Liu Bolin

not sure if anyone saw him in the paper a few weeks ago, well i did, and boredom at work lead me to research more about Liu Bolin.

who is Liu Bolin, Liu Bolin is a chinese artist with the ability to disappear, with his cloak of invisibility and oriental sourcery, he can vanish before your eyes...

or he paints himself into the background...

New Blog

ok so my last blog wasn't allowing me to post new blogs in it for some reason or the other, bureaucrats etc.

And as i'm THAT bored/suicidal at work, i've decided to migrate to idontliketea2...all new and improved, well, not really, different toilet, same shit ultimately...

if you've not read my blog before, have a gander through the posts, see if anything inspires you, angers you or just reminds you of that queezy feeling you get when you pass through Ilford East London...oh shut up, you know it smells there.

it's not in chronolocgical order, as i'd have to be some kind of time machine wielding mad man to have all these things happen to me in the space of a day, so it starts form April "common sense is a commodity" up until this post.

anyway, enjoy, leave a comment if you feel the need to, i encourage all kinds of foolishness around here.

much love

Dreams vs Reality (guest blog)

How should I start this off hmmm….I know, let me talking about this from my point of view. This is something I struggle with daily. In a world where C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) it’s hard to pay the vast amount of bills that this country has accumulated, being the country with the highest amount of taxes and still have time to follow your dreams. How do go about doing so to begin with??

Most people know for certain what they want to do when they grow up before they go to university some even before they finish school….but if there are people like me in the world I only realized what I wanted to do after I went to university, graduated and got a job in said industry.

Don’t think I’ve mentioned the industry as yet (IT) for those of you that are intrigued, I’m an Application Support Technician (try saying that three times lol) after about eight months of this I realized that I can’t be doing this kind of job for the rest of life…..there is nothing worse than sitting on a crappy office chair looking at numbers & code FUCK dat shit!! (Excuse my French) so I thought to myself J.R. what do you love doing A: watching TV & Films, Q: Do you watch movies & think of shit that could have made a scene better, A: HELL YEAH!!...........and just like that my mind was made up, I always toyed with the idea of writing scripts and stuff but never had the balls to do it. Fuck it, if Quentin Tarantino used to work in a fricking video shop before he started writing why the hell can’t I do it??

But REALITY is a bitch and I hate her……as with DREAMS you have to balance it with the REAL world, and in my REAL world I have mad bills to pay not to mention a mortgage (I know right!!) I’m not gonna go into the whole reason behind why my life is not normal for a 22 year old guy but whateva. I’m a firm believer in attempting to pursue your dreams regardless of how out of reach they may seem, after all I’m sure people dreamed of colour television, which so happens to be a reality.

What’s even funnier is one of my aunties told me “you can’t get everything you want” to be honest with you the thought never entered my mind some would say it is the arrogance of being young, but I say “nothing happens unless first we dream”…. after all the “President is black” if this is not the era when dreams can become reality we might as well give up now, what if Sean Combs didn’t dream of taking over the music industry, what if Christopher Wallace didn’t pick up a mic, what if Michael Phelps didn’t decide to start swimming or Usain Bolt taken up basketball instead of Sprinting?? One can only wonder……

I shall leave you with a quote for Anais Nin (if you don’t know who it is....Google!!)
“Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.”
Envisioned byNanjiro Enzo

"A guest has not to thank the host, but the host the guest”

life is all about change and growth, and here at idontliketea we're all about the latter and obsess over the former.so for the next week or two, we'll be having a few guest bloggers coming through, their views are strong, their topics varied, their views are independent and individual, like that crop circle up there, the message is open to interpretation, and that's what we love most, the idisyncrasy of them all (the blogs)so please show some love to the guests of idontliketea.

Much Love

i got love for you if you were born in the....

As a kid, my sisters and I would collect disney tapes, that's right...tapes, VHS, the big clunky, rewind when finished, tapes.

We had all the Disney classics, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Snow White, The Lion King, loads, but the one thing we never really appreciated, i think, is that they were a symbol of our childhood, something that helped us pass the time when nothing else was on TV.
We knew every song in Aladdin, every joke in BatB, to this day i can probably recite the whole of Aladdin, word for word.

I recently watched Aladidn again, for the first time since i was in primary school (thank you Sky+) and it brought back all those memories.

Looking back i think we all have something that will remind us of our childhood, for me, it's these movies, for me it's cartoons in general, waking up on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn to watch Voltron and Darkwing Duck, Chip & Dale (ch, ch, ch, chip and daaaale, rescue rangers)...sorry, got a bit carried away there.
ok here's a small list of my favourites, to me, timeless classics, before all of this 3D nonsense.


The Smurfs



Alvin & The Chipmunks



Garfield



Voltron



Darkwing Duck



Ducktales



Chip & Dale



Visionaries



BraveStar



Care Bears



man i could go on forever, but there's the point, no matter how old you are, or what's going on in your life, take it from me, your childhood is a reflection of what's goood in you, the days of no bills, no responsibility, no relationship issues, a time when your biggest problem was what cereal you want. Fruit LLoops if you must know.

