Collective Culture Shocks*

* danger: high voltage

This week we’re ...
...thanking Leila for our Friday Afternoon Tea Parties
... having our cake and playing with it
... travelling east for Field Day fun times
...appreciating real ale at the CAMRA beer festival
...reading about The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made – including James Cameron’s ‘Spider-Man’ and Schwarzenegger in ‘I Am Legend’


Collective Guess Who
Told you this week’s would be harder! (Answer to be posted in comments)

1. Who would you invite to a dinner party?
Tom Waits, my grandparents, and the guy who continually parades down Sutton High Street dressed as Gandalf.

2. Which two things could you not live without?
My Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Three DVD box set and a good 2B pencil.

3. If you were an animal which animal would you be?
I avoid animals. Certainly wouldn’t want to be one. If you twisted both my arms and pinched my left ankle, it would have to be something extinct. Just to freak people out when they see me walking around. Let’s say a zombie dodo.

4. What is your earliest memory?
Playing with my Star Wars figures on my lonesome well past bed-time. I was probably six. Some things never change.

5. What was your first ever album?
‘Psychocandy’ by The Jesus & Mary Chain would be a lie. ‘Read-along-with Bambi’ would be the reality.

The walls have ears...
Farhan: “So Kenta, why did you join Collective?”
Kenta: “Mostly for the free bread. They didn’t give us bread at my old company.”

Collective Poker

The first Collective Poker Night was a night of highs, low, tension, frustration and joy. Rank amateurs (most of us, really) were pitched against more established players in a battle of wits, deception and pure luck.

Kenta and Silke took an early lead....



...but flew too close to the Sun and lost it all to eventual champ Katie.



Thanks to Stephane for the venue and amazing feast. Same time next week at Jeff's?

That old devil Six Degrees of Freedom!

For a good while now, I've always wondered how the theory of Six Degrees of Separation has been affected (or perhaps evolved) into a lesser figure through the explosion of social networking and our predilection of lowering barriers to making friends within the online space.

For those, like myself who considered this to be a reasonably recent theory, it actually goes way back (pre-interweb) to the late 60's and some research by Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers, who engaged in a study where people were asked to send a letter (via acquaintances) to a Boston stockbroker. Of the 300 or so letter chains that were sent, the average number of separation degrees was 6.2!






















Rather than changing this figure (one would initially consider it being lowered), the internet has merely gone to validate (beyond doubt), that the theory is correct and that we are all connected in this way.

Probably the most conclusive research recently undertaken was using online chat, where Microsoft researchers studied the addresses of 30bn instant messages sent during a single month in 2006 through their instant messaging application....a more planetary research piece than the localised one carried out 40 or so years previously!

So with this theory well and truly validated, we really can say "It's a small world".

Collective 5-a-side victory

Never mind the China Olympics, last night was the major sporting event of the year, when Collective played digital agency Fortune Cookie at 5-a-side.

After a shaky start, and going 5-1 down to Fortune Cookie, Collective fought back heroically to win 10-6 (or 9-6, recollections vary...)

Thanks to the guys from Fortune Cookie for the game.

Collective are now ready to take on all comers. Bring the noise!

Pimp our Barry

Oh, Barry. You should have known what to expect when you send round an email like this:

They say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but if we didn’t do it there would not be a proverb to warn us against such rash judgement.

With this in mind what does my ‘cover’ say about me?? Have a look at the attached image and see what comes to your mind.

I would say the following:-
Bland
Boring
Uninspiring
Dull
Couldn’t be more uncreative if it tried
With this in mind I would like to throw the creative gauntlet down in the creative pit and shout ‘pimp my face’!

With that in mind, here are some 'creative concepts' for the new Barry...

Barry resplendent as a Victorian Gent. It's 'soooo now'.



Heeeeeere's Barry



What can I say, we all have Batman fever.



Dame Barry - love the pink rinse.



A bit of a nip and tuck...



The poor man is now on the verge of an identity crisis and is talking of going to Nepal to find his true self. Help him out by voting on which look is best.

 What look should Barry rock full-time?

