Arse
Every time a Conran or a Bayley spouts forth on anything it tends to make me more fond of the item being criticised, what with them both being world-class wankers.
Terence Conran slams 'appalling' Olympic mascots
Sir Terence Conran has expressed his displeasure at 2012 Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville in a letter to the Times in which he describes the pair as "symbols of national mediocrity". The Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville Conran notes that the "appalling" duo "seem to have received their fair share of criticism" - a …
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 09:54 GMT Andy Hards
Why oh why
Didn't we commision Conran or his son to design these for us, for a nice few million of course. That's why he's complaining.
I'm sure even Lord Foster would have given us his interpretational design for 10 or so million, but his ones would have broken before the event and taken two years to correct and make safe.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 09:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
Prince Charles?
To avoid complete disaster, Conran suggests consulting "international stars like Lords Rogers or Foster, or the Shanghai super-hero Tom Heatherwick", or even Prince Charles.
Erm, what is it that Prince Charles is an 'international star' at that would be of the remotest bit of use in this context?
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:09 GMT TimNevins
Satanic Imagery
This is by the book Freemasonly/Satanic imagery used on one dollar bills as well.
The one eye is the all seeing eye of Lucifer/ Eye of Ra
As seen on a one dollar bill.
The Anti-Christ is said to have one eye.
The MW is simply Master Mason.
For more one-eye stuff look at logos for UbiSoft, LucaArts,AOL etc. The actual list runs into the thousands.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 12:10 GMT TimNevins
Errrm.
Yes. I know. It's upside down. I did not miss it.
Same as the British emergency phone number 999 is 666 inverted.
God is the Alpha and Omega (in numerics this represented as 10)
And 9-11 is bypassing God (going direct from 9 to 11)
Both emergency numbers are pleas for help from the wrong sort of helper.
The first stone laid (breaking the ground ceremony)for the Pentagon was on 9-11-1941 (exactly 60 years to the day before 9-11-2001
BTW Dan Brown is (from what I hear) a Freemason apologist.
To date I have never read or watched a Dan Brown book/film.
Why are you so vehement?
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 12:45 GMT RobbieCrusoe
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
I've probably read all of what you have read, if not more, about the all seeing eye, and the numerology bunkum. At the end of the day, it is all a C O I N C I D E N C E. Whackos (not directed at you ;) ) will always find ways of linking a number or an event to another number or event, it is bound to happen with all that goes on in the world and universe.
- I was born December 1971
- "Ernie, the fastest milkman in the west" was in the charts at the time (No 1 I believe)
- my milkman is called Bernie
- B is the second letter of the alphabet
- Second in the holy trinity (according to the sky fairy chronicles) is the Son
- I am a son
- My goodness, Ernie was my father!
See?...
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 12:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
@TimNevins You gotta laugh...
>>This is by the book Freemasonly/Satanic imagery used on one dollar bills as well
Sigh. Yet another bible bashing, "secrets is wrong" crowd. Some originality please?
>>The one eye is the all seeing eye of Lucifer/ Eye of Ra
Or, I dunno perhaps its a FRICKIN EYE??
>>The Anti-Christ is said to have one eye
So do about 1/10th of the world. So the Anti-Christ fits into the "1 in 10" bracket of people, a group more common than those with Autism, Cancer, AIDS, and other things. And in fact, so would someone that claims their eye causes them to sin. As in "[...]and if your eye causes you to sin, cast it out and use it no more [...]" depending on your translation of course, it can be slightly differently worded
>>The MW is simply Master Mason
Yeah.. um. How do you spell Mason again, using the W? Or Master? Dumb@ss can't spell.
>>For more one-eye stuff look at logos for UbiSoft, LucaArts,AOL etc. The actual list runs into the thousands.
So I guess commerce is a tool of the devil huh? Gee, wonder what all those Eye of God followers must think now that they're in league with the devil?
In truth, the "evil eye" has its roots in Egyptian superstition; and has no other basis in the bible (though people have tried to add it without much success). In the 18th and 19th centuries it was used in Courts of Justice to remind judges of their responsibilities - which doesn't seem to be a good thing, considering the crap they spewed BUT it's use was in earnest, not for foul deeds.
Look your facts up before spouting your rubbish all over the place.
PS: hey el reg, can we have a Dumb@ss icon? Maybe Dub'ya or something.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
this is the most ridiculous thing I've seen this morning...
irrespective of how much the respective Lords would have charged for this, what we have right now is beyond the realm of ridiculous...
I wonder what age group they used for the focus groups? 2-1-6 months? hmm.. And what is it with these bloody focus groups driving everything?? Can anyone think of anything that was successfully designed by a fucking focus group?? They are all useless...
I fear that this pinky and perky (insult to pinky and perky) ripoff will just make London the laughing stock world in a few years time...
Lord Coe should hang his head in shame. I can't believe our* taxes are paying for this farce!
