Ridiculuous...but great TV

Every year the great and the good of the American basketball scene collect together over All Star Weekend

It's a full on show-boating extravaganza. Don't expect anything particularly tactical, Do expect SHOWTIME. Ridiculous stats are posted; Kobe Bryant scored 37 points to help the West defeat the East 148-143. Defence isn't what this game is about.

But perhaps the best reflection of what the weekend is all about is the legendary Dunk contest, as immortalized by latter day heroes Dominque Wilkins and Micheal Jordan. This year it was won by Blake Griffin. For one dunk he grabbed the rim with his elbow after have slammed the ball home and for his final play he caught the ball in mid air as it was thrown out of the sun roof of a medium sized family car. I should perhaps mention that this involved jumping over the aforementioned automobile, whilst a choir sang 'I believe I can fly'.

Absolutely ridiculous but completely entertaining and that's what All star weekend is all about. Roll on the regular season.

For the record I preferred this dunk by Serge Ibaka where he 'rescued' a teddy bear from the rim with his teeth before slamming the ball through the rim.



Incredible - as a perpetually grounded small forward who even in his younger years had problems leaving the ground the air modern day players create is astounding. Which is why I now hang around the three point line and drop in bombs from downtown.

A lot of truth here

There is an evolving list of thoughts on Bruce Mau Design's website. It's essentially a collection of insights into the studio's culture, its thinking and its beliefs. Here are some that stand out for me:

• Keep moving - The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
• Don’t enter awards competitions - Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
• Think with your mind - Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
• Laugh - People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

Nice site incidentally - using cargo to excellent effect.

Stats don't lie*

Everyone makes mistakes and over the course of a season refereeing decisions will even themselves, but…

• In the four Arsenal matches Phil Dowd has refereed this season, the Gunners have conceded four penalties and had two players dismissed. An average of one penalty a game and half a dismissal.
• In the other 17 top-flight games Dowd has taken charge of this term, three penalties have been awarded and five players dismissed. An average of one penalty every five and a half games, and one dismissal every three and half games.

* Alternative title = The Referee's a wanker

Everyone's an expert these days

Don't know where this came from (found it in an old desktop folder) so 'props out' to the creator. Sorry I can't link to the source.

Makes me laugh, I'm starting to playing creative-critic bingo...nearly got a full house!

YouTube not what it used to be

Pride, passion, and inspiration rolled up and smothered by a Nickelback melody.
Nice.

(Found on Cesc’s twitter - good enough for him, good enough for me, etc, etc)

Name that Film

An exercise in graphic simplicity and ingenuity. Less is very definetly more in this short motiongraphics piece where 35 movies have been symbolised in iconic form.

Reminscent of the excellent Nooma Baar who recently completed a lovely set of images for IBM.

David Stern speaks sense

David Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, the premier basketball league in the world. Whilst playing in the NBA individual superstar players such as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James have become international marketing icons and helped expand the leagues presence globally – the NBA is now televised in 212 nations in 42 languages.

Speaking before the London pre-season game betweeen the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz he was asked about the impact of overseas players on what is felt to be one of the USA's national sports. The interviewer asked him did he see it as a negative - a question stimulated by the frequently debated issue of foreign footballers stunting 'home-grown' players development in the premiership.

Stern admirably rebuked the notion and said 'Foreign is not a word in our league - we prefer international'. He pointed out the quality of players in general has improved with the influx of players from outside the USA. Admittedly the USA's international teams are of the highest standard (unlike our own beloved three lions football team) so at first glance it might not appear a major concern.

However this was not always the case; the NBA had lulled itself into a chasm of self-adulation and in doing so ignored the improvments of the global game. The American's slash and dash, run and dunk game became one dimensional and predictable, and countries such as Lithuania, Croatia, and Spain produced players players who could more than mix it up with the Americans. Slowly they caught up with them and dramatically they surpassed them - as seen at the 2004 Olympics where Team USA lost their semi-final to the eventual champions Argentina.

In recognising the impact international players make to a domestic league, Stern acknowledges the need for competition between players to improve individual abilities and skills; something that the backward looking folk in English football would be wise to heed. It's too easy to point the finger at the foreign mercenaries and blame them for the lack of quality within the England team. If young English players are good enough they'll get to play for their clubs - witness Rooney, Walcott, Carroll, Harte, Smalling, etc. Blame for the poor performance of Team Three Lions should be attributed elsewhere. Factors such as over-commercialism of players (leading to inflated egos), too many games in the domestic season (resulting in tiredness and drawn-out injuries) and over-inflated, media hype are more likely culprits and certainly easier problems to solve.

