Quick Peeks

Sonic Season's Greetings

Lisa Devaney — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Wishing everyone a happy holiday, with a nifty viral piece from the folks at Sonic ID --

Thanks to Martyn Ware (founding member of 80's pop bands Heaven 17 and The Human League and head of The Illustrious Company) for the tip about this holiday treat.

Signing off 'till next year,

-Lisa

PR Gets More Social: 5 Tips

Lisa Devaney — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:07:00 GMT

Normal 0 Emerging experts in the PR field are shaping new ways of communicating brand messages and figuring out the best way to navigate through social media, online and with new trends like Twitter.

Content and Motion is a content optimisation and online PR agency that offers up five tips for applying social engagement to PR. They suggest:

1) Listening to audiences

2) Being interesting

3) Looking for your audience

4) Giving away free content

5) Being socially useful

Applying C&M’s five observations will help anyone using online PR to manage the scene better, and the advice is really based on common sense. You wouldn’t want to go to a party and over-network the crowd, so why should you do it online?

Read the full blog post here.

Being a better social PR networker,

-Lisa

For Beta Lovers: Jinni, The Filter, Skyfire

Lisa Devaney — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:42:00 GMT

Working with new technology companies I hear about beta testing opportunities fairly often, and here are three picks to share with Brand Republic readers: Normal 0

Jinni

http://www.jinni.com

Are you in the mood for a certain kind of movie but not sure what film to select? Simply type in information about what type of film you might want to see and Jinni will get back to you with everything from romantic comedy to science fiction to action and more.

The Filter

http://www.thefilter.com/

Another way to personalize your content -- use The Filter much like you already use Last.FM and get pointed to your taste in music, movies and video content. It reads your personal taste and feeds back new selections that you may enjoy. For 80s music fans, you might appreciate that it has Peter Gabriel's involvement.

Skyfire

http://www.skyfire.com

New to the UK is mobile browser Skyfire, that lets you browse the internet from your mobile phone. Point your mobile browser to www.get.skyfire.com for a quick download to your phone (check this link for phones supported by Skyfire) and it will render websites quickly onto your mobile for viewing. Skyfire helps you explore online content just as you would expect to find it on your PC. Great for viewing through Skyfire is BBC iPlayer, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and listening to music via Last.FM

Note: I’ve been working with Skyfire to help with the company’s UK launch here this week, and based on this service's huge popularity in the states, it is likely to attract thousands of fans here. For more coverage about Skyfire see what Daniel Robinson of VNUNet.com has to say here, and Contagious Magazine has listed it this week as a top pick.

Loving being beta,

-Lisa

Ustream.TV’s Shiba Inu Puppy Cam

Lisa Devaney — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:32:00 GMT

Normal 0 Puppies! Fluffy cute Shiba Inu puppies doing puppy stuff is captured by Ustream.TV’s Shiba Inu Puppy Cam for your viewing pleasure. What could be better than checking in on cute and fluffy animals sleeping, eating and playing periodically throughout the day.

Credit for this find goes to the agency 1000 Heads who originally reported it on their blog here.

Having a cuteness attack,

-Lisa

Third Culture Kids to Rule US

Lisa Devaney — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:13:00 GMT

Barack Obama is filling out his staff with many appointments of Third Culture Kids (TCK), those who straddled living in countries outside America as kids, according to TheDailyBeast.com

The trend looks positive for making sure those in his office are adept at handling foreign policy and have a global perspective, are socially adaptable and intellectually flexible people who think outside the box. Being a TCK himself, he is moulding the demographics of his closest advisors to reflect his own experience and leadership style.

Thanks to Marc Seago, expert marketer and a TCK living in New York City, for pointing out this article, written by TCK author of the book Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds, by Ruth E.Van Reken.

Keeping a foot in two worlds as an adult,

-Lisa

A Lifesaver for Creative Business Motivation

Lisa Devaney — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:31:00 GMT

Normal 0 Is your typical day spent like this?

· Struggling to find time and mental space for creative work

· Priorities swamped by day-to-day tasks

· Constant interruptions breaking their creative focus

· Overflowing e-mail inboxes

· Demanding clients expecting instant responses

· Important commitments being lost or forgotten

· Information overload and digital distractions

· Having to deliver more with fewer resources

· Being ‘busy’ instead of creative and effective

If so, your creativity is likely blocked and you may find help to these daily challenges from creative coach and poet Mark McGuinness, who pens the blog Wishful Thinking. Many of Mark’s suggestions for working in creative fields can be found on his blog, or in his ebooks.

