Steven Diffey's blog

Sanky, AllofUs presents at the D&AD presidents lecture

2008-11-29T12:58:00.002Z

Sanky cofounder of AllOfUs graced the stage of Logan Hall in the last of the D&AD President Lectures last Thursday sporting a smart pair of shiny gold shoes.

He kicked-off the presentation by asking everyone in the audience to hum in unison. Possibly typical of his creative belief that you need to engage with the audience in any way possible. He then went on take everyone through his personal and professional history, explaining what drives him in his work and reminding us 'The Best Things In Life Arn't Things"

He’s definitely the type of guy that just blimmin’ does it.

Here's an interview he did with D&AD President Garrick Hamm.

Day of digital art

2008-11-24T13:45:00.000Z

It had been some time since I'd invested any amount on time in exploring the digital art scene since graduating from university in 2005, so when the opportunity arose on Sunday I was somewhat intrigued by what developments have occurred.

My first stop-off was Listening Post at the Science Museum. The installation was difficult find amid the rooms and halls of scientific paraphernalia and displays, so I would recommend speaking to someone at the information desk upon visit. When I finally found the the location, it was the sound that struck me first. Melodic overtones encapsulated small clicks and sporadic Hawking-esgue readings. And then I was faced with the 21 rows of 11 digital LED displays. Each display reading a short message, beginning with 'I'm'. Such as 'I'm in Brazil' or 'I'm 24'.

It is supposed to be an experiment in cyber voyeurism, to provoke questions about our current use of online-communication platforms in revealing ourselves. It genuinely did make me think about my privacy settings. However; the overall experience struggled to mesmerise in a way that it had potential to. Maybe if it had been presented in a better setting it might have succeeded. I.e. raising the backdrop to the ceiling or darkening the room.

The next installation was across the road at the V&A, where Universal Everything had been given the prime spot of the Madejski Garden to present their latest piece. Forever is a large videowall of endless animations responding to an ever changing soundtrack. 'The bespoke generative design system at the heart of Forever spawns unique audio-visual films every day, forever'.

The designs were impressive in intricacy, colour and speed, and the sounds associated with them were powerful. A toddler, whose vocabulary was probably restricted to a maximum of 5 syllables actually yelled "wahhhh", as she was led outside by her mother.

The third and final digital art installation on the agenda was Under Scan by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in Trafalgar Square - the prominence of this location was enough to excite. Yet the installation was a severe let down. Video projections of people appeared on the ground, to wave smile and do whatever. And that was it.

All three of these pieces have been built with high production standards and skill. And were placed in prime locations across London, leading me to believe that digital art has come along way in support since 2005. However, they all lacked excitement and engagement that I would have thought would have been the priority of the artists.

Art nowadays has the potential to connect to people in ways traditional artists can only dream of. Fingers crossed London be will host to more digital art in 2009.

Highgate Cemetery

2008-11-22T21:07:00.004Z

George Wombwell - Highgate Cemetery, originally uploaded by stevendiffey.

I took an afternoon trip to the west side of Highgate Cemetery today, where they have among other tombs, this incredible burial site for the menagerist George Wombwell.

Check out my Flickr set

My Simpsons avatar

2007-06-29T14:46:00.001+01:00

Man I can't wait for this movie

The Simpsons Movie

Glastonbury 2007

2007-06-25T22:15:00.000+01:00

Glastonbury 2007 was awesome! All of the artists I saw were amazing and the atmosphere, despite all of the rain and mud was great. I stupidly forgot to take my camera with me, so I thought I'd just link through to the BBC Glastonbury site.

Built myself a garden table

2007-05-21T11:01:00.001+01:00

Job done, originally uploaded by stevendiffey.

I spent Saturday building myself a garden table for the flat. No more eating of our laps.

Big thanks to my Dad.

Glastonbury line-up leaked

2007-05-20T19:53:00.000+01:00

The Glastonbury line-up has been leaked. Only one month away. Can't wait!

http://www.festivalnews.co.uk/glastonbury/lineup

German World Pole Vaulting Champion

2007-05-17T09:40:00.000+01:00

This perked me up this morning.

I'm a skateboarder now

2007-04-20T16:46:00.000+01:00

For some time now I've been thinking about getting into longboarding. I've always dreamt of going snowboarding, but have never found the opportunity and since this year's snow season is well over, I decided to invest in the urban equivalent. So I got myself a Lush Makonga board.

It's pure fun! Every chance I get now I'm cruising (and falling) down the empty roads and park-paths of Highgate. I've even bought myself a set of phat wheels and a pair of sliding gloves, so hopefully soon I'll be sliding like the pros.

The Arcade Fire

2007-03-17T16:10:00.000Z

The Arcade Fire, originally uploaded by stevendiffey.

It has been a while since I've made any posts, but I thought I'd kick things off with a picture of the Arcade Fire that I took in March. They were pretty amazing. I'm envious of the way they just swap and change instruments throughout the whole gig.