One day, when you have the time, go on YouTube and watch some of your favourite cartoons again, even if it's just the opening credits, believe me, nothing will put you in a better mood.

much love

I'm an angry man...sometimes.

hey people, of late i haven't been feeling myself so no conclusions to anything, alot of stuff just hanging in the air, so no real blog material for you unfortunately, so i thought i'd entertain you with an email rant i sent out to friends and family a few months ago.
and also, my poor attempt at writing for the London Paper, which sadly didn't get published, when you read it you'll know why...here goes.

THE RANT

"today is just a general hatred for a list of things that have come to my attention recently..
the other day i was eating a pie, and this fool walks up to me and goes "is that nice" No, you donut, i always stuff my face with food that tastes like toilet paper,,
people at bus stops who ask you "has the bus come yet" if it did come i wouldn't be fucking standing here now would i?

old people, really really old people, you know the ones i mean, the slow walkers, the confused, the ones who turn just stop in the middle of rush hour on oxford circus, the ones who think if you're under 25 you're a gun toting, knife wielding asbo, the ones who spark up conversation about the weather, and how "oh it hasn't snowed for a while" yes bitch, but the frozen ear juice you have trickling out tells me otherwise. i know they haven't got much time left, but c'mon, other people have places to go, ok fine, if they MUST come out, can we at least give them their own lane to walk in or something, coz sometimes (and i know this may sound cruel) i just wanna stab them with my best pencils, slow ass, zimmerframe walking, sandal wearing, weird shopping trolly thingy having old people.one day i shall be one too and one day i shall write/narrate to a more able person, how much i hate young people.....

Political Correctness Police,,,,you can't say black coffee, black magic, black ball, black haed, baa baa fucking black sheep, you can't oppose islam or they're gonna riot like its 1992 and rodney king just got his ass beat, you can't say nigga, its "the n word", its sexually non-preferential not bi-sexual, big boned, plus size, differently sized, i'm sorry thats just fat, you can't even say prisoner anymore, its client of the correctional system, fuck right off..
if i want my black coffee, from Ali the muslim who works at blacks books, where i read baa baa black sheep, squeezed a black head, while hollering at my nigga, whose girlfried just told him she's bi-sexual, but its ok because she's fat, and i want to point and laugh at prisoner then i damn. well. will."

LONDON PAPER ATTEMPT

"Glasto Fiasco"

"If, like me, you were watching the Oasis vs Jay-z (hip-hop) saga with interest over the last few weeks, by now you have picked a side. I, for one, have, and I’m with Brooklyn’s finest.Noel needs to get off his “I can’t believe its not 1995” horse and start to realise what he and many of his supporters are sadly contradicting themselves over and over. Glasto “is for rock ‘n roll” so I was told this week, please correct if I’m wrong, last time I checked Amy Crackhouse is NOT rock, please explain to me why she gets a free pas and Jay-z does not, please explain why the crowd nearly had a cerebral haematoma when Jay-z did “encore”, and the answer that Amy is “real music” does not suffice, if you bothered to listen top Jay-Z’s lyrics and the intellect that is behind some, not all, of his songs then you’d know what Mr Eaves and the rest of the world know, the man has talent.

Noel should take a good look at his own lyrics“Backbeat the word was on the street that the fire in your heart is out”and sit up and realise that the world of music is changing, and that it shouldn’t and doesn’t matter what kind of music someone makes, if they’re good at it, why can’t they play to a deserving audience? For the record, Galsto is not an exclusively rock 'n' roll festival, Coldplay anyone.

I sincerely hope Noel and his fans read this, because I love wonderwall, but I love Dirt off your Shoulder too, Noel, no hard feelings playa, but please understand, that no-one feels the way I feel about you now."

hope you enjoyed those, i have my angry moments, as we all do.

much love

SUPERNOVA ii

You know that feeling you get when you're on a roller coaster for the first time? Or you're going too high on a swing? Or you hit some certain bumps on the road and your stomach kinda flips? That's the way I feel when I'm around you. Not all the time, but there's those times when you look at me, or you'll hold me; and I can't even explain it - but that's what I feel

SUPERNOVA

not much i want to say today,
just wanna share something with you...

"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.
You've got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense"

much love

If you try you can fly

Been some time since i was here, been pre-occupied you could say, between work and sleep and socialising i haven't much time for anything else.....including the easy things in life, like writing a blog.....

been thinking a lot today about working towards things and the time and effort i'm prepared to put in.

Most of the time people, myself included, want things to be easy. But the truth of the matter is that everything cannot and should not be done with ease.

We live in a world where no one wants to wait for anything, a true fast food society. It is my belief that true satisfaction is the product of effort and time.

I often think that my true purpose in this life was to receive a lesson in patience.
Over last six years I have endured many life lessons. I have been blessed to start over, it's a blessing because second chances often give you new perspective, although starting over is never easy. I have learned time and time again that no matter what I do, I must be willing to pay the price to move beyond where I am and what I am comfortable in doing.

