The Spaces In Between

Hello Sunday. Hello worst hangover ever. I think it's a nice day, but I'll have to check later. I have a suspicion that the sun will be very bright, the birds will be very loud and any movement might be too much. What happened even? And why do we do this to ourselves? Living in fast forward. Crashing and burning. Over and over. Then justify our actions by saying we deserve it, because we have been working so hard. It's our escape I guess.

But then again, our escape from what? Is reality really that horrible that we have to keep disappearing to keep our sanity? Sadly, i think there might be some truth in that. Maybe it's just me, but when I look at the world, I see so much emptiness and unbalance. Those that believe in something strongly, tend to become extremists and the rest just live on instant gratification. It's a generalization, but bear with me...

Here is what I think. The biggest problem in this world is a lack of honesty and transparency. People passively respond to what they perceive everyday and their sense of right and wrong get shaped out of this collective mindset. If politics, religion, advertising and relationships were based on truth, maybe there would be a lot less damage and corruption. Maybe leaders would be better role models, the uneducated would have dreams to pursue, wealth would take on a new meaning, and we could have honest conversations. Maybe.

Instead we are forced to feel guilty for being privileged. We work harder, pay more taxes, yet the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. All because of greed, dishonesty and secrecy. They dump loads of money onto the unprivileged, but do not teach them the life skills to sustain it. Also, priorities are warped due to idealistic ideas created on television by richer people's ideas. As a hardworking, well-educated individual, what do you say to that? Nothing. Sadly. It's everyone for him/herself. Harsh, but true.

Mostly, who you know will work more in your favour than what you know. But that, in combination with knowledge, is power. It is only once a person has expert knowledge and excellent communication and presentation skills, with a deeper understanding of how people perceive what they say and why, that they are truly powerful. Like NLP and other psychological manipulation techniques, it feels almost like cheating. But then again, if information is free and accessible to everyone and knowledge only depends on one's own determination and ambition, it is still fair game? I guess this is still a grey area, because information is still not free and accessible everywhere and people do not like to share the secrets to their success.

I would like to believe there is more honesty in the world, more trust and more certainty. Why are people so scared of things they do not understand and words they can't define? We like patterns and formulas that we recognize. Habits. Nothing ever changes. And yet we still wonder why... Maybe, if anything, it's our responsibility to create new habits. That way the next generation might turn our slightly less confused about life and more purpose driven. It might be idealistic and naive, but i do honestly believe we can come up with better solutions and ways to fill the empty spaces and give more people a fair chance. The bigger picture is quite overwhelming, but if our ideas plants seeds in other people's minds, grows and multiplies, this place might still turn out ok. Just a thought.

On a different note, this is my song for the day - Animals (The Penelopes Remix) by Kit. Use it. Don't use it.

Dear Elizma

It's that time of year again. Happy Birthday. It should be the most exciting day, except it isn't. In fact, it just feels like every other day. Every year it gets a little less exciting. And a little more terrifying. No matter how much we want to tell ourselves we have all the time in the world, we still feel some level of guilt for not being the successful business people everyone thought we'd turn out to be by now, with no interest in marriage or children or other domestic matters. But then again, we have already discussed how we feel about this and will be content with the fact that we have no clue what we are doing. So, maybe I should rather say "Happy quarter life crisis" for now.

So, what do you do when you turn 25? Well, lets see. If only i could remember... Come to think of it, we did everything our generation is rebelling against (except for the part about drinking copious amounts of alcohol). We watched 30Rock, baked cupcakes, finished a bottle of vodka with pomegranate juice, went shopping, opened a bottle of coffee wine, made thai green curry, ate it, surfed the net, opened a bottle of Spanish wine, watched 'The Apprentice', played with the cat, finished our wine and decided it's time to sleep. Sounds boring? In all honesty it was the most relaxing and fun night we had in a while. Seriously. We chilled a lot, ate and drank a lot and even laughed a lot. More so than usual. If only i could remember what we laughed about...

Today we shall try to be more adventurous. Or not. We'll see how things go. Fuck it. We don't have to do anything. And we can be as indecisive as we want.