His popular Time Management for Creative People has been downloaded more than 45,000 times -- you can get it for free here.

Upcoming ebook from the author is a DIY guide called How to Motivate Creative People, based on his thoughts in this blog post.

He’s also got a seminar in the works based on Time Management for Creative People and is a co-founder of Lateral Action.

Feeling creatively motivated for work,

-Lisa

Where’s our generation's Erté?

Lisa Devaney — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:27:00 GMT

As the months of this year march onward toward their inevitable annual close I’ve had the glamorous artwork of an Erté calendar to guide me through the year.

Born Romain de Tirtoff in 1892, this illustrator adopted the artist name Erté to avoid retribution from his family who would have preferred that he join the Navy. Instead he went on to define art deco style. His images graced the pages of fashion magazines and his set designs showcased in theatre and film including the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923, La Bohéme and Ben Hur.

Gazing upon Erté’s artworks each month makes me wonder why today’s commercial world can’t seem to foster similar artistic credibility in similar tradition to what Erté has produced, and let grow our own period artists. What I see too often is ad firms ripping off, or buying into popular art trends to try and sell something. Often you’ll find a Banksy-style ad selling alcohol, music or television shows. In another example, the current Vauxhall car ads copy the concept of Ugly Dolls to produce sassy characters to run in their ad campaign.

Sometimes ads are inspired by artists independently – in the recent political campaign example, Barack Obama was the lucky recipient of a Shepard Fairey iconic image that added to him winning respect among young people for his powerful election win.

It isn’t like there aren’t talented artists and designers working within the commercial world who can provide inspiration and originality, in fact Banksy complains that advertising is leeching talent from the art world:

“The thing I hate most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.” –Banksy

I’m not opposed to the ad world recruiting artists for campaigns, although the artist themselves, like Fairey, have had to come to grips with the possibility that their underground images may be tarnished. And by the way, the New York City street artist James De LaVega is for hire.

Cheers to Absolut who recruit artists to craft the company’s collectible ads, often doing a series of images with a single artist. If any ad can immortalize recent decades artistically it is likely to be this vodka maker. I celebrate the originality produced with the Absolut campaigns and would like to see more company’s support art in similar fashion by having guest artists develop a campaign or fostering new talent from within the ranks.

Hopefully clients will appreciate something original that is proposed, and allow creative talent to shine through rather than go for copy cat campaigns. If they do support new ideas, then from the commercial world might come along the next Andy Warhol, Banksy, Fairey or my own beloved Erté.

Wondering where this generation’s Erté is,

-Lisa

PS: Comments as to who might be the commercial world’s next Erté are welcome.

Antiques Roadshow Spoils The Mission

Lisa Devaney — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:37:00 GMT

Normal 0 Last night I was among millions of fans of Antiques Roadshow who waited to find out what object could possibly fetch £1 million in valuations.

I had images of a fantastic story of discovery that had the owner stumble upon a treasure at a car boot sale or dust off an old family heirloom to bring along and have one of the experts tell them of its stunning value. Instead, viewers were greeted to an object of art by Anthony Gormley, the marquette for the final version of his sculpture Angel of the North.

Brought in by the Gateshead Council, it made for less fun than when you see a Granny exclaim excitement over her sudden found wealth. Antiques Roadshow quoted the Anthony Gormley piece at £1 million and now the Gateshead Council has the masterpiece to caretake, or sell to raise money for fixing potholes or other projects. But is it truly an antique? According to the definition of antique, it applies to objects 50-100 years old. In the case of the Anthony Gormley piece, the Angel of the North sculpture was erected in 1998, making the marquette less than 20-years-old.

Has Antiques Roadshow lost the plot? The marquette is something more likely to be found at Freeze Art Fair or Tate Modern, but not on Antiques Roadshow. The value of the piece is the highest ever made for an object on the show. Evaluating a piece less than 20 years old and calling it an antique seems like false advertising to viewers. Bring back the traditional format and next week lets see Antiques Roadshow get back to rocking the worlds of treasure hunters with true antiquities.

