5inch

Check this site out... 5inch pre-print really cool logos onto CD-Rs thus taking the iMix-on-CD as present idea to the next level. I need to understand postage to the 'Well but am eager to check them out. I especially love the Christmas tree...

Progreso Coffeehouses

I give to Oxfam - think the work they do is fab. Oxfam has created a chain of Fair Trade coffeehouses called Progreso which look great - there isn't one near me to try out. When I get my coffeehouse, all coffee will be Fair Trade... end of! I don't agree with having to pay extra for Fair Trade - its not a luxury, it is a necessity!

Check it out...

Circle of Love

I have a circle of love that surrounds me...and I am part of the circle of love that surrounds you. I ask my circle of love to extend their concern to my Uncle Robert. He needs your love/prayers/positive thoughts for it would appear that he has had a stroke... Don't know much more about his condition...and hope to visit him tonight.

He needs your prayers...and I need your help!

Back from London

Busy day in London... Will blog my very brief visit over the next few days...

Star Wars AND iPod

A mix of two of my fav cultural icons... Thanks to the artists who made these (sorry I can't reference them direct - picked them up on Google Images)
Is it just me or can you imagine Yoda rockin' an iPod???

Rhodia Writing Pads...

When the Soos said I was obsessive he was so right. Needed a note book for my trip to London - something small that would fit in my pocket... Picked up a Rhodia A7 pad for £0.75 in Paperchase and love it... I know I am sad and desparately need professional help as Dr Fraiser Crane would advise but Rhodia's attention to detail is so cool - they have scored the cover so that it easily and naturally folds over to the back. I also like the checked scientific paper...and have a soft spot (my head, I know) for the orange cover...

Check out their history here: Link

Wagamama

I might not get to go shopping but there is a WAGAMAMA near my hotel... Late night noodles... Can't wait.

Going to London...

I'm flying down to London tonight for big conference with the Programme Director... My colleague and I are pulling together a presentation for the end of year shindig... First time in London on business... Used to flying to Leeds or Belfast, but never been down to London. Should be fun, although the timing of the flights will hobble any plans of checking out the sights: Stussy Store / Howies / Big Chill Bar (for a soft drink) etc.

The Smart Wrap

I hate cables that are too long... Normally I use one of the we'ans' hair bobbles to wrap the cord up... but the Smart Wrap takes this to the next level... Genius! Not sure if they are in the UK, yet...

The Story of God

Check out this article on the BBC News website by my fav scientist and man with moustache Robert Winston. He has an interesting perspective on Faith and Science:

Religion has endured since the dawn of human consciousness precisely because it encompasses so much of being human. No idea has endured so long, gathered up so many disparate needs and wants and feelings, and inspired so many different paths towards understanding it.

His show "The Story of God" is broadcast on BBC One TODAY at 1900hrs (not 2100hrs as originally posted) - check it out...

Another Christmas List - Jamie O's Gift Guide

First Christmas list I have read recently that didn't have an iPod in it... Jamie Oliver's Christmas List...its pretty cool.

Thought for Today

Taken from Mark 8:37 (Message Translation)...

What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade for your soul?

I've spent a bit of time over the last few days focussing on things: cool shoes / gift guides / discussing the concept of cappie etc. This verse in Mark's Gospel brings it all into perspective... the pursuit and acquisition of things/stuff/shoes is all good but it can't take over you... you can't become the slave to things...

I need to let my stuff complement my life and make it better, and not obsess over it. It needs to be about the soul... feeding the soul... let's live as free people, not like the zombies on the high street we see chasing after their next purchase...junkies after their next fix... We need to breathe fresh air... listen to the birds sing... read a book... create/make... live! Surround ourselves with our loved ones and love!

Christmas is not about stuff... although the Coca Cola sponsored Santa would have you think otherwise... Its not about giving... Its about relationships and celebrating the folk that we can't live without in our lives... Jesus was born so we could have a relationship with God... we give to say thank you for being in our lives.

Altoids iPod Shuffle case

Check this out: A really cool mod for an iPod shuffle made from an Altoids tin by hundrednorth... Sweet! Just got to hope Santa brings a shuffle...

Some cool Audio Technica goodies

How cool are these headphones??? I love camo when done right... and these Audio Technica ATH-PRO700MS Monitor Headphones are right...and all the way from Japan. Check out the headphones here: link

Their speakers are really cool too... and a good spec. Check the speakers here: link

Check out Audiocubes dot com for more goodies...

Some cool Ts

Some cool Tshirts from Karmaloop.com - Top two are by "Goodie Two Sleeves" and the one to the right, with the Metallers on, is by "No Star".

Sweet.

iBelieve...