Because I remember a time prior to microwave ovens I know that there is value in waiting.
My grandmother does not have a microwave oven and cooks everything the old fashion way - heating it up in the oven or the stove. My grandmother is a woman who believes that love is shown in what you do for someone and not what they do for you. Her cooking is always done in a loving manner and it always takes time to prepare. I love eating her home cooked meals because they are much better than anything I would get from popping a container in the microwave and calling it dinner. But when I go to my grandmothers to eat, I am always prepared to wait a little longer as she cooks the meal the old fashion way.

Much like my grandmother's home cooked meals, the desire to have those things that bring value in life requires time, and time is something that many people in today's society view as a prehistoric animal that no longer exists.

Ironically, most of us waste time, disregard it, and lose it everyday and yet time is the one thing that we can't recreate no matter what we do. My english teacher siad something to me when i was 15 years old, something i have always carried with me, and will continue to do so, "There is only one place where success appears before work and that is in the dictionary," and I, like so many others I know, tend to forget that.

I want to get there, wherever there is, and I want to get there today. But I must endure the difficult and tedious moments that come prior to experiencing the bliss and excitement just before I receive the reward.

No, I don't expect that every moment will be easy, but every moment does not have to be difficult either. As long as I keep focused on what I desire to accomplish and work toward my goal, I know there is nothing that I cannot do.

Although, we live in a microwave society where things are packaged together with easy for quick processing we must be mindful that our goals cannot be acquired by pressing a button. Achievement is a process and most of the time it requires a little time and effort for you to see the fruits of your labour.

Make it happen for YOU, however and whenever you can, keep a little sunshine on your face, keep a lot of love in your heart, have a little patience, have a few fights, keep your chin up, but above all, above all.... just have some fun doing the damn thing.

much love

STOP THE MADNESS!!

Today i was gonna blog about when you're away from people, and how absence can magnify your affection for someone or something.
But i won't, mainly because i came across this article on the business week site, and how there are now groups of Facebook supporting the denial of the Holocaust and that Facebook itself refuses to remove these groups.
As a historical event, that i am very interested in, i find such an occurence like this saddening to say the least, for a group of people to perpetuate hate and openly discuss and deny something that changed the world we live in is inconceivable to me.
The killing of 4million people based on their religion and race is something i may never be able to grasp, understand, agree with or accept, which got me thinking about the world we live in, our "free" world.
I understand that Facebook isn't a government or a state institution.If its owners and shareholders want to be associated with holocaust deniers it must be ready to be accused of holocaust denial itself for allowing the publication of such material. Personally I have no symapthy with a company who has no morals and until it removes the group I will consider it anti-semitic. I don't think FB should be forced to ban this group - freedom of speech is something we are blessed with and should be allowed regardless of how distasteful it may be at times.
In a time where we see an entire race of people hated because of stereotypes, where most people have an opinion on something they know absolutely fuck all about, i find myself worried about even some of the people i know, for they too proliferate this opinion, and arguing with these fools isn't worth the energy as their ignorance furthers my dislike for them and their opinion.
However if you're reading this and you support and believe that the subjective opinion of groups like this are going to be able to exert sufficient influence on our society, myself and on objectivity and sane people, then you, quite frankly, are an idiot, and i would greatly appreciate that you now get the fuck off my blog.

"Every fool finds a greater one to admire them. "

If not now, when?

These last 2/3 weeks have been quite good actually, for the first time in a while, i'm fairly problem free, and the problems i do have, we all have.
I'll tell you why, the other night, around 2 in the morning, i'm in the car with my friend Brian, and we're on the motorway back from my uni, where i'd just finished collecting the last of my stuff, a sad time for me.
But in the car, inbetween changing the CD, the radio was on Magic, and mellow Magic was on, if you've never listened to radio late at night, you should, you'd be surprised how theraputic it is.
So we're in the car and Marvin Gaye - heard it through the grapevine comes on, and we're just jammin in the car, singing the lyrics, busting a move to the song, at the top of our lungs, WE'RE SINGING IT BETTER THAN MARVIN..and this carried on for a good hour, as tune after tune played, oblivious to the other people in their cars, and probably oblivious to eachother actually, but at that moment, i realised, for the first time in a long time, i was happy.
And that got me thinking, i don't have these moments enough man.
I mean, I laugh everyday, because the most wasted of days are the one's without laughter, right? The moments can be with anyone, family or friends, and even total strangers, a certain Ms Meechan knows exactly what i mean, Buggin Out @ Bugged Out...good times.
After the journey home, we're in the car laughin' at ourselves at how crazy we are sometimes, that inbetween the seriousness of life, there are moments, that no matter how ridiculous you may look to everyone else, that you gotta have and embrace, where you can be a child again, that all the bullshit, all the bills, the stress, the love life, the everything, that we can still act as stupid as we want, because we can..and not give fuck either way.
I watch Richard Pryor alot, and have read his book twice, and i'm reading it again right now, he rode this ride until the wheels fel off, up until the day he died, and he said something that stuck with me, that i will carry with me forever, always remember to keep some sunshine on your face.
And i'll be damned if i let this shit get me down anymore and block my sunshine.
I'm working towards a goal at the moment, to become a copywriter, to finish my 5 year plan, to make the most of the opportunities i'm given, both in my personal and academic/professional life.
I know a person can't be happy all the time, because that would make life boring and mundane, this contrast between misery and joy is what allows us to acknowledge the good times and appreciate them more when they do happen.
At times we least expect. new people will walk through the door, and surprise us, just here to share a little of their sunhine with us. I hope while reading this you found a little bit of sunshine somehow, because i did, and if you have someone that wants to share their sunshine with you, then hey, Dr Pepper??

