Spent past weekend in the Ardennes, a bank holiday in a sunny autumn setting with great/longtime friends.

Chalet Suisse life mainly existed of good food, drinks & little sleep.

It usually also involves maps, guides, walking …

and sometimes people who rather wear their trousers in their sock.

It also means not being allowed in certain areas, I blame the 1% for this personally.

Did I mention ‘a weekend amongst good company’ already?

Fitting club to come along as Volvo was so kind to lend me my horse and carriage for the weekend: V60 R design DRIVe by Volvo A great driving experience overall, with brakes that work like a charm, I can testify after having tested them intensively during a wild bore vs car stand off.

You can see me and the V60 here btw, sporting a green winter jacket and a bordeaux sweater by an unknown brand. Shoes: from the walking type with fancy red laces and stuff. Oh, I’m such a personal blogger … watchout LookBook here I come!

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What happens when you set up a four day paint jam somewhere in the English countryside? Supremebeing set it up and captured it all in the clip below which features live painting by artists David Walker, She One, Mr Jago, Will Barras and Bue The Warrior.

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Last week I happened to hear see that Sneakerpedia (which we previously had mentioned) draw lots of attention as it finally got launched. Love the project & idea behind it as it finely illustrates the sneaker mania that is picking up momentum everyday. A great idea and way of documenting this phenomenon anyways.

Besides the authentic collector pur sang there are also a lot of sneaker addicts out there who will do just about anything to show off their love for sneakers. Having said so, over the past few weeks videos featuring sneakerheads doing some extraordinary things have emerged online. Amongst which this great example of sneaker street art in Paris.

It has been inspired by Foot Locker, who in order to celebrate the global Sneaker Movement and capture all of its enthusiasm, has set up www.itsasneakerthing.eu, a hub for passionate people to come and share their passion for sneakers! I have gone through some pretty awesome contributions/content and must say I favourited the Lace Street Art most until now.

Got sneaker mania? Join the sneaker movement.

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[through MashKulture]

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Be part of something.

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“Heart over head. Inclusion over ego. United by passion, we go all in. Go all in.”

After having teased us for a while with a battery of short clips, Adidas dropped their latest worldwide campaign and we are digging the whole Gavras x Justice x Adidas collab. Just like their previous ones, Adidas calls in a couple of friends with Lionel Messi, B.o.B, Beckham, Katy p Perry, Ed Banger and Derrick Rose amongst many other.

Great to see mixed reactions amongst several mad men when it comes to the new Adidas campaign. Maybe they have got a different mindset as Adidas definitely slam-dunked this one in my opinion.

Soundtrack is “Civilization” from the new Justice album which should drop in April.

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Mmm, Gilette thought they’d create the world’s largest 5 o’clock shadow on Major League Baseball’s Derek Jeter. Can’t help but wonder where I saw this concept before …

Oh, right its a copy of the Stella Artois’ Ritual Project and yes we just happened to have mentioned the documentary Up There on the matter a couple of times before. Remember?

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Besides making great products they also make great content such as the following clip of an expedition this past September in which TNF Snowboarder’s Xavier De Le Rue , Lucas Debari , and David Porchron ventured down to Chile with the Transworld Snowboarding crew to shred some long forgotten lines inside a volcano.

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Strange we had not picked this up before. A great production showing the city we live & work in from another perspective.

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The greatest sneaker archiving project is about to start as footlocker is going to attempt to unite sneaker fanatics across the globe.

All I know is that I want an invite! @Sneakerpedia give me a damn code

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Remember how in April we spoke about Philips’ latest pet project called Parallel Lines? Well know the second part of that project came to an ending.

Part one was the part in which Philips asked several directors from the Ridley Scott Association to direct their own short using the same script, written by creatives at DDB London, which was extremely minimal. It featured just six lines of dialogue and some significant imagery, most prominently the presence of a unicorn. Have a look at what they made as there are some great gems amongst them.

Part two was the one in which they invited viewers to get behind the camera and make a response to their project and the already released shorts. All they got were the same couple of lines of script and the necessary elements they had to incorporate such as the ‘unicorn’ we already spoke of.

