5 posts from December 2008

I mentioned the other day a project that I've been working on which I've found to be creative and fun.  It's been a personal pet "thing" that I've had sitting with me for a long time and until now wasn't out in the open.  Now, however, I have made the first efforts to do something with it.

The project is thisisthings - http://www.thisisthings.com - a mix of puns, word play and the kind of design that I don't get to do every day - with a bit of functionality mixed in: notably free e-cards at the moment, but later on perhaps some products (although I've yet to decide what and how and when!).  Most of my web site clients don't really ask for this kind of "thing" so it's been rather refreshing to just relax and have a bit of fun with it.  And, to do something for its own ends and just simply for me, has been quite rewarding.

Anyway, I thought I would share it, since I only hinted at it before, and because there's now something to see. 
I hope you enjoy the site and hope that one or two things raise a smile or perhaps even a little chuckle.

Comments welcomed as always!  Either here or over on thisisthings.com, or by other means if you know them.

I hope the week is treating you well and that some of the festive spirit is rubbing off on you  :)

See what I did there?  Monday music has never been the same.

Without any further ado, today (Tuesday) I bring you some music (tune).  The track is "You Do Not Belong Here" by ESA (aka Jamie Blacker).  Genuinely haunting music - full of undercurrents and swirling undertows, noisy goodness, flowing ambient soundscapes - and a fitting finale to the excellent album "How Pure Would Your Utopia Be?"

http://www.last.fm/music/Esa/_/You+Do+Not+Belong+Here

I actually have a rather creative set of job roles in running my own business.  I do a lot of creative things and I count myself as very fortunate to be able to say that the hard work I do to pay bills and afford myself a reasonable standard of living is, on the whole, creative.  However, I don't make anything.  Or at least, I don't make anything that's real.  And most of my creative efforts are for other people's benefit - my clients - and very rarely for myself, my own enjoyment or endeavours. I'm like the builder who has a half-built conservatory at their own home and for whom the idea of spending the weekend making a barbecue set out of bricks would be anathema.  Except my backside is not as visible and as saggy, I don't read the tabloids over a mug of tea, and I don't have a white van with "clean me" on it.  And if I did, they wouldn't be real.  They'd be defined in HTML tags or something like that.

Anyway, I've had a bit of fun recently making things. Making non-virtual things.

First, a Christmas card for a "Secret Santa" exercise, where the criteria was that the card had to be hand-made.  I really got into this and enjoyed the process of devising something, planning it, and then actually sitting down to do it.  You'll see from the photos below that I brought out the heavy artillery for this: cutting board, craft knife, scissors, metal ruler and pritt stick.  Serious stuff, but thoroughly satisfying.  I had forgotten how nice it is to actually make stuff.  You know, actually make something out of nothing.  Perhaps it's not much of a news flash to many of my readers - particularly those who have younger children - but it was to me. For the last ten years or more almost everything I have created has been virtual... the vast majority of it web pages, designs and logos.  Nothing really tangible.  And so my Christmas card was a bit of a revelation:

Nothing too complicated or fancy but rather effective.  It's a bit of pop-up, a dash of montage and a little smidgeon of improvisation with the "baubles" (they are actually transparent adhesive rubber "feet" that I simply felt-tipped).  Not bad for someone who doesn't really do "that kind of thing".

Second, the other fun I have had with things relates to a project that has been gestating for a long time in the bowels of Jon HQ.  Again, there is end product to it (although partly virtual) and it is also something I am doing solely for its own merits and solely for me.  It's actually quite unusual for me to do anything for me, so it has been enjoyable plotting and planning this project and now seeing it come together over the past few weeks.

I'll have more to share on the project soon...suffice to say that the title of this post has something to do with it ;)

It's definitely Monday and what follows is definitely music, which means it must be Monday Music.

The artist is Ab Ovo - which those of you with a predisposition to Latin will know means "from the beginning" or literally "from the egg" - a duo of French sonic wizards producing some brilliant dark ambient music in recent years on the Ant-Zen label.

And this, in homage to their name, is the first track "Hemisphere" from their excellent album "Mouvements"...

http://www.last.fm/music/Ab+Ovo/_/H%C3%A9misph%C3%A8re?autostart

...like so many enjoyable things, this track unwinds and develops very slowly before enveloping you whole in gloriousness. And it lasts a little bit longer than many enjoyable things as well.  Or so I am told.

Play loud for the full effect - ideally your internal organs should be syncopating with the groove on this particular track.
Enjoy, and have a great week ahead!

A bit late with my Monday music this week for which I most humbly apologise.  Circumstances conspired against me a la Gunpowder Plot, but instead of attempting to blow up a seat of Government they put a significant derailment on my week.  Actually, my train never left the buffers.  I won't go into details, but I have a note from my Mum if anyone has any doubts as to the veracity of my claims.  Or you can look up "spontaneous pneumothorax" on Google if you wish.  But, please don't do so if you are one of those people who are rather cleverly referred to as "cyberchondriacs" - you might just feel rather ill as a result.  So, don't.  Please.  Anyway.

This week's Monday Music is a track by the rather splendid Hol Baumann.  The track is "Human" from the album "[Breathe]" which is on Ultimae Records.  I hope you'll agree that it's an excellent mix of traditional and electronic music forms:

http://www.last.fm/music/Hol+Baumann/_/Human?autostart

Also worth a listen is the title track from the same album which you'll find on last.fm not very far from the page you'll be on if you click the link above.  How far I don't know, I guess it depends on the size of the stone, the power in your throwing arm, and any prevailing winds - and perhaps also the speed of your connection.

Enjoy!  (I hope)