Canon Ixus 1000HS

The fisheye effect, a nice extra of my new camera

A typical side effect of being a male, is that every now and then you lose money because of the need for a new gadget. Whether it's an iPhone, a new netbook or a portable game console with a 3D screen. For me it was time to replace my old pocket camera.

When it comes down to buying a camera, money is no issue for me. That's because a camera is more than a little gadget, it also your memories. All the vacations, friends, festivals and birthdays of at least 2 years to come will be shot with this camera and the quality of the camera defines exactly how sharp you will see these memories.

So after reading a lot of reviews, I finally found my perfect camera: the Canon Ixus 1000HS. This one was by far the best in picture and video quality combined. For the really perfect pictures I already have a digital SLR, but this is a nice, handy snapshot cam. Oh, and it has funny extra's like the fisheye lens, the miniature effect and slow motion video. These functions are very convenient when you want to brag to others about your new camera.

Young Dogs reunion

The Young Dogs bus 2007 in Cannes

When I was in my second year of my study copywriting at the university, in 1998, I knew I wanted to focus all my attention towards breaking through in advertising. The problem was that in school the advertising education sucked. Luckily, there was an organisation that held competitions for aspiring creatives. With real briefings and a really good incentive: the winner could go by bus to the advertising festival in Cannes. The Young Dogs.

Later on, I would become boardmember of this club of enthusiastic advertising people. The Young Dogs was founded 20 years ago. To celebrate its 20-years anniversary, a Facebook page is made for former boardmembers and there will be a party the 18th of February in club Panama. And everybody is invited (so not only former boardmembers. There's more information about the party here.

Of course, when former boardmembers come together digitally, there's also an exchange of pictures of the good ol' times. So now everybody sent pictures of the Young Dogs-buses. As a tradition, there's a new design for the bus every year. Above there's an example of that. And here you can see the other buses through the years. Because I went to Cannes with the Young Dogs six (!) times I recognize almost all of them. I'm looking forward to the party and to see all the familiar faces of the past again.

Print in Holland

Nice poster on the streets of Amsterdam

Usually the level of print ads is not very high in Holland. That has many reasons. Advertisers usually don't ask for outstanding print ads and young creatives usually want to take a shortcut towards TV-commercials. The result is an ongoing spiral downwards in which the level of print ads stays behind compared to those of Belgium and Germany. TV-commercials however, are super creative. And some commercial breaks are better than the shows they interrupt.

But sometimes I'm surprised at a few little pearls that I see on the streets of Amsterdam. Okay, they're usually one shots, but nevertheless some ads give me a smile on my face. Like the above ad for the city of Amsterdam. The word that's crossed by the logo of amsterdam is 'discrimination'. Maybe this one poster is too small to impress juries at festivals, but nevertheless it's really good work for such a difficult client. Let's see what I can make from this difficult print briefing that I got from IKEA.

Happy 2011

A new year is usually the time that people start to reflect on the year before. Their lives, their career, their relationships, their addictions. The pharmaceutical industry knows that and therefore the commercial breaks are full of ads for products that help you quit smoking. I always think that the new year is a good opportunity to continue doing what you like. So after midnight I was at a great party with a beer in my hand and a cigarette in the other.

If you live by the day, the new year is just another morning. I did make some new plans to make some improvements at work, but that is something I continuously do. Last year was quite turbulent, because there were some big changes in my home, love and career. And even though things were sometimes difficult, I wouldn't have wanted it anyway else. Who knows what craziness 2011 is going to bring.