Now Sir Ridley Scott has picked a winner of the competition, and it is the clip below by Keegan Wilcox that has come out on top.  His film Porcelain Unicorn shows an old man reflecting on his experiences as a young boy in Nazi Germany.

Cédric Petitcollin’s Baby Time, shown above, took home the People’s Voice Award. This short tells the story of a hapless actor clad in a unicorn costume trying desperately to reach his wife in hospital before she has their baby. Out.

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The following clip reminded me about the documentary we featured on NY sign/advertising painters a while back. Up There followed several artists while they were working along the side of a New York building, producing a timelapse video for Stella Artois. It demonstrated a dying craft in times of digital printing and online advertising.

David A Smith is another one of those craftsmen, someone who has become synonymous in Sign-Writing and Glass gilding circles as he produces high quality, hand crafted reverse glass signs and decorative silvered and gilded mirrors. The following mini documentary reveals how it all works and gives us the opportunity to witness the process of signs being made out of glass.

I remember growing up we had an original Coca Cola glass/mirror piece at home. Had, as one day I decided to drop it. Man were my parents pissed and I seem to understand why right now . Oops!

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I’ve always had massive respect for people like Ken Block, someone who started up his own company and took it global while having a lot of fun. Tony Hawk also fits in the list, amongst many others. They’re those entrepreneurs that inspire, a businessman first and an action sportsman second. Mental cases, not afraid to switch the board room for an E.R. every once in a while. You get my grasp.

One of the essential aspects that brought Ken to his current level is the fact he loves to show off his mad driving skills. Its these skills he has lately been showing off while driving a good old Ford Fiesta We mentioned the first clip to promote his new ride already a while back, but thought we ought to make a little round-up as the second one was released earlier this week.

Part 1, which was fittingly called The Music Video Infomercial, features OOTB favorites The Cool Kids performing an original track “Clicking”.

Part 2 was  shot in France, at l’Autodrome de Linas, which is a 1.58 mile oval race track. Built way back in 1924 it has banks at a 51 degree angle, more than double the standard incline of your average NASCAR racing tracks.

Bare in mind that the previous gymkhana videos have been viewed by more than 70 million viewers worldwide. That’s massive and an advertisers wet dream. Out.

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One of the things I picked up a while back was this tour of Brooklyn he did in the lead up to the World Basketball Festival. For this Nike wanted to connect the Five Boroughs of New York City in a celebration of hoops, culture, and its iconic Air Force 1 sneaker. Five ambassadors from each of the five boroughs were asked to participate in 1LOVE, an online documentary series amongst other things as they also held a basketball tournament and a Manhattan block party.

First up is Brooklyn-raised rapper, songwriter and producer Theophilus London, who gives a little tour of the Brooklyn neighbourhood he grew up in and uncovers what makes his borough unique.

Besides Theophilus the other borrows got to do their thing also. Have a look as it gives you a great view on different communities & cultures which make p the wonderfull city of New York.

Episode 2 for instance features Harlem-raised rapper and XL Recordings artist Ms. Banks. In his short-film Banks discusses the streets she grew up on and takes a close look at the original stomping ground that inspires and influences her.

Episode 3 features Cory Gunz, a Bronx based rapper and Young Money Entertainment star in the make it seems. He gives us a tour of NYC’s northern borough, and according to Cory “The Birthplace of Hip Hop.”

Episode 4 takes us on a trip through Queens with FORMAT: a lifestyle and BMX shop owned by pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester.

And last but not least, episode 5 features Emilio Sparks of Staten Island.

This reminds me I have to put “visit NYC” on the TO DO list for the next years. Out.

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Mentioned the documentary & project a couple of times before (here & here) and happened to remember that I still had to feature the entire 12 minute clip.

Next level craftsmanship, showcasing another spectrum of street art. Keep you eyes open at the end as the credits contains the final time-lapse. Out.

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Always loved the Nike Air Max 90 and own a couple of pairs myself. Lots of prejudice when it comes to this model as in Belgium and the Netherlands it is mainly known as the shoe associated to harder dance styles. Yes, also know as the gabbershoe A pity, as it can be considered as a great piece of design.

