the original MiniCard box without the drop

the original MiniCard box without the drop
Originally uploaded by praguelondon

vintage emporium

vintage emporium
Originally uploaded by praguelondon

bibendum on a bicycle at the Michelin Building London

bibendum on a bicycle at the Michelin Building London
Originally uploaded by praguelondon

Musicals are my guilty pleasure

Anyone who really knows me already knows this fact. My best friend knew I needed some cheering up of late. That's why she sent me this brilliant performance by Neil Patrick Harris at the 2012 Tony Awards. Enjoy!

Queen's Silver Jubilee Brownie Badge

Queen's Silver Jubilee Brownie Badge
Originally uploaded by praguelondon

Queen's Silver Jubilee Brownie Badge
I recently found this relic from the Queen's Silver Jubilee while going through all my stuff in my parents'basement. I thought it was worth sharing given the fact that the Queen is celebrating her 60th Diamond Jubilee this year.

Where did the last 35 years go? 

 Update: I decided that since we were here in London we should go and see the Queen on her 60th Jubilee. Enjoy my pics of her flotilla.

Hey, Google Analytics: Canada is not the 51st state (yet)

As a Canadian, I'm often pointing out Canadians and Canadians' achievements to my British colleagues. I'm sure they're sick of it by now. If you know a Canadian, you'll know I am not alone in this obsession.

Why do we do it?

We do it because we live all our lives in the shadow of the most powerful country on earth. We are innundated by US news, culture, music, movies, finance, business, politics etc. We're just looking for a little way to be noticed. So, when we have our chance we jump on it. That's why we bother pointing out that Michael J Fox, Christopher Plummer and more recently Ryan Gosling is Canadian (even though he's probably spent most his life in the US). It's our little way of jumping up and saying "we exist".

In Canada, we amuse ourselves by watching episodes of Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans and sharing stories of injustices to Canada's pride.

Today, even Rick Mercer's antics can't bring a smile to my face due to this Canadian injustice. Yes, it's true GOOGLE of all companies has committed the biggest sin. They have decided that Canada is not quite big enough to have their own map in Real Time Google Analytics.

Let' me expand. I work in the internet. I was investigating the origin of the visitors that visit our website using Google Analytics. As a Canadian, I was particularly interested in the Canadian cities where our visitors were from at that moment.

So, here is what happened I clicked on the link "Canada". On the left hand side of the screen I saw a list of familiar city names such as Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Richmond Hill (a suburb of Toronto), Guelph, Grand Prairie, Unionville and many more. Seeing those names made me feel close to home. Yet, when I cast my eye on the accompanying map, it wasn't a map of Canada at all. It was a map of the United States of America. What the ****? See for yourself ...

In case you are not familiar with the Canadian map, this is NOT a map of Canada. This is the map of Canada.

I'm sure you will recognize the first map as a map of the mighty United States of America. Yet, all the cities are floating in a blue sea north of the US border.

I guess it has finally come to pass, Canada is just the 51st state of the US. Please Google, sort that out to make this Canadian a little bit happier.

What is your porn name?

I thought that title might get a little interest. As it turns out my alternate names range based on my anagram are:

Della Sir Owl to Ladle Sir Owl to Ordeal Wills to Dare Ill Slow

So, what's your alternate name?

Dalston Street Artist -Stewy - Does Tea Parties

The building across from us is the canvas for various graffiti artists. I captured some little men back in 2007 and J posted another find on his blog. Usually, the moment someone tags it, the authorities come in and paint over it.

About 3 weeks ago, I woke up to a horse outside of my window. Unlike our home in Primrose Hill, it wasn't a real horse, but it was still beautiful. Here's what it looked like:

there was a frog too.

About a week later, a horn was added and it became a unicorn. Unfortunately, I was a little slow to capture that transition on film because not more than a few days later some wings were added. I made sure I got that one on film (*ahem* digital I should say)

I was planning on making a short post about this unexpected surprise and that would be that. However, last weekend, a little tea shop and art installation (Urban Fog) popped up beside my winged unicorn in a soon-to-be renovated building. It turns out Stewy (see more of his work here) collaborated with the team at Urban Fog and added some animals announcing the tea house. I thought I would document these wonderful additions here as I am sure it will all soon disappear when the renovations begin.

