Stuff we like
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Friday YouTube fun
For some Friday blog fun, we thought we’d pull out some classic clips from YouTube and a theme soon became apparent as we ran through some favourites… parodies and mash-ups. Here’s a notable one from a while back. Microsoft advertise a new bit of music software in typical Microsoft style.
Hilarious responses quickly followed putting the very same advertised music software to the test:
A little more recently, Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind was quickly re-hashed for a more Welsh-centric audience and a video that truly epitomises the word viral, Rebecca Blacks “Friday” has countless parodies all of varying degrees of success.
So it seems YouTube has become the home for a brand of humour that has long been around, but now, more than ever, a parody or remix seems to be the de facto response to any videoclip that has at least mild pop-culture success. There are a number of reasons that would point to why, not least the ability of the public to make video responses at a cost that’s never been lower and outreach thats never been greater.
That same public, namely us, are the filter of what is successful and what is not, we need to sort the wheat from the chaff. It seems the most successful parodies and mash-ups always offer an insight, a production skill, or tone of humour that has an originality and creativity. If we discover it, the author is given a massive springboard and a chance to reach out to millions of viewers in a matter of hours. Perhaps successful careers can be started?
This cut-up version of The Apprentice gained massive appeal, not just based on the popularity of the show, but in its own right:
The likes of Kutiman, remixing and reshaping musical YouTube clips from his bedroom to construct whole new original tracks, has gone on to be a prolific producer:
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Behind the scenes at Chelsea
It’s that time of year again, when SW3 comes alive with world class gladioli and prize winning perennials. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show opens its doors to the public tomorrow with the eagerly anticipated judging taking place today.
On Saturday I got to experience behind the scenes preparation when I lent a hand to my sister and her colleagues from Todds Botanics as they painstakingly erected their exhibit of prudently groomed drought tolerant plants. A 10 ft squared handmade wooded container houses each considered species of the design, including the oh so cute Ivory Queen Allium and my favourite, the Langport Wren Bearded Iris, with a striking ancient Spanish Olive tree taking centre stage. I may be biased but this is a design that deserves gold!
The reverse, I have to say, has to be said for Diarmuid Gavin’s sky garden, inspired by the film Avatar, and sponsored by Cork City Council. There’s no denying that the landscape of grasses, topiary and bamboo is impressively executed and appealing but, just like the film this garden is more about big budget effects than style and substance. The centerpiece of the £250,000 design is a bright pink flying pod (below) that is elevated into the air every hour and suspended at 82ft by a gigantic crane. With the crane itself costing £5k a day this seems an unnecessary feature and a colossal waste of money, especially as it’s being financed by a government who I would have thought could ill afford such extravagance, and the only one given the opportunity to enjoy the view from above is Gavin himself and a string of celebrity friends. Some may describe this as cutting edge garden design but personally speaking I feel it’s just another opportunity for Gavin to exhibit an already inflated ego.
Thankfully elsewhere the gardens are more modest in their approach. It was good to see The Times and Kew Gardens coming together to showcase The Eureka garden designed by Marcus Barnett which celebrates the importance of plants to human survival. Each element has been chosen either for its medicinal, commercial or industrial use, such as; Foxgloves and Geranium which are used to treat heart and kidney conditions respectively; and, a Rosa Glauca which is used by both the cosmetic and drinks industry. The central pavilion structure represents the cellular nature of plants and is constructed from sustainably sourced timber and bio-plastics.
With the culmination of a year’s planning, planting, and pruning, mixed with late nights, early mornings and the physical exertion that goes into every exhibit, it’s easy to see why a Chelsea accolade means so much in the wonderful world of horticulture.
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Edinburgh Civic Survey – 1949
I stumbled across this civic survey and plan for Edinburgh from 1949 whilst on a city break up there a couple of weeks ago and had to buy it. This huge book (280 x 360mm & 111 pages) is full of the most incredible post-war maps of the city.
