Monday 8 December 2008

Calling all Continental Contributions

We are wondering if you have any good music contacts in South Africa, or other places in the world? Or maybye you want to join our project?

The project is called PingPong Remix and is about making music together with participants form all over the world and at the same time collect money to refugees!

Here follows a description of the project and a link to our web page.

If you know any musicians and artists that might be interested, please let us know, or pass the information forward. The event starts on december 13th, so we look forward to hearing from you very soon.


PingPongRemix

PingPong Remix is a collaborative music event connecting musicians from around the world to create music together.

The Remix will take place with the Musikhjälpen event from December 13 to 19, to raise money and awareness for refugees around the world. The goal of the Remix is to break down cultural barriers and create worldwide musical exchanges.

How it works

PingPong Remix works by collecting sounds from around the world on this website. The sounds can be a basic beat, rhythm, melody, spoken word, or even just ambience sound from the artist’s culture.

Up to and during the event, you can sign up and contribute with sounds. From the website you can then download other people’s sounds and mess them up, add your own beats and melody, upload and share. During the 6 days, the online collection of music will grow and be enriched by layers and remixes from different cultures.

Make the world listen

Our ambition is that the completed tracks are put online and made available to purchase to the world, with all money going to Musikhjälpen, supporting specific refugee help programs.

Join the project!

The PingPong Remix will happen during one week. We need your talent creating sound bites, remixing and creating final tracks. Mail us at info@pingpongremix.com

Saturday 6 December 2008

Looking for a job?

Here are some of the top creative recruitment agencies in South Africa as well as a link to the Bizcummunity recruitment page. The Adtalent website gives you an idea of salaries, preparing your CV and some useful do's and dont's. Let me know if this article is useful.

FishTank Recruitment

Jenny Casper
0214396548
0726259455
jen@kingsley.co.za

The Connection
Advertising, Marketing
& Media
JHB: reception@jhb.theconnection.co.za
Ph.(011) 2344046
C.T.: info@ct.theconnection.co.za
Ph.(021) 4236135

AdTalent
Advertising, Marketing,
PR, Media Sales
Jhb: 011 883 5404
CT: 021 422 3590
info@adtalent.co.za
www.adtalent.co.za

LayerCake
Advertising and Marketing
Colette Romon
Sarah Murchison
Wendy Rijksen-Bubb
Tel: +27 21 674 5320/1/2
info@layercake.co.za

The Human Jigsaw
Advertising and Marketing
Recruitment Specialists
Tel (011) 467 5220
Fax (011) 467 9378
jeanette@humanjigsaw.co.za

PrimeSelect
Advertising and Media
Recruitment Specialists
Sandra Pope
(011) 640-7400
info@primeselect.co.za
www.primeselect.co.za

http://www.bizcommunity.com/JobsOffered/196/22.html

http://www.10and5.com/

Sunday 16 November 2008

SAFeAGE events

SAFeAGE, invites you to the following movies and events in November

The World According to Monsanto:
Monsanto's controversial past combines some of the most toxic products ever
sold with misleading reports, pressure tactics, collusion, and attempted
corruption. They now race to genetically engineer (and patent) the world's
food supply, which profoundly threatens our health, environment, and
economy. Combining secret documents with first-hand accounts by victims,
scientists, and politicians, this widely praised film exposes why Monsanto
has become the world's poster child for malignant corporate influence in
government and technology. 109 minutes
Sunday 16th November at 4.00
Sunday 23rd November at 4.00
Sunday 30th November at 4.00

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
When Cuba lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1990’s, the country faced
an immediate crisis – feeding the population – and an ongoing challenge: how
to create a new low-energy society. Cuba transitioned from large,
fossil-fuel intensive farming to small, less energy-intensive organic farms
and urban gardens, and from a highly industrial society to a more
sustainable one. This film tells the story of the Cuban people’s hardship,
ingenuity and triumph over sudden adversity – though cooperation,
conversation and community, told in their own words. As the word faces peak
oil Cuba provides a valuable example of how to successfully address the
challenge of reducing our energy use.
Sunday 16th November at 6.15
Sunday 23rd November at 6.15
Sunday 30th November at 6.15

To book, call the Labia on 021-424-5927. Please book early to avoid
disappointment. We are using the small cinema’s at Kloof Street, not the big
one on Orange Street.