Been aware of this for a while and think its pretty cool... The iBelieve cap is a cap for your iPod Shuffle that makes it into a white Cross... Its a commentary on the newest Religion on the block - the Cult of Apple... It would also get folk talking... I like it in a cheesy way.

iLounge have a review: Link

Cool software for your MAC

If you ROCK a MAC, check out DV Guru (link in title) for some A/V great software... some of which is FREE!!! VLC, for an example, is a must have.

MAKE's Mostly Under $100 Gift Guide 2005

Another one of the blogs on my reading list - MAKE - has a gift guide. Their suggestion of buying an old 3rd gen iPod of $30 to make a voice recorded is a great suggestion... Hmm???

Tate Britain's Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree... Christian or Pagan??? Who cares...they are cool and this one is beautiful! Only 23 days to go.

Thought for Today...

This thought flies in the face of modern economics... about supply and demand etc... and I like that. What can we build?





Also, check out a cool article on bread on the Howies website

More cool shoes...

(Top) Gravis x Maharishi - Lovely "Bonsai camo" with a vibrant orange sole. The Soos has a pair and they are sweet in real life. Rare.



(Bottom) One True Saxon - The uppers are shoes whereas the soles are trainers (remind me of Nike AF1s). Sweet shoes for 9-to-5in' for the man.




Taken from one40fivestore dot com

Some cool trainers...

(Top) Nike Air Woven

(Second top) Nike Air Trainer Premium

(Third) Nike Air Max USA

(Bottom) Nike Air Trainer Shima Shima 3

Check out Napsize.com for other cool shoes...

CAPPIE

Did a google search and then another... and then some more... on the acronym CAPPIE and found 2 things:

Firstly, CAPPIE means, from the original Face definition "Consumer of Alternative Pricey Products" and

Secondly, I found a synopsis of an article called "Ya Bl**dy Cappie!". I quote:

Sean Aylward Smith identifies an emerging aesthetic practice and asks "what is to be done?" He argues that 'the cappie' -- as in 'the consumer of alternative pricey products' --, a creature obsessed with the conspicuous display of an eclectic and obscure register of signifiers, is the aesthetic manifestation -- that is, the subjective embodiment -- of changes in global process of capitalism and production.

Its taken from this article from Media Culture and sheds a wee bit more light on the term, first used by The Face magazine, along with a brilliant discourse on the topic.

Had a read through Sean Aylward Smith's essay and there are a lot of big words in there... but, hopefully, I caught the gist of his argument:

Basically, the Face's argument was that the CAPPIE was just as much a consumer as the YUPPIE... it's just that they bought obscure things like rare trainers and Japanese denim. Their argument was that they both had economic capital and spent it... just on different things. Sean Aylward Smith's argument was that there is a fundamental difference between the CAPPIE and the YUPPIE - The CAPPIE has CULTURAL capital... in that its about knowledge, not necessarily about spending a fortune... its knowing what has value and the information/time to search it out, throughout the world... its about knowing what is "bleeding edge" or obscure or rare... not what is trendy and designer and expensive... Yuppies enjoy the status that comes from others knowing what labels they have, be it Porsche or Armani or Prada; whereas cappies benefit from people not knowing the importance of the labels. Just as cost was the factor that determined whether you were a yuppie or a wannabe... knowledge is the determining factor for cappies - you don't want everyone to recognise the label or it loses its cache... only the select few in the "gang".

Price is not an essential factor for a cappie, as the Face suggested... the cost of an item is irrelevant, if it is the right item. I have Nike Air Woven trainers that I bought in TK Maxx for £20. Typical cappie product but not expensive.

Therefore, CAPPIE should/has been shortened to Consumer of Alternative Products...

Gratuitous Alien Picture

Forgiveness...

"I've got to forgive them, my family and I still stand by what we believe - forgiveness."

These are the words of Mrs Gee Walker, mother of Antony Walker who was murdered in a racist attack.

Mrs Walker, who saw the axe sticking out of her son's head as he lay dying, said: "At the point of death Jesus said...

I forgive them for they know not what they do

So I have to forgive them."

"I brought up my children to love," she added. "Hatred is a life sentence. It eats you up inside. We don't want people to serve a life sentence with those people."

Now that is powerful! May God be with you, Mrs Walker, always...and with your family. You are an inspiration.

(My dad has left a fitting comment under my name... Thanks Dad)

Thought for Today...

Is this kid walking in safety or are we walking away from the issues?

Taken from the World AIDS Campaign webiste: Link

World AIDS day...

Take time out today to pray for all the people who have AIDS & HIV, who are at immediate risk, and especially all the folk involved in finding a cure. Wear a red ribbon, make a promise and get aware.

Yusef Azad, of the National Aids Trust said, in an article on the BBC News Website, that many people were dying unnecessarily.

Fewer than a fifth of those at risk of HIV have access even to the most basic prevention services; only one in ten of those living with HIV have been tested and know they are infected and only 15% of those who need life-saving HIV drugs in low and middle-income countries actually receive them.

