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The Telegraph has an article on the phenomenon of “faceblocking” (an excellent, made up term). It seems an increasing number of companies are banning Facebook, as their staff are spending countless hours poking their friends and generally being non-productive.
British Gas, Lloyds TSB and the Metropolitan Police are amongst the latest companies to deny their employees access. In the case of the police, it’s too little too late.
Nicholas Manion has carefully sculpted a series of horizon views into various international currencies.
Sebastian Wrong’s Font Clock - a timepiece for typophiles.
It’s jolly nice, but a little on the expensive side at £195 up to an eye-watering £810.
HOW2WORK have launched a new figure in their eclectic collection - behold the fully-poseable Lenin!
Their Scarface figures are also very cool.
You can see the full range at the HOW2WORK website.
The acclaimed Selfridges building is arguably Birmingham’s most famous landmark after the much maligned (though much loved!) Rotunda. As a former resident of Park Street in Digbeth, I can vividly remember the city before Selfridges landed at the end of Digbeth High Street.
This is the view from my old flat above the Royal George pub (photo taken sometime around February 1999). The car park on the right stands where the Selfridges building is now situated.
The car park was a charming place. It was abandoned for several years, and eventually became the domain of assorted drug addicts and homeless people. The scene was somewhat reminiscent of the zombie dance scene in thriller, albeit without the well-rehearsed choreography. The subway on the left hand side led to underground parking - I must confess, I was too scared to venture down there after it was condemned.
Fast forward 6 months and the car park is nothing but rubble. The office building to the right soon succumbed to the irresistible charms of the wrecking ball.
The demolition process mainly happened between 10pm and 3am. I’ve no idea how or why Birmingham City Council agreed to this, but it proved to be an interesting distraction in the early hours.
The photo below shows the lift shafts from the car park, the last part of the structure to be destroyed. As you can see the wanton destruction was happening alarmingly close (35ft) from my bedroom window, where this photo was taken in July 1999.
The next photo shows the old subway on Park Street on the right hand side. I’m not sure if it’s there now as I haven’t been there in years. There was a porn cinema on the opposite side - the idea seems terribly quaint now that the internet is the king of pornography.
The picture below clearly shows the land that is now occupied by the Selfridges building. You can just about make out Moor Street station (before its extensive refurbishment) on the right hand side.
The photo below (courtesy of Flickr) shows the Selfridges building, with Park Street (I think!) leading to the right. It’s very hard to tell as the whole area has been completely remodeled since the demise of the old Bull Ring.
Birmingham has changed beyond recognition in the past decade, but the gritty, industrial underbelly of the city is still thriving on the old streets of Digbeth. No bones about it, Digbeth is still very cool!
Anthony Clark at nedroid.com has drawn 200 bad comics following a challenge from a rival illustrator. OK, some of them are genuinely bad (no surprise given the subject of the challenge), but there are some real diamonds in the rough.
A 5ft 10″ neon Apple logo has found its way onto eBay. The price is rapidly increasing as the Apple fanboys continue their bidding war, but hey, it’d look great in any studio, workplace, lounge, bedroom…
Hollywood legend Steve McQueen’s 1963 Ferrari 250 GT is up for auction by Christie’s. The estimated £400,000 - £600,000 value is sure to put off all but the wealthiest of buyers, but the winning bidder is sure to enjoy being behind the wheel of this mean machine.