Prepared by Patrick Abercrombie and Derek Plumstead for the Town Council, the book contains detailed data for traffic, health, education, recreation, population density and so on, beautifully depicted in a series of maps, charts and diagrams. This page for example, shows the distribution of authority (red) and non-authority schools (black) in Edinburgh.
Each dot on the map represents a pupil, solid for secondary and outline for primary, also colour coded to indicate whether they attend an authority or non-authority school.
This page compares pre-and post war traffic accidents.
The supporting text concludes “from the number, size and colour of the symbols it is at once apparent which are the most dangerous points in the road system where accidents occurred in 1937 and recurred in 1946…
…while the coloured portions of the segments indicate the number of times an accident occurred at any one of these points during the two years.”
The typography is a treat…
…as are the compasses that sit at the foot of each map under the key…
…the illustrations…
…the historic street plans (this one dates from 1819)…
…and the detail in each of the 25 fold-out maps.
The greatest surprise though, were the 3 biggest maps that were hiding in a sleeve inside the back cover.
The biggest one is a land use survey of the whole of Edinburgh, at a scale of 1:5000 its over a metre wide. This’ll be framed and on my wall at home before too long.
Edinburgh is full of really interesting second hand bookshops. This book was found at the back of Edinburgh Books in West Port. I recommend paying them a visit if you’re ever in town. Full set of photos on our Flickr.
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’93, 4AD & Me
I was flicking through my record boxes recently, which doesn’t happen very often these days, and found an old favourite from 1993 – the Isabel Bishop EP by Unrest (I also found a questionable amount of Acid Jazz records that we’ll speak no further of). I thought I’d share this on our blog, if only because the artist Isabel Bishop, who inspired this record, is worth reading about.
It’s a record that’s very nostalgic for me, both because of the music and the sleeve design. In ’93 I’d been studying graphic design for about a year, and my interest in music was also escalating, and so my delight in discovering the record label 4AD was two-fold – aural stimulus provided by artists such as Belly, The Breeders, Pale Saints and Unrest, and the visual stimulus of their sleeves designed by heroes of the day Vaughan Oliver, V23 and Chris Bigg.
I still enjoy the music on these records, and although I’m not as enamoured with the sleeves as I once was, at the time they gave me great pleasure and inspiration – I remember spending a significant amount of time, to no avail, trying to make photographs like Jason Love’s for The Breeders’ Cannonball cover shown above.
Unfortunately my little trip down memory lane was cut short as my 2yr old daughter has managed to detach and hide the stylus for my turntable, however, through the modern miracle that is Spotify I can share the title track with you here.
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Vintage Retro Reclaimed
The ok corral was started by Steve and Joy Jolliffe and their daughter Holly, Isle of Wight friends of Applied Works partner Joe Sharpe. We rather like their stuff and wanted to share it with you, so we asked them to send us some words and pictures for the blog. Enjoy.
The ok corral began because we have a problem. Our problem is a lack of space. We just can’t resist poking about in other people’s stuff. Our little collection of favourite bits is now a big collection. The many odd plates and pots sadly no longer fit into the kitchen cupboards.
But there’s more great stuff still out there and it’s all irresistible but there’s no more room here. So, we decided to share with everyone else and this became the solution.
At the ok corral, Steve designed and now manages the website and generally keeps it in tip top condition. Holly takes considered photographs of humble objects and releases their inner beauty. Joy writes about our finds and gets the chance to wax lyrical and transmit her enthusiasm.
Now, we can all just keep on searching for those amazing things in a calm and guilt free way because they’re not for us any more, they’re for you.
The ok corral – born 25 May 2010 on the Isle of Wight.
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All aboard the Gingerline
In each episode of Mr Benn, the animated children’s television series from yesteryear, Mr Benn leaves his home and visits a fancy dress costume shop where he is invited in by the shopkeeper to try on an outfit. At this point Mr Benn enters a world appropriate to his costume – last Friday night I had a remarkably similar experience at the hands of the Gingerline team.