So I guess what I am trying to say is Happy Birthday! Be happy, be lazy, be indecisive, be moody, whatever floats your boat. As long as it turns out to be a good day. I made you a little present, a reminder of your favourite thing in the world... Andy Pipkin, also known as Andy Pants, Andy Cat, Andy panties, Seun, Nommer Twee and Andykins. The only cat who likes to play fetch, hates the world and any kind of affection, makes no sound and portray dog-like qualities on a daily basis. Not to mention the fact that he is questionably male and he hates other cats. Shame-a. We love you.

Hey 20-something, get some direction. We worry. Regards, The New York Times

You can't make any decisions. You don't know what you want. You don't know who you are, because you can be anyone you want. Oh, emerging adult, please grow up, buy a house, get married and make a baby already.

That is according to a recent article in The New York Times, which you can check out here, granted you don't suffer from ADD (apparently we all do, according to this article), because it's a meaty 18 page report.

In this article, they compare our generation with that of our parents. And then they judge us. Okay, but why? According to the article, "[Today] the 20s are a black box - and there is a lot of churning going on in there". Basically saying that we can't decide on a definite career path, we can't settle down, which results in us not being able to create a stable life for our soon-to-be white picket fence, 2.4 kids, 9-5 day job life. Shame on us.

So, yes. I confess. I am a churner. My friends are all churners. We churn for a living. We love to churn.

Here's what I think: When our parents were 25, they weren't concerned with keeping their options open (like most of us do today). Their generation didn't grow up in a self-indulgent world where you're sold on your uniqueness, your entrepreneurial and self driven spirit, personal branding, social networking, instant gratification, drinking red bull until you actually believe you are a red bull blah, blah, blah, the list goes on. Point is, times have changed, duh.

Off course every 20-something's goal is to get to the right place, but not necessarily at the so-called "right" time. We are fully aware that the decisions we make today will impact us for the rest of our lives. And that's maybe why we choose not to have kids at the same age as our parents did. Just saying.

Why would I choose to become an adult faster? Will I have a more fulfilled life by choosing the first half-decent career option that comes my way, and then become an alcoholic over the weekends, because I hate my job that much? Will I feel happier spending my measly salary buying nappies and baby formula? And what about my dreams of becoming a writer one day? Maybe I should just give it up now and get a real job. Is an adult someone who is grown-up enough to know that they're not grown up enough to deal with adult stuff? Or is an adult someone who dives into things blindly with the hope that stuff will fall into place once he/she is in over his/her head?

So, contrary to popular belief, dear NY Times, we do actually know where we're going, we just don't see why we should rush. Isn't it better to take the steps toward adult life a bit slower and more deliberately, than to rush into things? I wonder. And wander....

What Day Is This Even?

Stop motion. Yes, we are experts on this subject. I made a stop motion claymation once in varsity, then suggested it as a medium. And we have not stopped using it ever since. It has become our trademark. Ours and many other people's. But who cares. For some reason it is always fun.

This song will make any day a little brighter. And who can go wrong with light photography and suspended feet?

Dear 15 year old self:

First and foremost, enjoy the next 10 years of your life. You don't know this yet, but you'll have at least 2 panic attacks a year (12, by the time you reach your 20s), and after each so-called existential crisis you'll re-evaluate your life and take some drastic steps to change whatever it is that you think is so very, very wrong. It'll make you sleep better at night, but know that you're just going to return to your old ways in about 2 weeks' time. And that's fine too, because that's who you are and that's what makes you so interesting and dark and pensive. Having said that, dark and pensive are not bad things. Fuck knows, there are more than enough cheerful, rose-tinted spectacled 15 year olds out there to compensate for your moody demeanour. Just get rid of those cheerful tongue-in-cheek messaged t-shirts now, it's very unbecoming of you. Stick to wearing black and grey instead.

Let's see, what else? Oh, right, when the career guidance woman visits your school, do not take her advice. You won't believe me when I tell you this now, but there are more than 3 career options in this world. Yes, becoming a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant will pay the bills one day, but what do you know about bills anyway? Your are 15 years old, you have no clue. Having said that, you shouldn't feel too bad, you'll probably never fully comprehend the whole paying bills and working with money thing. Ever. I know.

