The Sandman Files

That's all, folks.

2009-12-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

So I obviously haven't been keeping this blog up to date lately, and there's a reason for that. I've left Dubai, and moved to Singapore, so that took up a lot of my time. I enjoyed posting stuff up on here, but I think it's time to give it up. There are so many awesome websites out there that do what I was trying to do here so much better than I ever could.

I should also be honest about something. I'm not Jordanian. I'm a western expat, who works in advertising. I'm sorry that I didn't tell the truth about that, but I had my own private reasons for doing so.

So this is it, ladies and gents. The final post on The Sandman Files. Just under one year to the day since I started it. I hope you enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Through this blog I learned more about Dubai and the amazing people that live in that town, and I'll always appreciate that.

Thanks guys.

Scratch Perverts

2009-08-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

This is so very, very cool:

I really can't describe how cool that video is. Great stuff from Chris Cairns and the Scratch Perverts.

And yes, I know I haven't posted in ages. Let's say I was overseas? Or sick? Whatever floats your boat, really. (We both know I'm just lazy.)

Calvin Harris & The Humanthesizer

2009-08-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

Just saw this over on Boing Boing. Calvin Harris teamed up with some students at the Royal College of Art, and created what you could call a macro musical instrument by using electronically-conductive ink to play sounds. I really can't describe it, so you'll just have to check out the video:

Thank you Internet.

Image Dump 16

2009-07-30T00:49:00.000-07:00

I don't approve of smoking. I do approve of Catherine McNeil.

So it's that time again, time for another image dump of some stuff I've collected from across the intertubes. If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen a couple of these before, but this just makes you a better and more informed person.

And before you ask, no, I didn't go to Geekfest last night at The Shelter. Yes, that makes me a bad person, but I swear I'll be there for the next one. Seriously, I will. Don't give me that look!

Enjoy your weekend kids in Dubai, and if you're from somewhere else, well, enjoy your weekend in 24 hours..

Sandman Goes Multimedia

2009-07-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've finally hit the big time! Late last week I got an email from a lovely lady named Jane who writes for the 7Days newspaper. She was asking me about the upcoming Geekfest event at The Shelter. You can find the article here. Also quoted were Alexander McNabb from Fake Plastic Souks and industrial designer/artist James Clar, so I'm in some pretty illustrious company!

So check out the article, and definitely check out Geekfest at The Shelter, this coming Wednesday.

Apologies x 1000

2009-07-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting for ages, but I've been a bit sick, and I've had a lot of work on my plate recently, so I haven't had the chance. Plus I'm a lazy, lazy man. So to make up for it, here are some cool things I've seen over the past week or so.

Firstly, I'm guessing some of you may have seen it already, but they've finally put together a film clip for Kid Cudi's 'Make Her Say' track, which samples Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face'. It features Kanye West and Common, and is 8 kinds of awesome:

And here's one of my favourite bands Vampire Weekend covering Plastic Bertrand's uber 80s hit 'Ca Plane Pour Moi'. The lead singer's French is pretty great actually:

And finally, if you're really bored, click here and play a great flash game where you launch a hedgehog to the moon.

I'll post some more stuff next week, I promise. And as always, there's my twitter feed if you're feeling really lonely..

Image Dump 15

2009-07-09T00:25:00.001-07:00

A picture from my days in London

Here's the 15th installment of the Image Dump. I am so glad that it is a Thursday, I can't tell you.
I feel like breaking out in song. Possibly this song.
Enjoy the weekend guys, and remember, "The man who can't visualise a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot."

Best Blogs List

2009-07-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd add a quick note to the blog to say thanks to Catboy from Dubai 92, and Alex McNabb, author of the always interesting Fake Plastic Souks blog, for adding me to their list of the best blogs in the UAE. You can find the list over here. Thanks again guys!

Japanese Collaborative Music Video

2009-07-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

Just saw this over on BOOOOOOOM! It's by a Japanese band called Sour, and it's for their latest single 'Hibi no Neiro'. They enlisted their fanbase and their webcams to create a stunning film clip that is essentially a moving montage. Great stuff:

Credit goes to the directors Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, Masayoshi Nakamur, the band, and the fans themselves.

Warhol + Debbie Harry x Amiga = Awesome

2009-07-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Here is an old clip of Andy Warhol painting Debbie Harry on an Amiga computer, because it is awesome.

That is all.

The Temper Trap & MJ

2009-07-02T05:10:00.000-07:00

A while back, I was watching the trailer for the upcoming film '500 Days of Summer', and really loved the track that was playing over it. So, after a quick search, I found out that the track was called 'Sweet Disposition', by a band called The Temper Trap.

Turns out that these guys are from Melbourne, where I lived for a few years before I came to Dubai. Fascinating, right?

Anyway, they've just launched their debut album 'Conditions' in Australia, and are touring the UK as I type these very words. And, luckily for us, they've filmed a video for the aforementioned track, Sweet Disposition. And it is good. So I will post it...

Check out their Myspace page if you'd like to hear some more tracks, they're all pretty great.

And yes, I've noticed that the Beatles video below has been removed, but I'm too lazy to fix the post or find a replacement video.

And just because every single site on the internet has paid tribute to Michael Jackson in some way this week, I thought I'd just post this old Pepsi commercial that is kinda nice. It's a bit cheesy, but it's still a nice way to remember the guy.

I shook Michael Jackson's hand once when I met him when I was like 12 years old at an art gallery. It was during his black silk mask stage, and he seemed like a very gentle person. I don't want to pass judgment on some of the things he did in his personal life, but the guy made some great music.

Beatles Rock Band Intro

2009-06-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Just saw this and had to post it. It's the intro for The Beatles version of the Rock Band videogame. The whole thing was put together by the guys and girls at Passion Pictures and Harmonix. I love the seamless transition between 2D and 3D. Awesome stuff. Enjoy:

Image Dump 14/100th Post!

2009-06-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

Some villagers constructed a monument to my 100th post

Hey everyone, so here's the image dump I've been promising for the last couple of days. Plus this post is a bit of a milestone, it being my 100th post here on The Sandman Files.

It's been fun doing this blog, and I'll keep it up at least for the next few months. I can't be sure that I'll make it to 200 posts, but only time will tell I guess. I just wanted to say thanks for reading along, no matter how long you've been visiting the site.

I'll definitely be updating my twitter account as usual, so if you find the blog postings get a bit scarce, check up on me over there.

And if you've got any feedback or requests of what you'd like to see on the blog in the future, just leave them in the comments, or send me an email, at sandman.84@hotmail.com

Thanks everyone!

(This last one is for @sharjah on twitter)

Street Art in Tehran

2009-06-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

Found this great post over on the bad banana blog yesterday. Just some examples of some of the cool street artworks that have been seen in Tehran over the past few weeks. There's more over here.

Also, if you're on twitter, I highly suggest you follow the author of the bad banana blog, Tim Seidell. You can find his account here. Here are some examples of his tweets:

Anyway, check out his blog for more great stuff. That is all.

I'll be back later today with an image dump...

Mixed Bag

2009-06-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd quickly post up some of the stuff I've been looking at over the past few days. Firstly, here's a track from Mos Def's new album 'The Ecstatic'. The track is called 'Supermagic', and it's the opening track on the album. I'm so glad that the album is great, Mos has always been one of my favourite musicians. I'd really encourage everyone to check it out:

Second, here are some shots from Dina Goldstein's 'Fallen Princesses' project. These have been posted on a few different sites, so you might have seen them by now, but I thought you all might enjoy them. Dina has taken princesses from Disney movies and put them in real life, real depressing situations:

And lastly, I'm sure everyone is seeing how Twitter is involved in the current developments over in Iran. I've posted about Iran's nation of bloggers before, but it's just stunning to see how social networks are circumventing the mainstream media, and getting the world to take notice of what is going on. For live updates on major stories, check out The Huffington Post, and read this great article on the different ways that the mainstream media and social networks have responded to the crisis here.

I'll probably post an image dump later today, so stay tuned for that as well...

Don't call it a comeback

2009-06-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

So, obviously I haven't written on this blog in ages. Call it laziness, call it lack of inspiration, call it being busy with other things, the reasons are many and varied. Mostly it was the laziness thing though.

I just thought I'd put up some stuff to let everyone know that myself and the blog are still alive. If you feel like you're not getting enough of my luminous personality, follow me on Twitter, here. You know you want to. I mean, where else can you find out what I had for breakfast? Nowhere, that's where.

