BANKSY

My son loves him; Banksy, formerly known as street artist. His art (formerly known as vandalism) sells at Sotheby's for several hundred thousand pounds a piece, and can be seen at renowned art galleries the world over.





Yesterday we watched a documentary about Banksy, 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'- which in the end turned out to be more about the guy who had managed to capture the elusive Banksy on film, Thierry Guetta. More of a clever businessman than an artist, Thierry later tries his hand at street art himself, using the techniques (and themes) he picked up from Banky and other street artists he has followed for years, mixing it with clever marketing (using social and regular media) and becoming an overnight commercial success.

I have admired Banksy's work ever since 2008. Years earlier I worked for the Weather Channel and was based in Newman Street, W1, London. Across the street from out building was an old post office, and a huge blind ugly wall, kitted out with the standard CCTV cameras which are omnipresent in London, and at the time cause for a lot of debate as to whether CCTV - big Brother watching - was a good or a bad thing. Reality soaps have long since taken the sting out of CCTV cameras in the street.... Anyway - one day in 2008 this ugly wall was decorated with a piece of graffiti - or rather 'street art'. The latest stunt by Banksy, pulled right under the eyes of the cameras....  I loved it, and so did the press.

Banksy's comment: "He broke all the rules - although we're not supposed to have any rules...". In the end, the film has been finished by Banksy himself, when he realised Guetta was only capable of recording, not of cutting a movie. A very interesting documentary, although the B-film - a short video purely about Banksy, contains the real gems for Banksy fans. Pictures, interviews and great quotes such as from the critic who initially felt Banksy's work was just "an entertaining bit of rubbish", or how the purpose of art is "to get up the noses of the establishment". One artist who was very critical about Banksy's use of stencils ("real street artists were ready to beat him up for using such gay techniques"), concluded that every single street artist was a real artist, and that Banksy "just got a fucking headstart on us". Well, yes - isn't that the difference between the real stars and the legion of following nobodies: a head start? Below are some more great Banksy originals...

   

Cool Tool

Another cool tool; WeTransfer. An increasing amount of providers offers the use of their server space to store and transfer large files. I just received a large photo file via WeTransfer. One click, and hundreds of pictures or manuscripts are transferred via the cloud. WeTransfer is a free platform in transferring large digital files up to 2Gb per transfer, such as presentations, photos, videos, music, documents and more. Free, of course. Added bonus: no registration required. They are no samaritans, WeTransfer makes money by selling advertising space, and they also have a commercial service (WeTransferChannel). In the meantime we reap the benefits of another cool free online tool.

The Google Dictator

As other strong brands, Google likes to play around with its logo. It started with inconspicuous adjustments, mostly on the two OO's. You can tell that marketing research showed that the Google clientele (i.e. just about everybody) must have appreciated this, because the Google art department has gone berserk. Great was 'the 50th anniverary of Yuri Gagarin's first trip into space' last week. It even inspired a fun art lesson that day. Looking at the Google Logo overview , the Gagarin Google logo seems to have disappeared - too many US complaints? The 200th anniversary of Robert Bunsen (Europeans go; who?! The guy who invented the Bunsen burner, which is used in labs) inspired another beautiful Google logo, very subtle... see?




Today I open Google with mixed feelings. It is the 122th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin's birth (122??), but as today's Google logo celebrates the brilliant film maker with a reference to 'The Great Dictator', with the actual logo showing nothing but gothic nazi font and a play on the hitler moustache - today's logo reminds me more of Hitler than of the brilliant Chaplin. Or is it just me...?!

TGIF on Facebook

What do you do on a Friday evening? Visit your friends? Yes - according to research by Buddy Media Friday evening is the time when most people visit their friends, and do a bit of shopping - on Facebook that is. Commercial Facebook use is up by 18% on Friday evening. During normal work hours commercial messages via Twitter and Facebook receive less attention. I wonder why this is news actually - it seems a no-brainer. Especially when your supervisor is one of your virtual 'friends', you should be careful not to use social media during work hours. Big Brother may be watching you, and use it against you. And she would be right to do so as well, at least according to a study by IT research company Nucleus Research, which shows that companies that allow users to access Facebook in the workplace lose an average of 1.5% in total employee productivity. The survey of 237 employees also showed that 77% of workers who have a Facebook account use it during work hours. Interestingly enough some studies show the opposite to be true. A University of Melbourne study shows that as many as 9% workers who indulge in such (Facebook or Twitter) activity have better productivity than those who don’t. The study involved 300 workers and 70% of those engaged in workplace Internet leisure browsing. It’s author, Brent Coker stated: Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days’ work, and as a result, increased productivity. So a bit of couch potato surfing on Facebook is the new smoke break, which is great news for the non-smokers among us.

Real horror and virtual shooting games

Yesterday 24-year old Tristan van der Vlis, armed with a machine gun, entered a crowded shopping mall and started shooting. Six people died during the ten minute killing spree, dozens wounded. Looking at the way he prepared himself and the time he took (ten minutes of non-stop shooting!), one can assume that he was out to hit as many targets as possible - and perhaps it's a miracle that he did not make more casualties. As a member of a shooting club, he must have known that he was technically capable of doing this. At the same time he must have possessed the EQ of a fridge, shutting himself off like this. Did he hate people? Was he bullied in school? Did his relationship fail? Did he lose his job? Was he insane? What should happen for someone to go this far?

Of course this is speculation; it would not surprise me if this madman turns out to have been a game fanatic. The latest shooting games are truly shocking. On a discussion forum, I came across a macabre demo of 'Modern Warfare 2: Terrorist Mission'. You are supposed to identify with the main shooter, because you see everything through his eyes - you are shooting the machine gun; hell, you ARE the shooter. The virtual world looks entirely realistic, it is like watching Mission Impossible. At the CIA headquarters you get your briefing. The message is obvious: you are a GOOD guy, out to get the world's biggest terrorist, called Makarov - yes, a Russian, what else. You have to do whatever it takes - in the end it will benefit the world at large. You soon find out what that means: as an infiltrator, you enter a crowded airport, filled with innocent civilians. As part of Makarov's team, you start shooting up the entire airport. You see people falling down, hear screams, you step over bodies in large pools of blood. You continue to shoot and kill everything that moves. In the ten minute killing spree (!) hundreds of casualties are made. The guys get into a get-away van, you want to do the same thing. Then the cynical end: Makarov turns and shoots you as well, square in the head. Once the Russians will discover a dead CIA agent, it will most likely escalate into full-scale war, reasons the coldblooded terrorist. Your vision is blurred by blood, as the terrorists escape. Game Over. You're dead.

This game for XBox 360 can purchased by anyone, anywhere. It is sold for instance by Wehkamp.nl, one of the largest postorder companies in the Netherlands, its clientele usually known for its love of floral prints. Of course also Amazon stocks this succesfull game in large numbers, explaining how to raise your score: "This can be done by leveling up, but another important way is through "kill streaks," the number of enemies eliminated in succession. These are available beginning with three kills and include the ability to call for supply drops, predator missile strikes, helicopter gunships and many more..... The game also features help to players experiencing "death streaks," multiple consecutive deaths in multiplayer matches" (http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00269QLI8). Not surprising perhaps, that Amazon fails to mention that "players will be called upon to kill hundreds of innocent civilians in bloody massacres".

'Modern Warfare' may not be connected to yesterday's killings at all, but plenty of massacres have been linked to violent computer games, so let's not be surprised if this killer turns out to have been a gamer as well. The ultra-realistic 3D quality of shooting games blur the boundaries between the real and the virtual, where shooting up a real shopping mall is only a button click away for the mentally disturbed.