WWF

not wrestling.

i found this after being prompted to sign up through an email.

'get on board' is the latest campaign to reduce carbon emissions from the world wildlife fund. a huge paper boat was placed on London's south bank to draw peoples attention to the issue, and to the campaign, and to illustrate to politicians that they aren't doing enough about it. the boat is a visual representation of the scale of the problem and the amount of people who want to change it. giving meaning to the phrase 'get on board', it refers to the boat and to the campaign.

after being directed to the website in the email, i found it interesting.

there are sections which seem cut out, and three dimensional. i liked the idea of a colour showing through, as if the web page had been cut to reveal an underneath layer of paper.
there is a friendly and organic feeling about the site. the colours, typography and layout arent the best, but the use of origami and the cut out sections are playful and manage to illustrate a very serious problem in an interesting and clear way.

LA MACHINE

the planning that must have gone in to this amazes me, firstly how you'd make such a thing, and secondly how you surprise Liverpool with it one morning by mounting it to a building, then to find out that it can move with such precision. i thought it was a brilliant idea, to shock people in to talking, to provoke a reaction from people. the unmissable structure clinging to the side of Concourse House, in such a busy area of the city sparked mixed feelings, but that didn't matter, it wasn't permanent, it was all part of a bigger plan. the street theatre that followed after it had 'woken up' was fantastic. the live music, fire displays, water fountains and parade were exciting, and like nothing the city had ever seen before. any one complaining mustn't have an imagination, and were definitely the minority.
it comes from the same companies who built and arranged "the sultans elephant" parade in London 2006, and was commissioned by art company Artichoke. this was the biggest free theatre event to have ever hit London. Created by French theatrical magicians Royal De Luxe and built by La Machine, The Sultan’s Elephant featured a time-travelling mechanical elephant, and a giant girl, twenty feet high.

amazing.

surprising people, stunning people, telling an imaginative story, livening up the whole mood of a city with an intricate design for a fully functional sculpture.

i cant wait for their next move.

www.lamachine.co.uk or www.lamachine.fr
www.artichoke.uk.com

EGYPT

in June.
this was an amazing trip.

after having wanting to go away for months, spending ages looking around for places to go and the best deals, me and Chris picked Egypt.

when you get there, you instantly feel the heat. it was boiling, there was no shade, and a warm breeze. the way of life is completely different, the people we met were inspiring. after just a few days of walking around Luxor we had met lots of locals, mainly as they wanted to sell us something. once we explained that we didn't want a camel shaped bottle of sand, most of them went bothering other tourists, some stayed and chatted. we got invited to a local wedding, not realising weddings over there are three day street carnivals which tourists never go to, we quickly got roped in to dancing and singing. it was the most amazing place, and most unforgettable evening ever.


these girls were local children who showed me round and introduced me to their parents.

going there and experiencing a real taste of local life got me thinking. these people had nothing other than a set of clothes each and sometimes a football. i admired the way they could create games and keep themselves occupied all day. I'm sure i was like that once, but it seems a verrrry long time ago. i wished i had their imagination.

it emphasized to me how much our culture depends on mindless TV and games to keep us entertained, we think were expanding our knowledge by keeping our minds occupied, no matter what were taking in. how bored would we all be in a power cut?