Please note that these movies will be at the Labia on KLOOF STREET, not the
Labia on Orange Street.

Also, The World According to Monsanto and The Power of Community should be
viewed in sequence. So we encourage you to book for both (and have supper in
between)! The first one, Life According to Monsanto, is a very sobering
account of how our lives are being manipulated by corporate agenda’s and the
second one, The Power of Community, is a positive, uplifting solution-based
story of what we can and should be doing to reclaim our lives from corporate
control.

SAFeAGE will be present at all showings to facilitate discussion and/or
provide resources for sustainable food production methods. For more
information on genetic engineering call SAFeAGE on 021-447-8445 or email
safeage@mweb.co.za. Website: www.safeage.org
_________________________________________________

GREEN FAIRE – SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER IN HOUT BAY

The Transition Town group in Hout Bay is organizing a Green Faire on
Saturday 29th November 2008,
(www.houtbaytransitiontown.info) as a means of raising environmental
consciousness, and presenting options for sustainable products and services.
The Green Faire will be held outside the Hout Bay Community Cultural Centre,
adjacent to Hout Bay common (corner Main Rd and Princess Street). The stands
will be arranged in concentric circles around the children's edutainment
area in the middle of the adjacent field. Come along and watch the wind
generator turn in Hout Bay and enjoy solar-cooked food, live music (solar
powered), live earthworms and other fascinating creatures. SAFeAGE will be
there selling our DVDs and books so do come and support us and forward to
those who may be interested.

Sunday 2 November 2008

Captology

This is the study of "computers" as persuasive technologies. This includes the design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of changing people's attitudes or behaviors.

The interesting bit is what the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab does, essentially researching how persuasive interactive technologies can bring about positive change in the world, which includes their World Peace in 30 years project. Their blog is also quite charmin'.

JUST CHECKING IN

Thursday 30 October 2008

Unsworn Telecom in Norway


Telemegaphone Dale a seven-metres tall loudspeaker sculpture on top of the Bergskletten mountain overlooking the idyllic Dalsfjord in Western Norway. Anyone can dial the Telemegaphone’s phone number and have the sound of their voice projected out across the fjord, the valley and the village of Dale.

take a look

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Feed your Design 1.0

Albert Einstein once said "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources". Well, call me foolish, but I am about to reveal my sources. Design Blogs, otherwise known as feeds, can provide essential inspiration in times of Dire Straights!

I'd like to do this on a weekly basis, so first up this week is:

Smashing Magazine
These guys are inspiration guru's. The blog is filled with free tutorials, photoshop brushes, fonts, icons and great collections of different design styles. Search for "grunge" and you'll get a page full of recent posts featuring grunge designs. My favorite bit is definately the "Inspiration" link, full of stuff that will, as the authors themselves say, "make your life easier, really!".

It must be said these guys are more digitally focused than print, but worth a look whatever your field.

check them out at www.smashingmagazine.com

Till the next time, let your mind travel

Thursday 9 October 2008

The Launch of Adobe CS4

I attended the launch of CS4 at Canal Walk on Tuesday 7th October.

It was a vibrant and well attended event showing a growing demand for Adobe and their commitment within the SA design industry. Canal Walk Nu Metro provided the ideal venue to ‘screen’ the release of the new CS4 to its ‘eager-to-see-the-new-stuff’ fans. Digital has become the design material within our industry and the majority, if not all, of design travels through this medium to reach its target at some point within the design process. International and local Adobe Ace’s showcased the new features throughout the CS4 Suite and how they will enhance the design process, no matter which area you design in, if not all. The seamless integration through the applications is a major advantage within the CS4 Suite. It was a perfect opportunity to network with fellow industry friends from graphic and all design, video production, reproduction, print as well as the many students who attended. Industry partners displayed the new software, shiny hardware and fresh training to keep the delegates up to speed and busy throughout the day. Of course the new Apple iPhone was a big talking point and was up for grabs to delegates remaining ‘til the end of the day for the big lucky draw.

