Drinkspiration

I really like this little app by Absolut Vodka. As the name “Drinkspiration” suggests it’s a cocktail finder designed to help you decide on what to drink based on location, sound level, ingredients and time of day etc. I’m just thinking of the countless number of times this could have saved me from ordering yet another boring gin&tonic (don’t get me wrong, I like a gin&tonic as much as the next person, but variety is key here). When you have decided on a cocktail the app will tell you exactly what ingredients you need, so all you have to do is show it to the bartender or start mixing. I think this is one of those rare occasions where a company actually gets it right when it comes to branded content and comes up with something people would actually want to use.

The app also connects to social sites like Facebook and Twitter so you can share cocktail recipes and tell people where you’re having your new favorite drink. I don’t know if I would ever use that feature myself, but if it caught on with more active facebook users it could potentially give Absolut a much sought after presence in people’s social networks.

But I think the real strength of Drinkspiration is that it doesn’t overdo the advertising side of things. It uses the visual identity of Absolut but keeps the application looking stylish at the same time. It doesn’t limit it’s recipes to vodka based cocktails, but suggests drinks based on other kinds of liquor as well. So you don’t really feel like you’re being subjected to advertising when you use it, and I think that’s key to making it attractive in the digital age of today where you almost always can find an ad-free alternative.

If you have an iPhone then simply download it for free, otherwise you can check it out on youtube.

Junior Boys live!

I went to see Junior Boys last night - overall a good experience.

First up was Voluntary Butler Scheme. I had never heard of it before but was positively surprised by this one man band – nice little melodies and a decent voice on top of a variety of beats and looped samples (created on the spot like Yoav does it). Think I’ll have to check him out on myspace later.

I’m not going to waste any time on the second warm up band - a horrible art project type band with questionalble vocals and no obvious purpose in life, so I’ll skip right to the main act.

I had really been looking forward to Junior Boys. I saw them at Sonar a couple of years ago where they gave a quite disappointing performance, partly due to some technical problems I think. But it was a great experience this time, I especially liked their live versions of the songs from the old album that had new variations in both melody and beats. But the new material was great as well and at times it almost had an Erasure feel to it. Which is a good thing.

Go see them if you get the chance. And if you like melodic dance friendly synth pop.

Oh, and sorry for the blurry photo - I'll try to do better next time!

New stuff from Hi-ReS!

One of my favorite web design agencies Hi-ReS! has done a new really great campaign for The Economist.

Ever since I came across the Hi-ReS! designed site for the movie Donnie Darko I have been a fan of the way they use sound to create atmosphere and their ability to construct interesting little universes for the users to explore.

And the Thinking Space campaign they have created for The Economist is no different. It’s a 3D site showcasing the thinking spaces of a selection of creative thinkers like Spotify founder Daniel Ek and Georgia Tagliette who’s the head of International Media and PR at the Sónar Festival.

First of all, I think the design is exceptional. The 3D layout is so convincingly executed that you want to keep exploring the site and see the different spaces assemble and dissolve.

But the content is very interesting as well. I love the way you get a glimpse of these interesting peoples’ workspaces and thought processes, and the narrative voices give it such a personal touch.

It’s very clever how they make you see The Economist through the eyes of these interesting people, and how it almost becomes a peer to peer recommendation instead of an advertising campaign. I wasn’t really interested in The Economist before, but now that certain sections of the magazine come recommended by the founder of De-Bug Magazine Mercedes Bunz, I might give it a read.

More advertising like this Please!

First post! Yay!

Not really expecting anyone to be reading it, but here’s a little bit about what you can expect to find on this blog in the future anyway.

I just thought that there aren’t enough people out there talking about the insignificant little details of their lives, so I saw the opportunity to jump right in and fill that void.

Basically it’s going to be about all the curious little things I come across every day. Some of it will be my own experiences, but I’ll probably also be copy/pasting a lot from other blogs and web sites because let’s face it, my life is not really that interesting. And I guess that’s the way of the digital age anyway.

Things I will be likely to talk about are: art, music, social media, street art, web 2.0 and advertising – and everything else that has an interesting angle to it.

Oh, and I’m working on improving the dull appearance, but I’m in serious need of brushing up on my HTML skills so it might take a little while.

That’s it for now I guess.