As the Nike Air Max 90 Infrared has just been released, Primitive shoes asked Justene Jaro to show them off. Good choice Out.

Through IllegalAdvertising & also a high five 4 Appelogen. Thnx Mommy

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Coca Cola released three short films, Ride, Playground, and Peepshow, to kick off their new campaign for their energy drink Burn. What makes them great? Well, the subtle way they position the brand in it, a different approach from the in your face Redbull ads/clips we all have gotten used to throughout the years.

The first clip is probably the one which will be popping up everywhere, as it features burning skateboarders and shizzle, but definitely also take a look at the other two clips which in my eyes are even better

Ride (above), was directed by Garth Davis in Mexico City. It features a group of skateboarders, who actually were set on fire during the shoot, in order that they left flaming trails in their wake.

The other two films are more straight-up documentaries. Peepshow follows the exploits of a group of young female snowboarders, while Playground focuses on a young Philadelphia rapper who’s speciality is creating beats by hitting and beating objects around him An eye-opener worth watching/listening to. Out.

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As promised, part 2 offf what we saw the passed days in Paris. You can read all about the first day overhere.

Friday – Big beamers keep on beaming

An experienced person is just someone that’s made a lot of mistakes. Hoss is very experienced. This is your opportunity to listen to Hoss do his first ever ‘acoustic set’ ? An intimate sharing of lessons learned, punctuated by the odd bit of work, including his latest collaboration with Rob Chiu, and a very simple explanation of how to be profitable on Apple’s App Store. . That’s what the description stated and I regret that we only caught Hoss Gifford‘s presentation halfway true.

Pity as his Things I have learned was really interesting. Not a shocking keynote but a collection of insights & stories that anyone who’s good in what he does should already have experienced but it was nice as I considered it a little fresh-up course.

“Don’t do anything for free and do not give discounts to new clients as you will never taste the same afterwards” is the one that stuck to me the most. An ongoing discussion I have had with a couple of people lately and his comparison was great. “Its like going to the supermarket, buying 6 yoghurts for the price of 4 and afterwards not finding the same deal.” A wise & bold statement. One to ponder upon amongst others!

Hilarious was also the fact he made an iphone app which has paid his lunch every day. An app that gives you the time, more or less

“Unicorns farting glitter metal band names”

He was soon followed by Tara Mcpherson. I bet you have seen work by her already! A great artist besides being a hot girl with tats (something you do not see a lot on stage at #offf) I am all for more girl designers, … taking the stage next time around

Tara is an artist based out of New York City. Creating art about people and their odd ways, her characters seem to exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. She exhibits her paintings and serigraphs in fine art galleries all over the world. Named the crown princess of poster art by ELLE Magazine, she has created numerous gig posters for rock bands such as Beck, Modest Mouse, and Melvins. Her array of art also includes creating toys with companies like Kidrobot, Dark Horse, and Toy2R, painted comics and covers for DC Vertigo, advertising and editorial illustrations for companies such as Wyden+Kennedy and Spin Magazine, and teaching a class at Parsons in NYC. A lot of stuff you can know her from and worth a look at

The program states that Firstborn came after her? Can not really remember from the top of my head what they showed us, so I will just refer to their website

Knife Party I do remember vividly. It was the point were a little voice inside my head yelled “finally” as our visual appetite had grown more hungry. ‘Coalition of the Willing‘ is an animated film about an online war against global warming in a post-Copenhagen world. It was written by Tim Rayner, who is the brains behind the campaign in this digital struggle against global warming following the failed summit. Bare in mind that the following animation is a collaboration between lots and lots of people who ech took upon themselves a part of the film.

Universal Everything continued to nurture our longing for great stuff. These are the guys who did the international MTV rebrand which means that all you guys have seen their stuff passby. I will let the following clip speak for itself but google them!

MTV / International Rebrand Overview from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

They also did some short reveal films for AOL’s relaunch for instance. These got used in web video, mobile, digital campaigns and outdoor LED displays. Nice stuff to say the least

You can find more stuff on their Vimeo which is worth going through.

