This week on Our Take we delve into how Lego are building more than just bricks, how gaming can be good for your health, get fashion tips from the leader of North Korea, yes you read that correctly, and experience a close shave with a devilishly handsome actor.
Awesome bricks are for everyone!
Lego have launched a new limited collection ahead of this years Pride Month. To celebrate diversity and support LGBTQIA+ community, the brickmaker has created a new rainbow-themed set titled Everyone is Awesome. The set includes 11 monochrome mini figures, each with its own individual colour and hairstyles. The set includes black and brown coloured figures to represent the broad diversity, and the purple character’s beehive hairdo is a clear nod to the drag queen community.
We’ve featured Lego on Our Take before because of the work they do around inclusivity as it really is a benchmark for other corporations to aspire to. Pride Month has become a huge global celebration and so has the conversation around companies that not only support and celebrate it, but do it all year round. So props to Lego, as this is one wall the brick company refuse to put up.
Read the full story here.
Gaming is the new drug
Doctors have come up with a radical new way to help treat conditions like brain fog, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – playing video games! The thinking behind it is that video games or VR experience could help cure cognitive dysfunction.
In April, a partnership between digital therapeutic company Akili Interactive, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Centre evaluated the use of EndeavorRX, a game by Akili Interactives, as a treatment for COVID-19 patients experiencing brain fog. The game, initially created to treat ADHD in children, made history in June 2020 as the first ever prescription-strength video game approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). Similarly, VR has been proven to help lower blood pressure, treat eating disorders and obesity, combat anxiety, cure PTSD and ease the pain of childbirth.
Some of us Gen Y’ers spent our childhood being told to not spend too much time playing video games, and we’re not suggesting hours playing Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario Bros., but it is certainly an interesting thought to see if gaming can help cure forms of cognitive barriers. These days everything we do is connected someway through our devices so why not our medication?
Read more about it here
Skinny Jeans? Not on Kim Jong-un’s watch.
Well, someone was going to have to say it… but who would have thought that Kim Jong-un would have delivered the final nail in the coffin of skinny jeans? Well, at least for North Korean denim lovers anyway.
As covered in Hypebeast, the North Korean Supreme Leader (and chief stylist) has reportedly banned the wearing of the popular leg wear on the grounds that they are a symbol of capitalistic lifestyle. Right…
We all have made bad fashion choices in our lives – all we have to do is scroll back on our social feeds for that rude awakening. But therein lies the beauty of bad choices – they are choices we are permitted, freely, to make. Inclusivity. Diversity. These are the things that make the world special. So, the next time you reach for those skinny jeans, or flares, or dungarees that you have been waiting for the right time to break out… remember, it’s fun to get it wrong sometimes. And be thankful it’s your choice to get it wrong.
Oh, and he’s also outlawed some haircuts, too. Clearly, they don’t have mirrors in North Korea. Read more here
5G technology a close shave!
Every day we hear more about 5G and how it will enhance our mobile experience but how fast is this new network? UK mobile network EE has put it to the test in a very unique way, by giving Lucifer actor Tom Ellis, a very close shave. Perched atop Britain’s highest mountain, Mt. Snowdon in Wales, the TV star settles into a barber’s chair for a hot shave from a robotic arm, controlled by a barber 250 miles away. The London-based barber uses motion capture to remotely shave the actor with the barber’s movements tracked and sent over EE’s public 5G network to be mimicked by the robot shaver. And in typical EE fashion, Kevin Bacon is there to oversee the whole process. I’m guessing he wasn’t too keen on getting a robochop himself?
This is the latest ad to show us exactly how next-level 5G is, demonstrating how it is powered through low-latency and high-speed data transfer, but is the message really cutting through? It certainly looks slick but the last thing we’ll be thinking about when out for a hike is “I wonder can I get a quick trim at the top?”. As cool as these ads look, we’re excited for 5G and can’t wait to see examples of how it will enhance the things we do in everyday life.
You can check out the TVC in full here.