The Independent on Tuesday welcomed Bono, of U2, as its guest editor and dedicated its front page for his "Red" campaign fighting AIDS in African nations.
The front page syas "No News Today". And there is another message - "Just 6,500 Africans died today as a result of a preventable, treatable disease".
Half its revenue from the Red paper is to be used for the campaign.
I like the Independent's challenging attitude.
» The Independent
» BBC News | Independent goes Red as Bono edits
Norwegian links page, Styleboost, is now under construction. The top page says that the site is going to be "the Web 2.0 generation" and we can expect something very different from what the site used to be.
The site has been closed for more than a month (as far as I know). It's high time to launch a new version. And the 1st of May is just around the corner. The site may open on that day.
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A website for Italian sofa brand, seven salotti, has been launched.
The website starts with four thumbnails, which emerge on a jet-black marble floor in darkness. Once users click on one of the thumbnails, the website brings them to the world of seven salotti.
The top page focuses on making a strong initial impression at users so that they have an interest in the brand and the site. By adding the unique movement to the thumbnails, it also helps to raise users' expectaion. In contrast to the top page, the content pages display product images in full-screen.
The website is designed with red, brand colour, and jet-black tiles in order to express the brand identity. It also focues on achieving a simple and intuitive navigation and the BGM helps to convey the atmosphere.
I has been an art director on this project, but the website cannot have been complete without everyone's help. Especially, many thanks goes to Akira, who has done a Flash coding and got my idea into shape in such a short time. I guess I was being a hard-core detail stickler for him. Forgive me. But that's me.
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I came across a GAP commercial, directed by Spike Jonze . Titled "pardon our dust"
In a GAP shop, shop assistants start messing products and displays. They are gradually destroying the shop itself. In the end of the film, a message "pardon our dust, the all-new GAP is coming" appears in the background of the complete mess.
Idea is very unique and very Spike Jonze. Interesting as a commercial. However I could not enjoy watching it comfortably. What do you think of a comapny which vandalises their products produced by the developing countries? The company is GAP, which is always a focus of anti-globalisation criticism. I know that's not the point of this commercial and the company doesn't mean they don't value their products.
I like Spike Jonze, but I'm not convinced...
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It's been long, maybe almost two years, since computerlove.net was closed. But ComputerLove came back to us with a different URL - cpluv.com. I've made my account. But the server is too slow.
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I came back from a two-week business trip to Milan and Paris. I was supposed to be an assistant for my boss, but what I did was 1)carried his luggage at airport, 2)pushed a cart, 3) made a hole in cards, 4)gave a taxi driver a tip every single time and 5)kept updating my Japanese blog mainly about what I ate. Strongly doubt about myself.
Anyway, ANTEPRIMA's Milano show was a huge success and about 400 audiences enjoyed "the Winter Stage". (I am not going to write about the press release text here. You can get more information here. I designed this page, by the way.)
On that day, I was walking about the venue with a video camera and excited to see beautiful models and celebrities. (Don't where tapes which I recorded have gone!)
And a campaign shooting in Paris also went well. A photographer is Namiko who did the last season's campaign shooting. She's very friendly, lovely and talented. Looking forward to seeing the photographs published.
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A newspaper in a small European country published caricatures last September. But they triggered a serious international problem. Who could thought?
» BBC News | Danish embassy in Beirut torched
The cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, published in Denmark, caused anger among Muslim countries. Lebanese demonstrators set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire in protest against the cartoons a day after Syrians' attack on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday.
Having Norwegian friends, it is very hard to see their national flags be burned. And such scenes overlap with the anti-Japanese protests in China that happened last April.
» BBC News | Muslim anger at Danish cartoons
The row was caused by a set of twelve caricatures of Muhammad made by Danish Jyllands-Posten in last September. The set of the cartoons was titled "What's Muhammad's face like?", saying "a writer complained that nobody dared illustrate his book about Muhammad." However, the ambassadors of Arab countries, Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Indonesia, saw them very offeisive and pressed for the apology of the Danish prime minister.
The situation was further aggravated after a Norwegian publication reprinted the cartoons, followed by the newspapers of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which also decided the reprint to claim "Freedom of expression".
There is an ideological confrontation between two sides behind this issue - Europeans, who believe in "freedom of expression" and therefore gorvenments should not interfere in the media, while Muslims just cannot accept the depiction of Muhammad whatever European media say.
This issue seems to underline "freedom of expression versus religious offence" between two. But Europe's theory, "freedom of expression", appears unconvincing to me.
Having studied journalism in the UK, I believe that journalism should have an aim, sometimes obligation, to report news. And for that, "freedom of expression" should be protected and be based on journalistic activities.
Then, here is my question. What did Jyllands-Posten want to say through the cartoons? It is strictly prohibited to depict Muhammad in the Muslim rule. The paper could have expected what would happen if they publish the cartoons, and in fact, they were offensive (one of twelve cartoons depicts Muhammad as a stereotypical fundamentalist like Osama Bin Laden). So what did they want to tell us taking such risks? "Freedom of expression" is important for journalism, but at the same time, means to be accompanied by responsibilities.
Moreover, I am very sceptical about the European followers' decision. There is an anti-Muslim sentiment among Europeans, who fears an growing number of immigrants. And such a confrontation is coming to the surface like we saw in the riots in Franc last November. If the immigrant issue and anti-Muslim feeling were their motive for reprinting the cartoons, "freedom of expression" that they are claiming is very superficial.
However, what is currently happening in Arabic countries is not acceptable and justified. Violence leads us nowhere. The series of violent reactions across the Muslim nations can easily give an stereotyped image to those who watch the news, especially Europeans who support their "theory".
