turning over a new blog

okay so that copywriting thingie was fun and all, and usually i would start this whole new concept on a whole new blog but blogger won't let me because i registered this on'es to my e-mail address.

from now on i am to dedicate this blog to beautiful imag
es of people i may or may not know that i take photo's of. the catch is they won't ever contain the image of a an actual direct face.

i hope they will add beauty to your life!
x
alice

My Vid

here's a link to the video I tricked them into letting me come intern with :)

http://vimeo.com/15002474

it's a little long but seeing as I was two coughs away from dying from Bronchitis at the time,
editing took a little bit of a back seat..

enjoy!

the lives of the working in advertising folk...

During the September holidays which spanned a whole 7 days last month (note: if italics gave a sarcastic tone to text I would have Italisized that last phrase) I decided to get a tad pro-active and do some interning, partly because speaking to friends in industry of late has made me absolutely paranoid about ever getting a job in advertising one day, and partly because I really felt like I was on a roll of learning curves and needed to prolong them flowing in.

While off college last term sick as poodle from Bronchitis I made and sent in a homemade video to a company in Johannesburg called Hello World Agency- pretty much begging them to take me under their knowledgeable wings for the week.  Being a first year student I really have no credentials to my name and I was not a bout to hand them some white piece of blank paper with sparsely spaced information about where I study and that I like to paint pictures and write so I filled it with bells and whistles. My sneaky plan worked and they responded with all too much enthusiasm and sweetness. ( yay for kind people!)

If you have time you should check out their site: http://www.helloworldagency.com/

Have a convo with the robot programme in the bottom right-hand corner... haha- it's fucking A !

Anyways they done some great stuff and from my first day there I honestly felt like dropping out of college and taking up a job in the big bad world- I even fantasized about being Creative Director of my own agency for pretty much 2 hours of every morning. Their offices are amazing- big spaces furnished with wood and big windows which look out over the rest of the Design District- LISOF the fashion school below and the agency that runs SA Fashion week in between… which means each time I left to get a lunch wrap I was surrounded by either extremely stylish or towering tall beauties of people. On the contrary to what one might expect, it made me feel good- I like being surrounded by beauty- I don’t find it intimidating by any account. I also walked to the nearby Galleries in fourways in my lunch breaks. A fairly new and beautifully designed one had just opened. It’s on a main street in Fourways and looks like a mini Googenheim- it had some beautiful sculpture and a view of the entire city from the top.

I shadowed the copywriter called Rory most of the time. He's really funny and talks at the speed of a bullet train. Marko showed me around the whole placed and I think he's the friendliest guy I have ever met, he also had his last day at the office on the Thursday I left so an afternoon Vodka party was how my last few hours there were spent. The two designers in the Creative department were Linel and Kerrin- both very stylish and I liked their music taste ( Bombay Bicycle Club- nice). The rest of the creative team was down in CT filming a commercial.

As with many things when a little effort is put in, there were a couple positive spin-offs thanks to my interning. The Monday I got back to Cape Town ( there’s nothing like arriving home in Cape Town after a holiday in Joburg) I was invited to shadow the company on another commercial shoot happening in Milnerton. Elated by the invitation I woke up bright and early on Monday morning, proceeded to get lost on an infinitely long street called Koeberg rd and eventually somehow stumbled upon the Cape Island Studios. Greeted by a smiling man with coffee, an apple and muffin in hand to graciously hand over to me, the day kicked off on the right note.

It was an insightful experience- actually an extremely insightful experience. Not only did I discover that the countless and seemingly pointless attentions to details college makes us include when writing up a TV advert actually are necessary, but they’re what a day of shooting at a studio space runs on. That made me happy. The sets were beautifully designed and each shot was taken about 15 or so times- meticulously planned. There were moments of pure enjoyment and extended periods of absolute boredom as well. Although they were eased because I kept myself bugging anyone I could about their job, which everyone seemed to love talking about- even if they were telling me never to get one like theirs. I met the rest of the Creative department which consisted of Theo and Dani ( co-owners), Aadil- a big friendly guy who despite his youthful appearance knows ALL to much about the industry and just about everyone in it by name and Gareth- the Art Director on set.

