Two incredibly inspiring street artists, Blu and David Ellis recently joined forces in a collision of largely improvised motion painting and public installation to create this piece (link below) on the streets of Italy:

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop)

They battled rain, mosquitoes and bored assistants over the gruelling week it took them to create it. It was created as part of the Fame Festival, Italy, and dubbed a materpiece by festival organisers.

An inspiration for thinking big and creating above and beyond contextual confines…

Beck’s Festival Bar w/ Music

Malian guitarist/singer/songwriter Vieux Farka Toure is the son of African music legend, the late Ali Farka Toure.  Drawing on Malian traditions and incorporating his father’s signature desert blues style, Vieux’s ear for the future also sees his music traversing reggae, funk, rock and RnB.

Playing no-frills blues rock, Sydney duo The Mess Hall are renowned for their raw, explosive live performances.

With a sound that is equal parts blues, soul and country, Dan Sultan’s songs showcase his knack for storytelling. DJ Russ Dewbury mixes up the heaviest Afro-soul sounds.

When: 8pm

Cost: $38

More Info: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Music/Vieux-Farka-Toure-The-Mess-Hall-Dan-Sultan/

Saturday 16 January

Circa 1979: Signal to Noise (A day of free talks)

From 1979 to 1985, parish halls, abandoned warehouses and run down apartments rumbled and screeched with new sounds during one of the most creative periods in Australia’s music history.  Avant garde, post-punk, new wave and early electronic styles of music cultivated a thriving underground scene, heard on Sydney-based labels M Squared and Volition. Circa 1979: Signal to Noise is a celebration of this unique and influential period.

(Excerpt from http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/)

Cost: FREE

Where: The Seymour Centre, Cnr City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale

More Info: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Talks/Circa-1979-Signal-to-Noise/

Sunday 17 January

Lynette Wallworth (Sensory Exhibition)

A little too real to be dream-like and a little too dream-like to be familiar, Wallworth’s environments are an exercise in unexpected concentration and unusual exploration, often involving wordless narratives that attempt to emotively fertilize a sense of intimacy and empathy between the moving image and the participants moving body. And although the Wallworth experience is usually no roller coaster ride, it may offer a moment of sensory gratification and some time for healthy reflection.

(Excerpt from http://concreteplayground.com.au/)

Where: CarriageWorks, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh

More Info: http://concreteplayground.com.au/event/483/lynette-wallworth.htm

Monday 18 January

Joanna Newsom @ Sydney Opera House (Concert)

“This extraordinary harpist has a glorious, untamed voice and a sheaf of tricky song-poems…conjuring one startlingly vivid image after another.” – The New York Times

After beguiling audiences with her performance with the Sydney Symphony last year , California-based harp virtuoso Joanna Newsom makes a much anticipated return to Sydney Opera House for one Sydney show only.

Cost: $49-75

Where: Sydney Opera House

More Info: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/joanna_newsom_2010.aspx

Tuesday 19 January

Tot Mom

Steven Soderbergh has created Tot Mom – a compelling look into how a crime can come to grip an entire nation through intense media and public attention. Tot Mom seeks to hold up a mirror to our society, raising ethical questions about the way in which such a case is dealt with in the public domain.

(Excerpt from http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/)

Cost: FREE

Where: The Seymour Centre, Cnr City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale

More Info: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Talks/Circa-1979-Signal-to-Noise/

Wednesday 20 January

Where the Wild Things Are @ Moonlight Cinema
as recommended by our very own Siouxzi Mernagh

The highly anticipated adaptation by director Spike Jonze (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION) of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s story. When Max, a young boy acting out, is sent to bed without his supper, he creates his own world – a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler.

(Excerpt from www.moonlight.com.au)

Where: Belvedere Amphitheatre, Centennial Park

More Info: http://www.moonlight.com.au/main.php?location=Sydney

Thursday 21 January

Dark Matters (Dance)

Dark Matters is a haunting portrait of the unknown, a performance that pulls itself apart in an attempt to discover what it’s made of.

When: 8pm

Where: Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay

Cost: $55-$70

More Info: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Dance/Dark-Matters/

Ongoing Exhibition

Seen and Heard (Film Festival)

A free film festival that battles the celluloid ceiling, celebrating the diverse and extraordinary work of women filmmakers and their not-to-be-underestimated diverse and extraordinary audiences. Seen and Heard in 2010, its second year, will follow on from a showcase of questions on class, race, ability/disability, gender and sexuality.