* well strictly speaking, your taxes in a few weeks as I've moved to Switzerland, had enough of Nonsensical Britain!
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:45 GMT Peter 51
Erm, they're not bad at all
As someone who thinks the logo was a great big pile of poo, the mascots came as a pleasant surprise. Visually interesting, original and given the video with then in, expressive.
Much better than yet another anthropomorphised lion or bulldog as some commentators seem to be suggesting.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:45 GMT The BigYin
Whilst I may agree...
... with Sir Conran; I am still in shock that a country like the UK thinks it is fit to host the games.
Oh, wait.
Hosting games (at vast public expense) to distract the peasants from the fact the country has gone to hell in a hand-basket. That's been tried before, hasn't it? Did it work back then?
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:51 GMT Dan Wilkinson
Arse
They're just mascots for the kiddies! In no way better or worse than any other Olympic mascot (although the blue sperm things was actually a pretty bad one...)
Who cares, I'll be watching the running 'n stuff rather than hand-wringing about the choice of a carton representative.
And with any luck, I'm hoping for some World Cup Willy action this summer too...
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:51 GMT Rob Crawford
Oh look
another puddle of piss for the public to look at.
As if it's not bad enough having to pay for the regeneration of east london we are going to have to tolerate more inane logos/characters.
Personally I think they should have had Michael Barrymore as the olympic mascot as he is genuinely worthy of the loathing which would result
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 10:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
Look you numpties...
These things aren't designed for you nor me, when has a mascot ever been there for anyone who is 16+? When was the last time you saw an adult jumping around pointing at a football mascot in the grounds? Never.
They have been designed for the teletubby loving kids. So the quote "horrible computer generated Smurfs for the iPhone generation" seems to be spot on for their target audience. The iPhone generation isn't us, its the next generation. Its those kids who these mascots will draw into the games.
Let your young children watch the animated adventures of these two and then make a judgement.
Get a grip! Why are these 'forums' always full of people complaining that whatever it is doesn't suit them?
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 11:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Stoneshop
That was my biggest reaction as I read the article. I've never heard this before, and wouldn't ever put the UK at the top of the list if asked. What a silly statement from a rich twat who is pissed off he didn't get asked his opinion. Go back to your opulent room and pout, you petulant child.
Ask 20 people what they think and you'll get 21 opinions. At some point you have to stop asking. I don't think these things are terribly interesting, but how can you manage by consensus, when creative types never agree on anything to begin with??
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 11:15 GMT envmod
+1
I like the logo and I like the mascots. What does Conran want - some aesthetically pleasing work of high art? They're mascots for God sake. Fuck Conran - he doesn't know shit about what "real" people want or like to look at. And what's this "horrible computer generated Smurfs for the iPhone generation" rubbish all about? Sounds like a bitter old man being bitter that he's old and doesn't understand things anymore to me.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 11:16 GMT Sarah Bee
Re: +1
He's a very successful bitter old man if that's what he is.
It's odd how when people virulently criticise something, others line up to accuse them of bitterness or jealousy (or, if they're a woman, being uncontrollably hormonal, obviously). Very often it's just pure exasperation at mediocrity or inadequacy or crapitude, with no agenda or personal issues attached. This does exist as a force in the universe, you know.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 14:36 GMT OffBeatMammal
certainly making people emotional
my 2p ... these things are just bland chav dolls, but they're no less "representitive" or badly designed than earlier Olympics mascots... Izzy from Atlanta for instance was about as culturally void and unlikely to cause offense and these blobbies.
Until Izzy mascots had always been based on national animals or had some cultural connection but these... they say nothing.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/olympic-trivia/olympic-mascot.html for mascots from recent Olympics to compare to...
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 11:15 GMT Alexis Vallance
Unrefined
Fair enough they didn't want a furry animal, but they just look really unrefined.
The single eye doesn't work - even less so when the pupils are so small, as if they're having a light shone at them.
Don't mind the idea of a drop of steel from the stadium, but the resulting characters just seem a bit amateurish.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 12:22 GMT fixit_f
Oh yeah, cos Terence Conran is a design genius
Didn't he design the interior of the original Land Rover discovery, turning a premium motor into one of the nastiest chunks of brown/blue plastic crap imaginable? OK he was constrained slightly by the Leyland parts bin, but you had to sit in one to realise how nasty and flimsy it was.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/front_website/gallery.php?id=280665
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 12:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
Title
Instead we get a mobile bottle opener and a Tivo remote. Ok, so they're not very interesting, but I think they're alright and we could have done a lot worse. At least one of them has a nice pornographic image stamped on it's chest. (Which reminds me - why isn't fellatio an Olympic sport? Surely enough people worldwide participate to make it one?)
On the other hand, we could have just rolled out a Dalek at a fraction the cost. No "design" fees, instantly recognisable, and green as the Beeb doesn't need the old ones any more. Might make people run a bit more quickly too...
