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Saturday 16 July 2011

Things I Have Learned This Week

LOVELY, LOVELY PEOPLE
1. Scottish couple Colin and Chris Weir won £161m on the Euromillions lottery. People are already crowing that their plans to spend it are pretty modest, and therefore they are undeserving of such a huge win. I say leave them alone: they seem like lovely, lovely people, who I am sure will use the money to do a lot of good things . On a completely unrelated note, I desperately need a ...er..brain transplant which will cost around £780,000, which I don't have. Sure I'll think of something...


2. Tweet of the week: 





3. Driving on the motorway this week for the first time in a while, I got stuck in a jam for ages. I was really grateful to finally get moving again and see this sign up ahead >
Refreshingly honest branding too.





4. I was somewhat taken aback to see that I was being followed on Twitter by this guy from Slimmers Forum:

WHAT AN INTERESTING VARIETY OF SUBJECTS HE COVERS

Call me paranoid but I have visions of him going through users' profile photos and thinking "He looks a bit podgy: POTENTIAL CUSTOMER!". As a result I am editing my picture thus:



5. Amidst all the appalling publicity that the hacking scandal has brought upon News International, I can't help feeling that it has got a little harder to dislike Rupert Murdoch, as he seems a touch more cute and cuddly than I recall. It's been bugging me all week what the new look is that he is rocking, and it has just clicked:




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Tuesday 12 July 2011

Ulterior Motif




I have long had a keen interest in graphic design (though you may think otherwise looking at this site), and instances of either very good or very bad design often catch my eye when looking at magazines or browsing the web.

Remember all the fuss when the London 2012 Olympic logo (below) was launched? Mostly I think people were just incredulous that it could have been created by an adult, let alone a professional designer. 
  
LOCOG logo

The uproar seems to have died down now, as everyone has moved on to whining about ticket allocation. But anyway, it could have been a lot worse if they'd hired the guy who did this one ê for the Brazilian Institute of Oriental Studies:
oriente.gif

It is, of course, a Japanese-style house in front of a rising sun. You should be ashamed for thinking that.


The Greatest Songs You've Never Heard #004: Climax Blues Band - Couldn't Get it Right





Climax Blues Band were formed in 1968 and a line-up of the band is still touring today. Funky and bluesy at the same time, the song is about being on the road in America, looking for a motel to bed down for the night post-gig: "...kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night...".

Released as a single in 1976, it reached #3 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 in the UK chart.








Click below to play 







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