WorldSkills Calgary 2009

WorldSkills TV

Can you just...

"Since time immemorial man has tried to make pictures of women giving a thumbs up. Time after time, these attempts ended with success. Now at last, the barrier to awfulness has been breached. Enjoy."

Photoshop Disasters

Ireland vs Georgia

University Observer (Vol. 15 Issue 8)

University Observer, out today.

You have no friend requests

Modern Toss: keep bang up to date with it, yeah?

Weekend weather warning

Snowy day in Dublin

University Observer (Vol. 15 Issue 7)

Guest Art & Design Director for Issue 7 of UCD's University Observer, available on campus at the university this morning.

Chinese New Year

I was walking along Parnell Street yesterday afternoon when I ended up in the middle of a ceremony for the Chinese New Year. There were around thirty people out on the street in traditional costumes and dress, holding banners, flags and banging drums and cymbals. In the midst, a dragon danced to the beat and the procession moved from door to door of each Chinese premises along the road, stopping at each entrance to perform the ritual. The same set of red and gold banners were moved along, hung from each doorway as the party moved from door to door. First the dragon would enter the premises and dance around inside. It would rub and dance against the door on its way in and out, as if marking the door with luck or blessing for the proprietors and customers. From the top of each entrance hung a cabbage on a piece of string; after coming back onto the street the dragon continued to dance before turning back and reaching up to take the food in its mouth. Now the rhythm really intensified, a tumultuous, rumbling din of drums and cymbals as the dragon crouched down to eat the food and then leapt up, throwing it out of its mouth in all directions. People were clapping and smiling, and the party then moved behind the dragon as he danced to the next doorway, where the banners had already been hung and the ritual would be repeated. It was spectacular.




2009 is the 4707th Chinese year, the calendar dating back to the crowning of the Yellow King in 2697BC. 'New year's day' changes each year: the Chinese calendar is based on cycles of the moon rather than set dates, so new year is celebrated on the first day of the first Chinese lunar month (the next cycle sees 2010's new year fall on 14th Feb). 'New moon time', the equivalent of midnight of New's Years Eve, fell at 15:55 in China this Monday, 07:55 in Ireland.

One, two...

I ran the Raheny 5 earlier today, good buzz.

Tighten your belts

Recession-conscious denizens of Abbey Street are 'dying for a smoothie' no longer. Jaaaas!

On this day...

Obama's first day in his new job started with the traditional Inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington, where 'He's got the whole world in his hands' was one of the numbers performed by the Children's Choir.

Below is a selection of far-and-wide front pages as images of the 44th US President's inauguration resonated across the globe in the last 24 hours.


Kathimerini (Athens, Greece)


Folha de Sao Paulo (Brazil)


Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan)


An Nahar (Beirut, Lebanon)

See Newseum and the Newsdesigner blog for daily front pages from all over the world.

Reverberation

On Inauguration Day, a series of typographic illustrations were printed in the Guardian G2 supplement; a special feature on the campaign speeches of Barack Obama. The introduction to the piece describes how the new President successfully resurrected the art of oratory, "the power of the word".


Cover by David Carson... "Obama, Hope + Change"


Alan Kitching: The 'Take Back America' Speech, 14.06.06, Washington – "This is our time. Our time to make a mark on history. Our time to write a new chapter in the American story."


Mario Hugo: 'The challenge of going into politics, with 'that funny name'', 11.05.06, Washington – "[...the second thing people would ask me was, "You seem like a nice young man. You teach law school, you're a civil rights attorney, you organise voter registration, you're a family man -] Why would you wanna go into something dirty and nasty like politics?"



Peter Horridge: Recollections of his father, 28.08.06, University of Nairobi, Kenya – "In many ways he embodied the new Africa of the early 60s, a man who had obtained the knowledge of the western world, and sought to bring it back home, where he hoped he could create a new nation."


Paula Scher/Pentagram: Night before the US Presidential Election, 03.11.08 – "After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, twenty-one months of campaigning, we are less than one day away from bringing about change in America. Tomorrow you can turn the page on policies that put greed and irresponsibility before hard work and sacrifice. Tomorrow you can choose policies that invest in our middle class, create new jobs and grow this economy so that everybody has a chance to succeed. Not just the CEO but the secretary and the janitor; not just the factory owner but the men and women who work the factory floor. Tomorrow you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that puts reason against reason, and city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope."

The full transcripts of these speeches and many more can be found here.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Link to the website of Ralph Steadman, Gonzo illustrator-in-chief, here

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex

A tune a day

For no other reason than a bit of audio/visual pleasure... Officeless FM.

Office no. 4

¡Feliz Año Neuvo! It's been a while.

An extra-long christmas holiday was handed down from top brass this year as lay-offs decimated the remaining staff of the Officeless media empire. But the good ship sails strong, and is back for another year of nonsensical, noninteresting and nonnoticed reportage.

In the news: house move nears completion. Having said that, the photograph below captured a scene in the new Officeless hub on Saturday morning. The room is much better shape now, I promise. Still fighting a losing battle against the wall-hating, screw and bracket-resisting shelves though. Talking new gaff blues.


After a turbulent festive period, readers can now rest assured in this blog's onward search for beauty and truth in the world around it; transmitted from this new home and no longer from the oppression of the secret bunker.

New year's resolution no. 1: more on the blog