Here we go again

Hold on tight – here we go again!

Action. File. Delete

My friend Chris claims he deals with hundreds of emails every day. He works as a healthcare manager in a large hospital so it's entirely believable.

I get irritated with having to deal when the inbox gets to about fifty emails (as happens on a very busy day) so it was interesting to hear how he deals with a never ending stream of inbox invasions. As is his way he eulogised about the following approach: File.Action.Delete.

Chris was clearly a convert, and even though I'm wary of anything that sounds like it emerged from a self-help business guide, or worse the mouth of a contestant on The Apprentice, I proceeded to apply his methodology.

I began to filter every email as soon as it entered my inbox. I read it quickly and established if it could be actioned within a few minutes. Once actioned it was filed in a relevant folder. I now have lots of folders, but this doesn't matter as it's out of my inbox and this is the most important aim.

If a lengthier span of attention was required the email was filed in my ACTION folder. Not forgotten about, just on pause until the requisite amount of time can be spent on the task.

And if it is - as the vast majority of emails tend to be - a message of no significance it is promptly deleted. Forever, never to return to my vision.

It's all very simple and life at work now has fewer email distractions or inbox avalanches enabling me to get on with the tasks I'm meant to be concentrating upon.

Really it's a process I should have been employing a long time ago but I succumbed to the belief that if it's in my inbox it's easier to find. All that seems to happen is that it get pushed further down the list by the bulk of daily inbox chatter.

Steve Jobs – "stay hungry, stay foolish"

China's 60th anniversary celebrations

This is stunning. Not just from the sheer military might but because it’s shot on a DSLR. In High definition. Technical gizmos aside though, the editing and use of stop motion and slow-mo really work. And really liking the pixelated camouflage bedecking the PRC army vehicles.

Very powerful – but is this photography or film making? (not that it matters). The creator is Dan Chung a photojournalist at The Guardian, who has moved away from static imagery into moving image. A photographer’s eye with an editor’s sense of timing.

Watch the video on vimeo.

Good reading

This is really, really good.
Ad-man Dave Trott waxes lyrical about all manner of topics.
Insightful, observational and engaging.
Worth a read.

(And written in a tight, concise manner befitting of the author's occupation - plenty of good stuff to muse over).

No. 5 Quote of note

"There is hope in honest error. None in the icy perfections of the mere stylist." I'm liking this quote by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Courtesy of 1977, thanks Paul!

Makes me think of the philosophy of Inky Finger Prints and the much respected logo of Minale Tattersfield

Beauty in imperfection, ideas over style, 80/20 rule, the human touch etc, etc. Maybe I'm missing the point but all that microscopic overanalysis of mundane details slows things down and delays the arrival of a solution. maximise the time you spend on generating ideas, bosh out the options, be pragmatic and save the crafting for the final chapter.

Got a new route to work!

Looks like it's going to be shorter, safer and quicker - F*ck yeah!
The pink line was my old route, the light blue line is my new path.

A sunday cycle ride with Em led me along a previously ignored set of Southwark back streets. This morning being up early and enjoying the sunshine cycle ride I explored further. A prime example of why it's good to step out of a routine and try something new. Bad Phil!

People, it's looking positive. My only concern is traffic volume during the school run and feasibility for returning that way in the evening. Ha Ha! - lets find out.

Wired up

Tonight sees BBC2 show the final episode of series 4 of The Wire.
That means there will only be one more series of the so-called 'greatest show on earth'.

I'm enjoying it, i've managed to keep up with the previous episodes and series but would have to admit that it just hasn't stood up to it's billing. Perhaps it's just been overhyped for too long - it first came to the small screen in 2002 and the last series finaled in March 2008. I wanted to really like it but alas it's all left me feeling a bit cold. I don't think that the marathon viewing schedule that BBC2 has imposed helped matters but I guess they felt it was the best way to maintain momentum.

Cons: Impenetrable, slow, overly reliant on vague details.
Pros: Range of interesting characters, use of local lingo - both in terms of institutions and geography. Nice mixture of stereotyping and surprise.

UPDATE: I've abandoned watching season 5 in real time. I plan to borrow a DVD at some point and get done in one shot. maybe. If i can summon the motivation.