Don't drink mass quantities of tequila. You have no idea how to hold your liquor. Like paying bills, you probably never will.

Try to attend a few more classes when you're in varsity. At least more than 2 a month. I know this field of study is so far removed from what you'll be doing full time one day, but imagine what a heinous and delibitating suckfest it must be for your parents to pay for your three year full-time party, part-time study phase. Pay them back by going to visit them as often as possible, answering their phone calls and not swiping the credit card until the strip is so damaged it has to be put through manually. They'll love you for that.

One day, in the not so distant future, you will be bored because you're sitting at home because you are too lazy to go to class and you are going to buy yourself a box of cigarettes. Big mistake. Huge mistake. You have never been good at moderation. Before you know it, you'll give a 50 year old chain smoker a asthma-ridden run for his money. And then one day you'll decide to quit because of a) the ridiculous smoking law relegating you to the slum corners of restaurants and b) the excessive amounts of money you'll be forking out on eye creams and chewing gum. Do. Not. Light. That. Stupid. Cigarette. Full stop.

Push yourself. Break that awful habit of immediately giving up on things that you're not instantly and naturally good at. In order to be prolific, you need to constantly be doing stuff, aka working. Do not get caught up in what becomes an all too familiar catch 22 - when you get to those in-between job phases, create jobs for yourself. Stop feeling worthless. It will be easier said than done, but listen to Malcolm Gladwell and put in those 10 000 hours.

Not every weekend is a party. Sometimes, but ONLY sometimes, it's okay to not be okay. Lock the door, sleep all day, switch off your phone and contemplate the thought of deleting yourself off Facebook slash the face of the earth all together. Don't feel bad about feeling bad. Also, keep in mind that this is just one of those panic attacks I spoke about at the beginning of this letter. And as for Facebook, well, that's just going to fuck with your productivity, I can't even give you any advice on that matter. You'll know what I mean in about six years' time.

Lastly, 15 year old self, you need to know this: you are responsible for your own happiness and the things you think are earth shatteringly important, usually aren't.

Take life a little easier, you are the only one out to get you. Nothing or no one else is. So, breathe.

Love

Your soon-to-be 25 year old self

Ladies And Gentlemen

We present to you our president, Jacob Zuma. He is truly inspirational. We follow his example at end of year parties and other social events. This must be what they mean by 'Ayoba'.

This is still one of our favourite videos. Wait for the best part...

Enjoy. And do feel free to embrace this dance in the future.

Gonna Spread You Like Butter

Gimme all my bread... What a wonderful song to start yet another Wednesday with. (Find the lyrics here.)

For some reason this reminds me of our friends The Shadowclub. Mental note to go to a gig again.

Back to reality. Hooray! The end is in sight. Tomorrow is pitch day, meaning (hopefully) tonight will be the last late night in the office. For a day or two at least.

Hello Weekend my old friend.



And then, of course... some Black Keyes.

I'm In Like With You

What happens when you fall in love with the idea of being in love? That's what we do in most aspects of our lives anyway. We tend to take on an 'ALL OR NOTHING' mindset. We play the same game, but each person by his / her own rules. We create chaos and destruction. And then we judge each other for having 'issues'. Its all about the thrill of the chase, but what to do when you reached your goal? Do we really want that? Or do we just want to feel something. Maybe that we are not wasting time or that we are not alone. Who knows. I sure as hell don't.























I must admit though that i am very disappointed in the human brain. (It's such a strange thought to think about your brain while your brain thinks for you. Maybe it's just being fully aware of the present. Like they teach you in yoga classes - 'breathing is very important as it is the only time a person is truly in the present. Your last breath was in the past and your next breath will be in the future.')

Anyways, back to the brain... We have so much capacity to improve the use of our brain, but at the same time our brain limits us greatly. We can only focus fully on one thing at a time, unless we create habits, then it becomes like layers in Photoshop, where we can do certain things without putting any thought into it. So basically on a daily basis, the brain needs just as much exercise as the body to stay in shape. Unfortunately, we are also lazy and have a lack of focus on our long term goals.