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 13:12 GMT Naughtyhorse
white it is true to say
That Conran is an oaf of the highest water, and that the design of a 3rd rate temporary whelk stall (non-wobbly) would overtax the , ahem abilities of foster.
The fact remains the mascots are pretty shit, an the whole limpiks will be too.
but when push comes to shove, who actually gives a shit? another 2 week upheaval of the tv schedules, london rush hour made even more unbearable, another 10 million armchair experts in 3-bloody-day-eventing.
wake me up when it's all gone away.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 14:35 GMT Rogerborg
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-MASCOTS!
I think they're ideal for getting the half-million Olypmic tourists (fully 25% of whom might leave the country afterwards) used to the baleful unblinking stare of ridiculous costumed mongtards, so that they know what to expect from the raft of "Police" Community Supper "Officers" who will be drafted in to rugby tackle anyone caught taking a photograph inside the M25.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 14:36 GMT Yet Another Anonymous coward
Could be worse
Firstly they are better than the bulldog in a union-jack T shirt or whatever the Daily Fail wants.
Then they are much less embarrassing than the ones for Vancouver.
They took elements from a few different native gods/spirits and youth-alised them, then got the chiefs of the local indian bands to welcome them to the opening ceremony.
So roughly like saying - we based the mascot on Jesus but added wings, a jet pack and he transforms into Mohamed, then got the chief Rabbi to introduce him.
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Tuesday 25th May 2010 15:42 GMT Paul Thomas 1
RE could be worse
The Vancouver mascots weren't well received when they were announced, but turn's out the kids loved them. They had a live skate show twice a day downtown with the mascots, it was like they were rock stars to all the under 10's leaning over the sides screaming their names. They also toured schools an events and no doubt made a ton of money for the organisers in terms of merchandise.
Still I think the London mascots are pretty awful, though not surprised they don't look like or represent anything British or even represent London as that would be way too controversial.
Still think they should have gone with something cuddly, despite what they think the focus groups said kids love stuffed toys.
Mind you given that we constantly deplore advertising to kids, isn't there something to be said about using children focus groups to design these things, when the Olympics is one of the biggest commercial events in the world.
What is a children's focus group, mine don't seem to have the same opinion on anything for more than 10 minutes.
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Saturday 5th June 2010 09:12 GMT Jacob Lipman
England shafted at the Olympics
Thank you, Mr. Devilpepper, for finally pointing this out.
I thought I might have been the only one to recognize the phallic symbols being trotted out for the kiddies. England's mascots are one-eyed monsters. Reminds me of a lovely song written by one Mr. Eric Idle.
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Thursday 27th May 2010 08:49 GMT Alice Andretti
Numerology, base 10, leap years, etc.
"The first stone laid (breaking the ground ceremony)for the Pentagon was on 9-11-1941 (exactly 60 years to the day before 9-11-2001"
Not to be disrespectful or anything - assuming you were serious in your posts and not just fooling around - but it seems to me that, a couple of points:
1. Exactly-anything, WRT years and calendar dates, is a human invention. Remember that little thing about leap year and the 1/4 day or whatever it is? We humans have chosen to regard our calendar as having "exact" dates because we like to have that sort of thing be all neat and tidy - makes it easier for us to keep track of stuff - but the orbits and things keep their own schedules. Or maybe I'm remembering things wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what we were taught in school (long time ago).
2. Base-10 numbers are another human invention. Numerology would be completely thrown off kilter if we happened to use base-2, or base-whatever, some other number system, instead.
Therefore, while it's tempting for us humans to try to make sense of the universe, and to try to make order out of chaos (that's what our brains are good at - that's why we see faces in clouds), I have to respectfully conclude that numerology perhaps isn't as meaningful as its proponents might wish.
That said, that doesn't mean that numerology hasn't been employed by humans as a way to assign order to a confusing/frightening universe.
Traditionally, various cultures *have* intentionally used number patterns for all kinds of things, including architecture and other things, in attempts to bring good luck or avoid some pitfall or other. However, tradition is not always founded in reality and it isn't always very useful.
However, there *is* the "power of thought" aspect of things, or the "believe it and it will happen" angle. It's easy to form *associations* with certain symbols, such as a particular number or whatever, based on one's life experiences or some other personal/historical event or something that a person or culture remembers in either a good way or a bad way - even animals form associations like that (that's why animals can be trained, via either positive- or negative-reinforcement) but - at least in my opinion - that doesn't endow the symbol *itself* with the good or bad thing. It's just people's *memories* and *associations* of some symbol or other. As such, that limits its scope.
I could be wrong :) and again I mean no disrespect to others' beliefs, but sometimes what we start out thinking of as a helpful thing (e.g., numerology or some other belief), can turn into a trap that rules people's lives, which is probably not what they thought they were getting into when they started. Some things are best to just not get started with. Habits can be hard to break. I speak from experience.
Just my two cents' worth.
(I half figure the OP was just trying to provide entertainment, but if not, my monologue ;) above applies.)
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