(Excerpt from http://seenandheardfilms.com/)

When: 14 – 17 January

Where: Red Rattler, 6 Faversham St, Marrickville

More Info: http://seenandheardfilms.com/

A testament to how effective this interactive piece is from Intel is whether you feel like touching your computer screen when you’re watching it…

http://www.contagiousmagazine.com/2010/01/intel_1.php

Direct You Tube link:

Intel InfoScape Double HD Touchscreen Internet Experience

a message from ‘dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity’ 

http://dorkbot.org

I want to invite you all to an exciting event taking place at the Powerhouse Museum at the end of this month. Over the weekend of Jan 29-31 forty game designers, developers and artists will volunteer to be locked away in the basement of the PHM and not allowed out until they have made a game! 

That’s right: its Game Jam Sydney, part of the Global Game Jam that is
taking place simultaneously in over 100 locations around the world. It’s 48 hours of intensive game development with an aim to produce innovative and exciting new games. It’s also part of the Powerhouse’s “80’s Gamer Weekend”so there will also be talks and presentations by some veterans of the Australian game industry, and some up-and-coming indy designers.

To find out more, visit http://www.gamejamsydney.com/

Spread the word!

 

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: We will need some tech-savvy people to volunteer as network administration for the event. Do you have familiarity with running a LAN of 40-50 computers? We’d like to hear from you. Even if you can’t make the whole 48 hours, having you to help with setting/packing up or being on call for some of the time would be really valuable.

Contact: dorkbotsyd-blabber@dorkbot.org

That was 2009, sunshine.

But it kinda went by so quickly I missed most of it…

Too late, anyway we’re steaming on with 2010, Krubrick style.

C’mon just a recap?

Nup… listen every man and his social media NOOB has done a yearly wrap up and most have already pumped out a 2010 trends/predictions/tea leaf futurism piece…

Please?

Psssssffffff… OK just a quick one then let’s you’ll have to let go, it’s over.

First.

Banner Ads.
Banner ads are still alive! Yes of course they are and here’s a great article about the constraints they’re breaking out of… Beyond the banner And probably the most simple banner and “yet” most engaging banner ads of the year this little cracker for Pringles…

Right here, right now and in 3D.
Location based services and Augmented Reality… how many times did we hear those buzz words last year (and the year before that)? Well we did because they’re starting to make (or have well made) the leap from gimmick town to useful utility city… and we’re holding it in our hands Layar (now 3.0) probably being the leader on this front and the platform seems to be expanding… (see also: wikitude & twitter-360). Need to find a Stellar quickly… you might need this…

Then there was the foursquare too much info weirdness, which will make more sense when you’ll start getting free beers…

Plenty of brands had a dabble in the webcam augmented reality space with very few producing anything of real value… there were some exceptions such as… this

The Cloud brought to you the Googles.Realtime Search, Chrome, the Wave… next up the the android explosion and the OS. When do we wave the white flag? Maybe when their interfaces get a little prettier. Seriously the Cloud is a great thing and products/services such as Google Wave (although slightly over-hyped and a little lonely at first) are/will get us working as collaboratively as a finely tuned beehive… it’s like all my wildest hopes for yammer coming true… remember yammer? er… no…

Memes
These things power the internet… last year we had Kayne and “I’mma let you finnish” but the winner had to be… Keyboard Cat. What will the memerverse throw up this year?

Semi-Translucent Aggregation
Everything from anywhere, anytime for anyone overload. First we had skittles.com which was basically an overlay interface (where have we seen that before) on top of various social sites, so if your tweet contained “skittles” it would basically end up on the skittles home page. Which is great when people are saying nice things… to their credit Skittles let go of the fear and the site is still up. The never media shy Crispin Porter + Bogusky took the concept a little further and turned their own agency site into an aggregation portal. So if you were talking about the agency it would end up on their homepage etc… the neat thing they did though was to have a filter where you could select individual clients and then get a live social media snapshot of the buzz around that brand (buzz that they’re generating apparently).

A couple of weeks before they launched theirs tho’ we squeezed our own aggregation baby out of the coding test tube… and introduced Whitegoods

Here you can follow the twitter, delicious, flickr and blog feeds from le white agency… sweet.

Decks of the year (or presos that were worth while sitting through).

Or Aaron Koblin’s amazement.

The best by far… by a long shot… by a country mile was this WHY I LOVE THE INTERNET… there’s no pictures tho’

Campaigns N’ Stuff

This was a great simple one Shocking Barack (electric motorbikes) I wrote some words about it here.

Nikes Chalkbot got talked about (almost rhymes).

+ (nice pun) Although it was done a little while ago Adweehnamed this as “Digital Campaign of the Decade”

Now does that look like an ad to you?

Mos Def released an album as a Tshirt

RA DIOHEA_D and google made a film clip with LAZERS!

Something Something Twitter.

The White Stuff

I wore a the same t-shirts a lot.

So did some other people.

@kukestar produced a stellar performance for our Christmas Card…

Our peeps in Melbourne moved into a new Crib.

We cut a tralier… a first!

We made a showreel! woot!

