Jeremy Loops is one of those musicians that have the ability to create music which is fresh and uplifting, with his unique blend of audio madness.

Perhaps it is the nature of his music, which is created ‘on the fly’ and incorporates various musical instruments and styles.

This music is an adventure which will never sound the same at any 2 live gigs. He also uses what is known as a loop pedal, which allows him to generate ‘multiple riffs’ and loop them on top of each other seamlessly. It’s like transforming yourself into a one man band that sounds like at least 5 members are jamming.

Personally I have never enjoyed the harmonica, but Jeremy Loop really makes it work with his music. Impressed!

This man is certainly one of the South African music industry’s best kept secrets.

Well, I’m not sure “secrets” is the best description, as it seemed that I was the only person at his Rocking the Daisies gig who was oblivious of the fact that he is a spectacular musician.
What can I say…I usually listen to much heavier music.
This is no excuse though, really wow wow wow!

It was great to see that loads of fans were going nuts in the crowd.
My buddies and I were speechless after his performance last weekend…well almost, hehe.
SCREAM SCREAM CHEER!!!

Jeremy planned his new EP launch to coincide with the Rocking the Daisies weekend, nice move, talk about the perfect place to strike!
I’m sure that he has earned himself a boat-load of new fans, I’m one of them.

This insanely cool EP was put together by the super powerful Vangers and Jollers design team. This also includes the slick, very memorable logo design. I really love the disjointed style and cartoon theme, very well executed. That little goat at the top of the design is crazy-cool, so fun and quirky.
I would like to get my hands on one of these just for the design alone, never mind the hot tunes inside ;)

Unfortunately for me it seems it was a Limited Edition EP, so chances are all the marauding collectors and cool kids have already seized these precious lovelies!

For those of you who have as yet not heard Jeremy Loops in action here are some of his tracks which I found on good ol’ Soundcloud, enjoy.

Power - Jeremy Loops by Jeremy Loops

Gypsy Opera - Jeremy Loops by Jeremy Loops

Also, here is a clip of Jeremy at Assembly performing ‘My shoes’.
Hopefully they will have some videos of his performance at Rocking the Daisies up soon.
I will add them ;)

If there is one thing I love its mega cool video game artwork!

This time around I look at the artwork of a really fun looking game called Bastion.

Bastion tells the tale of The Kid, who travels through a broken world which was torn apart by an incident called Calamity. The realm is shattered into many pieces and has been overwhelmed by a legion of terrible monsters. The Kid journeys towards Bastion which is an ancient gathering point during times of strife. With the guidance of an old man The Kid sets about restoring the world to its former beauty by reconstructing it piece-by-piece.

The game itself is a level-structured action RPG with an immersive narrative and a path that is created ‘on the fly’.
The gameplay sounds like lots of fun and the ability to become more powerful and develop your ‘Bastion’ or HQ, through finding ‘shards’ sounds interesting, ne?

Although the game looks great I’m more interested in chatting about the video game artwork.

First off, props to the very talented designer JenZee for her absolutely breath-taking artwork for Bastion. It is composed by employing a very slick chunky design style, with obvious influences from Japanese manga.

If you would like to see more amazing artwork by JenZee you can always cruise across to her Deviantart gallery…prepare for serious droolage. She is overflowing with artistic power!

What is even more fantastic for me is the fact that they translated not only the original artwork perfectly into the actual game, but also that the digital colouring techniques echo seamlessly across to the game design as well.

Don’t you just love these little Bastion characters!

They really are so cute and badass in their own way. You will notice that all of the human characters are really short and stubby, which is the case even with the old man. I like that they have done this, it’s like a realm of Halflings, or some kind of gnome race. I suppose this lends itself to the more ‘childlike’ focus of the game.

The video game artwork of Bastion is perhaps directed more at a younger market. I mean what young gamer could resist the awesomeness that is The Kid character!
While saying that I know plenty of older gamers who love this kind of artwork just as much. I would be interested to see the age group split for Bastion players.

Here are some great screenshots of the in-game design….it’s got an explosive fantasy ‘cool factor’!

For those of you who would like to check out the video game trailer for Bastion, scope it out below.

I would love to know what you think about Bastion’s artwork.
Heck, if you would just like to comment on how cool the game is….go ahead!

D

Creating a design for a corporate competition is not an easy endeavour. Compared to Open Themes where you are the master of what you produce, a corporate compo requires a designer to ‘become one’ with the brand, to follow the guidelines closely and produce a design that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also adheres to the spirit of the clients company.

There are very few designers who are able to consistently pull off this kind of feat.
However, one Springleaper rises to the occasion every single time and deals out one winning corporate masterpiece after the next.
That man in Ron Olivier, or as we know him, Incynqron!

He first blew us away with his stunning POWERBIRD submission for the Vodacom competition. His design was perfect for the brief, it had a clean corporate vibe, was bursting with creativity and balanced minimal color with intense detail and execution. This was, for many voters, the quintessential design for the brand…Vodacom agreed and made this their BIG WINNER!

