They say that everyone is unique. Each and every one of us is lightning in a bottle, never to be replicated and, once lost, lost forever (apart from me, I’m just the same as everyone else).
Skywrite has been looking at a few publications out there that are proving there really is something for everyone. So, let’s take a look through our run down of the top 5 publications that are relentlessly prepared to support you in your drive to be different…
5) Llama Link proudly asserts that it is THE ONLY MONTHLY LLAMA MAGAZINE and has nearly DOUBLE the circulation of any other llama magazine. If you’re mad about Llamas, this one’s for you.
4) Modern Drunkard is a magazine from a group of functional alcoholics based primarily in Denver, CO. Included in their ranks are published novelists, filmmakers, English gentlemen, barflies, punk rock musicians, comedians, outright dastards and admitted boozeheads.
3) Miniature Donkey Magazine is a professional quality, full-colour publication which compliments, promotes, and presents the Miniature Donkey in a favourable light and gives them credibility as an alternative livestock. So, if you think a box of mini-donkeys could be perfect for your loved one this Valentine’s day, waste no time in paying them a visit.
1) Bacon Busters contains how-to articles, pig hunting features, technical advice, pig dog profiles and Australia’s biggest collection of pig hunting photos. It also has a section called ‘Babes and Boars’. Sometimes it can be hard to tell which is which.
Another January, another set of resolutions we won’t keep, gym membership we’ll stop using come March, detoxes we’ll abandon almost as soon as we’ve started and yes, another CES.
Except this year the mood in sunny Vegas (sorry everyone in the UK complaining about the snow!) is not worried or tentative but full of optimism. I’d even go so far as to say it’s brimming with excitement! And what is there to be excited about? Well, quite a lot actually. You’ve got the big boys announcing some real leaps forward: LG announcing 3D TV, Skype TV and even broadband-bundled TV, Nintendo telling us the next DS will have a motion sensor like its Wii brother/sister (pick your gender, mine is a girl) and Samsung launching ebook readers which let you write all over them. And let’s not forget about Google’s new baby, the Nexus One. The phone will be available in the UK through Vodafone but interestingly enough you’ll actually be able to buy it through the Google website itself. For Google this is huge – they have never gone straight to the consumer before and some would say it’s a really risky move. Only time will tell what the sales experience will be like. Could we be seeing a series of #Googlefail on Twitter later on this year?
Then there’s the up-and-coming brands like Parrot really blowing people away with its AR Drone – an iPhone controlled flying machine that hovers at head height and lets you play augemented reality games.
As a big fan of Slingbox myself (anything that lets me catch up on Gossip Girl and my other half on MOTD while we’re abroad gets my eternal loyalty), I was always likely to navigate towards them at the show. Having had a quiet year in 2009 they’ve just launched their Sling Touch Control 100 with a 4 inch screen that will speak to any SlingEnabled device and DVRs over WiFi and older set top boxes via infra red. Yep am all over that. I suppose the cynic would question if we really need any of these new innovations. But the gadget geek in me will always say a resounding yes – innovation is alive and well at CES and it’s great to be here watching it all unfold.
No one was leaving Copenhagen before a deal was struck
Well, we may only just be leaving the recession and job opportunities are still rarer than working trains in the Eurotunnel, but that hasn’t stopped an unknown producer from Uruguay, who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November, being offered a $30m (£18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film.
Fede Alvarez’s short film “Ataque de Panico!” (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. At just under five minutes long and made on a budget of $300 (£186), it has already seen more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.
“I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios,” he told the BBC’s Latin American service BBC Mundo.
Mr Alvarez has now been asked to produce is a sci-fi film to be shot in Latin America, but he will be developing an entirely new story for the project.
“If some director from some country can achieve this just uploading a video to YouTube, it obviously means that anyone could do it,” he added.
Taking a look at the film makes us think otherwise.
I’ve just read an interesting story on CNET US that is discussing the news that the state of Maine is deciding to put warning stickers on all mobile phones to be sold in shops across the state.
The story leads with this paragraph, which, effectively, sums up the whole piece: “Although there is no conclusive proof that mobile phones cause cancer, a Maine legislator wants to require all mobile phones sold in the state to carry warnings that say mobile phones may do so”. “Although there is no conclusive proof” – so WHY do it then?!
