SUSO

One Team, One Nation

"Sport's most iconic image and the story behind it..."

To quote John Carlin, author of the book Playing With The Enemy, the basis for the film Invictus that breaks in UK cinemas this month;

"By far the most fabulous and memorable political event I've ever witnesses was the Rugby World Cup Final of 1995."

That Carlin would refer to a World Cup final thus, as a'political event', points to the the power sport genuinely exerts over politics.  And Nelson Mandela, as intelligent a politician as ever there has ever been, was the man to recognise this.  The man to recognise that sport can move people emotionally to such an extent that it could and did unite a once fundamentally fractured nation. The man to move against this opportunity and challenge.  For those familiar with the turmoil of post-apartheid South Africa, the scale of this achievement was and remains breathtaking.

Morgan Freeman has gone on record as saying he had wanted to play Nelson Mandela in a film for many years but it was always about waiting for the right story and formula.  Carlin's tale offered him the formula and angle he was looking for.  And early critique suggest Freeman delivers a masterful performance in the role he was perhaps born to play (so says Mandela's own daughter..).  And while Matt Damon's involvement in the production is an inevitable point of controversy the same critics suggest he delivers a solid performance (with a worthy accent) allowing the focus to reside where it should, on Mandela as portrayed by Freeman.

Ahead of the realease of the film, and in Morgan Freeman's words, here is the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the story behind the image.

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Categories Film Tags Sport Politics Endeavour suso Film General

By Juan on 23/1/10

Dutch Downhill

"Rotterdam BMXers rippin' it at sunset."

From a country famous for its cheese, windmills, wooden shoes and laissez-faire attitude to life ... we now have, thanks to someone's wayward imagination and 2 very big sets of cojones, this...  pure NO CAN'T (... maybe even 'no shouldn't') DO.

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Categories Sport Tags culture Endeavour suso Fun General

By Juan on 28/12/09

Mind Where You Walk

"Artists that make a walk down the street that bit more interesting."

They say that 2010 will be the year of 3D.  There are however those that have long since been at the forefront of this creative revolution (creative skills we recognised and showcased in in our first SUSO film.)  Using a projection called anamorphosis to create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle, here is some of the genius of 4 of the best 3D street artists around.

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Categories Art Tags Design culture Graffiti General

By Juan on 9/12/09

The Fun Theory

"... it's all about the smile."

Some ideas are just so good, so creative, that they are best left without contextualising comment...

Respekt to VW for helping making this one happen.

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Categories Fun Tags Art Design Fun General

By Juan on 12/11/09

Happy 40th Birthday

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Categories Tags Art culture Design Music Fun General

By Juan on 9/11/09

The Salute

"What does it mean to truly stand out from the crowd? To stop the world with a single gesture?"

As the anticipation builds here in the UK ahead of London 2012, and on the back of last week's announcement that the games are heading to Rio in 2016 our thoughts again turn to the inspiring stories born out of the Olympic games.  One of the better known, this tale is always worthy of reflection.

It is the Mexico Olympics, 1968. The height of the Vietnam War. The year the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. 14 days after hundreds of Mexican students were slaughtered in Tlatelolco for peacefully protesting against government brutality and repression.

With their famous ‘Black Power Salute’ as they stood on the 200m winners’ podium, Tommy Smith and Jon Carlos struck a blow for human rights that shook the globe. For a moment they were the most talked about people alive. They inspired millions. But in doing so they put their lives at risk; together they were to receive more hate mail than Henry Aaron and Muhammed Ali put together. But these days no-one ever asks: who’s the white dude?

OK, it’s obvious he’s the guy that finished second. What is less known is that Peter Norman, a white Australian, donned a badge on the podium in support of the two Americans’ cause, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). On the way out to the medal ceremony, Norman saw the badge being worn by Paul Hoffman, a white member of the US Rowing Team, and asked him if he could wear it. It was also Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos left his gloves in the Olympic Village. This is the reason Tommie Smith raised his right fist, while John Carlos raised his left. Asked about his support of Smith and Carlos by the world's press, Norman said he opposed his country's government's White Australia policy. Blacked out of record books and civil rights stories, here was an example of a white man who gave more than moral support and a cheque in the mail.

