Ok, so just like I told you my desktop computer gave me a nice Friday present in the form of a BSoD. It does that from time to time like most PC’s and even though it’s highly annoying I’m already pretty used to losing a couple of hours worth of work every time that happens. Damn Windows. I want that Mac so much.

While my computer was preparing to reboot I had a few minutes to walk around admiring the message and I noticed the same thing I’ve noticed before; The message itself is pretty boring. It’s like the guys at Microsoft have no sense of humor. If I was building shitty operating systems I’d personally make sure the users of those systems would get something funky to read every time it crashes.

This is what I got:

“A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file :

If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove disable any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer. Press F8 to select Advanced Startup options and then select Safe Mode.

Beginning dump of physical memory.

Dumping physical memory to disk :”

Did someone guess it already? Yeah, today’s Friday game is all about pimping this error message. Copypaste it from this blog entry to a text editor of your choice and edit it until it’s so funny that people would actually be looking forward to their computers crashing just to see it. You can either just edit some parts of the message or basicly write a new one from scratch.

You’ve got until Sunday midnight (GMT) to complete this task and the funniest error message is rewarded with a brand new t-shirt of the winner’s choice (shipping included) from our selection.

Have fun!

The blogger got struck by the infamous Blue Screen of Death a while back and among other things the files for the Friday game got partially lost. So, it will take a while before it’s here.

Actually I think I’ll come up with a new one… It’ll be here in an hour.

Every once in a while I accidentally bump into a track that just blows my mind away. My latest accidental obsession is Justice vs Simian’s “We Are Your Friends.” A few days back I was youtubing around and somehow decided to check out what I could find with a keyphrase “laFraise.” Well, one of first hits was a slideshow from laFraise Party 5 and that track was playing on the background. It was the first time I ever heard it which probably officially makes me a dork from outer space that has been grown in a bottle but I can’t help it – that’s the sad truth.

I’m totally addicted to the tune. I just listened to it 5 times in a row and stopped only because I want to remain relatively sane. I’ve already checked out Gemm.com and if I know myself any a 12” is pretty much as good as ordered even if I haven’t actually placed an order yet. While I’m doing that I might as well order Johnny Cash’s version of a NIN-song “Hurt” and Room 5 feat. Oliver Cheatham’s “Make Luv.” As you can see, I have a tendency to get addicted to tracks that are far from being brand new.

Music is great. It must be mankind’s best invention besides visual arts and beer.

Do you still remember The Assembly – a huge LAN event I blogged about a while back? While I was there it occurred to me that my ninja skills needed some practise and the best way to do that was to sneak up on some sleeping people with a camera and a fresh new shirt. I first took photos of sleeping persons just the way they were and when I was done with that I placed a shirt on or right next to them as silently as possible. Amazingly none of them woke up.

Later on I saw some of these guys awake and sporting their cool laFraise-shirts. They seemed pretty happy with them and as I didn’t really want to spoil the mystery I didn’t approach any of them again.

A new Mad’-shirt has arrived; Raffu’s "Théâtre d'ombres" (translates to “Shadow Theatre”) is now available as a black top with puffy sleeves. The design features the silhouettes of a fairy and a frog in a moonlight and seems like the print as a whole resembles a face – whether that’s only in my head or intentional remains unclear.

"Théâtre d'ombres" in our store.

Having worked for media and marketing companies & advertising agencies for quite a few years now I see myself as consumer that can’t be suckered into drooling over many products on this planet. Being in the production end of advertising makes one pretty aware of all the tricks in the book that are used to convince the consumer of the superiority of a certain product. Actually I’m often pissed off when I see marketing and advertising done in a way that goes darn near of being illegal – the companies (in general) seem to be pretty comfortable making all kinds of promises about their stuff and how it’s going to change the lives of people for good. One of these companies is Apple Computers.

So, I suppose now you’re expecting a long essay about how I hate their way of marketing and how I don’t think their products are that brilliant? Wrong. I have no idea how they’ve done this to me but even as a PC owner I’m totally in love with Macs. I want one so bad I’ve almost literally got tears in the corners of my eyes and when I see a Mac my mouth starts running just like when I see a huge juicy steak and a pint of nice cold beer.

Week after week I find myself checking out the Apple Store for the price of a 24” iMac with all the goodies. Week after week I check out the photos and drool. Week after week my urge to buy one becomes stronger and stronger. It’s becoming unbearable and impossible to resist. I mean, look at the machine. It’s a piece of art, not a computer and yet it packs so much power that all my troubles with editing photos and designing stuff should be washed away. Naturally it wouldn’t make me a better designer but it would just improve the quality of my work so much and cut down the time it takes me to do it. All this and less cables.

If only I could afford one. At ~3000€ it’s probably a good idea to stick to having a steak and a beer for now. But shit, hit me in the head with a rotten apple if I haven’t bought myself one before the end of the year.

We have two new shirts in store once again and the first one of them is something I will type very quietly about – otherwise my cats will get scared stiff. Conker’s “Chats” displays a falling cat and beartrap with a text “cats always fall on their feet” in French. Can’t propably buy this one for myself but it’s available in raspberry and asphalt – 500 pieces as pretty much always.

Are you surprised if I tell you that the other new shirt is by Pandaluna? The man himself is kicking ass again with his design “1000 km/h” that features a familiar looking hedgehog-character finetoning a street sign. The design was printed on a teal shirt.

"Chats" (raspberry) in our store

"Chats" (asphalt) in our store

"1000 km/h" in our store

LaFraise was a very visible part of “Afternoon in the Sun 2007” so I thought you might want to see some photos of that. We had two Mölkky-games with us and while the DJs were playing the records the winners of the game received cool new shirts for themselves.

Even though only roughly 350 came to the event (compared to the 600 we had a year before that) and the weather was kinda unsteady the day was a total blast and success. Next year we’ll do something totally different and even the name will change – 6 years of Afternoons in the Sun was quite enough.

Thanks to Karo Holmberg for the photos.

Usually the Friday games are all about being funny, witty, the first to find the right answers or something like that. Today that’s not the case though. I get quite a bit of customer feedback by email (…and try to answer to most of it also) and today is…

What do you think about our designs, the way they are printed, the shirts we use, our product selection…? What would you like see more and what are the things you wouldn’t miss even if me quite doing them right this minute? What would you improve? What is going to the right direction and what are the dumbest choices we’ve made?

Tell me. We want to improve!

The best customer feedback before Sunday midnight (GMT) is rewarded by a spanking new design t-shirt of the winner’s choice from our selection (shipping included). Well, enough brouzoufs for one actually, but you know the drill.

Little note about the last Friday’s Friday game: I’m still going through all the entries. I’m sorry it takes so long – be patient.