More about the Tea House ...

The owner - Zoe - decided to use the space to create a wonderful fabric installation. It feels like you are inside a modern day cave with little cubby holes where you can sit, enjoy music and tea. You can read more about the concept and installation on their website.

So, if you're in Dalston before May 21, 2011, you should check out Stewy's and Urban Fog's work. (opening times are on their website)

My Beautiful Network of Professional Contacts

Last year Dopplr sent to its users a beautiful map which outlined their business travel for the previous year. Here is an example of the map they did for Barak Obama for 2009. As you can see it was a really beautiful way of presenting data.

It seems that Linkedin has been taking a page from Dopplr's playbook. And, they've done a brilliant job. I now have a visual map of my Linkedin connections. The colours represent connected networks. If you create your own, you will see that you can decide who the colours represent by scrolling over the dots to expose the individual people.

(click here to see it life-size)

I was surprised to see that the majority of my connections in Linkedin were associated with my time at Yahoo! This is incredible given it was only 2 years of my rather lengthy career. I guess I made lots of contacts during that time.

I'm now thinking I love my map so much I might make a set of MOO business cards with my personal map printed on them.

Go on make your own!

Me. Me. Me. Me.

Who Me?

Yesterday I was meant to speak about social media and MOO at a conference in Germany. Unfortunately, the snow in Frankfurt kept me from attending. I was rather bummed as I had worked hard on the presentation ON THE WEEKEND! Oh well.

I found this cartoon in a recent Marketing Week and felt it actually provides all the rules of social media and brands. Hey, brands and people for that matter.

How influential are you?

Fast Company is running an interesting experiment called the Influence Project. Evidently they are attempting to see who is the most influential person online. You would think that would be rather obvious, it has to be Ashton Kutcher and his 5 million+ followers.

It seems that influence is calculated on the number of people one can influence to sign up for the Influence Project.I have signed up as I was rather curious how it works. To date, I haven't managed to influence ONE person to do the same.

Now if you are curious and want to sign up for the project than please do click my link and show that I can influence ONE person on this interweb. If nothing else you can get your photo in Fast Company's magazine when the project is done.

The Project is in Flash (big surprise) and as a result, I had a hard time screengrabbing a shot of the collage of photos. It's probably best to visit the site yourself.

This project actually reminds me of a business version of the Dorito competition where J was a finalist. That is the winner was not based on the best ad but rather whether he was good at getting people to vote. (remember? I think I asked all of you to vote).

Happy 80th Birthday Barbie!

My Aunt's 80th birthday was on Sunday. Sadly, we weren't there to celebrate. And as she has just got a new red convertible, it'll be even harder than usual to keep up with this crazy lady.

Enjoy the new wheels!!

This Cat's Got My Tongue and More

Tonight, I went to a stranger's home who I met on the internet. I know - I've broken all the rules.

Actually, I haven't been hanging out on dating sites and haven't been flirting in chat rooms. I met this stranger because of my desire to get a cat despite my allergies.

Huh? You ask.

Well, here's my story. About 3-4 months ago, I decided I really wanted a cat despite being super allergic to these creatures. YYZ was busy with her 3 new kittens and I wanted one too. I was determined to find one with whom I could live. That meant searching out a hypo-allergenic equivalent of the feline sort. That's where I discovered Siberian cats and their alleged hypo-allergenic nature.

Now isn't it clear how I ended up at a stranger's house? That's right, I went to meet a few of these furry felines to see if they could break me. That's right, super-allergy girl was in a house with 5 adult cats and 9 kittens - all Siberian - for an allergy test. I had an enjoyable 30 minutes talking to the breeder, scratching and holding the big guys and playing with the kittens. . I even got to hold my potential kitten - Aurora. I was hopeful as I was only just a bit sniffly


Only after I left the house, did the full on allergy attack happen. On my walk home, I sneezed non-stop for 10 minutes and found I was scratching wildly at my neck. That's when I knew. I knew that baby Aurora would not be moving in with me.

