Tuesday, December 11, 2007

LOGOS LOGOS LOGOS

This has to be one of the more impressive sites. Not for design, but for sheer content. Want to play with a corporate logo in Illustrator? Maybe you need Dr.Pepper's logo for a design class but the crappy jpgs you find through Google Images just don't cut it. Well check out this site: logotypes.ru

This site has over 5000 corporate logos in vector format, ready for you to manipulate, change, render, whatever. They are sorted by name and come with previews so you don't have to download images you don't want.

logotypes.ru

Thursday, November 29, 2007

2008 Marketing Trends

Here is a great article on the trends of consumers for 2008.

http://www.marketingweb.co.za

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Coolest Recycle Logo

I think this is from Taiwan. Probably one of the best logos for recycling i've ever seen. Took me about 30 seconds to see both sets of arrows. Can you see both?




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Monday, November 19, 2007

Today's Links

Here's a strange one. There is a company selling new seats for motorcycles that contain a EMF shield. This 'shield' protects the rider from the little bit of EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) that is emitted from the bike. Can you say paranoid? Makes sense when you read that he also wrote a book called "MOTORCYCLE CANCER? Are motorcycles KILLING US with cancers of the prostate, colon, kidney, bone, etc?". Wow. Story Here.

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Google has a cool app called Reader that I found today. Its an online feed reader/updater. Works pretty well and looks good from my first attempt at trying to use it. Could be alot better if they came up with a Firefox addon to make it even more accessible. Start reading here.

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And now for just funny, check out this little clip from Bollywood. A ripoff from the matrix maybe? Naw, couldn't be.
YouTube it up.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Penguin Models.

Don't really know what to say about this. Just watch.








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Friday, October 19, 2007

No title for today.

China Suppresses US Based Search Engines
In a bold move by the Chinese Government, any searches directed at Google or Yahoo from a Chinese location were redirected to Chinese-owned Baidu search engine. This is seen as retaliation to Bush's message to end 'religious repression' in china. I havn't seen any news from Google's response to this, but I bet they are not happy.
Full Article Here

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The Spartans Are Coming
Lovers of the movie 300 beware! There is a spoof about to be released! If you liked Epic Movie or the Date Movie, this one looks just as good.
Here's the preview:

Meet the Spartans

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Rock Paper Scissors!!!

So last weekend Dani and I got the chance to go with Nathan and Rachel to Toronto to watch the Rock Paper Scissors World Championships. Needless to say I had never even heard of this until the week before, but it sounded great so we went to watch. Nathan signed up to compete with the other 400 or so people there. I was surprised at how insanely people get into the game. We had full costumes, people protecting their playing hands, and angry people who lost. Nathan dressed up as dynamite, which was actually not even the strangest costume.
Nathan rocked(pun intended) the first 3 rounds and actually made it to the top 16 finals and got to play on the main stage with world champions. He unfortunately got pounded in the first round of 16 people, but he WAS goign against the top people in the world....haha
Anyway, here are some photos from it. Nathan's post and more photos can be found on his website, www.nathancolquhoun.com.


You can see the fear in his eyes.




This is Erin playing (and beating) one of the judges.





Nathan playing the dreaded pirate. Nathan lost i think.







The final round.



Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Some great ads.

An ad from Smirnoff. The music is perfect for it.



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Gorgeous Enterprises designed this commercial in Britain. Took me till the end to see how its really done.

The Gorilla

This is a brilliant video from 'Glass and a Half Full Productions'. Such emotion in it. You can just feel the mood of the gorilla. Watch it for the full effect.




www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Sept 18 Photoshoot

A couple days ago I got to do a photoshoot in an animal surgury for a web design company. It was for sure one of the best animal places I've seen, the people working there were great with the animals and we got a lot of really good shots. We even watched a surgery going on. Anyway, here are some of my fav photos from it.





Finished Book: How I Lost My Virginity (The Richard Branson Autobiography)

I just finished reading the Richard Branson Autobiography, in which he tells about his life until a couple years ago. It goes through his childhood, when he started his first business, signing the Rolling Stones to his record label and the big battle for his Airline. It is written very well, keeping the reader's attention the entire time. His life was a very adventurous one, so that helps as well. I'm sure some parts have been edited to sound better in the book, but just take what you want.

His main concept is that if a business idea sounds fun, if it will produce healthy competition in the market and if the consequences of it failing are not dire, then it is worth investing in. He also goes with a 'screw it, let's do it' attitude that results in business ideas and principles that are different than most big businesses, resulting (with hard work), in its success.

This is a must read for anyone with an entrepreneurial mind. He goes over his ideas for different businesses and the reader can make their own ideas from that. I found that it inspired creative ideas throughout the entire book.