much love

Name your price

I've recently become the subject, or rather the patient of patience, if that works.
For reasons i can't divulge right now, but i live in hope that the cause which i anxiously wait for is worthy of my patience.
Naturally we are all forced to be calm and collected at certain points in our lives, because the manifestation of all these virtues will be our reward.
We may not see it at the time, we may not even see it when it happens, but the day will come and we'll realise that playing the waiting game, for the right reasons, is the most challenging, yet satisfying game of all, and i'm not one for games, but i do endorse this one.
In the 1700's there was a political philosopher and theorist name Edmund Burke, Burke was a man of many words having been a member of Parliament for some time in his life, and being what some claim to be the founder of modern conservatism, and regardless of his political stance the man knew about patience. As the opposition to imperialism and the French Revolution he became respected by his peers more for his ability to think individually and not as they would want him....
ok this isn't a history lesson, lol, just thought i'd add some background, anyway, he believed that our patience will achieve more than our force, and i carry that with me everyday, because i know, that no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you try to convince someone otherwise, there are just some things that, even if they agree with you, they can only do so in their time.
I try my best to not force people into things, to not usher them in the direction my path leads, but to observe and show them, that maybe, one day, we can walk our paths together side by side.
Patiece is always a good thing to have, to harness and hold, but I'm not a fool, and i'm sure we all know that abused patience turns to anger. Something i was told a long time ago by my mum, have a price and when it gets too expensive, you have to get out, name your price.
I think the line beware the fury of a patient man is something we should all take head of, but thats another blog for another day

Patience

much love.

they're only words...right?

Went to the D&AD New Blood show yesterday, and got to be in a workshop with Jon Sayers, a copywriter from Publicis. Check out their site, seems like a good place to learn one's craft i reckon.Anyway, we learnt a few new things about copywriting and what it means to be a good copywriter and what constitutes good copy.
Now for anyone reading who doesn't know what "copy" is..it's eerything you read on an advert, print ads, billboards, posters etc.. and it's also everything the voiceover on an advert says, tv, radio etc.
I sat there and listened to everything people listed, persuasive, patient, emotive, apathetic, engaging, versatile..many more were on the list, it got
me thinking about my relationship with words and the power of words and what i say and how i say things affects those around me.
Rudyard Kipling said "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Not only do words infect, egotise, narcotise, and paralyse, but they enter into and colour the minutest cells of the brain"....
in that case, does that make copywriters the drug barons of the ad world?? excellent...
Alot of the time i find people telling me, it's not what you said that affected me, it's how you said it. Now what i said may have been positive or negative, depending on who i was speaking to at the time, but in some profound way, i get told, it's different, and that's where i feel my relationship with language and words differs, and that's why i want to become a copywriter in the advertising world.
Poems, Bokos, Music Lyrics, Movie Quotes, conversaton on the phone, i can do for hours, for me, verbal and written communication are the most compelling forms of expression, "don't beleive me ask Michael, see Martin, see Malcom, see Biggie, see Pac, see success and it's outcome" however, contradicting that, i'm a visual person too, a great visual is amazing, but i believe reading something and imagining it for yourself is at least one dimension better than if you actually see it.
ok here are two examples

pretty cool right, nice visual and i have an appreciation for time and effort gone into this?

now, compare a simple visual with some damn cool copy, and this is why i love copywriting.

"Rules of the Garage
believe you can change the world
work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever
know when to work alone and when to work together
share ---tools, ideas. Trust you colleagues
no politics, no beuraucracy (these are ridiculous in the garage)
the customer defines a job well done
radical ideas are not bad ideas
invent different ways of working
make a contribution every day, if it doesn't contribute
it doesn't leave the garage
believe that together we can do anything
Invent"

Back to the workshop, we were asked towards the end to write a paragraph or so, about something or someone that means anything to us, but we have to begin every sentence with the same word/words...it's funny how in the zone you can get through such a basic excercise...and in a weird way, subconsciously i think my outcome was inspired by the Rules Of The Garage...check it out

