ben mcqueen graphics: 2010

Believe it or not over the Christmas period I didn't really have anything worth posting that you haven't seen before and I didn't feel there was a need to rant either for once in my life. That's not to say my Christmas was boring as it was far from it, Damn hectic to be honest. I spent most of my Christmas in Hmv serving the very ungrateful public... when I say ungrateful you may think whaaat? but believe me when you come in to work at 9am on boxing day and there is a queue of about 100 people looking for returns, then you will understand. People, be grateful for what you were given over Christmas, fair enough if you already have it but no need to be a cock about it. Ok rant over!! Next up I'm back in London again doing a work placement and oh man does it feel weird to be back, almost like I never left, but there's definitely something missing. I had a good chat to some of my London friends and they agreed London times are different now, I think our art college days of pissing around and having a care free life are over. Everyone is is stuck in their 9-5 grind and are they loving it? Some are, but the majority def not. I don't want to end up one of the unhappy fellows, but where are all the decent jobs hiding? This placement isn't bad, its down more of the commercial line of graphics so its mainly packaging and retail, not really my cup of tea but the experience is well and truly needed if I want to become a respected designer, I thought I wasn't too bad at all the design software like photoshop and illustrator but I was very very wrong. Anyway I have another week at least of possible learning and after that who knows.

Right now for the fun part of the post, I have so much to share with you for once. Firstly one of the most beautiful films about surfing, snowboarding and music I have watched in a long time "The Lives of The Artists". Produced by the boys at Relentless, (that's right the energy drink company)it follows the paths of snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue, big wave surfers Fergal Smith, Micky Smith and Tom Lowe and the Gallows. This film is beautifully shot and carefully put together, with an interesting portrayal of each persons biggest conquest. I really admire Xavier De Le Rue free snowboarding in Greenland of all places, it looks absolutely desolate, lonely and undoubtedly jaw dropping. The surf aspect to the film is more jaw breaking than anything else. These boys are attempting to surf "the perfect" wave in the entire world but it comes at a price, it is also the heaviest wave in the world as the whole ocean dumps onto a razor sharp coral reef only bout 3 feet deep. I wasn't so sure about the Gallows to be quite Frank they have the typical punk rock attitude to stick the finger up to everything in society but at the same time they are brilliant at what they do and they are essentially a rebellion to the shit music that is being churned out everyday on the radio and tv. You can feel the intensity of these boys like the are almost destroying themselves from the insides, you just wondering how long they can last before they combust. Have a look at the film its being streamed free on the relentless website.

Ok finally I'm going to leave you with some new tunes, I spent maybe a good 3 hours in rough trade today. Possibly one of my favorite places to shop in the whole of London, there always seems to be some really obscure album on the shelves that I find intriguing.