it really annoys me when people ignore the rules and post random photos in irrelevant groups. For example, why would anyone want to know about your pet in a travel group?

I will stop moaning now.

Jarvis Cocker’s John Barry night

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown

It was my first live classical concert and the London Philharmonic Orchestra made it all very memorable. As part of Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown, The Music of John Barry included some of the best known pieces composed by John Barry in the last five decades such as the James Bond theme, the scores for Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.

It was definitely an enjoyable experience to hear some of the most impressive film tunes at the newly reopened Royal Festival Hall, especially because of the £91M refurbishment. I do recommend hanging out in the area in and around the building (with trendy restaurants, funky shops and lots of performance space) on a hot summer evening.

Will I go to see another live classical concert? Yes, but it will probably be another classical performance with a modern element.

London’s Street Gallery

Saturday, June 16th, 2007

Art display on London's streets

The Grand Tour by The National Gallery has brought 45 paintings, which are full-size reproductions from the gallery’s permanent collection, to the streets of London. The collection includes masterpieces by artists like Van Gogh, Rosseau and Stubbs.

If you are interested in discovering all 45 of them, you can print out an interactive map, along with information about each of the paintings.

I love the fact that there is also a Grand Tour Flickr group!

93 Million Wangs in China

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

I saw this very interesting article in The Times today.

If all the Wangs in China seceded — all 93 million — they would become the world’s 12th-most-populous nation. The 88 million Zhangs could eat every crumb of the UN’s World Food Programme, distributed annually to people in 82 countries.

China needs more names — double-quick, The Times, 13 June 2007

Creative Advertising

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

Nowadays, advertising executives not only have to be creative when developing content, but also have to be innovative about the media they use to present ads. I’ve come across the following two examples that have recently generated a lot of discussion.

  1. We7 allows free music downloads but only if you can put up with an ad (of up to 10 seconds) attached to your music tracks.
  2. A new novel, The Average American Male, chose to reach its target audience via YouTube. A series of low budget videos were produced and placed on one of the most popular video sharing web sites. Apparently, it has had more than a million views and a hugely positive impact on sales; during the course of two weeks, they have gone to press three times and have doubled their initial print-run. Sounds like a viral marketing dream come true for the publishers.

Eighteenth Birthday

Monday, June 4th, 2007

There is no present,
No laughter or celebration.
Memories are still fresh;
Whilst others are made to believe:
It was only imagination!
It is not meant to be discussed;
It is a topic to be banned.
But something was born
While hundreds were sacrificed:
A realisation that brought a beginning.

Written: 4th June 2007