Check it out on Amazon here: amazon.ca

Friday, September 14, 2007

Today's Links

Here is a page with just insane photos of people doing stupid things as jobs. Its bad, but most of them seem to be in or around Asia....
Just a couple samples:




More images here

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And now for the cutest thing you've ever seen:




PeelMyBell.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

Pinery Weekend

We spent the last weekend camping with our good friends Mike, Sarah and Shannon up at the Pinery. The weather was great so we hit the beach, bodysurfed on the huge waves and then proceeded to jump down dunes. I personally love doing this because you can literally jump down 10 or more feet and not get hurt (since you're jumping into a pile of sand). I think next year i'm going to measure how far I can jump in hopes of breaking records. We also played some games including Dutch Blitz, a game that I suck at royally, but i never want to stop playing. I think its because i keep thinking that one time i'll actually be close to winning. It could become an addiction. i'll have to watch that.
Overall it was a great weekend, a good way to end summer. I'll have to link to some photos once Sarah gets them up.

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So i had this idea over a year ago to create a site where you can log in and you get an area to paste bits of text or photos from websites that you want to remember and didn't want to just keep in your clipboard in case you eraced it. But of course I had to be outdone by a little company called Google. They now have a new Google App called Notebook, which lets you copy and paste text and autosaves it for future use. Check it out her at: www.google.com/notebook.
They also have a browser addon to make it easy to open a little copy window.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The Weekend

We just spent the long weekend (or at least Sunday and Monday) at Dani's parents house, relaxing in the hottub/pool and playing games. And of course moving something for Nathan. I find that trips there are the only time that I can mentally relax. Even if I have no plans for a saturday or sunday at home, I can't seem to stop thinking or feeling like I shouldn't sit down and do nothing. Theres always some kind of yardwork to do, or I could be working on the computer doing something productive. But this all goes away when I get to the Pede house. I leave my computer at home, have no plans and just go with what happens. Its a great feeling. I wish I could figure how to make this feeling come at least once every few weeks at home. I even feel bad taking naps on a lazy sunday, even if I'm extremely tired. My mind just don't seem to have an off switch when i want it to.
Maybe I'll have to invest in a large hammer someday. Then i can sleep when i need to!

Friday, August 31, 2007

Today's Links

This is great, here you can find 43 uses for WD-40 that you probably didn't know before.

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Jars of Clay (yes they are still around!) started a campaign called Blood: Water Mission, which is an organization that is working on building wells in areas of Africa affected with AIDS. The website here is really well designed and has a map and photos of completed wells, along with news articles about them helping. Their '2 Weeks of Sacrifice' is a great idea to raise some money without dipping into your savings account.

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The changing weather in our world has cheese makers worried. According to the cheese makers in this article, the taste of cheese is changing due to changes in weather and because of that, changes in plant life around the fields. This isn't the first product that has changed due to the weather, and i'm sure its just the start of a long list.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Finally a post!

Phew, its been while since i've had a chance to post on here! The past week has been a big up and down week, lots going on.
Saturday we had a great formal cocktail party at my friend Matt's house. He has an amazing back yard, which I plan on using as inspiration for mine next year. Then Sunday I shot dirtbike races in St.Thomas, which turned out really good even though it started with a dust storm which lead into a constant drizzle of rain. Here are a couple shots that I like:






More here



I also shot my first house working for OBEO Tours, which was a disaster. The house looked like an industrial building and some rooms were just too small to get good photos. Then it was raining while i was trying to shoot the outside, and part way through the inside the power went out. Great first gig. The people were really nice tho. Oh and I was stalked by a gang of white geese and a dog that I couldn't decide if it was going to be nice or going to kill me....made it interesting.

And then today Dani's car finally gave in while she was driving to work. Almost overheated and leaking coolant all over the place, so my morning was spent going to get it and taking it to a shop then home while trying to keep the engine cool. So now we're in the market for a new used car.

Sounds like a great week eh!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Gold from God?

While eating lunch yesterday at the Market after Presence, I was talking with some people about whether religious people believed in devine gifts, as in stories of 'a diamond falling from the sky' (literally), or 'gold dust falling from the ceiling of a room'. These are supposed stories from Christians who were "looking" for a gift from God. Which brings about the question, Would God really show himself in the form of riches to someone? If you pray hard enough does this mean a block of gold is going to appear infront of me so that I never have to worry about money again? If i say 'God, if you really exist, show me yourself', will He really just be like *POOF* and there it is? Why would He even think he needs to prove Himself to us? You'd think that if people looked around and actually saw, i dunno, THE WORLD, that would be proof enough?
Then there was a story about someone's tooth filling being suddenly turned to gold. I almost laughed at this one. I could see God doing this one tho. Its kinda like 'haha, you wanted a sign of wealth, good luck getting that sucker out!'
But why do some people think that stories like this are truth? I think it could be some higher people in the religion who think 'Ok, if we say that you'll get rich by coming to our church, we'll get the people in', so they start stories?
I dunno, just trying to understand.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

August 9 Links

Here is a great site about Branding. It includes articles about how to successfully brand your new company and more. There are also quotes about branding and links to watch commercials.

