Once in a while there is a new thing that comes along and changes how we use the internet. A new web app that completely pisses over everything else, and laughs in the face of others that stand against it. Today we have found such genius with GROSS OUT.

Developed by the Black Axe boys, Gross out is an awesome tool to turn your perfectly pleasant straight laced friends and family into the brain spilling, blood drinking zombies they were meant to be. It plays on the premise of doodling on photos for amusement – just upload a photo and cover it in eyeballs, zits, slime and tons of other gross crap!

This could change society!

It couldn’t be more apt for the halloween season too. So here’s an idea, upload all your friends, “gross them out” and create your own house of horrors photo gallery!

For more info check out the Gross Out site or follow Gross Out on Twitter.

There’s also a contest where you can win a range of Crispy Tees for producing the best Gross Out picture!

N.B. Can you tell who we’ve grossed out? Rollover the image for the answer!

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This is a film I’m desperate to see released in the UK. Hotly tipped as this decades’ Blair Witch Project, Oren Peli’s super low-budget supernatural is simply about a couple who set up a video camera in their room to try and capture the strange goings-on they’ve noticed during the night. Straightforward. As you can see from the trailer it’s more about what you don’t see that is frightening, which is a noticeable change from the gore fest zombie slashers we’ve seen of late.

It was released this past weekend in the US, and it absolutely destroyed other releases such as Where the Wild Things Are, Astro Boy and the mundane SAW VI, by raking in a massive $22 million. A damn good profit, considering it only cost $11,000 to make.

On the Paranormal Activity site you can read all about the 1 million fans that demanded this film be screened in their towns and watch the other trailers.

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Our awesome brothers over at Thunder Chunky have teamed up with Vannen in a Halloween giveaway.

You can win the ‘Trick or treat’ design by Dirty Donny as pictured! Entries close this wednesday so you have to be quick if you want a chance to win it!

Get on it!

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London based artist Sichi dropped us a line recently to us all about his exciting new toy and art event – JOY OF TOY. He hopes it will be one of many, so he’ll need your help to make it grow!

To kick things off in this first expo, there will retrospective exhibition of some of the landmark toy designers from around the world and will feature creations by Kaws, Michael Lau, Eric So, Bounty Hunter and James Jarvis amongst many others. The exhibition will consist of toy designs and artwork by these artists. There will also be a pop-up gallery shop with special artist signings. More info will be released soon at www.eastgallery.co.uk

The exhibition opens on 6th November from 6pm – 9pm. The event runs until 12th November.

So if you’re anywhere near Brick Lane next month, pop along and be inspired!

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When James from London based clothing brand Dirrrtee, hit me up recently to tell me about the new winter 09 range I knew I could expect some super sleek offerings. Dirrrtee has been busting out street smart designs since 2008, with their aim of combining streetwear with unique custom threads. In fact they initially specialised in producing individual custom hand made items for sale worldwide. Although they have since stopped customising one-offs, Dirrrtee only ever produces clothing in limited quantities, with the view that once an item has sold out it won’t be re-released.

And thus to mark the brand’s expansion, they are celebrating with 2 new limited editions, with only 150 of each made! The tees have are entitled “Seek Thy Truth” and “Gotta Get Dirrrtee to Get Fresh.” Both vary in style, message and colorways, but still maintain the high standard screenprint. They also include inner neck label print and matte finish swing tag. I like both prints but my personal fave is Seek thy truth as it features some beautifully symmetrical curves forming the famous triangle which houses the eye of providence, better known as the “all seeing eye”. The design is inspired by a love for wanting to know more about the world, but more importantly knowing more about yourself. Absolute WINNER!

The great thing about Dirrrtee is that there a bunch of great honest guys, working hard to produce some dang fine wears. If you have a few spare pennies lying around, go help this independent crew out! Get dirrrtee today!

This Just in… Dirrrtee X SB.TV collab!

They just keep on rockin’ the shizzle! Dirrrtee have teamed up with the UK’s most popular urban Street Broadcaster; SB.TV to produce a highly limited run. This t-shirt is limited to just 50 pieces(!) and available exclusively through the Dirrrtee online store. One of the kings of grime, Skepta has also personally endorsed it!

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When I decided to get involved in Blog Action Day 2009, I didn’t know exactly what it was about climate change that I wanted to write about. So these are in no way the thoughts of everyone associated with Always Thinkin’, but merely my naive ramblings which might eventually constitute some kind of structured article in some way. I don’t expect you to agree with me, in fact I hope you don’t and you make your own decisions. Just remember to leave your comments below the article! Let’s begin…

Through the media we have been told that we can make a difference on a personal level, but I didn’t know exactly what. So I decided to use the WWF Carbon Footprint Calculator which is brilliantly simple to use, asking you a few questions about your food, travel, home and general lifestyle.

After filling in all that gubbins I was horrified to read the message

” You’re living as if we had 2.18 planets to support us but we only have one. “

which works out about 8.64 tonnes per annum! Just for little old me!!

What’s worse was that I felt the survey was far too general, and had they gone into the specifics about the many hours of TV watching, playing music and internet usage I’m sure it would have been much higher! I secretly felt like I was cheating the test. Yet I still failed!

I’ve since signed up to the WWF community to learn 100′s of new eco-friendly tips to reduce my carbon footprint. Such as using chemical-free laundry balls, buying a rainwater butt, growing own fruit and veg and sharing baths! However I’d have to draw the line at a cardboard coffin! Mind you who know’s what the future will bring…

It got me thinking about my lifestyle in general and how my carbon footprint could affect things. Take one small aspect of my life, my enjoyment of music. I listen to music all day, on my ipod, in my car, on spotify to help me work and sometimes have my ipod by me when I drift off to sleep. I also go to watch bands, possibly travelling to out of town gigs or festivals. Those bands haul a ton of gear which is manufactured in different parts of the world. Bands travel around the country and internationally too, that’s when they’re not practicing or recording a CD or music videos. Not to mention the companies and labels who help manufacture those products too. Is that all wasted energy for a little bit of musical enjoyment?