So here's two videos that I'm posting for different reasons. The first is a music video created by one of my favourite illustrators McBess. The music isn't that great, but the video itself is stunning.

And the second video is from musician Wavves. This guy makes really lo-fi stuff that shreds your ears a bit, but still manages to sound great. The video itself is pretty rubbish, so it's essentially the opposite of the McBess video above.

So, enjoy the music, and follow me on Twitter. I'll probably post something again tomorrow, but then again, maybe not. (I'm trying to build suspense. I doubt it's working.)

Image Dump 13

2009-05-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

The day I tamed a unicorn

Here's another image dump. Some would say it's the best one yet. Those people would be correct. I mean, look at the image below; who even thinks of this stuff? If anyone knows what movie that is from, please send me an email or leave a comment below. So awesome.

And if you're mildly interested in my blog, follow me on Twitter, here. I post more on Twitter than I do here nowadays, and I'm much funnier over there. Promise.

Swine Flu & Censorship in the Middle East

2009-05-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

POST UPDATED BELOW

So today seems to have been a pretty big day in the Middle East.

Firstly, 18 American soldiers stationed in Kuwait have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, aka 'Swine Flu'. There's more details over on the BBC website, if you're interested. I thought it was an interesting fact that apparently there have been 12,022 cases of H1N1 diagnosed, but only like 80 have resulted in death. So obviously the whole thing is getting blown out of proportion.

I was talking to a friend earlier, and he said that if the H1N1 virus is in Kuwait, then it's here in Dubai. What do you guys think? Would the government try to suppress any reports of a Swine Flu outbreak? Or would they be open and transparent about the whole thing? Only time will tell I guess, as it looks like this thing is inevitably going to come to the UAE at some stage.

And secondly, Iran has blocked Facebook. Click here for more information, again from the BBC. The timing of the ban is interesting, with the elections coming up in June. I posted about this really interesting short animation about bloggers in Iran a month or so ago. It really surprised me that Iran has the third largest blogging population in the world. I also stumbled across an interesting article written by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek about global misconceptions of Iran.

The whole blocking websites thing is pretty pointless really. I've written before about the fact that certain sites like Flickr are blocked in the UAE. And while this is frustrating, there are widely-known ways around the blocks (which I won't mention specifically, they're not that hard to find). I hope that this is the same for people in Iran, and that they can continue to use the interest without censorship.

If anyone is visiting this site from Iran, leave a comment below, and let us know what's going on over there..

UPDATE: As Alexander has commented below, the UAE has confirmed its first official case of H1N1, or Swine Flu. Gulf News has more info. Apparently the patient is a tourist from Canada, who arrived on a recent flight to Dubai.

So far, the relevant authorities have been forthright with the information, which is clearly the best approach. Let's hope that the Canadian guy (or girl) in question gets well soon, and that this thing doesn't get out of hand, like it did in Egypt.

Snatch & Star Wars Mash-up

2009-05-21T05:40:00.001-07:00

This is genius. If you don't like colourful language, don't press play..

And speaking of Snatch, if you haven't seen the trailer for Guy Ritchie's new Sherlock Holmes movie, check it out here, immediately. It's face-punchingly awesome.

In Praise of Chris Ware

2009-05-12T03:28:00.000-07:00

Just saw this great animation by illustrator Chris Ware. It's the story of Quimby the Mouse, make sure you keep watching until the very end:

I don't really know much about his stuff, but I'm looking forward to seeing more. The music is by Andrew Bird, for those who are interested.

Enjoy!

Image Dump 12

2009-05-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

The day I met Nixon.

Wow, a dozen image dumps already?! Obviously you'll all have noticed that I haven't been posting stuff on this blog as much lately. I just haven't seen that much interesting stuff out there to talk about really. So it's the world's fault, not mine!

Plus I've been on Twitter most of the time. You can follow me here. Please do.

So without further ado, on to the images that interested me this week...

How cool is that last guy? He's like Dave Hasselhoff with Tom Selleck's moustache and Mad Max's outfit, combined with a guy from one of those bad property ads on Jumeirah Beach road..

In Praise Of Marc Johns

2009-05-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been seeing a fair bit of the work of Marc Johns around some of the design and visual arts blogs. Marc's work reminds me of some of the stuff done by the guys in the Royal Art Lodge collective. Marc has this really cool skill of merging naive imagery and style, with a pretty oddball sense of humour, which is great.

Marc is definitely my kind of illustrator, by which I mean he keeps things simple, while maintaining a skewed view of the world. It also helps that his stuff is tinged with this melancholy humour that is a really nice touch.

If you like Marc's stuff, you can check out his website, see more of his work on Flickr (if it's not blocked in your country), follow him on Twitter, or buy his book, which definitely looks like something I'm going to pick up next time I'm at Kinokuniya (if they have it).

I could seriously look at Marc's work all day. In fact, I think I might do that

Flashmob Sing-along

2009-05-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

So they've made a follow-up to the flashmob dance that they did in London a while ago, I posted about it here.

This time they handed out 2000 microphones to more than 13,000 Londoners who had gathered in Trafalgar Square. Just stunning stuff. Enjoy:

Did you see anyone you know? I miss London so much..

New York Advertising Takeover

2009-04-30T03:13:00.000-07:00

A pretty cool thing happened on Saturday in New York. Apparently over 120 illegal outdoor advertising sites were taken over by artists, and used as al fresco canvases for amazing design and artworks. There seems to be a problem in New York (and other cities presumably) with media companies installing outdoor advertising without council or landlord permission. These companies then make money from companies that are advertising on these illegal media sites.

So in response to this, a bunch of artists and designers, led by a guy called Jordan Seiler, got together and whitewashed 120 of these illegal sites. When they were done, they painted on these newly-claimed canvases with designs of their own. The results were quite spectacular:

It's always great when a group of people can come together and have a positive impact on their city. Hopefully all of these artworks are preserved, and the corporations don't just plaster more ads on top of them. And let's hope that the law doesn't get involved and charge anyone with 'destruction of public property' or whatever. I've always thought that when you treat street artists like criminals, they're going to produce work that looks like it was done by criminals (ie tagging, and quick scribbled designs). But if you respect their work, and recognise them as artists, then they'll create work that makes any given city a more beautiful place. And that can only ever be a good thing.

For more pictures of the "New York Street Advertising Takeover" as they called it, click here and here. And to see Jordan Seiler's site, click here.

Oh and p.s. sorry for the lack of posting this week. I've just been busy with other stuff and, well, lazy..

Cool Dubai Blogs & Gig Guide

2009-04-26T01:29:00.000-07:00

So I've been looking around for cool blogs that are based in Dubai and the rest of the Middle East. I'm thinking of starting a little blogroll on the side my page. Obviously there's no shortage of blogs that talk about social issues etc in Dubai, but I'm looking for something a little different.

I want to find people who are really interested in the artistic and musical scene here in the Middle East. These sorts of blogs aren't that common.

So far, the best blogs I've found have been the following:

discoballbreaker
Apart from just having an awesome name, this site, focuses pretty heavily on the regional and international music scene.

avantcaire
Mostly about music, and a bit of art, this blog covers stuff from all over the region. It's a good way to keep up with what is happening, and what events are coming up.

MBAs, Media & The Middle East
This site is run by a guy called Shebab Hamad, who works (or owns?) at the 50 Degrees C store/space at the Souk Al Bahar. It sometimes focuses on more general social things about Dubai, but it's also got some cool stuff about the local art scene.

five green
This site is run by the guys/girls who owned the five green store. I'm not sure if the store is still open, or if they've moved locations or whatever, but there's always some cool stuff on the site. It doesn't get updated too regularly, but check it out anyway.

That's pretty much all I've found so far along those sorts of topics. If you know of any other cool sites in the region, or if you're running a cool one yourself, leave the address in the comments, or email it to me at sandman.84@hotmail.com

Also, does anyone know of any good gig guides for Dubai? The Time Out Dubai site never really has anything interesting, and searching on Myspace for gigs is always pretty useless. Is it just the fact that no-one that interesting ever comes to Dubai? Or is it that we're lacking a decent site or publication that will let people know what's on? I'm asking the question because apparently New Young Pony Club played in Dubai a few weeks back, and I had no idea that they were in town. I would have loved to go an see them, but never got the chance. So does anyone know what the best way to keep up on these shows is?

As always, leave a comment if you have an answer or an opinion...