Collecting all kinds of tat for future Antique Roadshow valuation,

-Lisa

The Culture of Meanness: Are Brand and Ross Victims of It?

Lisa Devaney — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:42:00 GMT

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As the dust settles inside the BBC over Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross’s prank call gone wrong to Andrew Sachs, it seems the question of tastelessness is holding centre stage in a debate about what’s funny and what’s not.

The British public registered opinion quickly and furiously after learning that Brand and Ross phoned up the treasured actor and left a message informing him that Brand had sexual relations with his granddaughter. Never mind that no one would have paid much attention to the incident if it hadn’t made headlines, prompting thousands to complain.

Behind it all, I can’t help but wonder if the bad taste incident can be chalked up to not just a misjudgement on Brand and Ross’s part, but a prevailing culture of meanness that washes over entertainment. Were Ross and Brand the victims of a culture that makes cruelty to others humorous?

Meanness prevails in countless programming from the contestants on The Weakest Link to X Factor to the Dragon’s Den. Even cooking shows seem to get popular when the celebrity chef abuses participants with profanity. If you were surrounded by an entertainment culture that applauds cruelty to others, wouldn’t it just come natural to pick on someone during a prank call to amuse your audience?

As Ross remains in self-exile waiting out his sentence to remain off-air, mulling over and over his mistake, he is perhaps also contemplating the nature vs. nurture argument to make sense of what and why he did it. Joking at the expense of others feelings is nothing new in comedy and Brand and Ross are hardly alone among they’re peers who make good livings off of cruelty. Here are three that deserve top awards for leading the culture of meanness:

Mean – Sir Alan Sugar

Meaner – Gordon Ramsay

Meanest – Simon Cowell

Let’s face it folks the meaner people get to each other the more the ratings go up, so rather than blaming Brand and Ross as punishable bad boys, maybe we should all take a look in the mirror and point a finger right back at ourselves. If we don’t want to see mean entertainment then speak up about programming and not just one incident among a sea of insensitivity.

Beware the consequences of unleashing complaints though, as you might find yourself in a climate of censorship similar to what happened in America following Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl. There is a fine line between clamping down on entertainment for taste’s sake and stepping all over the right to free expression.

Brand and Ross have gotten the point, they’ve admitted and apologized for the mistake, let them back to do their jobs. If you want to clean up the airwaves then simply turn off a show if you don’t like it.

Missing Jonathan Ross,

-Lisa

Oh Happy Day

Lisa Devaney — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:13:00 GMT

The tune of this classic gospel song is playing again and again in my head today.

It is a joyous day to have witnessed history being made with Barack Obama's election in America.

Oh happy day,

-Lisa

Party Politics

Lisa Devaney — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:07:00 GMT

Normal 0 American election celebrations are in works in London for next week’s historic day on Tuesday, November 4^th, with those who love Obama gathering to cheer on their favourite presidential candidate in Kensington.The party is one of two large gatherings happening in the capital, but the only one of its size dedicated entirely to Barack Obama. Apparently Democrats Abroad UK is supporting another party that is open to all, including Republicans.

Want to join in on the Obama fun, without any Republicans?

Americans Away From Home Election Night Party

*Hosted by the largest Obama group outside the United States, the UK Obama Meetup

Want to go to the other election night party that is open to all political parties?

U.S. Election Night Party in London

My vote is already cast,

-Lisa

R.I.P. for ICA’s Live Media Arts Department

Lisa Devaney — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:01:00 GMT

Normal 0 It looks like new media is now dead media over at the ICA, where the Live & Media Arts department there has had the plugged pulled.

Ekow Eshun, the Artistic Director of the ICA, informed the public last week that the department will close at the end of November.

“New media based arts practice continues to have its place within the arts sector. However it’s my consideration that, in the main, the art form lacks the depth and cultural urgency to justify the ICA’s continued and significant investment in a Live & Media Arts department. Following discussion with the ICA Council and the Arts Council – and agreement from both bodies – I have decided to close the department,” she said.

Read the full story here.

Condolences,

-Lisa

Autumn Fun Time in London

Lisa Devaney — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Normal 0 Boo-a-licious, boo-tastic, boo-groovy, it looks like London is getting deep into haunted Halloween fun with everything from zombie crawls to trick or treating to space age mayhem.