They were the three fastest men alive; but then Smith and Carlos were thrown out of the US Olympic team; Norman was reprimanded and ostracised by the Australian media. But in a time when mankind’s savage nature threatened to destroy it’s very future, they did something worth far more than winning an Olympic medal. They won a medal for the human race.

Winner of Best Australian Documentary, with a 10 minute standing ovation at last year’s Sydney Film Festival, and Best Documentary this year at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, Matt Norman’s film “salute” was 6 years in the making and pays tribute to the story he promised his uncle he would one day tell the world. See the story told in full here.

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Categories Sport Tags Drama Endeavour Politics General

By Juan on 6/10/09

As Fast As The Fishies

"Michael Phelps ... choke on my white water!"

My triathlon swim-times have plateaued recently.  So I thought it was time to get creative in my search for a little extra aquatic cut-through.  Only it appears that guys like Ted Ciamillo are well ahead of me.  This Greek engineer has gone back to nature in his ambition to match the dolphin for underwater speed.  The result? Say hello to the 'Lunocet'.

The Lunocet is a biomimetic (meaning mimicking biology) swimming device modelled after the lunate tail fin found in whales and dolphins.  Which basically means it's a dolphin-inspired 2.5 pound monofin. Lightweight and conceived from carbon fiber and fiberglass, it spans almost a meter.

So just how fast are we talking?  Ted stells us that It’s capable of one day being able to propell swimmers at almost 33 miles per hour, converting nearly 80 percent of the applied energy into thrust. The appendage is efficient, lightweight and fast. So fast infact that even today it can propel swimmers almost twice the speed of Michael Phelps!

I want one. And they are on sale today here!

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Categories Sport Tags Design Fun General

By Juan on 7/9/09

The King Of Cool

"You know what, that might be kinda fun."

Steve McQueen, Box Office Star signs up to a Daily Scale Stunt Contract in 1975

As the 30th anniversary of Steve MCQueen's death and a new biopic approach (Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig fighting it out for the lead), the extent to which the King Of Cool's life revolved around fast cars and bikes becomes a talking point for us all.

Born five months after the Great Depression to alcoholic parents who abandoned him in his youth McQueen was dyslexic, alone, and in and out of reform school until the age of 18.  However, a love of motorsport kept him off the booze and out of prison.  As his acting career took shape he was never one to be found waiting for the phone to ring.  Quite simply Steve McQueen had his bikes, and this was a passion he carried throughout his acting career.

One story goes that having just filmed Towering Inferno for a reported $14m, McQueen called a buddy looking to go for a bike ride in the desert.  This friend, a stunt rider, couldn't make the trip in that he had a job the next day on a film called Dixie Dynamite (I know what you're thinking...). For $174-50 daily rate, McQueen signed up to a day of sliding corners, sailing jumps and laying down crashes.  In all the excitement one wheelie got the better of him and he came off the back infront of everyone.  Truly one of the guys, his stunt crew loved him for it.

This love of bikes was never more apparent than in the final scenes of On Any Sunday in 1971.  As a biker what I'd give to be able to play in the sand like that with my buddies today.  Alas green laning (freeriding in the off road UK) is fast become extinct but in the US in the 70s this was on tap!  If you haven't seen the film the end scene is well worth a view here.

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Categories Film Tags Fashion General Endeavour Art

By Juan on 27/8/09

The Big Bang

"So that's how it happened.  Really?"

Got 2 minutes to kill and looking for some answers?  This might help. 

But then of course it might not.  At the end of the day, so much is always left to our imagination.

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Categories Culture Tags General suso

By Juan on 15/8/09

Down With The Teens

"The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California ... Ooooo Yeah."

John Hughes, director and writer of some of the 80s best loved comedies passed away at the weekend at the age of 59.  His greatest achievement is universally acknowledged in his portrayl of teenagers - too often characterised as immoral and ignorant - Hughes chosen to listen to and respect them and in doing so created a number of movies that perfectly captured the spirit of 1980s America.

The most timeless of these remains Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  If the success of this film owed a great deal to the on-screen talent of a young Matthew Broderick, it also benefited from Hughes' sharp script and direction. 

"...Ferris, he never drives it, he just rubs it with a diaper..." Screenplay brilliance that will be remembered forever.

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Categories Film Tags Art culture General

By Juan on 9/8/09