Image Dump 11

2009-04-23T01:16:00.001-07:00

Here's this week's installment of images that I found throughout the internet this week. I was going to put the some of the images as like a hidden part of the post, because I got a bit sick of the images taking up so much room on the page, but wow, there's a lot of HTML code to learn to do that. And I really don't feel like doing that at all. I mean, really, it's incredibly unnecessarily complicated. So here we are. Enjoy kids...

Psycho Bike-o

2009-04-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

Just saw this video over on Veer. Wow. This guy is a maniac. Please watch every second of this:

The guy's name is Danny MacAskill, and he does some of the most amazing stuff I've ever seen on a bike. I'm sure that there were a lot of injuries that went into the making of that video, but I'm also sure that they were all totally worth it.

This video makes me miss towns like London where a bike is actually a viable mode of transport. I was reading this awesome article in the New York Times last week that argued that the bicycle might be the "first real status symbol" of the global downturn. Let's hope so.

Wouldn't it be cool if we all got around on bikes like these?

The answer is yes, yes it would.

Bloggers in Iran

2009-04-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

Someone linked to this great little animation on Twitter the other day. I had no idea that half of Iran's population were under the age of 25, and that Iran was the third largest country in terms of bloggers.

Anyone visit this site from Iran? If you do, does this video accurately represent what's going on over there? Or have the guys and girls over at the Vancouver Film School got it wrong? Let me know what you think..

Isao Machii - The Modern Samurai

2009-04-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

Saw this over on Neatorama, and just had to post it. This guy Isao Machii is some sort of genius with a samurai sword. He cuts a pea pod in half - horizontally. He also cuts a BB gun bullet in half that is fired at him. The guy is intense. Check it out:

My favourite line is "It smoothly cuts it like cutting the thing that isn't iron."

In Praise of Peter Funch

2009-04-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

A few blogs (like this one) have been posting about this photographer called Peter Funch. According to his portfolio site, Funch has been taking photos for the past 9 years. What has brought him to people's attention recently is a series he's done called 'Babel Tales'. Essentially his technique is to set up on a corner in Manhattan, and take photos of people doing or wearing a particular thing. He then creates a composite image that features all these similar people. So in the photo below for example, everyone is yawning.

As I said, it's a pretty cool technique. It's simple too, so I imagine you'll probably see a bunch of stuff like this in the near future with people trying it out for themselves. Enjoy the rest of these shots, or check Funch's site for more of his work.

Defending Dubai Part 2

2009-04-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

Obviously last week's post about Hari's article in The Independent provoked a lot of discussion. It's clear that the subject of "Dubai-bashing" is a topic that a lot of people care deeply about. Some people think that Dubai has been built on the back of slave labour. Some think that Dubai is a vitally stable city in an often turbulent region. Some think that Dubai represents everything that's wrong with the global financial system. And some think that Dubai represents everything that's right with Arab ingenuity and ambition.

Clearly, we're far from a consensus on any of these articles. It's certainly disappointing when people who comment on articles (both pro- and anti-Dubai) essentially argue that anyone living in Dubai should be ashamed of themselves for condoning and benefiting from slavery. This attitude frustrates me the most. The vast majority of residents in Dubai are hard-working people who think that the way in which the labourers are treated is disgraceful. But if you'd only read these recent anti-Dubai articles, the uninformed outsider would think that every resident is ecstatic about the situation. This is what is so patently unfair about these articles.

Furthermore, where were these articles before the financial crisis? If these journalists care so much about the labourer situation, why weren't they highlighting the issue over the past decade? What makes this the perfect time to decry Dubai's labour laws? Again, I am certainly not approving of the treatment of labourers, but what seems unfair to a lot of my fellow Dubai residents is the sudden avalanche of negativity. It feels as thought these media outlets are kicking us while we're down.

The best question to ask is not who is right or wrong, but what can we do to make the situation better? How can we help the workers who have had their passports taken away? How can we ensure that they receive adequate compensation for their work. Pointing fingers at people, and publishing gross caricatures of the residents of Dubai will do nothing to change the situation. We need to channel this attention into action.

Over on Boing Boing today, there's a link to a post by Creative Commons CEO Joi Ito, where he defends Dubai from the recent wave of criticism. He writes,

I don't want to appear like I'm defending human rights offenders. As a board member of Global Voices, WITNESS and a supporter of a number of Human Rights organizations, I spend a TON of time on human rights issues. We NEED to talk about human rights. However, human rights issues are resolved by understanding how and what kind of pressure to put on who in order to cause the change. While broad understanding of human rights is important, I don't find that sprinkling them on articles as part of a negative press pile-on is really, comparatively speaking, that productive.

In Ito's post, there's a link to another post by Jamie Stewart, AKA desert_blogger, who writes for Independent Minds, a collection of blogs by journalists who write for The Independent. Stewart writes in response to a documentary that was aired recently (in the UK, I believe). He says,

Though many aspects of life here should indeed be put under the microscope, it should not be forgotten that the city, and its burgeoning growth, has repackaged the Middle East in the thoughts of many people. The means of its arrival on the world stage were questioned by last night's documentary, rightly so, but a huge experiment is underway, that mixes culture, ethnicity, and religion. It was never going to be easy.

Dubai bashing is a very real phenomenon. I wouldn't be surprised to see it as the exhibition sport at the next Olympics. Now, I'm not one to cast doubt on other's work. But, to raise some choice points from recent articles on Dubai: No, the Palm island is not sinking; No, the streets are not plagued with broke expats dusting the sand from their clothes after another night sleeping in the sand dunes; and I've turned on the taps THOUSANDS of times, and a river of cockroaches has never come pouring out (thank the NY Times for that pearl!)
The point of this post is that it's important to get things in perspective.

It's encouraging that some journalists are starting to realise that nothing much is going to change just by writing articles that point fingers at drunk expats at Double Decker's.

In the interest of impartiality, Johann Hari, the author of the commentary that has caused so much discussion over the last week or so, has written a response to some of the criticism of his opinion piece. You can find his rebuttal here.

So, again, it's over to you guys. Do you still agree with Hari, or do you still think Dubai is a monstrosity? Or if you disagreed with Hari's opinion, has it at least slightly changed your perspective of the labour conditions in the UAE? Leave your opinions in the comments section below...

Image Dump 10

2009-04-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Here's some more stuff that grabbed my attention this week. I might do a proper post later today. I might also be lazy, and not post anything. Only time will tell... (cue suspenseful music)

Defending Dubai

2009-04-09T01:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been talking and writing about Johann Hari's piece that appeared on The Independent's website a few days ago. Entitled "The dark side of Dubai", Hari's article was a commentary on what he saw and the people he met while on a recent trip to Dubai.

It's a real shame that so many people from other countries are reading this commentary and taking it as gospel. The people interviewed by Hari are borderline caricatures, and the piece has a very heavy anti-Dubai bias. It's so frustrating to read all the articles that are coming out nowadays that seem to be kicking Dubai while it's going through a rough patch. Most of these articles are written by people who visited for no more than a week or so, and their opinions are quickly-formed and poorly supported.

The Dubai that is never reported in these types of articles is the ordinary Dubai. The Dubai that attracts families and young professionals who see the city as a place where they can live in safety, and prosper securely. This side of Dubai is never reported because it doesn't make interesting reading. It's only the outrageous and scandalous that makes the papers, and as a result the international audience has a severely jaundiced view of Dubai.

It must be said, however, that the treatment of construction workers in Dubai isn't something we can be proud of. In this respect, I agree with most of what Hari has to say, but he only hits on the validity of his outrage towards the end of the article - the division between rich and poor is a global problem that should be addressed on a global scale, it's just that this problem is often more obvious in Dubai than it is in London, or anywhere else.

The idea that Dubai is a place that has grown out of debt and is nothing but a series of concrete and glass skyscrapers is such an unfair characterisation. Dubai does have a history as a trading port, but people from other countries often forget that the UAE is not yet even 40 years old. We've come so far in such a short time, it often makes me think that these articles are meant to scold a city that has exceeded the expectations of what people thought was previously possible. It seems that Dubai has grown faster than others gave it permission to, and now it's paying the price for it's temerity and audacity. This is such a ridiculous attitude. Dubai's prosperity and ambition should be championed. Of course not everything about Dubai is perfect, but if anything, it's major failure has been to model itself on the Western model of free-market Capitalism, which we now see as being inherently flawed in some respects.

