About a month or so ago, before the chaos of December arrived I was queueing this post up - a selection of 5 sensational experiences I had in the festive build up which I hope will still satisfy all your senses, even if they are well past their posting date!

1.Eastern Promises at the Rich Mix
If you haven’t seen it yet, do, it was one of the best films I saw last year for sure. A combination of tough Russian gangsters, young Eastern European girls tragically failing to make a better life for themselves in London, a midwife, a baby and the best fight scene of 2007 make this gruesome thriller led by Viggo Mortensen a stunning watch from start to finish. Be warned though, after viewing you may have violent dreams.

2. Eating great food and getting crack
At some point I paid my second visit to the mighty Great Queen St gastro pub in Covent Garden. Between the four of us we had excellent vension, burger on dripping bread and a barley, squash and mushroom risotto, all very tasty indeed! To complete our inner glow we took a stroll down the embankment towards the Tate Modern where we saw the crack before going up to level 7, where we shared four amazing desserts whilst London’s skyline became illuminated in front of our eyes.

3.James Murphy + Tom Mahoney = Fabric live 36
After a hectic electronic start to the mix (which isn’t too studio friendly late morning I’ve found) things calm down and slip into a funkadelic, disco experience that makes you want to dance sexy.

4.International Lefthanders Day
At the time I wanted this poster a lot, it’s been made with Scandinavian skill.

5.Apple iPhone
It’s not about what this first generation product can’t do, it’s all about the amazing things it can do. The touch screen interface is absolutely superb, you consume lots of stuff, you stroke it alot, it’s incredible. I have had iPhone-itous for two months and it feels great.

There is no gold, sliver and bronze to be awarded here - all three are absolute winners…

1. Stevie Gee + Big Active
I’ve finally tracked down the creators of the awesome artwork for the latest Athlete album.

2. Vampire Weekend
Punk / New Wave / Classical sounding stuff from New York based band that I have been very lucky to see play a couple of times recetnly.

3. ‘Put it Back’ Anthony Burrill exhibition at Concrete Hermit
I’m off to take a look later today - this has motivated me to finally get framed the rather confident AB print I brought earlier this year.

Last week I went to the D&AD Presidents lecture where straight talking, non computer using, rubbish collecting graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff took centre stage and shared stories from his 50 year (and still going strong) career in design. He showcased projects he was invloved in on behalf of his company Chermayeff & Gesimar, including brand identities, exhibition design, motion graphics and art in architecture. As you may expect it made for a very impressive and highly motivating evening.

Towards the end of the lecture he presented a selection of motion graphic projects his studio has produced, one of which was a project called ‘Logomotion’ where a selection of their identities are morphed in and out of each other, excerpts of which can be viewed here. This organic sequence of events reminded me of a little typographic place called Bembo’s Zoo. Enjoy.

If like me you missed out on tickets for the Electric proms festivial you can now watch all of the gigs online until the weekend, including the excellent Cold War Kids. Absolutley Superb!

Design studio Dixon and Baxi have uploaded some new work to their portfolio with a familiar bearded face for Nic, Rob, Si and I featured amongst the case studies. Go Model J!

Beard in a Box can do both these things for you. Great illustration.

Check out Ryan’s nice work

Michael Bojkowski has a great portfolio and blog.

It’s true to say in 2004 when I was finishing my degree the internet wasn’t so communitytastic as it is now. So today in 2007 it’s great to find 5oup, an online community for student artists, which on the surface looks like a healthy mix of graphics, fine art, interactive and illustration. Its graduation time right now and all the design blogs are featuring student portfolio’s, from those I have had a quick glance at - Mr.Robert Holmkvist’s graphic design abilites have impressed me the mostest!

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