Here are a few of the highlights:
There is an overall new look and feel across the entire Creative Suite including Bread Crumbs to indicate the finder path you are on. Spring loaded panels provide a more fluid environment for drag and drop design action. The new Application Bar allows you to arrange your document and have easy access to workspaces. The Frame concept, initially from the Flash environment, uses tabs to open documents into a neat frame for ease of use. The wide CS4 online community offers you universal searches and information across all the applications.

Within Bridge:
There are new view options for essentials, meta data and filmstrips which now live on the top strip which includes a meta data search.

Within Illustrator:
Illustrator now has multiple art-boards (pages). It is possible to move an art-board on top of another. Bleed settings. You can also choose a 'like freehand' interface. The appearance panel is where you now access and edit your properties like original and additional strokes and fills, transparency and effects. Check out the new Bob brush with tablet sensitivity for easy colouring. The clipping mask feature allows you to ‘clip a clip’. A Separations Preview panel for repro checking. In context editing allows you to change a typeface from within the text as well as other object attributes like stroke colour and size as well as opacity. Smart guides got smarter to assist object alignment. The gradient tool is more user friendly and includes elliptical gradients which you edit ‘on target’ and ‘on the fly’ and the ability to now add transparency at gradient stops. Destructive Filters are gone and Non-destructive effects are in. There is a stronger integration with Flash and exporting to mobile devices.

Within InDesign:
InDesign is now referred to as a Publishing application and no longer a Layout application, with cross-media integration. There are new view options including tabs to navigate between open documents. Rotate your page view for easier design and typesetting - a beauty! Live preflight checks your documents on the fly according to your specifications and will take you to the problem. The links panel is improved with full info on the selected link. Placing images will resize, position, space, align and rotate to maintain consistency within a group of images. Check out the interactive features to make dynamic pdf presentations with hyperlinks, buttons and page transitions. There is easier publishing for web via .swf format and the much anticipated zipped file forma for Flash CS4 Professional, namely .xfl.

Within Photoshop:
Photoshop now takes command of your Graphics Processing Unit giving you move vooma and acceleration than what your CPU will offer.
The Adjustment panel for non-destructive editing has been introduced, allowing novice users a central area to apply non-destructive professional effects without necessarily understanding the mechanics of Photoshop. In-picture editing allows you to edit directly onto the image. There is a new Vibrance adjustment and a Mask panel.
Seam carving is the new buzz word. Content aware scaling is the WOW feature allowing you to resize an image without distorting the main objects or content, basically its pixel science!
The Zoom tool, taking advantage of the GPU, lets you enlarge and reduce your image with pure ease of use. The Rotate tool allows you to twist and turn your Canvas for easier editing for preview. Facial tones are protected using the enhanced Dodge and Burn tool. There are Frame sets for working with multiple documents and a pixel grid to see pixels in dark or light areas.
3D has been enhanced working similar to a Smart Object on a layer. You can merge down a graphic directly onto the Polygon of an Embedded 3D object.
Photo-merge and Panoramas have an auto blend feature giving seamless blends between image pieces. There is a stack feature to handle merging between similar framed images around focal point and colour.
The type layer allows you to 3D rotate text as a Postcard, give it an effect and then animate the text with Keyframes.

Other applications included Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash on the Interactive front and Premier Pro and On Location for the video arena. All these applications commanded applause from a very impressed audience. There seems to be a conscious move away from a coders environment more toward the designer as user. There is a noticeable and strong move toward the designing for Mobile Devices and the working with Device Central.

All in all it was a fantastic day to get updated, interact and network with fellow industry friends. But at the end of the day I never won the iPhone in the lucky draw, so I left as the spinning colour wheel of death.

Saturday 24 May 2008

xenophobia


http://afrigator.com/topics/xenophobia

Sappi+Ideas+that+Matter


http://www.sappi.com/SappiWeb/Initiatives/Sappi+Ideas+that+Matter/African+Ideas+that+Matter/2007+Grant+recipients.htm

Sunday 11 May 2008

bigdog

http://gizmodo.com/368651/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-spooky

Awesome footage

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562

Logo choice?

A friend of mine asks: "Let me know which logo you prefer for the Earth Garden Project. Thanks!" Please post your comment. Thank you