Happy Advent!

Dominoes Everywhere for the holidays from Jared Lyon on Vimeo.

If Daniel Craig can do it, so can we.

We've all practiced the gun pose with a water pistol, used our scientific calculators as walkie talkies and tried to sound cool by introducing ourselves with the surname, first name, surname lingo - but this is really the closest us mere muggles are going to get to tasting the mission filled life of James Bond. 

With the Skyfall premier last night, Coke Zero challenged unsuspecting train passengers to unlock the 007 in them by completing a challenge in 70 seconds in order to win tickets to the film.  Check.it.out.

Can you hand-le this?!

Simply terrific!

Europe's Last Dictator

 I know it's been a while since my last docu-geek outburst but this particular one is worth shouting about.  After writing about a screening of it in London a while ago, I was eager to watch it when I saw it on the 'Community Channel' (I had never heard of it either), last week.  A good documentary stays with you for days after watching it, and Europe's Last Dictator, although not easy to watch, has done just this.

In a time of extreme political turbulence in the Middle East, the eyes of the world are often distracted from atrocities happening closer to home. For 14 years, Belarus has suffered at the hands of their totalitarian president, Aleksander Lukashenko. With interviews from families, friends and supporters of opposition leaders, combined with horrifying original footage of Lukashenko’s brutal, political crackdown of the post 2010 election protests, Europe’s Last Dictator exposes accusations of torture, state-sponsored murder and violent repression as reality.

Although a little insincerely narrated by Joanna Lumley, the main contributor is Irina Bogdanova, sister of Andrey Sannikau, one of Lukashenko's main political oppositions who was imprisoned in 2010 before suspiciously disappearing from jail.  People still do not know his whereabouts.  Andrey Sannikau's selflessness, determination and bravery are astounding and her wish to publicise the atrocities in Belarus are essential for the Free Belarus Now campaign.  So give it a watch, have a think and spread the word.

Travel in Groups!

Here's a Wednesday treat!

MOVE

On rainy days like this, it's only natural that we're all going to get itchy feet and dream of warmer places.  This video was created by Australian freelance filmmaker and illustrator, Rick Mereki.  The finished product was made by three weary travellers over 44 days. They took 18 flights to span 11 countries and 38, 000 miles in order to make this amazing short film. If the rain doesn't do it, this montage is sure to kick our travel bug into action!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

For those days when you've lost your whistle...

We all have days when we feel a bit down trodden, like we're not all that good at anything and that we've just lost our whistle.  I saw this video and I thought it summed days like these up - as everyone always gets their va va voom back, whatever the weather!  This little co-production venture between Trunk Animation in London and Dansk Tegnefilm in Denmark, was amazingly made using thousands of potato prints!  Brilliant!

Handmade!

I thought this was so darn sweet that it had to go on to 'The Little Things in Life.'  For Wallpaper* magazine's 'Handmade' issue, they asked dutch filmakers, Lernert & Sander, to create a film about bespoke tailoring.  In collaboration with Italian tailors, Brioni, this was the result - a hand has never looked so smart!

Emu Rave!

Obama's Sexy and he knows it!

I certainly agree with him!

Breathtaking.

Turn the lights off, turn on full screen and be amazed!

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Thinking of Learning a New Language?!

Pop-Up!

I thought this video of an extremely innovative pop-up alphabet book from graphic and book designer, Marion Bataille, shows how something so simple can be so impressive!  Check it out.

Check it out!

100 greatest hits of you tube squeezed into 4 minutes - pretty good if you ask me!