Posts Tagged With: Olympics

Share a Coke with Vladimir Putin

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Mark

This week Coca-Cola admitted their sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympics was turning into a PR nightmare. The invitation to ‘Share a Coke with (insert your name here)’ on social networks backfired as anti-homophobic protests blossomed across the net with people hacking the name generator to vent their anger. Embarrassed, Coke flushed its campaign under the shame of a global spotlight. Also this week, it emerges that Coke and several other huge corporations knew there would be a backlash if they didn’t use their financial might to lean on Russia to repeal its oppressive new ‘legislation’ which is widely seen as an excuse to recriminalise free sexual expression. But nobody did a thing despite Stolichnaya vodka getting stung by a boycott in the summer.

The clock is ticking and it’s sure to be a countdown to scandal

Categories: Art, Design, Photography, Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: civil rights, Coca-Cola, Coke, Gay, Homophobia, Olympics, Putin, Sochi, sponsorship, Vladimir Putin | 4 Comments

Coke Adds Hate

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Mark

Politics on The Vibes? People come here for pretty pictures, surely!

Well, here’s a pretty little thing for you. In response to the flagrant disregard for human rights shown by the Coca Cola Corporation, I’m publishing this image. We know that those who point the moral finger are usually on a countdown to scandal, and that strange little man in Russia, with his plastic surgery and spray-on hair who whips off his shirt to expose his saggy moobs is just digging himself in deeper. It’s the ones who shout the loudest. So why Coke should continue to sponsor the Sochi Winter Olympics is beyond me. People are being abducted, tortured and murdered in Russia in the name of bizarre and twisted homophobic ‘legislation.’ Coke has blood on it’s cans.

Categories: Art, Design, Photography, Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: abuse, Coca-Cola, Coke, Gay, Homophobia, Human Rights, murder, Olympics, Sochi, Vladimir Putin | Leave a comment

The Olympic Games Closing Ceremony

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Mark

Take your seats please, ladies and gentlemen because the party’s nearly over. But not until The Fab Lady sings.

Kate Bush Olympic Games Closing Ceremony Mark Wallis The Vibes

Kate Bush is rumoured to be performing Running Up That Hill at the Olympic Closing Ceremony. If it’s true then let me tell you, the top of my head will blow off and all manner of fantasmagoria will erupt like the cover of Never For Ever. The astonishingly inept Amazon might have accidentally posted the Running Up That Hill 2012 remix too early and spoilt the surprise…and then removed it again – so I’m taking that as confirmation that she’s on the bill.

The last time she performed live was 1987 (apart from a mere cameo vocal in 2002 with Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd), and her last tour was in 1979! This a monumental event for British music and Kate’s vast fandom. It’s been a fantastic fortnight of sporting achievement, but this really is the cherry on the cake. I hope she jumps out of one!

We’ll be celebrating in Manchester with Boots’ Chocolate Gold medals and mucho Absolut.

+ + + UPDATE: track available on iTunes, click image to preview + + +

+ + + UPDATE2: Kate Bush no show + bunting taken down + + +

Main picture based on original motion graphics created by Anthem and Mammoth Graphics. Closing ceremony Sunday 21:00 GMT on a TV screen near you, unless you have NBC and then you’ll have to wait for an edited version.

Categories: Design, Music, Random | Tags: 2012, Closing Ceremony, Gold, Gold Medal, Kate Bush, London 2012, Olympic, Olympic Games, Olympics, remix, Running Up That Hill, tv | 19 Comments

Gold Rush for Great Britain – Six in One Day!

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Mark

Team GB won six gold medals and a silver on Day Eight of the Olympics, taking the Great British Goldrush to 14, with 7 silver and 8 bronze. Super Saturday marks the UK’s best performance in the Olympiad for over a century. The crowd in the stadium went wild as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis stole the show. There’s a wonderful sense of pride in Britain tonight, not least because we are the host nation, and on every television there are tears of joy, shock and awe as the athletes realise their own achievements.

Women’s Heptathlon – Jessica Ennis
Men’s Longjump – Greg Rutherford
Men’s 10,000m – Mo Farah
Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls – Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland
Men’s Four – Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Andy Gregory and Tom James

Kind of makes up for the Japanese complaints about their gymnastic placing, depriving Britain and the Ukraine of their original medals. Japan, you were really crap. (So much for good grace and sportsmanship…)

Categories: Random, Vibe Monitor | Tags: Gold Medal, London 2012, Olympic, Olympic Games, Olympics, Six, sports, Super Saturday, Team GB, tv, Tv shows | 4 Comments

The Olympic Torch

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Mark

The stunning culmination of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, as the torch lights the cauldron, seen here from inside the incredible structure. I had to pause my TV and snap this on the iPhone.

Original image BBC TV