And every year you make me smile,
And every year you make me angry,
And every year you give me hope,
And every year you dissappoint me,
And every year i'll sing for you,
And every year you'll hear me,
And every year i will sit and watch you,
And every year i will stand up for you,
And every year you will frustrate me,
And every year you make a fool of me,
And every year you make me drink too much,
And every year we meet 38 times,
And every year we trave to Europe,
And every year i will compare to the last,
And every year i will remember,
And every year i will love,
And every year is Liverpool's year,
Every year except this year

a dedication to my beloved Liverpool FC and just falling short of wining the title in 2008/2009..always next year i suppose.
much love

Special Mention

This blog i am dedicating to the women who we have had the pleasure of knowing, or still know. The one’s who showed us what it really means to be yourself, the ones who make us die inside every time we see or hear them cry, to see her sad hurts more than anything Dante could have put to paper.
Consider this my dedication to she who changed our lives forever, to she who we will always remember, to she who we once fell in love with, to she who we are in love with and to she who we will be in love with.
These good women are a testament to our souls, they are the ones who teach us more about ourselves than any before her, for us, she’s our wife, lover, friend, or ex. Some will be on left to walk their own path, but none shall be forgotten.
I firmly believe that in life you are allowed the privilege of having a woman walk into your life with the clothes on her back, and walk away with your soul in her pockets. This privilege happens at certain points in time when we least expect them to. This privilege we should always be grateful for, for one day we will sit back and remember just why we love women as we do. For all men, there is a living, breathing example of her in their life, a woman who we can spot in a crowd of thousands, someone who's scent will remain with you forever.
Respect and honour will belong to these women for all time,for there is in every true womans heart, a spark of havenly fire that lies dormant in the bright light of prosperity, but which kindles up and blazes and beams in the dark hours of adversity and new day of affection and love.
True Women (womyn) of the world, a salute from idontliketea.

I'm not afriad of storms...

Snow storms don't bother me, been in a couple, Brian and I, was quite an experience, both scary and fun at the same time...

Rain Storms don't bother me either, in fact i like them, sititng at home, under the covers, lights off, TV on watching your favourite show, Friends if you must know...
Sand Storms, who's scared of sand, no seriously??

hell it could be Desert Storm for all i care, none of these compares to the storms we face everyday. The moments when you have no clue what to do, when all seems dead and buried. You know somehow, no matter how bad it gets, we're always there to, as they say, weather the storm.

Yea sometimes it feels like we're alone, trapped on a dingy in the middle on nowhere, canned goods running out, dieing for a pee, and/or a KFC, and as far as the eye can see, is just water, lots and lots of water, and then it starts raining, but you know how it is, it never rains but it pours.
we have a ship to run, we have to keep this bitch afloat, we're the captain and commander, and yet 2 hands never seem enough in these most deperate of times. In my life, the storms have been represented by family, friends, girlfriends, school, work and even my own self torture, but at the end of it all, i look back and realise it was all just a storm in a teacup, each one no bigger than the other, i reckon we're just gonna have to ride it out, no matter how desolate and lost you may feel, it's all about perception. This is how i see it, and i'll reference my favourite subject here, love.

remember that girl or guy who you were so madly in love with, remember when they broke your heart and you thought that nothing would ever compare?

Then you found the someone you're with now, even if that someone is just yourself, how small and unimportant does that person now seem?? It's like this, if it was that bad then, and it's this good now, how awesome will it be the next time around....so just hold on for dear life, because nothing is more rewarding than knowing that you came through with a few bumps and bruises, a scar or two, but even scars dissappear, and so do storms, and once more the sea will be calm...for now.

I'm not afraid of Storms, for i'm simply learning how to sail my ship.
much love

Open your mind & see the circus in the sky

Thought i'd post a few of my favourte things, songs, movies, short clips, ads, if you find something you've never heard of have a look, you'll never know unless you try, something i'm learning to embrace of late, hence why i've not been blogging for a few weeks...and now back to regular scheduled programme..
music
Ross Copperman - All She Wrote
Vertcal Hrizon Everything You Want (thanks Jess)
John Mayer - Free Falln' (now one of my favourite songs ever)
Tracy Chapman - Fast Car (a song that will always remind me of someone)
Lionel Richie ft Lyfe Jenning - Easy (live) (thats why i'm eaaassssyyyyyy)
movies
Almost Famous (a lifetime over summer)
Friday Night Lights (greatest sports movie.....ever)
Seven Pounds (why has Will Smith not won an Oscar yet)
A Beautiful Mind (Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart)
Meet Joe Black (when Death calls, someone has to show him around)
Good Will Hunting (i think i fell in love with Minnie Driver after this movie)
Random Clips & Ads
Yellow Sticky Notes (quite hypnotic)
Samuel L Jackson Barclaycard, 2, 3, (i think this was the first ever ad i watched that made me think..."cool", great job by Sam, also trying to memorise the script took me ages..still can't do it)
Richard Pryor on Love can listen to him talking all day
ok that's me done for now, but that's just a list of some of my favourite stuff, feel free to share your favourites with me..
much love.
Posted in

takes time, but i'll get there.