If you like a good scare, Facebook seems to be the best place to search for Halloween happenings.

I’ll be joining friends for their Cosmic Disco celebration, a private party. The event will mix traditional Halloween fancy dress with a sci-fi theme, making for a Barbarella-esque experience. I’ll be there as a ghost from the future to present some of the live acts of the evening.

If you are looking for an original goodtime for Halloween, have a quick peek at these picks below:

oOOo

Sunday 26th October
World Zombie Day! - London

On Sunday 26th October a horde of zombies will gather at Marble Arch at noon. Then a slow, shuffle across town with stopping points along the way.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32300487483
http://www.myspace.com/worldzombiedaylondon

oOOo
Wednesday 29th October
Happy Halloween Wednesday – The Optimist Society
Join the Optimists for some fancy dress trick or treating starting at Soho Square at 6.30pm. An evening of giving out free hugs, being nice to people and making them smile.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=85331830178
http://www.theoptimistssociety.co.uk

oOOo

Friday 31st October
Randy Ape’s & Fancy Dress Meetup Halloween Party
Dress up and dance from 7pm onwards at the Moose Bar. Get there early before we fill it up!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44209640560
http://www.meetup.com/london-fancy-dress-parties/

oOOo

Saturday 1st November
Dreams and Nightmares – Bring Stuff
Two rooms of good and evil, naughty and nice, righteous and disgusting! Tickets are £10 with all profits going to Camp Cando. Book quickly before they sell out!! The venue will be kept secret until the night with a meeting point near London Bridge.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=40591960154
http://www.bringstuff.com/2008/09/bring-dreams-and-nightmares-cmp-x/

Feeling creepy,

-Lisa

Inside America

Lisa Devaney — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:24:00 GMT

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Having just recently returned from travelling in America, I had the chance to quick peek into the minds of my own friends and family, who are anticipating a change in leadership come November 4^th. I heard people saying:

oOOo Obama Rocks – the majority of my circle support Barack Obama’s race for the White House and will be voting for him to win.

oOOo She Should Have Been Nominated – a few women I know believe firmly that Hillary Clinton received a bum rap in the primaries and was treated with a sexist attitude by the media. One may actually cast her vote for McCain, claiming she wants to show the choice of a female running mate support. She’s a fan of women and therefore will support Sarah Palin in the race.

oOOo Health, War & Money – The three most prevalent topics I heard people discuss were addressing the American health care system, ending the war and doing something about the threatened economy.

oOOo God’s Choice – I know some voters who make their decision based on their religious views. They will vote Republican and at the heart of their decision to support McCain is being anti-abortion and opposed to gay marriage.

My views don’t necessarily support what my friends and family are saying, and sometimes keeping off-topic in the company of those I don’t agree with was challenging around the dinner table. The election, no matter what side people support, is top-of-mind among the Americans I know. Maybe this will bring out record voting turnout on November 4^th.

Famous American Michael Moore has also been vocal about the election and what the current financial disaster news is all about behind the scenes. Here’s some of what he has to say:

“Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich,” he wrote in a recent email.

Moore’s also promoting his new movie that is available for free download prior to the November 4^th election. The film Slacker Uprising is an account of his 62-city tour where he got up close and personal with the revolutionary mood of youth who he thinks will uprise against Republican leadership in this election.

Here’s how you can get a copy of Slacker Uprising, being distributed by Brave New Films:

1) Blip.tv will provide standard resolution streaming, free of commercials and advertising.

2) Amazon Video on Demand will provide a high quality version of the above stream.

3) iTunes will make it easy for you to download "Slacker Uprising" on your iTunes, iPod, or Apple TV, and view it there or transmit it to your television. This way, the film can be portable as well as for home viewing.

4) Hypernia is providing bandwidth, servers and management to host "Slacker Uprising" online, so you can download the film and view it at any time or burn it onto a DVD.

If you have any questions or want to share your own views with Moore, email him at MMFlint@aol.com

Considering the pre-election mood in America,

-Lisa

Play It Again Steve Lamacq! Let’s Hear It For Mary Epworth and The Jubilee Band

Lisa Devaney — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:56:00 GMT

BBC Radio 2’s Steve Lamacq has taken a shine to new artist Mary Epworth , and her Jubilee Band, playing her single The Saddle Song on his Music This Week programme.

