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1. It's hard to imagine a more remarkable human than Tim Berners-Lee. You may or may not have heard of Mr. Berners-Lee, but for the uninitiated, this fine gentlemen was a lead scientist on the particle collider project built in Switzerland to replicate the Big Bang.

   Naturally, a project on this scale generated a vast amount of data, on which many and various people depended for their work. So Berners-Lee imagined and proposed a method for sharing electronic data between computers. Having submitted his plan, his boss responded with the message 'Vague but exciting'. This was an understatement of titanic proportions.

   Once the project was up and running it needed a name, so Tim chose (and you may have guessed what's coming here) the 'World Wide Web'. This unassuming man had, to all intents and purposes, invented the internet.

   But that is only part of the story. What makes this man so extraordinary is this. Having created something so useful, revolutionary and planet-changing, there was no amount of money that Berners Lee couldn't have reaped from his astonishing tool. Instead, seeing its vast potential, he gifted the Web to humankind for all time.

   In an age where the cash trough is barely large enough to accomodate the insatiable corporate hogs gorging themselves at its edge, we might all do well to remember the inestimable generosity of this scientist.

   (Posted on 2008-06-28 22:57:00 by mks:creative)

2. It's hard to imagine a more remarkable human than Tim Berners-Lee. You may or may not have heard of Mr. Berners-Lee, but for the uninitiated, this fine gentlemen was a lead scientist on the particle collider project built in Switzerland to replicate the Big Bang.

   Naturally, a project on this scale generated a vast amount of data, on which many and various people depended for their work. So Berners-Lee imagined and proposed a method for sharing electronic data between computers. Having submitted his plan, his boss responded with the message 'Vague but exciting'. This was an understatement of titanic proportions.

   Once the project was up and running it needed a name, so Tim chose (and you may have guessed what's coming here) the 'World Wide Web'. This unassuming man had, to all intents and purposes, invented the internet.

   But that is only part of the story. What makes this man so extraordinary is this. Having created something so useful, revolutionary and planet-changing, there was no amount of money that Berners Lee couldn't have reaped from his astonishing tool. Instead, seeing its vast potential, he gifted the Web to humankind for all time.

   In an age where the cash trough is barely large enough to accomodate the insatiable corporate hogs gorging themselves at its edge, we might all do well to remember the inestimable generosity of this scientist.

   (Posted on 2008-06-28 22:57:00 by mks:creative)

3. There's much to be said about The Apprentice. We would certainly assert that, alongside Dragon's Den, it has levitated to position way above the other reality dross we've had foisted upon us over the last half decade.

   That said, there are some issues that have us scratching our heads.

   1. Sir Alan 'Sir Alan' Sugar tells us in the opening sequence that the prize is 'to work with me'. Leaving aside the rather puzzling notion that to graft for Amstrad is some kind of beatitude of which mere mortals can only dream, it seems obvious that the winner gets to do nothing of the kind. I think former 'apprentice' Michelle Dewsberry was put in charge of recycling PCs. Is this an arena of his operation where Sir Alan 'Sir Alan' Sugar puts in many long hours. We're not so sure.

   2. Many of the contestants are really very stupid. Only tonight did we see three grown, educated adults confess to having no idea what kosher food was (in one case suggesting it was blessed in a mosque).

   3. The 'team leaders' almost always fail miserably to grasp even the basics of people management. In most cases this appears to involve dumping any notion of planning, discussing, listening, deputising and executing in favour of generalised whooping, the repetition of utterly empty phrases like 'That's what I'm talking about', 'Get in!' and 'Let's nail it'. If the next generation of industry captains are going to take all their cues from American business manuals and 1980's city-boy guff, then we're in trouble.

   Still, Sir Alan 'Sir Alan' Sugar, loving the show, loving the show.