Complex ideas takes up the most energy. It takes a lot of effort for the brain to imagine new things, as every thought is connected to something we have already experienced. Then when things get hectic and we start to stress, the biggest things are pushed out of our focus and we fall back to habits that are easy to think about and fun to do. Like drinking and socializing amongst other things. As a result, we lose track of the big idea. If only laziness and cellphones didn't exist, we would all be geniuses. Well, not everyone.

So what has all this got to do with the idea of being in love? Well, think about it. Being in love is fun, it's a natural high. It's a big dose of silly happiness, with the only bad effect being lack in concentration. It's also easy (which our brains like). In fact, just as easy as smoking a cigarette, and also just as addictive. More instant gratification. More addictions due to a lack of patience and self-control.

So we either embrace this idea and get as much fun out of life as possible, but at a price, or we have to learn patience. I guess in the end it boils down to priorities. Maybe we can have the best of both worlds. That would mean conquering laziness though. There might even be a better way to balance all of this. Maybe we can be in like with things rather than being in love. That way there are no hard feelings. Maybe. It's worth a try.

Here is a song. It's not an epic backtrack to the story I just told you, but it works for now.

Bad Decisions Make Good Stories

No matter how much you rationalize this, life will just be boring without some bad choices. Still you regret some things. Well don't. When you die, the last thing you'll wish you did more was worry.

Thank goodness for our 20's for giving us the opportunity to collect good stories. Hopefully these choices will eventually lead us to a fulfilled and happy life. For now we can just keep on establishing everything that does not work.
















Talking about good and bad choices - advertising is simultaneously the best and worst decision a person can make as a career path. The good is incredible and the bad is exponentially bad. Still, they seem to balance each other out. Most people would kill for the freedom creatives have. Why waste our youth? Essentially it's more important to be passionate about what we spend most of our time doing than to be a millionaire. Although money is also great.

I am currently watching the series 'Madmen' for the first time. The golden era of advertising. How much fun it must have been to be a man in those days. Anyways, they describe advertising as an art of creating happiness. And it worked. Very well even. Then people realized they were being cheated into a state of artificial freedom of choice and that the meaning of happiness has been dictated to them by brands and advertisers.








































Today advertising is relooking this strategy, but with a different approach. The problem is that the idea of happiness has become increasingly more difficult to define, and people more difficult to please. We are so used to instant gratification, that we find it hard to distinguish real meaning and passive experiences.

It seems though that people want real meaning, they want to know that someone gives a shit about every tweet or facebook update they make. We are becoming our own psychologists. Online, there are hundreds of platforms for verbalizing emotions and confronting people we are not likely to approach in reality. We have tools to aid us in every way possible and this in turn builds confidence. I guess that in that way life in general is fair game. For the educated at least. Mother nature - 1 / Mother internet - 1. It's a draw for now.

Oh, How We Love Weekends At The Office

It gives us that reputation we have to live up to. Some street cred, amongst other perceptions. At least we won't be doing this for the rest of our lives...












Until then we have coffee and cigarettes.

Some Useless Information

Look at this funny ad. Hahahahaha.

If you didn't get it - when the magazine closes, the one dog sniffs the other dog's ass. Now you can laugh and reflect on how clever that is. (Basically this company is trying to say that they understand what dogs like.)

On that note, we are very much alike, humans and dogs... People approach this slightly different though. Apparently kissing is a way for humans to 'taste' each other to see if they are compatible. Interesting thought. Also a nice thought. And in some instances a bit more than gross, thinking back...

So the point of the story is, if you ever wake up wondering who's dog you have been making out with, you either really made out with a dog... or you probably hooked up with a person you are least compatible to. Then the dog would have been the better option. At least you know now.

Shit Happens

Jeans. They're Badass.

Sometimes.

The Truth Hurts

Well, that's if it is the truth. If it wasn't, he is a douche.

Next Stop: Anywhere But Here

Fuckthatshit, it's time for a new adventure.

Flowchart says NO!