What do you guys think? Am I totally off the mark? Or do you feel as frustrated as I do with this avalanche of negative articles about Dubai? Leave a comment and let me know what you think..

Making a break for it

2009-04-07T00:15:00.001-07:00

I just saw this article on the Gulf News website. Apparently people have been paying smugglers to get them out of the UAE by driving them through Oman to Yemen. Some people who are afraid of being put in jail for debts etc. are traveling overland to avoid punishment in the UAE.

The article goes on to say that when you leave the UAE, everyone is subject to a retina scan, which means that if you're found to be owing money or something, you'll be placed on a black list that bans you from ever coming back to the UAE.

All this seems like a pretty extreme measure. I'm sure there are some sketchy characters that are smuggling these people out of the country. I've also heard that the Dubai debtor's prison thing is just a myth, and that the jails are at full capacity anyway, so I think the whole thing is getting blown out of proportion.

Anyway, it's pretty crazy that Dubai has a border run now. Does this make Yemen the new Mexico?

Empire of the Sun

2009-04-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

So if you've been watching MTV over the last month or so, you might have seen this film clip:

It's a track called "Walking on a Dream" by an Australian band called Empire of the Sun. It certainly stands out on MTV against the endless stream of Chris Brown and Katie Perry filmclips. The video is really nicely shot on location in Shanghai, and the guys in the band are totally over-the-top. I can't figure out if they're treating the whole thing as one big joke or not, but whatever, the result is a great, crazy, ridiculous, farcical, sublime, inspired filmclip.

An old friend of mine from university just sent me through their latest clip, which was apparently shot in Mexico. The guys have continued with their crazy style and costumes, and the result is just as great as their first effort:

According to their YouTube channel, both videos were shot by a guy called Josh Logue of Mathematics. I've just checked out the Mathematics website, and their body of work is pretty stunning. They've done a filmclip for Architecture in Helsinki that was stop-motion animation, made entirely out of needlework stitching. They also do a lot of concert posters etc.

So enjoy the new music, I hope you like it all as much as I do..

Image Dump 9

2009-04-06T00:38:00.000-07:00

Another week, another image dump. Fresh from the intertubes, here's this week's assortment of photos, illustrations, and designs that grabbed my attention:

In Praise Of Invader

2009-04-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sure some of you will be familiar with the work of Invader. I first noticed his stuff when I was staying in Paris for a summer a few years ago. I was walking around the Marais with some friends, and we spotted a small mosaic in the shape of an alien from the famous video game Space Invaders.

As soon as we had seen one of these mosaics, we began to see them everywhere. I eventually found out that the artist had placed them all over Paris, as sort of a large scale scavenger-hunt game.

I was also told that people had started to imitate Invader (like any good artist) and had started making their own mosaics. Usually I'd say that this would be annoying for any artist, but Invader seems like the kind of guy that would encourage a massive proliferation of space invader aliens all around the world.

After checking Invader's website, I discovered that he has been placing these invaders all over the world. According to Wikipedia, he has been putting up these mosaics since 1998, and has done so in over 35 cities around the world.

As you can see from the map above, Invader has never visited the Middle East. Do you think we could get him to throw up a few space invaders around Dubai? Would anyone notice? I guess we might see them if they were in malls, or maybe around Bastakiya or JBR Walk, but anything on Sheikh Zayed Road would need to be pretty massive to be noticed.

Maybe one of the art galleries in town could have an exhibition of his stuff? He's put on exhibitions before, and we've currently got some of Futura's work here in town, so why not?

So if anyone knows Invader, or anyone knows anyone who runs a gallery and would be interested in contacting him for an exhibition, leave a comment below. It'd be awesome to see some of Invader's work here in Dubai

Nigo's Camouflage 300SL Merc

2009-04-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

I have to say, I really hate this. Nigo, the creator of famous Japanese streetwear brand Bape (or Bathing Ape) has purchased a 1955 Mercedes 300SL with gullwing doors, and 'refurbished' it. He's put a new Mercedes AMG engine under the hood, and refit the brakes, wheels and electrical systems. That's all cool, I have no problem with that. I'd probably do the same thing if I had as much money as Nigo does. My problem lies with what he's done to the outside of the car. As you can see, he's plastered the famous Bape logo all over the car, in a camouflage pattern.

In my opinion, the 300SL is one of most beautiful cars in the world. And this is just branding of the worst kind. I mean, look at the picture below. It's stunning even just in its standard Mercedes grey.

Anyway, rant over. I guess when people have more money than they know what to do with, they're going to do stupid stuff like this.

If you want to read more, check out Highsnobiety, or Nigo's blog on Honeyee, if you can read Japanese...

Old & Smelly

2009-04-02T04:56:00.000-07:00

Just saw this over on the National Geographic site. Apparently they've found a container of the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut's personal perfume.

According to the NG,

X-ray photographs of the 4.7-inch-tall (12-centimeter-tall) bottle, from the permanent collection of Bonn University's Egyptian Museum, reveals remnants of the ancient oil. Scientists plan to identify the substance and, possibly within a year, re-create the perfume.

The bottle, which was found in the queen's possessions after her death in 1457 B.C., is engraved with a hieroglyph (bottom) of her name.

The thin neck "allows a very economical dosing of the valuable content," according to Michael Höveler-Müller, curator of Bonn University's Egyptian Museum. A small clay stopper would have kept the oil from spilling.

"In every case our research will touch new grounds and will maybe enable us to put our noses back into a time more than 3,500 years [ago]," Höveler-Müller said in an email.

It'd be interesting if they recreate this perfume and it smells totally disgusting. Hopefully it doesn't smell so good that they recreate it on an industrial scale. I'd hate to be walking through the Mall and have someone standing outside a cosmetics store spraying the stuff at me to get me to buy it. But then again, they do that anyway, so what's the difference really?

Burj Dubai Fountain Video

2009-04-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

So I thought some of you might be interested in seeing this. I got the link from this guy, Gerald. So thanks Gerald.

The best part is around the 1:40 mark, in my opinion. So yeah, pretty cool I guess.

Image Dump 8

2009-04-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the week again friends. There are some pretty crazy images this week, like that cat-woman balancing on empty bottles. Also, check out the BMW motorbike, I could have made a single post for that one bike alone. It's a 1934 BMW R7, and it was discovered in a box in some warehouse somewhere a year back. Some guys painstakingly restored it to it's current glory. Isn't it stunning?

And that last shot with the bulls is just amazing. That's a once-in-a-lifetime shot right there.

New Dubai Morality Rules

2009-03-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

So a few of my friends have been talking about some new morality rules that have been introduced by the Dubai moral police, or whatever they're called. I was at the mall the other day, and noticed that there are a few signs around the place that advise people against certain behaviour and dress. It's weird when this sort of stuff comes up, because a lot of rumours start getting spread around, and no-one knows what the actual situation is.

Firstly, I think these rules have pretty much always been in place, they just haven't been enforced. I know a girl who was asked to leave the Mall of the Emirates because she was wearing slightly revealing clothing. She told me that she was given a 'red card' by some morality police, and was asked to leave, but I get the feeling she's exaggerating. I've also heard that under the new laws, laughing in public is forbidden. This has surely got to be a joke (zing!).

So how did the new rules come about? Well, according to The Economist:
"A commission chaired by the crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum, has proposed a code of public conduct to tighten strictures on dress, drinking, dancing and public displays of affection, such as kissing.
Not yet law, the code stresses tolerance and respect for diversity as cornerstones of Dubai’s success. But it also stipulates that improper behaviour that flouts local customs may lead to fines, prosecution or deportation. This is neither new nor unexpected. Dubai’s authorities recently jailed and deported a British couple caught having sex on a public beach, and have sentenced another Briton, a mother of two, to prison for adultery. Occasional morality campaigns have led to suspected homosexuals and cross-dressers being pestered, and may have dented the emirate’s thriving prostitution trade."

So they rules aren't actually law yet, they're just a recommended code of conduct. And according to the AP, the rules are as follows:

"Dancing and playing loud music in public will be banned. Couples kissing, holding hands or hugging could face fines or detention.

Miniskirts and skimpy shorts would no longer be tolerated outside hotels and other private areas. Bikini wearers also could be chased off public beaches and only allowed on the fenced-off sands of luxury resorts.

Other no-nos: drinking alcohol outside licensed premises or swearing and displaying rude gestures in public..."