*sniffle sniffle

A long long road

Over the last few years, I've shared some video work that J has done. It's included everything from a music video for Dusk & Blackdown to product demos for to promo videos for a ballet troupe. So, it's time again to share something that is keeping him busy.

For the last few years, J has been working on a real cool road trip documentary. It's still being edited and searching for funding. However, there's a trailer and here it is.

Driven, Trailer/Demo from Jonathan Howells on Vimeo.

How many takes does it take?

I was curious as to how long it took to make a video like this one.



So, I did a bit of internet research and found another video on OkGo's website which told the story behind the video. It looks like they went to the internet for the solution and Donkey Kong for inspiration. I actually thought of Mouse Trap.




This is another video from the same guys. It made its debut years ago on YouTube, but I was glad to stumble across it again. Remember, the treadmill dance? Of course you do. Why not watch it again?

Canada Shines in Olympics Opening (well kind of)

As you all know by now, I'm Canadian and I'm a PROUD Canadian (in my Canadian way). That means a few things:

• I'll be the first to tell you if someone well-known is from Canada (i.e. Margaret Atwood, James Cameron, Tyler Brule or Kate from Lost)
  
• I'll also be the first to point out if something was invented in Canada (i.e. the zipper or the obviously named Canadarm)
  
• Of course, I'll be happy to explain the virtues of Maple Syrup, Poutine and Bannock
  
• I can explain the rules of curling (in fact my Mother, Sister, Brother-in-Law and my nieces are incredibly talented curlers) and know that the competition is called a bonspiel.
  
• Finally, I'll be quietly crossing every possible body part to ensure Canada succeeds at any competitive event, but knowing that usually we just can't rise to the occassion (we choke). Perhaps, we have a politeness gene that stops us from dominating.
  

It's important to understand what it is like to be a Canadian as we host the Olympics and I provide you my impressions of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. In typical Canadian fashion, we hire someone from *away* to direct our show. Yes, that's right we brought in an Australian, David Atkin, to define Canada as we take the spotlight.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay up long enough to watch the ceremonies live. However, thanks to a certain Swedish site for connecting me with someone in the US who watched and captured the NBC coverage.

Anyway, as I sat down to watch the ceremonies, I was REALLY nervous. All of a sudden the wallflower (Canada) was taking centre stage and I was concerned we might suffer severe stage fright and REALLY screw up. What exactly I thought would happen? I'm not really sure. Perhaps, that the ceremony would be similar to Canadian TV. What you don't know any Canadian TV shows? That's hard to believe. Let me paint the picture: think LOW production values with dull storylines. No, actually lower and duller. If you dont' believe me, here a few that I'd watch as a youngster when nothing else was on the tube. King of Kensington (set in Toronto), The Trouble with Tracey (deemed worst sitcom of all time), and of course The Beachcombers (which was filmed a stone's throw from Whistler - home of the Downhill at the Olympics)

Now, can you see why I was so nervous?

My Observations
All and all, I thought the ceremony was beautiful, intimate despite the size of stadium and incredibly emotional. I loved the theatrical approach and the use of lights both on the playing field and on the audience itself. This was achieved by providing white capes to the audience which turned them in to a giant canvas. (wander here or here for some shots of the evening)

photo by: firebellyreed

As the ceremonies continued, I was progressively prouder to be a Canadian. I loved the welcoming section featuring the 4 First Nations from the Vancouver/Squamish area. The glass totems and costumes of the First Canadians were spectacular. The procession of the athletes with a special focus on Canada made me a little weepy.


Generally, the *journey* across Canada featuring different parts of Canada's landscape and culture was wonderful. I loved the fact that Donald Sutherland was the English voice of Canada. Then, Sarah McLachlan surpassed any expectation I would have had. (she is still one of my all-time favourite singers).