Haven't been here for a while now, dunno why, been feeling a little funny of late, who knows?
anyway, had my birthday a few weeks ago, nothing special, the older you get, the more insignificant it becomes to you and the people around you, unfortunately, that is the way of the world.

This got me thinking about growth , and what it means to me and to other people.
To be honest, i'm still a little stumped.

We all have out own little reasons for doing some of the things we do, other things are just inate and we have no true reason for these things. Like being attracted to somone you like, or likeing a certain colour, sure, we have all the obvious reasons, and we base those on time spent with someone, or something, and with these experiences, we grow...or we're supposed to.

My growth at uni has seen me , make some good friends, make some new friends, make some new enemies even. It's all part of the process, suffice to say, i've enjoyed every moment of it.
my growth in life over the last say 3 years has been crazy. I can say, without doubt, i'v learned more about the word and myself in this time than at any other juncture in my time here on Earth.

i've learnt about love, about hate, about joy and about pain. But none of these things do i regret. And i think thats the main thing here, the not regretting anything, because i can hold my head up and know, that through all of those things, i gave my all, i said and did everything i could, through the love, i expressed myself in different and new ways, i was scared, but hey, who isn't with new things, met new people but re-visited old souls, "i may have known you for 6 months, but our souls met lifetimes ago", through the hate, i knocked the haters back, didn't let the hate phase me, and kept moving, through the joy, i shared it wth my friends and family and we will always have those memories, through the pain, i endured it on my own, i'm not one to share my pain, i just think i should deal with it on my own way, yea i talk about it with my best friends, but ultimately, only i feel how hard it is was to wake up every morning and not sleep at night because of it.

ok this is getting kinda soppy, but as always, what i'm getting at is this, we all grow in different ways, we all have our own paths to walk, no matter how bumpy the ride may be, the one thing i've grown to become is reflective, to look back on th things i've experienced and learn from them, and to try and keep at the good things that make me happy, and to kick out the not so good things that make me unhappy and to not make the same mistakes again, because there is nothing worse than making the same mistakes over and over again.

so the next time you're hurting, or laughing, or simply bored at work, playing with the brightness on your computer screen, just remember, it's all part of the process baby, slow it may seem at times, just walk at your pace, it's the only way you know how.

much love.

Leave me alone, but comment on my status please.

I had this girl leave me a voice mail at work, so I called her at home, and then she emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to her mobile, and she poked me on facebook but added me to her top 8 on myspace and tweeted that she just met someone amazing, and now I just have to go around checking all these different portals just to figure out if she's around next week for drinks.
ok, maybe that didn't happen, but it's not inconceivable, in the age where it's getting harder and harder to get some time to yourself, when you eventually do, you're sharing it with the world.
i have, a phone, two numbers, two emails, a facebook, a twitter, a myspace, msn, this blog and skype, all of which i use and are active parts of my life.

i know people who are much much worse than i am, seemingly addicted to sharing their life with others, addicted to wall posts, pokes, tweeting, notifications blah blah blah, u knwo how it is.
i think it's kinda sad, mainly because it's killing our people skills and face to face communication, i gave up my facebook for 3 months because i had to focus on university and just keep my head in the books, peoples responses had me worried about our society, met with anger, confusion and curiosity, my de-facebooking was a topic of discussion, am i the only one wo finds it peculiar that a simple internet profile is what people will judge you on.

Multinational organisations have a facebook, TV shows have a twitter all to get in the know about their audiences under the guise of being, one of "them".
it's got to stop, but it doesn't seem to be any time soon, so i shall ride the wave and just see where it takes us
signing out, logging off, hanging up, peace out.

hidden in plain view

After reading this article on Dubai i find that sometimes (most times) what we see is not what we get.This has always been a problem for me in advertising, and i became slightly obsessed, ok fine a lot obsessed, with reading the small print on adverts, mainly print ads, but also, TV ads, you know like on video games ads you see the "not actually game footage" written in the most conspicously small type you'll ever see, right at the bottom, which flashes for all but 2.4 seconds, and then it's gone.i guess this all started as a kid, watching Cartoon Network or whatever obscure kids televsion they showed in the 90's, (on a seperate note, they need to bring back CDUK), and "those" toy adverts would come on, and get i'd get all excited at the thought of dragging my mum around trying to find said toy, only for them to dash all my hopes and dreams, with "batteries sold seperately". What the hell? what are these so called batteries? how many do i need? are they AA or AAA? and where the fuck do i get them from...?, ok maybe a bit exagerated, but i was 6, what more did i have to worry about???in a way, i guess we all have some sort of small print to us, our little defects that we don't tell people until it's too late for them to walk away, men* and women both have their small print right??anyway, i think my obsession is curbing ever so slightly**, because as i've learnt to love advertising, and the creative process, and the amount of thought that goes into every good ad i see, i've realised that the disclosures are the business side of advertising, the bit we as advertisers have to include, even if we don't want to, because ultimately it's all about the things we aim to do, differentiate, inform, remind and persuade, and i guess the small print is just the extra gravy.So for the best part, lets learn to appreciate the little uncomfortable details, at least we're.warned before hand.

who needs batteries..........................??