Do something about it.

10 tips for Freelancers...

Check this post out - Cameron Moll, a graphic/web designer, has posted the top 10 things he has learned in 180 days of freelancing. Useful info for folk like me who are consider alternatives to their present employment.

Thanks to Lifehacker for the heads up...

CITY Magazine

CITY is a fab style mag for NYC fashionistas... with some cool added value such as regular video Podcast and sweet mixes that can be bought from iTunes. Check out the "must haves" section too... way out my league but still cool in a CAPPIT kind of way.

iPod Cases

I have a wonderfully metrosexual iPod case from Paperchase. It is like the original cases that came with the iPods (up to 4th gen) with the elasticated sides. It is, however, not black. It has loads of vertical lines with every colour imaginable - I always thought it resembled John Snow's ties or Thomas Pink's shirts and ties.

I paid a fiver for it. One of my colleagues has accused me of having too much money while looking at my iPod case (not my iPod). It turns out she thought it was a Paul Smith iPod case. The print is similar to the Paul Smith pattern (see above) but it isn't Paul Smith. It is true that appearances can be deceptive.

My mate, the Soos, has a cool LV cover for his 60gb iPod Photo (like the one above)... other friends have various silicon or leather cases.

Check out CITY mag for other case options: link

Big Pants

American Apparel are pushing their "hot shorts" on the Cool Hunting site. Reminds me of a pair of "gay" pants/trunks I got in Primark that claimed to be large but should have said "smaller than small" - Olly claimed them and rocks them to this day. Moral of the story...

sometimes it is good to experiment and sometimes you are better off sticking to your Calvin's from TK Maxx

Firefox 1.5 has been released

Firefox has been upgraded to 1.5 and has got better: faster with better tabs and improved pop-ups. Check it out.

Cool Hunting's Holiday 2005 Gift Guide

Cool Hunting is a fav blog of mine. It's approach to fashion and things is spot on. Their gift guide is the kind of alternative luxury that I love to explore. I love the Nano with the custom paint job (see above)... or the skull business card holder. Nice. Bit expensive tho' but hey that's the kind of alternative inspirational luxury that CAPPies love.

Wow... Haven't used that phrase in a while... CAPPie -

Consumer of Alternative Priced Products.

It was a term used in the Face (RIP Great mag) to define a social group who dressed in obscure labels (usually Japanese), wore box-fresh exclusive trainers, listened to underground tunes, had the latest tech (at the time of definition it was Sony Minidisc and Audio Technica headphones or the Palm Vx) and went on holidays to exotic destinations for sight-seeing or snowboarding.

I really related to the term... but could never afford the Priced bit. I am more of a CAPPIT -

Consumer of Alternative Products Purchased In TK Maxx

Anyway, check out Cool Hunting's gift guide...

Holiday Humour

Saw this cool post on TUAW about "Holiday" t-shirts that Apple Store staff are wearing. My favourite:

"Sure, the thought counts. It's just hard to wrap"

Check out the list: link

Snapple...

RS McColls sells SNAPPLE!!! Just had a "Rockin' Raspberry Cranberry" and it was FAB!!!

I have a real Jones for Snapple... I could safely say I love it more than grande Gingerbread skinny Lattes from Starbucks. Snapple holds great memmories for me and is part of my history.

Snapple reminds me of my Uni days at Napier in Sighthill: My friends and I would head out to Bar Kohl for a night of fun and frolics... They used to sell like one trillion flavours of vodka, various obscure beers like Mickey Big Mouth Beer, Jolt cola (caffinated cola) and all the flavours of SNAPPLE. It would be a great laugh and I respected my friends who would enjoy weird flavours of vodka but yet not hassle me for having weird flavours of snapple. They no longer stock snapple in Bar Kohl...which is a shame! but it also leaves the market open for another snapple bar!?!

Olly has given me bottles as wee stocking fillers and I also remember finding some in Italy when we were on our honeymoon... As I said, great memories!

The inside of the cap had an interesting fact - seemingly women blink twice as often as men...

Thought for Today

Taken from Howies website. Click on the image to read the words in the top left corner - they are so for Olly and I just now...

Check out Howies clothes - they are fresh and cool... but what's cooler is the thought they put into them. Check out their site - www.howies.co.uk - its pretty inspirational.

The Lego Nativity

Love this... Spotted the book in Urban Outfitters in Glasgow and then saw it on the Rock and Roll Advertising blog.

The "Holiday Season" as the Walmart group would want us to call Christmas is a busy time and there are too many Santas and not much in the way of fresh ideas for the Nativity. I think this is great - big fan of lego and kudos to Rev. Brendan Powell Smith for this.

His site - The Brick Testament is SO cool. Rev. Brendan has depicted the Bible using Lego. How cool is that??? Check it out. Check his blog out too www.thereverand.com where he is quick to point out...