An article by Earth to tech discusses digital downloads and their obvious impact in cutting out the CD manufacturing / shipping process.

“If the buyer walks to a retail outlet to buy a CD, instead of driving, it’s about the same energy and carbon emissions as buying an album online and then burning it to a CD. In addition, if the size of the album is 260 MB (up from the more traditional 60-100 MB) then downloading and burning that album to a CD is about the same as buying an actual CD via e-commerce, because of the added energy from downloading it via the Internet.”

The same thing could be said about film, TV, sport, online media. It could drive you insane if you thought about it that much! I mean come on, I type this on my mac book pro, whilst I watch the England vs Belarus match through my Sky+ Box, whilst sending the odd text message. How many different organisations and data centres are running 24/7, 365 days a year to provide the different services I use?

When I think to myself about my occupation as a web designer in the creative industry I feel a bit screwed. That’s not even mentioning the fact that I’m already going blind, and in desperate need of regular exercise.

But there are people out there who are dedicated to inventing something bigger for the cause. Such as the do gooders over at The Good Entrepeneur who would probably be shunned out of Dragon’s Den for a lack of return within the first 3 years of investment. But they battle it out to help us all, and that deserves some respect.

It’s not for me to say how you run your life. We all have our own decisions in life to make, with greater immediate problems such as getting through the current credit crisis, making sure our families and loved ones are fed and keeping a roof above our heads. And as mentioned above, there lots of things to consider. So just like anything I probably won’t always make the right choice about things, but I know that deciding to live my life with an open positive mindset will always lead me down the right path to make the right judgements. And at least that way I can look back and always know that I made the conscious choice of who I wanted to be. That is the one thing that won’t change. It also saves the fiance from having to nag me to turn the upstairs light off.

What are your thoughts about how YOUR lifestyle is affecting climate change?

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Wow here’s a real treat for you all. Not only can you download a FREE brand spanking new wallpaper by Ben the Illustrator, but you can help save the world by doing so. It’s all in aid of Blog Action Day, a global activity which aims to raise awareness of climate change. You can get the wallpaper over at Vector Tuts, where Ben also explains the concept behind the imagery.

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Here is a glimpse of an exciting new range of limited edition tees that will be available soon on Always Thinkin’. You can’t buy them just yet, but you can vote for your favourite one below! These tees will also be available at a special reduced launch price, so keep your eyes peeled for the full announcement!

1. Big Brain Machine (Grey)

2. The Brain Tendons (grey)

3. Big Brain Machine (White)

4. The Brain Tendons (White)

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When Vannen Watches said they were gonna give us a special treat this halloween we never knew it was going to be THIS mindblowing. For their latest special limited edition watch they summoned the magical powerful force that is Dirty Donny. For those not in the know Dirty Donny is the defacto artist when it comes to creating all things scary and monster like! He’s created a real treat of a design too – the fierce cat face has instantly made this my favourite watch in the vannen catalogue so far.

When they say limited edition they mean it too. This release is blind packed, with just 150 halloween watches altogether and just 50 of the super rare chase ‘TOXIC YELLOW’ colour, so you’ll have to grab them quick!

They’ve also gone the full way with the packaging too – each watch is shipped in the ‘Trick or Treat Orange’ stuffed full of treats! Vannen don’t do things by halves, just deliver quality time after time.

Head over to Vannen Watches and grab yourselves a seasonal treat and be the envy of all your scary werewolf and dracula friends.

Whisper: Stay tuned to Always Thinkin’ for an interview with Vannen Watches very soon!

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Hello there and welcome to a series of exciting competitions, which aims to generate thought, amuse others and provoke your inner loudmouth! At the same time you could bag yourself some lovely goodies from our sponsors! All you have to do is provide an image with a thought bubble caption. This can be an existing image or a your own – although it’s all about the caption here and not how well you can execute a detailed illustration! To repeat you don’t have to be a hot designer to win this!

If that seems like too much effort, then you probably don’t deserve to win anything you lazy blighter. But here’s what you could win.

Prizes!

The fantastic guys over at Right Brain Terrain are offering up not 1 but a CHOICE of 3 of their amazing posters! YES! ANY posters from their newly launched shop!

About Right Brain Terrain

Have you seen the motivational poster with the guy climbing a mountain, the man leaping across a dangerous gorge, or the one with the eagle soaring high above the plains? Perhaps you’ve seen them at your dentist’s office, CPA’s office, the library, the post office, the cleaners, school… Headquartered in Winter Garden, Florida, USA, Right Brain Terrain (“RBT”) was established in 2006 to produce Alternative Motivational Posters (affectionately known as “AMPs”). AMPs are subtle, loud, metaphoric, ambiguous, motivational, literal, symbolic, obvious, bright, dark, distressed, clean, colorful, black and white, surprising, predictable, unique, exciting, boring, inspiring… There are no rules – just gut.

Terms

(Please read)
We want you to have fun, but we don’t want anyone getting into trouble, so don’t do any of the following:

• Submit more than one entry to the contest.
• Submit images of pornographic or violent nature.
• Make fun of persons with mental health issues or physical disabilities.
• Anything we deem NSFW or inappropriate with be instantly disqualified, and we reserve the right to withdraw any entries from the contest.

All entries will be posted here and the winner will be announced after the closing date.
Good luck and we look forward to your entries!

Current Entries

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