iPod TriPod

The crew at Out of the Blue have released their latest Christmas must-have accessory, advising us to “warm up before trying this at home. Pull the curtains, not a hamstring.” Sound advice as usual from the Kiwis.

The buterfly that stamped

A composition created a few weeks ago while I had some time up my sleeve. An alternative seasonal image; no sign of a snowflake or a reindeer… So have yourself a flamingood Christmas y'hear.
© 2006 Smoothfluid.

New Look

Some of you may have noticed something different this time. Yup, after years I've changed the template, but this one is off-the-shelf and is like a poke in the eye with a dirty stick. Why Blogger won't let me customise it like before I just don't know. If anyone wants to help me modify the css so my links can be magenta I'd be most grateful. Pesky code is slipperier than a Hungarian jelly-wrestler. Why the change after so long? Well, I've decided to merge my blogs into something altogether more coherent, documenting what floats my boat as I skip about on my merry way.(Up North © 2006 Smoothfluid Ltd.)

Blue Carpet

Blue Carpet. Now this is the kind of stuff that I get off on. Brilliantly playful and what you’d least expect. Outside the Laing Gallery in Newcastle.

The Ford Ka. Oberservation

Ka. I saw the Ford Ka logo in a new light the other day, so thought I’d share it with you; it just popped up and now makes sense. Nice when your mind takes you by surprise.

7 Stories

Seven Stories. The more I look at this logo the more I like it. The centre is just as entertaining, and if I was seven it would be even better. This centre for children's books, whose aim, as far as I can tell, is to inject the magic and adventure into children's stories in a number of ways. They also have a feline theme playfully hidden about the building. It could have been so tacky, but as it happens I think it is brilliant (especially with the subtlety of clear gloss footprints).

Play nice

Play nice. Consider yourself told. Street art in Edinburgh.

Thing

A prediction: Despite what you may have heard, “Thing” will be OK. It isn’t right now, but in the future things will change for Thing. Is this a reference to The Musters or something more sinister?

We'll have no lip here.

Seen on the Underground. I really enjoy witnessing how words and signs can be abused by their surroundings. This is a great example, reflected in the announcement of the driver; after the ever predictable “Mind the doors,” came, “That means you sir. Which part of ‘Stand clear of the doors’ do you not understand? You stupid little man.” I get so tired of the repetitive, non-informative looped announcements it’s nice to hear a real tube driver with a real personality.

Who is Dan Bowskill?

Dan has to be a creative guy if he is reusing other peoples adverts to promote himself like this. Resourceful too. I am sure if I wandered around this tube station I would see some more DIY ads for his new album. This gives me an idea… nice one Dan, thanks.

handwriting

If my handwriting was half a tidy as this I too would be tempted to write on the walls.

Stencils

I thought I would back-post some things that have caught my eye recently.
Northern stencils are going strong: A sample of the niceties I have seen on the streets of Newcastle recently. There’s some hard work that has gone into these for sure.

Going going gone

Went to my first Auction today. Got caught up and bought a piece of art for R. Last of the big spenders I am not. Quite fun and must do it again.