One of London’s more recent pop-up restaurants, Gingerline brings to the mix imagination and creativity, constructing events fit for a theatre as much as a dining table.
A twenty minute ride on the Gingerline (London Underground’s former East London Line, and the same thread that stitches every month’s event together) found us in New Cross Gate outside a costume shop, window shutters on. The door opened, we were greeted with top hat and tails and we stepped inside to the backstage of a Siberian Circus.
I’m not sure where to start with trying to explain what I witnessed for the next four hours. Swinging ladies on a perch, colourful characters feeding us popcorn and vodka, and all set off with the background sounds of a Ukranian accordion player.
It would be an injustice not to mention the fun my tastebuds had with three of the finest courses I’ve had in a very long time. Wild boar dumplings, venison goulash, spice poached apples and ice-cream and shot after shot of all varieties of vodka.
The evening’s memories were taken away along with the menu – a limited edition print for each guest to keep. Mr Benn may have had some amazing adventures, but I doubt he ever feasted this well.
Photographs by Emli Benxiden taken from Ginerline’s Facebook page.
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Green Fingers
I was walking back from Columbia Road flower market at the weekend (in itself a charming place – full of character), when I couldn’t help be drawn to a number of lovingly nurtured little oases scattered about the streets between the market and Bethnal Green Road.
The buildings themselves are pretty unassuming pieces of architecture, but the gardens are so striking people were literally stopping in the street to appreciate them. Unfortunately, I only photographed one (I wish I’d snapped some of the others).
That also reminded me of a ‘green wall’ I’d seen in a shop in Regent Street (below). I’m no horticulturalist by any means – my tomato plant is wilting severely – but felt these were worth a post.
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Ping Pong in the Square
What a brilliant idea: Ping Pong London have distributed 100 free ping pong tables around the captial. Rob and Tom have been knocking up in Hoxton Square right outside the studio. Sometimes great initiatives come along that just make you smile. Awesome…
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Le Corbusier’s Radiant City
On my rather wonderful honeymoon in the south of France, my wife(!) and I spent a day living the Le Corbusier vision at his seminal Unité d’Habitation development, Marseille. Dubbed “the city in the sky”, this was a revolutionary experiment in urban living when it was built between 1947 and 1952.
Set amongst the many residents of this imposing block (337 apartments), 2 floors function as a hotel and restaurant (part of Le Corbusier’s original plans) with each guest studio preserved exactly as it was in the 1950s, bar a flat screen tv and a new shower!
The experience is unlike any other hotel I’ve stayed in, sharing the corridors (referred to by residents as “streets” due to their immense width) and lifts with its residents enforces the experience of living in a building such as this.
It was fantastic to be a part of a vision that has remained truly intact over half a century later. Every light fixing, every wooden panel, every inch of space had been considered and designed and it’s not often one can witness such a complete piece of work from a designer.
Much information can be found on the web but here are two starters for you, one on Le Corbusier and the other “Cité Radieuse”
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Bella Rock
Since sharing a house with me whilst at Brighton University, the wonderful Bella Rock has now settled, via the Royal College of Art and exhibitions in India, France and Greece, near Twyford, west London. Choosing a Portakabin in the middle of a field as the place to run her International Art Career, Bella seems very at home.
It’s this kind of space that Bella needs, enough room for her huge imagination and large scale paintings. Bella has no time for high brow musings or discussions, she simply loves to spend time making up stories and thinking about magical things that could happen. We then get to witness the results of those thoughts.
It’s difficult to fully appreciate Bella’s work on screen, so may we recommend you walk your eyes to Deptford High Street at the end of June to see new work with her brother Casper. In the mean time, if you’re eager to see more of Bella’s work, head on over to her website and sign up to Colouring-In Club, where each month Bella sends out a drawing for you to print off and colour-in, in the comfort of your home.
‘Eye Pain’ opens at the Bearspace gallery on June 25th for 4 weeks, details of which you’ll find here.
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