*will eventually let you down and embarass you at any given opportunity

**i'm still obsessed with it and always will be, don't judge me.

V is for Victory

The new Nike campaign involving sports stars from all over the world has caught my eye, mainly because i'm writing on one of them for an essay i'm doing for my Contextual Stdies unit at uni, there is just something about these posters that speaks to me.Maybe its the passion the subjects are displaying, maybe it's the vivid use of colours, god this is sounding like my essay all over again.

more V for Victory http://limitedhype.com/2009/03/nike-v-for-victory/

Pretty cool huh,? was watching the making of video, and the photographer, Rankin, is a visionary, hopefully one day i can boast such ads in my portfolio. I think what drew me to these ads more than anything is the emotion captured in the ads, for a while now i've been looking into doing some sort of photography, mainly on my phone, lol, but i think i'm doing ok, and with time i feel i've become more attentive to things when doing the photography thing, ad alot more attentive to what's not always obvious, which helps my creative process in creating ads i reckon

the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDKNWzV14g

Nike Advertising - a salute from "I DON'T IKE TEA"

mums birthday

Today is my mother's birthday, today is the day that the most important person in my life was born, today i celebrate a gift from God.i have countless things to thank my mother for in my life, so many that i feel the thanks can never be expressed on a blog, or in words or by action.Something in me inspires me to live my life so that i make my mother proud.Success to me is not about the money, its only paper and i can't take it when i leave. It's not about the accolades, they're just the opinion of so called experts and it's not about the praise i receive from my peers, its knowing everyday, that my mother can go out and tell people, my son makes me proud.I love her more than she'll ever know, and one day, hopefully i can re-pay her for the things she has done for me, whether it was a kick in the backside or a hug and a kiss, all of them I am grateful for, and all of those things make me the young man i am today.Happy Birthday MumLove Michael.
that which is best in me i owe to you.
Posted in

could be worse

sitting here, it's exactly 01:07 n the moning, listening to slow jams on Choice.in a funny place right now, in life i mean, not sure what to take from it to be honest, i'm going cold turkey on alot of things i think, after my bday, i think i'm just gonna focus on me, seems a better time than any.Was in a car accident today, and its was the weirdest thing, our drvier was not in the wrong, the dumb woman didn't indicate when she was turning, no one was hurt thankfully, a few bumps and bruises on both cars, but the weird thing was how it happened in slow moton in my mind, but it happened in a split second in reality, but it made me realise that things could be worse.so the next time something happens to you, or is maybe happening to you now, just remember things coud be much, much, worse, i'm in a good place right now, not the best place, but that gives me renewed hope of things getting better, maybe not soon, but some time.
Posted in

Down in the 2nd

did you see it, did you watch the Pacquiao vs Hatton fight, i did, albeit through tired eyes, but it was amazing, after the weeks and months of talking and training, and press events, it all came down to a solid left hook from Manny, and Hatton bit the dust. It's funny but before the fight Hatton did all the talking, but, suffice to say, he got served.

Which leads me nicely onto my next topic, standing by and proving that what you say is what you can do.

I know over my short life, i have said some things that i couldn't do, but people never questioned it, because it was said with confidence, and to some degree i reckon maybe thats why growing up i was never scared to do certain things, never scared stand up and say what was needed and not what was wanted, never scared to stand up for myself, but, and this is a big but, i was ascared of one thing, that pretty girl at school, you know how it is, but over time, that changed too (thankfully)

Now, i'm a young man, inspired and motivated to do this advertising thing, to become the best copywriter/art director i can be, to open my mouth when i feel i can stand by what comes out of it, and if someone asks me to prove myself, then i'm more than willing to stand on my own two feet and do so.

But like Pacquiao, i know when it's best to keep quiet and let my actions do the talking, and it's this fragile balance betweeen the two that i'm constantly working on, i don't know, maybe its good to be a bit of both, but one thing it's not good to be, is scared, do what you want, how you want, learn the rules, follow the rules, and only when you completely understand the rules, should you start breaking them.

I stole that last bit from Dave Trott, the mans genius, but, he is right, if Jordan, Schumacher, Maradona, Iverson and McEnroe didn't break the rules, would we even know they existed?

i've got a new things happeneing to me in my life right now, and these things are forcing me to stand up for what it is i believe in, which is alot, but i'll save that for another day, so for now, i'll leave you with this from Steve Bartkowski:

"if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything"

Change

It's weird but there are moments in life, that you'll find will either define you or remind you. I think it's safe to say, today, something happened to me that defined and reminded me.
It has to do with a girl, obviously, a very special girl at that, but, me and this very special girl will no longer be, recent events have reminded me, that giving someone all of you, is the hardest and scariest thing i have ever done, but, it also defined me. It reinforced my former beliefs that people have to earn the right to learn certain things about me, and i can't just give it up so easily.


