The King of Pop

One of the most bizarre yet "must-watch" "shows," if you can call it that, I must have ever witnessed, definitely how Micheal Jackson himself would have like to have been sent off. I particularly like the tributes to him, not only through word and song but also by fashion and style that was show throughout the "show."

The gloves that his brothers wore said so much and they looked great. I don't no if anyone has ever pulled off a fashion statement that bold, that has stuck for so long, decades even.

Not only did his brothers make a statement; the gold coffin which cost £15,000 covered in red roses is absolutely beautiful. Its like no coffin I have ever seen before and its very curvaceous and bold. I would definitely put my money on Micheal loving this send off and everything about it.

RIP MICHEAL JACKSON, THE KING OF POP.

Has he still got it?

I went to see this film as soon as it came out, despite having never seen the five earlier 'prequels' I thought for his age, Sylvester Stallone, who was almost 60 years old when filming, was actually quite endearing and witty, not to mention a damn good writer!

The film which sees Stallone star as Rocky whilst also writing and directing it, follows up Rocky V as Stallone recalls: "he was negligent" in the production of Rocky V and many fans were disappointed at the presumed end of the saga, he too was disappointed and Rocky Balboa allowed Stallone to incorporate some of his own troubles and triumphs of recent times and end with a bang.

Since watching the sequel I have watched the former five films and did not realise there was so much more depth to them, the romance, humour and the tackling of political and social issues to mention just a few.

The final films sees Rocky struggle with the loss of his wife, his dwindling relationship with his son and fighting back his fighters instinct. I thought the film would be a bit of a disaster but I thought it was a great end to the series and actually quite realistic. The end of the film has an alternative ending which would have been far less convincing and I bet you can guess what that was if you have ever seen any of the other Rocky films.

Another note of interest with this film is the different colouring of the DVD cover in comparison to the five earlier film covers. This looks a lot more classic and stylish, it almost looks like a "winner" the classic black, white and gold, comparing to the more gritty black, white and red images from the former DVD covers.

The only one question I have is: does every ones copy of this DVD have the A half cut off from Balboa or is it actually meant to be like that? I have looked at a few and they all have that bad production or strange typographical design.

Well worth a watch though if you haven't see it or even if you haven't seen any of the Rocky films, you never know you might enjoy it.

Expletive Deleted

The first time I read this was in college, when we discussed swearing. While out teacher started to read this report out loud, the whole class couldn't help but smirk everytime the 'f-word' was said, but now looking back and reading this again that is the whole point!

First of all, read this Guardian investigation into the acceptability of swearing in modern day culture and you can't help but agree.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/nov/21/britishidentity.features11

I do completely agree with Jonathon, certain swear words have lost all shock value and I for one can't talk as I use most swear words several times a day, even if there is no need to use them! I can't even explain why, although saying we use the word "fuck" as a reinforcing adverb answers quite a lot.

Contradicting myself, as a person who does swear usually unnecessarily, I still find myself shocked when watching the likes of Coronation Street and Eastenders and before the watershed and hearing words such as 'bitch' and 'slag.' Maybe if swearing wasn't so accepted on television and radio we wouldn't swear quite so openly and often? Recently the BBC has made the watershed for there main channel BBC1 10pm, with the only swearing before 10pm and after 9pm happening for exceptional circumstances, but they have not stated what counts as 'exceptional'?

The other swearing that usually happens which also makes me cringe, is whilst out shopping when music is playing and you know exactly when the swear word will come in a song and if its not censored out, I can't help but cringe looking around to see if anyone actually heard. Lily Allen's: The Fear I've heard quite a few times whilst out shopping and there actually is a censored version which make is worse when you hear the swearing in the original version!

Despite slagging off swearing, I actually find the views of Nick Lohr quite true, fuck is an interesting word and very flexible expecially when you actually don't know what to say. Whether it should be used though is a very different question.

Although I could probably discuss this more and more, I may even add to this post I'm going to end on the last paragraph and ask: what does this even mean?

"I'd rather my children said fuck than toilet."

Andrew Brooks

After looking at what local art exhibitions are on in Manchester, I found an interesting artist called Andrew Brooks with an exhibition called hidden manchester. His website showcases some fantastic work which actually makes me want to go and look for all these mysterious places dotted around manchester. In college a did a textiles project on decay and abandonment and used pictures from around manchester and these images took me back to the ones I took. Andrew Brooks; very interesting well worth a look at!


Big Humpty by Andrew Brooks 2008



Doorway Club Night by myself 2006

http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/

Typographically beautiful?

After looking for a suitable typeface I came across a certain designer called Imre Reiner, I had previously seen his work a few years back and thought it was unusual yet oddly attractive. http://www.belowthefold.org/Volume1Number3.pdf.

His work is a mixture of artistic designs combined with fonts and they all have a fun feel to them. I can imagine this type of typography to be used in quirky artwork as well as children's books. This type of font would largely be used on its own as most of the characters are a design in themselves, decorative fonts are becoming more and more popular for example this design for Dolce & Gabbana. I think that sometimes the answer to design problems can be solved creatively by using artistic typography.