Wheat
Uploaded by praguelondon.


The photo above featured one of my favourite moments. Donald Sutherland introduced the prairies with a quote from Who Has Seen The Wind by W.O. Mitchell. The aerial dance by Thomas Saulgrain was accompanied by one of my all time Canadian favourites - Joni Mitchell. It was utterly dream-like.

The 8 Canadians (listed below) chosen to carry in the Olympics flag were all deserving recognition for their unique accomplishments and provided a rich weave of Canadian fabric.

• Donald Sutherland
• Betty Fox (Mother of the most inspirational Canadian who ever lived - Terry)
• Bobby Orr (if you don't know this guy, you clearly aren't Canadian)
• Anne Murray
• Jacques Villeneuve
• Barbara Ann Scott
• Romeo Dallaire (was really thrilled to see RD)
• Julie Payette

On a fashion note, I loved the white suits worn by all the background dancers and flagbearers. If you would like to know more about Olympic fashion, wander over to YYZ's post.

Image thanks to Firebellyreed

All this being said, I wouldn't be a Canadian without a big BUT. I would be remiss if I didn't mark a few of the cringe moments.

1. Where was the FRENCH? Honestly, I kept waiting for it in the cross-country poetic tour of our country. I didn't hear it ONCE. I loved the quotes and songs that were so carefully chosen from W.O. Mitchell (which reminded me of grade 10 English class) to one of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs ever. Donald Sutherland's distinctive and soothing voice made each quote come to life. Yet, still I waited for a few French quotes or at least ONE. I kept saying to J "what about French?". We're Canadian, not American. That means a country with two official languages. What is this? Turns out, I wasn't alone in this concern.
   
2. Why did we screw with our national anthem? I think the young woman who sang has a wonderful voice and her outfit was fab (as YYZ points out Dsquared designed it), but I hated the jazz version.
   
3. The Olympic Cauldron was to be lit in a very Canadian manner - that is rather than choosing just one torch bearer, they chose 4. Sadly, there was some malfunction and the 4th column didn't rise and left one of the torch bearers without a column to light. I suspect someone was swearing profusely at the malfunction. Ahh... Poor Canada.

Flames Abound
Uploaded by praguelondon.


Don't get me wrong the ceremonies were great and I was rather veklempt when I heard the words and sentiments of a relatively unknown Canadian poet. Yes, I AM CANADIAN ;)


Now I'm off to watch more Olympics and you can see I'm wearing my Canadian colours.

Babylon

On Saturday, J and I were intent on starting our Christmas shopping. However, we also wanted to take in a bit of culture at the same time. We were in luck. Hidden Art was on and we figured we could pass a few studios on the way down to the East London Design Show which was part of Hiddent Art. (If Hidden Art sounds familiar, I've mentioned it before as we've been we've been a few times before- I wrote about it back in 2007).

We ended up seeing 2 groups shows and the opening of Gerry Juddah's Babylon show at Flower Galleries in Shoreditch. We just happened on the show and felt so lucky to have stumbled on such a powerful show.











I'm not much of a writer or art analyst. Although, I do know when I saw these scultped paintings, I couldn't take my eyes off of them. As you maybe able to see from the photos above, each painting/sculpture shows what appears to be a miniture city (but blown out) and all the details of the cityscape. The stark colours (they were painted white, black or wine/rust) on such a detailed sculpture ensured one would notice the details of the city even more than if the city was painted in technicolour.

If you are in London, try to visit the Flower Gallery. It is definitely worth the visit. The Small is Beautiful Exhibit that was exhibiting upstairs was also a pleasant surprise. Plan to take enough time to explore both.

An Ode to Literature

I discovered this amazing video via our twitter feed at work which thanks to the lovely D and the other team members always has a wealth of fun stuff to distract you from your other duites. So check it out.

Here is a short video that should amaze anyone when you begin to think of the intricate work that went in to making it. I loved it and decided to post it here so I won't forget about it or lose it.