A good quote from the site:

"It is a pretty recognizable brand name. Originally it was "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but we settled on "Yahoo"." - Jerry Yang

http://www.historyofbranding.com

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So for one of the coolest sites I've ever seen, check this one out:

http://users.telenet.be/kixx/

You may need firefox for it...i dunno if it'll work for Explorer. I'd suggest going to this site and just watching in awe with nothing else going on until its done. I don't even know how they do this. Just wow.

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Heres a cool link for those people who are always comparing Bible verses in different versions, here is a new site that you'll love. It splits the screen with whatever two versions you want to compare, verse for verse.

http://onlineparallelbible.com

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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

What I learned From Ribfest

After being in the London Ribfest this weekend, being either scorched by the heat or dampened by the rain, there were a few things that I saw happening that really changed my mind about people in general. The weekend overall wasn't as big of a success for me that I had hoped. But now I am seeing why. Here are some things that I saw happening this weekend:

1. People would rather waste money on fortune tellers than on art (or anything else more essential). For the first 2 days we were set up beside a palm/tarot reader. This made for an interesting experience as we saw people pay upwards of $35 for a 'reading' done by a mother/daughter team (and sometimes the father jumped in as well, giving me the idea that ANYONE can do this). People actually were lining up for this. Besides totally blasting my opinion that people didn't overall believe that crap, I can't believe that someone would pay that much for 10 minutes of possible entertainment. Its totally absurd. I think next year I'm going to ditch the whole art thing and set up a fortune telling tent to bring in the cash. I mean from what I saw, anyone, no matter how uneducated you are, can 'read' palms and people will pay.

2. While sitting in my tent, just waiting around to chat with people, I got to hear how many people can do what I do. This is probably one of the most fun parts of the festivals for me. Now that digital cameras are the big thing, everyone EVERYONE is a professional photographer. It doesn't matter that I spent 2 years in school, the thousands of dollars I have in camera equipment and hours shooting to get the perfect shot. The people coming into my tent with their $300 camera most commonly exclaim "Oh I could take that shot" or "My 4 year old nephew has a photo better than that". Its taken a good deal of patience to not just jump up and yell at them. Fine, you think you can do better? Why aren't YOU here then??? I'm quite happy that these people don't buy anything since they have no concept of art.

3. I can't put a full post just complaining about people, so this is my compliment area. I think everyone should thank the volunteers who worked the festival, either picking up garbage or helping out crazy vendors. From being there all weekend, seeing the same people endlessly emptying garbage, i have to give them credit for sticking it out. They did an excellent job and I never saw garbage on the ground or a overfull garbage can. I also saw two boys helping out a crazy old vendor for at least 30 minutes while he yelled at them and ordered them around like they were his slaves, and yet they helped without complaining. Good job people.

4. Now lastly, on the topic of garbage, I'm going to say that Ribfest has got to be the most environmentally unfriendly festival in the city. Every rib vendor used styrofoam containers for their ribs, resulting in thousands of containers being used and thrown out right away. I am really appalled by the amount being thrown out. Maybe next year they can think of something else, like maybe using paper plates for the 90% of the people who stay and eat at the park. Paper breaks down faster than styrofoam and doesn't take up as much room in the garbage. Think hard about the environment that you're hurting for the future kids, Boys and Girls Club!!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Today's Stuff

I am always browsing the internet for cool photos, either just to see them or to get ideas for new projects. Anyway I came accross these ones today, and they are a few years old, but still are pretty cool to see. This is from a sand storm in 2005 in Iraq:



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For those times when you're completely bored at work and you need something to spice up a good 15 minutes, check out http://readymech.com. All you need is a printer, some tape and a high level of boredom and you'll get these fun critters to play with!!

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The New Rules of Website Creation:
(taken from this site)

1. Build: Build and they will come. If they don't what have you lost? Lose quick. Lose cheap.

2. Listen To Users: They will tell you what they like, what they hate and what they want.

3. Don't Market: Don't spend money or time on expensive advertising.

4. Product Is All: Spend money and time on making your product/service as good as you can (this, of course, is marketing but let's not quibble).

5. Ignore The Business Plan: The goals of business plans (e.g. raising capital) are not your goals. Flexibility is much more important.

6. Be Aware Of Competition: Don't be totally insular. Obsess about your customers but don't forget to keep an eye on potential competitors and what they're doing better or worse than you.

7. Self-Publicise: You know more about your business than anyone else so you're the best (and cheapest) person to promote it. Take every opportunity to tell your world about what you're doing.

8. Utilise User Passion: If you show you're listening to them, they will willingly talk about you and promote you. For nothing. Faciliate this in every way you can.

9. Be Frugal: If you don't spend, you don't burn through your cash and therefore retain more of you business in the long run. Equally importantly, frugality makes you focus on the essence of the issues at hand.

10. Have Fun: If you don't love what you're doing, you won't exude passion for it and you're unlikely to do it remarkably well.