Reactable synth

2007-02-19T12:49:00.000Z

"By moving and relating objects, representing components of a classic modular synthesizer, users can create complex and dynamic sonic topologies, with generators, filters and modulators, in a kind of tangible modular synthesizer or graspable flow-controlled programming language" (Krunchtime).

Every club should have one.

Developed by a team at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.

Via Krunchtime

Disney Nazi Cartoon

2007-02-19T12:12:00.000Z

Could you imagine Disney making one about the Iraq War?

Via Boing Boing

Drunk Aussie attacks a shark

2007-02-16T13:59:00.000Z

'I snuck up to him very, very slowly... THEN IT WAS ON!'. The shark had it coming really.

Brilliant!

Listen to story

Tom Vek on radio

2007-02-13T16:40:00.000Z

Spamalot

2007-02-13T15:11:00.000Z

I'm not one to post recycled Flash games, but being a Monty Python fan I thought that this was great. It really captures the Monty Plython style.

Spamalot

Demonstration About Nothing

2007-02-09T10:40:00.000Z

I thought this was quite funny. NODE is a Berlin and Oslo based graphic design studio, who in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Arts, decided to stage an unregistered demonstration, thereby 'posing the question to the system whether or not this was an illegal action'.

Node

DJ 3D's James Brown Mix

2007-02-08T17:26:00.001Z

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Odeo is the latest hot web2.0 application out there. They have 3million mp3's that you can download or play straight from there for free. (You can also put them on your web site.)

Odeo

Reno Balloon Race 2006

2007-02-01T16:07:00.000Z

A beautifully hypnotic time-lapse video of the 2006 Reno Balloon Race. Nice soundtrack too.

Via 30gsm

Dazed Digital

2007-01-29T11:21:00.000Z

Culture magazine Dazed and Confused has gone digital. Like the print version, the site showcases art, fashion, film and music, as well as the oportunity to share ideas and colaborate with like-mided individuals.

Check out the feature on lo-fi directors teamSTUSH, the guys between videos for the likes of Tom Vek and The Klaxons.

Dazed Digital

Flight patterns from the USA

2007-01-26T15:37:00.000Z

Data from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is used to create animations of flight patterns and density. The interesting bit is that even without the geography you can work out where in the world you're looking at. I'm very surprised the FAA donated the data and allowed such a cool visualision to be made, what with the 'security risks'.

View the animation

Via Krunchtime

Bonobo - Days to Come

2007-01-24T11:56:00.000Z

I got ahold of Bonobo's latest offering; Days to Come. It comes in the form of a deep, dreamlike 2 disk album, with live drum sounds, slightly dirty bass and snares, bongos, brass and strings.

Moving on from his previous two albums, Bonobo has also employed the vocals of Bajka and Fink to add another dimension to his sound.

My favourite song on the album is Nightlife (check out Zero dB's remix of it).

Official site
Label site
MySpace

Saw Stop - look after those digits

2007-01-16T15:11:00.000Z

I've been doing quite a lot of DIY recently and making use of my dad's power saw. Although cutting wood has been relatively pain-free (touch wood), I have often considered how easy it would be to loose a finger or two and stain my new DIY recycling bin with blood.

The SawStop comes equipped with new sensor technology that can tell when the blade comes in contact with soft human flesh. Within a few milliseconds the saw blade stops and drops below the cutting surface, so that any errant digits come away with just a nick.

SawStop
Hotdog demo

Mark Ronson Essential Mix

2007-01-09T10:27:00.000Z

British born but New York based DJ and producer Mark Ronson appeared on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix on 7th Jan to present a kick-ass, eclectic mix of just about everything. It includes tracks from his own cover album "Version", due out sometime in April 2007, as well as classics tunes from past and present.

If you liked his take on Radiohead's Just you'll love this.

Download here (right-click 'save link as')
Tracklistings

Went to Arsenal vs Charlton game

2007-01-03T16:24:00.000Z

I finally managed to get to go to the Emirates Stadium to see Arsenal play. What a stadium! The building is pristine, the interior is spick and span and the view of play is flawless. The atmosphere on the otherhand is somewhat reserved. I reckon it will come with time.

ARSENAL 4 CHARLTON 0 - COME ON!!!

Mobile clubbing at Paddington Station

2006-12-01T15:37:00.000Z

I went to my first Mobile Clubbing session on Thursday at Paddington station. During the day I received an email inviting all recipients to 'arrive at the station in good time walk around and get in to your groove spread out through the whole station no dancing before 19.18 at the instant the clock strikes 19.18 dance like you've never danced before...'.

I ended up working late and at 19:10 my colleague Marcos and I wondered down to Paddington, arriving there at 19:17. At 19:18 the whole of the station was alive with random people dancing around like at a rave, whilst passersby observered with concern and bemusement.

The world would be a better place if there were more events like this.

Video to follow shortly

Mobile clubbing