Pretty Green Oasis.

Pretty may not be the first word to come to mind when you think of Liam Gallagher.

But even so this is the name of Liam Gallaghers new fashion line.

“I’m not gonna be putting anything out unless I’d wear it...” - L. Gallagher. He isn't into all that skinny stuff and outspoken as ever declares he "wants to get rid of all that shit" as well as pointy shoes! I'm sure many would say the same about his new range, so I'm sure there is no love lost there.

The range is all special edition and most looks like it has just come straight out of Liam’s wardrobe but does look wearable. The price may cause some concern, £245 for an imitation Liam Gallagher Parka which could very well have been designed by Frank Gallagher, or Liam. It may “captures Liam's classic mod style” but the price is still very steep. I think by saying the range is special edition that is maybe a way of making a bit more money, but what I do know is that in Manchester there will be people sporting the liam "pretty green" look.

Available online: http://new.prettygreen.com/

Ever seen an Octopus do a handbrake turn?

Oktapodi

2007 Animated short film

Directed by Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, Emud Mokhberi.

This short story is about two octopi who are in love, due to some insensitive hungry people the pair become separated, the short film illustrates their struggle to be together, right until the very end.




When watching this film it reminds me of the type of film that is made specifically for children, the bright colours and the comical music together with the vague story-line and slight hint of terror: “the tyrannical cook” chopping the octopus up! Although I believe this short film was made to illustrate the detailed animation that the directors and animators were capable of.

I can’t help but compare this type of animation to the more widely know - Disney and Pixar animations we are all used to, for example Finding Nemo. The two styles are very similar and although the animation Oktapodi is developed to a very high standard with great attention to detail, the animation is still some what lacking although I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.

Even though there is a very high standard of animation demonstrated here, for me, the music is the selling point, it cracks me up every time I watch it and I think it is very suitable for the animation as personality shines through it.

Kenny Wood who has devised the music for this short animation has a unique style of composing, the music from this animation made me want to listen to more examples of his work, so I went looking and found several examples on his website. I suggest music from; The kitchen's Ink 2009 on http://kennywoodmusic.com/

There is also some more interesting short animations on his website that he has composed music for that are maybe worth a look at.

Marrying a crocodile, could it ever work?

I think we all know that the answer is a firm no.

This short animation used by The Annuals, for their song Dry Clothes, won an award for best animated music video at the International Animation Film Festival.

The actual type of animation is interesting and reminds me of the Angela Anaconda animated series. (Below) The actual animation is about a crocodile and a man falling in love and getting married but the crocodile struggles to keep up with compromises she has made and eventually eats her husband.







The colours in the video are dark although certain spots are quite bright, the videos colours remind me of a happy exterior with a dark hidden centre quite like the crocodile has.

The storyline behind the animation is quite witty and obviously very unrealistic, I think this gives the animation a humorous side. At the end of the day its fairly easy to watch and has been credited by the International Animation Film Festival in Annecy so is worth a watch.

If this is of interest heres another interesting animation to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k16DphwORRk

UNKLE - Burn My Shadow

I must admit that every time I watch this video my heart races a little.

I first heard this song at the gym and I don't know what made me take more interest the fact that the music can cause your heart to race and your breathing to go heavy or that there is a lot of pauses in the music to highlight the actions of the character in the video, which makes the song a bit confusing if you haven't see then video. (Try listening to the song without watching the video, it's a little strange)



A man wakes up after a rough night, to find out he has some kind of "bomb" or "countdown timer" implanted into to his chest. The counter starts at four minutes and very quickly the man (played by ER's Goran Visnjic) tries to make sense of the situation. According to write ups about the video he is trying to "make something" of his last few minutes of existence. I on the other hand believe he simply has given up, hence why he walks to overlook the city, nothing to do but wait.

Although when I watch this I am intrigued at the emphasis on the one character, would the end result have no effect on anyone else, surely that can't be true? The beginning shows some sort of reckless maybe some would say elfish lifestyle but someone must be affected?

Zen Garden -The Beauty in CSS Design?

I came across this website as part of my research when completing my web module and although the homepage is not the most aesthetically pleasing thing I've ever seen, it is when you begin to read through that you realise the potential the site has; to not only inspire but also to develop your own skills as a graphic designer.

The Zen Garden is all about different graphic designers developing the same page but with their own take on the basic style sheet. After looking through all the different designs I have picked 4 I found most interesting.









These are just 4 designs of many and I'd encourage you to go and have a look for yourself, because its amazing the difference between each one. Even from just the 4 that I have chosen; they are all very diverse and so far removed from the original page which, was designed by Dave Shea, a web designer from Vancouver, Canada.

The first image by Eric Roge from France : Retro Theatre, is so intriguing and different from the original page although maybe not as relevant as some of the other designs but as a page itself is quite interesting and original.

The original website idea is such a fun and useful way of developing your css skills and from finding this website I hope to find more like it and I would also like to try my hand at modifying the page, but we will have to see!

Have a look or go yourself: http://csszengarden.com/