Here is what Creative Review said about it.

Using around 3,000 still images, Andersen M Studio has animated an extract from Maurice Gee's novel, Going West, for the New Zealand Book Council...

Now that you watched it you can appreciate it took 8 months to complete. Beautiful. Let's read books.

Kseniya Simonova: Now she really does "got" talent

Thanks to my friend, Gosia, I was treated to an unexpected treat this evening. She sent a link to the following video out to some of us on her email list. I clicked to YouTube and within 10 seconds I was hooked.

Many of you may have already seen this video from Kseniya Simonova. She was on Ukraine's Got Talent and does she ever. She's 24 and created a series of sand pictures which depicted German's invasion during World War II.

I think it is amazing and in this day of short attention spans; I managed to watch for the whole 8 minutes. I would encourage you to do the same.

A Barbie-licious Birthday

On Sunday night, I attended one of the best birthday parties I've ever attended. And, the best bit was it was a SURPRISE birthday party for me. I was caught off guard because like all surprise parties, there was a lot of secrecy involved. Also, my birthday was the last thing on my mind as I approached my Aunt's home. Remember,

• I was visiting my Aunt's for dinner (natural event as I had not yet seen her since I had come back to Canada)
• my birthday was over 15 days away
• this year is NOT a big birthday
• it wasn't my birthday
  

So, the last thing I was thinking when I walked in to my Aunt's home was that I would be met by all the wonderful women in my family* dressed up as their favourite Barbie waiting for me. Yes, that's right. It was a surprise birthday with a theme - A Barbie Birthday. And this big girl loooved Barbies as a child and was more than happy to partake in this fun-filled craziness.

My first thought was I wouldn't get to dress up as Barbie as I hadn't brought a change of clothes. Boohoo! I'd miss out on the dress up component of this soiree. Oh no! Thanks to my Aunt and her many visits to Value Village I had a wardrobe of clothes & accessories to choose from and felt right at home in my Barbie-wear. [I'll post all the outfits of the evening on my other blog.] However, I wanted to share some of the decor and silliness here that my Aunt Kathy had planned so perfectly.

Here's a few shots of the evening's antics.

Here's the amazing woman behind the craziness
dressed in her Barbie outfit:
yellow polyester pant-suit with wig (which no-one realized it was one)

All of my remaining Barbie stuff made an appearance at the festivities
(including the United Airlines airplane, bungalow and bathtub)

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Here are a few of the presents & cards I received:
Did you notice the 41 year old princess card?

I received a new carry-on suitcase (I think it's my colour).
It's ideal for all my work travel

Turns out it's better built for Barbies than a laptop.

---

I also received a new matching handbag (backpack) and wallet.
My cousin embellished the wallet with small hearts

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My family thought this sleeping bag would be perfect to keep me warm on all those Trans-Atlantic flights.
I'm tempted to pull it out on flight back to London on Virgin-Atlantic.

---

Given my reputation of being late for events, they felt an alarm clock was in order:

And even more Barbie themed gifts:



Other gifts included a foot-care & massage set (for the days out in heels),
a fun desk emoticon calendar and a Barbie Video.

---

Here is the dinner table with guests from the soiree:


This was a special glass for the Princess Barbie (moi).
In fact it was a glass from my grandparent's
50th anniversary over 30 years ago.



My Barbie Pink Cake

---

Now for the thank yous. I want to thank everyone for coming to my birthday party and playing along (i.e. dressing up, bringing their Barbie and sharing their Barbie stories). In particular, special thanks to Aunt Kathy for the idea and the organization of the party. Plus a call out to my very own Aunt Barbie (who also happens to have the same last name as Barbie and is married to her very own Ken-- how cool was I growing up?) for hosting the festivities at her home.

Finally, an artsy shot of me in my Barbie attire

PS if you loved Barbie's too, you might enjoy E's post about her Barbie collection.

PSS More photos from the evening can be found on flickr.

*sadly, Julie was sick; Al & Maggie were across the country. Yet, my other sister was there (E)