Again, there's nothing really that new there, is there? OK, so the hugging in public thing is a bit strict, but I haven't read anything that is a major departure from what has been the case before. And there's definitely nothing there about a ban on laughter.

So what do you guys think? What other rules have you heard about? Do you think the morality police are being too tough, or is it about time that Dubai tamed things down a bit?

My opinion? I find it odd that men are allowed to hold hands in public, but that men and women aren't. I think drinking in the street isn't something that should be encouraged, but I also think that people wearing bikinis shouldn't be hassled or ushered off public beaches. So it's a mixed result really.

Let me know what you think in the comments below..

Where The Wild Things Are Trailer

2009-03-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes something gets blogged about so much, that you feel that you're not doing your duty if you don't spread the word as well. Today, that subject is the trailer for Spike Jonze's interpretation of Maurice Sendak's illustrated story Where The Wild Things Are.

You can view a HD Quicktime version of the trailer here.

I don't think that there's really anything much more to say, other than I cannot wait until this film comes out. If you're wondering what the song in the trailer is, it's a new version of 'Wake Up' by Canadian band The Arcade Fire. I'm told that the book was adapted by the writer Dave Eggers, who is responsible for the amazing book "A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius", so I think hopes are pretty high all around for this film, based on the team who were involved in bringing it to the screen. According to IMDB, it should be released around October the 19th, so looks like we're in for quite the wait unfortunately. I guess we should be thankful that it was made at all..

Art Cars

2009-03-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Just saw this over on TrendLand. Some guys are using old 80's model BMWs as canvases and putting them on display at a gallery in Manhattan.

Their works are inspired by artists like Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Frank Stella. I think the exhibition opened yesterday, and runs for 2 weeks, so if you're in New York, make sure you check it out. Can you imagine how much fun it'd be to get a car and just go crazy with it? Not too sure what I'd put on mine to be honest. Maybe something like this painted comic-book style:

Anyway, it's good to see some artists out there who are just having fun..

See-through Seafood

2009-03-22T23:51:00.001-07:00

Does anyone else think this is the craziest thing ever? I saw this over on the National Geographic website. It's called a Pacific Barreleye Fish, and it lives off the coast of California. I honestly though that the image above was just a comped-up design to illustrate what the fish 'might' look like. But then I watched the video below, and was just blown away. I just can't figure out what possible benefit would arise from having a transparent head.

Can you imagine how stunned you'd be if you caught one of these things if you were going fishing? Anyway, check out the video, it's pretty amazing..

Flickr blocked in the UAE?

2009-03-22T02:11:00.000-07:00

So, in the name of public decency, Flickr has been blocked in the UAE by all of the major ISPs. This is such a ridiculous decision, and effectively means that users of Flickr in the UAE can't access their own photostreams, and communicate with other users from around the world. As you might know, I sometimes post images from different events that I go to up on Flickr. These photos are now non-existant to my friends and people who visit my site from within the UAE.

It's really almost embarrassing that in this day and age, the UAE insists on such ridiculous censorship. Flickr isn't pornographic, it's just a medium that people use to share photos and short films that they've made or that interest them. So now if one of my friends from abroad sends me a link to their photos, or someone links to a Flickr post on Twitter, I can't see what they're talking about.

So, my question to you, dear readers, is how can we get around the blocks? Are there sites we can visit that show us how to get around the censorship, or have they been blocked too? If you've got any ideas, be sure to post them in the comments section below..

Image Dump 7

2009-03-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

So did anyone go to Art Dubai this weekend? I have to admit, I had plans to go with some friends, but got sidetracked and decided to watch some DVDs on the couch and just go for coffee with some people. Pretty lazy, I know. Oh well, here's this week's image dump:

Daft Punk and Drum Set

2009-03-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me through these awesome websites. You just go on, and the keys you press on your keyboard make different sounds. Click on the images to visit the sites.

The first one is the lyrics of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger":

The second is just like a drum machine with some basic samples and synthesiser sounds:

I've been having fun with this stuff for the last few hours. Great stuff. If any of you have any other examples of these kinds of sites, please send them through to me. Enjoy!

Futura in Dubai

2009-03-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I just wanted to apologise for the lack of posting recently. I've been running back and forth between Dubai and Abu Dhabi on family business, so I've been a bit lazy.

But the wait has definitely been worth it. Those of you who read Kanye West's blog, or Hypebeast, will have seen that the legendary, internationally acclaimed graffiti artist Futura is coming to Dubai. He's coming as part of an exhibition being put on by Krunk, on March 19th, at Cuadro Fine Art Gallery. For those of you who don't know, Cuadro Gallery is in the DIFC. Futura's work will be shown alongside work from artists Phil Frost and Stash. The exhibition will run until June 17th.

This is sure to be a great event. I can't believe that I only discovered that it was on this close to the actual launch date. It seems that every week we hear about more and more awesome artistic events taking place in Dubai. Let's hope the trend continues..

In praise of Devin McGrath

2009-03-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

I stumbled onto these illustrations from NY-based illustrator Devin McGrath over on Josh Spear's site. This guy has a real knack for creating surreal and creepy worlds involving mutant animals and mildly threatening 10 year olds. I can imagine McGrath would be a good choice to illustrate a children's version of an HP Lovecraft compendium, if they make such a thing. He's got a pretty twisted sense of humour (see the Unicorn piece below), but I really love the guy's use of colour; he's got a talent for making the bright and shiny seem somehow corrupt and sickly.

They've also featured Devin's work over on Juxtapoz and Lost At E Minor, so the guy is getting some good exposure. Hopefully we'll see more from him in the near future.

Also, if you head to his site, check out the guy's bio, it's pretty funny stuff..

The Hoff in Dubai

2009-03-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

I was reading 7 Days today, and it turns out that David Hasselhoff has been visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the past few weeks. If you check out his blog, you'll see a bunch of videos of him walking around the mall, skiing at Ski Dubai, and doing a bunch of other stuff:

Has anyone bumped into 'The Hoff' while he has been in town? A friend of mine saw him in Paris once, and said he was a genuinely nice guy, so if you get the chance to say hi to him, I'd say go ahead.

On another note, if you've got a Twitter account, don't hesitate to follow my feed, which you can find here. It's the most interesting Twitter feed on the internet..

Image Dump 6

2009-03-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

I can't get that old Buddy Holly track 'Everyday' out of my head for some odd reason. Anyway, here's this week's image dump:

That last image is apparently from a Buddhist monastery where a monk has been praying in the same spot for like 40 years. Pretty crazy huh?

Terminator trailer

2009-03-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Just saw this, and had to pass it on to you guys:

I've been hesitant to get on board for this new Terminator movie after what happened in T3, but this actually looks great. Like, really great. And apparently they're making two more, so this is really just the first part of a trilogy. Can't wait until this one comes out. I guess that Christian Bale freakout was worth it after all..

Crayon creations

2009-03-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

Just saw some of Christian Faur's work over on Neu Black. I've been seeing it on a few different sites over the past few days, so I thought I'd put it up here as well. The guy makes these amazing pixelated artworks by skillfully arranging custom-made crayons. He does other stuff as well, so check out his website and see his full portfolio, there's heaps of great stuff..

I like the fact that in some of his works he's deliberately thrown some odd coloured crayons in there, like in the above image. He chooses not to make his image a totally perfect replication. It's almost like he's saying "we both know I'm capable of doing this perfectly, but I don't need to show that." It's a nice touch..

24-karat bike

2009-03-01T23:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is a bit ridiculous. Remember in that episode of The Simpsons where the old tramp guy wins a lawsuit against Itchy & Scratchy, and he goes and buys a rocket car and a solid gold house? This is kind of like that. Over on Booooooom they've got some pictures of this 24-karat gold fixed-gear bicycle. It's made by a company called Aurumania, and apparently has diamonds or crystals implanted into the frame. Check it out:

So how much for one of these bikes? Around US$104,000.
At first I thought this was a really stupid thing to make, especially in the current financial climate. But then again, maybe it's genius. Maybe all the guys who would be buying massive Hummers will start buying fixed-gear bikes and cruising around town on them, which would mean less pollution and less cars on the road. Win-win right? Yeah I'll believe it when I see it..