• 
  
  The Joker


• 
  
  Dame Barry


• 
  
  Victorian Gent


• 
  
  Heeeeere's Barry


• 
  
  Collagen pout

view results
Free vote poll

Pass The Jazz: Be a star for a day

Our microsite for the forthcoming new Honda Jazz launched this week, and it gives you the chance to take over the Jazz home page for a day – another exciting first for Honda.

We want to hear your Jazz stories – those adventures you’ve been on together or simply the way it makes you smile every day. All the stories will appear on our site and one Jazz driver will be chosen to personalise our home page. Be a part of it:

http://www.honda.co.uk/newjazz/

Collective Culture Shocks*

*Committed to leaving no shocks uncultured


This week we’re ...

... looking at tourist attractions in a new way

... feeling warm and fuzzy inside after the Collective family outing to see Wall-E

... listening to Danny’s band, exlovers – coming to a sweaty live venue near you soon

… unleashing our inner Rolf Harris on our new free-for-all art wall

…doing anything but chilling at the Big Chill Festival



Collective Guess Who

Can you guess who it is yet? (Answer to be posted in comments)


1. Who would you invite to a dinner party?
David Attenborough
Stephen Fry
Jonathan Ross

2. Which two things could you not live without?
Beer + sleep.

3. If you were animal which animal would you be?
A cat – all they do is sleep and eat.

4. What is your earliest memory?
Going to see Chelsea play.

5. What was your first ever album?
Think it was a Madonna album.


The walls have ears …

Barry: “I have at least three different stories about broccoli … I won’t bore you with them right now.”

It all gets touchy-feely at MotorShow 2008

Gone are the days when the leather seats, walnut veneer and shiny gear sticks were the only thing you touched at the Motor Show. With engagement being a major player these days, getting consumers to discover more about the latest cars or the value of a particular automotive brand, the world of digital is fast becoming a more valuable entity to grab.



This year saw a sensory myriad of things to touch and play with. From the simple terminal screens, right through to USB sticks, panels, blocks, visors, skateboards and playgrounds (as well as the new cars of course!)



Probably the largest of the interactive areas to digitally tinker in was the Honda 'Problem Playground'. Based around the online experience launched earlier this year, the Playground is a place that tells the story of how Honda loves problems and more specifically, how to solve them (if you look back over time, they've been solving problems for years).



Typically, the first problem to solve before you get to touch any screen was how to get to the challenges in the first place, but once in front of a screen, there is an array of interactive problems that Honda have solved in recent years for you to discover and interact with.



But why take our word for it? The Motor show is still open (last day is the 3rd August 2008), so get your tickets now, whilst it's still there!

£612 raised, world saved

Well, perhaps not saved entirely, but one corner of Columbia is that little bit brighter thanks to our recent wheelchair appeal. Inspired by the kindness of Mr Hector Lopez and the nuns of the Columbian mission that visited us recently, we raised the money for two new wheelchairs for the Valencia Loaiza family. And none of us had to sit in a bath of cold beans to do it. Thanks to all who donated.

Collective Culture Shocks*

*Real shocks not guaranteed



This week we're...

... wishing we were small again
... feeling smug about having tickets to see ‘The Dark Knight’ at the IMAX (and a little bit freaked by the pencil trick)
... indulging our inner comic book geek further by cooing over the Watchman trailer
... getting ever so slightly spooked by the apocalyptic nightmare visions of Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ – soon to be a major motion picture!
... hoping that our ears stop ringing soon from seeing The Mars Volta
... dancing with Dazed and Confused


Collective Guess Who...

Don’t phone – it’s just for fun. (Answer to be posted in comments)

Who would you invite to the ultimate dinner party?
Omar, Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal.

What two things could you not live without?
My guitar and amplifier. Though, to be honest, there aren't really any things I own that I couldn’t live without.

What animal would you like to be?
Any sort of domestic cat.

What is your earliest memory?
Slipping on the kitchen floor when I was about two, landing on my front teeth and seeing stars!

What was the first album you ever bought?
My first ever album that I listened to and enjoyed was my parent’s LP of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. My sister and I would dance to it after Sunday roast and subsequently be sick.


The walls have ears...

Silke: “I miss the disco shed.”
Al: “Could we fit one in the studio?”