Goodby & Silverstein are the big boys who took the stage. They are the agency who brought us the awesome HP ads with Jigga, Gwen Stefani, Jerry Seinfeld, … But they also did this campaign/viral for Häagen-Dazs in order to draw attention on their bee program. Hilarious Homebees

Then something totally different followed: SoSo Limited. These guys take word clouds to a master level as they are specialised in interactive installation and audiovisual performance. They create immersive works that play on the immediacy of live media by creating word art by the analysis of what is said. I can not describe it all that well bt the following clips will emlighten you I guess. The first one for instance is a four minute edit remixing the ministerial debates from the UK.

Sosolimited – Prime Numerics (Taster) from FutureEverything on Vimeo.

Prime Numerics (3 of 10) from Sosolimited on Vimeo.

We ended our Friday at the Wooster Collective meet-up near de Quai de Jemappe by the way. Great to meet Marc & Sara amongst others IRL. We we’re amongst great company to say the least

Saturday – The return

We had to skip the festival Saturday. Other stuff called. Pity as I heard it was the best day. Crowd seemed enthusiastic and some of the previous organisational problems belonged to the past.

That being said, it is a great festival with a good vibe, but we have some liner notes for the band

• communicate better, it is clear that this is not the organisations cup of tea
• queues ain’t good, if you say you can pick up passes earlier stick to it (we travelled a day earlier to the venue for nothing!)
• good WiFi = a must have
• more sanitary provisions
• venues? how about signposting these or at least getting your organization to know where what is
• check peoples tickets, we met a couple of people who got in for free where we paid full price #sad

Btw, its 2010 and we’re in a post-digital time as you all know. Organising means to get all digital communication streamlined can be great. Tell people what tags to use for their pictures, … and give them the tools at the venue in order to share their experiences.

Do not want to end negative though as I had a great time and will recommend the conference to anyone who’s interested in this kind of stuff. Maybe we should finish with the end titles for the sponsors. Yet another great piece of work! See you next year so Out.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Thanks to On Point & Eckelwood for the company and great talks/laughs thoughout the days.

You can still check part one of our report overhere.

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Captain’s log, Saturday 26th June. Returning from Offf 2010 in Paris. Thalys is on time. Mission accomplished.

Wednesday – Check-in for a day in the Sun

Travelled a day earlier to Paris as I had some spots & shops I had been meaning to visit for a while. This meant an early wake-up call in order to catch the Thalys. The call of sneaker, book, … stores & great street art was loud. I could smell it in the air

Arriving in Paris we first headed to our shelter: Hidden Hotel. One of the people behind this concept lodging was so kind to invite us for a stay in their great little hotel while in Paris. Its located in the heart of Paris, a small side street, just 800m or so from the Arc de Triomphe. I can only recommend a stay as its something I had never seen before. I recon I might right a more indepth review on it one of these days

Once we dropped of our lugage and put on some better clothing (hot as hell in Paris passed days) we were offf for some sightseeing and urban discoveries. You can find some pictures overhere and yes, I took way to little pics this time

Thursday – Queuing for beginners

Two hours! Deux heures! Dos whatever! Yes, the amount of time we spent queuing in the shade/sun that Thursday morning. Boring as hell by the way and the reason we missed the opening note But no worries as we were in!

In order to kick offf in style I suggest you have a look at the great opening credits. It gives you an overview of who we saw come by.

OFFF Paris 2010 Titles from OFFF on Vimeo.

Media Temple Animation from (HKI)™ HelloHikimori™ on Vimeo.

HELLOHIKIMORI was the first to really kick off the cool stuff for us. Warming up I guess as we had to get into the right set of mind for the next few days.

I was also looking forward to seeing the guys from H5, mentioned their Oscar winning Logorama before, but heard they chickened out I think they might just have got stuck in Cannes with the train strike which was going on or something else. Too bad they couldn’t continue. Early lunch so!

Craig Ward drew our attention right from the start after a long break in the sun. I was intrigued by his bizarre and beautiful typeface experiments. Check out his site Words Are Pictures to see and learn more, including some really impressive letterpress illustrations.

