Russell Davies

the triumph of stuff and embedded assumptions

I saw this splendid folder sitting on someone's desk the other day. (Not at FCB.) I love this kind of thing - task specific stationery. I suspect we'll see a return to things like this. Rather like with scrapbooks, I think the physicality of paper and stuff helps with thinking and memory and keeping a track of things. And people have an affection for it. Just as the paperless office led to a boom in paper sales I bet the boom in people taking and sharing pictures will lead to a microprinting spurt. As with iPhoto books and services like Qoop and the splendid Moo.

But then I noticed the assumptions embedded in the stationery.

The tabs in order: Briefs then Concepts then Scripts then Invoices.  ie the planner does a brief, the creatives do some concepts, then we make some TV commercials, then we bill the client. You can be as forward thinking and media-neutral as you like but you can't fight the assumptions you've built into the fabric of things. It's worth noticing these things.  (Though I'm sure FCB have moved on and now have much more media-neutral office supplies.)

what's opera doc?

I wrote about my Nabaztag rabbit a while ago, there's something really appealing about it, it has lots of potential, but it doesn't actually seem to do that much right now. Mine sits on a shelf and announces when the time gets to between 4 and 8 minutes past the hour, roughly. And it occasionally waggles its ears and fails to read out RSS posts.

But one of the things I like about it is it's French and I thought that might lead to a nice quirky take on technology and technology marketing.

So how about this for quirky? These images are from 'Nabaz'mob, an opera for 100 smart rabbits by Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé'. And you can watch the rather engaging video of the performance here.

Opera. Brilliant. None of your bottom-up web 2.0 nonsense here. Let's go straight for an ancient and elitist art form. Genius. Especially when performed by wabbits.

ageing gracefully

One of the things I hate about the design of most things, especially most electronic things, and definitely most autmotive things, is they're all designed to be new. They're all at their best when you buy them and they get worse the second you remove them from the packaging. Everything premium is made from easily scratchable metal, instantly grubby plastic, or never to be pristine again glossy white stuff. So full marks to Sony for the elegant way a black DSC-T7 loses  its paint and looks kind of cool when it does. Not every one will look like this, my cameras always get pretty battered, but there's a splendid patina to the thing that makes it feel personal and mine.

collective wisdom

       

If anyone can do a friend of mine a favour I'd be grateful. They're trying to find the one book that y'all would recommend on the following topics:

1. Celebrity in modern culture
2. Prestige, or class
3. Psychology of succes/recognition/status
4. The idea of membership/belonging

Any thoughts please add them to the comments, and if this works I'd be happy to ask questions for other people too.

thanks in advance

nuff respect to spell with flickr

            

nike/maharishi terminator hi

I don't often buy white trainers. Horribly impractical. But I couldn't resist these. Like a big, orange boiled sweet wrapped in marshmallow.