Home » Uncategorized

Uncategorized


11
Aug 10

Wants: part 4

These totally nice Converse SAK x Jack Purcells, by Ryusaka Himura.

But there’s only 64 pairs in the whole world :(


6
Jul 10

My favourite places: part 3

Varanasi, India

Sunrise Varanasi, Ganga River

Photo by ironmanixs


22
Jun 10

Adding some special CV juice

Today I’ve been finding out more about how to optimise my CV for those job websites like Monster or Jobsite.

It’s a bit of a change to way I’m used (or not used) to putting a CV together, as the last time I wrote mine was many, many, many moons ago (well, not that long ago, but before the web became quite as ubiquitous as it now). So it’s been interesting to see how similar it is to creating good web content – using & repeating keywords, editing down the language and breaking up the structure.

And, just like creating good web content, it ain’t as easy as it looks. So I’d better get back to it!


17
Oct 09

Wow, I haven’t blogged for ages!

For some reason (probably laziness) I haven’t blogged for ages.

But I resolve to try harder in future. At least one blog post a week. Honest


31
Jul 09

Some people I follow on Twitter who you might like to follow too. no pressure though

@51m0n
@abeeken
@adebradley
@AlastairReid
@alncl
@benjibrum
@Blatter
@bongbot
@brianhoadley
@brumfailcamp
@carriebish
@ChimeraX
@ChrisUnitt
@colalife
@corbysays
@cosmicgirlie
@cosmodaddy
@danielatkinson
@danosirra
@danslee
@davebriggs
@davidwilcox
@digitalmaverick
@dizzel
@dominiccampbell
@DougCoupland
@Dr_Black
@draml
@E11ie5
@felix_cohen
@gavinwray
@hadleybeeman
@helenewilliams
@helenmilner
@hubmum
@ingridk
@j0nhyde
@jeremygould
@jkerrstevens
@johnlsheridan
@jonhickman
@JustinGriggs
@KerryMP
@laurahyde
@leebryant
@LeonieWatson
@lesteph
@LittleLaura
@Liz_Azyan
@lowcarbondiary
@martinxo
@mlyons
@neilfranklin
@neillyneil
@owenblacker
@paul_clarke
@PaulEvans1
@paulhenderson
@pauloCanning
@peeebeee
@peteashton
@pezholio
@podnosh
@rugebarb
@sarahlay
@scrumph
@sharonodea
@simond
@simoneverest
@Stephen_Cross
@stevebridger
@stuartparker
@suw
@technicalfault
@the_anke
@ThePickards
@theplayethic
@thoroughlygood
@timdavies
@tom_watson
@Zombie_Claire

Because I’m too lazy to get my act together & take part in #followfriday on Twitter, here a suggested list of just a very few of the people I follow who you may care to follow too.

I was going to add the reasons I follow each person, but due to the aforementioned laziness and being generally exhausted by swineflu, I haven’t bothered. Suffice to say, they all either informed, insightful, funny, clever, epic visionaries, just bloody lovely, or all all of those things. Anyway, don’t take my word for it, give them a follow (or at least check their recent tweets)

Here they are in alphabetical order (which seems fairest. don’t want to get into rankings and all that malarky. and sorry to anyone who isn’t on the list – it’s just a representative sample, nothing personal):


20
Jul 09

Post 4th plinth, the come down (sorry, bad pun)

Well, it’s taken me some time to get my head around my plinth experience (was kind of dazed after an hour up there. severals pints of beer afterwards probably didn’t help either).

I wanted to throw just  few thoughts and reflections down here, but first a big thank you to everyone who sent me encouraging messages & tweets of support, and who checked out ColaLife’s website, started following @colalife on Twitter or became a fan of ColaLife on Facebook.

The Artichoke team were very welcoming & brilliant at calming my nerves before I went up, so thank you to them too. Everyone who came along to represent or support Colalife also deserves a big thank you, for working hard to make sure people in Trafalgar Square could find out more about the campaign.

So, the experience of being on the plinth:

  • I don’t normally mind heights, but something about standing on a narrow strip of concrete, 8m up, in the wind, can trigger vertigo
  • I am, as I said in my last post, shy. Standing on a plinth in Trafalgar Sq, being live streamed on the web, did not change this. in any way. but I am glad I managed to get up there – an achievement for me, as my instinct when I got there was to run away very fast. and I hate running
  • I can’t multitask (tweet & talk at the same time) but I can talk nonsense. I hope I got in enough info about Colalife. & didn’t swear too much
  • an hour is a long time & towards the end I did get bored. of the sound of my own voice mostly
  • I think the project is art, even if my own contribution wasn’t particularly artistic. but feel free to think differently. after all, life would be boring if we all agreed on everything

I might add some more here later. or I might not.


11
Jul 09

ColaLife Twittermob! Trafalgar Sq 3pm 17/7

Well, my slot on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square for the One&Other project is looming. And despite my huge ego, I’m getting a bit nervous (because I’m shy really. no, really, I am. really, really)

But I have a great cause to represent in ColaLife, a campaign to get Coca-Cola to open up its distribution channels in developing countries to save lives.

I’ll be taking the giant ColaLife aidpod up on the plinth with me to help promote the ColaLife campaign, but…

…I WANT YOUR HELP!!!!!

We want to make as big a splash as possible so we’re organising a ColaLife Twittermob – we want to fill Trafalgar Square! So please come along, wear something red if you can and show your support (oh, and help take some of the attention off me)

On the ColaLife website there’s some things you can do to show your support in person or online. Tell everyone you know!

Follow @colalife on Twitter to keep up-to-date with what’s happening

Hope to see you all there – 3pm Friday 17th July!

ColaLife logo


29
Jun 09

Fail and fail again. better. and more often

I’m excited by something I stumbled across when following tweets from Moseley barcamp over the weekend (Why was I following Moseley barcamp? Moseley’s nowhere near me. in fact I don’t know exactly where is is. sorry Moseley, I promise to find out. anyway, back to the why – simple answer – I want to learn from what other people are doing. or I’m nosy)

And what did I stumble across? FAILCamp. A barcamp celebrating failure. Which, as one of life’s great failures, appeals to me greatly.

Big up (is that still something the ‘kids’ say? probably not) Benjamin Whitehouse and Pete Ashton who’ve taken their kernel of an idea and in a very short space of time turned it into something that’s GOING TO HAPPEN, which is exciting in itself.

But it’s the whole idea of celebrating failure that’s really getting me going.

Many, many years ago, when I was a fashion student (source of many failures in itself. mostly related to what I wore. which could be the basis of a whole FAILCamp in itself) I first learnt about the creative value of failure. For every good design, there was a long trail of failures. Most of the time a very, very, very long trail.

The failures informed the successes. And sometimes, by happy accident, the failures were better than the original idea. Failure was also public – through regular open criticism by tutors (or routine humiliation in front of peers. which was nice. but did help teach me how to interrogate and criticise my ideas. or to argue for them).

I still fail on a daily basis. But I don’t share my failures so much. Or take time to properly reflect on them/learn from them. Partly due to pressures on my time, partly due to laziness/complacency. But mostly because it has somehow become the wrong thing to do.

And that’s why a celebration of failure is so exciting to me. Because it was my failures, & what they taught me, that fueled my creativity and made my work better then. And made me who I am now. And I want to celebrate that.

And I think we should fail and fail again. better. and more often.

Oh, and I heard there’d be drinks.