Hope&Glory's 'Magpie': A selective compendium of smart creative ideas
'Magpie' is a compilation of choice cuts of curated weirdness from all four corners of the creative industries.
As a team of naturally curious individuals, all of whom passionately share, admire and have been inspired by the ideas of others, we have created Magpie: a semi-regular and unashamedly selective compendium of the smart ideas that caught our eye over the last few months.
Handpicking a mix of work from across the creative industries, and looking more broadly toward cutting-edge curators and digital creators, outsider artists and exciting innovators of all kinds.
An insight into what is inspiring us, some you will have seen before, others you may be unfamiliar with, all have sparked conversation and fuelled our collective passion for the curated weirdness of the creative world.
So, to give you a flavour on what you can expect to find in the pages of this creative compendium, in no particular order, here are five picks of some of our favourites, for better or worse, from the first edition of Magpie.
Dogs are better at home
The 'classy touch' shown by football clubs can be applied in many different ways to many different causes.
But Zenit St Petersburg players using dogs from local shelters as mascots to help them get adopted is excellent, and deserves lots of clapping hands emojis.
The Zenit and the Russian Kynological Foundation campaign was called 'Dogs are better at home' and came after Russia and its citizens celebrated World Pet Day on November 30.
As the team was announced at the stadium before their match with Rostov, the Zenit players were shown on stadium monitors alongside pictures of a dog and the details required to adopt it. A selection of players then walked out onto the pitch with their canine mascots.
The club wrote on their website that "the aim of the project is to highlight to the public the responsibility and care required when having a pet and to help raise funds for local dog shelters."
Duke Smoochem
Twitter user Dan Douglas has taken it upon himself to try and capture the unique experience of living in Britain in 2022 using the game engine from the 1996 classic Duke Nukem 3D.
I'm not sure why it's so fun seeing sites such as Matt Hancock's office (complete with security camera), Greggs, Foxtons, Maplins and other high street staples rendered in a game engine over two decades old, but it's very compelling.
I can't wait until it launches to have a digital breakfast in Wetherspoons and blow-up Giles Coren's jaguar.
A perfect morning.
Instagram's Most Hated Beauty Account
Luridly painted corneas, lipstick coated teeth, clumped sloppy glitter eyelashes, and acres of tinfoil are the tip of the iceberg for @makeupbrutalism, the self-styled "most hated beauty account on Instagram since 2018".
The brainchild of creator come professional makeup artist Eszter Magyar; her profile is somewhere between provocative social and 'art' claiming to be an exploration of ugly beauty. She even does a heap of Patreon pay-to-view tutorials should you want to stick pins in your eyes—quite literally at times.
Pretty gross, but one you can't help but scroll your way through.
Fishbot
Researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have created a FOV (Fish Operated Vehicle) to assess the navigational ability of a fish in a terrestrial environment.
We're sure there is a profoundly serious and legitimate scientific reason for doing this, but mainly the team hopes they stick to goldfish and don't try to branch out to any other larger or more dangerous fish.
If they do, we welcome our new scaley overlords.
Nissin Noodle Mop
What can we really say about the genius Nissin Noodle Mop?
The mop was unveiled during the Japanese Basketball Association's Winter Cup, where spectators were transfixed by the mops cleaning the court during the games, but then devastated to find out that they were not commercially available.
It's a great example of how to elevate a sponsorship opportunity into a coverage driver by using surreal visuals—the tiny remote-control Volkswagen from the Euros being another excellent example.
The team are wracking their brains thinking about which of our clients we can transform into appliances.
Watch this space!
Co-written by Don Ferguson, director and James Keiller, senior creative at Hope & Glory
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