The commercial to be shot was only a 30second advert but we shot for at least 10 hours. The entire advert was shot on a Canon 5D which was attached to some pretty impressive lenses. I even got pulled into a couple shots for an extra in the audience scenes ( oh yeah- lookout for the dark silhouette figure, half-cut off, somewhere in the far background- the one with the beanie, it-is-sooooo me!)

part of the offices. . .

and another

a small but beautiful gallery close-by

CW- copywriters... the cool clever kids :)

flower folk

Okay so i fell somewhat apologetic to all you who suffer from separation anxiety and whom I've left destitute for the past weekend and day. The thing is I was busy out there in the world scowering up some beautiful experiences and images to bring regurgitate to you from the folks of Cape Town.

This weekend ( as previously mentioned) Rocking The Daises  music festival went down in Darling and when I say "went down" what I really mean is : changed lives.

Music festivals hosted in beautifully unpretentious natural spaces have a way of excusing just about everyone from their day to day grinds in order to remind them of why we are all here in the first place. . .  to live. There is this strange unspoken law that seems to permeate through the atmosphere which allows us all to connect and if only for a moment act like the inner hippie/rock band-groupie/dirty rusta kid/ elctro head banger/ intoxicated fool we all knows lies deep down somewhere inside ourselves. Lets get real, we were all 6 years old once and know how awsome it was to be covered in mud and lie around on the grass with some mates. 

The point at hand however is that whilst attending this festival I witnessed many a differnt stroke of many a-differnt folk and I'd like to share them with you to get your opinion on them...

I love people-watching..

and sadly, I mean that in the creepiest way possible. I mean, hardcore, I will sit by myself at a coffee shop and drink 3 cups of coffee while pretending to be doing something important on my computer, just to get the opportunity to watch the people that walk by. I can't help it. I think it's mostly because of the way people dress and because if it's a coffee shop on the streets in Cape Town I get to at least see well-dressed people. Also, on Long street at night (any day of the week ) I'm guaranteed to see more drama unfold on the street than any story-plotter for the Jerry Springer Show could conjure up.

Is Black Label only the stroke for the folk who are brokessss?

Or is there anyone who ACTUALLY likes the taste?

I love camping but that's just me.

Are you the type of folk to endure 3 days of hardcore floor sleeping

in return for some hardcore music festing,

or are you booked into the closest resort

and boasting to your friends about the warm shower

you get to have each night?

Rock vs Electro vs Folk(Balconology) vs Comedy tent. . .

which was/is your favourite?

Are triangles a passing phase or 

geometrical simplistic designs 

that will continue to make returns back 

into fashion, poster designs and installation

pieces every 20 years or so ?

Some folks love swimming in the ever-present

water bodies at trance parties and music festivals...

and to them all I have to say is:

E.coli is not only a 20th century water born disease.

So I found my perfect music fest buddy pair of shoes:

tan leather military boots...

in fact apart from Converse hi-tops I don't know 

what could possibly par/top them.

Have you found your perfect pair of ground-trapping,

crowd-stumping foot-friends?

Does Generation X not rock harder at these things fests

than the young-un's or is it just me?

I do believe.

greeny folks and their idealistic world of man and environment living side by side

So I stumbled upon this idea just a moment ago and don't see why it isn't in full swing already.
Trees and plants make every space more beautiful and despite the trendy green appeal this concept could have... it would make sitting on the balcony at Rafiki's on a half-price pizza afternoon so much more enjoyable as not to be blantantly starred at by the tourists on the second level of those red bus tours.

http://inhabitat.com/2010/10/05/bus-roots-green-roofed-bus-is-a-garden-that-goes/

Rocking the Daisies

As you all know by now- RTD is happening THIS weekend!!!

It's for the folks who enjoy :


1. having a bitchin' time
2. good music
3. getting drunk ( twice in a day- and once at night)
4. the environment
5. swimming in rivers... while listening to good music and being happilly drunk
6. starring at people that dress nice
7. dressing nice
8. re-living childhood memories by rolling around in grass and playing leap-frog


... seen as all the above criteria fit what I would consider a good weekend and reason to sleep in a flimsy tent on the hard ground for two nights in a row- I'm going.




You should all come!

Papa Gladwell- Tipping Point

Okay so here's a book that everyone (everyone ever) should read! 


It's written by Pappa Gladwell AKA Malcolm Galdwell and apart form looking like a cross between Pitch-black-Afro and the lady from the Glomail-shopping-network he IS the best contemporary writer on relative psychology.