Most ministers, priests, or other religious clerics would not actually use "The Reverend" before their own names, for to do so would be presumptuous and rather vain. The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith is not an ordained member of any earthly church, and is widely regarded as being both highly presumptuous and extremely vain.

Ha Ha Ha...

Warning: Just as the Bible contains sex and violence... there are some scenes illustrated in the Brick Testament that some people might not appreciate, especially in the OT!

Nik & Emma Pears

One of the many highlights of the DFL retreat was to meet Nik & Emma Pears. We have had their worship CD for a wee while now - Olly and I saw them lead worship at last year's Youth Councils. Their music is first class and is amazing to be part of when they are leading worship. Its genuine. Its real for them and that is fantastic.

Anyway, Olly and I got a chance to sit down and talk to Nik and Emma... What a wonderful couple - really on fire and in love with each other, with God and with life. We talked music, got the iPods out and shared songs (listening to - not physically fileswapping... honest!). I really want them to succeed in what they do. Emma is a full time songwriter and I hope to hear a song she's penned on Chris Moyles (only time I listen to pop music) sometime soon. We talked podcasts and viral marketing... Olly talked about backing tracks. It was great.

Check out their album: "people of faith" - its a first class worship CD and ahead of the rest of the pack...and, in my opinion, kicks Graham Kendrick's butt.

Pixelmix

This is the website of the chap who did the Kog Cafe website. I think Kog's website is fab and an example of great web design. It is also a very small world... Daniel Chadney, the chap behind pixelmix, is also the lead singer of Five Year Glitch... weird how things all fit together. Anyway, check his work out - its the kind of stuff I'd love to do...

Five Year Glitch

Check these guys out... The bass player is a friend and work colleague. I'm not as big a punk fan as I used to be... I mean punk for me is Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys or Bad Brains... and, to be fair, I used to think "emo" was a character on Sesame Street... but I dig Five Year Glitch. They have a raw sound that is fresh. Check them out.

Design For Life retreat...

Olly and I have been away on a retreat weekend run by the Salvation Army called "Design for Life". The premise of this weekend is to understand what you are call to do with your life.

We spent the weekend in prayer, meditation and worship. We also spent time with our close friends Kenny & Sarah, Chris & Lorraine, and Olly's cousin Bobbie. It was a fantastic time to recharge the batteries and take time to think about what I am passionate about, what my skills and values are, and how they all fit together.

We stayed at Gartmore House near Aberfoyle in Stirlingshire. Beautiful, old house in picturesque grounds with loads of space and great food. Some of the rooms desparately needed some TLC and maintenance... but the staff were great and we eventually got a good room.

We focussed on our lives... drawing a "lifemap" to map out the key events in our lives. For me things like Uni or my jobs were important but more important were the people I have in my life such as Olly, the Soos, Roberto, K&S, Janey and Jon... I am blessed and am a better person for them.

Once we drew lifemaps, we focussed on our passions... what really makes us tick. Mine is music and technology, coffee and people, and a real desire to build lasting relationships with people and with God.

This then brought us to our calling. I believe I am called to facilitate / create space for people to develop relationships together and with God. I have a real desire to use my interests - iPod/music/coffeehouses/visuals/podcasts/t-shirts - to aid this goal. I would love to develop a contemporary coffeehouse that becomes a space within the community where you can hang out, express yourself, learn things, listen to great music - bands & DJs. I want a coffeehouse to become church as in the true sense of what church should be - the centre of the community, a place where people can share their ups and downs, a place where people are together, a place where counselling could be sought... A place where a bookclub could sit and discuss their ideas while a DJ plays abstract electronic music and baristas make fab soy lattes for customers.

Anyway, I see my role in this as a facilitator... a "make it happen" guy and I am excited. I don't know when it will happen but I know it will.

I also see my role as a facilitator for Olly's vision - she wants/needs to lead worship - and I want to be there for her controlling the sound and visuals.

I now need to seek a job where these ideas can become projects I can focus on.

Both Olly and I are grateful for the support we have received from our loved ones... Thanks for the calls and emails. Especially grateful for the texts from the Soos and from Big "D" - cheers, guys!

Thought for Today

Taken from the fab blog "Rock and Roll Advertising"

Another "iPod as jukebox" article

Cool article on Wired about folk using the iPod as a jukebox in bars or for "MP3J" nights.

The Kog Cafe

Got a flyer for the Kog Cafe yesterday from a work colleague. They are hosting weekly film nights on a Thursday at 1930hrs with films such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings & Back to the Future. They are also showing festive films like Elf, Its a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th St.

I need to check them out but I love their approach. I have always wanted to do something like this and am glad to see I am not alone. Their approach is relevant and contemporary.

Church is at the coffee house...not the coffee house at the church.

Will report back...