The next corporate design win he notched up was for Telkom ‘Pinnacle’ where his Diamond Fire absolutely burned its way to the top of the pile. Once again his very corporate savvy style and execution prevailed and wowed the client into submission. This was another MASSIVE win for Incynqron. Check out the posting I did on this winning design.

This design genius almost walked away with his third corporate win in a year when two of his Lexus submissions (Fusion and Hydraturbo) made it to the TOP10 and went through a final stage of voting on Facebook. He narrowly missed out, but we are still convinced that he could pull off another corporate win by the end of the year.

Springleap takes it hat off to this crazy talented designer and hope that in the future some of the other designers will emulate his corporate design execution.

There is no surprise that Ron Olivier is a baddass when it comes to corporate competition. He has his own design company, where he puts together this kind of design for some seriously big-name clients, on a daily basis. Perhaps it was just another day at the office for Incynqron when he composed his winning works.

One thing is for certain – This is a designer that won’t be going away any time soon. He has the skills, a winning recipe for concepts and he really knows how to market his designs.

Incynqron FTW!

So, how intelligent is your t-shirt?

Now when I say “intelligent” I’m talking less about how clever the design on your t-shirt is and more about what it can actually DO!

It seems that these days t-shirts are undergoing an evolution in practical use. Gone are the days when they are used purely as a fashion item. Todays tees are even being used in the medical sphere as a clever way of monitoring patient’s vitals and location.

That’s right…medical t-shirts!

Ok, so perhaps its not exactly a t-shirt…its more like a chunky vest of sorts, but hey, for now I’m going with ‘t-shirt’, hehe.

Doctors will be able to check the vital signs of patients at any time with built in thermometer and various bioelectrical recording devices. So you will be able to check how physically exerted the patient is and of course temperature and other technical data.

These bad boys also have built in GPS, so you can tell exactly where the patient is. Now you may be wondering why exactly it is such a big thing to have a GPS on the vest. While most patients keep themselves confined to their beds, there are those few who like to be naughty and go walkabout right after an operation. If something happens to that patient they will be able to tell that they did in-fact move, where they moved, who they may have come into contact with and where they currently are.  I suppose this would also work nicely with patients that are a high flight risk, such as criminals undergoing medical attention, psychiatric patients, or even drug addicts.

Obviously these medical t-shirts are all wireless, which makes me wonder how safe they are to have so close to all other sorts of sensitive medical equipment. Well, I’m sure this has all been taken into consideration.

The medical t-shirt is definitely a clever concept, which could find purchase in a variety of medical situations. This device could be used to monitor patients while they are at home. If something happens to the wearer the device could send an instant 911 message to dispatchers, who could then take immediate action.

This device could also be used in the world of sports as a way to test athlete’s vitals for signs of irregularity, such as an erratic heartbeat.

I take my hat off to the Spanish researchers who created this device.I’m sure this ingenius ‘smart t-shirt’ could very well become the norm in first-world hospitals in the near future.

Just in case you are wondering what the device is called, it goes by the tongue twisting name Localización y Biomonitorización a través de Redes Inalámbricas en Entornos Hospitalarios…or LOBIN, for those of us who don’t want to sound like complete idiots when repeating the name in conversation.

Let’s see how this new device will feature in the market. Perhaps the tech could be implemented by big sporting brands, for not only professionals, but people like you and me, who would like to get a better understanding of our own personal fitness.

Very interesting stuff!

The Loeries 2011 Awards was an explosive event!

They had the best creatives in the country all gathered under one roof, parties, entertainment…all sorts of engaging creative stuff.

However it all paled in comparison to one very HUGE surprise…one that sang, danced and made everyone roll with laughter.
Nothing could prepare the 1500 strong croud for the guest appearance by none other than The Hoff.

That’s right boys and girls, legendary grape smuggling-leather jacket clad-babe magnet, David Hasselhoff, was on hand to set the Sunday night Loerie evening on frigging FIRE!
The crowd erupted with cheers when David emerged!

Seriously the Loeries just rocketed to a whole new level in my books. I can just picture the Loerie event team thinking of which possible guest celebrities to invite. Dudes you picked a solid gold winner.
The only problem the Loerie team has now is topping it next year…who can you invite that has more across-the-board cred than The Hoff.

When he came out he was greeted by chants of “Hoff, Hoff, Hoff…”
There aren’t many people who have the kind of following that this man has generated over the years. LoL, he probably thought that Germany was his second homeland…maybe now South Africa will take that spot in his heart.

What is even more awesome was the fact that he was cheesy as ever. Tons of classic Hoff jokes were thrown about, causing slight loss of bladder control for many I’m sure.

David has been crusing around Cape Town enjoying the sight and sounds of the Mother City. He supposedly had a great time with his girlfriend at Table Mountain.

Whether you know him from his Knight Rider days, or as the main man in Baywatch, it’s hard to deny that when you hear his name you don’t share a connection with some of his work.
When I hear the name David Hasselhoff….I think of this music video…enjoy ;)


Come back soon Hoff…you ROCK!!!