Credit where it's due

2009-03-01T04:51:00.000-08:00

Just saw this great video over on Neu Black. It's a motion graphic explanation of how the current financial crisis arose, by a guy called Jonathan Jarvis. It's hands-down the most simple and understandable summary of what caused the mess we're in today. Plus it's also really nicely designed and put together. Make sure you watch it so you can talk about Sub-prime Mortgages and actually know what the word means:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Image dump 5

2009-02-25T00:13:00.001-08:00

Here's your weekly installment of weird stuff from all over ye olde internete. Enjoy:

p.s. Apologies for not posting more frequently this week, I've been crazy busy. I'll make it up to you all next week, I promise..

Photos from My Name Is Robot

2009-02-23T04:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I've just been busy with a bunch of things. So here, as promised (on my Twitter account) are some photos from the night itself. There are more on my Flickr photostream as well:

Overall the night was a total success. The crowd was huge, and it was great to see such a wide range of people come out to support a local art show. It certainly encourages more events such as these in the future. My favourite robot in the show was the Chester French robot with the big glasses that you can see in the third photo.

So well done to all the artists, photographers, designers, and supporters involved in making the whole thing such a successful and vibrant event. Let's hope we see more of these events in the future.

What did you guys think of the exhibition? Leave a comment below if you want..

Paul Smith lomo camera

2009-02-19T01:04:00.000-08:00

Some of you will be familiar with the joys of lomography. Some of you will be familiar with the Al Bastakiya Art Fair. This means that some of you will be very happy to hear that there will be a 'lomo wall' set up during the art fair. The art fair runs from March 15 - 22, and should be a great event with many different attractions.

If you're not into lomography, or just need a new lomo camera, check this out:

My friends all know that I'm a bit of a gear-head, so this Paul Smith lomo camera went straight to the top of my 'must-have' list. Unfortunately, the online store says they're all sold out, but perhaps they've still got one or two at the Dubai Mall outlet..

Tonight's the night

2009-02-18T23:07:00.000-08:00

The time has come people. Tonight sees the launch of the My Name Is Robot exhibition at the Jam Jar Gallery in Al Quoz. There's a map to the location here. It should be a pretty huge night. Judging from the Facebook event page, there could be over 350 people there. So come along, and you just might bump into your favourite blogger...

Welcome to Heartbreak video

2009-02-17T22:42:00.001-08:00

So I just saw the video for Kanye West's 'Welcome to Heartbreak' over on Hypebeast, and I had to post it up for you guys. Don't adjust your set, just enjoy:

KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

I think it's a stunning bit of work. Just to take that visual noise that everyone has seen on their computer at one time or another and to use it to such great effect is amazing. The director is a guy called Nabil Elderkin, and you can find more of his work here. I've been sending this to everyone I know. Such a cool video. Nice track too. Apparently this won't be the next single though. Hope you all liked it as much as I did..

Image dump 4

2009-02-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

Here's your weekly installment of interesting stuff from all over the place. Enjoy:

In praise of Dan Meth

2009-02-16T00:13:00.001-08:00

Just saw this, and had to post it:

I think it's genius. You can see more of Dan's stuff on his website. He's also the guy that is responsible for this animation called "Internet People" from a year or so ago. I'll definitely be checking back for more of his stuff in the future..

New Simpsons Intro

2009-02-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

So what do we all think of this?

I'm a bit disappointed, but then again, I think The Simpsons has gone downhill in recent years. There's a blog called Eye On Springfield that celebrates the times when The Simpsons was great, by taking frames and quotes from memorable episodes, such as:

"Freshen ya drink, Govenah?" I still say that to my friends from time to time.

Any thoughts on the new Simpsons intro? Leave them in the comments if you want..

Great Wave versions

2009-02-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

In my image dump last week I posted this re-interpretation of Hokusai's Great Wave Off Kanagawa (click for a larger version):

Here's the original:

A reader called Ben emailed me this version of the artwork:

This next one was done by the ridiculously-talented pair Kozyndan, and keeps up the great work they've been doing that incorporates rabbits:

And this last one was done on a much larger scale, in a Japanese rice paddy field:

That this amazing image has inspired so many re-interpretations and re-imaginings is really quite incredible. The image itself is quite small in real life apparently, but the effect it has had on illustration and art is immeasurable.

Anyone else know of some other cool versions of the Great Wave? Leave a comment if you do...

UPDATE: Found some more:

I'll probably keep posting more versions as I find them, so keep checking back...

Inglorious Basterds Trailer

2009-02-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

The first teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino's new WWII flick 'Inglorious Basterds' has just been released on the internet.

Check it out here.

My first thoughts are that it looks pretty cool, but I hope the whole thing doesn't turn out to be too cheesy or campy. From what I hear, it's going to be pretty violent, so they obviously couldn't show much in the trailer. Read more about the project here.

Apparently the tentative release date is the 1st of August, so we've all got a while to wait..

Car-tastrophe

2009-02-10T04:07:00.000-08:00

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about the amount of cars being abandoned at Dubai's airport? I was reading the newspaper on the weekend, and according to Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, only 11 cars have been abandoned in the past year. You can find the article here.

Then today I saw this post on Boing Boing that says there have been around 2500 cars left near Terminal 3.

So, who do we believe? 11 abandoned cars vs. 2500+ abandoned cars. I personally think that the Chief of Police is kidding himself if he thinks that only 11 cars have been abandoned, but at the same time, I'd be surprised if the figure was as high as 2500.

Then again, perhaps I'm in a state of denial about the seriousness of the financial situation the world has found itself in. This post about a $550 billion shift of money in the American financial markets scared the living daylights out of me, with this quote from Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania really putting things into perspective:
"...The Treasury opened its window to help. They pumped a hundred and five billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic and there. And that's what actually happened. If they had not done that their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed. It would have been the end of our political system and our economic systems as we know it."

I really had no idea that we had come that close to financial disaster. I never realised that financial depressions could be so, well, depressing.

So to lighten the mood a bit, here's a video of Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street edited to make it look like they're rapping. Hopefully this puts a smile on your face:

The robots are coming...

2009-02-10T00:53:00.000-08:00

It's getting closer guys. This looks like being a really great event, and judging from the calibre of artists participating, the work should be excellent.

Find out more about the event, and read some bios of some of the artists here. If nothing else, it's a good chance to get your face in the pages of Ahlan or something, if you're into that sort of thing...

Super sundial

2009-02-07T23:38:00.000-08:00

Just saw this interesting little piece over on The Daily Grail. Apparently a researcher from New Zealand was visiting the Pantheon in Rome, when he discovered that the entire building could be used as a giant sundial.

According to this article in the New Scientist,
"...the Pantheon may have been more than just a temple. During the six months of winter, the light of the noon sun traces a path across the inside of the domed roof. During summer, with the sun higher in the sky, the shaft shines onto the lower walls and floor. At the two equinoxes, in March and September, the sunlight coming in through the hole strikes the junction between the roof and wall, above the Pantheon's grand northern doorway. A grille above the door allows a sliver of light through to the front courtyard - the only moment in the year that it sees sunlight if its main doors are closed."

While it might seem a little far-fetched that an entire temple was oriented so that a single part of it was illuminated at noon on one day of the year, it's still pretty cool. Plus it reminds me of this, from Indiana Jones:

Damn that was an awesome movie.

Image Dump 3

2009-02-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

I'm going to make this a weekly feature here on The Sandman Files, so here's this week's image dump:

Background information

2009-02-05T04:46:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite blogs is Bobby Solomon's Kitsune Noir. Once a week, Bobby posts a new desktop wallpaper that has been sent in by an independent designer, illustrator, or artist. This Desktop Wallpaper Project has kept my desktop looking ace for like the past 6-8 months.

There are different resolutions for different desktop sizes, and the style of the design changes dramatically each week, and with work from guys like Tavis Coburn, Josh Cochran, and Rey Ortega, the work is top-notch. Check out a few examples below, and definitely have a look at the site for the full range of wallpapers:

In praise of Mitch Ansara

2009-02-04T03:36:00.000-08:00

Just saw these awesome illustrations over on Veer. Illustrator Mitch Ansara has taken a bunch of movies, some old, some new, and created images that show what they would look like as 60's era paperbacks. They're slightly similar to my earlier post about Olly Moss' work I guess, in that they're both using retro designs to simply illustrate the general plot of a film. Either way, Mitch's work is simply great, and I really encourage you to head over here, to check out some more (like 16 or 17 more) work like this:

The illustration series is called "I Can Read Movies", by the way..

