Billabong

At first i was happy to see this shop because i love surf gear but then looking at it from the outside i noticed that the advertising was electronic (see below).



The picture did not quite turn out as good as it was, when you look at it on the strip there was a video playing surf videos, and to be fair they need some kind of visual stimuli because in times square competition is fierce. But it just makes it stand out that bit more, even the Bank of America had lighting space bright red block with there text advertising the bank. The funniest thing is that even the police in Times Square had flashing lights signalling where there department was, who else would do that but the Americans.

Scraping the Sky

When you get into Manhattan and get walking around you realise you get neck ache from walking round and looking up, you soon learn to view from afar.

The Empire State Building
One of the first touristy buildings we saw was the Empire State Building, it is massive and at night looks great too, it is lit up every night with red white and blue (native colours) but will change themes for occasions for instance on St Patricks day they light up the building green.



The Empire State Building surprisingly took only a year and 45 days to build which for the size and structure is impressive when you look at time spent on constructing buildings today.

The Chrysler Building
I have always been fascinated by this building, the lower of the building is not as interesting as the top section.


It was built in the famous art deco style and on different levels of the building has pieces reminiscent of the old automobiles for example on the 31st floor there is decoration involving replicas of the old Chrysler Radiator Caps. The building lies on 42ND street near Grand Central Station, it is an office building as opposed to being used for tourists.



The Rockefeller Centre


This building is high, i think it feels more so than others because it seems to be in narrower streets emphasising it towering over surrounding buildings. Currently there is a duel between the Empire State Building and the Rockefellar to who is the highest and competition for providing views of the city, the Empire State building has two floors - 86Th and 102ND and the Rockefeller has 'The top of the Rock'. The building itself is not as impressive as the Empire State Building, it is not seen as an icon, but the Rockefeller is helped by the outside with flags and a waterfall with a mini promenade area leading to the Rockefeller Centre.


Amidst all of this is St Patricks Church a little gem in the rough of the busy New York lifestyle. As you walk around with your neck craned up you come across these gaps and you have churches dotted all around Manhattan, but they are so ornate with being old you get a more decorative architecture whereas today with the more modern buildings it seems to be smooth clean lines. But on the churches you see the intricate detail shown on the facade which is carried on into the inside of the building, and even though these buildings do not carry the height of a 102 floors they boast a greatness in the structure and detail.

New York New York

After today my blog will not be moving for a few weeks this afternoon i fly out to the big apple and am touring round for a few weeks. All going to plan i will be visiting New York, Buffalo, some of Canada, Boston, Washington DC and back to NY.


See you soon with my own pictures of the Statue of Liberty!

Vertical Soccer

This is by TBWA in Japan. Furthering Adidas's 'Impossible is Nothing' campaign pushing the boundries of what can be done emphasising there slogan.



It would have been fantastic to see how people reacted around the area to it, as designers we look at it and appreciate it whereas most people probably thought they were half mad up there.

The one and only...

Quentin Blake! Blake's work is fantastic and he is renowned for his many illustrations for Roald Dahl's children's books (below illustration from the BFG). But now he is still drawing for books but has also turned his hand to cards, and i have bought a few myself. There is just something about the way he draws, it's amazingly accurate but the way he portrays the characters you get a good idea of there personality just in that one shot of them.


The website is also a joy to visit, at first you arrive and are disappointed at the lack of imagination, but then as you hover over a particular buttons drawings appear associated with that topic (see below).


It's an interesting site and show's more than just the infamous Roald Dahl illustrations. Looking around the site you get to see the various drawings cropping up everywhere making you smile and just to make the journey a little more fun.

http://www.quentinblake.com/

Harry Potter

I know its a predictable post but it's Harry Potter. At first i was reluctant to read Harry Potter, did not want to be a sheep following the crowd. Then a few of friends recommended it and my word is it amazing. The story lines that J K Rowling comes up with are fantastic, you get wrapped up in this magical partly envious as were are all muggles and just leading our so called normal life while all the witches and wizards are having fun. One of the parts i think is good is that us mere humans or muggles are involved in the storyline making it that bot more believable. I am about two thirds of may way thought the last book and it is gripping i never want to put it down because of the storyline and the way everything is described you get sucked into the world and feel as if you are going with them on there many quests.

It is a shame that the films aren't as good, but when are they, a book has so much more information in them and you make the settings up yourself which is the great thing about books because you get given a storyline but still you get to add your bits and its open to how the individual interprets it.

Eyes Wide Shut

At AS level i one of my choices was Film Studies, this means you see the good the bad and the ugly. To be fair it opened me up to a wide range of films that i would not usually watch, The Big Sleep and Brief Encounters both black and white films from the 40's that otherwise i would have never discovered. One of the wierdest films was Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick is well known director and not your average. In my mind he goes on par with Tim Burton, nothing normal about there films. But one thing i did like about kubricks film is that there were consistent themes, if you have seen it or watch it look out for the constant use of red and the christmas lights they are just small things but you will notice alot reappear through the film and carry meaning with them. Also with this being Tom and Nicole in there first film together it works and helps with particular scenes because it's almost like alot f it is more than just acting.