Belvedere & Rolling Stones Rock out on a Russian Sailing Ship

The other night, I was on the Russian sailing ship barque Sedov, the largest traditional sailing ship still in operation today. We were spoiled with Belvedere signature cocktails while Rolling Stone Magazine brought the party with Russian band Mumiy Troll and CT band Long Time Citizen. It was loads of fun, and such an honour to be on board a ship that hasn’t docked in CT waters for 77 years!

 

 

Fun times

(yes, i DID say “I’M ON A BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” a lot.)

Pic credit: Some images by Jean Marc Lederman!

Time for a Pep Talk

We all have those days when it feels like the universe has pulled the rug out from under your feet… well if you’re having one of those days today, watch this:

Made me cry and want to do something awesome. Share it with people you think might need a lift.

Apple. Drink Different.

So the other day, I got this mysterious little package at work… I thought back and was pretty sure I hadn’t ordered anything online and there weren’t any markings on the packaging… curiouser and curiouser!

So the OBVIOUS move was to open it. And found the cutest/funniest thing: The new Apple! NO not the phone! The new Ceres Limited Edition Apple juice!

In a cheeky response to Liquifruit’s new Blackberry flavour, they’ve created this limited edition Apple juice – available at Fruit & Veg and some petrol stations forecourts.

“We thought we would have a bit of fun by responding to Liqui-Fruit’s recently launched blackberry flavour by launching a limited edition apple, just like competing handset brands out there ” says Nabeel Schrueder, Brand Manager, Ceres.

As part of the launch, Ceres has also released an interactive online game which can be found on the Ceres Facebook Page. The tongue in cheek game encourages users to ‘root out the cheeky blackberry’s that have snuck into the beautiful Ceres Valley’ to stand a chance in winning one of seven Apple iPhone 5’s. The game consists of the Ceres Limited Edition Apple clearing the valley of all the sneaky blackberry’s by shooting apples at their competitor.

For more information check out the Ceres Facebook Page or follow them on Twitter @ceresfruitjuice

Nice to see brands having a playful go at each other – such a cool way to get involvement from your customers and also a great way to show that you have a sense of humour. Refreshing.

HANDS DOWN my favourite Grammy 2013 performance!

Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna and Ziggy and Damian Marley in a tribute to Bob Marley. I LOVE this. I love the energy and the harmonies between the stars literally gave me goosebumps.

I especially love watching the stars in the audience jamming and singing along! (Even Nicole Kidman’s awkward dance) they could have left out Taylor Swift, she needs to pipe the f*ck down.

Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna & Ziggy Marley… by IdolxMuzic

Here’s the video on YouTube, but to be honest, the Dailymotion/Global Grind version has better quality sound (links above)

Let me know what you think once you’ve seen it!

SUPERBOWL ADS! YAY!

I love this time of year – Superbowl! Not that I have any idea about American Football, but because I absolutely LOVE the ads and the GENIUS that people come up with. 

Last year my ultimate favourite was the Volkswagen ad with the mini Darth Vader – and I’m still waiting to see all the ads from this year to make an informed decision, but I have to admit, the Mercedes Benz one is pretty damn cool. 

I’ll keep you posted with more of my favourites as I come across them  

Lekker daggie! x

The Low-Down on City Varsity

I’ve been asked to be super real about my City Varsity course by quite a few people, so I decided to pull together the questions and answer them honestly. 

- What were your experiences at City Varsity

Well, seeing as it was a part time class, I can’t say that I had many stand out experiences. It was pretty cool going back to “school” and learning a thing or two. 

- What you liked about the course you did

I walked into that class with a pretty good knowledge of photoshop (self-taught) but what I really liked is that Neil, the lecturer, is VERY knowledgable about PS and he taught me SOOO many shortcuts to things I have been doing the long way round for a very very long time. 

- Who you would suggest should check out City Varsity. 

If you’re looking to experience new things, and add some skills to your CV, especially with regards to the creative arts I would highly recommend City Varsity. I will say though, if you’re in a time consuming industry like events/pr/marketing it is really difficult to squeeze even those 2 evenings a week in. 

- What you liked about the vibe on campus

To be honest, because you’re doing your class once the regular students have left, it’s pretty much a ghost town after hours. BUT, the vibe in class is pretty cool. 

- A recap of everything

Everything?! Well, i learned all sorts of things – all of it to improve images that might be good, but could be better. 

The facilities are good and all aimed towards a pain-free learning experience.

One thing though, it’s quite impersonal. We didn’t have that “Hi, what’s your name, what do you do” conversation at all in class. And I feel that impersonal aspect makes it a bit bleak. Like no one cares who you are, you’ve paid your fees, if you want to learn that’s ok. But if you disappeared off the face of the earth, that’s ok too. Honestly the only major negative thing I could say about it. 

- Any funny or interesting stories

Not really a story, but a quote to live by: “If all else fails, find the YouTube tutorial” (this applies to ANYTHING. including, plane building, photo editing, ANYTHING) 

I must say, it’s been a great experience at City Varsity and I’m glad I went and did it. 

Now, what’s next?! Video editing?! Hmmmm…. actually… 

Check out more about the course I did HERE.

 

City Varsity Final Assessment

I wanted the colours to POP in this image so I played with removed all the colour except for the flowers.

City Varsity Final Assessment 2

This image looked a little washed out, so I decided to add a bit of contrast and a few corrections here and there.

CIty Varsity Final Assessment 3

Decided to play around with contrasts, colour and curves to make an already awesome image, even more awesome.

Why Photoshop

So I recently finished my Photoshop Course at City Varsity… and something that happened quite often was people asked me: “Why Photoshop though?”

The answer to that is pretty simple… coz photoshop is AWESOME. You might be a great photographer, but photoshop adds that extra ‘pop’ or takes away things that detract from pictures that other than that would be perfect.. It’s really one of the best programmes ever invented.

One of the SUPERCOOL things I learnt was changing eye colour. It’s something I’ve always wanted to know how to do:

 

A bit rough, but you get the point right?