The Fall

2009-02-03T03:44:00.001-08:00

I was lucky enough to see Tarsem Singh's The Fall the other night. I say 'lucky' because this movie was nearly lost to the world, due to the lack of any film distributor willing to take a risk and show it to the public. Thankfully, directors Spike Jonze and David Fincher saw the film, and managed to convince a distributor to take on the film. The director paid for most of the production himself, and the film was shot on 26 locations across 18 countries. It is without doubt the most visually attractive film I've seen in at least a year, and the performances of the two leads are absorbing.
I won't try to explain the plot of the film myself, just check out the trailer below, and see for yourself:

Heating up?

2009-02-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

It's getting hotter here in Dubai right? I think that was the shortest winter ever. Maybe this had something to do with it:

See more of these guys here.

Polo position

2009-02-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

On Friday I went down to the Dubai Polo club to watch a friend play. I've been to the polo once or twice in the past, and it's always a good day out. Everyone parks their cars on the opposite side from the clubhouse, and brings picnics etc. The polo season is wrapping up in the next few weeks I think, so if you get the chance to head down, take it.

There are a couple more photos from the polo on my Flickr photostream, so check them out if you're interested.

Also, don't forget to follow my Twitter feed, it's super awesome, and makes me feel popular..

Image dump 2

2009-01-31T22:23:00.000-08:00

More stuff from all over the place, to get your week started right:

Art attack

2009-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

I had some old friends from London in town the other week, so I took them out to lunch at the XVA Gallery in the beautiful Bastakiya precinct:

The courtyard area in the gallery is really nice, and the food is great too. I think it may have won best restaurant back in 2006 according to Time Out Dubai, but I can't be sure.

One thing that caught my eye in the gallery was a piece by an artist called Jennifer Maestre. I had seen her work a few months earlier on Boing Boing, and on a few other blogs, so I was quite surprised to see one of her creations here in Dubai. The piece at XVA was similar to this:

Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the piece itself, but I'd encourage you all to head down (or up) to XVA and check out some of the work.
In the entrance to the gallery area, they had this amazing chair created by young artist Noel Duigan:

Click here to read a short interview with Noel, and see some more of his designs. It looks like he's leaving Dubai to head home to Sydney, which is a shame, but it seems as though he'll maintain a retail presence in Dubai.

Social butterfly

2009-01-27T05:10:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you guys know that I'm now on Twitter, so if you are too, follow my feed here.
http://twitter.com/Sandman84

Plus if you liked the photos I put up of the Graniph launch the other day, there are some more on my Flickr photostream, which can be found here.
http://flickr.com/photos/sandman-files

So follow me on Twitter, and we can be best of friends, like these guys:

Wow, two robot-related posts in one day. Strange..

Robot invasion

2009-01-27T03:32:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine has been asked to submit something to the My Name Is Robot art show that is running from the 19th until the 22nd of February at Jam Jar Gallery here in Dubai.

The idea behind the show is to get a range of different artists to decorate one of these guys in any way they want:

The robot was designed by UK artist Martin Simpson. It looks like it's going to be a pretty cool exhibition, and MTV Arabia is going to be filming part of their Weyakoum programme there as well, so if you come down to check it out you might end up on TV! This is exactly the type of stuff Dubai needs more of, so make sure you drop by at some stage..

Icarus and Ulysses

2009-01-26T02:20:00.000-08:00

I was listening to Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2008 earlier, and there was a track called "Upon Viewing Brueghel's 'Landscape With the Fall of Icarus'" by a band called Titus Andronicus. Apart from striking me as probably the most ridiculous name for a song that I've heard in a long time, it made me want to see this painting for myself. So here it is:

The great thing about this work of art is the fact that Icarus is so small, you can barely see his legs poking out of the water near the stern of the ship. The total indifference of the farmer just makes Icarus' death so pointless. It reminded me of this short story by Borges, called The House of Asterion, which totally flipped the perspective in the old myth of Jason slaying the Minotaur. Borges' short stories are so face-punchingly awesome; if you have the chance to buy one of his collections, you really should.

While we're on the subject of Greek mythology, I just heard a track from the new Franz Ferdinand album, called "Ulysses". I was literally listening to the track over on The Hype Machine, when I was looking at BOOOOOOOM.com, and they had just posted the video of the same track. In their words, the "video makes this song 10,000 times better." I think the track is pretty great on its own, especially the crunchy synths that kick in at about the 40 second mark. Pitchfork have given the new album a decent review, so hopefully we'll all be hearing a fair bit of this album this year:

Eyebrows and images

2009-01-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

It seemed like everyone on the internet today was talking about this new ad that was made by Cadbury:

If you liked that one ad they did with the gorilla playing drums, chances are you'll like this one too.

On the weekend, I came across this great site called Hey Okay. It's basically an image log like FFFFound or You Look Marvelous (both possibly NSFW), except the site allows comments, and seems to have a nice little community following it. The site's curator collects awesome images like this:

So make sure you check out Hey Okay; it's just recovering from a server loss at the moment, but it's bound to get better by the day..

Slumdog soundtrack

2009-01-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit lazy about posting about Slumdog Millionaire. I saw this film when I was on holiday, and it totally blew me away. Danny Boyle has done an amazing job putting the whole thing together, and he gets amazing performances from his entire cast. One of the best elements of the whole thing is A.R. Rahman's amazing score. Now, I'm sure you've all heard M.I.A.'s track Paper Planes by now. It was probably my favourite track from 2008 (although it's technically from 2007), and it features prominently in the film. There's actually two versions of the track in the film though, and I thought I'd share the second version, which is a DFA remix:

I'm quite confident that Slumdog Millionaire will win the Best Picture prize at this year's Oscars, and it's already #34 on IMDB's top 250 films of all time (whatever that's worth), so yeah, everyone should really check it out..

Image dump

2009-01-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

Every so often I'll just post up a bunch of weird and wonderful pictures that I've found from the internet. Most of these images come from sites like FFFFound, It's Nice That and yay!everyday, so there's a chance you might have seen them before if you like these sites. Either way, enjoy, and remember to click on the images to see them in higher resolution:

Garfield is gone

2009-01-21T02:26:00.000-08:00

Someone sent me the link to this great web-comic the other day called Garfield Minus Garfield. The comic describes itself as "a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb." Here are just a few of the hundred great examples:

This is just a genius idea for a comic, and if it wasn't so funny, would probably be quite depressing. Jon seems to be totally manic in these strips; I guess that's why he started talking to his cat in the first place. This one seems to make the most sense:

Opening art

2009-01-20T03:10:00.000-08:00

A few sites have been linking to this great new(ish) site called The Art of the Title Sequence. The site collects examples of great opening credits and opening sequences from films through the history of cinema. Naturally, contemporary movies are featured more than the older stuff, but it really doesn't matter. Every post is fascinating, and gives you a real insight into how filmmakers set the tone of their work from the very outset. Some of my favourite examples from the first few pages of the site would be these:

As always, click on the images for higher resolution.

The first image is the opening sequence from the film Stranger Than Fiction. Such a great film, and the graphics in the opening sequence are just so well done. If you haven't seen this movie, rush out and get it.

The second set of titles is from the David Lynch film, Lost Highway. In my mind, David Lynch can do no wrong, and it's interesting to compare the titles he used for Lost Highway, to the ones he used on his film Mulholland Drive. They're quite similar, and work well to set up the sense of foreboding that is so strong in both films.

Finally, the third picture is a grab from the titles of Napoleon Dynamite. Some people love this film, some people hate it, but you can't deny it had its own particular style that made it unmistakable. (I quite liked the film, by the way)

So I'd really recommend checking out The Art of the Title Sequence, it's got some awesome stuff, and most of the entries have links to high-quality quicktime movies of the sequences, so there's heaps to see.

Obama art and inauguration

2009-01-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

So at 9pm tonight, Dubai time, President-elect Obama will become President Obama, the 44th President of the USA. Whatever your political views, people will certainly be asking "Where were you when Obama was sworn in?" in a few years.

Shepherd Fairey has once more put his hand to some designs to celebrate the occasion, and is putting on an exhibition titled "Manifest Hope" at a Washington D.C. gallery. Here's a great video that I found over on Hypebeast, where Fairey talks about the creation of his iconic "Hope" poster:

It's amazing how much great art Obama has inspired so far. Fubiz has a small sample of some of the collected works that have been based around Obama's campaign and personality, some pieces being better than others:

So, tonight at 9pm. Should be fascinating stuff..