 Tipping Points is about people and their different strokes and how they all come together in the greater scheme of causing epidemics, social trends and unexpected fashion take-overs ( like Hush Puppies). If you're planning on taking over the world or starting some sort of new/2nd-hand denim clothing hipster epidemic I suggest you get hold of a Connector, Maven and Salesmen.
Read why-
it'll do you good...
and help you get an A in your next Brand Stratergy class test- woo hoo!

(also look out for his latest book: Outliers. I hate Bill Gates a little less now knowing how ordinary he really was.)

The waters have broken-rebirth of the cliches have begun!!!

Okay we all get a lil misplaced hearing the “f” word escape from our grandparents and sometimes even parents mouths from time to time. And no, I’m not referring to that common blasphemy which seems to sculpt the superlatives of our day-to-day storytelling: rather “folks” is the word and apart from me not really understanding what it actually means, it always is expressed with a sense of affection and at the least it’s a word I associate to oldschool Looney tunes and Disney animations which bring about a warm and fuzzy feeling of nostalgia. The things is that it forms part of an expression which helps excuse one from judging just about anyone else for what they do and an idea that a few more people could exercise, especially when constantly ragging on my daily clothing choices…( Richard). It’s passive, it’s classic and it sounds like this:

“Ag, different strokes for different folks.”

Okay, so I convinced my brother to take an irreplaceable two and a half hours out of his life onetime to try teach me the (still) impossible swimming stroke of butterfly before a school gala in grade 6. He zealously displayed the “seemingly” fluid motion for as long as he could until the enviable image of me having some sort of a fit while sandwiching a pink pool noodle  between my legs, in order to stay afloat, became too much to bare- and he more wisely opted out.  I didn’t feel bad for wasting his time, the countless boggwash sessions he entertained his friends with using me as the chosen target for the early years of my prepubescent childhood made me feel he owed me as much in return.

That’s as far as my swimming career went and the associations I have with the word “stroke” which to me was actually more of an alternating arm-to-pool-surface slap motion that left my arm rather tender and stinging. The other meaning I’m aware of is when a sudden disabling attack or loss of consciousness is caused by an interruption in the flow of blood to the brain which causes ( usually old people) to seize up, and sometimes loose control over half of their facial muscles. But that’s a whole other bag of NikNaks associated to the word “stroke” and in this case- completely irrelevant.

The term “ different strokes for different folks” nevertheless, is a saying I am rather fond of. Yes, not only have I openly and forever concreted in cyber world, my affection for this ancient saying but I have also expressed it with that other “f” word which we usually find in old birthday cards right next to the watercolour image of a patchy cat and a butterfly. I admit it, I am a sucker for words, new words old words and all the obfuscation inbetween! ( see what I mean? Being pompous is fun!)

Another thing apart from words which seems to just get me… is people. I have this love/hate, but mostly love relationship with the human race.

People are the most beautiful, complex and altogether fucked-up species living on this planet- except for those strange flying squirrel creatures which live in the Amazon and commit mass suicides for no apparent reasons??? Who gets those anyways! Back to the point, what is the most fascinating  to me, is our insatiable need to understand each other which returns me to the original idea of different strokes. We all have our own preferences- that’s how we define ourselves from others, and on the contrary it’s also how we find others like ourselves to group to.

We have our own preferences in what food we like- to sushi or not to sushi? To salt or to BBQ spice? We choose our favourite night spots to hang out at on weekends or stay cooped-up indoors with our chosen allies playing x-box and watching late night shows on e-tv. We define our style with the clothing we dress in each day and are attracted to fashion or repelled by its shallowness. Sugar or sweetener? We organise girl nights in or boy binge nights out. Whole nut or choc mint? We call up a mate on a sweet summer’s day or we hit a morning surf mission on our ace. The point is we do what suits us best- what makes us happiest what makes us who we are: different strokes for different folks.

I plan to research not only these folks and these strokes but the means of different strokes and their availability in my area- was that metaphor way to extended to understand? Basically, I plan to base my blogspot around things that interest me most, and hopefully get taken on some tangents of what interest others most in return. Welcome to my blogspot: this is where  your strange stroke makes you a more interesting folk.

P.s. I also plan to fill it with reels of my own mindless chatter and prolific pointess photography and sketches ('',).

So... I started blogging.

I'm starting it in the way I start most things ( if it ain't broke don't fix)

and that, is with a picture.

I one... do you like it?

It's an image of the first swim I had in the Spanish sea on Barcelona beach last holiday.