B&T rated our site numero uno of digital agency sites… not bad if that the sort of business your in

We got all data vizzy for our super swell friends at The Commonwealth Bank (+ commbank.com.au won yet another round of awards)

We went hybrid in the pursuit of perfection for Team Lexus (+ we gave their site a super tune up)

We gave parents a helping hand when it comes to talking to their kids about drinking.

We helped people to “choose pink” for a good cause

And did we mention Whitegoods?

So kinda there it is…

Done.

This year tho’ is going to be another whole level of awesome… grrrr.

Moby (Concert) – Tickets still on sale!

Renowned for his explosive live performances, Moby leaves audiences begging for more time after time. Musical virtuosity combined with an impressive and extensive back catalogue result in only one thing: unforgettable performances.

(Excerpt from sydneyoperahouse.com)

Where: Sydney Opera House

When: 8pm

Cost: $99.35

More Info: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/moby_2010.aspx

Tuesday 5 January

Emiliana Torrini (Concert)

Renowned for her soothing, ethereal vocals, as evidenced via her performance of “Gollum’s Song” on the Lord of The Ring’s soundtrack, & sublime, intimate songwriting (she co-wrote the Kylie Minogue hit “Slow”), Iceland’s Emiliana Torrini has made a very strong connection with Australian audiences

“Sweet, charming, effervescent, funny and delightfully honest; these are just some of the qualities that make Emiliana Torrini a natural entertainer.” – Faster Louder

(Excerpt from enmoretheatre.com.au)

Where: Enmore Theatre

When: 7.30pm

Cost: $58.50

More Info: http://www.enmoretheatre.com.au/events/2010/01/05/emiliana-torrini

Wednesday 6 January

One Potato Two Potato 1964 (Film Screening)

Examines interracial marriage in the 1960s and the prejudices of the era.

Where: Annandale Hotel, 17 Parramatta Rd, Annandale, NSW

When: 7.30pm for an 8pm start

Cost: $10

More Info: http://www.mumeson.org/content/view/140/171/

Thursday 7 January

Peter Helliar’s Dreamboat Tour

Have a night of laughs with one of Australia’s best loved comedians.

Where: Sydney Opera House

When: 7pm

Cost: $37.50

More Info: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=PETERHEL10&searchId=a2ef2c91-910b-4460-b092-f2cc45d92ec4

Credits: Everybody @ White + Andrew M for the name

While investigating dull coding standards, guidelines and best practices on building mobile websites, I came across a great article titled “Effective design for mobile screen sizes”.

There are many guides and “expert tips” out there, however this one is particularly useful as it uses the new BBC Mobile site as a case study, whilst providing facts/stats on mobile screen sizes that exist in today’s market. A must read for designers/developers and those interested in understanding the methodologies put in place when designing a website for a mobile phone.

Read more here

A top post from Mr Iain Tate (9 reasons japanese interactive work is awesome) who after Judging the One Show Interactive Awards recently became a little bit of a Digital Nipponophile (that sounds much ruder than it really is). I don’t agree with everything in this post, but its good to take a step back and look at digital on this scale sometimes. I rate the politeness and craft as the two most distinguishing features – they just don’t throw stuff in your face as much, and they always seems to have incredible polish on their stuff.

Speaking of things from the land of the rising sun, these guys are one my top 5 digital agencies in the world… informationarchitects (iA) The digital trends maps they out are amazing, next one due out soon, but latest one here.

(From Adnews March 13th 2009)

How is 2009 shaping up for digital agencies?

Bring it on!

More and more companies are now realising the power of digital as a key business driver. In this environment, can companies afford to choose a generalist over an expert?

Our promise to clients – Better, Faster, Cheaper, Flexible – has never been more on the money than right now.

What’s more, our ability to deliver against these pillars is in stark contrast to some of our larger integrated agency competitors.

We have seen from the fully integrated agencies’ claim after claim, restructure after restructure and senior hire after senior hire, that, if you scratch the surface, they are the same old mainstream agency with digital tacked on…..animating print ads, TVCs online.

Unless every ounce of your agency’s DNA is digital, you are behind the curve and subsequently your clients are chasing not leading.

Technology is no longer just that guy in the corner playing Dungeons and Dragons, it is the gateway between business, marketing, customers and prospects. Your agency must live and breathe technology, developing the best solutions, aware of all innovations and, equally, the limitations. This is the pedigree of digital agencies, minimising risk, saving time and money, creating innovative solutions and improving speed to market.

Digital creates rivers of data, and you can sink or swim in this data. It comes in real time, wave after wave of information. Digital agencies are accustomed to this immediacy of information, turning on the taps, filtering and optimising the work. Data sits across all departments. It is no longer about post analysis – it provides insight, it informs and it enlightens.