Photos from Graniph Dubai

2009-01-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

My friend just sent me through some of the photos that she took at the Graniph pop-up store opening at Traffic on Thursday evening, so I thought I'd share them with you guys. Enjoy, and remember to click on the images for higher resolution:

Graniph pop-up store

2009-01-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I was invited to the opening of the Graniph pop-up store at Traffic Gallery in Al Barsha. Traffic itself is a great space, and they're often hosting design and art exhibitions. They've always got great chairs and wall clocks etc, except everything costs like 8k a piece.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Graniph, it's a Japan-based t-shirt and clothing brand. They sell a lot of stuff from their online store; I've bought a few pieces from them myself in the past. Apparently they're opening a store at Festival City in the near future. Here are some examples of the sort of stuff that they do:

The store itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything spectacular. I saw one or two t-shirts that I would have considered buying, but it was more of an opening evening with people from the press etc, so I thought I'd wait before I bought anything. Each t-shirt is 125dhs, but you can get two for 200dhs and three for 300dhs etc.

So overall, I'd say check it out, but don't expect a huge range or anything too mindblowing. It's good to have a new streetwear store in Dubai though. I think everyone pretty much agrees that the range of options for t-shirts and interesting independent streetwear labels over here in Dubai is severely lacking. Call me crazy, but Pull & Bear and Giordano isn't exactly my cup of tea. We need more places to buy brands like American Apparel, APC, Comme des Garcons, Perks & Mini, Ksubi etc.

For a so-called shopping destination, Dubai really is lacking in some areas.

Flashmob danceoff

2009-01-17T23:19:00.000-08:00

Just saw this great ad over on yay!everyday, and had to post it. It put a big smile on my face, and is a great way to start the week. Double-click the video to go through to Youtube and watch the clip in HD, it's much better:

Dubai on film

2009-01-17T22:13:00.000-08:00

So I watched Ridley Scott's Body of Lies last night. I'm a massive fan of Scott's (as the Bladerunner poster below shows), and think both Russel Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio are talented actors. The movie, while slightly long, was quite good. I'd probably give it a 7 out of 10. One of the more interesting parts of the film for me, was the short section that took place in Dubai. According to the wikipedia entry for the film, Ridley Scott sought permission to shoot in Dubai itself, but the request was denied by the National Media Council, due to the film's "politically sensitive nature".

So apparently they shot all of the 'Middle East' scenes in Morocco. This makes sense, because there's a street scene in Dubai that looks suspiciously like Rabat, in Morocco. Anyone who has been there will recognise the covered walkways alongside the avenues.

There's the obligitory establishing shot, which in the case of Dubai is shot from a helicopter moving behind what looks like Business Bay, up towards the Dusit hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. It's funny to hear Leo say "I'm staying at the Joo-meee-rah Emmy-rates Towers", when he's being filmed in a place that looks like the pool area at the Hyatt near JBR.

There's also a part where a businessman is photographed in a Dubai club called The Cyclone Club. I thought that this was made-up, or was just another name for that club called Hurricanes or whatever, but a quick google search showed that there is actually a club called Cyclone in Dubai. It has apparently been open since '94, but it looks pretty scummy.

Overall, Body of Lies was a pretty decent move, but the fact that they weren't allowed to shoot in Dubai would be pretty obvious to anyone who has lived here for any length of time. But it's still worth checking out..

In praise of Olly Moss

2009-01-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

Over on Veer, I found this post about a young designer called Olly Moss. This guy is taking old movies, and remaking their posters, in more of an abstract way. Here's his poster for possibly my favourite movie of all time:

And here's another one he did for Deer Hunter:

Olly is also responsible for this nice piece that has been floating around the design blogs all week:

He's definitely appealing to the 80's-born kid in me with that one. Last but not least is this simple little piece:

The quote is originally from Pablo Picasso, who I'm sure would be proud. Here's hoping Olly keeps up the awesome work, for all us 80's kids out there.

New music

2009-01-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

So I haven't done that sensory deprivation experiment yet, but as soon as I do I'll post the results. In the meantime, check out this great new track mixed by N.A.S.A., featuring Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li. It's called 'Gifted', and it's awesome:

Brain hacks

2009-01-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

Over at Neatorama, they've posted this great little diagram of the various ways you can trick your mind into doing weird things:

Click the image for a closer look.

The most interesting of these techniques is the one in the upper left corner. It's called the Ganzfeld Procedure, a method for tricking the mind into seeing images through sensory deprivation. Wikipedia has this to say about it:

A ganzfeld experiment (from the German for “entire field”) is a technique used in the field of parapsychology to test individuals for extra-sensory perception (ESP). It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce an effect similar to sensory deprivation. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive to inwardly-generated impressions. The technique was devised by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s as part of his investigation into the gestalt theory.

Parapsychologists such as Dean Radin and Daryl J. Bem say that ganzfeld experiments have yielded results that deviate from randomness to a significant degree, and that these results present some of the strongest quantifiable evidence for telepathy to date. Critics such as Susan Blackmore and Ray Hyman say that the results are inconclusive, and call for further study before such results can be scientifically accepted.

Pretty awesome if you ask me. I'm going to try it out tonight, I'll post the results tomorrow...

Bosnian pyramid?

2009-01-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

Saw this over at Boing Boing. Sure, it could just be an oddly-shaped mountain, but it does look slightly man-made. Check the link for more info..

Subscribe and comment

2009-01-11T05:22:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing this blog thing for nearly a month now, and I've got precisely one comment from anyone other than myself. So if you're new to the site, leave a comment, shoot me an email, or subscribe to the RSS feed so that you're up to date on everything. I promise I'll write back to anything you guys want to send my way, so go crazy. I mean, where else would you find awesome content and photos like these:

Abandonment issues

2009-01-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

A friend told me the other day that in the time between the start of December and today, around 800 cars have been abandoned at the Dubai airport. Apparently some of the cars have been left with the keys in the ignition. The story goes that all these people who have lost their jobs in the recent financial crisis are skipping town and leaving their car behind. Pretty crazy stuff right? It's like the airport has become this free car supermarket or something..

Speaking of crazy stuff and cars, I was looking through the cars section over at Acquire, and picked out some of my favourites (click on the links for more photos and details).
First up is the face-punchingly stunning 2009 McLaren SLR Stirling Moss from Mercedes. This car boasts over 1000hp, and will set you back over US$1m:

Apparently they're only making 75 of the fully-fitted versions, so get in quick!

Next up is the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide. As everyone has come to expect from the guys at Aston Martin, the car is simply gorgeous. Nothing more really needs to be said:

This next car isn't in this post because it's beautiful, but because it's hideous. The people at Porsche have decided to make a sedan. I really fail to see how anyone would want a 4-door Porsche. It seems to me to run counter to everything the company stands for. I mean, what sort of person would spend however much money on this monstrosity? Ladies and gentlemen, the 2010 Porsche Panamera:

Finally, this car is probably my favourite of all the cars I looked at over at Acquire. It's the Lamborghini Reventon. Now usually I'm not much of a fan of Lamborghinis, but the styling of this car makes everything else irrelevant. Apparently the designers took inspiration from the structure of a stealth jet. Here she is:

To quote Stevie Wonder: isn't she lovely?

Oh and by the way, I've now registered my blog with Technorati, so if you're really bored you can check out my Technorati Profile

Pure, unadulterated awesomeness

2009-01-08T03:32:00.000-08:00

This is simply amazing. Found it over at Neatorama, it was built by a guy called Barend Hemmes.

Best of bootie 2008

2009-01-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

Just downloaded this 33-track compilation of the best mashups of 2008, called Best of Bootie (short for 'bootleg' I guess). I've just started listening to it, and the M.I.A. vs Wreckx-N-Effect track is a highlight. Make sure you check this one out. It's totally free, so get downloadin'. Click the album cover to get to the site...

Thanks to the guys and gals over at Boing Boing for pointing this one out.

Speaking of street art

2009-01-07T22:22:00.001-08:00

While we're on the topic of amazing street art, the guys at Good Magazine have worked with the Wooster Collective to gather some of the best street art from around the world. Click here to check out some more examples like these:

It's great to see that street art can be more than just paint on a wall.

And keeping with the subject matter at hand, here's a great article by legendary street artist Banksy, concerning the need to preserve true street art. Banksy wrote this article before the Commonwealth Games were about to begin in Melbourne, and the local authorities were painting over all the street art in the city centre. His argument against destroying this art form makes perfect sense in my opinion..