The cartoons can be seen at The Brussels Journal or Wikipedia.
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It's time to fly abroad. Since I came back to Japan, I've been dreaming of going back to the UK and Europe. And I'm glad that still I've got some opportunities in some way.
This month I'm going to Milan and Paris as an assistant for my boss for Anteprima's Milan collection.
I've never been to both cities and never travelled abroad for business. At this point, I regret that I didn't visit France and Italy when I was in the UK. If I did know Paris or Milan, it would have been helpful and advantageous for being an assistant. At least I'd have known how to buy a Metro ticket. (The reason why I didn't visit was because I thought flying to both cities was very probable. France and Italy are popular destinations in Japan and close to us. In fact, flight tickets are not so expensive. So I didn't hurry up and go there. As a result, I found myself fitting in North such as Oslo, Berlin and Dublin...)
Well, I didn't expect I'd go to Milan for business. Who knows? I was expecting to go there sooner or later in some way. But this month? Very exciting. There're so many things I've never done, seen and experienced. But the two-week trip - the first week is for the Milan collection and the second one is for a photo shooting in Paris - must be fun.
My anxiety is a pile of work to be done before I leave.
]]>Resolusions 2006
1. Be professional, keep calm even in difficulities and be more sharp-witted. I'm not new anymore in the office. Keyword is "professionalism".
2. Have more stress-free life.
3. Brush up my rusty English.
4. Keep fit and keep jogging.
5. Write more quality blogs. (This entry is an exception...)
6. Learn JavaScript.
Best wishes for this coming year.
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Dear Wendy
America's love affair with guns is cleverly satirised in this thought-provoking drama, directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written by Lars von Trier, of Dancer In The Dark. And Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell plays a pacifist in a poor American mining town who established a secret gun-worshipping club, the Dandies.
I'm expecting the film would end with a shocking and tragic climax like Lars von Trier did in Dancer In The Dark and Dogville.
Munich
And another movie I'm interested to watch is Munich, a suspense thriller set in the aftermath of the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Its director is Steven Spielberg.
From Apple Trailer:
This dramatic exploration inspired by true events follows a secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and kill the 11 Palestinians suspected to have planned the Munich attack-and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.
» Munich
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FICC, a web design office I'm working, revealed its new portfolio site yesterday.
The site focuses on not only visual presentation, but also usability and accessibility - RSS feed, direct links to projects and search function.
» FICC
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My portfolio site, auspicious, has been finally relaunched. I have been thinking about a new design for the new site and turned down many designs in the last three months. However, it took just only a few days to come up with the design I adopted.
I'm glad to be able to deliver the new site to you before Christmas. I hope you'll like it. And my office FICC's new site is also scheduled to open soon.
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Eminem collaborates with Wefail, webdesign geniuses for the renewal of his website.
The site is so "Wefail" that anyone can recognise who created it. With Wefail taste, the site is successful in giving a strong impression to visitors.
» EMINEM
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» BBC News | Nick Robinson's Newsblog | The beauty of blogging
Nick Robinson, political journalist, has returned to BBC from ITV News at the end of August. And now he starts blogging at the BBC News website. Thanks to an eye-catching announcement at the news front page, I could know and find his brand-new blog. (I've seen him many many times on the telly, but don't know much about his background and himself. All I know is that he's a political editor and always reports by the Thames or near the Big Ben. You, and me also, can learn more about him here!)
In the 5th of December's entry, he write about what a good weblog (newsblog) is ilke. It is very interesting.
Because "newsblog" gives us a chance to share our views, it is a very different type of media. He write; "I may also invite you to listen, watch or read something that's particularly interested me." He describes broadcasting as the media which you speak to a vast number of people, but you hardly have a conversation with them.
Therefore, he believes that "a good weblog can really change the relationship between author and reader." After this, he keeps writing, stretching this idea to the relationshop between politician and voter. Well, that's another story here.
As one of the today's bloggers, even though I'm not a serious "news" blogger. I bear in mind what is talked here, having seen my blog which haven't got many comments but have got many spam comments... I don't want poker advertising or Viagra. Piss off.
And what surprised me was the fact that he first started writing Newslog in December 2001. Blog? 4 years ago? He was keeping a daily live diary of things in and around Westminster.
Published on this website, it was a continuation of a column we had started during that year's General Election campaign, in a daily article called The Campaign Today.I naturally stopped doing Newslog when I went to ITV News to be political editor - it was only polite, really - but ever since I returned to the BBC in September, I've been anxious to start blogging again.
This blog is going to be an entertaining and politically-educational blog. He also hopes that, having seen recent British political movements. Well, the next is about the new leader of the Conservative party?
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Coldplay recently revealed their new music video of Talk, song from their latest album, X&Y. The video is something different what fans have seen ever.
The story is like "Coldply's encounter of another kind in the galaxy". They lands on a planet and meet a giant robot. They communicate throught music and make friends. But when Coldplay leaves with a spaceship, the robot eats it in the end.
Their videos have been always more "experimentally artistic" or more "straightforward as a rock music video". Like "The Scientist" - Chris Martin literally goes back in time in the video - and "Speed of Sound" - the band simply plays its tune.
But, this time is neither of the above. It can be described as funny (?). I've know the band since I bought their first album, Parachutes. But this is the first time to see the band, especially other three except for Chris Martin, acting like that.
Coldplay has won many awards and had a huge success so far. They are not just one of the British bands. The band is now known around the world. It is time that the band wants to see theirselves in another kind, isn't it?
» Coldplay
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