Lost

Life Snazzle-razzle-rick rastedly. I visited Sudley House, the merchant house in Liverpool this morning and although I was going to surprise you with a review this ancient computer of mine crashed towards the end of the writing and since I'm stuck using wordpad which I'd forgotten doesn't have an autosave feature I lost the whole thing. I really need to get a new computer. Really, really.

The debate about the Olympic logo rattles on. It does indeed look like Lisa Simpson doing something unmentionable to some bloke and as Tom notes the cover of an old NOW album. This Tiswas comparison isn't that far off the mark either. As soon as a I saw the apparently 'better' moving version it reminded me of the opening title sequence of Going Live echoed by someone in this amusing Metafilter thread -- that's having to be edited too because it could cause epilepsy.

It's very easy to criticise something that's obviously taken months to design and been through countless consultations, but reading the defensive retoric of the likes of Seb Coe there's a definite element of emperor's new clothes at work, of a gulf between what the Olympic Committee are saying is implied by the image and the reality. If you're older than a young person you have to be careful when you're trying to suggest what might inspire a young person. Considering how dated the thing looks it seem apt to mention David Owen's rap during a general election in the eighties.

This won't go away. Over the next five years I would expect that it'll be redesigned again when it's shown not to be having the desired effect, or relegated during ad campaigns for something far simpler, font based and future proof. Like the dome, so far the London Olympics has lacked a single clear voice and message, too many people with their own ideas all being listened to and agreed with at the same time. There is the potential that everything will be sorted out by 2012 and it'll be a massive success, but it's going to take a few changes and less egos in suits for that to happen.