I find this bizarre – nearly everything causes cancer these days, and we all already know about it, so why strike more fear into people by putting warning stickers on phones, when it’s not even proven! Smoking, sure, I get that, but phones? The world’s going mad!
Everyone’s had that moment of instant regret when being a little too trigger-happy with the ‘send’ button on an email, but no one perhaps as much as Holly, a grad at Deloitte. Or rather, ex-grad…read on…
Here’s how it all started…
Gutted....
What started on Tuesday this week has become a viral phenomenon in a matter of days, being sent on to team members, colleagues and friends and not only in Deloitte. In fact, this one email has become so widespread that even the Times Online has picked it up and ran a story leading with the headline “Holly went lightly after he-mails turned viral”.
What was meant to be a bit of office Christmas fun has turned into a viral sensation that has forced Holly into quitting her job on the grad scheme at Deloitte after just four months. Poor girl…
As the year is drawing to a close, PR Week has summed up what has been a tumultuous year in PR-land. In a month-by-month breakdown, they’ve highlighted highs and lows within the media and PR industry, covering everything from companies that have had to make job cuts to Nick Griffin being made an MEP [shock!]
They’ve also stuck a ‘reputometer’ at the end of the piece – charting who’s risen in our expectations and who’s lingering at the bottom. I have to add my two cents in here though – in the ‘Hot’ section of the reputometer, they haven’t included the rise and rise of Cheryl Cole…surely this year she’s dominated headlines once again? All in all it’s a great round up and it makes you wonder how so much has happened in such a short space of time, with a lot of it being so negative…
It emerged in the news recently that a man who loves Monster Munch, the best crisps to emerge from the 90s ever (fact), has changed his name by deed poll to Mr Monster Munch, to show his love of the potato snackettes.
The Telegraph.co.uk reports that “He often mixes his Monster Munch with traditional meals – but is yet to crack the secret of mixing the crisps with his breakfast”, and that he changed his name after his mates dared him to. When asked about his love affair with the crisps, he replied ”I just don’t want to give up Monster Munch – I loved them when I was a lad and when they brought out the new retro packs I must admit my heart skipped a beat.” His friends say they’ll call him Monster.
Apparently there’s a growing group of people out there who are redesigning modern technology to fit in with a Victorian aesthetic. According to Wikipedia, “SteamPunk fashion” has no set guidelines, but tends to synthesize modern styles as filtered through the Victorian era. SteamPunks even have their own magazine.
SteamPunk fans apparently take inspiration from works of fiction like Alan Moore’s and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or the novels of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, where extremely advanced inventions are made possible through Victorian level technology. So we’re talking about computers powered by steam, or clockwork time machines (in reality, of course, everyone knows that time machines require a DeLorean).
Still, it’s interesting to see how people are now customising the appearance of their technology to fit in with an aesthetic they like. In many ways it’s a logical step forward from customising the content and software you have on your personal devices.
It’s likely to be a growing trend: CyperPunk mp3 players and Zen big screen TVs are sure to follow.
The Telegraph has put together a list of the 20 funniest predictive searches on Google, providing a unique – and slightly scary – insight into what is running through the minds of the global populous. Classics include:
“What would a… chair look like if your knees bent the other way?”
“I like to…tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it’s like to be a dinosaur”
And my personal favourite (which is actually a quote from LOST):
This story has tickled me. Courtesy of the Daily Mail (why am I surprised at this?), the story reports how a father is ‘furious’ over ‘pornographic sweet wrappers’. Oh yes. Apparently Maoam sweets, although delectable and very chewy, are actually, soft porn.
The image, as you can see, *clearly* show’s the lime getting a bit too much pleasure from his fellow fruity friends.
Clearly someone's creative juices were flowing...
I don’t think there’s anything else I can say on this. I don’t even know where I stand on the matter. Does Mr Lime really have a ‘lurid’ wink upon his limey green face? Are the cherries enjoying being licked that little bit too much? I’m torn. The more I look at the picture, the more I think furious Mr Simpkins may have a point. But would a child ever notice a tiny wrapper like that and immediately deduce it was pornographic? I think not.
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This story has tickled me. Courtesy of the 