Back when I had a real job, Linel and I and the rest of the creatives did a lot of these flow chart things. We loved it. We came up with a lot creative solutions. Or something. Nevermind. But mostly it just looked impressive because it was on a huge piece of paper with lots of arrows and bubbles and neon highlighters. Anyway, we would then stick it up on a wall and stare at it for a very long time, hours even. Maybe because it was so pretty. Maybe because we had no fucking idea what we just mapped out. *shrug*

These flowcharts, on the other hand hold the answer to life's pressing questions i.e. should you date your cousin, say you dropped food on the floor, is it okay, given that no one saw you, to pick up said piece of food and resume eating and if whether geeks should even be dating.

When good fish go bad

Bad sushi is like a having a really exponentially drunken-drunk one night stand, crazy, risky, awesome and then you wake up the next morning. Yes. The bad fish will come for you at night then kill you, mother fucker. And of course, this tragic death has a score, crazily enough, which this morning was Smashing Pumpkins Disarm. No really, that was the first song that coincidentally played on TV while my suffering played off... errm... elsewhere. Shame-e.

Bows. They Are Everywhere.

Bow-ties are great. For every occasion.




















These I even made myself. Then I gave them all away. Dammit.

I See Dead People

Or just old people.






















And young people. Also known as children. These are by far the coollest kids I have seen in a while, just for the record...

True Dat

Score!

For a moment there I thought it was only Tuesday. Then I woke up.

Wednesday. Or small Saturday should I rather say. I predict a weekend in the office, but for now, let's be optimistic and say "Yay, it's almost weekend again!" Oh, the contentment that thought brings me.

Here is how we feel about Wednesday. More or less. Depending on the Wednesday. (These pics are mostly from here and some other places)

Drowning In a Digital Sea

We dedicate this to you as the song of the day. Here you go - Thrice, Digital Sea. A round of applause please ladies and gentlemen.

For our next act, we would like to open by saying: "Hooray, Monday is over!" To make you feel less depressed that the weekend is so far away, here is a High Five. Hooray. That doesn't cut it? Well, here is a clip that will make you look at your life. Or at least life in general. Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy (more wise words some would even say).

A Little Bit Of Amusement

What's the use? There is not much you can do anyway...






















Take a hint. Seriously.















What she said.



















I just love this picture. Imagine these suspended faces animated for a music video or as an interactive poster. Sigh. So many things to do, so little time.

Let's Get Some Ink Perhaps

Tattoos. All the cool kids are doing it. Ooh, peer pressure just happened. Boom!

You Thought We'd Be Nice, Didn't You?

Sorry for any misconceptions. We do like cats though. And cat-ear hoodies. And hoodies that make us look like the Grim Reaper.


























































Tough love, it's the best kind apparently.

"I Want To Be a Fireman When I Grow Up", Zippo The Housecat.

So, apparently my sister's cat 'Zippo' climbed into the neighbour's tree yesterday, and then, as cats sometimes do, couldn't get down again. After hopeless attempts from the SPCA to rescue him, guess who stepped in... Could it be? For real? The City of Tshwane Fire Department? Who would have thought.

Running from one side of the tree to the other, Zippo was the star of the show, yet leaving the firemen less than impressed. The single most exciting non-crime-related moment Monumentpark has seen for years. Where was the SABC to capture this momentous event. Or 50/50 at least? I'm sure it's at least doing it's rounds somewhere on Youtube... Action and drama. The stuff movies are made of. The end.

Saturday. Yes Please.

Today we explored the twilight zone. We are completely in love with the unpretentiousness of this place. Even the birds are chilling on the grass and are not afraid when people walk past. Yes, that's right, we went for a stroll. I still had pepper spray in my bag, but it wasn't even necessary. When last did you hear of a place where it is safe to walk in this country? And the weather was even nice. A win day overall.























This is not us, even though I wish it was. It pretty much explains how we felt on our expedition though. After trying cappuccino's at nearly every coffee shop, we were slightly high on caffeine and a bit dehydrated. So we got a lift home. Thanks Ben.

Here are some of the shops, things we bought and wanted to buy... Salt and pepper shakers in the form of hugging kittens. Liquid Nougat. Dark Chocolate coated goji berries. Marshmallow mice. Fillet steak. Amongst other things. Wow. It really feels like going on holiday in a small town or somewhere you'd stop on a road trip. Perfect for a Saturday stroll.

Hello new home.