So simple it hurts

Play me I am Yours

Play me I am your is a touring artwork. I think it’s a fabulous idea and something we should all go and have a try at. The piano comes with a songbook if you fancy a rendition of Hey jude. www.streetpianos.com for the full details and some google maps of the locations. Happy singing!

Just had the pleasure of being talked through the new and interesting work from Cannes by contagious magazine – Have to say alot of it was to be expected, but it was great to get their side of the story on why they thought it had legs. Favourites from me? I think the Doritos hotel stuff is pretty cool. I love anything that actually entertains me. Anything that rings my mobile phone and sneakily takes a picture of you through your web cam is a nice touch. The devil is in the detail or rather in this instance a hotel. The  Japanese Love distance work for a condom brand as commented upon by Iain tait the other day is also great. I love anything that lasts longer than 30 second and this lasted a month. I am not sure many men could last that long with said product. i.e. Condoms. My favourites? I don’t really have any. Well actually and this was doritos again – it was to bring back slow dancing.  As we all know dancing is uber contagious.

So as you may have heard through the interwebs RSA and AG8 have teamed up to produce purefold. This fantastic project is the brain child of David Bausola and Tom Himpe who together form AG8. We had a meeting with them yesterday to find out exactly what it was all about and it sounds like it could be something quite brilliant. I would love to spill the beans but it’s top secret. All I can say is that it will make the world a more interesting and empathetic place. Heres the presentation they gave at B-tween 09.

Not only is it an innovative media idea – it also challenges the currently copyright of content by embracing the creative commons attribution sharealike license. You should read up on this as it will become more and more influential. Especially with a new book by lessig in the off.  It literally takes transmedia to the next level. #purefold on twitter and join the discussion on friendfeed.

Creative Apes have just been appointed as council member of London digital week. If you don’t know, London digital week is a 7 day festival in London celebrating everything digital. Creative apes are currently assisting with the organisation of events. It has to be said it is looking pretty sweet. You may have noticed the tiny badge up in the right hand corner. You two can have one of these. If you want to get invovled – Which I am sure that you do you can sign up for an event at the London digital week page and get involved. A great start would be to follow us on twitter @digitalweek and too also join our Linkedin group page and contribute to the discussion around the event. We have already got some really interesting events, talks and courses lined up with lots more to follow.  We will be constantly updating events. How very exciting!

The other day I made a decision to end my social relationship with facebook. I changed my facebook status to “I am leaving facebook on the 26th of march”. What happened next was strange. My friends begun first to ask me to stay and then to begin to virtually miss me. This further reinforced my desire to leave.  My reasons are varied. The first being mainly for productivity reasons. You can waste alot of time on Facebook. My brother once said that “If the first thing you do in the morning is check your facebook, your fucked”. I have to agree with him somewhat. I can’t deny the pervasiveness and convienience of Facebook, it has totally revolutionised low touch, loose tie comunication. The culmination being the privitisation of the UK post office.
Facebook has and is all pervasive, this alone worries me and is my second reason for leaving. I can’t complain about privacy, I put my stuff up on their servers. I guess my worry is where it will be in 5 years time. I think the story of man, the horse and the wolf can act as a good metaphor for my feelings.

“Imagine a forest in which there are humans, horses and wolves. The wolves attack and kill horses and are scared of humans. The horse is strong and easily scared and the human is weak and intellectually capable.
The human witnessing the horses plight, recognises the symbiotic opportunity. The horse would endow the human with strength and speed whilst the human protected from the horse from the wolves. They strike a deal to stick together until the threat of the wolf has disappeared. The relationship works perfectly for a hundred years or more. The human uses the horse and his strength to build a greater society. Eventually, the wolf, unable to attack and kill the horses dies out from hunger. Witnessing the demise of the wolf, the horse looks to the human and asks for him to climb down from his back. The human looks at the horse and shouts ‘Gidde up nag!’”

I guess you can see the relevance of this story. The horse is us, the users, the rider is Facebook and the wolf is either inconvienience or fear of exclusion. It may not happen. I may be incorrect. According to the news just today that the government wants to take the contact details of users of the site. it can only be a matter of time before, well, it serves its ultimate purpose. Okay, so you may say….your so paranoid. Chill out! I quote Kurt cobain “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”.

But seriously guys – We are trading our privacy and ultimately ourselves for convienience and the ability to talk bollocks at a moments notice. I bid thee farewell facebook from friday 26th of March you have 1 less member!

My friend Andrea just showed me this really cool piece of film he directed with the new Sony X cam. I think its really sexy and so should you too. It seems that this is the first part so I guess we will have to wait and see for the rest. Viva erotique.