The artist and her fans are hoping that Steve will play the tune again – in the meantime, you can view the YouTube video of her new single here. and check out other tracks on her MySpace page.

I caught up for a Quick Peeks conversation with Mary Epworth, who is represented by the Hand of Glory record label, to find out more about her singing and songwriting ambitions.

oOOo Tell me about The Jubliee Band.

The Jubilee Band is the second generation of what originated as The Jubilee Band in 1887, when my Great-Great Grandfather Pumpata/Pompadour Chilvers was a featured artist. They were popular in the Middleton/Blakborough End area, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk. My Great-Great Grandfather was called Pompadour because he used to practice the songs while he was working, going “pom pom pom” to imitate the brass parts. I founded my Jubilee Band in the honour of him.

My band includes Will Twynham, Mark "Horse" Phillips, and Andy Zammit.

oOOo How long have you been singing?

I've been singing in bands for approximately 17 years, I can't count my non-inspiring school choir days really, boring as they were.

oOOo What are your earliest experiences with music that you can remember?

My brother and I used to listen to a couple of children's records when we were small. I particularly loved "I'm a Gnu" and "Mud Glorious Mud" by Flanders and Swann, "Morningtown ride" and "Puff The Magic Dragon". I also was really fascinated by "Oh My Darlin' Clementine".

The last two are interesting to me because I was always really haunted by the sadness of the stories. Now I'm fully grown I really love sad songs, so maybe that's innate.

Other than that, my Dad used to listen to CSNY, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, and Yes, which all seeped in somewhere for me to revisit later. Plus he used to play Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" on long journeys, to which I would have strange car nightmares. Love it now though, thanks Dad.

oOOo You are in a quirky new folk rock genre, what is it about this type of music that appeals to you?

Am I? Am I fully immersed by this thing? Or are there limbs sticking out?
I write what I write, and as soon as I think I am one type of music, my contrary nature conspires against me by making me write something totally unlike. I would say my music has roots in folk-rock, but doesn't quite fit snug in that box. You'll have to hear my album to see what I mean.

I do love folk music, I started off liking American folk, and then had an awakening of a kind, when I first heard Shirley Collins. That was around the time I found out about the old Jubilee band, so these things came together and I suddenly felt a connection to English music and Englishness that I never had previously. Shirley Collins is really wonderful.

oOOo You play the autoharp, an unusual instrument, can you tell me why you picked up this instrument?

An Autoharp is a type of Zither, not a harp at all, and is a distant cousin of the Dulcimer, Cymbalom etc.

I picked it up at first because I was resisting learning guitar, and wanted to find an alternative. That was when I was about 15. I then forgot about it until I got into Country music, and then realised it could be useful.

oOOo How did you learn how to play the autoharp?

I’m self taught, and have never seen anyone else do it in person, so I may be doing it all wrong. I am aware that I am not fully doing justice to all the possibilities of the lovely beast, but I am, as I said, contrary. I play it like a rhythm guitar, and frequently break strings. I also play Banjo like a rhythm guitar, and according to one guy, play guitar like a drummer.

oOOo What does new folk mean to you?

Hmm. I don't know. It makes me think of New Country, which is a bad thing. I would probably say Psych-folk is more what I'm keen on personally. That said, there are loads of fantastic new artists who fall loosely under the folk umbrella, so It's a good time for people like me who into that stuff.

oOOo Who are your top music influences?

I have worked with a fantastic woman called Ida Kelarova for a long time. She teaches a way of singing, (not a technique, but an approach) that is something like gospel. She showed me how it's possible to put real feeling into what you are singing, and that way you never sing things the same way twice and It can be a really beautiful experience.

She comes from a background of Roma (Gypsy) culture, and I've been really deeply influenced by Roma music, and my experiences performing that music as part of a choir. I don't perform those songs myself, but I always feel them running through me, like the lettering in a stick of rock.

oOOo What's your ambition?

Um, happiness and health for me, my family and loved ones, to earn a living doing what I love, and to meet Van *** Parks and shake his hand. That would do. Of course, raking in millions as a behind the scenes songwriter for teen popstars would also be nice.

Good luck to the quite contrary, psych-rocking Mary Epworth and her Jubilee Band,

-Lisa