Interaction is so much more than just a click or a person voting on their favourite viral piece. Interaction is a way of thinking beyond the traditional; broadcast/reaction, cause/effect – it is about capture and engagement. Digital agencies grab the interaction possibilities; taking a great idea and making it live and breathe online.

As digital finally lives up to the promises extolled for years, clients should expect more than just window dressing. 2009 could well prove the year that truly steels the future of digital agencies, the year that sets the direction for years to come.

As I said at the outset, 2009 bring it on!!

For more information contact:
Craig Galvin – Executive Director, Partner, the white agency

The Times on line have recently reported that based on visitor numbers, Sydney is the 11th most popular city on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/glossary:

1. TWEETUP – a physical gathering of tweeters
2. TWEEPLE – Twitter people, users, etc.
3. DWEET – a drunken tweet
4. OH – short for “overheard”, aka “hearsay”. Used at beginning of a tweet, followed by a colon, then what was overheard.
5. RETWEET – the Twitter equivalent of “forwarding”, abbreviated “RT”
6. TWIT – the act of sending a tweet, as in “twit this”
7. @REPLY – a public message that is directed to someone in particular, usually in reply to one of their tweets
8. DIRECT MESSAGE – a private message sent to someone’s “inbox” on Twitter
9. FOLLOW – to subscribe to someone’s stream of tweets
10. TWEET – a short 140 character message sent on http://twitter.com
11. TWITTER – an awesome microblogging site found at http://Twitter.com that allows short messages called “tweets” using 140 char each

Hungry? How hungry? Would you sacrifice 10 of your Facebook friends for a Whopper?
If this neat little campaign was running here in Australia I would have a smaller number of friends…
without hesitation. Most likely the work of those damn CP+B’ers.

Yep, we got one last night @award for the Sprite Truth Hunters Campaign. Nice work team. Head hurtz now.

That would be Australia.com… for Tourism Australia. As in the site people all around the world go to when thinking about popping down under for a little poke around or that massive transforming voyage of self discovery to experience the vast majestic beauty that is Terra Australis, New Holland… Oz

Or you may have come across it searching for some little movie that may have just come out starring that little red headed girl from BMX bandits and that Wolverine dude. Anyway…

Continuing our theme of undertaking some of the biggest site launches in the country this year (trumpet blown) we have another high profile project that should leave everyone involved with it, walking a little taller this week. And if that wasn’t enough how about throwing in the design and build of Tourism Australia’s media site as well. Are these people robots?

No they’re not, just a swell bunch of talented, hard working clever people.

Hat Tip to: Fiona, Heath, Daniel, Duncan Pete V, Cearns, Mr David Carson esq and Mike Barry*

The photo below sums up the whole “vibe” of the project.

* I’m sure more peeps were on this… tell me…

A little while ago we completed a small project called “CBA Webolution Phase 1″which meant we did a quick refresh of the personal banking section of a new up and coming bank who you may of heard of before, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, anyone? No? Didn’t think so. Anyway they seemed to like the pixel polishing we did for them so they asked us to work on another project called “CBA Webolution Phase 2″ No problems, easy, should knock that one off on a Monday morning before lunchtime. Right?

(Puts joke aside)

Seriously now. Wow. 12 months later and several lifetimes of work have been lovingly poured into the redevelopment of CBA’s Business and Corporate banking sections. And it shows. Top, top work from all those in the agency who touched this project with extra hat tips to Matt, Kathleen, Ellie, Mike, Fabulous, Luke, Jamie, Penn… and (thank god for blogs as I will have to update this list several times). I hope everyone involved feels all warm and tingly, because it really is a massive achievement. Well done guys!

The iTunes App store where you can download/buy new apps for your iPhone has turned into a boonaza for small time developers who armed with good idea now have platform that can propel them in supedevstardom . And along with the fame comes the money, small time success stories are talking about profits of $250, 000 in two months. The full story from Wired.

A great post from Presentation Zen on what we can learn about “slide design” in business presentations from the world around us, or more specifically “Learning slide design from an Ikea billboard“. Great tips for the non-designery crowd.

Awarded Best Film at Cutting Edge at the British Animation Awards 2008.
Awarded Best Experimental Film at Tirana International Film Festival 2007

Yep you sure can. Now this has been slowly introduced rather than a grand A-lister mega launch, but along with our brand shiny new office, we have a hot new visual ID. Years of development and a cast of thousands have been involved with this project and now it’s starting to appear everywhere and in every format. Even a new roll of stickers can cause normally sedate people to start woo-hooing.

The old and the new.

What if the digital agency developed a new wonderfully intuitive site for the brand and all the other channels were used to promote it. Not just slapping the URL at the end of the TVC, but putting the site at the centre of the message (and still being about the brand to boot). The great thing is that the site does really deserve it. It’s tops.