   (Posted on 2008-05-07 22:14:00 by mks:creative)

4. We're not sure it will make us buy a car. In fact, it's probably not that great in pure advertising terms, but we're very much enjoying watching it. We give you the new Polo advertisement:

   http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Volkswagen-Polo-Confidence-Volkswagen-Polo/56952

   (Posted on 2008-03-14 23:25:00 by mks:creative)

5. In the late 80s Lenny Henry released a feature film of his stand-up routine called 'Lenny Live and Unleashed'. It was in the cinemas and everything. It was also very funny and stood up to repeated viewings.

   So now, twenty years later, Lenny has a new, late night BBC show which involves him showing clips off the internet. He then makes comments on them to a guest. It is embarrassingly poor. The gags are so extraordinarily unfunny as to be quite compelling. The guests are substandard (Patrick Keilty for one) and seem to be faxing their bits in. What's more, the clips are lifted straight from You Tube and are of the 'You've Been Framed' variety.

   This is a shame. Henry used to be much-loved and, more importantly, a genuinely talented comic. To be shoved into this post Newsnight graveyard and given this 'thought-up-in-a-coffee-break' format to front is both humiliating and presumably unnecessary. We vaguely remember Lenny being a rather able straight actor - so why not pursue that? Or retire? Or anything other than this garbage?

   (Posted on 2008-02-23 17:51:00 by mks:creative)

6. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed the mks:creative site over on www.linkreferral.com. All the comments have been very helpful and full of praise and we very much appreciate your time and trouble. Do call again.

   (Posted on 2008-02-19 22:56:00 by mks:creative)

7. We notice Hollywood is on the verge of spewing out a new CGI version of The Chipmunks. Dear Lord, has it come to this? The Chipmunks wasn't even a good show as a cartoon. They might at least have spared a thought for the Hair Bear Bunch or Wacky Races.

   Of course this is just the latest in a long line of vintage TV show translations and not a single one has been inspiring. Think of Hollywood in the 70s: Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Jaws, Saturday Night Fever ... astonishing, original, thrilling motion pictures. Now look at the endless dribble of sequels, Playstation adaptations, CGI no-brainers and very poor star vehicles. Even the Will Smith release 'I Am Legend' is a remake of The Omega Man. In fact, Tinseltown is such a creative vacuum it would do well to replace the famous sign with something along the lines of 'Original Ideas? Sorry We Don't Have A Single One. Popcorn?'

   (Posted on 2008-01-18 22:15:00 by mks:creative)

8. Having just purchased a swanky new i-pod, I have set about the task of uploading my CD collection to the device. Now i-tunes also picks the CD artwork up off the internet while one is doing this. And to my astonishment, the Apple database has no record for (amongst others) David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World and Led Zeppellin 4.

   Bet they have all the Westlife albums though.

   (Posted on 2007-12-31 22:19:00 by mks:creative)

9. If the Post Office think using a hackneyed old strapline like 'The People's Post Office' will disguise the fact that they are in the process of killing off the very local service they feature in their ad campaign, they are incredibly misguided.

   (Posted on 2007-12-12 22:06:00 by mks:creative)

10. This morning's papers are full of reports that mobile phone service providers are increasingly dishonest and misleading in their advertising, particularly on cash-back deals. This doesn't surprise us, but it is astonishing just how short-sighted supposedly professional marketeers can be. If the brand is king, then surely reputation is queen - and by over promising and under delivering a company's reputation is eroded with every broken offering. Before long, customers are leaving or avoiding in droves and the marketing is working in reverse. And the future aint quite so bright.

    (Posted on 2007-11-21 10:13:00 by mks:creative)

11. There has been much debate at mks towers about the Cadbury's gorilla ad. On balance we think it's pretty good. We particularly like the fact that it has been designed to be very viral. That is to say, people can use the YouTube version to send it to each other. Whether the choccy giant can keep the momentum going remains to be seen.

    (Posted on 2007-11-03 14:08:00 by mks:creative)
12. Welcome to the mks:creative blog. We're going to do our utmost to keep it fresh and regularly updated. And we're going stick to advertising, media and webby stuff. You can join in too. All you need do is click below and tell us what's on your mind.

    (Posted on 2007-10-20 21:31:00 by mks:creative)