Time stood still for us, to share a small part of our lives with eachother, but time waits for no-one. I, as most people who know me know, cannot live making the same mistakes over and over again, i guess she can, and i guess that where we differ. Life will be lived by both of us and we will enjoy our lives and prosper, but we will not be living them side by side anymore


Something else happened to me today too, ok let me explain.
Growing up in a foreign country, I learned and experienced things that every child does. Moving to England I experienced things that not everyone would, but, from my time here, i have become the person i look at everyday in the mirror.
Today i met people from my childhood, grown adults, people who i have not seen for years, who left our home country probably before i did, but yet, there is no progression. It's not ever a bad thing to remember where you come from, and it's never a bad thing to reminisce about those days, what is a bad thing, is trying to hold on to something that has passed, and that will never be, ever again. We all live at different paces, and that's fair and fine, but it's very difficult, for me at least, to go and be with these people anymore, and live at their pace.
I just think, my life, and their lives are very different. I happen to know alot of said people personally, and a few, not many, i know who they truely are, and i know that conformity means more to them than individuality, I don't know if that says alot more about me than them to be honest.


So, today, i have to say goodbye to that life, i won't ever forget it, but i do know i'm done with it, i love some of the people and will always maintain my friendship with them, but other than that, we shall remain from the same country but not the same people.
This blog is almost turning into a confessional of sorts.........................i like it.

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves"

Rich 'n' Me

thinking on my way into work this morning, albeit a very very tired thought, as i've slept for 2 hours, yet again, i was thinking about influencial people in my life, like family and friends and stuff, but also historical figures. The main one for me is Richard Pryor, if you don't know him, youtube him, he was undoubtedly the greatest comedian ever.

Pryor said and did things that most people at the time, the 60's and 70's, would have never dreamed about. And i think thats probably why i admire him so much, not just as a comedian, but as a person. His stand up comedy is hilarious, and to say the man is genius is an understatement, he's on crazy motherfucker

How does this relate to me, and my path i'm walking, well like Pryor, i do and say shit that some/most people who know me find a bit strange, but thats the cool thing, is that to me, these things sound perfectly plausible, but to everyone else, its odd, i love that shit.

I love it because it lets me know i'm not like everyone else, that tonight when my friends look at me funny for eating ice cream (H&D strawberry cheescake) and salty crackers that they're a seperate entity to me.

I don't particularly set out to be the odd ball but its just who i am, i embrace evrything and everyone to a degree, but i am also very aware of who and what i am, and if i am not in rhythm with my companions, maybe it is because i hear a different drummer, let me step to the beat wich i hear, no matter how measured or far away.

The Alchemist

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. .”


It's a quote from The Alchemist, my favourite book, if you've never read it, you should, its amazing. Reno told me about the book, and he gave me his copy to read, have you ever read a book and you were just silent after reading it, thats the kinda book The Alchemist is. I gave Raf his book back, and i bough my own copy, funnily i gave my copy to a woman on the train, she was crying, i don't know what for, but for whatever reason it was, i just thought she needed to read the book, never seen her since, but hopefully one day i will. I'm not gonna tell you what the book's about, or why i gave her the book, but if you read it, you'll know exactly why i did what i did I've actually never bought another copy of it since then, well, that's a lie, i have, i bought a friend of mine it for her birthday, and she still hasn't read it, which is cool, because each in their own time right?


Recently i went to my first ever Indie/Rock gig, (Bloc Party supported by The Foals) i like the music alot, but i had no clue what to expect from a live show, but i wanted to experience it, and my good friend Dardan i have to thank for inviting me, because it was actually one of the best gigs i've ever been to, ever...


I think what i'm trying to get at is this, sometimes the most amazing of things comes from the most unlikely of sources, and that if we're too scared to go out and experience new things and meet new people, then we'll never get to realise our dream.. "and no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream"

Common sense is a commodity

this has all been a long time coming to be honest, been reading/obsessing over Dave Trotts blog since January 09 and always thought, "i should start a blog."
So here i am, starting this blog, welcoming you into the odd world of Idontliketea, its a strange place really, but hopefully, you'll enjoy it, if you don't, tell me, if you do, tell someone else.
There won't be any specific subject which i will blog on, advertising stuff will feature alot, i'm an ad student, which i love, but other things will be bloggen about, anything really, lets see where life takes me.

recently alot of things have been happening at work where people lack simple common sense, these are university educated people, most of them are architechts and engineers, and i find alot of them haven't a clue what's going on.

example: there are 3 doors, one on the right, one on the left and a revolving door in the middle, the right one and the revolving one are locked...what would you do...check the left one(which is open) obviously, not the people i work with, they stand there looking at the doors, some even walk away, some phone up and ask why they can't get into the building, it amazes me, if common sense were a stock, it would PLUMMET, "today common sense fell 10 points on the NASDAQ"

so i got to thinking and eventually came to a conclusion, just because someone is educated, does not mean they are intelligent.
just a thought.

Dave Trotts blog