In his presentation, Craig demonstrated his continuing education in typography while tracing his evolution from designer to typographer to story teller. Fancy words to state he does cool stuff with lettering

Dixon Baxi followed in what I call a promo talk. Hey lets show another showreel and then will show another one. Followed by ooohs & aaahs! Or not. Mainly different idents they did for some television stations, … But nice work to say the least and great entertainment.

DixonBaxi | Five ‘Food Chain’ from DixonBaxi on Vimeo.

DixonBaxi | Five USA ‘Eye Contact’ from DixonBaxi on Vimeo.

We Walk from Christopher Hewitt on Vimeo.

The guys did end with We Walk, which is a short film that stumbles into the journey of a young girl desperate to leave the city in search of isolation and in turn, sleep. Shot in LA and Palm Springs, the film is based on a new poem by Writer, Brett Darling.

Later on we got to see Marc & Sara from Wooster Collective take the stage. Great talk for a fascinated crowd. A crowd that does not follow their blog/site as I had seen everyting they showed us previously I bet they got a new following after this.

They followed what I like to call one prick & 3 French guys (Neville Brody, the British graphic designer together with the people from Bazooka). Some old school fellas who were going to set us young kids straight. They taught they could shock us with ‘pornoghraphic images’ … #fail & out of luck guys. You all get the figurative ball sack as you sucked monkey balls.

Just headed on out from there so. Enough is enough

Stay tuned though as tomorrow morning part II with some stuff that’s really worth a view & read. My sincere apologies if its all a bit chaotic but there really is too much stuff to share Out.

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Adidas scores once again with the Star Wars approach. Hilarious bit with Beckham, who ‘played for Galaxy, far far away’. Out.

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One of the nifty features certain of these guiding systems offer is the possibility to customise the voice guidance. Tom Tom (amongst others) is one of the manufacturers who make this possible and it seems they have just made it possible to download Darth Vader (amongst other Star Wars voices) for their navigation system.  Can it get any better Out.

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Ever driven on a velodrome? I once did, was scared shitless and mainly stuck to the bottom part of the track. Redbull New Zealand brought us their own version, the minidrome. Out.

(through BigUp Blog)

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I ain’t got that much to say as the following ad speaks for itself. Advertising used to be so much cooler back then Why don’t ad men make such cool ads anymore? Out.

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Sometimes I really wonder what it must be like to grow up or live in Japan or another Asian country. The following ad just reminded me af that. Its an anime themed commercial for Nike which features a futuristic sneaker wearer battling skyscraper size robots.

What’s not to love about the whole anime & manga culture. Out.

(through PSFK)

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Back in November I wrote about “The Ritual Project“, a timelapse which showcases each of nine laborious steps behind the perfect glass of Stella. Following my post I received a nice mail from Jon, one one the people behind the project, thanking me for what I wrote and telling me that he would keep me posted on the finished product

Well that moment was like a couple of minutes ago when I opened my mailbox to find a couple of Vimeo links. The first one features the timelapse. Great to see what 3 weeks of hard work deliver.

The second features a trailer for a documentary called “Up There”, which follows the wallpainters. Out.

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Winter Olympics have just finished couple of days ago and I happened to stumble upon these older clips of Shaun White and Project X, which Redbull put up especially for him.

What follows is The Red Bull Project X crew talking about the challenges building this enormous half pipe in the middle of nowhere, namely a remote high altitude location somewhere in the Colorado mountains. To be successful the industries greatest minds where gathered together with a massive load of explosives. Their goal… to create controlled avalanches in order to have sufficient high quality snow.

One may wonder why they went to all these lengths for this guy. Well the reason is rather simple as you will see below. White is one the most talented guys out there and he needed the space to disappear in preparation of greatness and training for what would be the biggest winter of his life.

Rather annoyed *meh* now I just realised I will not be hitting the slopes this season. Out.

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Totally digging this line of kicks. Will have to try and secure myself a pair pretty soon. Check their new ad and beware of the dark-side. Out.

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